F-ZeroOne

NATO was worried about the quality of Russian tanks for a while; they were smaller, relatively high performance, and had things like auto-loaders. Until the M1 came along, American tank designers had a little bit of an inferiority complex. But, yes, numbers was the big worry. However, the Gulf War showed up quite a few flaws in Russian tanks. The T-72 has a fuel line that goes across the front of the turret; this caused some interesting examples of unpowered turret flight after hits by 120mm rounds; also, there are some horror stories about gunners getting limbs loaded into the gun by the auto-loaders! I understand that after the Gulf War, the Russians reviewed why so much of their equipment failed so badly; a lot of interesting equipment started turning up on Russian tanks afterwards, such as improved reactive armour, anti-missile systems and even on one modified prototype, a couple of 20mm AA guns...!

Ummm, that how you write Japan in French. The writing on that label other than Japanse is French, so everything has to match up. Nothing unusual on that label. 333184[/snapback] So why they write French on postal stamp in Japan? 333299[/snapback] Its a historical thing. I can't remember exactly what, but possibly some international convention like the one that settled on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). In the UK, when you send something by airmail, you get a little sticker with "par avion" on it. Quite possibly the only example of the British adopting something French you will ever find...

Its an aircraft, it can do just that and a tanks armour is typically weakest there. However, the side is also less well armoured - you can't armour a tank everywhere, because then it can't move! - and the engine on most tanks is typically at the rear (the Israeli Merkeva is an exception; they treat the engine as additional armour and place it at the front), so that is also a good place to hit.

Slight correction - the GAU-8 is 7 barrels, not 9. Also, its designed to hit tanks from their more vunerable sides and rear, not the front - traditionally the most heavily armoured part of a tank; there are reports of modern American tanks surviving direct hits from Russian-type 125 mm guns on the front. British tanks of World war II mostly used a "2 pounder" - roughly 40mm. German panzers started the war with 37mm guns - slightly contrary to the widely-held belief that German tanks were automatically superior; it was only later that the true monsters like the Tiger appeared. At the start of the war, it was German tactics that did a lot of the work. Mind you, British tanks did tend to suck quite a bit...

"Aerial" is the BBCs in-house news magazine. Oh, wait. You mean the anime...

What are those bulges on the underside of the wings? ECM/ECCM/electronics stuff? Or is it some sort of visual illusion?

Animated by Gonzo? Hmm, imagine the cross-over potential: "Yo, Joes! Lets all welcome the newest member to join us in the fight against the evil of COBRA. People, this is the Major... " So, do pilots still leap out of exploding aircraft just barely in the nick of time then?

Thanks for the heads up - I've been thinking about getting Mospeada for some time. As we say here in UK-land, "Ta, muchly!" [1] [1] Translation: "Thank you very much, old chap."

I'm 31, and love anime. I've met anime fans that run the age bracket from children to over-50s and everything in-between. Nuts to them. If you have any trouble again, just say quietly: "Know what? We won. We don't need your approval anymore." And then walk off into the cherry blossoms.

ROFLMAO......and spitting coffee everywhere. Funniest thing I've heard all month and so true as well. Graham 324333[/snapback] After several months of splattering coffee over my own monitor reading posts here, I'm glad I was able to spread it around - thanks, Graham! (and just to set the record straight, I have three Yamatos - including a first release VF-1A - and love 'em to bits... )

Of course, what you could end up with is something with a model kits fragility, Yamatos quality control, and Bandais love for Macross over Gundam (i.e. none).

lol is there anything starwars can't explain? 324174[/snapback] What the heck was up with Episodes I, II, and III? <ducks and runs like hell...!>

Ah, yes - Calorie Mates, the foodstuff that contains everything the average human needs to survive nutritionally for an entire day in one handy package. Except taste. Glad you had a good time though!

Sorry, Agent One - although some of this is probably made up, I really can testify that you see stuff like this every day in Japan. In fact, I'm currently looking at a Microman Acroyear box that reads "We entrust him to the care of thoes who have a child's heart... "

And, not sure if this counts as a "cel", but its a limited edition Kiki portrait from the Studio Ghibli Museum:

My "collection", such as it is: First, the immortal Lum, in all her glory:

And Spaceman Spiff wasn't Sci-Fi? And, yes, I want it very much...!

Terror of MechaGodzilla.

Didn't see this one coming... Just to prove that there is nothing new under the sun, two classic games for the 8-Bit ZX Spectrum - Skool Daze and Back to Skool - featured similar subject matter, though obviously in a more primitive and less graphically defined way. You could write rude words on the blackboards, too... Incidentallly, one of the longest running comic characters in the UK is Dennis the Menace (no, not that Dennis - ours is the real one, obviously...! ), whose actions in some instances could be construed as bullying, or at least were until people started getting politically correct about it. Hundreds of thousands of kids must have read The Beano comic that he appears in over the years, and I don't recall it ever being linked to actual bullying behaviour in real life... I'm in two minds about this - I don't totally agree with the subject matter, but without actually having seen the game in action its difficult to judge how it handles it. The trouble is always the idiots who can't tell behaving in a game from behaving in real life...

Want to feel like you've been slapped in the face with a wet haddock? Want your brain to feel like its dissolving in fizzy sherbert? Want to feel what its like to consume a couple of bags of sugar in one go? Then Kodocha is out in a few days! (aka Childs Toy aka Kodomo no Omocha)

Where? Unless I am blind, I do not see PAL anywhere on either of those two pages. Region 2 yes, but not PAL. 316376[/snapback] If it's a UK release, then it's PAL by default. There are DVD players out there that convert PAL to NTSC (and they're quite cheap too), so you're not completely sunk. 316382[/snapback] Now you know what it was like for us UK anime fans back in the days of NTSC video players... (just kidding... really!) If you can wait, I believe a DVD Series 1 box set is planned for UK release in November. Some shots of the new Doctor have emerged. I rather like the look, myself, though some of you might be a bit scared to know that his latest incarnation likes red-and-white striped pyjamas...

You're telling me. According to one source, its even inspired a call-girl service. Even Bandai hasn't latched onto that Gundam revenue source yet...!

Hey - what about the Bandai problem child?! HCM: "Hey! No fair! I wanna be old school too! I am old school!" Takatoku Milia: "I never should have had him... "

I am British and I don't feel offended by the possible content of the film (though if I had personally been involved in the London incidents then I would almost certainly feel differently), but I think the producers comments are a bit insensitive.