Ace Combat - Tumblr Posts
Hoo boy, it was a mistake to play Ace Combat 7 before watching this.
I could probably just leave it there honestly. But I’m going to explain this.
Quick review of Ace Combat 7 - it’s not great. I really enjoyed Ace Combat - Assault Horizon when I was younger, so I bought 7 a little while after it came out and I just found it lacking. Half the missions seem to have you more at risk from environmental dangers than actual enemies, plane selection’s rather lacking unless you grind up some of the few enjoyable missions to unlock new ones (the lightning II is particularly guilty of this) and I was forced to rely on dlc planes for a good chunk of the game (there’s only three dedicated ground attack planes in the base game, all of which need to be bought, one of which is terrible). I will say that the base attack missions - get a certain amount of score within a time limit - were absolutely wonderful, some of my favourite missions in the game (especially the Snider’s Top mission), but because they’re also the easiest way to grind up currency, you have to play them over and over and over again, so the appeal wanes somewhat.
And the story…. Okay. Why are Erusea and Osea at war? Anyone know? Because I sure don’t. Yeah, I’m sure it’s explained in some backstory or other, but I would really like someone to just mention it. Because literally all the intercepted chatter is whatever the opposite of humanising is, because none of them express anything except a hatred for the enemy and a desire to attack them. So why are we fighting? Ace Combat’s cutscenes seem to think that they’re incredibly mature and weighty, but all they seem to be is people just staring at the sky and saying “what does it mean….. to fly” “what does it mean…… to fight”. Forgive me if I’m used to more than that.
I will say though, I actually really like how your wing-mates in 777 “spare” squadron are characterised (Mage Squadron just kinda sucks, moreso that you just never see them again after mission 3), I honestly wish we had more time with them because they’re just such a treat to listen to and fight alongside, since they very much don’t want to be here and are quick to remind us of that (I’m genuinely toying with plucking High Roller for use in Lancer). Also the voice cast is genuinely excellent, any fan of Persona 5 will feel right at home here, and it also led to the absolute wonderful feeling of assaulting an enemy base, and going “Lelouch Vi Brittania, is that you!?”.
Anyway, why did I feel the need to bring it up before talking about the new Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance trailer? Because it feels like it’s around the same ballpark. If I didn’t already know *why* the Federation and Zeon were at war, it’d feel like the whole independence thing would be swept under the rug.
“Why do we fight?” “Because those are our orders” - hey, wouldn’t it be more interesting to characterise someone as actually a true believer in spacenoid independence? Wouldn’t it be interesting to have them talk about what spacenoid independence actually means to them? Wouldn’t it be interesting to engage with the propaganda told to the population of Side 3 to motivate them to war? Wouldn’t that be relevant to an audience living in a world where the media is all-pervasive, and “alternative facts” are rife? Oh, the main character doesn’t believe in Newtypes and has a “Well, you gotta do what you gotta do” attitude to proceedings? Alright then. It just feels like a missed opportunity. Were I feeling especially uncharitable I might even call it cowardly.
To be honest, I think the main thing that’s bothering me here is just the line delivery for the Pink-Haired Character and the Doctor - they’re just so flat, and their lines are just blindingly obvious. “The Federation’s new mobile suit. This could turn the tide of the war” - it’s not foreshadowing if you just state what’s going to happen. “The Feds you save will just come back and kill my people, Doc!” - yeah, but you’re under the Antarctic Treaty, governing the treatment of POWs in wartime. Leaving them to die would likely constitute a war crime (I know Zeon’s got a lot of those, but still). It just feels like baby’s first moral dilemma. Also when Iria Sorari’s giving an explanation on newtypes, she just sounds bored, like she’s reading from a cue card. Y’know, it’s only one of the central precepts to the war for independence, don’t sound too passionate or anything.
Lastly - and I’m aware these are super nit-picky - when the Zaku slashes the shell in the last part of the trailer, it should have just flown off and penetrated anyway. It doesn’t lose all momentum just because you cut it in two. Also, I get that Japanese-to-English is never gonna be a 1:1 translation or anything. But Gundam’s had a bunch of series translated prior that can act as a cheat-sheet for pronunciation and finer details, so it’s really annoying to catch slip-ups here.
Right, now that’s all the negativity done with, what did I actually like?
Mobile suit designs are still top-notch, I really like the Gouf Custom and Guntank designs (it’s an Igloo-style Assault Guntank) in the new trailer, and I really like the new GM design - it feels like it extrapolated out what a GM based on the new Gundam would look like, and also remembered that the Federation’s mobile suits were derived from captured Zaku’s, hence the visor resembling a monoeye - it’s a really good way to take the design is what I’m getting at, and I fully expect we’ll see a model of it. However, it is just very odd seeing the more modern Zaku design side-by-side with the older Gouf Custom and Guntank designs. They had to model them anyway for the new engine, so why not go the extra mile and give us a greebled Gouf Custom or Guntank? (Yeah I know it’ll be a cost thing, and you *could* argue that a more “modern” Guntank would be the Assault Guntank, but come on) I really liked seeing the new Zaku I design also, I just don’t have an awful lot to say on it - it’s nice.
I do expect that we’ll get models of the new Zaku I and GM, but I couldn’t say on the Gouf Custom or Assault Guntank.
EDIT: Okay, so I posted this and had two immediate realisations:
Iris’s Zaku appears to have been repaired in several scenes in the trailer, so it’s likely it’ll get trashed at some point (there may also be another kit of it).
The reason the Gouf Custom hasn’t been given the greebling treatment like nearly every other mobile suit is likely so they can just make a coulor variant of its existing high grade kit, rather than having to make entirely new runners (plus they’d likely feel compelled to completely update the internals too, which would be rather expensive). It’s likely that the new Zaku II (boy I wish this thing had a proper name) will be at least partially based on the most recent Zaku II hg kit internally, again as a cost-saving measure (and a practical one too, come to think of it).
When Top Gun: Maverick was in theaters, my siblings were interested. They’re nerds about the aircrafts sort. When dad asked if we want to watch, we all went. (Except mom bc she has a bedtime)
I was technically dragged along. My siblings can geek and nerd out all they want.
But Here’s the thing. my brother is also a gamer. He played Ace Combat 7 a lot. And we all watched him play. We watched him start his games, fail levels, attack chickens, backseat game to help find hidden Easter eggs, get killed in games over and over, crash his aircrafts on purpose, restart games, etc etc.
So when a certain scene from the movie arrives, all 4 of us sitting in the theater went “wait. Hold up.”
I’m aware that we aren’t alone. The AC7 and movie made a collab and all. Social media. Etc etc. but it was a funny moment for the family.
the funny thing is that i actually had an art request done of my Grabacr girl as a cybernetic naga from an artist that did plane girls :3
i had the headcanon in that au that she lost use of her legs in the nuclear explosions and the gray men offered to restore her lower body if she helped them get their revenge on osea and yuktobania
THIS HAS TO BE A STORYLINE OR SOMETHING
It has to be this way.
This twisted game needs to be reset.
@aquarianjustice and I discussed an ACZ/MGR AU thing a few months back because of the video linked above (and how It Has To Be This Way is perfect for a secondary showdown theme for Cipher and Pixy) and there were cyborgs and Metal Gear Excalibur and shit. It was awesome. So one last 2015 hour and a half scribble. The spine on Cipher inspired by the Bionics Armed Suit from the Brave Arms concept.
Nanomachines, son!
Dark Blue
It's been a while, but I finally got back to beating Ace Combat 7, so here!
one of my pet theories/fan-canon is that the Gray Men are effectively divided by 2010/AC5
as their mission to spite osea and yuktobania grows, so does their membership. it's no longer just revanchist belkans, it's ex-AWWNB, it's Hamilton from Osea, it's Estovakians, it's everyone that wants this old order to die.
it's people that see that the death of superpowers means a new beginning not just for Belka but for other countries under their influence to get to chart their own paths. getting osea and yuktobania to destroy their own prestige and standing greatly helps their cause
until shit starts going down. suddenly their plans are starting to unravel. the more level-headed of the bunch are gravely concerned, but they're well connected by now to disappear.
the belkan nationalists, on the other hand, don't want their fading dreams of empire to finally die. they try to pull out all the nuclear stops and end up failing miserably.
they're the ones that get hunted - and to the ones founding General Resource and others, they're the perfect decoy to cast off. the world will need to rebuild after this, after Emmeria and the Lighthouse War, and the rebuilding will get done with their capital.
only by then, they've transcended nationhood altogether. what are national boundaries needed for when everyone can live under the new corporate umbrella?
well, they'll still need to protect their own facilities. especially since a free market can't survive without competition, and Neucom just set up its shops. by 2040, that old vision is just a dot in the mirror...
man, playing ac7 and ac3 back to back (and thus in chronological order) puts the former's ending in such a cold light. the lighthouse war WAS the last great international conflict, it WAS the death knell for nationalism, and it didn't *matter*. a new world has been built, and because capital was permitted to build it, there's nothing here worth fighting for. heroism, pride, hatred, all have given way to a lonely unreality in which people with nowhere to go kill one another for reasons they'll never fully understand. it isn't that ace combat 3 presents a world where there's nothing left to live for, but there's nothing here worth dying for; in a game about battle, that's a horribly sad thing.
back when AC7 came out and the intro had Eruseans basically using drones with such precision to avoid civilian casualties and i'm like "lol how is that possible"
then i see what's going on with the ukrainians and i'm like oh
don't let the ace combat remixes distract you from the fact that Epilogue (Near The Border) is not on Spotify
LRSSG PHYSICAL EXERCISES!!! And a bit of Trount, hehe
My headcanons:
Trigger is unbeatable in every sport. The only guy that can out him is Wiseman, but he enjoys watching over his men more rather than participating in the games. Second is always Húxiān. Sometimes Count or Jaeger takes the third place
Wiseman, Lanza, Count, Jaeger, and Trigger like to take morning jogs, while Count and Húxiān prefer going to the gym
Count couldn't take his eyes off of Trigger... every single damn time
Húxiān likes to box and at times challenge Count for a duel (which Count always loses to)
Wiseman loves to reward those who work hard during their daily exercises, whether it's sports drinks or snacks
Count is the laziest when it comes to exercises
sleeping arrangements....
i have an ac0 AU where Cipher is a birdman. he's got wings and feathers etc etc. yeagh.....
full img (plus more)
(i Did Not want to continue the really nice paintover style i did for their faces bc it took FOREVER BLEEHH) more xtra stuff under cut
Y'all might've found this already, but I figured why not share it here as well?
I just found this post in r/acecombat where user ALDO113A made a google doc transcript of all of Ace Combat Zero, and I figured this would be super handy to also share here :)
(Within the doc, there's also a link to a google drive folder containing transcripts for other ace combat games)
(And I also found a shortcut(?) to a folder titled "Lore entries and resources", and there's a pdf of the 2019 Aces At War inside that folder)
Waltz of the Tornado goes so fucking hard though, you just damage your hearing for it. And if you’re not listening to Magic Spear than I can’t even talk to you.
AND FRONTAL ATTACK
HMMM MMM MMMMMMM MM MM MMMMM MMMMM
HMMM MMM MMMMMMM MMM MMM MMV
OOOUUOOOOOOO OOUWOOOU, OOOWOOOO OOUWOO
HMMM HMMM MMMMM HMMMM MM NGHHH
DUH DUH DUH DOHHHHH DAHHHH DAHHHHHHHHHHH
Doo da doo da
DAAAA
DO DA DO DADADA DA DA DA DADADA DA DA DO DO DOOOOOO
DU DU DUUUUU
Anyway I’m shit at typing ‘lyrics’ if you couldn’t tell
I just came across this video essay and it's an absolute masterpiece. Great writing, great pacing, beautiful cinematography and it points out exactly why I love these games
Good morning aviators, new banger remix just dropped on the AC channel
I thought some planes would look good in Art Noveau so here’s Ace Combat 5 fanart inspired by Alphonse Mucha.
Here. have 47 seconds of Captain Torres laughing like a maniac.
REX,
REX TREMENDAE MAJESTASIS,
QUI SALVANDOS SALVAS GRATIS,
SALVA ME, FONS PIETATIS.
The final piece [FOR NOW] of my Ace Combat Mucha set, ITS MOBIUS-1 WITH THE STEEL CHAIR. The opening scene of megalith lives rent free in my head.
ANYWAYS.
If you would like to get these as actual prints, I will be at CARRIERCON 2024, March 9th!
The convention is on the USS Hornet, artist alley IS IN THE AIRCRAFT HANGAR HOW COOL IS THAT.
Y'all might've found this already, but I figured why not share it here as well?
I just found this post in r/acecombat where user ALDO113A made a google doc transcript of all of Ace Combat Zero, and I figured this would be super handy to also share here :)
(Within the doc, there's also a link to a google drive folder containing transcripts for other ace combat games)
(And I also found a shortcut(?) to a folder titled "Lore entries and resources", and there's a pdf of the 2019 Aces At War inside that folder)