(L) Strike Witches TV (Mecha Musume)

[asaqe]

Say, can someone shop this with Tsubomi's hairstyle (her headband) and hair/eye colour?

[Keroko]

Tsubomi from which anime?

Originally Posted by wavehawk

Funi Dub + Strike Witches.

...no good can come of this. None whatsoever. I can feel it in my bones. -_-

As long as the subs aren't based on the dubs, I don't care how bad the dub gets. If it's horrible, I simply won't listen to it.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

I don't care how they're shown I'd just like a few more of them, at this rate you'd think Japan and Germany are winning the war by themselves.

Your fault for showing up late in every war.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Ah well I suppose it’s only fair when in every game and movie we make it's up to the US to save Life, Liberty, and the Free World.

I'm actually hoping that the media producers grow a set of balls and make a movie or game in which the US is the antagonist. An RTS with America invading countries under the claim to protect the world, only to find out too late that they are doing it for for their resources. Or a shooter in which it is discovered that the US was the mastermind behind all the post-WWII wars, and the mission to stop them.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Crap I need to make this on topic somehow... Oh I know HAWX is on PC actually which means it moddable so Tom Clancy's: Strike Witches anyway? Yes I know it will never happen, but it's a frikkin sweet engine and I can dream.

I'd play. Oh, I'd play.

[Guppy]

At least the ridiculous high-AoA backflips you can do in HAWX would make sense then...

[wavehawk]

I'm actually hoping that the media producers grow a set of balls and make a movie or game in which the US is the antagonist. An RTS with America invading countries under the claim to protect the world, only to find out too late that they are doing it for for their resources. Or a shooter in which it is discovered that the US was the mastermind behind all the post-WWII wars, and the mission to stop them.

- Won't work. Most of the big FPS/RTS gaming market is either Halfway Redneck or pro-US (Korea, Philippines). Even if they did put it forth, the very fact that it won't sell will scare them off. On the other hand, they -might- get away with it if they make a small 'good' US faction available, just to appease US players. The old "it's the evil government, not us" angle.

Heh. I finally managed to watch MS Igloo 2 Ep.2 and now I've got a thing for tanks. Heheheheh~~~

[Guppy]

It's been done before to a limited extent - the old Origin action/flightsim game Strike Commander portrayed a USA that was far from benevolent (albeit there were no real "good guys" either, apart from the player and his squadron - the various countries and factions in the game were all simply fighting for their own interests, which I liked), and the player came up against US government forces a number of times during the game.

Deus Ex ran with a government conspiracy plotline and sold extremely well, although its evil government was a fictional blend of the US government and UN.

There are also movies and other media out there which portray the US much more blatantly as an evil antagonist. Obviously they tend not to originate in the US (exceptions such as Michael Moore aside), but the fact that a nation is a US ally doesn't necessarily preclude such things. For instance, in the last five years or so there's been at least one Turkish novel and one movie featuring the US as the "bad guys."

[wavehawk]

Very Off-Topic, but I figure it's better to post this here (wherein people have certain similar interests) as opposed to making a thread about Macross and Robotech and all the mess that's going to make in the first three responses. Anyhow, see links:
http://ngeekhiong.blogspot.com/2009/...s-helmets.html
http://www.yamato-toys.com/blog/index.php?logid=114

That's right, life-size (1/1) scale Valkyrie Pilot helmets. They may not be of any -practical- use ( most certainly not crash-test certified), but damn, just one of those are SO worth having...

Now that I think of it, maybe I can rig an IPod Video to fit in this thing and play Strike Witches videos without being noticed---much.

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by wavehawk

- Won't work. Most of the big FPS/RTS gaming market is either Halfway Redneck or pro-US (Korea, Philippines). Even if they did put it forth, the very fact that it won't sell will scare them off. On the other hand, they -might- get away with it if they make a small 'good' US faction available, just to appease US players. The old "it's the evil government, not us" angle.

Which is why I said I'm hoping the producers grow a set of balls. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of gamers out there who wouldn't mind being on the dark side for a change, but with all the 'look at how heroic we are' productions that keep getting churned out every single time (can we have a shooter in which we can't play the Americans for a change?) there's a mindset that seems to be screaming "America can't be evil!" even though any other country apparently can. RA3 took a nice step, but then they screwed it up in the Empire campaign.

Originally Posted by wavehawk

Heh. I finally managed to watch MS Igloo 2 Ep.2 and now I've got a thing for tanks. Heheheheh~~~

You too huh?

"Screw the Gundams. I've got tanks."

[einhorn303]

Although, historically, most of the US's "evil" actions have been done either covertly or through covert support of other forces. For example, Operation Ajax in Iran, all those anti-democratic "install dictators amenable to US interests" CIA campaigns in Latin America, etc.

Which don't fit the traditional war game quite as much.

About the dubs, sure, Funimation has always done dubs, but I'm not really sure we can count on it this time. We live in the Time of Change when it comes to anime. ADV always did dubs...except for a few months ago. Now all it's recent releases (Clannad, Indian Summer) are sub-only. Funimation has announced a partnership of some sort with a blatant anime piracy site. Stuff is changing like crazy. Who knows what'll happen in a year?

[Tk3997]

Originally Posted by Guppy

At least the ridiculous high-AoA backflips you can do in HAWX would make sense then...

Wait you mean an SR-71 CAN’T do a Cobra?

That said the scary part is that for some of those aircraft such maneuvers are not really that unreasonable. I heard a Raptor demo pilot discussing how he’d come out of a maneuver: “Once I hit 50 knots negative airspeed.”

The other funny part though is that rather ironically and realistically most of those fancy maneuvers will only get you blasted in an online match as another faster guy zooms in and shots your sitting duck ass before you can recover, or you do your fancy little back flip but he just zooms past at Mach 2 and into a flat turn which ends up putting him in postion to attack again just as you recover.

Originally Posted by Keroko

As long as the subs aren't based on the dubs, I don't care how bad the dub gets. If it's horrible, I simply won't listen to it.

Well there is that, but I'm a kind of guy that also likes a good dub. Sometimes I'd like to turn on my TV, lay back in my bed, and not have to read fast scrolling text you know?

Your fault for showing up late in every war.

I’ve always found that a rather lame comeback, for instance Russia was drawn into the war a scant six months before the US. (Unless you count bleeding horribly in power hungry land grabs against nations a tenth there size in cahoots with Hitler as being part of the war). The US was also fighting TWO wars at once so while Britain was straining massively to fight a single battle against Germany (with a pittance directed against the Japanese) the US was engaged in two massive wars involving millions of men on both sides, remove that issue (which the SW Timeline helpfully does) and the US would have had an overwhelming effect very rapidly.

I suppose now might also be the time to mention the issue of them sending active duty officers to fight the Aliens in 1939. The one bright spot is that Patton showed up in the newer Doujin so perhaps there's some hope yet.

Also for anyone intrested in that the Histroy channel is doing a new series following a number of his battles through out the war, which I sadly managed to forget was starting this Friday and won't be able to see again until it re-airs monday. -_-

I'm actually hoping that the media producers grow a set of balls and make a movie or game in which the US is the antagonist. An RTS with America invading countries under the claim to protect the world, only to find out too late that they are doing it for for their resources. Or a shooter in which it is discovered that the US was the mastermind behind all the post-WWII wars, and the mission to stop them.

The problem is the plot has to make some kind of sense and even the biggest of dicks, if they have a shred of reason, will tend to admit if pressed that the US is not that bad. The only way to really make this work would be to go massive AU or into the future in which case it's often not so much the US as "A nation in North America that controls territories like the US, but has little else in common" with it.

The US going around like superman sweeping in to save the day for purely altruistic reason all the time isn't that realistic, but then the US being a fascist colonial power in disguise is frankly even more outlandish. I forget where I heard the quote, but the one I've always liked when considering national policy:
"Doing something good for selfish reasons doesn't negate having done good."

I'd play. Oh, I'd play.

So would I, but then I'd play nearly any Flight Sim game that wasn't total crap since the genre is so badly neglected nowadays.

Originally Posted by Keroko

Which is why I said I'm hoping the producers grow a set of balls. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of gamers out there who wouldn't mind being on the dark side for a change,

I'm pretty sure you'd be surprised how very wrong you are on that.

There is a reason beyond mere tradition that 99% of games have you as some kind of hero and 99% of movies are about them. People like doing good things and seeing good people win, people do not like doing bad things and seeing bad people win. Its basic human nature, and to deny it is folly. Even I fall into it as I always tend to play a fairly good guy, and I often don’t even bother with the evil options in a game, and any game that forces me to be evil I tend to dislike.

but with all the 'look at how heroic we are' productions that keep getting churned out every single time (can we have a shooter in which we can't play the Americans for a change?)

Frankly raging against this strikes me was rather stupid given that stories like this have been getting "churned out" for going on 5,000 years now, and for exactly the reason I mentioned above. I rather doubt this will ever, ever change.

Of course what a society happens to consider heroic can vary mind you. Viking saga for instance actually make fun of one Viking leader that refrained from slaughtering children basically calling him a pussy. To us this might sound pretty villain like, but to the guys writing it it wasn't it was business as usual and these guys were celebrated and venerated heroes of there people. Now due to our own social norms heroes don't go around murdering children, and indeed crazed child murdering raiders would be villains, but that's because we consider different values important.

The point is though that whatever a group of people happen to consider "Heroic" is what they're going to write about. We consider rescuing babies, fighting evil rulers, and bringing peace and harmony to the land heroic and so that's what we produce.

there's a mindset that seems to be screaming "America can't be evil!" even though any other country apparently can. RA3 took a nice step, but then they screwed it up in the Empire campaign.

Actually it's not just the US really, but Democracies in general for I think a pretty simple reason: Democracies don’t fight Democracies.

The statistical evidence of this is overwhelming: mature liberal democracies will not fight other democracies. This is why the vast majority of examples in which a democratic nation is a villain will involve either A. a small rouge faction or B. a coup or something that renders it autocratic. Since after all if they’re invading or attacking an autocratic state it’s rather hard to paint them as evil in comparison to the guys in charge.

You too huh?

"Screw the Gundams. I've got tanks."

Damn whippersnappers! I’ve been perching this for years!

Tanks >>>>>>>>> Mechs in any context besides, to burrow a term from another board I haven't used in awhile, Giant Stair World™.

[qmeister]

Originally Posted by Tk3997

The statistical evidence of this is overwhelming: mature liberal democracies will not fight other democracies. This is why the vast majority of examples in which a democratic nation is a villain will involve either A. a small rouge faction or B. a coup or something that renders it autocratic. Since after all if they’re invading or attacking an autocratic state it’s rather hard to paint them as evil in comparison to the guys in charge.

A Freudian slip? Sorry.

I have to agree that in most cases, people want to play benevolent characters. For instance, I once read an RPG player's walkthrough site intro, and how he would never again play the 'evil' side, because it made him feel like a jerk. I'd like to think that this can be generalised, but I know that some play the 'evil' side purely so they can be jerks without any real life consequences.

[asaqe]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Tsubomi from which anime?

Strawberry Panic Tsubomi. Pic related

[einhorn303]

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Actually it's not just the US really, but Democracies in general for I think a pretty simple reason: Democracies don’t fight Democracies.

The statistical evidence of this is overwhelming: mature liberal democracies will not fight other democracies. This is why the vast majority of examples in which a democratic nation is a villain will involve either A. a small rouge faction or B. a coup or something that renders it autocratic. Since after all if they’re invading or attacking an autocratic state it’s rather hard to paint them as evil in comparison to the guys in charge.

Ah, the Democratic Peace Theory. Even on the animesuki forums, D.P.T.! [Iosys flash ensues]. Sorry, it's just that I hear about it all the bloody time in my Political Science class, since basically, for the last 60 years of being an academic field, it's the only theory Political Science has come up with that actually...works ^_^"

Your post makes many good points. You should se me playing Fable II. Although, I think one might say the reason people like to play so heroically and nobly in games is because they're ashamed of how weak-willed and dickish in real life, and want to escape it via a gaming fantasy.

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Well there is that, but I'm a kind of guy that also likes a good dub. Sometimes I'd like to turn on my TV, lay back in my bed, and not have to read fast scrolling text you know?

I grew up with subs, so for me the things are rather slugish. If the dub is good though I will switch. Trigun is one of those shows I prefer to watch dubbed, Vash's voice is infinitely more amusing in English (that, and it's a sci-fi western)

Originally Posted by Tk3997

I’ve always found that a rather lame comeback, for instance Russia was drawn into the war a scant six months before the US. (Unless you count bleeding horribly in power hungry land grabs against nations a tenth there size in cahoots with Hitler as being part of the war). The US was also fighting TWO wars at once so while Britain was straining massively to fight a single battle against Germany (with a pittance directed against the Japanese) the US was engaged in two massive wars involving millions of men on both sides, remove that issue (which the SW Timeline helpfully does) and the US would have had an overwhelming effect very rapidly.

Yes, they were fighting two wars, but it wasn't until that second faction started kicking them that they got involved. In retrospect, this might explain why there are so few Liberion pilots. The Neuroi don't pester Liberion that much if I recall, so 'Pearl Harbor' never happened. Liberion keeps most of its forces on its own borders.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Also for anyone intrested in that the Histroy channel is doing a new series following a number of his battles through out the war, which I sadly managed to forget was starting this Friday and won't be able to see again until it re-airs monday. -_-

I'd love to, but I can't receive History Channel. ;_;

Originally Posted by Tk3997

The problem is the plot has to make some kind of sense and even the biggest of dicks, if they have a shred of reason, will tend to admit if pressed that the US is not that bad. The only way to really make this work would be to go massive AU or into the future in which case it's often not so much the US as "A nation in North America that controls territories like the US, but has little else in common" with it.

Oh yes, and the Russians invading the US in World in Conflict made lots of sense. That aside, the 'US invades countries under the moniker of peace and safety for their resources' isn't all that left-field, considering the US has already done so. Even going as far as lieing to the world and ignoring a UN Veto on the invasion.

No, the US aren't a 'fascist colonial power in disguise' but then again, neither is Russia. Or Japan. And yet nobody seems to have a problem with these countries invading others, even though if we look at current history, most of invading the last couple of decades is done by the US. A game that has the US going for global domination wouldn't be outlandish, it would merely be blowing things out of proportion.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

So would I, but then I'd play nearly any Flight Sim game that wasn't total crap since the genre is so badly neglected nowadays.

I'd like more space sims myself, being the sci-fi junkie I am.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

I'm pretty sure you'd be surprised how very wrong you are on that.

There is a reason beyond mere tradition that 99% of games have you as some kind of hero and 99% of movies are about them. People like doing good things and seeing good people win, people do not like doing bad things and seeing bad people win. Its basic human nature, and to deny it is folly. Even I fall into it as I always tend to play a fairly good guy, and I often don’t even bother with the evil options in a game, and any game that forces me to be evil I tend to dislike.

Red Alert, Command and Conquer, GTA, Yakuza, optionally evil games like KotoR and Fallout... no, I don't think I'm that wrong at all.

Originally Posted by Tk3997

The point is though that whatever a group of people happen to consider "Heroic" is what they're going to write about. We consider rescuing babies, fighting evil rulers, and bringing peace and harmony to the land heroic and so that's what we produce.

I know that, I'm just saying that if for example Modern Warfare 2 comes out, do I have to play the 'brave US soldier saving the world' again? Or am I going to be able to play the brave German soldier? Or the brave Polish soldier?

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Actually it's not just the US really, but Democracies in general for I think a pretty simple reason: Democracies don’t fight Democracies.

The statistical evidence of this is overwhelming: mature liberal democracies will not fight other democracies. This is why the vast majority of examples in which a democratic nation is a villain will involve either A. a small rouge faction or B. a coup or something that renders it autocratic. Since after all if they’re invading or attacking an autocratic state it’s rather hard to paint them as evil in comparison to the guys in charge.

They should do that. I can already see it. Europe conquering the world, preaching to "Spread democracy! You will be free! Rise up for your rights!"

Ahh~ will never happen, but I can dream, can't I?

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Damn whippersnappers! I’ve been perching this for years!

Tanks >>>>>>>>> Mechs in any context besides, to burrow a term from another board I haven't used in awhile, Giant Stair World™.

That's really what I liked most about IGLOO so far, that it showed that Mechs aren't invincible. They're still grossly overpowered compared to their opponents (which is natural, it is a Gundam series after all) but they don't shrug off tons and tons of tank barrages and treat them like chew-toys.

Originally Posted by asaqe

Strawberry Panic Tsubomi. Pic related

Spoiler:

Not much time to shop today, but I'll see what I can do.

[wavehawk]

Originally Posted by Tk3997

Damn whippersnappers! I’ve been perching this for years!

- Unfortunately A-10 Thunderbolt >>>> Tanks. ^_^

Seriously, Herman Yandell does for the Type 61 Tank what Norris Packard did for the Gouf--made a relatively low-end machine that I -personally- wouldn't have bothered with look ABSOLUTELY BADASS.

Oh, back on-topic, A girl of marriageable age here:

[Jiyuu]

The problem is the plot has to make some kind of sense and even the biggest of dicks, if they have a shred of reason, will tend to admit if pressed that the US is not that bad. The only way to really make this work would be to go massive AU or into the future in which case it's often not so much the US as "A nation in North America that controls territories like the US, but has little else in common" with it.

The US going around like superman sweeping in to save the day for purely altruistic reason all the time isn't that realistic, but then the US being a fascist colonial power in disguise is frankly even more outlandish. I forget where I heard the quote, but the one I've always liked when considering national policy:
"Doing something good for selfish reasons doesn't negate having done good."

well, but if you assume the democracy is controlled by large organization, something that capitalism can cause, then its easy to see how "democracies" will be evil.
if you have a country driven by money, it may very well act to get it.
and really, in our days direct "war" is not the only way, you could cause its economy to break and from the shadows appoint some dictator and then "rescue" them for their money.

there are plenty of ways a "democracy" can be nothing more then a tool, after all the masses are simple minded, in the end if you have enough money you can still buy everything, even a seat in the white house.

Actually it's not just the US really, but Democracies in general for I think a pretty simple reason: Democracies don’t fight Democracies.

The statistical evidence of this is overwhelming: mature liberal democracies will not fight other democracies. This is why the vast majority of examples in which a democratic nation is a villain will involve either A. a small rouge faction or B. a coup or something that renders it autocratic. Since after all if they’re invading or attacking an autocratic state it’s rather hard to paint them as evil in comparison to the guys in charge.

wasn't Germany democratic before Hitler rose to power?

sure you could say "but it stopped being one" but really, it could have just as easily stayed a fake democracy.

democracy isn't some magic solution that solves everything.

[wavehawk]

Although it hurts to admit it, Jiryuu is somewhat right in one sense--it doesn't matter what form of government you have, it is dependent on the people to decide whether to accept it (or in the case of WWII Germany, reject it in favor of a new, harsher one). There is no one perfect form of government, and worse still, there is no ideal government for all people.

...this is why I hate politics. I always feel like I need a decontamination unit every time I talk about it.


OK, I think we're all guilty of going too far off-topic now. Maybe we can move those commentaries to another section?

[Tk3997]

Originally Posted by Jiyuu

well, but if you assume the democracy is controlled by large organization, something that capitalism can cause, then its easy to see how "democracies" will be evil.

The closet examples of this I can think of is when democratic governments are overthrown by militant coups, but then the government ceases to be a democracy. Besides even if a "large" organization did somehow take control if it stopped election or restricted them to only a small portion of the population the government would again stop being democratic. If it was elected legitimately and continued to allow large scale free election it would be voted out if it did something people didn’t like and hence it's a non-issue.

if you have a country driven by money, it may very well act to get it.
and really, in our days direct "war" is not the only way, you could cause its economy to break and from the shadows appoint some dictator and then "rescue" them for their money.

*yawns* You think that's new? Shit people have been doing that since ancient times. Although actually breaking economies is counter productive to a capitalist society in most cases as capitalism thrives most in a stable political climate with free flow of goods and information, thus capitalists tend to be some of the people that least like the political instability caused by assassinations, war, revolution etc.

Of course if the guy won't trade at all or is nationalizing stuff without any kind of reimbursement or legal recourse then that can change, but the sorts of guys that do that tend to be either A. Dictators or B. Communists on the way to being Dictators. So normally what happens is you just replace one asshole with an asshole slightly more amendable to your own interests. If the government is really democratic it's often possible to simply leverage legitimate political pressure to change it's policy.

That said there are a very few examples of fairly democratic governments being destroyed in the interest of nation security or the like, but these are not as common as many would have you think.

there are plenty of ways a "democracy" can be nothing more then a tool, after all the masses are simple minded, in the end if you have enough money you can still buy everything, even a seat in the white house.

Sorry, but in this case data and history simply destroys your cynicism. The masses are not as simple minded as some cynics would like you to think and one thing the masses in general don't like is large wars and instability if you give them a say they'll tend to favor not getting into either.

Also in a real democracy being the Chief Executive means little, as the Presidents or Prime Minister (or whatevers) power is extremely limited. As it is in any well put together nation state. This is why he's constantly pandering to congress and others to support is agenda and not just issuing declarations like a king.

wasn't Germany democratic before Hitler rose to power?

Yes before, but there was nothing democratic about it when he was in power.

sure you could say "but it stopped being one"

Because it did the above noted condition is based on true democracies, not dictatorships that brand themselves with the term in a pathetic attempt to attain some kind of legitimacy. Acutally the fact that many of these guys do show just shows how powerful the desire to be seen as democratic IS nowadays.

but really, it could have just as easily stayed a fake democracy.

If it's fake then it's not a democracy is it? As noted this pattern is based on the interactions of truly democratic states, not ones that merely use the name.

democracy isn't some magic solution that solves everything.

It appears to be a fairly magical solutions to large scale inter-state wars as history says they just don't happen between liberal democratic states. Frankly that's not even debatable really as simply looking at history shows you that large scale wars have plummeted in numbers as democracy has risen and that effectively none of them have ever been between democratic states.

Allowing people a say clearly acts as a buffer against rash decisions that can lead to wars, and also keeps mosts crackpots with delusions of grander out of power while allowing legal means to remove the few that do slip through.

Although it hurts to admit it, Jiryuu is somewhat right in one sense--it doesn't matter what form of government you have, it is dependent on the people to decide whether to accept it (or in the case of WWII Germany, reject it in favor of a new, harsher one). There is no one perfect form of government, and worse still, there is no ideal government for all people.

...this is why I hate politics. I always feel like I need a decontamination unit every time I talk about it.

Nothing is perfect, but Democracy is clearly better then anything we've thought up yet which is why it's rapidly becoming the dominant form through out the world, acutally it already is that, so more accurately it's becoming the ONLY accepted form.

[Tiamat's Disciple]

Originally Posted by Tk3997

....acutally it already is that, so more accuractly it's becoming the ONLY accepted form.

And there in is the problem. There is no single right answer, and to force an answer onto another is just as evil as anything else. TBH there are no true democracies in the world, they're all fake pseudo ones.

[grgspunk]

Can we talk about politics somewhere else, please? I really would rather not have to wade through this sort of crap if I'm looking in a discussion topic involving a title that's as lighthearted as Strike Witches.

[Tk3997]

Can we talk about politics somewhere else, please? I really would rather not have to wade through this sort of crap if I'm looking in a discussion topic involving a title that's as lighthearted as Strike Witches.

You have a point, getting too heavy into it will likely just start a fight.

Originally Posted by wavehawk

- Unfortunately A-10 Thunderbolt >>>> Tanks. ^_^

Yes well, but then A-10 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Any kind of absurd 20 meter tall mecha even harder.

Actually A-10>>>>>>>>>>>>> Anything that moves along the ground.

Seriously, Herman Yandell does for the Type 61 Tank what Norris Packard did for the Gouf--made a relatively low-end machine that I -personally- wouldn't have bothered with look ABSOLUTELY BADASS.

That's hardly difficult to do if you put the slightest effort into it. I can't count how many awesome feats of tank badass'itude I've had in video games over the years. It's all in simply giving the tank the same respect you'd give a Mech frankly.

Oh, back on-topic, A girl of marriageable age here:

Spoiler for Big Image is big:

Seen it, and yes I would hit that like a Jet Propelled Freight Train.

Originally Posted by Keroko

I grew up with subs, so for me the things are rather slugish. If the dub is good though I will switch. Trigun is one of those shows I prefer to watch dubbed, Vash's voice is infinitely more amusing in English (that, and it's a sci-fi western)

It's surely a matter of taste based more or less solely on opinion, which is why the sub vs. dub flamewars will never ever end. It's like debating if Purple is a cooler color then Green.

Yes, they were fighting two wars, but it wasn't until that second faction started kicking them that they got involved.

That depends on what you think of as "involed" really by 41 we were merely looking for an excuse and already supplying tons of weapons to the Allies. Hell we even had our own warships escorting merchants and attacking U-boats. In fact a US Destroyer was torpedoed and sunk by a U-Boat during 1941 before war was declared IIRC.

In retrospect, this might explain why there are so few Liberion pilots. The Neuroi don't pester Liberion that much if I recall, so 'Pearl Harbor' never happened. Liberion keeps most of its forces on its own borders.

This seems an extremely tenuous position to me, they were after all more then willing to send an active duty pilot to fight in Suomus. This was considered a backwater and the pilot sent was an idiot true, but they had no obligation to send ANYONE. So if they truly were neutral or just didn’t care why not say to them “not our problem, piss off.”, but they didn’t and seemed to have wanted to at least appear to be helping.

Also if you try to use this argument then you must also ask what the hell Japan gains by sending people and why it’s involved. The US East coast is much closer to Europe then Japan is to ANY of the fighting. Japan also lacks any noticeable national interests in the contested areas. Yet it quickly forms up and ships off large numbers of pilots rather rapidly to the battlezone when the war breaks out.

The US meanwhile is ethnically much closer to Europe with many of its citizens being immigrants from the various threatened nations and it enjoys long and fairly good relations with a number of the threatened powers. This is beyond the simple fact that it would be abundantly clear that the Neuroi are genocidal and will not stop until they wipe out the human race. Taken together it makes the idea that the US would just sit around picking its ass as the Neuroi overrun Europe and the Middle East while Japan dispatches large amounts of military aid seem more then a little asinine.

It also does nothing to explain the profound lack of Russian witches when that nation is apparently the massive front line of the invasion. Then again it's sort of par for the course for the air battles over Russia to be ignored. Most of them were smaller scale and happened between small patrols and such, not as glamorous as a thousand B-17s in staggered formation fending off waves of attack German fighters like some aerial version of the Alamo.

I'd love to, but I can't receive History Channel. ;_;

Too bad.

Oh yes, and the Russians invading the US in World in Conflict made lots of sense.

No that was rather silly, but "Russia Invades Western Europe and starts World War III" is hardly that outlandish a scenario.

That aside, the 'US invades countries under the moniker of peace and safety for their resources' isn't all that left-field, considering the US has already done so.

Again I think this is best avoided discussing current politics is really the path to hell, I think we should drop this now frankly as it's badly OT and extremely likely to start a flame war. So let's agree to disagree I myself will not be responding to anymore posts on this topic.

I'd like more space sims myself, being the sci-fi junkie I am.

Well that genre is just deader then then dead sadly.

Red Alert, Command and Conquer, GTA, Yakuza, optionally evil games like KotoR and Fallout... no, I don't think I'm that wrong at all.

No I'm pretty much certain you are and frankly that list just helps prove my point.

C&C: All the canon endings have GDI win, and some fan fic writers determined to make everything “grimdark” aside GDI is clearly unquestionably the good guys.
RA: The Allies always wins in canon, so the other options effectively didn’t happen so far as Canon is concerned.
GTA: Violence level is variable you are a criminal, but it’s entirely possible to play most of the games with a very minimal amount of pointless violence and more or less kill only other criminals. Certainly there’s almost no logical reason to conduct the kinds of baby killing murder sprees it’s associated with as that actually just makes the game harder.
Yakuza: never heard of it unsurprisingly since it came out like three years ago and seems to have produced exactly zero buzz.
Fallout and KoToR: In both of these even if you were rather “evil” you still ended up killing the big bad and pretty much saving the world (Galaxy) thus making you more anti-hero then villian to my veiw. Besides that though in both of them the good endings are the canon ones as the follow ups can only work if that's the case.

So really what we’ve got is Yakuza (I can’t comment on that so I’ll assume you really are evil), GTA (Sorta to advance the plot you have to do some rather morally ambiguous things, but in theory you could just cruise the streets using it as a driving simulator), and then four games where the good guys win in Canon (All the RA games, 99% of C&C games, Both KoToR games and Fallout 1 and 2). So basically out of the six games you mentioned in four of them the Heroic ending are the "Real" ones which means any evil actions never acutally happened as far as canon is concerned.

I know that, I'm just saying that if for example Modern Warfare 2 comes out, do I have to play the 'brave US soldier saving the world' again? Or am I going to be able to play the brave German soldier? Or the brave Polish soldier?

Probably when Polish and Germans start making games.

Though honestly I’ve always found whining like this a little silly sort of like someone going “How come all the Heroes in Ancient Greek legend are from Greece? How come there aren’t any African or Persian heroes?!” Gee I wonder why… It’s also why despite my grumbling I can kind of understand why Japanese witches are so disproportionably represented in Strike Witches, and don’t mind that much. However the ratio is for my tastes a bit TOO skewed with regards to several nations at the moment in light of it’s supposed historical basis. (Mostly the US and Russia who ironically despite being the two largest powers in the war have a total of three canon witches between them)

Ahh~ will never happen, but I can dream, can't I?

Keep dreaming.

That's really what I liked most about IGLOO so far, that it showed that Mechs aren't invincible. They're still grossly overpowered compared to their opponents (which is natural, it is a Gundam series after all) but they don't shrug off tons and tons of tank barrages and treat them like chew-toys.

Well I frankly knew that already, everyone always seems to forget that for basically 90% of the One Year War the EF had nothing but tanks and planes and such, but was winning anyway.