#Ace Combat good

[judgeanon]

Plastic Skies - Model 11: F-22 Raptor “Mobius-1″

As soon as I had a couple of finished models under my belt, I knew what I wanted my “Final Boss” to be. There was one plane that I really wanted to not just build, but build right; to do the absolute best job I could with it. It took me a while to get there, and there were a few bumps and stops along the road, but in the end I managed to not only build it, but also close the circle of what had inspired me to start modelling again.

It was time to become an Ace. Or at least try.

So, the F-22 Raptor. I love that thing.

Everything about it is just cool as fuck to me. Its shape, silhouette, hidden weapon bays, everything. It's just square and sharp enough to look futuristic while still having enough curves to still look like a fighter jet and not some jank spaceship.

The other reason why I love the Raptor is Novalogic’s old F-22 RAPTOR flight sim from 1997. At the time, and for a long time, it was the best flight game I’d ever played, looking and feeling lightyears ahead of any other flight game at the time. Even if the Raptor has famously never been in any actual combat or downed any enemy planes (which as far as I’m concerned is the best thing that can happen to any weapon), it’s sure seen a lot of virtual warfare. Especially in another series...

The thing about Ace Combat is that I’d never really played them until a bit under a year ago. As I mentioned when I started this series, I knew they existed and I’d had a few close brushes with them, but I’d never sat down and played any until Ace Combat 7, which promptly blew my mind. Soon, through the power of emulators, I made my way through every single game in the series. And one of the things I noticed was that every Ace Combat is actually two games in one: there’s the game before you unlock the F-22 Raptor and the game after.

In pretty much every Ace Combat, the Raptor is a late-game unlock, and always one of the best. It’s faster, moves better, and just using it feels like dropping the difficulty level down at least one. On top of that, it’s been featured in the covers of a lot of them, including the very first home release:

So playing through the series really reignited my love for the damn thing, to say the least. And when I entered the hobby shop for the first time and spotted that Revell kit up there, I knew I was going to end up building one sooner or later. But I held off for months, building other models, learning every technique I cared ot try and accumulating an arsenal of tools. Along the way, I also ran into something wonderful: an eBay listing for a decal sheet full of emblems from Ace Combat, including everything I could need to build not just any Raptor, but THE Raptor. Mobius-1′s Raptor from Ace Combat 04.

As it turned out, there had been an official AC04 Raptor model kit released some years ago, and while getting my hands on one was out of the question, the instructions were easy to find online. Turns out the model used the exact same mold as the Revell one, and the instructions included a color guide that helped me find the exact shades of gray used on the official thing. You’ve actually seen that gray paint in my F-16 and Fairey Swordfish models. It’s not the easiest paint to work with, but I was happy to have it and the decals. Between them, I had everything I really needed... except the model itself.

Unfortunately, 2023 didn’t have the best of starts for me, especially when it came to money. Long story short, my job started paying me late. Like, very late. Insultingly late. “Three months late” late. Although my family generously loaned me enough cash to make it through, it was a very upsetting era of getting paid, spending a third of it paying last month’s debts, then having to stretch what was left for two months until I got paid again and the cycle started again. It’s why I’m deeply indebted not just to my family, but also to the friend who sent me those old WWII models I posted about last time, since the frustration of having all these tools and nothing to use them on was really getting to me.

Eventually, in early March, I finally got paid and after clearing up a bunch of leftover debts, I said “Fuck it”. Whatever else was going on in my life, I decided I needed something to do other than worrying about money. The price of the kit had gone up since the last time I’d seen it, which was frustrating but also made the decision to buy it even easier. Get it now, before inflation made it any harder to grab. Unlike every other plane I’d built so far, I told nothing about it to my family. A part of me felt terribly guilty about it. Where did I get off, buying toy planes when less than two weeks ago I was asking my brother for grocery money? It was childish, irresponsible, and at the time, utterly necessary. I was increasingly feeling like I would go insane if I waited one more day.

Unfortunately, I’d still end up waiting one more week to really get started, since just as the kit arrived, my mom invited my brother and I to a short vacation trip. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to finish the kit, but by then I was so upset by the whole thing that I nonetheless spent an afternoon focused purely on the tailfins. Stupid as it sounds, I just... really needed it.

The trip was fine. Good times were had, new places were explored, mountains were hiked, and I can’t say I hated it or anything. But the closer we got to the end, the more I remembered those two tailfins drying out alone and the other 114 parts I hadn’t touched yet. It was late at night when I finally got back home, and that night I set everything up to get started first thing in the morning.

Unfortunately, that morning I woke up to a pretty troubling phone call. My dad had some health issues, and ten minutes later I was hailing a cab to go ride an ambulance with him to the hospital. I left home at around 9 AM that day, and only got back at 7:30 PM. He’s safe now and made a full, if lengthy recovery, but the days and weeks of having to be ready to drop everything and rush to the hospital to check on him quickly became grating. As with the trip, I found myself living for someone else, putting everything else I wanted to do on hold for the sake of others.

It didn’t last long. Once I was sure dad was out of danger and comfortable in the hospital, and once the rest of the family had started mobilizing to help, I once again said “Fuck it” and finally dove right into the Raptor, making it my personal anchor, a little thing I was making just for myself and nobody else.

The build started alright, but quickly ran into some trouble. A few of the parts were a hard fit, and the fuselage had gotten bent and warped a little in the box. Plus, I figured painting some of it would be a pain once the whole thing had been built, so I started painting some pieces as I went along. Which was absolutely the right choice, but it meant a fair bit of stop and go.

Something I did decide early on was to go “wheels up” with this one, not doing the landing gears. I figured an Ace Combat plane would be best displayed in flight, all weapons at the ready. I’m glad I made that call, because the build was already giving me enough headaches without the wheels.

Those little edges across the plane’s contour were particularly troublesome, since they required a lot of masking tape to work. I’m not terribly good at masking yet, and if you compare the two sides of the plane, you can tell. Still, it really was nice to see everything finally taking shape.

I also skimped on the armaments a little. The kit came with tons of decals for all the missiles, but I have a lot of trouble with the little stripe ones that usually go on them, and doing it for eight different missiles was daunting to say the least. I knew that alone was going to be a whole day’s worth of work. So I decided to save myself the trouble and just leave them like that.

The camo pattern, by comparison, was surprisingly easy to pull off. Using the paint guide from the official model, a couple of fine brushes and some very good gray paint, I did a much better job of it than the poor F-16.

The decals were a similar story. Funny enough, they actually came from three different sheets: the Raptor’s own, the Ace Combat one I’d bought off eBay, and that white marking in the center, which points to the Raptor’s fuel tank. Real Raptors use a different marking nowadays, but the one from Ace Combat 04 used this older model, which I got from the F-16′s sheet. In fact, that decal sheet was one of the reasons why I’d bought that specific F-16. By then I’d already decided to build Mobius-1, and I knew I’d be able to use that decal to give it that final touch.

Speaking of final touches, the panel lining also went shockingly well. This is one of the things I’ve gotten way better at, no longer having to rely on the sludge technique or anything. It’s still tricky and time consuming, but I can’t deny how much it improves a model, even when done sloppily. I also went and bought a box of transparent orange paint just for the cockpit, which in hindsight is... a little nuts. I have no idea what else I could possibly use that paint for, but I didn’t want this to be just another kit.

I left the weapon bays for last. Truth be told, I was a little terrified of them. Lots of small parts, two of which actually broke during the build and had to be tossed out. The end result is by no means perfect, and one of the side missiles is completely wrong, but by now I’ve learned to accept the small imperfections and let go of the things I can’t really fix (or am too scared to try). All poetry and self-improvement aside, I was squarely in that “let me just finish this” moment.

(It’s a good thing that I got the weapon bays done well too, because without a landing gear and a stand base, the plane currently rests on the bay doors. I should probably do something about that soon...)

Through the whole process, I still felt a few pangs of guilt over building this while dad was in the hospital. He wasn’t at risk or anything and I still made time to go see him, but there was enough shame to it that I didn’t really show the finished plane to any family member until about a week ago. And even then, I didn’t tell them when exactly I built it. As far as they know, I just willed it into existence in a couple days. It’s a terribly selfish thing to think, but after putting myself on hold for the sake of others in so many ways while also dealing with being routinely ignored by my work, having this one thing to make was important to me.

Eventually, the Raptor was finished. There’s a lot in it. Decals from three different sheets, paints and washes from about five different brands, a lot of material in general. There’s also a lot of me in it. Kid me, playing a 90s flight sim on an old Pentium and clumsily putting together cheap kits with cheaper glue, and adult me, falling hopelessly in love with a decades-old game series and comparing paint numbers to make sure I have the right shade of gray for the job. There’s some guilt and shame in it, but also pride and satisfaction. Even if I never built any other plane kits, I at least now had my Raptor. Not just a Raptor, or the Raptor, but my Raptor. With everything that entails.

(Also, you can’t understand how much I adore that the stabilizers are movable)

Things are getting better now. Dad’s way healthier and I’ve managed to more or less stabilize my finances, while also getting close to some new job offers. But for about a week, when everything else was a whirlwind of anxiety, this chunk of painted plastic was as good of an anchor as any. And I’m happy to say it’s not, in fact, the last kit I’ve made.

#My Stuff #Hobbies #Journals #This one gets a little personal too #Planes good #Ace Combat good #That's about all that really matters #Find some time for yourself

[pepperpepperz]

if being a fool was illegal 👮🚔🚓⛓️ she would be a law abiding citizen

[ID: a digitally coloured sketch of Franziska Von karma, from ace attorney. she has a different outfit. instead of a miniskirt, her vest turns into a tailcoat at the bottom, and she wears white pants. she also wears grey and yellow riding boots. the piece has a greenish hue. Franziska puts one hand on her hip, and gestures in the air with the other. she looks annoyed. the background is green and dark green, with a red X that lines up with Franziska's left shoulder. the ground is also red./End ID.]

#this started out as “man Franziska should have combat boots.” and then “that doesn't look good with her miniskirt. #why does she even have a miniskirt?“ and then ended with me researching horseriding fashion. enjoy! #ace attorney #aa fanart #aa #aa franziska #franziska ace attorney #franziska von karma #fvk #has id #ace attorney fanart

[omineptune]

#ace combat #ace combat zero #tarot #my art #bit of a remake/redo/redux/whatever #old ones still good just wanted to make my own #almost forgot to post this one lmao. made it like.. a month or so ago #oopsy

[sheepalmighty]

The final sacrifice

This piece that remained incomplete for a few years but I decided to work on recently looks godawful but I thought I'd upload it anyway. I enjoyed getting lost painting little details here and there. I also have many thoughts and feelings about ACZ that I hope I've partly conveyed here.

Closeups just 'cos:

And I really liked how I drew Galm-Cipher in the original sketch I made so I'm including it here too (unfortunately small because I didn't keep the original sized one):

#ace combat zero #ac0 #acz #larry foulke #larry pixy foulke #tw blood #cw blood #tw injury #cw injury #can never tell how to draw this guy #it took me a while to find some good photos of the back of a flight suit with everything but ended up going with that up there anyway #garm's supposed to be a blood covered beast so the emblem having him be red is supposed to represent that i guess #but why not paint more blood on him for fun and emphasis #its a monster right so i dont have to get the anatomy super right right? #wanted to finish this so i could focus on the other thing im working on #felt meh for a long time and recent stuff doesnt help but im happy to have spent time on this #i know everything i draw is for myself but this one is totally something just for me #'tis mine

[babycharmander]

people will write the most aphobic or amatonormative essays on creativity or media in general and other folks will link it around like it's the most Beautiful and True thing that has Ever been Written and it's just something like

"more children's media needs to show characters having sex"

or "art is only good if it involves fetishes and is written by intensely sexual people because liking sex is normal and not being interested in sex is not and makes your writing Extremely Boring and Bad"

or "media that shows muscular or thin people is so sad because it will make other people want to be muscular or thin and then that will lower their libido and they will not be able to enjoy sex which is more important than health"

like are people... actually reading what these essays are saying or

#negative nonsense #sorry some weirdo linked to one of these essays in response to a post a friend of mine made #and it never ceases to amaze me how people think the world must revolve around sex #to the point where only Good Art/Media/Writing/Whatever involves sex #and if it does not involve sex it is Not Good #like my bros my dudes please goodness gracious sakes alive #understand that some people exist........ who are not interested in sex #and they're not unhealthy or anything they just!!! are not interested!!! #and they don't want to include it in their works!!! #and that works don't have to include sex or fetishes to be good!!! #like I get that you're combating sex negativity but don't like stomp on sex repulsed or asexual people in doing so??? #(I am asexual for the record please do not come at me for stereotyping ace people as not liking sex) #(I am ace and sex repulsed please let me exist and stop trying to tell me I am a bad writer/artist for who I am)

[cookiekurimu]

A shoulder to lean on

Art by cookie

#fanart #Ace Combat 7 #Trount #Trigger #Count #I was losing myself when I was drawing this because I was thinking that #We all see Trigger as a dangerous war machine but really he's just as human as we are and he feels emotions and struggles with many things #but only Count understands and provides him a sanctuary he needs #SORRY IM RAMBLING 😭😭😭😭 #tis a good stress-reliever sketch now I'm less stressed wwwww

[caltria]

We love to see AC fans coming over to AC, even though AC6 Fires of something something exists but now we also have AC6 Fires of something something

No really, I think it's funny 😄

#ace combat #armored core #Daily reminder anyone in either series voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch is not in for a good time #Only Grimm gets away with it somewhat

[mt10lt20]

AC 0/6/7 AU - Faes & Monsters. Good omens [Demon of Ustio & Angel of Emmeria]

Truce.

#ace combat #ace combat zero #ace combat 6 #Cipher #Talisman #Cannot shake how strong the #Angel and Demon #trope is with these two #Closet fan of #Good Omens #In this AU I think they somewhat have Crowley and Aziraphale moments #If these two have Good Omens vibes Trigger is totally the Antichrist #Supposed to be a sketch hence the pencil outlines but ended up coloured

[tomc4t]

Snarky and sarcastic side characters that are so obviously in love with the main character are the best thing that has ever happened in the history of gay ppl.

Malik Al Sayf from assassins creed

Count from Ace combat 7

Crowley from Good Omens (he’s not a side character but still)

Shaun Hastings, also from assassins creed

Hangman from Top Gun Maverick

Iceman too

The best part is they go through their little arcs and admit “hey maybe you’re not so bad after all” and then they kiss (in my mind and in my Google docs)

#reblog with your silly little guys #lgbtq #ace combat 7 #count #assassins creed #malik al sayf #shaun hastings #good omens #crowley #top gun #hangman #iceman

[mossyflowers]

Okay u know what I'm not cleaning this up but still throwing it out because I think it's cool

#ace combat #ace combat zero #cipher ace combat #pixy ace combat #there's so much symbolism thrown into this that i might ramble abt later but we'll see #but yea just like. smth smth being stabbed in the back and being forced to stab them in turn. mutually assured destruction #somethin about angels and bringing salvation (like the reckoning) and demons taking that away. forcing people to stay on earth and 'suffer' #okay i think i need to stop talking before i go insane but yeah i've been having so much fun #more and more tempted to post my fic here everyday because people keep saying it's good #<- the fic is about these two dorks btw. it isnt some random unrelated fic lmao

[butchers-broom]

there’s a hundred reasons fromsoft games have such allure but after finally getting into AC:VI I feel so spoiled by them. game full of amoral freaks who all think they’re in the right. I beat my first playthrough then went back to Ace Combat 04 and only felt a deep longing for freaks.

#and for the record ace combat 4 is VERY good despite the tail end sucking ass #armored core

[eddiebrockx]

My Cipher design. He has a name but I won’t share just yet.

Also enjoy these whiteboard doodles I made along with my friend @mossyflowers 💚

#it’s very sweet stuff because the ending caused me psychic damage #in a good way #ace combat zero #solo wing pixy #demon lord of the round table #cipher #also context for the one about the degrees #my cipher is mute and uses sign language #this game ate me alive so…expect more ig 😭

[minimorgana]

Currently picturing the Drew crew playing dnd and it’s a very nice image

Who do you think would dm???

#personally I think Ace or Bess(!) #Nick would be get really into character I’m not wrong #George would be really good at combat #Ryan would be a guest player for one session #nancy drew cw #nancy drew #nancy drew headcanon

[teecupangel]

Hey, sssooooo... this isn't something I usually do but I thought, what the hell, it's my birthday anyway.

If you have the time, would you consider listening to...

Ace Combat The Symphony 25th Anniversary?

This link is for all the music portion of the video only.

And if you reaaaalllyyy have the time (or maybe you're at work or something), maybe listen to the awesome music of the Xenoblade series?

#yeah that's right #i'm trying to convert you guys to liking xenoblade and ace combat music #look at least i didn't put a link to the trails compilation that's like 6 hours long #or the full xenoblade 3 ost that's 11 hours long #anyway hope you guys are having a good Monday today :) #Youtube

[l-crimson-l]

I’m so glad Ace Combat was one of my favorite games as a kid. Honestly they were/are such fantastic games but the Music is what really set these a step above. Like take a few minutes to look up a couple of the final missions where the music is at its peak.

Gundam has similar composition I think and I think thats part of why I just can’t give too much of a shit about western media. It just doesn’t elevate the media on screen to the same level. Anyway do yourself a favor and

Here

You

Go

#ace combat #yes I’m listening to tracks again #and wow Koboyashi can make a Damn good soundtrack

[cookiekurimu]

MY AT PIECE FOR @39fuwas ❤️❤️❤️

Thank you for the opportunity *sobs*

#fanart #ace combat #ace combat 6 #ilya pasternak #ANIKIIII #or daddy???? #ALSO 39FUWAS DREW ME MY HC DESIGN OF TRIGGER IN TURN #idk if I should upload it myself or perhaps he wants to upload it himself aaaaaa #🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈 #HIS DRAWING IS SO GOOD TOO *cries*