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This is part of a series analyzing newly discovered Wing Commander IV continuity photographs. You can find the previous posts collected here.

Last Thanksgiving, we wrote about a Polaroid of Moose and how the character represented three different people at once: the actor who played him in a cutscene, the member of the development team whose name and photograph were used for his wingman selection screen and finally the member of the Playstation team whose name replaced them in that port. Now, we've found a polaroid that represents FOUR different people! Meet Miner.

Unraveling the Polaroid meant once again dealing with a small problem: Miner is in full Confederation fighter pilot costume (next to the nose of the famous Confederation shuttle set!) and so his face isn't very visible. Luckily, the "Mike" and "Confed Pilot" scribbled at the bottom were enough to move the needle: the game's printed credits do

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Wing Commander Armada comes with one of the greatest game manuals in history, an all-the-more impressive achievement given Origin prided themselves on producing wonderful lore material. That manual is Voices of War, a fascinating and evocative look at both sides of the Terran-Kilrathi conflict. For a game with very little internal narrative it's impressive that Armada's lore manual has been so massively influential on the rest of the Wing Commander universe. But Armada had TWO similarly sized manuals! Voices of War is dedicated only to world building while a second Play Guide offered all the details on how to actually interface with the game. It was only ever available digitally in an ancient 'VEBE' format which does not open with any kind of modern viewer. For whatever reason, GOG did not bother to include a copy with their release. Not having access to a copy hasn't been a huge problem for Wing

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is part of a series analyzing newly discovered Wing Commander IV continuity photographs. You can find the previous posts collected here.

We're stepping away from flight suits for today's Wing Commander IV Polaroid post. What we have here is something intriguing: a young woman in a non-standard uniform with a nametag that reads "LOATS". The picture is labeled only "Com. Specialist" and features no visible insignia patches, making this one an interesting challenge... or not, because despite two typos the start to our seach is right in the manual connected right to the text under the photo: "Circle V Comm. Specialist - Saxon Trainer". The 'Circle V' must actually be 'Circe V', an embattled planet you (optionally) visit midway through the game and a short Google search revealed that "Saxon Trainer" is really Saxon TRAINOR.

Who, then, is LOATS? If you tend to side with Panther over Hawk then you may

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Independent presidential candidate Zachary Rackham held a gala ball for some of the Federation's wealthy and influential elite.
The Federal Times published a report from political correspondent Sofia Trevino:
"The extravagant gathering at Fort Rackham (formerly Fort Falkenrath) on Taylor Colony felt more like a party than a fundraiser, but its ambitions were clear. Campaign finance laws forbid Zachary Rackham from using his own wealth to pay for his presidential bid, and so connections are being forged to entice donations and other types of support."
"Mr Rackham's campaign manager – and the originator of his 'Just Like Me' slogan – was revealed to be celebrity PR consultant Anya Blackriver. She organised many famous attendees including media barons Elias Metaxas and Neive McFarlane, the youthful but popular ICE-caster Sura Oyekan, and flamboyant business magnate 'Sir' Randolph Plaskett of

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The Wing Commander Orchestral Recording Project LP project is now LIVE on Indiegogo! Supercade Press has put together the album in several beautiful editions of George Oldziey's album with a range of other cool swag that ranges from t-shirts to original artwork by Howard Day (plus stickers, a post card set and a tote bag)! The campaign page includes everything from a documentary video to samples of the music to a detailed look at all of the options. There are also two higher tiers offering test pressings and an invite to a listening party. But you'd better get those fast, as they're in extemely short supply! Pledge here and let's give the industry a little reminder that Wing Commander is still beloved.

The album is being offered in three different editions:

Standard Edition with 180g Classic Black Vinyl

This open edition includes a single-pocket jacket featuring crosshair cover art by Van Burnham with

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Aegis has requested materials in the YZ Ceti system to mass-produce a defence for ships entering the Maelstroms.
Professor Alba Tesreau, head of the tri-superpower agency, announced the initiative at a press conference:
"Final tests have been conducted on the Thargoid pulse neutraliser, which offers ships a brief window of insulation from the energy wave encountered inside a Maelstrom. Their primary components are based on unclassified relics, which are created by interfacing Guardian artefacts with Thargoid surface sites. Ram Tah and Professor Palin have donated some of their research supplies to this project."
"Aegis has been assigned a generous budget to purchase large quantities of cobalt, ion distributors and power converters. These will be used to create a manufacturing and distribution base, making the Thargoid pulse neutraliser commercially available on all

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The Deluxe vinyl pressing of the WING COMMANDER score has launched! As of this writing, the project has hit almost $3,000, 19% of the total goal. That's a great start, but we'd like to see it higher. Stay tuned for more background and plans for how you can join in on celebrating the campaign in the coming days. For now, we're happy to report that several additional pledge tiers have been added based on folks' responses on the first day: a $150 "Collector's Trio" that comes with all three versions of the album, a $200 "Collectors Trio Deluxe" that has all three versions with the bonus swag and an alite tier $2500 "Dead Wax Dedication" option that will allow one backer to choose what appears on the record's dead wax. If you aren't familiar with this record term, check out this article for details. Basically, it's a chance to insert a sort of Easter egg that will appear on every record manufactured!

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We've come across a small treasure today: extracts from a 1994 textbook about game development called The Magic of Interactive Entertainment by Mike Morrison. The book includes a lot of introductory information about building games (some of which is still very accurate!) and an entire chapter focused on the development of Privateer! There's a lot of interesting information here, from sales figures for some of the different games to some never-before-noted details about how Privateer came together. First up is an overview of the Wing Commander series and the work that went into it:

Next is the Privateer chapter, which is truly fascinating:

And we end on a short section covering Wing Commander Academy:

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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

A warning about entering the Maelstroms has been offered by Seo Jin-ae, whose unique cortical implant offers glimpses into the Thargoid hive mind.
Aden Tanner, who is currently working with Aegis, released a personal statement:
"Seo Jin-ae approached me in a state of distress shortly after the first tests of the Thargoid pulse neutraliser. She claimed that, as the probes passed through Taranis's energy wave, she perceived a change among the Thargoid voices. 'Like being woken up by insect bites,' was how she described the sensation."
"'The Thargoids aren't as oblivious to our tests as it sometimes seems,' she told me. I pressed her for more details, but there was only one thing she was convinced about: 'They understand we've found a way to push deeper into the Maelstrom. They know we're coming.'"
"Now, this might mean nothing at all, and it's not verifiable data. But it prompted Professor

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Good Old Games is running a variety of new sales, and there latest discount is marking down the Wing Commander series by 75%! The theme revolves around games that are 10+ years old. This is an especially welcome event because GOG skipped the WC games in their big Spring Sale last month. Cheap Wing Commander is always a big hit, so we're glad folks get another chance to grab the franchise on the cheap. You can fill out your digital collection via the links below. Grab them before the end of the weekend!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is part of a series analyzing newly discovered Wing Commander IV continuity photographs. You can find the previous posts collected here.

Today we're giving you two Polaroids for the price of one! What's going on here? You're seeing two different pirate characters--Pirate and Pirate Ace--played by the same actor for their video loops. In the game, these appear as a total of six different video loops (three for each) that can have any pirate dialogue played over them (taunts, death screams, etc.). We can't confirm that the voice work, recorded later, was actually the credited actor, Todd Kimsey (despite being labeled 'Pirate #4' on both Polaroids, he's listed as only Pirate in the game's credits and no others appear in live action footage.) It's amazing how the amount of costume work you see in those photos ultimately becomes about five seconds of monochrome footage that ends up intentionally

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The crowdfunding campaign for the Deluxe vinyl pressing of the WING COMMANDER score is in full swing, and the project has now passed 25% of its goal with more than $3800 pledged so far. To get even more fans to join in on the excitement, if a few more people add to the total this weekend and get us over $5000, LOAF will do a live Wing Commander Movie commentary.

The Wing Commander vinyl record campaign is at 25%! To sweeten the pot in absolutely no way, I’ll do a Twitter Space watch-along of the movie if we get to $5k this weekend.

The $75 Deluxe Edition seems to be the most popular so far, but a standard LP is just $35! Learn more about the project here.

Supercade's exclusive new LP editions of the Wing Commander Orchestral Recording Project will mark the first time George Oldziey's orchestral score is available on vinyl. Working with a celebrated independent record press, we'll be sure these records

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One of my favorite things to discover is early previews for Privateer 2: The Darkening, especially those from the press junkets that occurred before the game added a '2' or even a 'Privateer' to the title. Today we've collected two more of these pieces for the archive. Privateer 2 had so much world building early in development and there's so much we've never seen... it can often eke out of the corners of these previews! Additionally, Privateer 2's team was always willing to provide reporters with a plethora of screenshots from their current build which has led to a lot of interesting differences noted in retrospect. More on that in a moment! But first, here's an excellent French preview of 'The Darkening' from the July 1996 issue of Génération 4. This would've been based on the game's showing at E3 that year (the first major reporting happened the previous year during the film shoot).

We also have

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is part of a series analyzing newly discovered Wing Commander IV continuity photographs. You can find the previous posts collected here.

When we picked up the Wing Commander IV Polaroids this was one I was sure we'd never figure out. It wasn't labeled and the picture wasn't especially clear. She could be a patron in the bar on Nephele (few of whom are visible!), a reporter or a politician from the Assembly scenes... or anywhere else! It turns out I did not need to fear: she's actually a character with a fairly major scene... the comm officer who sends a distress message from the Telamon System. Blair and Sosa listen in horror as she reveals the Black Lance attack:

If you can hear this, it might not be too late. Unmarked ships are attacking and many people are dying! We know planet FT957 is far from any other colony, but, if you have any Humanity, please, send help immediately! Otherwise, our world

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Aegis's new module will allow ships to penetrate the energy wave protecting the central regions of the Maelstroms.
Deliveries of cobalt, ion distributors and power converters were made to Clement Orbital in the YZ Ceti system. These allowed Aegis to build a manufacturing and distribution centre for Thargoid pulse neutralisers, which can now be purchased from technology brokers on rescue megaships.
Professor Alba Tesreau released a statement regarding Aegis's next steps:
"Combined with our caustic sink launcher, the Thargoid pulse neutraliser will enable explorers to travel through the Maelstroms' corrosive clouds and into their cores. A small number of Aegis researchers will be among the first wave of pioneers. Their mission is to identify the source of these mysterious objects and gather data about its nature."
"I am conscious that, once again, independent pilots

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Aegis has confirmed that the first ships equipped with Thargoid pulse neutralisers have entered the inner regions of the Maelstroms.
The new module provides a temporary shield against the electromagnetic pulse that is generated when ships reach a certain point within the Maelstroms. Until now, this has prevented all attempts to identify what Thargoid constructs may exist within the caustic clouds.
Rear Admiral Daniel Parry, the Federal Navy's liaison to Aegis, reported:
"Armed ships crewed by military and xenology specialists have now been sent into each Maelstrom. These pathfinder missions will attempt to gather as much tactical and environmental data as possible."
"We have also received information from Commanders who returned intact from the Maelstroms' core areas. We are unable to authenticate these accounts at present, but they are being collated and analysed. The Allied, Federal and

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Here's a grand revisit to some of John Nelson's recent Lego creations. The first couple images show the combined fleet of human fighters. His faithful interpretations of the Broadsword, Ferret, Lance/Dragon, Rapier, Thunderbolt, Hornet, Arrow, Longbow, Avenger and Scimitar are all there. He's also in the process of reimagining a couple of his Kilrathi designs. His Darket and Strakha have been rebuilt with darker brown and mustard-toned bricks to more closely mimic the color schemes of Wing Commander 3. That's some wonderful dedication to the cause!

I got more brownish colored bricks and swapped out the Darket and nearly rebuilt and beefed up the Strahka. I hope you like them. Look for a new model that I submit to Chris soon.

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Today we've got a stunning pair of wallpapers that Mac recently put together with Klavs' models. These would look fabulous in the center of a pair of monitors and would look even better if you have a vertically oriented display. They would also work perfectly as your phone's background or lock screen image. Each one is beautiful, but as a pair, they are perfect together!

Hey Kids, Jedi Survivor issues got you down? How about you revisit the other scifi universe Mark Hamill played a major part in where he flew down a trench to destroy a planet sized object that resulted in the good guys winning? - Wing Commander .

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Reports from planetary settlements within Thargoid-occupied systems have described alien drone vessels attacking on-foot personnel.
Field correspondent Ernesto Rios summarised this development for Vox Galactica:
"Scores of populated systems in the vicinity of the Maelstroms have been invaded by Thargoid fleets, causing horrific casualties and mass evacuations. But military personnel still risk their lives exploring settlements within those systems, to search for survivors or scavenge remaining materials."
"These troops have come under attack by 'airborne vehicles of Thargoid design', according to one account. Their relatively small size suggests they are the equivalent of combat drones. 'I've seen them patrol the abandoned settlements as if on guard duty,' said one eyewitness, 'and become extremely hostile when they detect any living humans.'"
"It seems that the Thargoids now view these

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here at the CIC, we're super lucky to have quite a few fan artists who are also professional 3D modelers in their day jobs. But everyone has to start somewhere, and we're also big supporters of Wingnuts who are just dabbling in these types of subjects. On that note, here are some early attempts at the TCS Tiger's Claw by Rictheron. He only first started learning to model last month, so I'd say these are a pretty cool first effort! He's shared these early renders in order to get some feedback from the community. And while he might be new to modeling, he's been visiting the CIC for a couple decades, so head over to the CIC Forums to let him know what you think!