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Again, it should be pretty obvious that this is a photo from the set and not a frame from the movie. But it did get me thinking about Tchéky Karyo headshots...

This picture shows up as a lobby card and in other promotional material... but it turns out it's NOT the same as the headshot that's used in the movie!

But here's some neat continuity: that in universe one DOES match the photo in the Confederation Handbook for Paladin's psychological profile.

I also checked the archive of the movie's official site, which had this little bit of lore we've saved all these years. A third photo!

... but here's another great touch: the signature on the letter at the movie site matches the one used for a letter he authored in the Handbook! Now THAT is attention to detail.

On a separate note, Mr. Karyo was born in Turkey, which suffered a terrible earthquake this week. You can help donate to relief efforts in Turkey and

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*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
A successful initiative to hold the California Nebula against Thargoid invasion has succeeded, for now at least.
Systems recently invaded by Thargoid fleets were protected by a militia organised by the Kumo Council, the criminal syndicate's ruling authority in the enclave. But an attempt to assume control of the region's ports has been surprisingly repelled by opponents of Delaine.
The Pegasi Sentinel reported on the situation:
"There can be no doubt that Archon Delaine takes the security of the California Nebula seriously. Many lives were saved thanks to his decisive actions. A Kumo Crew anti-xeno militia is already being considered for future Thargoid attacks."
"Local residents remain wary of Delaine's reputation, however. Security forces deployed to local ports have been driven out, with communities apparently unconvinced by claims of 'emergency security

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Maxi de Sokar has come across another vintage Wing Commander article from the Spanish press. This one is preview of Wing Commander 3 from Issue 78 of Micromanía. It features the wacky Spanish art and early engine screenshots. I always say that you don't have to speak the language to appreciate the artistic and historic merit of scans like these, but I also included a Google Translation to help convey a bit more of what they're saying. As you might expect, they really play up the size and scale - from shipping on multiple (ultimately four rather than two) CDs and featuring a big budget live shoot. It's really hard to recreate the sense of how mind blowing all of this was to gamers in 1994, but this gives you an idea!

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Dominus of Exult is back with another neat Wing Commander collectible find! It's a copy of WC1 localized for Poland. There are several fascinating elements. The blue box denotes the 'deluxe edition' that would normally include both Secret Missions, although the presence of just three disks implies the expansions are not included (unless there are missing disks). Various documentation bits have been translated, including a copy of Claw Marks. Especially cool are the non-graphical blueprints. They're just glossy blue fold-outs with stats! You would have needed them for the copy protection, but omitting the fighter diagrams is an interesting choice.

Found another odd WC in Poland. Slide cover, 3 floppies, even got the blueprints specs translated but no actual blueprints

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Anti-authoritarian protests have surged in the Alliance, Empire and Federation with governments accused of responsibility for Thargoid hostility.
Vox Galactica's political correspondent Conrad Sterling published a special report:
"The xeno-peace movement, which originally advocated diplomatic relations with the Thargoids, lost a lot of momentum following the arrival of the Maelstroms. But some former members are blaming Allied, Federal and Imperial leaders for allowing the war to escalate, with profits from corporate arms deals seen as the motive."
"Timothy Culver, once a spokesperson for the Thargoid Advocacy Project, believes that conflict was always the superpowers' policy. 'They knew the Proteus Wave would trigger an aggressive reaction from the Thargoids,' he claims – without providing evidence, it should be noted. 'Shareholders in the military/industrial complex always make a fortune

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StarvingPilot shared this nice catch from a recent watch of Die Hard 2. A techie console from the film appears to be a perfect match to a console aboard the TCS Midway. It's the one that Lance Casey taps on after his missions. There's probably a ton of things like this out there! Companies like Modern Props widely supply futuristic machinery and gizmos to all manner of movies, television shows and game shoots. If anyone spots any other crossovers like this, let us know!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Alliance Assembly has voted to make a contribution to Aegis if the agency is reformed by the three superpowers.
Prime Minister Edmund Mahon made an official announcement:
"Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval's change of heart regarding anti-xeno collaboration has triggered swift action from Alliance systems. The Assembly has re-appraised a bill proposed last November by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Corcoran, seeking to approve Aegis's reformation. A majority vote has now passed that bill."
"The Alliance will therefore commit ships, resources and personnel to a collaborative anti-xeno agency. We will also share Thargoid-related intelligence and scientific data to a central database shared with the Empire and Federation."
"The strategic defence pact with Sirius Corporation remains in effect, and the company continues to work with us on protecting Allied systems."
It has been suggested that Li

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It's time for a new poll, and we've got a fun one here. LOAF recently put together a neat comparison of all the Wing Commander Academy ships alongside their game counterparts. It's a really stunning visual! Today's survey asks which one you think made the best transition from the PC to television. Make your pick below:

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The last poll was our annual evaluation of what people think the year ahead will be like. I think it's a surprisingly positive result! It's still early, and already we've got exciting things like the vinyl album on the horizon. Of course, the community is what we make it, and we can all help make the year great!

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What a nice way to start the weekend! Klavs has wrapped up the texturing on his updated Ferret model. There are two variants. One is a familiar paint scheme based on what you might find in WC2/In-System Security. There's also a more muted gray set in End Run/the TCS Tarawa. They make a potent pair!

Calling this done for now.

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Mac is back with his biggest, baddest and most epic Lore Video yet! In recent months he's covered several adjacent topics such as the Broadsword Bomber and TCS Johnny Greene, which have helped set the stage for the main event: Wing Commander End Run. If you've read the novel, you know the story. The video starts out as the mother of all book reports, but it's much more than that! Mac uses a variety of WC2 talking head models and backdrops to convey the character interaction. He's also built a huge library of animations to visualize the story's fleet actions and fighter combat. It's quite a tremendous package. Block out some time and watch below!

The Terran Confederation is losing the war against their long time enemies, the Kilrathi Empire. What follows becomes the tale of "The Little Escort Carrier that Could", aka The "End Run".

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
The Kumo Crew is marshalling the defence of the California Nebula by offering rewards for eliminating Thargoid vessels.
The Kumo Council, the syndicate's ruling body, assumed control of several systems that were recently invaded by Thargoid fleets. Independent pilots have been asked to take part in anti-xeno initiatives within the region, which are being coordinated from The Mictlan megaship.
Harrison Gladstone of the Turner Research Group, which represents the Alliance in the California Nebula, made a formal protest:
"We are not happy about defence initiatives being funded by a ruthless criminal gang. These pirates are using the Thargoid attacks to expand their illegal activity, thus jeopardising our faction's scientific and commercial interests. Several of our ports in the area are now under Kumo Crew 'emergency protections', as they've termed it. This is an

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I’m working on a Righteous Fire walkthrough and while playing the last missions I noticed the Elite Salthi were firing fusion guns. But my increasingly old man memory was sure the big reveal was that they fired copies of the Steltek Gun. Was I misremembering because there’s dialogue about the gun being copied? I watched a dozen YouTube videos and they were all fusion guns. Huh!

Then I realized: I first played the expansion when it was released on disk in early 1994, just a few months before the CD-ROM came out and that became the de facto version of Privateer. Could there have been an intentional change? I installed the floppy version from disk images and… sure enough!

WHY? It’s not an accident as the Dralthi uses fusions in both versions. I’m guessing the support folks were sick of people asking how to get the gun back and decided not to tease players. Too bad, as it was a distinct enough moment

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Last month, we reported that Supercade was planning to manage a crowd funding campaign for a vinyl release of George Oldziey's Wing Commander Orchestral Recording Project. Now, it seems like the launch is imminent as Supercade author Van Burnham has just tweeted:

Just a heads up that the preorder campaign for Supercade’s first soundtrack release is launching SOON… a deluxe vinyl edition of the Wing Commander orchestral score by composer George Oldziey. So excited to share more details!#wingcommander #videogamesoundtrack #vinylcollector pic.twitter.com/DOWHWtyuZc

— Van Burnham (@supercade71) February 1, 2023

There's no additional information yet but we'll let you know the moment it's available. If you are curious about the promotional screenshot, it's actually from a Wing Commander Academy mod developed by HCl that adds a Hellcat V to the game! Want to try it for yourself? You can download te patch here.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Azimuth Biotech has commercially launched a new module that allows two additional AX weapons to be added to large ships.
The experimental weapons stabiliser increases the number of AX weapons which can be installed on a ship. The class 3 variant released last week increases the limit to five, whereas the class 5 variant released yesterday increases it to six.
Both versions entered mass production following Azimuth Biotech's highly successful resource drive in the LHS 1163 system. CEO Torben Rademaker issued a statement to accompany the product launch:
"Our proprietary technology has bypassed the inherent design flaws of Aegis's AX weaponry. The experimental weapons stabiliser will play a vital role in the ongoing defence of the core systems."
"I can only assume that the current chatter about reforming Aegis is due to misplaced nostalgia. How quickly people forget

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LOAF and the team are busy working on Privateer-themed projects over on the CIC Discord server, and that inspired me to share a quick comparison that some players might have overlooked. Everyone loves the Privateer intro. It's memorable, action-packed and showcases the cutting edge of 1993 multimedia prowess. "Who are you that flies so good!? Are you insane?!" And you can probably imagine Brownhair's quips as he cruises around the asteroid belt in his Tarsus, but did you know there are two different voiceover tracks? The original 3.5" disks had an intro with spoken dialogue recorded by local talent. When the game's speech was fully recorded for the CD edition, a new voice actor was brought in to read everything, including the intro. You can compare the two side-by-side below! The disk version is first and CD second:

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Princess Aisling Duval met with Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval in person to discuss an Imperial contribution to the reformation of Aegis.
The Imperial Herald's political journalist Cassia Carvalho reported on events:
"Aisling Duval's arrival at the Imperial Palace was completely unexpected, according to several dignitaries whose appointed meetings with the Emperor were abruptly cancelled. One senatorial aide described how the princess 'burst into the throne room so suddenly that I'm surprised the Imperial Guard didn't shoot her'."
"Despite visible irritation, Emperor Arissa acceded to Princess Aisling's demand for urgent talks. The two royals held a private conversation behind closed doors for many hours. I heard claims of raised voices at one stage, but nobody was willing to go on record to confirm this."
"Eventually, Her Majesty call for the media to assemble, which we did eagerly. The Emperor

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We've got a couple of very nice new updates to a pair of Klavs' WC2-era models. The Sabre that he's been working on this year has gotten a revamped TCS Tarawa texture with nods to the events of End Run. There's also an all new take on the Ferret, which you can tell is the P-64D Super Ferret variant thanks to the pair of heat seeking missiles. It gets a similar new livery to the Sabre based around the In-System Security paint scheme. The Sabre may win out on specs, but the Ferret sure is powerful for its size!

New livery for the Sabre! And some work on a reduxx'd Ferret!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Admiral Aden Tanner has formally resigned his commission with the Federal Navy, mere weeks after a presidential pardon overturned his court martial.
He had returned to naval service following an executive order from President Zachary Hudson. But this unexpected resignation means he is no longer a member of the military, although he retains the honorific of 'admiral'.
Admiral Tanner released a personal statement, which was published by The Federal Times:
"I must begin by expressing my gratitude to President Hudson, and thank all those who supported my actions in the T Tauri system. History has proven that Salvation was willing to sacrifice millions of lives in his personal vendetta against the Thargoids, and we are suffering the after-effects of that obsession today."
"The Federal Navy was once my home, but my disillusionment has grown over recent years. Politics and commercial influences hold

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LAZY SATURDAY SPACESHIP POST! I thought it might be fun to sort of roughly compare the Wing Commander Academy ships that originated in Wing Commander 2 with their original meshes. And you know what? It was fun! The Sartha:

The Kilrathi Jalkehi heavy fighter, which appears in a single episode! (Word of Honor)

The furball Grikath bomber, a series regular:

And the Kamekh corvette! The coloring is a little more like the all-tan Privateer version (which was the same mesh retextured).

On the Confed side, we've got the Ferret. This appears in only one episode BUT somewhere there existed an unseen toy prototype of it, the only one made for the series. Wish I knew more!

The Epee medium fighter. This one shows up a few times on the show but it always seems like it didn't get a fully fleshed out model sheet...

... which is also the case with the Sabre, which actually looks like a different design in its two

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Something from Privateer I never noticed before: the Blockade Point Alpha system is totally redone for Righteous Fire! So I got to wondering what else might be different...

...so I extracted the game's SECTOR files, diff'd them and learned how Privateer handles its random encounters (thanks greatly to the Playtester's Guide!). Here's a Google Doc with all the changes. Most of these are tiny changes to encounter tables in systems you play missions in, all of which are intended to make your life harder: more chances of Retros and Kilrathi, fewer Confed and Militia forces.

I also found that there's a "Test Bed" system still in the game but not connected to the rest of the map (no jump points). Crazy! It has an encounter table that can spawn any of the regular ships. I added it as the appendix to the doc linked above.