News categories list

  • 17

    Jan

  • 16

    Jan

  • 15

    Jan

    EarlBoent.jpg

    We are sad to report the passing of a veteran Wing Commander actor. Earl Boen, who voiced two characters in the first episode of Wing Commander Academy, passed away on January 3 at age 81 after a battle with lung cancer. Mr. Boen is best known for his appearances in the first three Terminator films as psychologist Dr. Silberman who continually finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time with regards to futuristic android appearances. Gamers know him best as the voice of Ghost Pirate LeChuck through most of the storied Monkey Island series (he had retired from acting just prior to development of the recent Return to Monkey Island). He was beloved throughout the entertainment industry, appearing in dozens and dozens of roles in every medium imaginable. You can read more about his career in this Variety article.

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    Mr. Boen guest starred in the first episode of Wing Commander Academy, "Red and Blue",

  • 14

    Jan

    flatuniverse118t.jpgWe are cruising right through January, which means our annual Fan Project of the Year contest is moving quickly towards its conclusion. If you missed voting initially, you can still get your ballot in before the winners are called! Here are the nominees once again. Scroll down below to vote!

    • Challenge Coins - ZOmegaZ’s successful 2021 crowdfunding campaign resulted in these beautiful trinkets in 2022! He took fan feedback to balance the sizes of the ships in the design and the results turned out great.
    • elend’s Physical Models - elend is a master craftsman and his recently completed Dralthi model is high professional grade art. It belongs in a museum!
    • Emulation Technology - Whether getting DOS games to run on Linux, Mac WC games running on PC or Xbox games going on PCs, this has been another great year of technological advancement in emulation.
    • Gemini Sector RPG - One of the longest running and
  • 14

    Jan

    Bear with me here, this is one I did not expect. Here's a picture of former President Trump and his wife with his ambassador to the United Kingdom, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and his wife Suzanne...

    redshirt_number4_1t.jpg... the press tells me that Mrs. Johnson is close friends with former First Lady Melania Trump. She's done a lot to use her position to support Ukraine this past year which is pretty neat...

    redshirt_number4_2t.jpgredshirt_number4_3t.jpg... but in 1995 her maiden name was Suzanne Ircha... and she was an actress... who played Confed Redshirt #4 in Wing Commander IV! She's one of the young pilots in awe of Colonel Blair when he arrives on the Lexington! (Along with the always noticeable Casper Van Dien.)

    redshirt_number4_4t.jpgShe also had a similarly brief cameo in an episode of Star Trek Deep Space 9.

  • 12

    Jan

  • 12

    Jan

    Nightball06 has a new set of Hellcat renders to share, and they've certainly come a very long way since his original 2D sketches. He tried commissioning another artist to take his designs to the next dimension, but now he's learned techniques to work with the model himself. There are a few liberties taken with specific elements, but the overarching space frame is pretty sharp. The textures are slick too. Now that this exist in virtual form, Nightball has plans to try his hand at animation next.

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    Thanks to the help from Mac, who gave me step-by-step instructions, I was finally able to render my "legacy"-images. :)

    Looks pretty nice I think...So thanks again to all who helped me :) ... Next stop: Animation :)

  • 11

    Jan

    Here's something for the collectors out there. Scribbler ran across this listing for a Wing Commander Movie flight suit on eBay. These were relatively common in prop stores and auction sites in the early 2000s, but the supply has dried up in recent years. We've actually posted about this item before, but the price has come down about 25% since we reported on it a ways back. The current list price is 1500 Euros, which is pretty steep, but actually not that much more than typical prices were 20 years ago (!!) after you account for inflation. If this is on your WC collection bucket list, find out more info here.

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    Original Flight Suit, production used from the movie Wing Commander (1999)

    Good condition. Uniform a bit worn and darkened in some areas as requested for the production of the movie.

    Size
    Top. from armpit to armpit 58cm and a height of 44cm
    Pants (overall) 1,50cm Height and 45cm of waist

  • 09

    Jan

  • 09

    Jan

    Today we've got a couple of examples that show off Mac's latest work in progress. We see a gorgeous short animation of the Operation Back Lash fleet assembling, which hints at some of the epic scenes to come. There's also a preliminary shot of the Waterloo class cruiser, which is coming together beautifully. It's such a sharp design!

    Many, Many, Many MANY genuine thanks to @Hangar_B for lending me their Concordia model. I had to texture her myself, and boy was *that* an insane sojourn of learning. But she's almost ready for the big leagues now.#wingcommander pic.twitter.com/8EC4ySh5Id

    — Mac's Lore (@MacsLore) December 24, 2022
    I also messed with texturing their Waterloo-Cruiser as I was learning how to texture. It's a lot simpler than I thought, once you learn how to work with Substance Painter. Having a bg in Photoshop helped too. This one is much further away from being finished, however.

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  • 09

    Jan

  • 07

    Jan

  • 06

    Jan

    wcso_shipupgrade238t.jpgWith 2022 now firmly in the rear view mirror, our last task is to conduct the annual CIC Fan Project of the Year contest! I hesitate to frame it as a competition, since everyone who contributed to these efforts and more are really all working to improve the fan community together. Nevertheless, we like doing this to recognize a small handful of amazing endeavors that brightened the landscape over the past year. Read up on the nominees below, and then scroll down to vote!

    • Challenge Coins - ZOmegaZ’s successful 2021 crowdfunding campaign resulted in these beautiful trinkets in 2022! He took fan feedback to balance the sizes of the ships in the design and the results turned out great.
    • elend’s Physical Models - elend is a master craftsman and his recently completed Dralthi model is high professional grade art. It belongs in a museum!
    • Emulation Technology - Whether getting DOS games to run on Linux, Mac WC
  • 05

    Jan

  • 05

    Jan

    Klavs is kicking off the new year by sharing the latest update to one of his high quality Wing Commander models. He's been crafting a Sabre for a bit now, and this is the most refined version that we've seen. The ship finally has an updated set of textures, which closely mirror the paint scheme from Wing Commander 2. In addition to his own endeavors, Klavs' models are used in a wide variety of other Wingnuts' fan projects, so it's always nice to see things like this come together!

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    Still re-working the Sabre, extensively re-modeled and UV unwrapped, currently texturing in Substance.
  • 04

    Jan

    While most people were getting ready to party on New Year's Eve, Mac was hard at work putting the finishing touches on his new Wing Commander lore video - a man after our own hearts! This one is a thorough profile of the A-17 Broadsword. It focuses on the elevated role of phase shielding versus torpedoes in the late 2660s but also goes all the way to the ship's exploits against the Nephilim decades later. Check it out below!

  • 03

    Jan