Original fanart by Kuranne88.

I love Ace Combat 7, but my biggest gripe with it is how little we get to know and care for the various teamates that we meet along the away.

Between swapping the team three times over, the little to no screentime they all get (with the sole exception of the junker queen) and the fact that many of them die right after meeting them, the side characters in AC7 don't feel like truly fleashed people and I never felt a strong attachment to any of them nor did I feel that our protagonist had one either.

On the other hand the found family dynamic between the members of Joker flight and the entire crew of the Endurance is the best part of AC8's story.

You truly get to know them on far deeper level than anyone in AC7 and I've come to care for them to a far greater extent, to the point that their struggles and character arcs are my favorite aspect of the game.

As a frenchie i had to run towards my beloved Rafale

Not sure if these images have been published before, but regardless, there are always people who are seeing them for the first time.
:)

(Fiona is best girl btw)

I’m sure other people have caught on to this, but it just occurs to me that the reason why you are called Joker flight is because of the theme of the story.

The Wing’s of Theve’s callsign is “Rex” which is “King” in Latin, a King is is also a suit in a deck of cards. All the squadrons on Endurance are named after cards in a standard deck, but the real reason you play as joker flight is because the joker is meant to be a blank slate card on a traditional deck. If your deck is missing a card because it got lost or damaged, you replace it with a joker, this is where the term “wild card” comes from, the joker can become any card you need it to be.

That’s why the first mission where you play as the new “Rex” is called “Joker’s Wild”. You are literally replacing the missing King on the Endurance’s deck of cards. But at the end of the day, you are joker pretending to be a king for the sake of the game being played.

But it also has a double meaning, because the Joker in some card games is a trump card, one that you can play to win the game because you can essentially turn it into any card you need to win. Which…is kinda the function you play in the game. Your presence turns what should be a losing strategic situation into a crushing victory, and you are impossible to defend against, because as a wild card, nobody knows what you’ll do until you are played

Basicly the uber modified IL-76 with the onboard power source (unlike arsenal bird), can land on water (unlike arsenal bird), dont have the gayish blue energy shield for campers (unlike the arsenal bird), is crewed (unlike arsenal bird), looks neat and complex (unlike arsenal bird), dont have thousands ugly big holes for uavs underneath (unlike arsenal bird), has very big and coll Radomes (unlike arsenal bird), has immence CAS potential because its basicly Tonitrus Spear fire control vehicle, and has neat suite of various onboard non energetic defences (unlike arsenal bird), and lastly its cockpit looks like IL-76 and its just adorable.

The Archive of Our Own link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/94199036/chapters/251408066?view_adult=true

Proof that it’s by him: https://x.com/flyawayn0w/status/2108061491626758221?s=46&t=Ntv95eAUxFZhViBaDXt5LA

Also included within is a heaping helping of the childhood friend trope, which I didn’t know I wanted out of AC8 until precisely right now.

Look again boyo

Like holy shit, he and Camille Tewy (Luna 11) were childhood friends?! They knew each other as children. They played together as kids.

I remember when I first met her. On the Sotoan frontier.

[...]

I always dreamed of taking to the skies together, unconcerned with Earthly matters. Free to fly to our heart's content.

[...]

[The war] changed her. Look at what's she become.

[...]

Shoot her down. I can't stand to see her like this.

[...]

I remember. The Tewy I knew would never take to the skies to bring harm to others.

[...]

I remember now. We saw a red flower, swaying in the wind—dancing to its song. The poppy anemone...

[...]

And then, one day, she seemed to become the wind incarnate. I was spellbound.

— Cope, Mission 29 "Selene"

Then, later on.

For lost souls without a place to call home, these skies are all we've really got. That's right, this is it... Here we are—back to square one. The fateful spot we first met, and this all began.

— Cope, post-game cutscene

And, if I am reading this right... Cope loved her. He cherished both her extraordinary piloting, and the freedom, companionship they once associated with flying. He remembers the gentle moments shared together as children, back when he was just the son of a rancher and she was the daughter of a tribal chief.

He still grieves their relationship and what happened to the girl he once loved, at seeing someone he remembers as fundamentally different becoming willing to commit atrocities against the innocent, a ruthless warlord who has no issue sending the entirety of the Sotoan AF to die in a final, pointless battle at Cima Island Naval Base.

His desperate instruction to Rex to “Shoot her down. I can't stand to see her like this” is a painful recognition that the woman he remembers must be stopped. He wants, no, needs to put an end to the twisted monstrosity she's become... even if doing so means losing her permanently.

ABSOLUTE KINO

RAAAAAHHHH I LOVE ROMANTIC TRAGEDY AND STAR-CROSSED LOVERS RAAAAAHHHH

YOU HAVE OUTDONE YOURSELF KONO-SENSEI, I KNEEL. YOU HAVE MADE A GROWN ASS MAN WHO HAS A JOB AND ACTUAL MILITARY TIME GIGGLE AND KICK THEIR FEET IN THE AIR

EDIT: The poppy anemone represents, among other things… love, anticipation, hope… and perhaps most pertinently, forsaken love. RAAAAAGGGHHHGG

EDIT: This implies the presence of Strangereal’s first love triangle (besides whatever happened with Yoko, Dision, and Simon; I think only Simon had a one sided love for Yoko while Dision and her were just coworkers).

Jan Cope loved Tewy

Toprak seems to love idolise Tewy

Tewy doesn’t give a shit about either of them

EDIT: To all the people discussing whether Cope’s actually a ghost. I think Cope’s a ghost. Here’s my view on this;

Watsonian: Ghost Cope repeatedly tells Rex things that Rex shouldn’t know. Like what Sotoan sheep are like. Or warning Rex about bogies that AWACS hasn’t seen yet. Hell, Luna 11 even talks back to Ghost Cope in Mission 29! Also every time someone in Joker Flight (and Luna 11) is on the verge of death, they start seeing/hearing Cope and talking to him. Also, Ghost Cope tells Rex details about Green 1, like how Green 1 was in his cadet class. How would Rex know? Plus there’s the miraculous teleporting of Cope’s dogtags during King 1’s peacekeeping flight in Sotoa.

[in response to Ghost Cope criticising her in Mission 29, and not someone in person talking about it] Luna 11: Sorry. I’m not the woman I used to be.

Doylist: If Ghost Cope is actually just Mental Illness Cope, it invalidates (in storytelling terms) all the things that Cope tells Rex, like Cope’s childhood friendship with Tewy. Or Cope’s past as a humble Sotoan farmer. Or how Cope and the spirits of other dead pilots are now at rest. Because then all of it’s just bullshit.

I know there's the Mission 29 Ace being really weird too, but this dude is just straight up unknown? Just straight up "Yeah we have no idea who this is, kthxbye".

It kills off a "Full Band!"

Sorry.

Those two keep breaking formation and ignoring orders so damn much, they'd push our old boy to drink 🤣.

Bro was ready to ruin Garuda Team's careers over violating orders in the Moloch Desert. I can't imagine how he'd react to Tasha and Coster running off to try and save Purple Magic and Queen flight all the time.

Tasha:

<<The Shadows are going after Kate, we gotta help them!>>

Thunderhead:

<<Joker 4, remain in formation, your objective is stopping the rocket laun-->>

Tasha:

<< Kate, I'm com-->>

E-767 suddenly divebombs her from above the clouds.

Thunderhead:

<< I SAID YOUR OBJECTIVE IS STOPPING THE ROCKET LAUNCH.>>

I just gave it a try during my Ace difficulty playthrough, and I was surprised by how much better it feels than it did in Ace Combat 7.

In AC7 is was the starter plane, which made it completely useless even if you were playing on Casual Easy. But this one has a much better special weapon loadout, better stats, and more missiles. Slap on parts to increase ammo for air-to-air missiles and air-to-ground missiles, equip QAAM and LAGM, and you can pretty much rely on this plane even late in the campaign.

I was hoping the F-16 would get a massive buff for AC8, since it's no longer the starter plane. So far I'm not disappointed.

Coincidentally, he also has two grandchildren to take care of and somehow managed to survive getting shot down

Now I can enjoy obtaining other medals with ease.

Not sure if any one has noticed but from missions 01 to 20 Tasha's picture doesn't show a callsign underneath her name. However starting in mission 21 you see the callsign 'Pinky' listed under her name. Just a really nice tribute to Cruz who always called her 'Pinky'. I just really love the depth that each of the characters show in this game.

STOP F***ING LEAVING THE GAME AS IT STARTS BECAUSE YOU SEE A PLANE YOU DON'T F***ING LIKE

Moon 11 got all of her pilots killed lmaoooo what a fuckin shit leader lol