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Reporting Names
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We've got incoming "Backfires"! They're probably carrying "Kitchens"! They've got "Flanker" support! If you didn't understand that, you're probably not alone.note And if you did understand it, it probably gave you the shivers. That was an example of using Reporting Names, which are names given to military machines whose real names aren't known for some reason. For instance, if American forces keep encountering a particular type of Russian submarine, they might start referring to those submarines as "Tango" or something. The use of reporting names goes back to the Pacific Theater in World War II, when American intelligence officers started assigning simple, easy-to-remember names to Japanese aircraft types. (See the current page image for one example.) Fighter and reconnaissance aircraft received boys' names, such as Oscar or Zeke, while bomber and transport types received girl's names, such as Betty or Judy. During the Cold War, Western reporting names were one of the main ways to refer to Soviet, Chinese and North Korean military technology, for the reasons of language differences and because the actual designations (except for most aircraft), especially in the missile field, weren't generally known. Western military technology tends to get public names, often with help from the PR department (the companies make more sales if the item has a catchy name). The Soviet and Chinese technology was (is) secret and sometimes they didn't admit it even existed, never mind the name. Of course, some super secret ("Black") projects in the USA and other nations are given "reporting names" by other nations and the press when their rumored existence is guessed at. In many ways (especially in the West, and very especially in the U.S.), they still are a main way to refer to these technologies, especially in naval and aerospace discussion. It helps that they are easy to remember. And in an era where Russian and especially Chinese aircraft are increasingly likely to have a public name for the same reason American aircraft do,note despite being state-owned and nominally Communist, Chinese weapon-making companies are very profit-oriented when it comes to exporting their products there's still the fact that for English-speakers not all of their names are easy to pronounce. Naturally, you can only assign reporting names to the stuff you're actually aware exists, so sometimes (either by very effective secrecy for its entire service life, or just by being an obscure prototype that never got a production model and went through testing without getting noticed), a vehicle or weapon will fail to get a reporting name.note For example, see the SS-N-22 "Sunburn" below. And conversely, sometimes a reporting name will be assigned a vehicle or weapon that the other side only thinks exists, but instead is the product of bad guesswork, misinterpretation or an outright hoax. Somewhat naturally, the idea has carried into fiction, such as the Inner Sphere-given names of Clan Omnimechs in BattleTech. Compare Market-Based Title, which is a case of different names given by the manufacturer for use in different countries. Do not confuse with "naming names", which was a rather different Cold War phenomenon. Also don't confuse with "Reporting Marks", which are the 1- to 4-character code used to identify rolling stock operated by a railroad or rail-stock owner in the United States. Also, if the "proper" name of a ship/fighter/tank/missile/etc. is used by all of a work's (on-screen) factions, then don't list it here; this page is for instances where a name other than the "proper" one is commonly used by at least one faction. If there is a pattern among "proper" names, then take it to Theme Naming or the respective subtrope thereof. Conversely, if the faction that uses a piece of equipment uses a name that is significantly different from its "proper" name, then it counts and should be listed here. A case where the "proper" name is not used because it is not known by any of the viewpoint factions also counts. |
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In Doom, shortly after Fly and Arlene reunite they start brainstorming names for the monsters. They hope to find a radio and want to provide a proper report on what they've encountered. It's also the closest thing they have to entertainment. Arlene is better at the game and usually comes up with a reason to assign a monster the proper name from the games. Those that differ are: Baron of hell - hell-prince Cacodemon - pumpkin. Later on, the military formally designates the monster as "cacodemon". Lost soul - flying skull Cyberdemon - steam demon. Clyde is the name assigned to the vat-grown humans and fills the role of the chaingun zombies. Fly doesn't get the reference to Clyde Barrow, and he asks why they don't call the clones Fred and Barney or Ralph and Norton. Revenant - bony Mancubus - fatty Arch-vile - fire-eater The Mormons have their own conventions using Biblical/demonic terms. The only confirmed name, in an Albert POV chapter, is moloch for cyberdemon. A force of "brownies" and "baphomets" attack Salt Lake City; brownie is almost certainly the imp and baphomet is probably the demon, as both are the grunts of the alien monsters. "Shelobs" are mentioned in the same vein as moloch-cyberdemons, the biggest and most powerful of the monsters. Given the name comes from The Lord of the Rings, shelob is probably the spiderminds. |
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In MapleStory, the Thief job-class advancement Assassin is often shortened to 'Sin. | |
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In Thunder Force V, the people of Earth don't know that the wayward ship that landed on their planet (the player's ship in Thunder Force IV, which hails from another part of space and which was left to drift aimlessly after sustaining heavy damage against the Final Boss in that game) is called the Rynex, so they christen it as Vasteel. | |
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In Homeworld, due to various confusions over which race the player belonged to, Taiidan vessels ended up with Kushan names, explicitly referring to creatures and gods from Kushani mythology. This was retconned in the sequel, Homeworld: Cataclysm, to be class names invented by the latter race's Fleet Intelligence. The native Taiidani names were never revealed. | |
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2300 AD uses the Greek alphabet (for capital ships) and the NATO Military Alphabet (for fighters, transports, landers, and missiles) as reporting names for Kafer space forces. | |
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The eponymous fightercraft from Einhänder is actually a reporting name used by the (German-speaking) Earth forces. The fighter's actual name is either "Astraea" or "Endymion", depending on the specific model you choose to fly. | |
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Used in the games set in the X-Universe. Due to the fact that no human is able to pronounce the original names of alien ships, all have got reporting names — Boron ships have fish names, Paranids use names from Greek mythology, and so on. X: Rebirth shows a more literal translation for Split ships. Their Raptor-class carrier is actually called the "Gangrene Chaser". The encyclopedia then goes on to say that many pilots wish it hadn't been translated. | |
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Dawn of War: Due to Translation Convention, the Tau units use Imperial designations (see Warhammer 40K above) in their responses, including XV-22s and the Devilfish stealth transport ("The Devilfish swims silently"). | |
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The Human Reform League in Mobile Suit Gundam 00 uses reporting names for the Gundams in the first season. The figter/variable mobile suit Kyrios is dubbed 'Wings'note "Shuttlecock" in the original Japanese while the heavily armed and armoured Virtue is called 'Giant.' | |
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Discussed in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty in an optional conversation. The Patriots (or whatever they were) tell Raiden about how the titular Metal Gears from this and the previous game are named after two WWII reporting names, before noting how his codename of Raiden and his own given name Jack are just the official and reporting names of a single aircraft, as though he was just another weapon to be used and discarded. | |
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The Yuuzhan Vong's coralskippers are soon nicknamed "Skips," but identification of Vong capital ships, which due to their Organic Technology nature are less identical than traditional ships, runs entirely off of reporting names based on their size and, sometimes, combat role. Hence, corvette-analogues, cruiser-analogues, carrier-analogues, interdictor-analogues, etc. In most cases, these matched only loosely with the Vongs' own categorizations. | |
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In Generation Zero, both the Swedish and Soviet machines seem to follow certain naming conventions. Soviet machines are named for animals (Lynx and Wolf) while the Swedish machines seem to have been named for certain unique characteristics: Tick: Insectoid shape, can often be found attached to electronic devices. Seeker: Reconnaissance drone. Runner: Fast moving quadruped. Hunter: Well armed, primary combat unit of the machines. Tank: Extremely well armed and armored. Harvester: Heaviest and slowest of the machines. |
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The names of the different zerg broods in Starcraft (back when the zerg had discreet broods) were explicitly stated to be names given by terran analysts. Their units are presumably named similarly. The zerg are shown to use these names themselves, but that's probably just Translation Convention. | |
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In Resident Evil 2 the crawling red monsters which attack the Raccoon City Police building early during the Raccoon City Outbreak are named "lickers" by surviving officers, largely because of their long tongues and because no one knew Umbrella's official name for the weapon, or even that it was made by Umbrella in the first place. However, Umbrella (and later Tri Cell) apparently found the name apt enough and kept it (even marketing a Licker-Beta shortly before Umbrella went under and was absorbed by Tri Cell), resulting in "licker" being the officially recognized name for the bioweapon. | |
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In The Sixth Battle, a Eurasian character mentally notes that while badgers are ferocious carnivores, they are prized for their pelts. | |
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In Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, the Zanscare soldiers, especially Cronicle Asher, tended to call the protagonist mobile suit "White Devil" until they got to know the official designation. Even after that, Cronicle insisted to call it "Victory Type" instead of "Gundam" probably because of concern about the morale of his subordinates. | |
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Something similar is used in the Big Hero 6: The Series episode "Fan Friction". Since Big Hero 6 don't have code names, but do have secret identities, Karmi has to make up names for them in her fanfic. Gogo becomes Speed Queen, Wasabi is Chop-Chop, Baymax is Red Panda, Fred is Flame Jumper, Honey Lemon is Tall Girl, and Hiro is Captain Cutie. | |
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In Super Robot Wars the various Balmar mechs are all simply given reporting names by humans based on what they look like. The six-legged ones are called "Bugs", the ones with wings are called "Birds", etc. The various humanoid types are called "Soldiers", "Knights", and "Fatmen". They are also asigned a numerical designation based on the order they were first encountered in. The Bugs, being recon units are therefore designated AGXnote Derived from "Aerogater", the Federation's nickname for the Balmar-01; the heroic Cybaster has an official-unofficial AGX model number because the EFA initially mistook it for a Balmar machine. The funny thing is that their real names are also Earth words, only this time in Ancient Hebrew... Shadow Mirror's Soulgain is referred to as Mustache Man (or White Wrath in the English version, despite it being blue), while Zweizergain is referred to as Horned Man. The Shura gods Ialdaboth and Valefor are both referred to as "the haired one" by the EFA until Folka joins and tells everyone their actual names. Meanwhile the Shura refer to Compatible Kaiser as the "Red Demon". |
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Pacific Rim: It's stated in external sources that the names of Kaiju are assigned on the spot by KaijuWatch monitors based on radar profile, or from a database of names (furthering their comparison to natural disasters). Possibly the Precursors manufacturing the Kaiju have their own names for them, but they aren't exactly communicating. | |
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Utilised in Gihren's Greed, set in the Universal Century of Franchise/Gundam. When encountering a new enemy machine, it's assigned a reporting name (e.g. Doms are known as "Skirts" as in the source material). Once intelligence successfully learns the unit's proper name, then it's known by that name onwards. Also played with in that even after a unit's name and model number are identified, an enemy unit on the field is still only identified by a descriptor until actual contact is made and the identity confirmed. So a group of enemies might be identified as "GM-types" until either engaged in combat or scanned, after which they might be broken into "GM Light Armor", "GM Command" and "GM". This is the major function of the EWAC units (e.g. EWAC Zaku, EWAC Nero), which can scan and identify enemies from long distancesnote EWAC standing for Early Warning And Control. | |
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Halo: Covenant vehicles are known only by their UNSC designations, which are ethereal or supernatural beings — Ghost scout vehicles, Wraith tanks, Phantom and Spirit dropships, Banshee fliers, Seraph starfighters, Shadow troop transports, Vampire support fighters, Goblin Mini-Mecha, etc. Mobile assault platforms are named after non-mythical insects with ties to mythology instead — Locust light assault platforms and Scarab ultra heavy assault platforms. Humans mostly call the Covenant species' by UNSC designations ("Brute" is a lot faster and easier to say than "Jiralhanae"). Grunts are Cannon Fodder, Jackals are thieving scavengers, Elites are badass, Drones are Insectoid Aliens, Hunters are relentless (also UNSC vehicles are named after animals and Hunters serve as anti-vehicle forces, therefore "hunting" them), and Brutes are, well, brutes. The Prophets are an exception, as the name was translated by advanced human AI. Almost all the in-game names of alien weapons are also UNSC designations based on what they do; Needler, Covenant Carbine, Plasma Pistol, etc. Subverted with the Forerunners and the Flood; both are direct translations of the original Forerunner names. |
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In the Mass Effect universe, this is how the different varieties of husks are referred to. Some of them are meant to be descriptive, such as the Cannibals (which can eat their fallen comrades to regain health) or the Banshees (which announce their presence with a terrifying wail). The only variety not to receive a nickname are the original basic human models, simply called "husks". | |
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In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, everyone on both sides knows the official names of all mobile suit and ship types. The one exception is the Archangel: despite knowing it was being built, ZAFT didn't know its name. They simply call it "The Legged Ship" through most of, if not all of, the series. | |
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In Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, the Alliance and OZ simply assigns each of the five Gundams a number (in order of their first publicly-known appearances) — Wing is 01 (Zero-One), Deathscythe is 02, etc. Of course, these names all match up perfectly with the show's Numerical Theme Naming. | |
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The Mormons have their own conventions using Biblical/demonic terms. The only confirmed name, in an Albert POV chapter, is moloch for cyberdemon. A force of "brownies" and "baphomets" attack Salt Lake City; brownie is almost certainly the imp and baphomet is probably the demon, as both are the grunts of the alien monsters. "Shelobs" are mentioned in the same vein as moloch-cyberdemons, the biggest and most powerful of the monsters. Given the name comes from The Lord of the Rings, shelob is probably the spiderminds. | |
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Gundam: In Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeon refer to the titular Humongous Mecha and its carrier White Base as "White Devil" and "Trojan Horse" respectively before learning their true names from Cozun Graham. Oddly, the Guncannon and Guntank apparently don't get reporting names and are simply referred to as "The Red One" and "You Call That A Mobile Suit?". The Core Fighters are referred to as "Mosquitoes" more than once, but this may simply be an insult. On the other side, the Zeon MS, especially the Zakus are often referred to as "Cyclops" by the Feddies due to their distinctive optic sensors, but this may just be a colloquialism, as the Zakus, at least had been known since before the start of the war. And up until episode 19 (near the halfway point of the anime and the 11th month of the One Year War), it was a surprise that Zeon had any operational mobile suits that weren't Zakus. Doms are also referred to as "Skirts" at first due to their distinctive armor. Lalah's mobile armor Elmeth is "Tricorn Hat" because of its triangular shape. In Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, the Zanscare soldiers, especially Cronicle Asher, tended to call the protagonist mobile suit "White Devil" until they got to know the official designation. Even after that, Cronicle insisted to call it "Victory Type" instead of "Gundam" probably because of concern about the morale of his subordinates. The Human Reform League in Mobile Suit Gundam 00 uses reporting names for the Gundams in the first season. The figter/variable mobile suit Kyrios is dubbed 'Wings'note "Shuttlecock" in the original Japanese while the heavily armed and armoured Virtue is called 'Giant.' In Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, the Alliance and OZ simply assigns each of the five Gundams a number (in order of their first publicly-known appearances) — Wing is 01 (Zero-One), Deathscythe is 02, etc. Of course, these names all match up perfectly with the show's Numerical Theme Naming. Several of the Moonrace suits in ∀ Gundam have descriptive reporting names used by the Earth militias: WaDo -> "Scarecrow", WaD -> "Armadillo", FLAT -> "High Heel". In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, everyone on both sides knows the official names of all mobile suit and ship types. The one exception is the Archangel: despite knowing it was being built, ZAFT didn't know its name. They simply call it "The Legged Ship" through most of, if not all of, the series. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny follows the same pattern, however Phantom Pain refers to Impulse (whose data they specifically didn't have out of the 4 original Gundams) as some variation of "Combining guy" and the Savior (which wasn't intoduced until much later) as "Newcomer." Zaft meanwhile refers to the Girty Lue (an illegal unregistered Earth ship) as "Bogey-1", and calls the new model Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice by the names of the original units. Also in Destiny, an Omni Enforcer Aircraft Carrier officially designated as the Spengler-class can be seen identified as the Tarawa-class on the Minerva's tactical screen. |
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In Wilhuff Tarkin, Hero of the Rebellion, an insert in the Spacebattles thread explains that the official names of the Subjugator and Devastation classes are Ash Worlds and Eibon Scimitar respectively, with their canon names being instead reporting names from the Republic... That match what Dooku and Grievous would have actually named them if they didn't need to deceive the Separatist Congress. | |
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In the manga version of Bokurano, the names of the enemy robots get a name based on their description in alphabetical order. For example, the first is Arachne, the second is Bayonet, the third is Crab, and so on and so forth. | |
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Ace Online has them too: Anima Mortar (A-gear) Brandy Burg (B-gear) Idle Sniper (I-gear) Meadow Bugle (M-gear) |
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Inverted in EVE Online, where every ship type has an official nickname, but no actual designations; it's Translation Convention from the languages of the four Empires to English. Which may not help you as a newbie listening in to player's combat coms. "Get a point and a web on that Phoon! Put damps on it!"note Get a warp jammer and a stasis webifier on the Typhoon. Also, sensor dampeners. | |
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World of Tanks players usually operate with something very close to this trope, consisting of abbreviations and player or historical nicknames for vehicles. Someone calling spots may state "Bathtub, Tumor, E2", meaning S35 AC and Souma SAu-40 tank destroyers accompanied by a Sherman M4A3E2 "Jumbo". | |
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The Nephilim from Wing Commander Prophecy initially have no names beyond "Unknown" when they first appear, but Confed quickly starts naming Nephilim craft after sea creatures, including a few mythological ones for big capital ships. | |
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The Terrans in FreeSpace 2 used Egyptian- and demonic-themed reporting names, respectively, for Vasudan and Shivan themed spacecraft, in contrast to the Greco-Roman names they gave to their own ship classes. The Vasudans, who took the comparison to as a compliment, adopted the reporting names when they merged their government with the Terrans. The Shivans are too belligerent and use some kind of communication method that prevents them from being asked for their opinion of GTVA reporting names. | |
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Warhammer 40,000: | |
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In the second book of the The Third World War, a section is devoted to an Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) version of the Il-76 "Candid" transport plane, called the Il-76C or "Cooker". Just before the war kicks off in the Central Region of NATO (i.e. West Germany), one has to make an emergency landing at a Polish airport. The Polish ground crew nick the operating manuals and pass them to NATO. As the crew don't wish to feel the wrath of their superiors for losing the documents, they don't report the theft and NATO is able to render the "Cooker" ineffective. There is a real-life "Candid" AWACS version- but this was a Beriev project and is called the A-50 "Mainstay". It remains in Russian service, with examples exported. "Cooker" would not have been a valid reporting name for an AWACS aircraft; all electronic warfare aircraft fall under the "miscellaneous" category and get reporting names beginning with "M". |
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Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny follows the same pattern, however Phantom Pain refers to Impulse (whose data they specifically didn't have out of the 4 original Gundams) as some variation of "Combining guy" and the Savior (which wasn't intoduced until much later) as "Newcomer." Zaft meanwhile refers to the Girty Lue (an illegal unregistered Earth ship) as "Bogey-1", and calls the new model Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice by the names of the original units. | |
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The Hind was featured in the Rambo series, Red Dawn and Blood Diamond, among other films, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater went so far as to 'reveal' that Big Boss came up with the name "Hind". It also inspired the LAAT transport gunships in the Star Wars prequels. | |
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BattleTech: The early BattleMechs that debuted in the Clan Invasion usually have two names: The more famous names assigned by the Inner Sphere defenders (such as the Thor and Mad Cat), and the 'Mech's true Clan designation (Summoner and Timber Wolf respectively). Which ones are used by any individual fan are a matter of preference. Later Clan 'Mechs have only one name, as the Clanners maintain contact with the Inner Sphere and share some data. Then the Clans themselves would go on to use this trope themselves, when a secret cabal of Clan scientists attacked the Clans, using a design that the Clans themselves were unfamiliar with. The Clans code named the new 'Mech "Pariah". One Clan, Diamond Shark, started using Inner Sphere names themselves when making successor designs of the old Omnimechs for export to Spheroid customers, e.g. a variant of the Timber Wolf is the Mad Cat Mk II. The Cauldron-Born is a 'Mech now only known by its reporting name. Clan Smoke Jaguar originally named it the Ebon Jaguar, but since the Inner Sphere were the first non-Jaguars to encounter the new design at the Battle of Luthien, its Inner Sphere reporting name spread to the other Clans before its original name did. Hence, everyone who is not a Smoke Jaguar refers to it as the Cauldron-Born (and everyone who is a Smoke Jaguar is now too dead to argue). The Timber Wolf is an example of how unknown contacts can end up with their reporting names, too. Its profile looks a little like a cross between two Inner Sphere mechs, causing their targeting readout to flip between identifying it as a Maruader (codename prefix MAD-) and Catapult (prefix CAT-), hence Mad Cat. |
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A Nod intelligence item in Tiberium Wars suggests the name "Gravity Stabilizer" for the Scrin aircraft production is actually a name given by analysts after studying what the unknown "Visitor structure type 8" did. Presumably the other units' names were arrived at similarly, giving them a somewhat more plainly descriptive feel than the original factions' units. One imagines the Scrin themselves were less than interested in telling humans all about their fancy tech. | |
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In Lancer, the mechs produced by the hacker collective / techno-cult HORUS have reporting names taken after mythological monsters, since no one knows what their "proper names" are supposed to be (or if they even have any). | |
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In the Star Carrier series the Terran Confederation Navy doesn't know the actual names for Turusch warships, so individual classes are lettered based on the Military Alphabet (for example, a big multikilometer battleship converted from an asteroid is designated Bravo-class). Turusch space fighters get nicknamed "Toads" due to their lumpy potato-like shape. The word "Turusch" itself is also an example, being the Agletsch term for the species, which actually calls itself the Gweh. | |
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"Fulcrum" - the MiG-29, the Russian counterpart to the F-16. Very agile. Its best known feature is the R-73/AA-11 "Archer" missiles. Coupled to a helmet-mounted sight (like Airwolf has), these highly agile missiles can be launched by the pilot merely looking at his target, up to about 60 degrees off the centre-line. Shockingly disproportionate results in mock dogfights with German MiG-29s led to the U.S. developing their own helmet-mounted sights in response. According to references in The Other Wiki, the Russian pilots liked the NATO reporting name so much (they found the MiG-29 to be fitting for its "pivotal" role in Soviet air defence) that they started using the Fulcrum name themselves. This was somewhat common for Soviet aircraft; they didn't have official names, just model numbers, so if the pilots hadn't already come up with their own nickname (see next entry), they'd likely adopt the NATO reporting name. |
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In Paperinik New Adventures the Evronian starships are known only through names with Greek letters. | |
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In Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeon refer to the titular Humongous Mecha and its carrier White Base as "White Devil" and "Trojan Horse" respectively before learning their true names from Cozun Graham. Oddly, the Guncannon and Guntank apparently don't get reporting names and are simply referred to as "The Red One" and "You Call That A Mobile Suit?". The Core Fighters are referred to as "Mosquitoes" more than once, but this may simply be an insult. On the other side, the Zeon MS, especially the Zakus are often referred to as "Cyclops" by the Feddies due to their distinctive optic sensors, but this may just be a colloquialism, as the Zakus, at least had been known since before the start of the war. And up until episode 19 (near the halfway point of the anime and the 11th month of the One Year War), it was a surprise that Zeon had any operational mobile suits that weren't Zakus. Doms are also referred to as "Skirts" at first due to their distinctive armor. Lalah's mobile armor Elmeth is "Tricorn Hat" because of its triangular shape. | |
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Ace Combat: Assault Horizon uses the real-world reporting names and/or designations for all the military hardware portrayed. It also includes an in-universe example ("Didn't know the real name so we made one up") when the enemy's new non-nuclear bombs are christened "Trinity". Even after the project details are discovered, the name sticks. An averted example with Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown: datamining has found that there were reporting names originally coded for the two main drones the Erusean military uses. The MQ-99 was to be called the "Wasp" and the MQ-101 the "Vogel," but in the final product, these names are nowhere to be found in the script and they are simply referred to by their model numbers. |
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An averted example with Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown: datamining has found that there were reporting names originally coded for the two main drones the Erusean military uses. The MQ-99 was to be called the "Wasp" and the MQ-101 the "Vogel," but in the final product, these names are nowhere to be found in the script and they are simply referred to by their model numbers. | |
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In the Babylon 5/Star Trek crossover Shielded Under the Raptor's Wings, Earth Alliance and their allies refer to Minbari ships with their EA reporting names, based on Earth's maritime life forms and with a Theme Naming based on the specific hull, the (partial) exception being the Minbari antimatter converter-equipped Sharlin variants (named "Gag" after Gaghiel, a demon and the Angel of Fish to fit the angelfish theme) Two vessels got stuck with rather unfortunate reporting names: merchant ships other than the Tinashi-based Noloshan are named barrelfish due the ease of shooting them down, while the Neshatan gunship, implied to have received the codename from a Romulan, is called "Sperm" (whoever gave the name noticed the resemblance with the Troligan hulls and named her after the sperm whale to fit their theme naming, and by the time he found out the name had already stuck). |
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Full Metal Panic! carries on the NATO tradition of using S-names to refer to Soviet weapons, in this case including "Shamrock", "Savage", and "Shadow". The Codarl family of Lambda Driver-equipped Arm Slaves is given the collective codename "Venom". Amalgam's other Arm Slaves have demonic names: Belial, Eligor, Alastor, etc. Mithril's experimental ARX series of Arm Slaves are named after weapons: Halberd, Arbalest and Laevatein. Later in the novels, Sosuke ends up piloting an old-model Savage for a group of pit fighters. He paints it white and navy and dubs it the "Crossbow" because "It's not as good as an Arbalest", a reference that goes over the heads of his new friends. The M9E used by the good guys is named "Gernsback" for author Hugo Gernsback, as an in-universe Lampshade Hanging on the fact that Humongous Mecha are still regarded as "science fiction weapons" even by the people who operate them. |
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Zombie games like Left 4 Dead and State of Decay feature groups of "special" infected with consistent abilities, and their in-universe names appear to be reporting names rather than official designations. This becomes somewhat confusing in State of Decay, where some classes of infected have multiple names even in hint text within the game itself; a very large, nigh indestructible infected is referred to as a "Big Un" when assigned the radiant "Hunt X Infected" quest, a "Juggernaut" on the achievement for killing one with a vehicle, and as a "Big Bastard" when spotted during surveying. What makes this even more bizarre is the two in-game names can be given to the identical infected by the same character. | |
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