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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Flag of Zero One - the colours of the unrecognized machine nation from the Matrix


The Animatrix was a series of short animated prequels for the Matrix Trilogy. It was a collection of nine stories that expanded and explained some of the back story. In The Second Renaissance the 'flag' of the machine-robot nation is revealed as a union of white with black.

It is first shown as an imprint on cars made by 01 - the machine nation.


Arms of the Machine Nation

Here the apparent arms of the 01-machine nation are shown. It is a shield cut in three sections vertically. On the left side it is white, in the middle is a thin grey metal division and on the right it is black. In the center is a thin grey line below the navel. At the honor point tilted to right is a grey disc. It is crowned with six metal extensions. In the compartment is a silver V shaped chevron. Notice 01 white and black badge in the lower left corner.



Here a package shows the white and black badge of 01-machine nation.









After the governments decide that the unrecognized and economically powerful nation of 01 must be destroyed, war results.

On the left a humanoid robot riding another robot horse leads the 01 armies into battle with the nations of the world. The flag of 01 is torn and tattered.


Saturday, November 19, 2011

Robocop Flags and Insignia

US flag in Robocop - 1987

In the movie Robocop 1987 the US flag makes and apperance during a hostage scene. In it a former city council member - Ron Miller - holds Mayor Gibson hostage at gun point. Miller has let the lesser half of his emotions get the best of himself. He demands a recount and wants his old job back and a big car that gets poor gas mileage.





OCP Logo

Here the senior president Dick Jones stands at the podium with several screens showing the OCP logo. OCP is an acronym for Omni Consumer Products. OCP is a fictional high technology company instrumental in starting the Robocop cybernetic police unit - using Alexander James Murphy as its first guinea pig. The logo here is sliver on red.

Alexander James Murphy
with OCP Detroit City Badge


Here the person chosen to become the experimental Robocop Police Unit in his human pre-cybernetic form before he is murdered by a gang of thugs who are also secretly under the control of OCP. On the left is his partner Anne Lewis.

The arm badge illustrates the union of the Detroit Police Department with the OCP corporation. Here OCP is written in blue along the crest. The colours of the badge are blue, gold, and silver.

Official Preview of Robocop 1987


The Real Badge of the
Detroit Police Department

Anti Flag Album Covers

Debut Album of Anti-Flag

Anti-Flag is a punk rock group that lives up to its name. As the title suggests, flags can often be found in the art and music associated with Anti-Flag. Anti-Flag combines elements of the counter culture movement with music and political activism. Their musical riffs lie at a polar opposite of patriotic American Country music - like Toby Kieth.

Their debut album was Die for the Government released in 1996. It featured the US flag held upside down and members of the band blind folded with punk rock haircuts.

The People of the Gun album cover 2009

The album covers and shows with Anti-Flag often have the US flag hung upside down. Hanging the US flag in this manner is not necessarily an insult, officially it means that the situation is dire and help is needed.

Their shocking use of the American flag is purposeful. Their anti-establishment message and harsh judgement on certain aspects of US corporate culture is intended to garner attention and jolt people into thinking about larger global and social issues beyond personal consumerism.


A New Kind of Army 1999

Perhaps their most controversial cover was the on artwork on A New Kind of Army released in 1999. On this album the four members of the band are raising an upside down distress US flag signal in a similar manner as in the famous Iwo Jima flag photo of 1945.









A typical video of Anti-Flag

Friday, November 18, 2011

Total Recall - Mars Colony Insignia

Martian Immigration Officer
notice Mars Colony Patch on left arm

Total Recall 1990 is a science-fiction adventure set in the not to distant future. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the hero who fights his way to Mars and fulfills an ancient alien mystery. It is an action packed, suspense filled mystery. It's a great wonder why a modern video game or sequel has not been in works.

Total Recall asks us to question reality and wonder about who has control.

Upon 'Douglas Quaids' arrival upon Mars he has to clear immigration. Here we see a Martian Immigration officer with the colony patch on his left arm. It features the planet and its two moons - Phobos and Deimos.

Immigration Stamp Admission to Mars

The passport of the future isn't so different. You can see that Mars is a 'Federal Colony.' The stamp features a striped red Mars with counter charge lines that pass through.

Colonies on Mars? It is very possible, and we may be much closer than anyone thinks. However people will likely have computer chip implants on the brain before a colony is made permanent. People are already enchanted/addicted their I-phones and smart phones. "Chips-heads" (Borg like people) will be apart of society before Martian settlement.



Portal Flags and Logo

Portal Machines taking over the UN

Portal 2-2011 is the sequel to another video game Portal -2007. Portal was a ground breaking video game that used less violence, rather it yet made the player use his or her brain in order to advance.

First time users often get a slight headache or brain itch when first playing this game.

The game theme is man versus machine. Usually this rivalry is set in a melodramatic life and death struggle for the soul of man and earth.

But in the Portal Universe the anti-human machines have an edge of humor and element of likability. Unlike Hal 9000, the Terminator or the bots from the Matrix Trilogy - the 'enemy' robots have depth of character and charming personalities.

Flags appear in one of the early entrance elevator way stations. The flags are shown at a digitized government forum, during a public service announcement. The announcement is that an 'Animal King' has taken over with no capacity or refuses to listen to reason. There are six flags - Ghana, Sweden, Austria, Bulgaria, and Argentina. There is one more but it can not be clearly determined - it may be the flag of the EU?

Video with flags and humanized Opera and ending song

Matrix Flags from the prequel animated series

Burning Human Flag?
reminiscent of the Iwo Jima flag photo

The Animatrix was dazzling sequence of short movies that further expanded and explained some the back story to the Matrix Trilogy. In the Second Renaissance the origins of the human and machine conflict are explained. During the battle sequence we see a burning flag being lowered by the humans as the machines - AI - succeeds in overtaking humanity.

Insignia of the High Court during the
age of human mastery over machines

The first court case of a machine murdering its flesh and blood master because it didn't want to be destroyed causes a sequence of events to unfold.

During this fictional dramatization the insignia of the high human court is shown. It is composed of a bald eagle, in its right talon is a four leaf clover. In its left talon and a human skull. The eagles head is facing dexter - towards the four leaf clover. On the chest of the bald eagle is a square shield with a balance that is black and white.

Flags of the UN shown in The Second Renaissance

After the machines are expelled to the wasteland deserts of Asia, they eventually demonstrate a greater business capacity than humankind. This causes panic, fear, and jealousy to arise amongst the nations of the world. The nations then unite against the machines. In this shot, the flags of Azerbaijan, Malaysia, and Maldives are clearly visible.

A robot on a machine horse with flaming flag

Even the machines utilize flags during war to better coordinate offensive tactics. Here we see a humanoid robot figure on a machine horse holding a 'trumpet' upon making battle with the humans.




Thursday, November 17, 2011

Kiki's Delivery Service Flag


This one of the flags that appeared in Kiki's Delivery Service. It is orange saltire on a purple background.