Blaze (Ace Combat)

"Blaze", callsign Razgriz 1, formerly Wardog 4 and Wardog 1, is the main protagonist and playable character of the video game Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. He started off as a member of the Wardog Squadron, before having to take command of it during the Circum-Pacific War. He and his squadron eventually became famous for their achievements during the war, and wound up discovering the true perpetrators of it.
==Appearance==
Unlike most of the protagonists in the series (excluding Assault Horizon) he can briefly be seen in a black-and-white photograph. However, his face is blocked by Chopper's arm, making his only defining feature his green OADF uniform (based on the color of the other team member's uniforms) .
==Biography==
On September 24, 2010, Blaze and the other Wardog Squadron pilots pursued a spy aircraft near Cape Landers. Although ordered not to open fire, the pilots had to disobey the order when the aircraft attacked them. A while later, a Yuktobanian ship launched a number of UAVs, which were later supported by manned Yuktobanian aircraft, and Wardog Squadron had to stop them once again, but lost their leader, Jack Bartlett. After the incident, Yuktobania declared war on Osea.
Blaze was forced to take command of Wardog Squadron, and led it into several missions, including the defense of Osean fleet, Basset Space Center and President Harling's plane, as well as invasion of Yuktobania. During an operation over Dresdene, however, the squadron was framed for an attack on a civillian target, and had to prove their innocence by completing two missions.
After the Wardog Squadron successfully destroyed a powerful Yuktobanian submarine in the Razgriz Straits, they earned the name "The Demons of Razgriz". The Wardog Squadron then took part in the storming of a POW camp, hoping to find Bartlett among the prisoners, but he wasn't kept there. Edge got distracted and crashed, leaving her alone in the enemy territory. Luckily, she was rescued in time, not without assistance from Blaze.
The Wardog Squadron was assigned to perform a flight over November City during a "peace ceremony" held there. The city, however, was attacked by Yuktobanian aircraft. Due to the 8492nd Squadron's treachery, the Wardogs were forced to fend off the attack on their own, and by the end of it, Chopper had been killed. This turned out to have been an attempt by the Grey Men, the true masterminds behind the war, to take the squadron out of the picture. An ambush was organized to kill the remaining Wardogs, and when it failed, the Grey Men's associate Allen C. Hamilton declared them traitors and issued an order to arrest or shoot them down. With help from Wolfgang Buchner and Marcus Snow, Blaze and others managed to evade the pursuers and fake their deaths, hiding on board the carrier Kestrel. Blaze's squadron, now referred to as "Razgriz Squadron" or "The Ghosts of Razgriz", took part in an operation to rescue President Harling, who was being held captive by the Grey Men, as well as stripping the Grey Men of nuclear weapons and destroying the hijacked Arkbird. The pilots would also reunite with Captain Bartlett, who had escaped captivity and rescued Yuktobania's Prime Minister, deposed in a military coup early on.
The Razgriz Squadron then attempted to stop the Grey Men from wiping out numerous cities in either Osea or Yuktobania with the SOLG satellite, and were supported by various Osean and Yuktobanian forces who listened to their leaders' message and stopped fighting each other. While Blaze and Bartlett were successful in destroying the SOLG control system, the satellite went off the orbit due to this, threatening to crash into and destroy Osea's capital, Oured. The Razgriz Squadron, however, destroyed it before it could do any damage.
Having stopped the Grey Men's plans and saved Oured, Blaze and his wingmen never took part in military operations again, and quit the air force soon after.
==Gallery==
File:F-14A Blaze.jpg|Blaze's F-14A with Wardog Squadron livery.
File:F18 Blaze.webp|Blaze's F-14A with Razgriz Squadron livery.
== Trivia==
*Blaze appears in two cutscenes in The Unsung War, with his face obscured both times, making him, alongside Phoenix, Ace and Trigger, one of the few Ace Combat protagonists to make a physical appearance.
*Blaze's "canon" aircraft is F-14A. However, he starts the game using an F-5E Tiger II, and at one point uses a BAE Systems Hawk trainer plane to escape after falsely being branded as traitors.
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