u/Gregory_Grim

Dear Lancer players: STOP GIVING YOUR LANCERS COOL CALLSIGNS!!!

Irl basically all pilot callsigns in military organisations that allow their personnel to use them, are chosen as reminders of embarrassing events, traits or behaviours (note: it's what the callsign bearer's teammates consider to be embarrassing), in-jokes or sometimes straight up insults. They are often also puns.

The only real exception to this are legacy callsigns in which someone takes over a close relative's or mentor's callsign, so it's actually a reminder of the time your dad passed out on the toilet, and even then they usually have to earn the privilege through deeds.

So callsigns aren't chosen, they are given by your team; they aren't supposed to be cool unless you make them cool, by just being that good and most importantly they have to be practical and distinctive, allowing your closest allies to recognise you in the heat of battle with just a glance on a monitor or half an ear on comms.

With that in mind I have compiled a list of 201 callsigns in alphabetical alongside explanations of their meaning/possible origins for you to steal/take inspiration from.

Most of these are based on lists of real callsigns used by various pilots of the USAF, the RAF and the RAAF and some are my own creations. Some of them have been altered to better fit the Lancer setting (and be less offensive in some cases).

#	Callsign	Meaning
1	Anthrax	extremely poor body hygiene
2	Baby	“babyfaced” or young
3	Badger	is persistent to the point of being annoying
4	Baker	prone to overheating
5	Ballpark	chronically gives estimates instead of precise numbers when asked
6	Bandit	“holds up” the mission
7	Bankman	has a lot of money and/OR lends out with interest
8	Bijou	small and pretty
9	Biscuit	sweet, but flaky
10	Blackjack	gambling addict OR a “hit me” kind of person in that they pick fights
11	Blaze	lit themselves on fire
12	Blindspot	tendency to not look where they are going
13	Blister	shows up when the hard work is done
14	Bohemian	snobbish, considers themselves more cultured than their peers
15	Bonk	accidentally “bonked” into teammate multiple times
16	Boomerang	either talk about things “coming back around” a lot OR prone to having stuff they do or say “come back to bite them”
17	Brandy	alcoholic
18	Brick	“dumb as a…”
19	Bucket	always wears a helmet
20	Bullet	can only go in straight lines
21	Bushwhacker	poor hygiene/unkempt appearance
22	Buster	unclear meaning; possibly similar to Crunch?
23	Butane	slightly heavier than air and highly volatile
24	Butters	ironic: thin
25	Cable	forgot to unplug charger cable from mech before sortie
26	Cactus	prickly personality
27	Camera	prone to starring, “take a picture, it’ll last longer”
28	Cannibal	medic who got hungry from cauterised flesh smell
29	Cartwheel	“took a tumble” in their mech
30	Chainsaw	snores
31	CHAOS	acronym: “Can’t Handle the Amount Of Stress”; complains about, before and during sorties
32	Chemo	drug abuse
33	Chilly	either complains about being cold a lot OR never gets their heat up because they don’t do anything in a fight
34	Chimney	chainsmoker and/or prone to overheating
35	Chopper	unskilled with technology/prefers low tech solutions
36	Chucky	accidentally threw their gun
37	Chutney	vomited in the cockpit
38	Clockwork	punctual
39	Coma	hard sleeper
40	Cookie	ironic: not very sharp; “a sharp cookie”
41	CRAFT	acronym: “Can’t Remember A F*cking Thing”; forgetful
42	Crispy	prone to overheating
43	Critter	small and weird
44	Crockpot	a ‘slow cooker’
45	Crook	has criminal record
46	Crowbar	useful for breaking open doors OR known for jamming themselves in somewhere
47	Crunch	crushed some equipment under their mech’s foot
48	Cryptid	rarely seen in person
49	Dart	quick to move and get stuck somewhere
50	Deadman	was clinically dead for some time before being revived
51	Deuce	messed up in a specific way twice
52	Devil	meaning unclear
53	Dice	(likes to take risks in the mech and in gambling)
54	Dingo	meaning unclear: maybe similar to Maddog
55	Dirtmouth	fell down and ate dirt
56	Dizzy	either gets vertigo easily OR gives others vertigo with their piloting
57	Doggy	loyal, sticks close to someone they know
58	Dozer	prone to ramming manoeuvres, intentional or not
59	Dustman	tendency to get themselves and/or their mech dirty
60	Easy	meaning unclear: may be similar to Okay OR refer to sexual promiscuity
61	Felony	ironic: law-abiding and straight-laced
62	Firefly	accidentally lit themselves on fire once
63	Fish	drinks a lot
64	Flint	tendency to slide and skid their mech unnecessarily, creating sparks
65	Fossil	old
66	Freezer	tendency to freeze up
67	Frogger	always jumping around and cutting it close
68	Frosty (see: Chilly)	see: Chilly
69	FUNGUS	acronym: “F*ck U, New Guy, U Suck”
70	G-Man	someone who seems both shifty and like a narc
71	Gadget	showed up with a useless/gimmicky piece of tech once
72	Gameshow	either they often “play guessing games” by being vague on coms OR they are often the subject of bets
73	Ghost	ghosted the team once
74	Gloria	preachy
75	Granny/Gramps	oldest in the unit, neither is gender specific
76	Greaser	known for bribery
77	Greasy	known for being corrupt/bribable
78	Guppy	innocent looking
79	Hardhead	hit their head repeatedly
80	Hatch	got stuck in mech hatch once
81	Horizon	either way too far ahead or behind
82	Huckster	always either trying to sell or buy something
83	Inch	short and mad about it
84	INOST	acronym: “In Need Of Some Therapy”
85	IRIS	acronym: "I Require Intense Supervision”
86	Jackal	scavenger, eats leftovers and takes other people’s trash
87	Jailbird	has a history of incarceration
88	Jammer	talks over others
89	Joker	ironic: serious, no nonsense
90	Jungle	meaning unclear: may be similar to Bushwhacker
91	LASKUS	acronym: “Low Attention Span, Keep Under Supervision”
92	Legend	first to fail at something that was previously thought impossible to fail
93	Leper	had parts fall off his mech due to improper installation
94	Lightshow	accidentally fired flares/forgot to turn off external lights on mech on stealth approach
95	Lockjaw	tenacious and difficult to dissuade from a course of action once in motion
96	Lunchbox	steals teammates’ food
97	Maddog	aggressive/irritable
98	Magnum	large
99	Mangler	injured during mech repair
100	Maniac	a maniac
101	Maximum	tendency to have the mech overheat or just at the edge of overheating
102	Mayhem	mere presence causes mechanical problems
103	Meltdown	prone to overheating the mech OR becoming emotional
104	Monsoon	takes a long time on the toilet
105	Moonshine	alcoholic
106	Mouse	ironic: large
107	Muscle	ironic: very thin and/or frail
108	NAFOD	acronym: “No Apparent Fear Of Death”
109	Nails	a hard-ass, “hard as nails”
110	Nomad	remains calm even when they shouldn’t, “no mad”
111	NUBS	acronym: “No Upper Body Strength”
112	OCAM	acronym: “One Continuous Awkward Moment”
113	Ogre	rude and/or ill-mannered
114	Okay	says “Okay” a lot
115	Omega	always comes either last or late
116	Osmium	the densest, see: Tungsten
117	Paintball	meaning unclear
118	Ping	hacker who is a bit slow
119	POISON	acronym: “Passed Out In Shitter One Night”
120	POW	acronym: “Piece Of Work”
121	Preacher	religious
122	Princess	from a privileged background, not gender specific
123	Pucker	tendency for close calls
124	Punch-up	preference for melee combat
125	Puppy	young and/or a newbie
126	Pyro	pyromaniac
127	Quirky	meaning unclear: probably ironic
128	Rabbit	easily spooked
129	RADIO	acronym: Running Around Drunk Into Objects
130	Ragman	bad style of dress
131	Raindrop	big and round
132	Rascal	probably self-explanatory
133	Rat	is ratty
134	Redeye	had a particularly bad hangover once
135	Riddler	ambiguous or confusing in their speech
136	RIOT	acronym: ”Random Inputs On Throttle”; accidentally hit their mech’s controls once, causing it to crash into something
137	Roach	hard to kill and light-sensitive
138	Rock	see: Brick
139	Roid	as in Android, Steroid or Haemorrhoid, whichever fits best
140	Roughgrind	prone to bumping against corners with their mech
141	Roundabout	either takes a long time OR is bad at estimations/calling out numbers via coms
142	Rubble	often causes collateral damage
143	Rusty	someone who claims to have more experience than they are exhibiting
144	Sandbag	is best used for cover or stuffing an entrance)
145	Sandman	sleepy
146	Scarecrow	lanky or poorly dressed
147	Scout	ironic: no sense of direction
148	Scrapper	prone to destroying equipment
149	Shades	always wears sunglasses/visor
150	Sheriff	by-the-book type
151	ShiMa	contraction: “Shit Magnet”, has bad luck
152	Siesta	sleepy and/or alcoholic
153	Skipper	missed briefings or essential steps in protocol and regretted it
154	Slick	puts too much stock in their appearance
155	Slim	ironic: broad build
156	Slots	gambling addiction
157	Slugger	prone to throw a punch
158	Smoker/Smokey	mech overheated
159	Snail	slow
160	SOTO	acronym: “Stater Of The Obvious”
161	Sparky	shorted out electronic equipment
162	Speedbump	slows you down
163	Spider	sticks to walls and cover too much
164	Spitfire	quick to answer
165	Sponge	as in “bullet sponge”
166	Squid	“inked”, heavily tattooed)
167	Static	doesn’t respond over comms
168	Stretch	tall
169	Stump	short & stocky
170	Sunshine	ironic: dour, gloomy
171	TALONS	acronym: “Talks A Lot, Only Nothing’s Said”
172	Taxman	often wins bets
173	TBAR	acronym: “That Boy Ain’t Right”
174	Tinkerbelle	obsessed with adjusting and fine-tuning their mech
175	Toad	flatterer and bootlicker
176	TOFT	acronym: “Too Old For This”
177	TORI	acronym: “Turn On the Reactor, Idiot”; delayed sortie once because mech wasn’t turned on
178	Treadmill	unskilled with technology/prefers low tech solutions
179	Tron	cyborg
180	TULSA	acronym: “Total & Utter Lack of Situational Awareness”
181	Tungsten	very dense, low intelligence
182	Turbo	ironic: slow
183	Turtle	slow
184	Two-tap	made the same embarrassing mistake twice in a row
185	Twoshots	low alcohol tolerance
186	Uncle	gives unsolicited advice
187	Upchuck	either vomited during a mission OR accidentally threw their weapon, see: Chucky
188	Vapour	prone to boasting or overpromising, also a reference to flatulence
189	Vermin	won’t go away no matter what
190	VIPERS	acronym: “Very Idiotic Pilot, Expect Rampant Stupidity”
191	Virtue	usually ironic: crooked or promiscuous; may also be teasing for holier-than-thou types
192	Vulture	mistakenly fired at an already downed target
193	Weedwhacker/Weedkiller	destroyed some local flora
194	Whiplash	rough piloting style
195	Whiskey	alcoholic
196	Wiki	knows a lot of useless trivia
197	Wildman	unkempt appearance/boorish personality
198	Wiseguy	see: “Joker” OR addiction to sports betting
199	Wizard	known for making equipment or supplies “disappear”
200	Yoga	practises physical gymnastics
201	ZEUS	acronym: “Zero Effort Unless Supervised”

The fright I get every single time I see her running around out of the corner of my eye

201 Pilot Callsigns

They’re just taunting me now

Does anybody else think cooking event should just go?