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Certainly not an impossibility, but this is Star Trek we are talking about, it is all about positive portrayal and message. The whole decaying organisation or failed state type of story telling is another one of those that floated around for years with Star Trek. I was never fond of this idea being explored, But it's one thing creating this depressing backdrop, it's another when you on top take the whole point of Star Trek – namely us humans – and portray them as crappy entitled beings with stupid infighting in their solar system that they are completely incapable of resolving themselves (what happened to 900 years of Federation experience?) all because it's not "easy riding" any longer. That might be a reflection of our current human society, but I want to see a reflection of how we can be much better. It would have been way more interesting to see humans still embracing the Federation, still being the explorers wanting to understand the universe and still being there to help others as much as they can. Exploring the human condition (what makes these 32nd century humans go on?) despite the current hardships and adversities of the Burn would have made for excellent stories. Instead we got very lazy and thoughtless writing, all for the sensationalism of making everything even more depressing and dark.

If anyone wants a hi metal vf-19 fire Valkyrie, it’s $65 on Amazon. Wasn’t even looking for one. edit: well that went fast https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZQKGSQ6?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ref=clp_aw_a_A3ACILMS0N8AEO

My buddy and his wife have both been working with Disney for the last five years, all stunt work, and they've been a pretty solid source for rumors since they are both on nearly every new MCU and Star Wars project to some degree. Along with what I've been reading today, they've confirmed a few things for me... I never posted in other MCU and Star Wars threads about what they've let on to me about those projects in the past, but everything they told me came up as exactly true, with some background details as well, mostly on Brave New World as they had filmed tons of the cut content.

The idea being that it's a lot harder to take over something that's not concentrated in one place anymore, right? I'm a bit astounded that Xaos could afford the customization parts (and attached increased maintenance needs ) for their fighters, given how cash-strapped they are. Hmm... I wonder if Xaos ever considered selling the plans to NUNS Central? The microcode glitch I've been reading about? I heard it's been hitting 13th and 14th gen chips.

Seeing how this is an unmanned unit, I guess it would make sense that it would be friendly to livestock. I honestly don’t know all the lore on Machinen Krieger and am kinda curious about how far the AI goes in the series since there seem to be several different types of unmanned units.

Just don't hook the transporter up to the holodeck or you'll have some seriously messed up things going on...

The central New UN Forces under the direct authority of the New UN Government itself are absolutely still humanity's Biggest Stick™. On the other hand, the quality of the various local defense forces that individual New UN Gov't member nations operate under the New UN Forces banner can vary wildly based on their government's priorities and resources. Wealthy emigrant governments like Macross Frontier or Macross Galaxy can afford to spend big on defense and thus boast large local defense forces with state-of-the-art weapons and well-trained soldiers. Others governments like the worlds of the Brisingr Alliance have to be more restrained and have smaller or less capable forces. It is theoretically a single entity, but it's a heavily decentralized one that's on a much tighter leash after the Second Unification War(s) due to the involvement several generals had in the coup attempt. Master File rather unfortunately glosses over the development history and circumstances of the production-intent VF-31 Kairos because the book is about the Siegfried custom and they only really want to talk about that. So instead of focusing on the domestic development of the VF-31 by the Brisingr Alliance they focus on Xaos's development of the VF-31S type. As I mentioned earlier, it presents an account that is somewhat at odds with official media in terms of its decision to depict the Siegfried as a low volume production unit meant for Special Forces use rather than the bank-breaking-ly expensive one-off Ace Custom machines made by and for Xaos they are in the Macross Delta series proper. That said, the central New UN Forces probably would want to produce the VF-31 Seigfried on a limited basis if they could get the plans. They put the YF-29 into very limited trial production for their special forces despite the insane expense, and even in Master File are maintaining actual squadrons of YF-29B and YF-29C types despite only being able to put together a few craft per year due to resource limitations. Not as of yet. I've been rather busy at the ol' day job and am currently between computers again thanks to having another 13th gen Intel chip fry out on me.

Oh... oh no. Thank you for that horrible mental image that absolutely won't be haunting my nightmares now. 😆

Confirmed, our favourite psychopath is getting another GFFMC release. https://www.taghobby.com/archives/869952 https://tamashiiweb.com/item/15537/?wovn=en

Fst, thanks a lot for your responses, things seem to be a little more coherent now. I was under the impression that NUNS was still the preeminent military force on the galaxy. Fleets and planets could have their own forced but NUNS was still the main security provider. The fact that in most materials they refer to it as a single entity does not help much. But a more “EU” style of management seems to fit a post 2051 context. Regarding the VF-31 developments now it makes more sense. I thought that the relation with the Brisingir cluster came to be when Xaos became involved and wanted to move testing from Eden to Ragna, something that, according to the Master file, did not sit well with Shinsei and some NUNS officials. But if the Alliance is straight up funding the whole project it would make more sense. If this fact is noted on the master file please let me know in what page because I want to check if the machine translation omitted it. Also @Seto Kaiba Did you get to translating the rest of the Miracle of Foegal story of the VF-31 AX master file? So far I did not have any luck with my own attempts but from what I've been able to read it is pretty wild, with 25's and 19's advance.

I like MP-52 Starscream – his robot form, the smirking or laughing face, the expressive posing possibilities, and yes even his non-accurate, but accurate on-screen fighter mode all bring back good childhood memories. I would say Takara fulfilled on the actual mission objective they set out for. But that being said, I would like to wholeheartedly apologise for embracing deliciously terrible Transformers. Your candidness in pointing out my poor standards in preference and taste is enlightening, rest assured that for the rest of 2025 and onwards I and many of the other fans that have been on the wrong path will strive to reach your high standards in ascertaining what constitutes a good and enjoyable Transformers toy. 🙄😒

They will eventually be used for Heavy Gear Blitz

Well, the Lego purists asked that I create a new topic for any building block set that isn't Lego, so here we go. Got the Cobi F-14A Tomcat Top Gun movie tie in today alongside the Mega Blocks XF-14F GI Joe set with the bonus HISS tank in the mail today. It's going to be interesting to see how they compare once I get them put together. I might kickstart my youtube channel with it.

Here's a video of the Super Scale Legioss

Right: given the distances the emigrant fleets are traveling, the limits of even fold communications (let alone fold travel) and how fast situations can develop and change, they really cannot "sit around" waiting for a central command to give them the "go ahead" on a scenario. In a corollary from TOS Stat Trek episode Balance of Terror, I recall that Kirk contacted Starfleet Command to ask their advice on the situation; by the time they replied, the Romulan ship had already been destroyed and it was near the end of the episode. So while that is a different franchise, the delay in communications meant that if Kirk hadn't have acted on his own, they may not have survived. I suspect much the same with the considerable distances in Macross, and how quickly situations can evolve in combat as well as other instances. Fleets need to not be tied up waiting on a central authority to communicate with them when time is of the essence. Not to mention with the varying areas these fleets are exploring, the requirements and spec needed could vary enough that a machine that works for one fleet may not meet the needs of another. I think in the Macross world, this is also good for the general economy overall; having these different models available gives governments a choice and flexibility on defense while providing price points that let the not so affluent members still field a potent defense that's tailored to their needs. Less money spent (to a reasonable limit!) on defense potentially means more that can be invested in goods, services and products. It makes me wonder if that one that abolished their defense forces will int he near future need to call for help because of an enemy that emerged without warning?

So, an Earth bender would be next in the avatar cycle, right?

Preordered the Savage Land set.

Teaser.

Meh. Haven't touched my PS5 is actual years. I'll probably skip 6 entirely as long as Sony keeps putting their games on PC.

@snakerbot has the correct answer: To expand on snakerbot's answer, assuming that the New UN Forces are a monolithic organization is one of the more common misconceptions that fans make when talking about the Macross Frontier and Macross Delta series. The relationship between the New UN Government and its various member governments (emigrant governments) has been continually evolving in the era of space emigration, as has the relationship between the New UN Government member governments and the New UN Forces. The New UN Government was originally a strong central government with broad authority over the individual member governments. Likewise, the central New UN Forces wielded considerable authority over the local New UN Forces maintained by all of the individual emigrant fleets and planets. You can think of it as being a bit like the relationship between the US federal gov't and state gov't and between the regular US military and national guard in a sense. It's not an exact comparison, but the relationship is close enough to get the gist. Time, distance, and the limitations of fold technology gradually made centralized authority less and less practical as humanity expanded into the greater galaxy aboard its various large scale long distance emigrant fleets. Referring every important matter up the chain of command to some central authority on Earth simply wasn't realistic as a way to handle matters of governance or defense for a growing number of emigrant governments and the problem only got more pronounced with time. This led to growing unrest among the emigrant governments and prompted a period of small civil wars and uprisings that would come to be known as the Second Unification War(s) and culminate in the pro-centrists within the New UN Gov't and New UN Forces attempting a coup in 2051 (Macross VF-X2). They were defeated, and ultimately the pro-autonomy faction won out, granting more independence and authority to the individual member governments and decentralizing command of the New UN Forces to make it easier for emigrant governments to respond flexibly to threats. By the time of Macross Frontier and Macross Delta, the relationship between the New UN Government and member governments is more akin to that of the European Union. Emigrant fleets have had a fair amount of discretionary authority in deciding how to equip their local New UN Forces defense forces from a relatively early point. Macross 7 is the series this first rears its head in, with the central New UN Forces and Macross 7 fleet having adopted the VF-11 while the colony Megaroad-13 set up in the Varauta system made a decision to adopt the VF-14 instead. Master File suggests that this was the case from the very beginning, with some emigrant fleets toying with adopting the VF-3000 back in the 2010s. That has been taken to its logical extreme by the time of Frontier, with the wealthiest emigrant governments starting to get into the defense industry and begin domestic development of new model VFs instead of buying a license to locally produce VFs developed for the central New UN Forces on Earth. (This mirrors what Japan went through in terms of defense appropriations. Japan's F-2 is a build-under-license version of the US F-16, with Japan vying to break into the lucrative weapons export market by developing a next-generation fighter to replace it.) Earth and the central New UN Forces are implied (or directly stated in Master File) to have adopted the VF-24 as their 5th Generation main fighter from 2057. The specifications for the final YF-24 Evolution prototype, minus Earth's proprietary technologies, were transmitted to all of the emigrant governments as required by law. The Macross Frontier fleet used the YF-24 Evolution specs as a starting point for the domestic development of their own 5th Generation main fighter for their local New UN Forces and for export sale to other emigrant governments. Macross Galaxy did likewise, developing the VF-27 using both the YF-24 Evolution spec and stolen development data from the Frontier fleet's anti-Vajra YF-29 program. Master File's version of this makes it out to be a joint development program called "Project Triangler" rather than independent programs carried out in each fleet, with Macross Frontier partnering with Macross Olympia and Macross Galaxy to codevelop a next-generation fighter that all three fleets were supposed to adopt and profit from export sales of. Existing material suggests that the VF-25 was exported quite widely, with the Macross 7 fleet being among known customers adopting it as their next-generation main fighter. The VF-31 is not a replacement for the VF-25. It was developed as an alternative/competitor to the VF-25 by a regional economic/defense pact that had similar goals vis-a-vis the huge economic benefits of exporting weapons. The Brisingr Alliance is a mutual defense and economic union between the New UN Gov't's worlds in the Brisingr globular cluster. They're way off the beaten path on the far side of the galaxy and their sheer remoteness has not helped their economic situation. So the Brisingr Alliance floated the idea of joint domestic development of a next-generation main fighter instead of buying a license to build Earth's latest fighter again as a way to keep defense spending within the cluster and stimulate the local economy directly. They also wanted to potentially export the new model to other emigrant governments and thus bring a new source of outside revenue into their economy. (The VF-31 situation is a very direct allusion to Japan's domestic fighter development plan.) That's... mostly unrelated. Master File presents a very different context for the VF-31 Siegfried custom which is somewhat at odds with official media. Official media present the VF-31 Siegfried as an Ace Custom machine that Xaos independently produced by making "aftermarket" modifications to a few of the trial production VF-31A Kairos units loaned to them by the local New UN Forces for field testing. Master File instead presents the Siegfried custom as a sort of limited production model meant for the special forces. On the other hand, there is almost no official info on the VF-31AX. Officially, it's implied to be just an improved version of the Siegfried and thus an aftermarket Ace Custom but no detailed information is offered. Master File presents a similar picture of the VF-31AX as an "aftermarket" customization that improves on the Siegfried. Where it differs from official material is that it claims the Siegfrieds were upgraded/repaired using a pre-existing stockpile of parts built for a planned upgrade to convert the VF-31 Siegfrieds into experimental 6th Generation technology demonstrators codenamed "VF-31X". Because it was a rush job, only part of the upgrades were made and the resulting aircraft had many issues, being seen as something of a flying trainwreck by the developer who insisted Xaos not refer to it as the VF-31X under any circumstances. Master File paints a picture of a 6th Generation VF development program as effectively stymied by a lack of sufficiently pure fold quartz. They've been doing that the entire time. That's literally the backstory of the VF-3000. It was an internal continuing development project based on the VF-1 Valkyrie that was started by Stonewell Bellcom and continued by Shinsei Industry after it was formed by the merger of Stonewell Bellcom, Shinnakasu Heavy Industry, and Shinsei Manufacturing in 2012. That kind of internal, independent development is also the origin story of the SV Works at General Galaxy. They were an independent design team meant to pursue development of VFs meant specifically for anti-VF use and ultimately ended up working for/with the Epsilon Foundation subsidiary company Dian Cecht to develop and manufacture new model VFs for Windermere IV's Kingdom of the Wind. (Though their development by/for Windermere were financed by Windermere's royal treasury who had a LOT of fold quartz to burn.) They've actually adopted several... it's just not universal because the various local New UN Forces subordinate to the emigrant governments are each effectively autonomous forces under a common banner and their local governments can equip them as they see fit. Some governments adopted the VF-24, some the VF-25, some the VF-31, and so on... some supposedly went all-in on unmanned fighters, and we know of at least one that totally abolished its own defense force.

Yes. And Crysis. While developing for Cyberpunk 2078/9/80/81 and Crysis 4. Along with a whole slew of other tasks.

Is it just my PC or is that the herky jerkiest video in a long time - especially considering it is supposed to be an ad.

Hearts of Steel Bumblebee and Megatron And Void Rivals Jetfire are available to pre-order on Pulse, now if you're Premium and 2:00pm ET for everyone.