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This just showed up on the BBC's "Week in Pictures", apparently it's from a comic con in Hong Kong.... I don't know, I just don't know.

There's "aimed at men" and "aimed at women" elements in the works themselves that go well beyond publication history in terms of meaning. Critics in the US use the shojo/shonen terms for this, and I do too. You hadn't named one example anywhere up until this post either. Princess Princess. It's one of a trillion shojo titles that involves a school. Happy now? And yes, school settings reach across gender boundries.... That's the point I was trying to get across. If that relationship actually was aimed at men, Alto wouldn't be such a titanic puss, and would end up actually expressing his will, and getting what he truly wants (the masculine role). Instead he sits and spins, while Ranka and Sheryl agonize their little hearts out over him. Suffering at the hands of men is something that nearly all women can relate to. Most men don't want to watch women be miserable as much as women do, because helping eachother cope is something girls learn very early to do (men would rather see the woman be won over or earned by exceptional behavior). And yeah, there's fanservice, since the series is meant to have elements that appeal to almost everyone. Maybe you have. And yes, I see you know something about Japanese culture, that's nice, but you didn't convince me that it's anything other than a minor detail.

FRONTIER 2 SCRIPT VAJRA: ALL GLORY TO THE OVERMIND! END But seriously, I do wish they'd actually make a damn theatrical sequel for once instead of just retelling the same stuff we all saw less than a year ago.

Well, being as small as she is micronized, another Zentradi might..... hmm..... *awaits banning*

I think you mean "I should really just relax." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Neymk02GEq4

Does someone mind translating/summarizing that? Google's version was fantastically bizarre, something about eyebrows and clan factions...

Sounds like an interesting take on current trends, but isn't Macross' audience almost overwhelmingly male? I can't imagine it being that pleasant to hear some big neckbearded dude trying to belt out a Sheryl song.

If that's the case, why don't the Zentradi at least know something about the Vajra, since the Protoculture created them, and they're supposedly spread all over the galaxy?

Well at least now it's only half as offensive to Americans.

So far, I've got a map running that's 100km x 100km, which is far bigger than I think we'd ever need (it would take a capship about half an hour to get from one end to the other). As for giant fleets, I'm trying to run some tests for that now, but really, as long as you keep the polycount of the models under control, I don't think we'd have much of a problem running 100 ship battles. But there needs to be lots of in-game testing to make sure it all works.

Guerilla warfare actually tends to take a worse toll on the soldiers it is used on, that's one of its biggest advantages. Getting inexperienced soldiers to the hights of fear, and then back to stability over and over again tends to have profoundly negative effects (hence my reference to Vietnam). And I mentioned before that a lot of screen time was devoted to Sheryl and Ranka. However Alto and the other pilots sort of got the shaft, Luca hardly got any development at all, and the others seemed to ultimately fall flat. I don't see it as a matter of "sanitization" either, given the content of a lot of shows seemingly aimed at children over there... But either way, after watching some of M7, I have gained a lot more appreciation for Frontier. It's like they took the original series, ground it up, and mixed it with coke and everything that was bad about the '80s.

Maybe there could be some means to choose between Zentran and Meltran in-game? Really, it would mostly be a matter of aesthetics right?

...I've seen enough anime that I think I can tell what kind of story elements are intended for what audiences. Damn near every shojou romance title out there has something to do with a school. I also meant that the whole Alto/Sheryl/Ranka dynamic smacks of it, because it's focused totally on the womens' anguish due to the ineptitude of the (very very bishounen) male. Ranka and Sheryl's desparation is something that would strike a chord most with female audience members, yes? You don't get "accustomed" to war and fighting. Ask any Vietnam vet. I would have liked to see more physical/emotional deterioration on the part of the pilots, but that's probably a bit much to ask from Macross. Right, and almost every show out there includes team playing, it's a pretty central part of human civilization. But if you remember the Zentradi revolt, Temzin(?)'s dying words regarded the fundamental inability of two species to co-exist without conflict. That came up again and again, but when they finally found the means to communicate with the Vajra, they were able to defeat the common enemy. This I saw as reflecting our own inability to "listen" to what the other life on this planet tells us, and the conflict that arises from it.

This is definitely the best-looking mod I've seen since AFF, godspeed to you. On the topic of gameplay, I would guess you're planning UN/Zen/Vajra in your first release? I like the idea given earlier of having swarms of cheap early stage Vajra as their first unit, those could also be used as resourcers (which are vastly less efficient then those of other races). The tougher mecha types could cost a lot of time and RU, but do tons of damage (naturally), the reds' main cannon would have to be fired as a special ability and have significant cooldown too. I also noticed that the Vajra mothership didn't seem to actually have much in the way of armament either, which is a good thing for the game, I think. I can see it having a lot of defensive power, but only anti-fighter turrets. This way a Vajra player would have to resource carefully and choose battles wisely, instead of having a huge advantage over everyone from the start.

Just finished it. Cetainly didn't knock my socks off, but as something from the Macross franchise, I couldn't rightly expect more. It's actually kind of an achievement that it stayed so close the "classic" formula without seeming too shallow or uninspired. But that may just be because I haven't actually seen a Macross show in ages. But anyway, I do have to give creedence to complaints about all the schoolyard shojou mellodrama. I mean, a little of that is ok, but really, this could have been a shojou romance in later episodes, if it wasn't for the tearful confrontations being interrupted by giant murderous bugs. I was also impressed initially that characters actually seemed to behave like real human beings instead of cutouts and supermen. When the Vajra got into the city for the first time, not only did people obviously die, but Ranka and Alto responded to it with more than just passing shock. However, this eroded later, everyone prettymuch hit the same notes with every single interaction. And in the end we got a hammered-into-the-dirt coexistance with nature message that apparently Japan just cannot get enough of. Although it was a nice touch not to reveal who Alto ultimately went for (I vote threesome).... Rant over, oh and hi new forum.