BChoinski

These are toys.

Nice. I'll have to keep an eye on this forum to find out when they come out. I wanted a VF25 after Frontier, but I'd like a VF31 more!

Well it's getting pricier as per the macross inflation index..

On the bright side we get removable boomerang drones and the pleasure of searching for them after accidentally dropping em..

On the front fuselage the landing gear bay doors are opening like they should and the nose gear looks as unattractive as any other dx...

However the color scheme seems to be translating along nicely into the final dx version ..

Is this a transformable toy, like the old VF-1s (where wheels are contained in the nose and legs for when fighter mode), or is it a model kit you need to put together but can assemble in one of the 3 modes?

After spending the summer in Tokyo shopping and buying Walkure related Macross Delta merchandise, I have come to the conclusion Macross D is nothing more than a system to deliver an Idol Group. I am waiting for a Walkure Cafe and Theater to open in Akiba. Hopefully they will sell Pineapple Salad and Ragna Water Spiders at the cafe! ^^

As for this episode, again great idol music and I liked the stuff happening at the ruins but the mecha combat was meh. Too much flash and too little substance.

Don't forget the jellyfish crisps!

At 52, long gone to wind. And my eldest daughter at 25 likely married, and starting to get a tad patchy in places.

If Heinz's singing triggers the var, why doesn't the NUNS just issue earplugs to all those cannon fodder pilots? With so much sound based weaponry being used on both sides I imagine the simplest precaution would be some good noise cancelling headphones. A deaf pilot squadron in Macross would be the unbeatable team.

I think the problem is that it's not just sound, it's super-dimensional waves. A means of shielding the cockpits from those waves would be needed.

Max had eyes for Millia during the video game. That's why he chased after her. It's only Milia that had to be convinced by Max. The DYRL scenerio was more mutual.

Well, all that matters is the end story. I can tolerate the knife version since they had limited resources for animation. I think the DYRL version has more snazz, and granted a bigger budget. One wonders what we might have seen had SDFM had the resources/budget of the movie for each episode, or even the resources and technology of Yamato 2199.

BChoinski, on 05 May 2016 - 10:02, said:

I do like that they went with the DYRL meeting instead of the Series one... falling for a one's match or equal is cooler with Mecha instead of that lame knife fight.

Actually they first met face to face going head to head on a tabletop video game. Which is the way all young lovers met in the 80s. It was totally awesome, dude.

I am aware of that, but that is not the point their eyes and hearts locked on; it was after the knife fight (SDFM) and after the battle on the Meltrandi ship (DYRL).

I wonder if it's because contact was made with Winderemere when they already had a well established, medieval or even renaissance level civilization, whereas contact with Ragna (and Zola) was made when their civilizations were less established.

Milia had pointy ears in DYRL as well.

As I stated earlier, Zentraedi have had pointy ears since then. Look closely at Guld and Mylene and you'll notice that they have them too.

I meant retconned from original SDFM, given the final wedding scene there (which was not in DYRL). But yea, after DYRL the ears were in as a marker for Zentraedi blood.

I do like that they went with the DYRL meeting instead of the Series one... falling for a one's match or equal is cooler with Mecha instead of that lame knife fight.

Doubtful, IMO... it takes a lot more doing to send matter (and energy) from our universe into super dimension space than it does to draw heavy quanta from super dimension space into our universe. I suspect that, prior to the 4th Generation, reactors were simply keeping the fusion reaction at a low-enough level that most of the energy could be harnessed by the HamiltonX-Ash4 PGS and the MHD, and what was left could be either harnessed to preheat reactant or vented through exhaust or traditional cooling systems. It isn't until the 4th Generation and the introduction of thermonuclear reaction burst turbine engines that we start hearing about them having heat-dissipation problems that necessitate either larger heat sinks or throttling of the reactor itself.

It's little tales like this that really ought to crop up in Macross sometime... the trials and travails of the deck crew who have to keep those Valkyries running. A wild child like Hayate Immelman or Isamu Dyson would probably drive the deck crew into paroxysms of fury in prolonged operations...

So is the fuel in the tanks just there for the fusion engines, and perhaps for propellant we draw mass from SD space an expel it?

IIRC, in Japanese culture, the husband sometimes takes the wife's last name if the latter is from a prominent family who's name holds power. Surely the Jenius family would count enough that anyone marrying one of Max and Milia's daughters would instead marry into their family and take on their name.

Elf-like ears have been a trait of those with Zentraedi heritage since at least DYRL. It's just become more prominent from Frontier onwards.

Especially since it episode 5 it looks like they retconned in the ears on Milia; though the scene is a-la SDFM.

Oh, sorry. I meant RTGs, not thermocouples. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I only meant 'slow' in regards to using something like an RTG to power a jet fighter, where you'd have to have a much faster conversion of copious amounts of energy. I'm not sure even a small sized fission reactor could meet those demands.

And I only meant dangerous in the case of a casing breach, which seems to be the chief concern. Otherwise, why not have RTGs powering our cars? Well, I guess there is cost to consider, but that's no fun.

I think I read somewhere that BattleMechs sometimes operate in very hot environments, so in order to effectively bleed heat they sometimes have to heat their coolant to a higher temperature than the outside environment, otherwise the heatsinks would work in reverse.

This doesn't seem like a terribly effective way to manage heat, though, because ultimately you aren't getting rid of anything. Unless you are actually dumping the coolant as thermal mass, which would impose some hefty limits on operation time. I don't know man, BattleTech is a weird mishmash of real world physics and stuff that doesn't make sense. I was sort of hoping you all could shed some light on it.

For the record I'm not a BTech fan, but I do play MechWarrior.

The plumes were crazy long in Plus too.

I think DYRL? had the most realistic depiction of spaceflight for the Valkyries. This is a subject I am really, really interested in.

After watching the remake of Battlestar Galactica, I got interested in the Newtonian depiction of spaceflight. I put together a physics simulation in Unity to see how I could program a good spaceflight model, and it was really eye opening. I realized it's impossible to 'turn' in space - you can only rotate and translate. Also, constant acceleration posed problems because in order to change your vector you'd have to accelerate in the opposite direction with the same amount of thrust for the same amount of time to cancel your velocity. This led to me crashing a lot as I couldn't slow down in time to do stuff like diving into a trench like they did in Star Wars. So, I wrote a speed limiter that would cut the engines when a certain velocity was reached, and a flight control system that would cancel rotations and regulate velocities.

I also became aware of another problem with MOST space fighter designs - the cockpit placement. It occurred to me (thanks again to new Battlestar Galactica, which for the record I consider a really bad show with really good space fights) that the further the cockpit is from the center of rotation, the more g-forces the pilot is going to feel when doing fast rotations. If you apply that to something like the YF-19 or VF-31, most of the mass is aft and the cockpit is crazy far forward. Pitching in space would put a lot of g-forces on the pilot, pulling him or her toward the front of the cockpit like one of those spinning carnival rides. Only with the rider facing the opposite direction.

Of course, in modern Macross, they just fly around in space like they do in atmosphere, so nobody cares. But in DYRL? they at least tried.

Whatever, jets are cool.

Babylon 5 had a nod to this with the Starfuries -- the cockpit was at center of mass (more or less)

I am wondering about the Windermere fleet. Do they even have one? Because if everything is about using VAR to control someone else's military, then they are not going to get very far. The little boy who keep singing is going to keel over at some point, and all of a sudden, no more VAR controlled puppets.

And speaking of VAR, I'm still trying to get an understanding of the VAR, what does it actually do? it makes people nuts for a little while, they can be controlled for a while, but is that effect permanent, until the Walkure undoes the damage... if so, they better assassinate the Walkure just as soon as humanly possible.

I really liked this episode because of the backstory, wish actually there was more of that than Hayate's showboating... having the mercat would smack him around a little more would do him a world of good. As for the Aerial Knights, well, the Draken are cool, but too many hero units, I'd like to see more of the Windemere military in action. So, as far as I can tell, Delta squad is under another company like another SMS. They clearly aren't military, so basically we have a mercenary group fighting a bunch of separatists (or terrorists); both of whom happen to have access to some heavy weapons.

That's also what I am wondering. Like in the Gulf War, our air power ruled the skies, but you need manpower to hold the ground. How much population can an effective ice planet support, and of that how much can go into troops? How can one planet control multiple planets of population?

That said, I liked Hayate's Gerwalk dancing (well, given that the Gerwalk is my favorite form...). I really need to get a good VF-31 (not a model, the plastic and metal transforming figures, 1/60 or 1/72 scale like my old VF-1), and probably the Draken as well. Looks like it might be an expensive year.

Pretty sure that's just an artistic convention meant to make the Valkyries more visible against a black backdrop.

Yeah, the tech manuals go into some excruciating detail on some things. Not always interesting things, mind you... Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie Vol.1 has a half-page aside on how overtechnology materials have affected the designs of threaded fasteners. That's right, it devotes ink to overtechnology bolts. Not the most riveting material, if I do say so myself.

(... and I hope you'll forgive that dreadful joke.)

When you think about it, the way the thermonuclear reaction engines are described is not altogether different from how Star Trek's impulse engines work... just without the magic, mass-canceling subspace field. Sort of a thrust-vectored hybrid of ion thruster and fusion rocket. You've got a LOT of juice to play with courtesy of the reactors, so you can brute force the thrust with the MPD arcjet by throwing hundreds (or thousands) of megawatts at the problem. (Sky Angels actually sets the 650MW/engine on the VF-1 as its typical output and 1,700MW/engine as its maximum.) Seems to consume fuel at a monstrous rate though... from the description in Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie Vol.2, a VF-1 in space flight is consuming something to the tune of 1.79 liters of hydrogen per second per engine at peak output. With FAST packs, that gives them a maximum combat endurance a few seconds short of 30 minutes. Presumably that can be extended through judicious use of the rocket engines.

... well, that's actually true. We know they can convert g-forces into extradimensional energy somehow, because that's how the inertia store converter works, and heat isn't nearly as hard to redirect as acceleration forces.

Pretty sure that's just an artistic convention meant to make the Valkyries more visible against a black backdrop.

Yeah, the tech manuals go into some excruciating detail on some things. Not always interesting things, mind you... Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie Vol.1 has a half-page aside on how overtechnology materials have affected the designs of threaded fasteners. That's right, it devotes ink to overtechnology bolts. Not the most riveting material, if I do say so myself.

(... and I hope you'll forgive that dreadful joke.)

When you think about it, the way the thermonuclear reaction engines are described is not altogether different from how Star Trek's impulse engines work... just without the magic, mass-canceling subspace field. Sort of a thrust-vectored hybrid of ion thruster and fusion rocket. You've got a LOT of juice to play with courtesy of the reactors, so you can brute force the thrust with the MPD arcjet by throwing hundreds (or thousands) of megawatts at the problem. (Sky Angels actually sets the 650MW/engine on the VF-1 as its typical output and 1,700MW/engine as its maximum.) Seems to consume fuel at a monstrous rate though... from the description in Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie Vol.2, a VF-1 in space flight is consuming something to the tune of 1.79 liters of hydrogen per second per engine at peak output. With FAST packs, that gives them a maximum combat endurance a few seconds short of 30 minutes. Presumably that can be extended through judicious use of the rocket engines.

... well, that's actually true. We know they can convert g-forces into extradimensional energy somehow, because that's how the inertia store converter works, and heat isn't nearly as hard to redirect as acceleration forces.

Perhaps they shunt the heat energy into superdimensional space? Overtechnology seems to involve transfer back and forth, possible to open a pinhole fold and dump the heat in some manner?

Roid appears to be standing on the bridge of a starship when he issues them their orders... so they may have ridden into the battle zone on the fold effect of an Aerial Knights warship/carrier.

I thought that was what he meant (in the subs) "return to branch" in the second episode, as the code word or name of their carrier.

I'd say the Elysium is a new class of ship that just borrows design cues from the Quarter class. There's a shot of it where you can see it to scale with some other buildings and it seems to be way bigger than the "Empire State sized" Quarter.

A key detail is that the deck of the CV/C-109 seems to be larger than that on the Quarter's ARMD-L, with a much bigger area for parking planes.

If we know the size of the Valks, can you use the ones on the deck as a measure?

The deck looks longer than the quarter's from frontier, and hence the whole ship would be larger.

Just saw #2. I'm still jazzed fro the season.

The preview was good for music and mecha, #1 tightened it up nicely. Not as hip on the OP as I was for Triangular, but after the second or third play it's starting to grow on me.

Still high on the valk designs...the "max and millia" snap in the opening with Hayate and Mirage is nice, not sure if I want a blue or a red VF31.

The Elysium is awesome. I think it looks bigger than a quarter, though.

I liked the touch of the core city on Ragna being based on the colony city. It makes sense.

So far, no characters have rubbed me the wrong way. Freya has the personality Ranka SHOULD have had and does not seem like such a load, and Hayate is not as angsty as Alto, so he is on the plus side as well. Still neutral on Mirage, and most of the rest of the characters need to make their case, though the flight commander and the Captain of the Elysium have my nods so far.

Good counter-point to #1, and I can't wait for #3.

So I was watching some Mac30 gameplay videos:

The Super/Strike Packs were designed for space use only, right? I was comparing Mac30's gameplay to that of Robotech Battlecry (I consider it to be the best Macross game available, but then I haven't played any others), and in the above video Mac30 allows you to use Super/Strike Valkyries in atmosphere, whereas RBC doesn't.

Man that looks cool. I wish there was an English version for US consoles.

Finally saw it and my first impressions are that I will enjoy it. I think the character designs are fine, the valk action is pretty good, and the songs and BGM were good. I would have liked to see the opening and bumpers, to compare to MF, but I understand since it's a glimpse of Ep 1.

The holographic "Magic Girls" stuff was not as bad as some people made it out to be, and I liked those boomerang drones.

Finally getting a sub now. Can't wait to watch it tonight.

I'm jones-ing...

Just watched Frontier 7 and 25...if the action and music is at least as good I'll be happy. If there are characters I can care about and root against, I'll be ecstatic. If it comes wrapped in a decent plot to boot...

It is going to be a long 3+ months.

That 2nd pic looks like how I feel since access is blocked for my area.

You and me both.

My command of Japanese is (extremely) limited but I was able to get the gist of the episode (if not the finer details) having listened to Tochiro, Renato et al on the podcast.

(Thanks again for that btw)

I'm sure I can watch and enjoy the raws, but my hard-wired-english brain will be much more thrilled with subs.

I do look forward to kibitzing with everyone as it proceeds...I was too late for any Frontier episode discussion threads.

Man, you guys are killing me.

I'm praying for a sub to come down the lines soon, but then it's months for real!

I love the rewatch flashback. Honestly, the original animation has not aged well for me (though I just watched DYRL again just now, love the classic love story there). I would kill for a "Yamato 2199" treatment for Macross, done with love and care!

Are you planning to do it all, or just SDF Macross?

I had been putting off doing a Rewatch because I wanted to do it properly... For a while now, anytime I rewatch a series, I keep track of it on Facebook, putting up a picture and writing a little blurb. I realized that that wouldn't fly for Macross, and doing a real job on it was a pretty daunting task to consider... But I finally went ahead and started.

My goal is to do something akin to Captain JLS's 365 Days of Robotech, or the episode commentary from ourstarblazers.com, but there's no way I can be quite THAT authoritative. Still, it's a start.

Part 1:

https://gubabablog.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/the-great-macross-rewatch-1/

https://gubabablog.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/the-great-macross-rewatch-2/

https://gubabablog.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/the-great-macross-rewatch-3/

I'm glad you have this up. I'm going to enjoy going over it again in the coming weeks with your notes and kibitzing.