Mr March

I can't see those two massive barrels being just for flame throwers. They've gotta be something else. The plot just demanded a flame thrower sequence to remove the Vajra and the Cheyenne II was an obvious choice for the clean up role. But the size of those barrels leads me to think those are big beam guns, like on the old Tomahawk.

Nice work as always joseph

Yeah, the reference should help. It's about the only pictures I've seen of the Flashback art. We might get some more in the Macross Chronicle.

I'd go to a Sharon Apple concert.

That's pretty cool. Nice cockpit detail.

To avoid going off point further I'll just say that Gubaba was right that my point was missed entirely. Regardless of cultural differences, Macross is a story that's not a challenge to anyone and is made deliberately as such, even if it is sophisticated for a children cartoon. Macross makes no apologies for what it is and it shouldn't have to, but adult subject matter it is not.

I understand where you're coming from, but you don't have to be a Japanese culture expert to objectively understand the audience for which anime is made. By and large, most anime is of the same intellectual level as any Pixar film or the average comic book. These are not products with deep narratives, strongly conceptualized subtexts and provocative subject matter working on many sophisticated levels. Naturally, there are exceptions to every rule; your Watchmen's, your Dark Knight Return's, your Akira's and Ghost in the Shell's. However, those products are by far the minority. Digressing, we all know that most of this material is not made for adults even if adults happen to be the majority consumer. The Incredibles may be a sophisticated Pixar film, but it's still made for children and is still a children's story by any intellectual benchmark. Macross Frontier is the same.

I don't see Frontier that way at all. I know people try to cite the broadcast hour as some sort of evidence for an older market for Frontier, but the subject matter of Frontier speaks for itself. The Macross Plus OVA and Macross Zero OVA clearly had a more niche, possibly older demographic in mind. But Macross 7 and Macross Frontier? Those appear solidly aimed at a young audience to my eyes.

Destroids certainly seemed to be reduced in deployment during the Macross Plus-Macross 7 eras. This doesn't mean they were abandoned totally (perhaps that's a bad word to use), but it's clear that mecha in the late 2030s and through the 2040s either consisted of variable mecha or police patrol robots (see Macross 7) with not much in between. Having said that, we can look at the Destroids as a whole and speculate without too much guesswork as to why the Cheyenne II was adopted in the 2050s. A) One most obvious reason that explains the Cheyenne I and II is the question of security: the events surrounding the Island of Mayan were classified for 50 years, an information ban which may have extended to include the VF-0 and the Destroid Cheyenne. As the events of Macross Zero became known in the Macross Frontier era, perhaps the Cheyenne become known as well, either at the same time or years earlier. Perhaps the release of classified mechanical designs in the 2050s could have been a reason why classified documents of the Mayan Island events began to surface. B) The variable fighters seemed to replace most instances where Destroids were used, possibly due to the limited versatility/mobility of the Destroid designs. As one of the most versatile and mobile Destroids we've seen in Macross, the Cheyenne would make an excellent baseline from which to see a renaissance for a new, highly mobile Destroid. This logic seems to follow the adoption and deployment of the VB-6 Konig Monster as well, which is one of the most mobile Destroids ever fielded. So the adaptation of a new Cheyenne-style Destroid is easy to explain, given the circumstances. Personally, I've come to see the Destroids as a stop-gap measure, given events of the sequels. The VF-1 Valkyries were described as costing some 20 times that of a Destroid. In the face of a possible invasion by giant alien forces, the UN government might have found it prudent to manufacture far greater numbers of Destroids because they were cheaper and faster to build. This would allow the UN Forces to field many times more Anti-Giant Weapons against a possible alien invasion that the UN policy makers were assuming could occur at any moment. Indeed, the SDF-1 Macross initially only housed 212 VF-1 Valkyries, while in contrast they fielded nearly three times as many Destroids (587). So Destroids made economic and logistical sense prior to SWI. After Space War I, and the acquisition of the Factory Satellite, both the need and incentive to mass manufacture Destroids instead of variable fighters likely became mute points. Indeed, the next variable fighter, the VF-4 Lightning III, saw a production run of some 8,245 craft. Those kind of early production runs in the 2010s and 2020s give way to much greater numbers of variable craft in the 2030s and 2040s, times in which colony fleets with several thousand variable combat craft (fighters & attack craft) were common in a single fleet.

I think people generally complain about the archetypal boy-becomes-hero main character unless they are a boy themselves, which is pretty much the demographic for which these shows are made. So the Hikaru's and Alto's and Luke Skywalker's of the fictional world are almost always strongly criticized

The scale is so wrong in the picture, it appears Klan's helmet cannot fit inside the head unit of her suit

The YF-21 was a nice spread, so the YF-19 should be really good too.

Well, I've been told the site is good for pictures but not much else So there's that at least

Honda Develops Brain-Machine Interface

I've no problem with that. Trust me, I am aware that even among fan of Macross, mecha stats are not a fun pass time for everyone. I'm just a very visual person and detail oriented, so statistics and fictional anthropology fascinate me. World building is a great tool to have for storytelling. Just ask Michael Mann

It's definitely been a big help that's much appreciated, especially since there is so little reliable English information on the Macross II mecha. I wouldn't give up hope for Macross II in the Chronicle just yet. The profile for the VF-2SS Valkyrie II, when it appears in the Chronicle, will be the ultimate test of what sources the Chronicle writers will utilize. I think the problem with the Macross Chronicle coverage of Macross II (and parts of the rest of the franchise) is the lack of thorough research. Any publication that is released decades after the fact is going to miss information. Sometimes, they even appear to miss sources of which astute fans are aware. Granted, we can't really blame the Chronicle writers for the state of world building in the Macross franchise. Macross hasn't exactly been painstakingly cataloged and organized over it's 25 year history. The Macross Chronicle seems like the first attempt in 25 years to perform some kind of published encyclopedia of Macross from beginning to end. It also seems very little is actually done with the Macross property unless a production is currently ongoing. And really, all this technical and chronology information is really just window dressing for interested fans. As an interested fan, I agree the lack of information is less than ideal, but I can't honestly be surprised that it's a low priority.

That was actually much more impressive than I was expecting. Your set design and scene composition was quite exciting, especially the use of the moving camera to give some sense of drama to static shots. You made excellent use of effects and managed to duplicate several shots from the original SDF Macross and Macross Frontier in a way that I actually recognized the homage of the scene. You managed to achieve a lot with very little. Good work!

"I love Angelina Jolie. Does anyone else like Angelina Jolie? She's got enormous lips!"

The "J" is also my favorite VF-1 Valkyrie variant, but I love the head units for all the VF-25 Messiahs, especially the "F" Yeah, that X-32 is a horrible looking thing.

No. The VF-1 Valkyrie Battroid is 12.68 meters tall and the VF-2SS Valkyrie II Battroid is 14 meters tall.

I just realized the X-32's intake looks like the lower part of the head unit on the VF-25F

Well, the size of the Battroid is ultimately mitigated by the size of the fighter, so Kawamori pretty much scales them that way. As far as an in-universe explanation, the given size of the Battroid could be determined for a number of reasons. Zinjo's idea isn't bad. Larger Battroids can carry more internal ordnance. The VF-17 Nightmare is described as a Heavy Battroid, so there may be combat considerations and different operational roles requiring light/medium/heavy Battroids. Perhaps the engines play a part and can only fit inside a larger Battroid. Just some thoughts.

No one gets Seinfeld references these days

Just finished up the last episode. I know, I'm slightly behind, but you all know me and the fact that I don't watch TV. I have to catch everything on my schedule, so I'm rarely ever up to date I can't say much right now (bed time!) except that it was the strong finale that I was hoping for. I'll post more soon, but for now, I'll sleep on it and enjoy the moment. What a series!

The kresphy is good. Love the kresphy!