Mr March

It would all depend upon the muzzle velocity of the gun pods. Unfortunately, muzzle velocities of ballistic weapons in Macross are very rarely given. In fact, only one official number has ever been published and that figure was 3,300 meters/second for the 78mm guns on the Destroid Defender. It's likely muzzle velocity of the gun pods are at least several thousand meters per second and given that most gun pods are mounted rather low on the fighter, it doesn't seem likely an extreme maneuver would cause any self-inflicted damage from the gun pod rounds.

I'd love to get all the books and individual magazine issues of all the Macross art work, but it's just not feasible. They have to release at least semi-definitive collections otherwise I can't really afford to buy all this stuff. I also don't really want a massive collection of magazines, guides and books just to get a completed guide of line art that should have been sold in one "Macross Perfect Memoray"-style publication quite some time ago But if Big West must be difficult about it all, I'll settle for the Chronicles and picking up this book.

No. You're doing great. I'm not making any requests. I just want you to keep doing your thing.

That's definitely a possibility. They upgraded several fighters for extended service, including the VF-1X Valkyrie Plus and the VF-4G Lightning III. The VF-171 Nightmare Plus is a type of "extended service life" variant of the old VF-17D Nightmare.

My Name is Mr. March and I'm a chart addict That's actually a good point. Perhaps the deployment of the YF-19/VF-19 Excalibur and the YF-21/VF-22 Sturmvogel II could be rationalized as more planet based aerospace craft. But as an in-universe explanation, I still believe those two fighter classes were deployed in some fleets and colonies, just not the ones in Macross Frontier No problem. I like charts because everyone seems to understand things visually. If I just post numbers, it doesn't seem to elicit as effective a response. A fight between the VF-19 Excalibur/VF-22 Sturmvogel II and the VF-25 Messiah/VF-27 Lucifer would naturally favour the VF-25/VF-27 simply because of significant technologies like the ISC "inertia buffer" and the significant T-W ratio advantages of the two Frontier fighters. However, the VF-19 Excalibur/VF-22 Sturmvogel II would be far more evenly matched with the new valkyries than even the VF-171EX Nightmare Plus was. The Frontier fighters wouldn't enjoy a vast advantage over those fighters, though given the g-endurance of the two sets of craft, the M+/M7-era craft definitely have time working against them. With the ISC in the VF-25 and cyborg pilots in the VF-27, the longer the battle goes on, the sooner the VF-19/VF-22 pilots would succumb to high-g fatigue. However, Max and Milia in their VF-22S Sturmvogel IIs would assuredly defeat Alto in his VF-25 and Brera in his VF-27. But as always, Max and Milia vs. anyone except each other is never a fair fight

Doesn't sound very "honorable"

Hell, I'd settle for a raise

This looks good

Not as much opinion as you'd think. Granted, most debates between the valkyries would include a lot of opinion, but there are a few legitimate benchmarks that can be used to gauge the variable fighters in some manner. The advancement/power/versatility of the valkyries follow a fairly linear progression. All factors being equal, newer valkyries will have superior technology/performance/versatility than older generation valkyries. That doesn't necessarily mean that more advanced valkyries will be superior in "every" possible way. It's just a general guideline that happens to hold true more often than not. Aside from leaps in technology that provide a newer valkyrie with advantages over older valkyries (improved weapons, wrap-around imaging monitors/brain wave control systems, pin-point barrier systems, linear actuators, ISC "inertia buffer", etc) the other official benchmark is the thrust-to-weight ratio derived from the official mass and thrust ratings of the valkyries. The higher the T-W ratio, the faster a valkyrie can accelerate, providing obvious advantages in combat. I made a chart of the valkyrie T-W ratios last year that you can find by following this link. Having said all that, a new valkyrie with advantages like superior technology and a superior T-W ratio doesn't guarantee the new valkyrie will dominate all older valkyries. Again, it only means that statistically speaking (with all other factors being equal) a new valkyrie will win more often than not against an older valkyrie. And the greater the disparity in capabilities, the greater the likelihood of superiority. The YF-19/VF-19 Excalibur and YF-21/VF-22 Sturmvogel II both have capabilities that are different from the other, but both variable fighters have similar performance parity. On the other hand, a vast technological/performance/versatility margin exists between the VF-0 Phoenix and the VF-25 Messiah to the point where it's very likely the VF-25 could battle several VF-0's at once and come out the winner. But as Macross 7 showed, put Milia in a VF-1J Valkyrie and she can show up Basara in a VF-19 Custom. So not all factors are equal all the time

I knew someone objected about this before, but I had forgotten the details. I've made changes to my Macropedia and will upload a new version in the next update. Thanks again TheLoneWolf!

Ouch! This movie looks like all kinds of epic fail. I blame EXO Seriously, that trailer is an ADHD nightmare and a minute long documentary of Hollywood cliches. And what's up with the lifted-from-X-Men set design and cinematography? Stephen Sommers wants to be Bryan Singer so bad he should just come out of the closest. Sorry Joe, but nostalgia can't save you from the evil clutches of the sinister suits from Paramount Pictures.

Any other Canucks planning on seeing this film? They have a placeholder page on Torontomovies.com about Sword of the Stranger, but still no details about it.

Exactly. A plot necessity...in Macross 7. No other vessels in Macross appeared to have this problem. Not the Zentradi, Meltrandi, Varauta or other UNS/SMS/NUNS ships. So... Macross GURU Hmmm, we discussed the New UN Spacy issue before and it appeared to be from SDF Macross. But I remember someone having an issue with that afterward for some reason. Maybe they'll post in this thread about it.

Robotech is already more popular than Macross in North America. The only thing I worry about regarding a live action Robotech is the remote possibility of "financial" success for HG. If I have to be fine with the Robotech franchise, then I want to be fine with it as it is; a small, marginal franchise that sells off the nostalgia dollars of the 30-something geek. What I don't want to see is Robotech enter a second golden era from profits of a hit Hollywood film, reintroducing their butchery to another consumer generation. I want Robotech to end it's days as a lingering nostalgia product that releases utter crap like Shadow Chronicles and is eventually known in the annals of anime history as a cautionary tale of North American anime adaptation gone wrong. But then again, I'd have to believe the Robotech movie is going to be a success, which I don't. There's only one reason Robotech is even being considered for production in Hollywood: the FINANCIAL success of Bay's Transformers. As a result of that film alone, Hollywood is scrambling for more "transforming robot" franchises to exploit. Robotech isn't being considered for a production because some talented, passionate director like Peter Jackson is making a labour of love for a daring company like New Line Cinema that risks because they believe in the project. No, Robotech is being considered as a "safe bet" for printing green, destined to be lead by a Hollywood "yes man" director that churns out a homogenized, utterly forgettable piece of summer box office fodder with all the foibles of the worst formulaic filmmaking. A Robotech live action film has all the potential to be the rape that makes fanboys cry. I must trust in Hollywood's ability to make crap. The alternative is "UNTHINKABLE"

Because the civilian city is not the only consideration when it comes to the scale of the SDF-1 Macross. Miyatake Kazutaka designed the Macross to be in scale with it's docked aircraft carriers to provide the audience with a visual benchmark for the incredible size of the Macross. There is also the matter of the bridge being properly scaled to a 1.2 km ship. Alter the size of the SDF-1 and it throws everything else out of scale. The city can be accommodated, but now the aircraft carriers are not aircraft carrier size (defeating their purpose as a scale benchmark) and the bridge is out of scale. Not to mention that a 12km SDF-1 would be undermanned and virtually empty. When Miyatake Kazutaka designed the SDF-1, maybe he knew there would be civilians living in a makeshift city and maybe he didn't. He probably didn't know there would eventually come an episode that would require a stadium. So the creators took some creative license to make the Miss Macross Contest work. Mistakes happen. Point being, the ship can handle the people, even as animated. It can't handle the buildings, as animated. But that doesn't mean we throw everything out. We simply try to unify the known facts as best we can. We side with what "mostly" works and that's the best we can do.

Cool stuff. The fate of the Megaroad isn't really new, but the translation does add some more specifics, like the UN Spacy's reaction and the resulting cover-up. The final word on the length and mass is also good stuff. Once again, we owe you Gubaba.

Yot-Chan is simply in the wrong universe. Put him in a Super Robot show or wearing spandex tights in Gundam Wing and he'd be an ace

Sounds like this is what I've been waiting for. Thanks for the review. I'm gonna line this up with my next batch of Chronicles.

Yes, in DYRL we can clearly see habitable areas and even roads with vehicles moving along the ceiling of the city sections. Like I said, they appear to use the large majority of the internal space of the legs for living areas.

Nice offer. I'd love to see that.

It helps if you shower first, Zinjolfactoryfarce

First I've ever heard of it, but the story sounds interesting and the reviews are quite good. I admit, the trailer has me hooked I hope it shows at a theatre near me.

Me? What did I do? *cue scantily clad women in some arty, overexposed photo shoot* "Introducing "X", the provocative new fragrance from M. March. When you want to hit the spot... *random hot babe suggestively exhales* ...try "X" Available wherever fine fragrances are sold"

ChrisG's MAHQ website has a good list of what appears in Macross Zero (helicopters included).

The SDF-1 Macross is a ship, not a city. The topmost "layer" of the civilian zones in the "leg" portion of the ship is obviously just the surface of a much larger, multi-decked system. There are many levels and even "ceiling" dwellings inside the ship with their own gravity zones. Why equate a two-dimensional measurement for habitation to a ship that is clearly fully utilizing it's three-dimensional space? The picture above shows at least half the volume of the entire leg is habitable and it's not even showing the ceiling levels either. The SDF-1 Macross has 178 times the displacement of a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier (which can accommodate a crew of over 5,000). If we were simply scale up the volume of the Nimitz to the size of the SDF-1 Macross, this Super-Dimension-Nimitz could accommodate 890,000 people. Now we all know military Aircraft Carriers are built for efficiency and not comfortable living space, so let's give the crew of our SD-Nimitz ten times the space of a normal crewman and knock the pop down to 89,000 people. Interesting, that figure is very close to the 78,000 people on the SDF-1 Macross (20,000 crew + 58,000 civilians) and we haven't even taken into account the Daedalus, Prometheus, or the ARMDs. Seems okay to me. Now, having said all that (phew) I agree that the city as shown in the anime fudges things. It's not that the ship can't accommodate plenty of people; the ship just can't accommodate buildings in the way they are shown in the series and film. Like eugimon has said, the stadium would take up over half the interior rather than one tenth the space. Now it could be a small stadium (since it obviously isn't for sports), but it's got to be at least 100 meters to accommodate the kind of seating we see in the anime. So yes, there's some creative license going on Attached, is a picture of Bri's observation.