Mr March

Gubaba Re-read what I posted carefully. I never said Robotech was completely sanitized, but Robotech was unquestionably infantilized. The RT edit removed scenes of violence, more disturbing drama and sexual innuendo. It was dumbed down compared to SDF Macross. But as I said for an "American" cartoon, even in it's diluted state, Robotech still benefited from the Japanese storytelling (ie, drama, character deaths, etc). The only reason Robotech was so popular at the time was because American cartoons were so patronizingly sanitized that even an Americanized, dumbed down, tampered Japanese cartoon was considered revolutionary by comparison. fifbeat See above

With all honesty, the musical scores for SDF Macross and Robotech are both dated and largely unremarkable. The difference is the Macross music was good for what it was; the Robotech music was not. The SDF Macross music sounded like a quality television series score of that era; the Robotech music always sounded like a cheap, synthesized cartoon score of the time. Robotech was re-edited like a typical American cartoon, it was re-written like a typical American cartoon, it was dubbed like a typical American cartoon and it was re-scored like a typical American cartoon. Compared to SDF Macross, Robotech was always the more infantilized version of the two; while SDF Macross was remarkably sophisticated for a children's show, Robotech was Americanized into a lower standard and stood out only due to the Japanese storytelling that survived all the tampering. The Robotech score was a major part of that infantilized editing, IMO.

Firing unhindered seems to be the primary reason. Otherwise if it fired in a stationary position while still attached to the Island fleet the whole fleet would have to move to alter the angle of fire. It was great seeing the Super Beam Cannon in CGI animated glory. Brings back fond memories of the old days

Macross Frontier episode 18 is comedy gold. The merchant trying to sell Alto a dress and Sheryl's albums in the bargain bin had me laughing

Wardrobe malfunction! Janet's Superbowl show strikes again!

I actually prefer your version. The fighter picture with the intakes poking underneath the front and the engines out the back looks like a design that could really go some where conceptually. It has a very F-22 Raptor feel to it. The nose poking out the front torso in Battroid mode with a canopy shield on it is kind cool. At worst it's interesting and different. You can't go wrong from a starting point like that. I'd say keep going and see what you come up with.

LOL @ MisaForever I love that moment! The bargain bin had me in stiches

So far the Battle 25's debut has been great and it's clear from the new OP that we're destined to see more than that I like that they've kept many of the good warship designs from Macross 7, like the Stealth Frigate, Guantanamo and Uraga ships. I'd also like to know more about our favorite exploding cruiser, that always falls to the Red Vajra's big gun Speaking of the Battle 25, how about that weird way that it fires the main gun in cruiser mode? THat's really throwing me for a loop. I speculated on another board that the Super Beam Weapon might need to gather energy around itself, similar to the way it functioned in Macross 7. The Macross 7 gunship also ejected what looked like blowback gas of some kind when fired. Perhaps this elaborate extrication of the Super Beam Weapon firing pylon in the Battle 25 served to free obstructions from around the gun enabling it to fire unhindered for carrier mode? Rampant fan speculation here

Agreed. Like I always said, the UN Spacy warships was one of the few things they did right in Macross 7. Seeing the NMC all decked out in a full "macross war style" does the Miyatake design truly proud.

Agreed. I'm not losing sleep over this one

I kinda like the sketches you made, especially the YF-19-esque version. The fighter looks a little too science-fiction-like for a Macross valkyrie, but interesting nonetheless. Maybe it would make a good alternative valkyrie. Not a main variable fighter, but something like the VA-3 Invader or VF-14 Vampire.

Sounds great. I've been wanting to add an animated gif section to the "For Fans Only" section of my website. I'll definitely save any animated gif from ANY Macross show and post it up on my website, baring any objections. I'll go through episode 18 again soon and see if there are any other spots I'd like to see in gif format. The big Battle 25 gun is probably one

The Battle 25 is definitely far more heavily armed than any of the New Macross Class ships we've seen up until now. Aside from the Super Beam Weapon, the official statistics mention only 4 additional beam cannons for the NMC armament. Some fans have speculated there may have been more point defense guns or hidden missile launchers, but it's clear there weren't any big double or triple turrets on the NMC like those shown on the Battle 25. Regardless, that is one mean looking NMC. I dare say the NMC has never looked so damn good

I think Duke is right, the ventral forward boom/spire is there, it's just a little difficult to see because of the angle. Regardless, it's not like the Battle 25 was meant to be seen for all that long in episode 1; just enough to note it was there.

I followed d3v's link in the other thread a while back. It's good, but could definitely stand to see more

Ah, thanks CF18. Very nice pictures.

This episode was full of win. The merchant trying to sell Alto a dress and Sheryl's albums in the bargain bin was comedy gold. And here I thought we'd never get a chance to see the Battle 25 in action. This show continues to impress!

LOL Your post has me imagining a big SDF-1 slowly lumbering around a deserted planet with "deculcha, deculcha" slurred out through the loud speakers over and over

Actually, they are motion sensitive. You'll note the when Isamu uses them he activates various functions by simply moving his fingers over the control without touching it. That might suggest that other controls inside the cockpit may be motion sensitive as well, activating various functions based upon the motion of the pilot's head, arms or legs.

A certain amount of creative license is required for nearly all the mecha anime shows. Most simply don't have any kind of interface that would permit the kind of fine, human like control that we see displayed in giant humanoid robot anime. Call it a creative conceit. Having said that, Macross has shown a plethora of techniques for reducing pilot workload when controlling a Valkyrie. All the Valkyries use sophisticated HOTAS systems that place all the control is the pilots hands and feet without the need to access other controls during a combat situation. Pilot feedback and hands-off controls have also been shown in most of the series, like eye-tracking targeting shown in Macross Zero and Frontier as well as motion sensitive controls shown in Macross Plus. The YF-19 also makes mention of a Super AI control system that likely handles a lot of the vehicle functions autonomously. In Macross Frontier we also see both optical controls that react to the pilot's eye line (Ozuma zooms in on Ranka in episode 2 just by glancing) and all the communication displays in Macross Frontier appear voice activated. The Valkyries also appear to have full holographic targeting systems that aren't limited to a HUD but rather track targets along the inside of the cockpit canopy (DYRL?, Macross Plus, Macross 7, Macross Frontier). Lastly are the exotic control schemes like the BDS/BDI systems in Macross Plus and the cybernetic virtual interface shown in Macross Frontier.

I believe that Morpheus is correct; the beam cannons of Macross appear based on super-dimension-energy. The vast majority of valkyrie beam guns are called "converging energy beam cannons", similar to the description for the main gun of the SDF-1 Macross (super-dimension-energy cannon with beam polarizing converging system). Charged particle weapons do exist in Macross, but those weapons appear upon Zentradi mecha. When these directed-energy weapons are described, they are clearly distinguished as different from converging energy beam guns. They are described by names such as electron particle beam guns (Quell-Quallie) or liquid plasma cannon (Nousjadeul-Ger). It is somewhat annoying the Macross creators still make the distinction between lasers and beam guns when the two directed-energy weapons appear functionally identical in the anime productions. Not sure what the purpose is behind distiguishing the two, but we have to accept it nonetheless.

I'd have to agree, but not just because Heavy Gear is cool Heavy Gear became popular around the post Macross Plus/Macross 7 era of the mid 1990's, so it would be timed quite well to influence next generation Macross productions in the new millennium. The Heavy Gear mechanical design was also quite innovative and different from the norm, with a strong pervasive style throughout the franchise. The Japanese are also enthusiastic consumers of foreign popular culture, so I find it quite possible Heavy Gear may have been an influence. I can see more than a few hints of Heavy Gear in the Cheyenne besides the wheels. Wheeled mecha in older Japanese anime like Votoms or Patlabor doesn't seem to be an influence in the case of the Cheyenne.

Fan made art or fan fiction is what it is. Feel free to make some and share it here if you like to do that. There's no rule here on MW against it at all and the "Fan Works" section of these message boards have all kinds of threads featuring fan made designs. BTW, check out my website if you want to learn more about the YF-19. It's really not that complicated at all and if you take the time to marvel at the design, you'll gain a new appreciation for it.

I understand. There's really no way around some of the anachronistic problems. But the end result is all good (damn cool destroids), so I'm not going to lose sleep over it

I came up with this for the Macropedia. Hope it helps: