Mr March

This was another great episode. Plenty of good drama and plenty of action. It was also great seeing some more Macross mecha staples, Oh yeah, and Brera just got on my bad side . Like William Goldman wrote of another dazzling female; There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a shame to ruin yours

Master Dex Actually, TOS is the only Trek that was any good d3v Keep in mind it was also Misa who said it. Humans at the time, even humans as highly intelligent as our beloved Misa, had a child's understanding of fold travel and the one fold operation they did make was botched to hell. The Macross Compendium does confirm that fold travel is nearly instantaneous. Like you say, it's probably only really long distances that require ships to stay in super dimension space for extended periods of time. The trip Misa, Hikaru, Kakizaki and Max took aboard Britai's ship could have been a journey to the other side of the Milky Way Galaxy, a trip possibly more than 100,000 light years. Most fold communication would likely take place over a few hundred or thousand light years. The relays of the Galaxy Network Signal might also play a role, perhaps acting as boosters of a sort speeding the energy of radio waves through fold space much faster than could be achieved with matter. Maybe?

I'm sure the micloning chambers act as an evacuation of sorts

It's my opinion and I'm entitled, with all due respect The only ones who should be ashamed are those who support Trek as some bastion of most-accurate sci-fi. Trek is an affront to science, committing more crimes against it and spreading more pseudoscience than all other sci-fi franchises combined. As for warp, it functions as I've described, barring any hack-of-the-week revisions that have been made (of which I've no doubt there are thousands by now). Back to Macross, here's how fold is described according to the Macross Compendium: http://macross.anime.net/wiki/Fold

You know, many sci-fi fans say that and I have to say I can't disagree more. Star Trek's warp drive is just as fantastical if not more so than Faster-Than-Light (FTL) in Star Wars or Babylon 5. Though each works differently, all Star Wars or Babylon 5 does is place a ship into a convenient space, a fictional space which conveniently ignores the laws of physics. Ships fly around normally in this "hyperspace" but just happen to cover far, FAR more distance than normal. By contrast, Trek's warp stuff actually breaks the laws of physics in real space, using this weird "warp field" to shrink/expand the space around the ship over and over again really quickly to move really, really fast. Then on top of that, it breaks the light speed barrier in real space by somehow shunting the ship's mass into it's own convenient space called "subspace" which bypasses the infinite energy required to break the light speed barrier. So Trek is actually breaking more laws of physics than the often labeled "fantasy" technology of other sci-fi shows. Gawd, I hate Trek Digressing back to Macross, the word "fold" is actually misleading when describing they way FTL is achieved in Macross. A space fold isn't actually a method of "travel" at all. All a fold does is simply swap two spaces with each other, real space and super dimension space. If an object, like a space craft, just happens to be inside this "space swapping" when it occurs, the object is moved from one place to another effectively faster than light. The way it's described in the Macross Compendium, FTL in Macross is actually more an incidental benefit of discovering a way to reach super dimension space.

It could be just momentum. If you fold while moving, you defold with the same momentum. In SDF Macross, the Supervision Army Gunboat defolds while moving fast because it was escaping. Britai's fleet was involved in a slow, methodical search, so they defolded while moving slow. Bodolzaa's fleet flagship and the Factory Satellite folded while stationary so they appear the same way. Course, the YF-19's defold kinda throws my theory out

Well, it's good to see Macross Frontier doing well, however whacked and unexpected the individual episode ratings may be.

Actually, the space folds in Macross Frontier don't necessarily appear all that different from the way space folds were originally depicted in SDF Macross. Granted, DYRL? and later sequels like Macross Plus and Macross 7 remade the look of the space fold (such as the YF-19 and YF-21 fold boosters) or simplified them (like the Varauta ships blinking in and out). But as seen in SDF Macross, space folds were rather grand, large and bright affairs that often created "spheres" of super dimension energy around the space craft. Given the Macross Frontier is regularly paying homage to the original SDF Macross series, it's understandable that the space fold would be re-imagined.

After the whirlwind of episode seven, Macross Frontier agains switches gears into a slower character-driven story in episode eight. Here Alto, Ranka, Mikhail and Luca are involved in their daily routines at Mihoshi Academy, which doesn't stay routine for long when Sheryl shows up and decides to enroll in the pilot training program. Hilarity of a teen idol joining the local academy on Macross Frontier then ensues. The character interaction is quite entertaining in this episode if not altogether unexpected. It appears Alto has softened somewhat towards Sheryl. Unlike earlier, Alto is much more willing to tolerate her abuse, no doubt coming from their time spent together which has created a better mutual understanding. Sheryl has also appears to cause trouble just because it's exciting but as a young woman, she sometimes gets in over her head. Ranka finds herself often lost for words around Sheryl. It's clear Ranka desires more of Alto's attention, but she's still somewhat shut in and doesn't know how to compete with the often flamboyant Sheryl. Aside from the high school drama common for such a cast, there are events outside the school yard. Leon takes steps to cover up all VF-27 recordings taken from SMS during the previous battle. The crew of the rescued Dulfim of the Macross Galaxy fleet are being kept under quarantine due to some concern over a V-type virus, the nature of which remains undisclosed. The episode closes with Ranka singing alone at monument park until she encounters Brera Stern, the mysterious VF-27 pilot from last episode. He not-so-subtely introduces himself mirroring Ranka's song on his harmonica. Obviously, Ranka is amazed that someone else knows her song. The change in pace is somewhat of a let down after episode seven, but even the grand episodes need a proper build to achieve maxiumum effect. Episode eight remains an entertaining character story with plenty of laughs and just enough of the larger story to carry the show forward. Episode 9 is next. Deculture!

I don't know if fold faults are necessarily "new" in as much as they are "relevant". It's like any technology introduced in Macross or any other sci-fi show; nothing specific is really learned about fictional technology until it becomes necessary to add detail to serve a plot point.

I have no love lost watching BV go quietly into the night. Their releases just killed the wallet. Sure the Patlabor special sets were awesome, but so was that price (and I got mine on sale). I just hope things go smoothly for Bandai in whatever form they choose here in North America. I want to see Macross Frontier brought over to North America and it just seemed likely to me that given Bandai is Big West's partner for Macross Froniter in Japan they would team up with Bandai out west as well. I know ChrisG that you've given up expectations of a NA release for any more Macross (in the corresponding thread on the MAHQ), but I don't believe it's impossible and I think it's more favourable now than it has been in a long time. But who knows, this could be good news for Bandai overall.

Actually, they are rather "accurate" if ultimately uninformative. Looking critically over the company list and descriptions, they are just very basic extrapolations based upon official facts. Just read the Valkyrie or Destroid profiles on the Macross Compendium or my own website and you'll see these company names mentioned within. They just took the context in which those companies were mentioned in the official literature and worked backwards to create a very brief, very basic company profile for each instance.

Well, that explains why I can't find any mention of such a book in the MW books section. This had me looking through the entire section. Damn RPGs, almost got me again

Super Reguld with dozen launcher system

I think you're definitely onto something there Duke. That's a good deduction. I'm making up a Macropedia entry for the Fold Dislocation, so I'll make sure to use Fold Fault as the more accurate term for it. That's some great stuff grss1982. I'm going to have to ask that fella if I can add his translation to the Macropedia.

No harm in that

I'm trying to grab visitor's attention so they go to the For Fans Only section more, since it contains so many pictures that can answer the questions that fans have. I'm hoping Ranka's face works. If it doesn't, I'll try naked animated breasts (but then everyone would obsess over the button instead of the section)

I think the lack of proper security/detection on board the fleets is most likely a plot-driven fault, much in the same way that they never seem able to get the shell down in time for an enemy attack. I don't think it's anything truly legitimate, but the plot demands that somehow all these characters and villains make it on to the same ship so they can engage each other in dramatic events

Zinjalamander The scans aren't mine. They come courtesy of Homeless from the MAHQ Forums, so that's the best resolution I was able to find. wolfx Woohoo! That's really kinda cool that you guessed the name. Well done!

The name at last! SMS = Strategic Military Services! link to magazine scan

Major Focker I've actually played both Homeworld and Homeworld II. Long ago, I was actually a member of the relicnews boards even long before the game was released. It was one of my first internet message boards I kinda just go with the transforming ship idea. Like I said, it's silly, but so is a lot of other sci-fi I enjoy, like energy swords going "vrooomm mhrrmmmmm". So I embrace it because it's entertaining and fun. azrael LOL Well, the AnimeFirend/Star Pro animation aside, I just never got the impression the cannon was a one trick pony. There are other indications the thing can ordinarily be used more than once. It could be possible that Kawamori and Co. perhaps envisioned the SDF-1 main gun as a one shot deal and then broke their own rule whenever the episode demanded it or the dialog needed dramatic tension, but hey, who can say? As for the NMC, I suppose it might have more weapons, but with that many fighters and support vessels it's not like it needs it. It's not a front line fighting ship so I can understand if the only defenses are Valkyries and Destroids. But I agree that the SDF-1 is definitely the scrapper and it looks like the Macross Quarter is too Gui As far as a barely plausible justification for a transforming ship, that's about as good as it gets Bravo for putting a lot of thought into it.

That sounds much better! I'll send them an e-mail soon. Thanks for your assistance crasis. It is much appreciated.

LOL Thank gawd for Macross; Britai still looks as badass as ever in the Macross Frontier opening

In my opinion, I don't believe that is an accurate interpretation. Those shells were totally immobile and clearly at rest while the Konig was still recoiling from firing, so they couldn't have come from the Monster. They are most likely munitions from the Dulfim's Valkyrie squadron defenders, which seems more likely since the Dulfim's hull is shown as littered with debris. It's also important to note both the original Monster's guns and the VB-6 Konig's top four cannons are officially described as rail guns. However, there is something definitive about the Konig in this episode; it appears to have more than one forward gun in Shuttle mode. The Konig fires a pair of guns on either side of the nose in Shuttle mode, just before it transforms.

It's taken from Macross Frontier episode 2, when Ranka is talking with Ozuma at the medical center. Specifically it's a close up shot of Ranka, where the animators draw her as if she was filmed with a fish-eye lens to create a dramatic and slightly comical effect.