Mr March

Okay, I'm going through Macross Zero for color reference for all the mecha and I just finished rewatching episode one. During the dogfight with Focker near the end of the episode he's fighting an SV-51 that appears dark orange. Obviously, this color (if it was indeed orange) is the standard version. Nora's magenta fighter and Ivanov's black would be two color variants then. But it's hard to determine if that is orange or another dark redish/yellow color. Anyone know for sure?

HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA It's not even that funny, but I can't help it! It just...fits

Must have english subtitles...must!

Dragon II Fighter - Episode 33 Male Power Armor - Episode 27, 30, 31, and 35 Officer's Pod Booster - Episode 19 Macross Compendium run by Egan Loo sometimes has an episode number listed under each description, but I had to go from recent memory for these (I'm working on my website, the Macross Mecha Manual you see...little selfish promotion) *EDIT* Also found the Glamor Spider Bug - Episode 1 (it appears, VERY briefly, inside the ARMD Space ship being destroyed by Britai's vessel. You can see it for just a few frames passing in front of a brown VF-1 cannon fodder that's tumbling about inside the ship. Blink and you could miss it!)

Merci

I'd really like to read through these magazines one of these days. They look really good. Once I get my job, once I get my job...

Are there any, ya know, funny videos? I watched one and a half and gave up faster than playing Castlevania with a power glove. 0 out of 5.

Exactly how honest do you want it? It's really, very...not good.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that troops don't exist, they're just looking for what the Macross series shows as far as pictures of troops. There are some and so yes they exist, but the stories don't really require them being shown. Naturally, just because mecha exist this does not mean infantry are no longer needed. Human infantry will always be needed to take and secure human scale objectives. Mecha are not a replacement for infantry, they are just another weapon that changes the nature of the battlefield and the role of combined arms.

Yes indeed, the greatest of minds we are I think combined arms is the only way we could really accurately speculate on the outcome between armies. Every other scenario without considering the vehicles, weapons and supporting units that are part of warfare just becomes situation dependant. In all out war, obviously the humans would lose simply due to numbers. Without the extenuating circumstances of culture, capture and what not that worked FOR the humans during Space War One, the humans would simply be overrun by the Zentradi. Even if the entire Earth fielded every army they have, the Zentradi could send thousands of times as many, sustain a 90% casualty rate and still overrun the humans. Having said that, being big has a lot of disadvantages on the battlefield, especially the modern one. A lot of engagements take place over long distance and stealth is the new order of battle. The Zentradi would be easy to spot, difficult to conceal and simple to target. Attack craft would be lethal against Zentradi, such as the Comanchero Attack Helicopter in Macross and other similar arms. In order to offset this disadvantage, the Zentradi forces would need to have a very strong anti-air answer to human troops and utilize plenty of long range weaponry, two areas which the Zentradi are noticeably lacking in most of their materiel seen in the shows. If it was a numbers game, you're right that small, highly mobile units of human forces operating independantly would be the order of battle. Guerilla warfare in particular would be very effective against such a large and less mobile force like the Zentradi.

There an echo in here? Didn't I also already provide a link to a picture of a U.N. troop? I think there's some problem reading

Now I've seen it all. The VF-1 more streamlined than the YF-19/21? Oh my gawd...

As wretched and disgusting as it is to speculate upon something as terrifying and abhorrent as the near total destruction of Earth and it's people, the Zentradi probably did more for the racial unity of mankind than all of human history combined. By wiping out every city, nation, and continent on the planet Earth without prejudice, the remnants of humanity are finally given a fresh start. Naturally, no one "in-story" could have possibly guessed that the survivors would actually prevail in the resultant conflict with the Zentradi, so no one would ever condone it. I personally would rather live with the messed up world we have and take the long way round to unifying the human race, but one cannot deny the tangible results of the Zentradi annihilation of Earth. There is no more conflict in the Middle East, eastern Europe, or Africa. There is no more aboriginal resentment in North America, Australia, etc. There are no more starving nations across Africa. There are no more first-world countries or super powers promoting their imperialism/globalism. Racial, religious and ideological segregation would be reduced to an all-time low. And for the first time in a long time, human resources would be the most important priority of our race...not wealth, not oil, not gold or diamonds...humans. History has shown time and again that whenever mankind explores and expands, the struggle for independance and the need for conflict always follow. I've no doubt that the UN government would have faced even greater anti-unity civil conflicts once the migration was made into space. After Space War One, the biggest concern akin to our current relational difficulties was the assimilation of Zentradi into human society. It's shown even some thirty years later in Macross Plus that Zentradi still suffer discrimination from the humans. It's also revealed that there were still human conflicts during the intervening years. I beleive someone on these boards once mentioned the military records of Isamu and Guld and how not all of the conflicts they fought in were against Zentradi dissidents (anti-U.N. or the like perhaps?). Even so, that sort of unrest is peanuts compared to the state of our planet today.

Max's Handheld Rocket Launcher (again, courtesy of the UNSQMTDB). Hand Held Rocket Launcher

Yes, that's the official size of a Zentradi. Zentradi would not fit inside a 15 meter Battle Pod if they were 13 meters tall. Even at the official height of 8.5 meters it's a stretch for a Zentradi to cram himself into that Battle Pod cockpit, but it's possible with very little room left to spare. Remember, Britai has always been far larger than the average Zentradi. SDF Macross shows him towering over the other Zentradi soldiers and he is only a touch higher than a Valkyrie. Here is the official size comparison chart for SDF Macross (taken for Macross Perfect Memory). Notice the picture of Kamjin at the far right end and compare to the size of the Reguld and Kamjin's Glaug Battle Pod.

Not to drag the thread too far off topic, but how exactly would modern infantry be useless against Zentradi soldiers? Further, why would the Zentradi forces be mechanized but the human forces wouldn't? What kind of handicapped match up is that? If we really want to speculate on human vs. zentradi infantry, we wouldn't grant one side vehicles and not the other. Going back to just human infantry vs. zentradi infantry, I see no reason why heavy infantry weapons wouldn't be successful against armored Zentradi soldiers. Anti-tank missiles, mortars, high explosives, anti-materiel sniper rifles, and other heavy infantry weapons would all pose a serious threat to a fully armored Zentradi grunt. It's not like the Zentradi infantry armor is anything special and they don't have fusion reactors in their codpieces that power anything. Once you throw OverTechnology into the mix, I can't see the weapons getting any less destructive.

There are indeed standard human infantry in the Macross universe. They are shown at the very beginning of the series during montages in SDF Macross. Brief glimpses are seen during other parts of the series and there is even a U.N. soldier shown along with what I assume is an OverTechnology tank (since the tank design is nothing I recognize from any modern military). The soldier and tank are seen very briefly in episode 27 during the bombardment of Earth. There's little available on the net, but the Quatermasters Tactical Database has a picture of the U.N.S. uniformed soldier from the episode I quoted: http://www.un-spacy-qmtdb.com/uns/Uniforms...BDUs/2009-1.htm Hope this was a little bit of help.

We have found reasonable explanations, they just haven't come from the horse's mouth so they are being nitpicked to death. Like JsARCLIGHT and bsu legato have already touched upon, the suspension of disbelief is the problem. Most of these responses are for the sake of disagreeing rather than any legitimate points IMO. Yes, there is a degree of retconn. No, it's not as extensive as the continuity gestapo thinks (I bow to Zinjo). Yes, the VF-0 is more than plausible utilizing a World Government Economy. And yes, eating yellow snow is bad for you!

The budget on this film is like 10 million GBP ($25 million converted to USD). I don't know about anyone else, but this movie looks bloody fantastic for a $25 million picture. Plus I'm a big Danny Boyle fan...would it be too silly to call this new film "sunspotting?"

Thank you JBO. As soon as I saw these responses I was going to add just this point. The fusion engines provide a sustainable power source, but the engines themselves need reaction mass to expel from the thrusters in order to provide momentum. You do indeed need reactant for that, or what one would call "fuel" in a traditional sense, and it's in finite supply. Hence, the addition of FAST Packs helps handle these concerns on a VF.

JsARCLIGHT and bsu legato are on the right track. It doesn't matter if these reasonable explanations which describe the VF-0 are true or not. What matters is they are reasonable and their opposite can't be disproven either (since you can't disprove the adsence of an explanation). As for the cost of building fighters, there are numerous countries building and developing fighters right now. If they all became a world government like the U.N. in Macross, the combined resources of these nations, now enjoying all the new technologies, economic growth and enhanced production capabilities that OverTechnology granted them, could have hundreds of simultaneous military projects underway. Hell, it's long been said the European Union would become the new super power if they ever got their crap together, because the combined economic power of all those countries would be more than any other single nation on the planet. If the U.N. World Government of Macross existed...look out.

I can only speculate, but isn't it a universal that smaller is always more difficult and expensive? The smaller the object built the more costly the miniaturization. The VF-0 was a stopgap, a compromise and a cheap way to get out the variable fighter faster. It was easier, faster and cheaper to build the larger, less efficient VF-0 variable mecha with conventional engines and thus, have it ready to fly and fight sooner.

For simple single trajectory flight sure, but when does that happen? You can hurl something toward a destination in space and it'll maintain momentum unless acted upon by another force. But therein lies the problem. Lack of friction is also a disadvantage in space flight, because without resistance, your craft has nothing to manuever against...hence no way to change course! In space, the only way you can change course is by utilizing directional thrusters and the only way you can slow down is to use counter thrusters. Hence, more fuel. During space combat, constant maneuvering requires constant use of your thrusters and would be very fuel intensive.

I don't even know how much is truely retroactive continuity and how much isn't. IMO, fans take too much damned stock in official trivia that was never intended to set unfilmed/unanimated events in stone. Fictional history and backstory is a flexible guide at best and I really didn't understand why so many fans screamed bloody murder when Macross Zero retold some history everyone had taken for granted. I guess I'm just a fan who'd rather see an animated prequel that re-tells franchise history than hold up some two-sentance long, twenty year old piece of trivia from my fan encyclopedia and cry foul.

Fuel is ALWAYS a consideration. Especially in later variable fighters that can acheive orbit without the need for external rockets and tanks. The VFs are much better off if they can extend their range while still performing these functions. Also, space is huge. Just travelling to the moon is a journey of almost 300,000 kilometers. Even with workable fusion reactors and all the advantages of OverTechnology, the distances involved in space travel are still such that fuel (or reactant if one must make the distinction) will be a major concern. I think it's necessary to examine your reasoning for FAST Packs on the Macross variable fighters before dimissing them as unneccesary to next generation fighters. The VF-1, like all variable fighters, can operate in space and maneuver very well without FAST Packs. They are not requirements for VF-1 space flight, as the fighter already has counter-thrusters and verniers built into the design. The FAST Packs are simply a method to extend and enhance the functionality of an already spaceworthy craft. The VF-11 and YF-19/YF-21 are far more advanced variable fighters, but they still need fuel, regardless of the thrust and efficiency advances they enjoy over the VF-1. So FAST Packs will always be a relevant option. Design wise, I see no problem with smaller, more conformal FAST Pack sets. Real world FAST Pack sets look nothing like the big dorsal boosters on the VF-1 fighters. Doesn't mean they look terrible, just different. Real FAST Packs look more like the VF-0 conformal tanks or the YF-19/YF-21 packs. I personally love the FAST Pack set for the VF-11 Thunderbolt and actually never really cared for the VF-11 without them. I see nothing wrong with continued use of FAST Packs in smaller configurations or larger ones. They look good and make sense to me.