karice67

It's frustrating, but... the only way I've gotten it to work for me, is to pick and choose what "fits" in your version vision of Macross, and kinda ignore what doesn't fit. It solves a bunch of headaches, but it can make communicating ideas on Macross a bit more complicated.

The sad truth is that there's no, one single unifying chronology that the creators use. The benefit of that is Kawamori-san et al are free to create as they please. The last, best, official chronology that I know of is in Macross Chronicles #50. But, even that is leaving out a lot of content that comes, as you stated, from anecdotal information in other sources, which some of us consider more vital to understanding Macross (in that case, the "great blank" post SDFM, pre M+ history is filled up by such things as the M3 game storyline and the backstory of the M+, M7 and so forth. But the editors seemed to ignore sources detailing that.)

To be honest, I don't mind if there isn't one 'official' version of Macross. Kawamori's idea of "they're all fictional representations of a real history that no one knows" works perfectly well for me. I had simply assumed that the so-called chronology was meant to be the skeletal outline of that 'real history'. But I've always been uncomfortable with how the original chronology (the one from Perfect Memory) was really specific with regards to certain events, e.g. naming Hayase Misa, Ichijou Hikaru, Maximillian Genius, and Kakizaki Hayao as the four who first came into physical contact with the Zentraedi, whilst being nothing more than an outline wrt others. But if that's not actual 'recorded history', then I have much less of a problem with it. Basically, it allows me to treat all the various fictional works 'made in the Macross universe' somewhat...historically, so-to-speak...wherever that ends up leading me...

So if Kawamori himself says that the chronology / the 'Macross History' record is fiction too...well, I'm cool with that.

That said, I would still like to read that history, so yes, fingers crossed!

Anyhow, there's another thing that I've been cobbling together: my Macross locations project. Last month, I spent a large chunk of time updating the Solar System part: http://sketchleystat...tions/Earth.php , http://sketchleystat...SolarSystem.php , and http://sketchleystat...nsNeptunian.php . The majority of it is real information (thanks Wikipedia!), but there's a bunch of Macross stuff, too (again, from anecdotal sources). Just to scratch the surface, there's Venus's Henry Beggs Satellite City, the Space Colony Clusters in Earth orbit, and Neptune's Grande Savoie Residential Area. And that's not even including the over 20 Factory Satellite's in Earth orbit!

Woah...now that is one insane project! So those are all the planetary bodies mentioned in one Macross work or another?

Ah, it was in the Statistics section - thank you for the link. I do remember reading over your Timeline before, but had couldn't remember where to find it.

I find it interesting that you used the term "cobbled together", as that's the impression I've gotten of all the timelines I've come across, both in English and Japanese. For example, from what I understand (based on what I read on one of the Japanese wikias and something that came up in a conversation with another fan), many of the Frontier dates have apparently come from 'news articles' that are collected in one of Ranka's books... Which is one of the reasons I've been wondering if there'll be another so-called official chronology like the ones published in Perfect Memory or in the 1990s with the Macross 7-related goods (and whether that 'Macross History' segment of the exhibition could be it).

That said, the bit from your first link about, about the chronology itself being 'fiction based on reality' suggests that it's all moot anyway, trying to figure out what 'Macross History' is, that is...

The official history is, IIRC, exactly the same as the one presented in the Macross Chronicle Timeline Sheets... which I believe Sketchley has kindly translated.

It's completely translated already?!

*checks again*...well, he's translated the outline so far. I know there's also the chronology on the Compendium (updated by Gamlin from here?), but the most recent one is the one in the Chronicle.

I really can't afford to get all of the Chronicle issues from where I am, so I'll keep waiting patiently until Sketchley generously translates them, or until I can obtain a hard copy elsewhere... It seems like the post-Plus/-7 updated chronology (年表) appeared in several different publications in 1994, so fingers crossed that the latest one will eventually appear in a publication that I can buy...

I think it started on December 22nd...

Also... Welcome to MW!

I know...I was there until the preceeding week and could not have stayed any longer... But such is life

And thank you ^^ I've been...around, but you all post way too quickly for me to keep up sometimes!

*Sigh* from me too, as I was in Japan a few weeks ago. If only it could have started two weeks earlier!! Would have especially liked to see what has made it into the official 'History'...

But thanks for the write-up, sketchley!!