1/1 LowViz Lurker

Yeah at first I didn't like calling the monster in its normal form the gerwalk mode but to me it makes sense when reffering to a variable version of the monster since it describes the way in which the robot looks and moves. When you have three modes to transform into and the pilot needs to call it something, the first thing that comes to mind is GERWALK. "Change to gerwalk mode". If he says "change to destroid mode", remember that there are humanoid destroids too like the spartan which have normal legs and this to me would be bloody confusing to the person. "Which destroid does he mean?" "The humanoid form or the gerwalk form?" I reason that it is best to differentiate between the gerwalk robot and the battroid robot. As for the Glaug again the same logic applies: if you have a variable glaug (and there is one) with three mode transformation what do you think is the most obvious name to call it in its chicken legged mode? Gerwalk of course. And that to me makes sense because the variable glaug has a humanoid mode as well as chicken leg mode. So from now on anything that has three modes should go with: 1. Battroid for humanoid robots mode 2. Gerwalk for the reverse locomotive legged mode 3. fighter/bomber/shuttle whatever for its vehicle mode to avoid confusion. Now that I am used to calling non-valk three transformation robots battroid gerwalk and fighter, it has stuck in my mind because it makes the most sense. Anyway kawamori gets the final say since he is the guy who designs them so no point arguing over it. But if it is just a regular monster calling it gerwalk shouldn't be a hard rule since that is the only mode it has. (no confusion, so no need to differentiate it with other modes) I only call it gerwalk because of the way they legs look. The way the glaug moves is very similar to the way the vf1's gerwalk mode's legs move. Given that humans have melded designs with the zentradi I can see the two races wanting to name anything with locomotive legs as a gerwalk just as a 'nickname' more than a official name. Even robots that do not relate to macross or have mechs with only 1 mode (the chicken legged look) I still have a habit of calling gerwalk. It is sorta like calling the yf21 a "variable Qrau" just because it takes its looks like a qrau but is really closer to being a valk.

Why not try a free file hosting site?: http://www.filefactory.com/upload/ I just watched DYRL again. It's really sad that the character she played actually dies on the sdf2 just because kawamori wanted to get fans off his case about what happened to the three characters. I think they should have a side story of the events on the megaroad so we know for sure what happened. Would be great excuse to know more about the vf4. Did Misa get possessed by a Protodevlin and cheat on Hikaru by fooling around and destroying the relationship, which then resulted in hikaru getting a divorce and marrying minmay, who then gives up on music and becomes a fighter pilot after realising music alone can't beat the protodevlin unless you have anima spiritua? All these questions fans want to know. I personally think they all met a new alien species and went into a new dimension where the PD lived, and this is why they can't be found.

*shakes head in disbelief* As for alt prime: I honestly thought that was a custom when I first saw it. Like some guy took alt ironhide made a prime head and stuck the head on the ironhide body as a joke. (haven't been up to date on the latest alts for ages)

If we get more footage of assault that would be good. Never really got much action until the very end. A big scene of groups of assault type aquarions killing off the cherabum in violent ways would be cool. There was never a sense that this was a final massive battle of epic proportions in the tv series.

I thought that was clever. It brings in the whole: "maybe it is safer to ram him with a PPB punch or stab him with melee weapon" factor into mecha combat. Given the limited amount of ammo of a typical valk, I see running out of bullets as a realistic thing happening given the number of zentradi. And remember when max head laser overheated in SDF:Macross? And the gun jamming while in space means all the more danger: no gravity to slow down the incoming robot which wants to blind your sensors up close range and disable them, or just punch holes in the cockpit to kill you. (ie if britai could do it with his bare fists to dent the armor, imagine a Qrau powered armor dashing at high speed with full force?) I can see now what it would be like then for a VB6 using its robot mode hands to be a close range battering weapon. (similar to the spartan billy club) Yeah it has no hand carried weapon in robot mode like the zentradi male powered armor but it doesn't need one because of how you can flip its arms around to shoot as well. They should make a valk just like that. The VB6 could probably just pick up a vf1 with its hands and use that as a weapon by throwing it or swinging it around.

Can't wait for the yamato 1/60 floating rocks.

Maybe someone on macross world can sell custom made boxes for thier yamato toys. Just joking.

*Chants* "buy the fast packs you know you need them, your VF is naked without the extra booster" It seems kinda rare now. I wonder if these will ever be reissued?

"Finish the main quest first" should be the advice to people who hate free form rpgs. One of the great things about ES was that it allows a player to play to the style they liked. One of the downfalls of too much freedom is lack of balance. For example people finding exploits like levitation in daggerfall and then going into horse mode (to exploit the speed of the horse) and flying around at high speed on the flying horse. But it is a brave attempt by bethesda to at least try to make a game that allows you to play how you want and act how you want in a non-scripted way. (that is the order you do something, the direction you travel, the people you choose to be friends with, the faction you help, etc should be left to the player to experience something different each time and know "how it feels" to be in the shoes of the person they created) Not enough game developers realise that what players want is the feeling of a dynamic world where things are out of thier control and thier character is insignificant part of the world, not the centre of the universe itself until they do something at the end that makes them the hero. The freeform rpg is the one where the focus is on giving the player the freedom to be the insignificant nameless soldier, the thief, the murderer, the politician etc but giving them the choice on HOW to achieve the goal (main quest) how they see fit. I suppose that is the main draw of the game. Dungeoun crawling has more meaning, insulting or burning bridges has more consequences, and sneaking and stealing is neither good nor evil. (you may need to loot a rival faction to continue with the story or path you have chosen all for the sake of the main quest which is helping the emperor, your friend) When all these things vary, it adds a sense of you being part of the world and enhances replayability. For those who want a more straightforward experience I would advise to stay away from epic freeform rpgs, because what often happens is you forget what you were last doing and end up not feeling motivated to continue in the game. (this has happened to friends who played this) For good writing, or an engaging story see games like Legacy of Kain, (one of my favourites) or play games like Metal Gear Solid or Resident Evil or even Diablo. These are the kinds of games you will like becasue they are not so much to do with proper 'role playing' as they are letting the director of the show/movie/game build you up for a climax through the gameplay, exploration, and character dialogue so that you have an attachment to the characters and want to see what happens next, which is the hook that gets you to keep playing. (although I hated it in games like Metal Gear Solid 2 where it feels intrusive to progress, I can see people who apreciate the character development going for it) But those type of games to me although polished, suffer in later replays. With the only incentive to replay being things like unlocking a new mode, accessing a gallery, finding some hidden item in the environment for the sake of extending the total hours you play rather than being long or replayable and deep enough to not put it on the shelf collecting dust after completion. Sandbox style games like Dues Ex, Half Life, Elder Scrolls, and to a lesser extent; GTA, beyond being some gimmick or fad, are crucual to keep me interested in gaming. I'm one of the jaded gamers that complains that gaming isn't immersive enough in other areas besides graphics, (which is usually the focus in the industry) and that there needs to be "simulation"-style consequences for your crap or good choices that you make in the game for long term effect. I always cheer when companies take the brave move to do something different for once, like when Shen Mue first came out, and it got average reviews from some sites, but how I could still enjoy it for 'immersive' reasons and could overlook the weaknesses and see what it was trying to attempt. (allowing you the feeling of being in a living environment with npcs going about doing things like going to work at a specific time, having them come home at a specific time, being in a certain place at a specific time etc and generally letting the player see this as if they had lives of thier own)

I think some people are just military mecha and others super robot fans. (ie they buy the super robot as fans of the show and want it as a recognisable character) I think in my case I buy stuff if I am a fan of the design. Which I think these are my reasons for liking it: for all the modes they can go into and thier interchangability. But I try not to take the story so seriously so I don't have these high expectations. I actually like robots that have funny shaped heads because it gives them a certain personality. Cone heads, triangular heads, heads with hoods, humanoid bike helmets with horns, samurai helmets with moon crescent or sun symbols on them. Whenever I see a strange design with no functional purpose for it I put it down to the creator of the robot putting his own personal touch to the thing he created. Kind of like how you got these fancy hood ornaments on cars just to say "look at me!" and give the thing a bit of class. As much as I love my destroids, and real robot mecha it doesn't stop me from enjoying the more flashy mecha. I think that is one of the reasons I didn't mind the strange Turn A gundam, because it seems like the kind of robot that is one of a kind and never meant to be mass produced so they could afford to put all kinds of stuff on it to make it look special and stand out. I would think that for a super robot to use close combat weapons to fight is no different from how you have the typical marvel character without a gun (apart from Cable in xmen): these are reliant on more than the tech itself but the powers of the individual inside. (similar to how in star wars you have jedi accessing abilities that allow for them to kick so much ass without relying on manufactured weapons but thier own bodies and minds.) Plausible enough for me If a tank is no match for the hulk, then normal weapons made by the earth are no match against the dark angels, so this is where the aquarion lies: somewhere between magic (super powers) and technology (the mechanical part) with the pilots' minds and super powers used to provide the required reflexs and focus to stand a chance against them. So instead of captain america throwing his shield, you have the aqaurion using ninja stars, or extendable punches or arrows to defeat the enemy. (who appear more supernatural in power than just physically tough) The mass production version then, must be the equivalent of the punisher from the marvel universe.

I wouldn't mind a Macross Zero MMORPG actually! As shin your primary skills would be fighter mode and the more kills you get the better you become. Battroid and gerwalk skills would have to be levelled up before the big boss fight against nora. You could enter a training arena to sharpen your skills by challenging other pilots (ie when roy takes on all the noobs and kicks thier ass in the ova) and these would boost your stats. If you wreck the VF0 it takes time to repair it, (which makes your skills get worse and the enemies become tougher from having more time than you) and if you die the game ends and you got to start a new character.

I also thought the fight between the octos and battroid was handled nicely. You may not notice it at first but the method of fighting used mirrors the lessons roy teaches shin about transforming and changing to adapt. Ie you see a half second image of the octopus using ink to blind a predator to defend itself (this was the same octopus mao showed shin) before Shin aims the head laser to destroy the camera of the octos and blind it. Or you have him transform into battroid and use the arms to restrain the octos at close range making good use of the robot mode to grapple the enemy so they can't escape, similar to the way shin keeps getting beaten in close combat in real life because he is too used to fighter mode only. (robots are useful as an amplification of a human's movement and power) This is the part of the story where the character shows growth and matures. Changing from his old self to something new and gaining xp to beat the opposition who kicked his ass at the beginning. Like SDF:Macross tv series, I thought macross zero did a lot to try and justify the different modes as being useful. So from a purely mecha coolness perspective it gets big points here. They try to link the valkyrie's ability with the ability in nature of those flying fish with wings. This was the joke at the end where shin dives into the water, and then rises up like those fish with wings as a way to say that he is more suited to being in the air/space with Sara. Where mao is the strong swimmer of the two sisters and can hold her breath for long time, Sara inherited the ability to float and fly and levitate. So in a way the legend of the bird humans and fish humans is really an origin story/creation myth explaining how 'they' (PC) melded with us and how some of the priestesses might be chosen based on thier blood linking them to alien ancestors. Thier religion is very antiwar, anti military, and against technology because the pc would have come to earth to avoid the wars they had when they made the zentradi. So for them, technology must be forbidden. It is only a matter of time before UN Spacy takes the technology itself to repeat the mistakes. (ie as you see the anti UN and UN fighting and killing to gain control of the AFOS) So all this religious stuff and creation myth, and how things can be awakened through soundwaves and music is at least there for a reason. I think the "fish humans" were the normal humans on that island before the PC came to escape from the zentradi to start again, (see the myth in DYRL) while the birdhumans were the aliens who mated with fish humans and possibly provided cloning technology to make all the strange things you see like fish that fly which are limited to that island. (just a guess)

That's pretty much it. I would watch them all in that order. (as they were made)

Or maybe it lands and take off like the outlaw star? Just slowly have your butt pointed to the ground as you descend and use just enough thrust to keep it from smashing into the ground? (landing) Then takeoff with nose pointed in air? So say you want to land on some moon where there is no landing strip, you just descend with the butt end facing the ground? (I guess landing and taking off in gerwalk would be much more comfortable than this though)

The way I see it is they will measure demand by how well S and A do. So what I intend to do is get one of each one that comes out. (as a way to support more macross zero toys) Eventually I want them to make the Reactive armor and ghost booster too. I think most people should just watch macross zero for the dogfighting alone rather than going out of thier way to not watch it just because they don't like the story. To me it will always be a mecha show but with a hint that there is more to life than the happenings in our own dimension. (I have no problems accepting other worldly aliens living in different dimensions, just so long as the mecha half makes sense ) But somehow they have to put the 'music fixes everything' theme into each show to not piss off the diehard fans who will complain it wouldn't be macross without it. I don't mind the theme really as I think it ties in well with creation myth. ie the world being spoken into creation through the word/sound/song. If you thought this was wierd, you probably may not like rahxephon. (the whole show revolves around music theme and sound used as weapons) It's only when the focus is on music alone that it takes away from the mecha part that I get worried. Like when basara defeats people with no help from conventional weapons and hogs all the limelight in macross 7. (definately take away the usefulness of the valk imo)

The yf21 really look good in thi mode with the arms hanging out. Especially when it is holding two gunpods at once and has shields on either of its arms to block fire. I don't know why but I think the idea of arms is good so long as they are facing forward in front of the legs rather than beside them. This is why I like the glaug so much because it's two arm cannons pointing forward makes it look agressive.

I like the GERWALK for reasons of practicality. It allows vertical take off and landing and in the tv series hikaru uses it to great effect. In macross zero shin 'parks' it in that mode and it looks like it would be much safer than to have it standing in battroid mode with pilot coming out of the head turret. Another reason I like it has to do with the idea that it may be useful for manuevering in that mode by giving a bit more speed but staying low to the ground to take advantage of any cover. When hikaru shoots his first alien with the gunpod in gerwalk mode, it just looks cool. A little bird versus an ostrich. I alo think the gerwalk makes the valk seem more like a robot equivalent of a flying insect. Especially the alien looking vf22. It just looks like something out of this world which I like. I have always loved the reverse leg mecha like the regult and glaug and monster. It give the robots a sense that they can use these powerful legs to absorb some of the fall if they were to ever do a boost assisted hop and in the case of the regult and glaug the legs look very powerful. To be honest I think the gerwalk looks best if you have it in a dramtic pose such as having the arm holding the gunpod and pointing it to the side while the valk is moving forward (pilot can see to the left or right easily) or alternatively have it angled down while on a display stand. We should all be grateful for gerwalk mode: it can save lives as shown in macross plus when dyson cushions guld's descent while holding his mech above. A valk isn't really able to land anywhere without a landing strip without this mode so I can see where it would be useful as an in-between mode if the fighter has to come in low to continue in an area not suited for fighting in fighter mode.

This would have been nice. Would like to hear what an english version of the song would sound like. We only have the manga macross plus karaoke version to go by: Kyun-Kyun!, Kyun-Kyun! My Boyfriend is a pilot now, is a pilot now! What a wasted opportunity imo.

Has anyone seen that van damme movie Universal Soldier? (has dolph lundgren in it) That what I want to see happen with Roy and Ivanov. Have roy's life be brought back through a secret black UNG experiment where they have cloned and taken his memories and put them in an enhanced body which merges the genetic experiments they have done on zentradi and cyborg ones they need to make the pilots have better vision, reaction speed, strength etc. Then have ivanov clone (he's well known and has many look-a-likes in case of assasination - see the episode of ghost in the shell with the war hero who couldn't die for an example) be made into something similar with the anti-un. They both duke it out with brainwave controlled vfs and thier memories of thier past life pops up and they fight each other. (guld vs Dyson style) Both kill each other off and that marks the end of roy. (given a more heroic death) The anti un develop more clones (a clone army like in star wars) but these turn against their leaders once they hear music that reminds them of a pop song they once heard of a long time ago and they revolt against thier leader. That ends the age of clone wars and the anti un experiments. (too dangerous) ..Macross plus II coming soon..

I also love the concept that it offers you the ability to land vertically or cushioning a fall at least so you can quickly switch to fighter when you want to properly fly around. A dedicated fighter can't land anywhere it wants like a VF can. Even if it was a half-assed idea at first it just makes so much sense in the tv series imo when you see hikaru actually make good use of gerwalk. (due to all the rescue ops of putting a girl in one hand and a gunpod in the other. ) Sure the zentradi have the REAL gerwalks in the form of regult and glaug, but the vf1 uses the idea to good effect to boost the fighter's usefulness. Without gerwalk it would have been impossible for hikaru to rescue his GF and fly away from danger in time. I don't think they took advantage of this mode as much in mospeada though so I can see it more as a half assed mode in that series.

I'm talking in terms of what the show can give us. ie where guld is shown dodging the missile or roy shooting them down, or max surviving milia's missile swarms or how dyson survives gulds missiles with tricks. logic would say a yf21 with slimmer profile (no chunky fast pack) and great speed has much better chance to avoid missile swarm than the slower and bigger (well not 'bigger' but 'chunkier') vf1 w FP. So the idea of having a chunky body (say there is someone persuing you and is on your tail (like the opening scene in macross plus ova) against another equally fast fighter that can match your speed and gets within range, will mean the chunky guy has harder time avoiding stuff. (say in a built up area with lots of junk floating around) There may be an advantage in having more sharp turn or seeking cover behind some of this stuff that is floating around to make it harder for the guy to lock on and forcing him to use directed attacks against you. Having massive speed might just mean you end up smashing into things in a cluttered environment. (play the game gradius and choose the highest speed setting you can have and see how easy it is to avoid tight enemy fire with it) You reach an upper limit in how effective speed becomes in a fight depending on the environment you fight in. (seeking cover and then surprise attack might be better idea) Against a Qrau with ace pilot I can imagine the backpack just makes you bigger thats all. (as opposed to later vfs with powerful engine that don't need it and still retain a small profile) So in summary the chunkiness makes it look mean but I think it is mean only in the sense of adding firepower and more weapons in total, but that in certain situation where you are in a one on one fight against a fast moving opponent, shedding the chunky backpack (whose weapons are limited in usefulness against an ace because of how hard it is to aim and shoot with them) might mean quicker movement and response from you (as in you 'accelerate' fast - like my analogy to a slow racecar with low topspeed but tight handling on a racetrack with lots of tight corners where you will never go at topspeed) and a better chance of you hitting the enemy and *avoiding a shot from an enemy. *what I mean by avoiding is just generally being a smaller profile, not that you can actually 'dodge' a bullet like in the matrix I mean in the sense that you are small, you might be moving while the enemy tries to shoot (so they need to lead each shot), there may be junk or asteriods in the way etc making it a tough angle for the attacker. Think of a cockroach or a mouse that you can't step on because it is small and can run and hide in tiny corners that you can't reach. Its speed is not due to having big muscles or needing power to move quick, but because the body is light, the energy is used efficiently (good acceleration in a small environment), and it is small - meaning you can't see it half the time so even if you have bigger muscle than it, your movement acceleration is not as efficient as the little cockroach or mouse. If the roach had a tiny rocket on its back it would just make it harder for the roach because it is not needed - provides too much speed since the roach can't make sharp, sudden turns - , adds bulk, and makes it bigger. The later VFs get the 'speed' and slim profile advantage (sleek is good) but not the penalty that the early vf with fast pack have of being easier to shoot up close. Milia might have had the advantage of speed, (like an in open environment in space) but not of good cover which max could exploit by hiding and using sharper shooting accuracy through directed fire. Where normally milia would rely on micromissiles swarms which might not be so effective in a one on one duel in a built up area. (unlike max using a vf1, she doesn't have the option of 'shedding fat' due to how everything is inbuilt and non-ejectable on a qrau) In a built up environment you can force your opponent to attack from a direction of your choosing which made it easier for him to shoot while the enemy was 'stuck in the tunnel' with limited space to move.

Nice work. Looks surprisingly good in battroid mode too.

When luke speeds above, under, to the side, in between the narrow corridor as the walls race past threatening to clip a wing, all while people are threatening to shoot you in the back, just to fire the torpedo to take out the deathstar, that is speed. That is danger. When he gets on the landspeeder with tree trunks and bushes poking out your eyeballs as the camera is set low and you see him dodge between the trees, that is danger, that is edge of your seats stuff. When luke crashes his snowspeeder into the ground and skids it and you see the ground around him sliding past as the bottom scrapes along the surface: that is a sense of speed. When you see the dogfight in the clone wars cartoon, similar speed to something from macross zero: that is speed. I guess what I am saying is, ep III seemed slow compared to these ones. There were some scenes that were great like in ep2 where they are chasing the assasin, and the Jango and son chase, and the race in ep1 but I still felt they lacked the tension and sense of danger you see in clonewars or OT. The ep III opening was "epic and grand" with lots of scenary but it felt like they were going pretty slow imo, almost at a relaxed pace like they were taking thier time and not really in a big rush orthat there was a sense of urgency like the deathstar scene. Instead of 1 missile which anaking dodges with no sweat (just him going through the motions) why not have anakin dodge 5 or 6 missiles? You know what I mean? I also thought general grievious was more threatening in the clonewars cartoon than the movie despite how he is in a cartoon. It's hard to say but maybe it is because he was built up. But that is what I want to see in a tv series. (build up the characters make them interesting and do things that you couldn't do with the movie due to time constraints.)

Well I got the idea that inside the SDF1 when max was facing off against the bigger Qrau in one of the episodes of the tv series, that Milia wouldn't really rely so much on homing missiles because of the indoor-sy-ness of the environment and that both of them needed good directed weapon accuracy. (rather than fire as many micromissile swarms and run away) But having extra bulk might slow down your movements and stuff and going too fast might just mean you bump into things. Same thing with in DYRL when max fights milia inside her ship in a corridor. Really you would want to dodge quickly and keep a smalle profile, maybe shoot from the side while dashing in another direction. In this instance a big cannon might not be as easy to direct as a hand carried weapon would be because if you think about it, the whole thing is just hanging over your shoulder. (you would have to orient your whole body just to get a solid direct hit) .....But a machine gun!.... now that would drastically increase your hit ratio at close range. (directing the gun would be much easier because the weapon is in your hands) Maybe in this instance having a massive backpack on your back is just going to make moving around a big problem. Flying around in space I can totally see the need for speed to outfly these missile swarms (that is if you don't want to shoot them down) but in urban built-up area or inside, where missiles might hit obstacles in your way rather than the enemy, having a backpack full of these heavy things and a big cannon which is hard to aim and only shoots directly ahead of you, is unecessary. If I were a valk pilot I would just eject the uneeded baggage and continue the fight that way with just a machine gun, for survival reasons. (half the battle is dodging enemy fire and making it harder for the enemy to shoot you, so skinny is good in certain situations)

I'm not sure but could this be a reference to the robotech forums where one guy asked: "Why is minmay (in robotech?) so annoying??" haha Wasn't it there where the questions were being asked and fans coud ask questions? see here for what I mean: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...ndpost&p=340347 (post #250 onwards) I think mari should watch DYRL too if she hasn't. Her apreciation for the story might go up even more and may see why fanatical otaku still hold macross in high regard as a modern classic. (good animation, mech design, music and epic story. aah those were the good ole days..)