Seto Kaiba

Nice. Where'd you score it? eBay? YJA Auctions? I doubt they've hit Mandarake yet.

I think this difference of opinion may stem more from you having missed a few key details watching the series, and flat-out ignoring gaping plot holes. In the series, the New UN Forces actually knew about the danger and tried to preemptively deal with it... only for Lady M's fanboy Wright to screw it up. They're not corrupt or evil, they're just bureaucratic and officious. The end up being presented as mean-spirited because the show's Designated Heroes have to rebel against authority even if it puts all the people they're supposedly protecting at risk. I'm a very detail-oriented person, so I notice these things very quickly and it tends to puncture my immersion a bit. The Frontier short is its own thing. All I said with respect to that is that what's been said sounds incredibly depressing, and that I vastly prefer the implied or explicit happy endings from other versions of the material. THAT'S THE PLOT HOLE. Macross material has been consistent for decades on the topic of there having been no communication with the missing Megaroad-01 fleet. It's mentioned directly on the official encyclopedia entry for the Megaroad-01, along with the fact that the government covered up their disappearance for fear that the news would crash the plans for future emigrant fleets. Richard Bilra's secret agenda was developing the tools he needed to go looking for the missing and never-heard-from-since Megaroad-01. For this film to suddenly decide they've been in communication with Earth the whole time running a megacorporation that's engaged in all kinds of questionable shenanigans and generally undermining the New UN Forces? That's just... a gaping plot hole. (It's really problematic since, if Megaroad-01 had been in communication with the New UN Gov't and running a megacorp Richard Bilra would've certainly known it as a seriously influential megacorp CEO... which would've meant no reason to launch the Macross Frontier fleet and no reason to develop the YF-30 that became the VF-31 used in Delta by its protagonists.) ... that doesn't really make sense either, since fold faults are supposedly stationary phenomena. The more you tell me, the more it feels like the writers really did not think this one through at all.

Thereabouts, yeah. But the existing material says there was no communication with them at all. Fold communications, like fold jumps, can be traced. If they were sending frequent communications, they should have been found easily even if they themselves didn't know where they were. It's just bad writing... which is about all I expect from Delta.

So... since we're in a bit of a Delta frenzy today anyway with last night's theatrical debut of Macross Delta: Absolute Live!!!!!!, I decided to go and tackle a few of the questionable areas in the Variable Fighter Master File: VF-31 Siegfried to satisfy my curiosity. The first one is a remark in the VF-31 development history section that mentions an aircraft we've never seen or heard before: the YF-30B Chronos. In an interesting contrast to Macross 30's YF-29B Perceval, the YF-30B is a reduced-capability version of the YF-30 instead of an enhancement. The YF-30B removed the FF-3001/FC2 Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engines and the proprietary and poorly-understood Fold Dimensional Resonance System. Several units were produced for testing via SMS or other affiliated security services and performed well enough that Shinsei pinned its hopes on the YF-30B as a contender for an inexpensive, but highly versatile, mass produced main Variable Fighter for emigrant governments. (Apparently being able to put the arms outside the engine nacelles instead of between them was a real watershed moment for durability in Battroid mode.) Perhaps my happiest find is an explanation for the inexplicable color-changing paint used on the Siegfrieds and Draken IIIs. Where the VF-25 (and VF-171EX) used an ablative anti-beam coating that doubled as radar-absorbent material for passive stealthiness, the VF-31 is described as using a separate anti-beam coating that comes in an adhesive sheet form that's bonded to the airframe. The sheeting is a smart material that can also function as a display surface for still images and also video, allowing it to function as a kind of optical camouflage. Apparently the reason both the VF-31 and Sv-262 adopted medium-bore railguns in place of beam machine guns as their primary fighter-mode gun is in response to the increasing efficacy of ablative anti-beam coatings, which are able to dampen 30-40% of a typical beam machine gun's fire. No useful info on the function of the LU-18A beam gunpod, but there is oddly a mention of a conventional rotary cannon option not depicted which is considered useful for cases involving things like combat with Zentradi.

So, from what little I was able to glean from that five minute roadshow teaser, it looks like the Sv-303 is equipped fairly similarly to the Sv-262. Especially the presence of what seems to be a variant of the 262's Fold Reheat system. Definitely gonna want an explanation for how/why the enemy ship in the film appears to be the Battle Galaxy... given that Macross Frontier materials indicate she was destroyed over the Vajra home planet in the TV version and destroyed in the Vajra attack on the Galaxy fleet in the movie version. Really hoping the other unconfirmed spoilers about the film are false though.

Now that is some very fine news indeed.

No, I did not. That all contact with Megaroad-01 was lost in July 2016 and that the New UN Government covered up the fleet's disappearance to avoid negative consequences for the humankind seeding plan has been a part of Macross chronology for quite some time. You'll even find it mentioned in the official Macross encyclopedia Macross Chronicle's Mechanic Sheet for the SDF-2 Megaroad-01. No such story regarding a rogue NUNS agent is told in the movie. Roid only mentions the New UN Forces having stolen the Star Singer genetic material and handed those stolen materials over to Lady M. Arad also specifically mentions that Lady M intervened to delay the timetable for the use of a reaction warhead to destroy the ruins, slowing the evacuation already in progress. It doesn't matter that it didn't achieve the intended result, the point is Lady M's intervention put people at risk needlessly and ultimately gave the enemy a strategic advantage that they wouldn't have had otherwise. Max probably doesn't know about Lady M's... questionable... activities, or he'd probably join the forces attacking them just as he clandestinely backed Vindirance in the Second Unification War.

Kind of out of character for Macross as a whole, which tends to favor optimistic or outright happy endings. I know I definitely prefer the happier TV series ending of Frontier and the implied happier movie ending version in Variable Fighter Master File where Sheryl is touring in the Macross Olympia fleet c.2064 and her SMS bodyguard detail contains a nod to her and Alto's birthdays.

Now that's just depressing.

I know, right?

That just seems to be the way that animation is headed when it comes to choreography-intensive stuff like idol performances. You'll see a lot of that in contemporary idol anime like Zombie Land Saga and such. I'm not sure that's exactly the glowing praise you're presenting it as, considering how few Macross movies there are. Sayonara no Tsubasa was pretty jumbled, but at least an entertaining watch because of the quality of the writing. I have no doubt that this new movie will be beautifully animated, but if the writing is bad then no amount of beautiful animation will save it for me. By the same token, I'll forgive bad or cheap animation in the name of a compelling or engaging story. Oh my, no... If the rumors being bandied about under spoiler tags here are true, I'll absolutely be annoyed... but not for that reason. No, I'll be annoyed because 1. they ruined one of Macross's enduring mysteries in the stupidest way possible such that it actively undermines large swaths of the Macross setting and 2. because "Lady M" was objectively a criminal and known to be a source of government corruption now it would make those operating behind that identity culpable for those crimes and that corruption.

If the spoilers are true, the writing is bad enough that you're gonna see me say a lot worse when I finally get my hands on this movie. I really hope the writers came up with a better plot than what this sounds like. The writing in Delta was substandard from the outset but these hopefully incorrect spoilers make it sound like it ought to be retitled Absolute Trainwreck!!!!!!.

Not surprising, the Sv-262 had one as well... kind of a poor man's version of the Fold Wave System the YF-29 and VF-31 Siegfrieds had, that focuses only on improving thrust and not other areas of performance. The Draken III's version was called Fold Reheat. Every time something like this comes up, they ALWAYS go for "Remember the New Guy?". Seriously. They're batting 1000 on this one. I doubt they'll break the pattern.

Probably, yeah... he was way more confident, competent, and impressive than she was, which is why he very nearly took over as main character near the end. Turns out that if you make your low-rent Amuro a complete pillock, your audience will find your Char Clone way more compelling.

That much was only to be expected. One of the main talking points of the YF-29 from its first introduction in Macross Frontier: Sayonara no Tsubasa was that it's basically impossible to mass produce. Between the cost of its ultra-high spec parts and the insane amount of ultra-high purity Vajra Queen-grade fold quartz needed to build the fold wave system, most governments wouldn't be able to build one never mind multiple. Basically, it's as close as Macross has ever come to having a Gundam-style super-prototype. Eh... the YF-24 still has about seven years on it, assuming you're willing to count the downtime in development while Shinsei waited for the ISC technology to mature. It's designated as a prototype, but IMO it's not really a prototype... it's just a Valkyrie that's so expensive nobody can afford to put it into actual production.

Seems unlikely to me. Max is as close to being the Macross setting's Big Good as it gets, he doesn't need to jump to anyone's orders. As I've said many times before, it's profoundly unlikely that Lady M is any character from a previous Macross show. Lady M founded Xaos as an interstellar communication firm after the First Space War and has apparently been running it ever since while also pursuing her research into the military potential of songs. As the founder of a megacorporation, she'd have to be impossibly wealthy and well-connected. We know what became of most of the original Macross cast, and they're definitely not living THAT well. Misa and Minmay have been missing since 2016 so it can't be them, Milia was a career soldier until like 2043 and a politician afterwards, Kim remained a soldier, Shammy's a stay-at-home mom, Vanessa runs a cabaret club, Laplamitz is dead, etc. For the descriptions we've been given of Lady M to actually work it's gotta be some Remember the New Guy scenario like how Col. Johnson in Plus was a member of Skull squadron, or how Frontier's Richard Bilra and Ride's Naresuan were subordinates of Vrlitwhai's.

Between the in-universe rumors about Lady M's involvement in developing an ultimate weapon based on the power of songs, the Macross Galaxy fleet's research into fold songs that was a part of their development of the implant network plan, Zelgaar Heavy Industries research into fold songs for military purposes and ownership of a VF-27, and this whole bloody apparent salvaged Battle Galaxy... I'm increasingly suspecting Lady M is the new main villain and that she was part of the Galaxy Fleet's implant network conspiracy all along.

They're the internal launchers near the knees.

Y'know what... if they actually say that in the movie, I might actually overlook this second instance of just stealing the plot from Frontier.

Overall, the VF-31's performance is broadly on par with the VF-25's. Mind you, there may be some disparity there because the stats we have are for the trial production VF-25 and VF-31 nearly a decade apart... the VF-25 has likely received upgrades in that time. There's only a 1.5% difference in engine power between the VF-25A and VF-31A, but the VF-31A's weight is given without an ordnance container which adds quite a bit to its overall weight even without a gunpod, so the VF-31 is going to accelerate somewhat slower. Ah, no... I thought there were some given in the VF-31 book but I was wrong.

Like I said earlier, it doesn't make a difference because the Battle Galaxy was destroyed in both versions. In the TV series, Battle Galaxy was sunk when Battle Frontier charged in and literally broke her in half with a pinpoint barrier punch... you see the upper half start to drift away from the legs before the camera angle changes.

Maybe, I dunno... the Galaxy fleet executives were supposedly the ringleaders, and they're all dead. 'cept maybe MANFRED, but he's technically dead twice. Nah, the Epsilon Foundation is a conglomerate-type megacorporation like Xaos is. They have some business connections to Macross Galaxy's parent corporation General Galaxy.

In the Frontier movies, the Macross Galaxy fleet was destroyed offscreen when the Vajra attacked it with only ten ships carrying refugees surviving long enough to be rescued by SMS's reinforcements. The Galaxy fleet executives mention the fleet was destroyed in their little teleconference with Grace at the start of the second film. The whole reason they hijacked the Battle Frontier was because they'd lost the entire Macross Galaxy fleet. Macross Chronicle also confirms on multiple sheets that the Macross Galaxy fleet was wiped out in the movie version. Either someone went back and salvaged the one that was literally cut in half in the TV version of the story, or we're looking at the SS Plothole. What's more, the Galaxy fleet executives were also killed at the end of the movie version when Brera shot them in the collective face with a heavy quantum beam gunpod. I imagine one needs a LOT of lube and amazing flexibility to pull a Battle-class out of one's posterior.

*a noise of the most abject revulsion* So... instead of come up with something actually new or interesting, Delta's writers are falling back on ripping off Frontier again? It'll be interesting to see how they try to excuse this mess, since the Battle Galaxy was destroyed in both versions of Frontier.

Did it get a name to go with that?