Seto Kaiba

On 8/10/2019 at 8:17 PM, Bolt said:

Burying something like that does kind of  lead one to believe, it was a possible future option.."just in case we need that later.."

Either that or that they didn't have the resources necessary to destroy it properly... as was the case with the Protodeviln, and apparently the Fold Evil.

(Or bringing sufficient force to bear would've been needlessly destructive, involving destroying planets or other potentially-showy and attention-getting methods that would otherwise attract the attention of the Zentradi and/or Supervision Army.)

On 8/10/2019 at 8:17 PM, Bolt said:

I wonder what, if any consequences for the Epsilon Foundation may emerge.  

It'll be interesting, since the ship designs they're peddling are clearly General Galaxy designs that've been modified somewhat and they'd purchased the SV Works from General Galaxy.

If it comes out that they've been involved in the Var crisis from the beginning and were originally working on ways to weaponize it, things could go poorly for them.

On 8/10/2019 at 8:17 PM, Bolt said:

Didn't realize the Draken III's had been pushed that far and hard. 

It comes up at one point early in the series, when the Aerial Knights return to Windermere and Keith is told the power system on his Draken III is shot and he'll need to use a different aircraft while they repair it.  The Siegfrieds have similar issues, as alluded to by Makina and Reina talking about how Hayate beats the hell out of his while Messer's more refined style puts less strain on the unit.

On 8/10/2019 at 8:17 PM, Bolt said:

Perhaps Windermere and the Brisinger cluster will all be in danger and , in some way , all will be forgiven, once they've (Windermere)helped NUNS defeat this new threat. Ketchup boy does sing, remember, he could be the 6th..

... Admiral Ackbar, paging Admiral Gial Ackbar... it's time for your line sir.

(Seriously, I'd rather not see Macross go the Fate route and throw a trap into the mix.  I'm not about to kinkshame anybody, but Macross is plenty weird as it is IMO.)

13 minutes ago, Keith said:

I stand by what I've said since day one, Rey is an Anakin clone.

Since anything insane is on the table thanks to creator dickery, I propose that Rey is Leia's illegitimate child via Chewbacca... Han did say she could use a good kiss.  

1 minute ago, Chronocidal said:

I mean, if that's the way they want to go, fine, but that might be literally the most depressing storyline possible.  Literally having the hero go into a crippling depression, and crawling into a cave to die?

Only to return as a massive troll trickster mentor to the hero of a new generation?

An oldie but a goodie in mythology, but you can understand why Yoda's force ghost showed up to chew him out later... Luke was stealing his bit.

11 hours ago, renegadeleader1 said:

Kind of like how TFA explained Luke went to find the first jedi temple and left a map behind in case he was needed, but in TLJ he went into exile to die and didn't want to be found?

Really, I think that's not necessarily a contradiction.

Luke went looking for the first Jedi Temple to find some hope for the future and succumbed to despair along the way because he didn't really find anything to boost his spirits since it contained proof that this kind of thing happens a lot.

17 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

After looking up what The Price of Smiles was (seriously, Tatsunoko: you chose THIS for your 55th anniversary??!!), I think calling it a "trainwreck" is being charitable.

It would have been a pretty poor effort even if it were meant to be buried at the bottom of a programming schedule to fill time.

11 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

I wouldn't call it a horrible series, but it's certainly mediocre with a non-cohesive and non-rewarding plotline.

Not exactly something that screams it's part of a celebration.

It was Southern Cross all over again... an ill-conceived, poorly executed, sloppy mess of a mecha anime that was trying to succeed by blindly copying its contemporaries.  They mainly ripped off Code Geass and Gundam, but there were Macross touches in there too.  

11 hours ago, DewPoint said:

Would it be fair to say that the majority of Tatsunoko's talent left with Production I.G when they split off?

I'm not sure they stuck around that long.  Tatsunoko's had relatively few standout original properties of their own, with most of their successes being coproductions (Macross, Megazone 23, Video Girl Ai, Neon Genesis Evangelion) or licensed properties (Mach GoGoGo, Fate/stay night, Irresponsible Captain Tylor, Transformers shorts, etc.).

Seems like a lot of their more creative members went and founded their own studios, like Ashi Productons, JC Staff, Production IG, Xebec, and TNK.

5 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Kinda makes you wonder about the protoculture, though. They coulda dropped these thing into stars, folded them into supernovas, filled 'em up with antimatter, or stuffed 'em down the gullet of a black hole, but decided "nah, a pile of dirt'll be fine."

 

I'll give them a pass on the protodevlin, but the Delta battleship shoulda been rendered inert before they disposed of it.

To be entirely fair to them, they did do everything in their power to make the planet they sealed the Protodeviln on uninhabitable via the entropy control field and on Uroboros they enforced their "keep out" sign by putting artificial fold faults around the entire planet that were severe enough to cut it off from the rest of the galaxy (the Uroboros aurora), having additional fold fault barriers around the place where they sealed the Fold Evil, and then filling the facilities maintaining the seal on the Fold Evil with self-replicating bio-technological insectoid living weapons to violently remove any potential intruders.

They may just not have had the resources to put something suitably nasty around the Sigur Berrentzs, given that they were supposedly at the very brink of extinction when they were withdrawing to the Brisingr cluster.  They did bury the entire Delta Wave System in fold space where no idiot should've been able to just dig it up.

All in all, I'd say they got progressively better about their Keep Out signs and precautions.

5 minutes ago, JB0 said:

But then, their idea of safe genetic testing in 7 WAS "spring-loaded spikes in the floor collect ample blood samples, it'll be fine". I probably shouldn't be surprised they just buried their doomsday weapons under dirt.

Well, these ARE the same people whose answer to wanting an army to fight their wars for them was "GIANT CLONES!".  The godzilla threshold is inherently meaningless to them.

32 minutes ago, Bolt said:

And also, in hindsight, how could Windermere really think they could bring NUNS to its knees?

Bringing the New UN Government to its knees probably wasn't in the original game plan.  King Grammier VI's goal seems to have been to build his own New UN Government with blackjack and hookers in the form of Windermere's "Starwind Sector", encompassing the entire Brisingr globular cluster, and use that greater leverage in future treaty negotiations.

Roid's delusions of manifest destiny don't seem to have actually included conquest either, but rather a less-evil version of Grace's instrumentality-esque plan to unify the minds of everyone in the galaxy to eliminate conflict.  Given a few of the things he says, he also seems to have wanted to use it as a way to vicariously - or perhaps actually - lengthen the lives of the Windermereans.

Barring actually using the Delta Wave System the way it was intended, I don't think there really was a realistic option for Windermere to defeat the New UN Forces.  They don't have the manpower to handle even the relatively under-equipped and under-funded Brisingr Alliance local New UN Forces, never mind the ones that've already adopted 5th Gen VFs or that are better funded due to more active economies.  Assuming, of course, that the ancient Protoculture technology didn't succumb to the expected failure mode of burning out a lot of brains across the galaxy.  They've got some excellent dogfighting VFs, but they just DO NOT have the manpower to challenge the NUNS on a level footing when the average soldier's life expectancy for Windermere is 10 years or so vs. the 50 or so for a human.  That's a pretty big difference in experience and training that we saw paying dividends when Draken IIIs were getting taken down by more experienced pilots in VF-171-II's.

(That, I suppose, was one of the more satisfying moments from the New UN Spacy in Delta... they've finally reached the point where they take it as read that if the Protoculture had sealed and buried something, it's probably a stupidly dangerous thing they regret making and that the safest means of disposal are "crush it into a singularity and send it on a one way trip to another dimension".  They're becoming genre savvy.)

32 minutes ago, Bolt said:

As far as Windermere goes,  its gonna be real bad now,  isn't it? Unless Ultimate Live has an optimistic twist in mind for them.

Chances are, Windermere may not be featured in the next Macross movie and we all might have to continue guessing as to their fate..

Yeah, it's probably not going to be great since King Grammier VI and King Heinz wasted a lot of manpower and resources on a futile attempt to conquer the Brisingr cluster, and in so doing got many of Windermere IV's brightest young soldiers killed and wrecked the planet's remaining interstellar trade relations.  

Kawamori being Kawamori we won't be subjected to seeing them face realistic consequences like being occupied by the New UN Government now that King Ketchup's one trick is not viable anymore, but they're not likely to be having a good time.  They only had two marketable exports (fold quartz and food) and the market for one of them (food) dried up and died after it was discovered that was how they were triggering Var outbreaks and making the local New UN Spacy susceptible to mind control while the other is still heavily restricted by the New UN Government.

Now that the Brisingr Alliance and New UN Government know the Epsilon Foundation was dealing with Windermere IV under the table, their ability to maintain their armed forces isn't likely to last all that long either since pulling out the Draken III's full performance seems to be rather damaging to the airframe.

Since the little available material for Absolute Live has mentioned a new threat, I'm guessing Windermere will be Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Film.

2 hours ago, Bolt said:

Is there a backstory or much info about this squadron?

Turns out I did recall correctly... the SVF--124 Moon Shooters were first mentioned as a VF-17 squadron in This is Animation Special: Macross Plus (OVA Ver.) on page 96.  They were apparently split off from Apollo Base's Luna Guard and assigned to escort a long-distance emigrant fleet (but it doesn't say which).

Lurching awkwardly back in the general direction of the topic we were on... 

Given that economics has come up a number of times in recent-ish Macross stories, I'd really like to see some story actually delve a little into how interstellar commerce works in Macross.  Windermere IV was apparently upset enough about its economy to declare war on the New UN Government, Macross-29's is in the toilet and hoping cultural exports can save the fleet, the Brisingr Alliance is stagnating thanks to its isolated location and desperate for exports.

It seems odd, in hindsight, for these theoretically self-sufficient fleets to have this kind of trouble... though I guess it would be a bit difficult to find work for tens of millions of people in a pure self-sufficiency environment.

1 hour ago, Master Dex said:

EDIT: And Seto got in before I finished writing, ever the poised one. Speaking of, will you be at SDcon again this year Seto? I plan to again, after all it's a pretty short trip for me anyway. 

I must've had a heck of a head start, given that I wrote that one on my phone.  My WPM on that POS with autocorrect on feels like it's somewhere south of 1.

I'm hoping to be at SDCon again this year.  Haven't booked anything yet, but hopefully will soon.  It's been a weird year.

10 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Funny, the "garbage" is the Millennium Falcon. Ya she might be a bucket of bolts , but she IS the fastest ship on the galaxy..

Hailed as a piece of junk by almost everyone in Star Wars who isn't Han, yeah... but as with there, any port in a storm right?

It's not like anyone else is putting out a Bioroid kit.  Presumably the expert modelbuilders here and on Facebook could make it a little less rubbish-looking, though it'll never not be a bad copy of the Zaku II.

19 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

It would appear that Tatsunoko has a bit of a track record making bad judgment calls. That helps explain in my mind a little bit of how HG kept a death-grip on Macross all these years.

Or how The Price of Smiles got greenlit despite being an obvious trainwreck.

9 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Ah so. I'm assuming its canon though..

Macross Chronicle did briefly cover it.

"Canon" is, of course, still a vague, nebulous, and not especially accurate term for Macross's official setting since Kawamori tends to go in for a more broad strokes approach.

30 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Another sortie i need..

There are currently three volumes, Valkyries, Second Sortie, and Third Sortie.

31 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Is there a backstory or much info about this squadron?

IIRC they're mentioned briefly in the This is Animation: Macross Plus book.

4 hours ago, Bolt said:

Was this project written or directed by Kawamori San?

No.

9 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

What even is this Musiculture thing you're talking about?

A short-lived Macross stage musical that ran for like a week back in October 2012.

The reason it came up in connection with the topic of fleet economics was that the setting (Macross-29) is a fleet in the midst of a huge economic crash thanks to having adopted a pacifistic national policy and abolished its armed forces.

Yes, that's Tenjin's... page 21 of his Second Sortie book.

I don't believe they identify the emigrant ship in the background.

25 minutes ago, Mazinger said:

So wait is there like a physical copy of the Musiculture script floating around that hasn't been linked to previously?

None that I'm aware of.  I just have the various magazine, archived web articles, and other publications about the musical and its setting, story, and characters, as well as summaries by my friends who were able to catch it.  It'd be nice if they'd put a DVD out or something.

That's why I'm only commenting on the setting as it's relevant to the question of fleet economics, I can't well get into the details of characterization with the material I've got.

1 hour ago, Tochiro said:

Except that that’s not what really happened at all. Vigo never had any real political aspirations. He infiltrated Neo-Zentran and his goal from day one was to get to a position of leadership whereby he could steer the group away from its violent tendencies. [...] The means were not the point, Vigo was merely doing what he felt he had to do to keep the group occupied until he could find a way to disband them. 

Eh... I mean, you're right... but you're not actually contradicting what I said either.

Regardless of his actual motives, Vigo was in a position where he had every reasonable expectation of being able to defeat Serge in the forthcoming election.  He was primed to walk into the top job with the popular support necessary to address the underlying socio-economic problem that gave rise to the Neo-Zentran movement in the first place: the huge trade imbalance that caused the fleet's economy to collapse that resulted from the fleet's doormat approach to negotiations.  He walks away from that, leaving the fleet in the hands of the same man whose leadership (or lack thereof) was the cause of the trade imbalance, economic collapse, the emergence of the Neo-Zentran movement, and the violent protests it engendered.  It feels weirdly shortsighted for someone committed to curbing the movement's violent outbursts to stop so far short of tackling the actual problem.

1 hour ago, Tochiro said:

Similarly, by the end of the Musicalture, it was strongly suggested that the boys going on tour was a viable form of commerce between fleets and one that would grow in scale - reflecting Japan’s own music industry and how it has spread out and diversified its primary methods of monetizing it’s artists and furthering Macross’ message that culture and music are what’s important.

Yes, I know... see the previous posts WRT "Cultural Exports" as part of fleet economics.

1 hour ago, Tochiro said:

It was an overwhelming positive note and a happy ending, if not also a new beginning for the 29 fleet. 

Superficially... it's actually kind of a really nasty downer ending if you stop and think about the implications.  (Which, I know, we're not supposed to... but hey.)

They resolve the hostage situation, but they don't actually do anything to resolve the status quo ante that caused the Neo-Zentran hardliners to take hostages or commit any of those other acts of violence.  Serge's job is secure, the fleet's not going to be seeing any of the popular reforms that the Neo-Zentran movement sought as it transitioned to a legitimate political entity, and the whole plan to save the fleet's economy is pinned on the hope that cultural exports will get money flowing back into the colony despite it doing nothing to address the trade imbalance crippling every industry the fleet has.  Yeah, that specific group of hardliners will not be hurting anyone else, but since the underlying problem hasn't been resolved more are going to emerge in the future.  The fleet's still full of angry, unemployed people who aren't going to be distracted for very long by the Miss Macross Contest's attempt to be the circus in the metaphorical "bread and circuses".  

1 hour ago, Tochiro said:

I must admit that as someone who saw the Musicalture in person and followed the interviews with staff that preceded it, it’s quite frustrating to see the shows message, plot, and intentions of its creators consistently misrepresented online as though someone ran half the plot through a poor Google translation and then filled in the blanks with fan fiction. 

Now, I'd be happy to talk to you by phone or Skype as long as you'd like about the musical... but it feels more like what's actually got you frustrated is that I didn't take the Aesop at the ending at face value.  That, as part of looking at the picture of fleet economics it plays a peripheral role in, I poked some holes in the happy ending and its message.  

I'm only looking at it in terms of what the setting shows about fleet economic relationships, so I'm not terribly surprised if distilling unfortunate implications into a single sentence doesn't capture the fullness of the story... summarizing the whole story was never on the agenda here.

23 minutes ago, Gerli said:

*Googles that name.

Oh my.....

Time to delete my Browsing history data

Why would you DO that?  I literally just told you he's a h-doujinshi author who specializes in lolicon porn!

There is no part of that that's worksafe... or homesafe... or anywhere on this planetsafe.

39 minutes ago, jenius said:

Are you talking about Kogawa Tomonori? Maybe Miyo Sonoda? It was such a curious statement I had to check Google but came up empty.

He's talking about Aki Uchiyama... the h-doujinshi artist who pitched the original series concept that eventually evolved into Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross to Tatsunoko Production.  Uchiyama's niche as a h-doujinshi artist was lolicon porn and diaper fetish comic.  Somehow, this failed to send up a massive red flag when he pitched a series concept about young teen girls based loosely on famous historical figures like Jeanne d'Arc and Cleopatra until AFTER he'd been brought on board and started turning out creepy creepy sh*t.  (He's responsible for the creepy comic and lolicon art in This is Animation 10.)

Fortunately, Tatsunoko realized their mistake and fired him fairly swiftly.  The only parts of his series concept that survived into the final product were the protagonist's name (Jeanne) and that Jeanne and Lana's designs were further developments of his designs for Jeanne d'Arc and Cleopatra.

4 hours ago, Mazinger said:

I dunno. It's got the benefit of actually existing in real life as compared to most of anything Southern Cross, so there is that.

7 minutes ago, Mommar said:

What!?!

It's been reported by a number of different news venues... apparently she had considerable difficulty getting to grips with the new Seven of Nine, and admitted to "freaking out" and "bursting into tears".

20 hours ago, Sandman said:

Thanks. I love your summaries. It quenches my curiosity without having to read all those novels (which i'll never read). You should throw them up on a blog.

I've been getting them as ebooks... the occasional long test cycle at work means I can shoot through one in an afternoon and not die of boredom watching a 480V battery pack charge at 10 amps. 

I'm probably not going to spring for the Star Trek: Picard tie-ins though, I don't want to encourage CBS's bad behavior... especially as the news from the set gets worse and worse.  Jeri Ryan having breakdowns and crying fits?  Something is emphatically NOT RIGHT.

46 minutes ago, anime52k8 said:

nothing but a fever dream...

Kindly explode, at your earliest convenience.  

1 hour ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

All in all I am pretty disappointed as a whole with Summer 2019 anime season.     I am still following several series but for the most part I'd say this season is a bust.      Exceptions being at this point,  Danmachi S2,  Copcraft, Dumbells, and maybe Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou.

I'm not thrilled with it either... especially the number of shows that have shockingly poor quality like Isekai Cheat Magician.