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Seto Kaiba

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Everything posted by Seto Kaiba

  1. Seto Kaiba
    Ugh... so they've tapped the All-Stars of Suck for this? Kurtzman lost any right to be involved with Star Trek when he cowrote the crap-awful mess that was Star Trek: Into Darkness. Akiva Goldsman is the hack behind both the worst-ever Batman films and the terribad Lost in Space movie. If not for Shatner and Mack, Kirsten Beyer would be the worst novelist in Star Trek history as the author of the completely unreadable Star Trek: Voyager relaunch. I'm not saying this new Picard series is being set up to fail, but I'm absolutely getting shades of Springtime for Hitler... Did you watch Nemesis or Insurrection? The answer is "Very". With Beyer, Goldsman, and Kurtzman on board, bad is a foregone conclusion. The question to ask is how early one can get on the class action lawsuit to sue CBS for giving you cancer. If Beyer is involved, Picard will probably turn out to be a bipolar sociopath who flies from star system to star system destabilizing whole civilizations for failing to live up to his hypocritical standards inbetween sessions of crying about how traumatic his past is. Why? Because that's exactly what she did to Janeway.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    Well, that's the clearest indication yet that CBS doesn't think Star Trek: Discovery will last after the mess its second season turned into in production... I can only hope that they won't permit anyone who works on Discovery to pull double duty on this new show. "Gritty Action Picard" was an obviously stupid idea the last couple times they tried it (e.g. Insurrection, Nemesis), and I expect time will have done little to make the idea less stupid.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah, I saw that same image a few days ago when the author of that tweet also posted it on Facebook. That said, I've been familiar with the VF-4 Siren design for over fifteen years now. It's something I first ran across when I expanded the focus of my Macross II research from just art books to contemporary magazine articles, video games, etc. The VF-4 Siren was the late-game upgrade for the main characters in the PC Engine TRPG Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Eternal Love Song. That game was one of two1 Macross video games released for the PC Engine as a tie-in to Super Dimension Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again. The VF-4 Siren in Eternal Love Song came equipped with Super Packs that included funnels (filling in for R-Type's additional gun units) and a very large beam rifle similar in proportion to the VF-27's but bearing a striking resemblance to the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam's. They were used the for the last chapter or two, when Hound Squadron's Daedalus II-class carrier Prometheus II is used to launch a decapitation strike against the Zentradi Army Burado main fleet's mobile fortress similar to the one the Macross used against Boddole Zer. Until that picture was posted, though, I had no idea that line art of any of the VF-4 Siren's other modes had been published. Steps are currently being taken to secure copies of the relevant publications identified by Yui's friend who clued her in to the design's existence. I'm fairly certain Yui's tweet is incorrect for several reasons... above and beyond the usual reason that Yui's claims most often have less grounding in reality than Harry Potter: The VF-4 Siren has never been so much as mentioned in any collection of Shoji Kawamori's works. It was presented as a New design in Macross: Eternal Love Song when it came out in 1992. Neither Shoji Kawamori nor Tatsunoko Production were involved in Macross II project. The VF-4 Siren is based on the VF-4 from Macross: Flash Back 2012... a design Tatsunoko doesn't have rights to. Kawamori's published sketches show that his concept for the VF-4 battroid looked a LOT like the final one we got in Macross Digital Mission VF-X as early as 1990. This design is clearly drawn in an early 90's art style (that looks suspiciously like Kazumi Fujita's) and in a pose which is not typical of Kawamori's work but IS typical of the Macross II promotional art. Yui is probably confusing the VF-4 Siren from Macross: Eternal Love Song with Kawamori's design studies in a transformation for the VF-X-4 design that appeared in Super Dimension Fortress Macross (as a scale model only): That unused transformation was, according to the VF-4 entry in Shoji Kawamori Macross Design Works, further explored as the VF-X-7 Ghost Valkyrie in July 1985... another unused design from the mid-80's (see page 52 of the aforementioned book) that falls into his "Game and Advanced Valkyrie" category. Yui's confusion may have been instigated by Variable Fighter Master File: VF-4 Lightning III inventing a few extra intermediate VF models in the VF-4's development. It included the ambiguous art from page 68 of Macross: Perfect Memory's feature "The Lost Two Years" as "XVF-4" and asserts there was a tweaked version of that design that went into limited production under the name "VF-4 Siren"2 prior to the start of mass production on the familiar VF-4 Lightning III. 1. The other being Super Dimension Fortress Macross 2036, which was a side-scrolling shooter in the style of R-Type. 2. See Variable Fighter Master File: VF-4 Lightning III pages 23 and 27, and Macross: Perfect Memory page 68.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Macross Chronicle Mechanic Sheet ALL 01B "VF Masterpieces as seen from their Development History" points to the VF-19改 being a modified VF-19F. Variable Fighter Master File: VF-19 Excalibur unhelpfully asserts the VF-19改 was a much less extensively modified VF-19E, which it contends was the first of the 2nd mass production type variants and that the VF-19改 head was a stock VF-19E part. (Master File's account contradicts the other VF-19E depictions that lean towards it being the last 1st mass production type variant as with Maj. Blanchett's VF-19E in the Macross 30: Voices Across the Galaxy game... which was a reskinned VF-19A.)
  5. Seto Kaiba
    That box set contains nothing apart from disappointment and a grainy, washed-out, poor quality transfer of Robotech's "Macross Saga" in English. There is no "Japanese with subtitles" option. To add insult to injury, it's the broadcast cut... so it's censored. It has the R-word on the cover, so you know it's not worth buying. DO NOT pay money for this. Don't accept it for free. Don't steal it. It's like a dybbuk, if you let it into your home it will bring you nothing but grief. Its only practical use is for leveling a table with a particularly short leg, and it's not even very good at that. None of the ADV Films Robotech releases had Japanese audio. They were strictly Robotech. The original shows were released separately under their original titles, and of those only Macross had an English audio option... a gag dub-level nightmare that is downright cringeworthy except for the fact that they got Mari Iijima to to reprise the role of Minmay in English.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    Try that kind of thing in real life, and it all ends up on the evening news with the headline "Bride kills two at local wedding". Now if Misa were really vindictive, I could see her requisitioning some giant tin cans for the back of the Megaroad-01 and putting Minmay IN one after telling her she could absolutely take part in the wedding. Beware the quiet ones.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    Here's hoping the happy couple were smarter than their Americanized counterparts and didn't invite her to sing at their wedding.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    This is probably an issue with the latest Chrome for Android build rather than the site, but typing has become very laggy on mobile devices and will sometimes outright cause the browser tab to lock up.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    More or less, yeah. Yup... They do say Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Maybe Misa's just that determined to send a message. (It is from Macross Graffiti btw... Page 75.)
  10. Seto Kaiba
    That is, I believe, from Macross Graffiti... so it's official art. There have been a couple different dates given for Hikaru and Misa's wedding, IIRC. Two of the four I'm aware of were October 10th (of 2011 or 2012), the others were in June of either 2012 or 2013.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah... well, you can't please some of the people any of the time. More like a release timeline. Since my new project's tentative launch date falls between expected airdates for the new Macross show's promos and the start of actual broadcast, what I'm wondering is if people prefer the typically light coverage a new series gets right when it first airs to take priority over older shows, or if I should hold off until the new series produces some publications with real meat on their bones. How important would you say it is to have trivia for a new show right away is what I'm asking, I guess.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    Ah well, it isn't that long until Halloween... by which point we should have something about the new series to talk about besides how much everyone doesn't like ___________________ in a previous series. Random question... a newly launched reference site, would you prefer it to start with the new series and go backwards, or start with the oldest and go forwards? As I've noted before, it's not like they actually pulled a Karma Houdini... the unspoken consequences of their actions are going to hurt like a cast-iron b*tch in time. It wouldn't really be Macross's typical upbeat self if the ending was watching Windermere's infrastructure collapse as its economy goes to pieces and the government implodes. No he didn't... he just shot Grace, and who knows if that was even Grace's real/main body. She has reserves. The ending of the series shows Macross Galaxy is still out there, they just lost their Battle-class ship and some escorts. No it doesn't. The UN Forces in Macross 7 weren't pro-war... Basara was just too autistic to notice he was the test pilot in a military secret program to improve the Minmay Attack in order to stop battles faster. His VF-19 and literally every other piece of Sound Force equipment and technology was paid for, developed, built, maintained, repaired, and provisioned by the military. Poor Colonel Barton put up with so much garbage from Basara despite being responsible for all of Basara's fame and success and just wanting Basara to work with the military so he'd stop getting their pilots killed.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    On a skim, the development history of the VF-1EX on the preceding pages has some info about the general origins of the model but nothing particularly detailed about why it was necessary to graft a VF-25's nose onto the base model VF-1 they were using. There are a bunch of references to a new (Master File original) VF-1 variant that isn't documented anywhere I can find called the VF-1Z. This reads a bit like a summary of mule vehicle development... cobbling something together with off the shelf parts while you wait for production-intent hardware. It looks like the VF-25 cockpit ended up grafted on because they wanted the integrated sensors, avionics, airframe control AI, and vortex flow controller. Each new iteration walks it back a bit more towards the VF-1's base shape once the tech from the VF-25 can be properly repackaged. Version 1 seems to have integrated the ARIEL AI and avionics package but retained the VF-25 radar and VFC, while Version 2 repackaged the radar system and Version 3 updated to production-intent VFC.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Has anyone taken a whack at the three Star Trek: Discovery novels released thus far? Looks like the first one was penned by one of my least favorite Trek authors, David Mack. Dayton Ward did the second one, and the third by James Swallow (whose work I know more from WH40K). All three appear to be prequels to the first season of the TV series. Desperate Hours looks to be the story of how Burnham got the XO position on the Shenzhou, Drastic Measures is about the Tarsus IV massacre focusing on Lorca and Georgiou's involvement (I guess this may be the only story thus far which features the real Lorca), and the third Fear Itself is a Saru-centric story.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    I've not read the book thoroughly, but from what I've skimmed it looks like five sentences on that subject is all we get... three describing the v0 and two for the v1. I guess the v3 version is the one that's meant to correspond to the version actually seen in Macross Delta. Master File does seem to be out in left field a bit on page 110 when it's describing how the VF-1EX compares to the early and late model VF-1s in performance terms. One of its charts shows the top speed of the early, late, and EX versions at 10km. Where this becomes problematic is that it shows the early VF-1 topping out at Mach 3, the late at 3.5, and the EX at 6.4... which is not only wrong in three of three categories, but would also make the VF-1EX significantly faster than any other VF in the franchise at that altitude (even the YF-29 tops out at Mach 5.5 at that altitude). The early type VF-1s (A/B/D/J/S) officially topped out at Mach 2.71 at that altitude. Master File puts the VF-1X/P types in its spec at Mach 2.81 and 2.83 respectively, and those were its "late" type. The VF-1X+ is official Macross's late type, and that can only hit Mach 3.05 at 10km. The VF-1EX official spec that was published in the Macross Delta BD liner notes puts its top speed at Mach 2.89. This is one of those bouts of completely unnecessary extra variants that Master File's writers love to pad their books with that drive me nuts, because most of them are just silly. (I'm not sure which of them was worst... that one VF-22 that looks like a Kamen Rider mask or the VF-31 with the massive rockets twice the size of the fighter instead of wings.)
  16. Seto Kaiba
    Well, being back on topic lasted all of about six and a half hours...
  17. Seto Kaiba
    *Quietly hums the Final Jeopardy music*
  18. Seto Kaiba
    Nope. This latest Macross series appears to be using a similar release timeline to the previous two, so if the pattern holds there won't be any news until at least the end of September (the title announcement) and nothing with any substance to it until the end of October (first trailer).
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah, FedEx will usually only accept a signature at the door for international parcels requiring a signature. The option I've found works the best with FedEx is their "Hold at Location" option in the app. That lets you redirect your package to any nearby FedEx Office or depot at no cost and usually with no delay, where they'll hold it for pickup at your leisure for 5 days. The FedEx Office storefronts are usually open 'til like 11pm, which makes the whole affair a LOT more convenient than trying to catch a delivery driver. (UPS offers a similar service, but the redirect costs $5.)
  20. Seto Kaiba
    Got my copy of Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Battroid Valkyrie today... picked it up on my way in to the office. Giving it a skim now while I wait for a conference call with Beijing to start. It's definitely written to a higher standard than the VF-4, VF-22, and VF-31 books. The first 51 pages seem to be the standard VF-1 Valkyrie development history stuff, but the good stuff starts on page 52. I see some references being made to Sky Angels content on page 61, there's a really good diagram of the hip articulations on page 63, some really excellent diagrams of how the main and sub nozzles in the engines work in the legs/feed on 66-67, 71-73 have some excellent diagrams of the engine interiors of the FF-2001 and the later models earlier Master File volumes suggest replaced it in later blocks (the one for the FF-2001 appears to be an updated version of the diagram in Sky Angels), the gunpod section on 81 has the two alternate gunpods that were used in early SDF Macross concept art of the battroid. Pages 89-95 definitely deserve special mention for showing how the actual controls WORK, which is just wonderful. (There is a very slight error on the throttle lever markings, with Overboost labeled at 200% power, but the official line art for the Block 6+ cockpit shows it at 240%.) There's nothing really remarkable after that point though. All told, not quite as good as the first two Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie books... but that's complaining it isn't perfect, and it's definitely a return to form and vastly superior to the Squadrons book and the last three volumes of the series.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    I could see that... though that'd just make me wonder why they didn't go with the square hands from the outset. My guess would be that it may have something to do with structural reinforcement, since the rounded hand would make internal bracing more difficult. Possibly something to do with grip stability too, since I've seen a few remarks that imply the gunpod's main power sources is an external tap into the VF's power distribution system via the hand. Well, I'll draft a PM shortly then. Yeah, that's still a year or two in the future. We have a lot of large carnivorous reptiles in the house, so baby-proofing is going to be... complicated.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    Eh... honestly, I think Kirsten Beyer is doing rather too good a job at emulating the TV characterization of the Star Trek: Voyager cast.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    I swear, online package tracking is a special kind of psychological torture... "yes, the book you want is in our local depot, but you can't come get it until we've already tried and failed to deliver it once". I guess it's still better than UPS's approach of having zero states between "label generated" and "delivery exception". I really want to dig into the parts in the new book about the differences in the design of the VF-'s hands between blocks 5 and 6. I don't recall any official setting publication ever attempting to address the why of the design change. That's been one of my major nagging questions about the VF-1 for ages. Be careful when you make an offer like that... you might find I take you up on it. As far as I can suss out, it's only a legal problem if the translation itself is commercialized as in a Kickstarter or Patreon. Paying to commission a translation out of the project budget or donated money and making the resulting translation available at no cost is a much lower level of risk (and, for this purpose, could arguably qualify as Fair Use under certain conditions). If you're serious with that offer, I'll be back with a request for quotes on a couple books in your inbox in a month or two once I'm done setting up hosting and getting the necessary equipment. Ah, yeah... day jobs are ever the necessary evil of the hobbyist. The reason I'm finally able to get cracking on this project now after initially drafting it in 2013 is my 9-5 has finally started to settle down into actually being a 40 hour work week instead of 60-80. It's been so long since I've had proper free time I barely know what to do with myself.
  24. Seto Kaiba
    Hey now, don't be selling Janeway short. One of the first things she did upon getting stranded in the Delta Quadrant was use an illegal subspace weapon to destroy the Caretaker's array... and she started as she meant to go on. She destabilized all of Kazon space, got into a shooting war with the Krenim, poked her oar into the Borg's war with Species 8472, she unleashed the Vaadwaur on an unsuspecting quadrant, picked a fight with the Voth, picked a separate fight with the Borg TWICE, her crew invaded the Q Continuum to get involved with their civil war, etc. That's not counting the relaunch, where her actions in "Endgame" causes two more Borg invasions that caused an assimilation virus to spread on Earth, destroyed dozens of planets, and left 63 billion dead and wiped out 40% of Starfleet, almost destroying the Q Continuum and the universe at the same time, destabilizing the largest Delta Quadrant government, makes the war between the Rilar and Zahl so destructive that one side resorts to bringing troops in from alternate realities, and may be headed into ANOTHER war with the Krenim. It's kind of amazing that the Federation hadn't made renewed contact with that bunch in seven centuries... Starfleet launched its first quantum slipstream starship barely six years after USS Voyager left their system, so they would've had it for 694 years by the point the Doctor was reactivated.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    Just two more months, chaps... (Assuming they're using a similar release schedule to the last two Macross shows.)
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