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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    No official word on that, AFAIK... but Macross II's creators stopped just short of bluntly declaring the Mardook to be a second big group of Protoculture who fled the collapse of their civilization to start over, like the ones who built the Altira in DYRL?, so it might have been the original Meltrandi systems on the Macross responding to her genome. According to Macross II's director, Ken'ichi Yatagai, the reason for that is that the Macross's alien early warning systems are still active, so the cannon occasionally discharges if it detects hostiles.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    Yes... the Takachihof VC-079 Civilian Valkyrie, fighter and GERWALK modes only. In-continuity, it was actually the second non-military VF developed by the Takachihof group. SNN's is a modestly customized version kitted out with various camera systems, while the stock model is used for everything from a leisure craft to transportation to what amounts to a postwar DNR. Yep! The lucky survivors were the ones who were conveniently about six kilometers underground in Grand Cannon I (Alaska), Grand Cannon III (Africa) and Grand Cannon V (South America). Between the people who survived thanks to an underground hidey-hole and the people who survived thanks to being in orbital space colonies and on the moon, the survivors numbered a rough 1 million souls. That number was subsequently beefed up with mass cloning of humans that began about three months after the war (May 2010).
  3. Seto Kaiba
    But the -J type of the VF-1S was also a partial upgrade over the stock unit... so that makes no sense. "In your mind" and "In actuality" may not necessarily be the same thing. In this case, definitely not... -S variants being issued to "elite" pilots is a comparative rarity, not the rule. The toy companies are gonna make toys based on designs that already exist, for the most part, so if they were gonna do a Milia VF-4 it'd be her VF-4G from Macross M3, which is still damn nice. Any love for the VF-4 from the toy companies is a good thing.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Less than you'd think, actually... the majority of VFs don't indulge in that particular practice, both in terms of the number of VF models and the total number of VFs out there in-universe. The VF-1 is the only one of the UN Spacy's main variable fighters in Macross's main timeline that actually indulged in that practice. The VF-22S doesn't fit the pattern because the -S was the ONLY general production variant (the letterless VF-22 was a trial production model), and that was a limited production plane. The VF-0, VF-17, and VF-19 were all limited production fighters because they were test units, special forces units, or bounced from main VF status for various reasons (respectively). As of 2059, the New UN Spacy hasn't even adopted the VF-25 yet, since it's in low rate initial production and evaluation. The VF-1's successors, the VF-4, VF-5000, VF-11, and VF-171 don't indulge in that practice. Nor, for that matter, do many secondary VFs like the VF-9, VF-14, VA-3, VA-110, VB-6, VF-27, etc. Likewise, Macross II initially rolls with this idea, but it quickly tosses it after the VF-1 platform is retired, when -S variants like the VF-4S and VF-2SS ended up the default unit for everyone. *impressed whistle* Very nice.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    Shin Kudo would put a lie to this in Macross Zero... he walks in his VF-0 in GERWALK. Ah, yeah... the GERWALKroid. Described in official material literally as a "poor man's Valkyrie", basically a VF without having a transformation mechanism. Close air support unit, kind of like a chopper, and loaded for bear with internal missiles.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    Personally, I think a LOT of my fellow fans here would agree the VF-4 has been sorely neglected. I'm no toy collector, being that I own only four Macross VF toys (the WHAM SDF-1, DX Macross Quarter, Isamu's YF-29 DX, and the old Bandai VF-2SS), but I'd personally love to see some love for the following... though YMMV as to whether or not the ones I'm listing actually deserve it: VF-5000 Star Mirage (Either the Max/Milia -B type or the Liza Hoyly -G type) VA-110 Variable Glaug (Moaramia's from Macross M3... that was a player character mecha from a canon game) VF-1SR Attack Valkyrie (main character mecha from Macross 2036) VF-2SS Valkyrie II (duh) VA-1SS Metal Siren (also a main character mecha from Macross II) VF-19ACTIVE Nothung (main character mecha from Macross R) VF-1X++ Valkyrie Plus (same as above) VF-0 Kai "Zeak" (same as above) SV-52 Gamma "Oryol" (same as above) VF-XS Valkyrie II (just for the heck of it) VA-3 Invader (baddie mecha from D7, briefly a main character mecha from VF-X2)
  7. Seto Kaiba
    Only a couple of VFs actually do that... there are just as many that don't even have a -S variant. Planetary defense doesn't stop at the Karman line, y'know... and Earth did have a fair number of potentially violent Zentradi living on its surface, and the inevitable did happen more than once.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    Not likely to happen anytime soon... to my great dismay. It's one of many neglected VFs. That's exactly how I've always read it... Kawamori's not a "sole creator" anyway, it's not like his word is gospel for Macross as a whole. He just wants to tell his story, and doesn't want to be boxed in by every little detail of work he did thirty years ago. He's doing his own eccentric thing and the rest of the staff make it fit.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    "Looks like" doesn't mean "actually has". Mind you, the VF-2SS Valkyrie II, like the VF-4S I recently corrected you on elsewhere, is optimized for operations in a particular regime. The VF-2SS is optimized for combat in space, and with virtually all of its armaments tied up in the Super Armed Pack, it wouldn't achieve much in atmospheric combat. Nothing I've yet seen in canon sources has suggested the VF-2SS can use the Super Armed Pack in atmosphere. Without it, its sole armament is a pair of beam cannons in the head. Yeah, a few folks keep bringing that up... and persistently forget (or perhaps willfully ignore) that while Kawamori says that every now and again, the Macross franchise as a whole doesn't seem to be paying him a lot of mind and is cheerfully investing a lot of effort in outlining inter-title continuity via Macross Chronicle and the like. Macross II fans, of course, can cheerfully thumb our noses at Kawamori's view because the Macross II creators DID define an official continuity, canon, etc. This seems to be less an actual point and more something people try to throw around to stifle anything resembling an actual discussion.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    Both the VF-11 and the VF-17 are all-regime fighters... they can operate equally well in space and atmosphere. The VF-2SS can't, because it was optimized for space combat and neglects atmospheric performance as a result.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    lol, basically if it was the one we actually see, you could achieve the same thing by tearing the arms off a regular VF-4.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    It's just bloody unnecessary... the VF-11 has more diverse armament, and greater operational versatility on top of being all-regime. The VF-2SS is for space-use only, and in 2035 would be rendered obsolete anyway by the adoption of the VF-17 Nightmare as the elite/special forces fighter.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    The game isn't really obscure... it's one of the few games that have been adopted in the official Macross series chronology, with Macross Digital Mission VF-X, Macross VF-X2, and now apparently Macross 30. Also... given what we know of the main Macross timeline's VF-4, the canon VF-4S would likely not look any different from other VF-4 variants (except the VF-4G). The only real change to occur (externally) is the weapons mounted to the arms. Just as a point of order... the VF-4S does exist. Twice. We just don't know if Milia ever piloted one. As it was a UN Navy plane, she probably never did. The "first" VF-4S was the VF-4S Siren which appeared in the Macross II-verse's canon PC Engine game Macross: Eternal Love Song in '92. It had a different transformation from the main timeline's VF-4, because it predates Kawamori's presentation of the completed VF-4 transformation, and had a head almost identical to that of the VF-1SR Attack Valkyrie that appeared in the first Macross II tie-in game: Macross 2036. It was flown by the player character (Hayato Kiryu) during the UN Spacy's counterattack against the Zentradi Burado main fleet in 2037 and featured a bunch of new tech like a beam rifle (which looks suspiciously like the Zeta Gundam's) and funnels (yes, like in Gundam). The main Macross timeline's VF-4S Lightning III (not Thunderbolt, that's the VF-11!) is one of those "we almost never see this thing" variants that was previously a backstory-only VF. The VF-4S is described as being an atmospheric-service only variant built specifically for the UN Navy. The only time we've actually seen a VF-4S was the even more cut-down VF-4SL Lightning III that had had its weapons removed and been customized for air racing in 2058, appearing in Macross the Ride.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Oh boy... well, for starters, the Valkyrie II's about the same size as the VF-1, but also slightly heavier. The general trend is "larger and lighter" in the main timeline. Four reaction engines instead of two isn't unprecedented, but the transformation is a bit out there for the main timeline. The Valkyrie II's gun pods - both the regular model and the "Nex Special Use Ver." - are railguns. Not hybrid rifle-railguns like the VF-25's SSL-9, but pure railguns. That's something we just don't see on VFs, excluding the artillery mounted on the Konig Monster, until 2058 with the YF-25 Paladin Prophecy and the Queadluun-Alma. The Super Armed Pack doesn't add any actual engines, it's just a big ol' set of fuel tanks and missile launchers with an anti-capital ship railgun on one side. The Auto-Attacker Bits are a technology that just plain doesn't exist in the main timeline (and the usage of Ghosts in a similar capacity doesn't start cropping up until either the RVF-171 or YF-25. The restraint armature in the cockpit is basically a pseudo-EX-Gear system that would be decades ahead of its time, and I don't believe the magnetic coatings (yes, Gundam ref.) on the Valkyrie II's actuators are a tech that exists in the main timeline either.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    Actually, the VF-2SS's thrust-to-weight ratio is already roughly comparable to the VF-11's... but technologically it's a mismatch in the main timeline. In some respects it would be advanced far above the VF-11 (or, arguably, even the VF-25), while in others it's not up to the level of even the VF-11. Aesthetically, it doesn't fit either. I love the VF-2SS dearly... it's my favorite Valkyrie. It's just not a good fit for the main timeline. It belongs in the timeline that its parent title exists in, where the continuity supports those specific advancements in that timeframe.
  16. Seto Kaiba
    Michael Blanc's heritage is an interesting subject, but various books have mentioned that he's got Human-Zentradi ancestry with a Zolan grandparent thrown in there for good measure. 's kind of ironic that he'd accuse Klan of having clumsy genes, when his are even worse in that respect. All she does is turn into a kid, whereas various sources have asserted that macloning would be either a one-way street or outright lethal for him.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    That's in-game mechanics though... in terms of the objectively stated performance information, the YF-29's actually got a fair few areas of superiority over the YF-30. Engine power and thrust-to-weight ratio, for one. Armament, for two. Armor is debatable, as nothing is actually said WRT the YF-30's armor, but they both have variations on the fold wave system that enhances all their OTM systems.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    Your guess is as good as mine... though the word I've seen used for them is "balancers", and some remarks that they aid the craft in targeting. If I had to hazard a guess, and I want to stress that this is just me shooting in the dark, I'd say it sounds like something inside the balancers (maybe something like hydraulic fluid or compressed gas) is being used AMBAC-style to zero out minor variances in aim due to posture. I'm not aware of anything that describes the function of those balancers though.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Nah, it's when those Vajra ships start firing on Island-1... the Battle Frontier's CO orders maximum power to the repulsion field, and we see some kinda green energy shield spread across the ship. The dome breaches were sealed physically, some kinda smart material.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    Well, you don't really need to picture it... both pinpoint barriers and the "repulsion field" (looks to be a conformal barrier system) show up in Frontier. Well, WRT #1 and #2, Milia was trying to arrange a marriage between Mylene and Gamlin for a good chunk of the series, ('cept one of the Encore episodes, where she tries to fix Gamlin up with Miho).
  21. Seto Kaiba
    Not sure how much utility the shell would have for defending the ship from natural phenomena unless it were down... and they do like to leave it up. I'd guess the repulsion field (or whatever low-level energy shield that was which we saw arcing underneath the big red Vajra that shot the dome open in the first episode of Macross Frontier) might offer enough protection for the navigational hazards like micro-debris. Between that shield and the dome's surface, it's pretty tough stuff even without the shell. I suppose it might be useful to put the shell down for high-radiation locales and stuff like that, since it's proof against reentry and supposedly either is, or operates like, energy conversion armor. Got anything on the sky projection thing?
  22. Seto Kaiba
    Actually, it turns out the black-and-white version of that art also has clouds and stuff drawn on the inside of the shell... maybe some art reference? I recall also that there are a few scenes that show starfields on the inside of the Island-1 shell as well. (One translation I've found while checking on this does state the artificial sky is projected onto the inside of the shell... though that doesn't account for the all-around visibility of the sky most of the time when the shell is shown to be up.) I'll check into this when I get home in a few hours. Well, I can't speak to the ultimate utility of the shell itself... beyond its defensive purposes, it's involved in the projection of the "sky" effects (sometimes), and if memory serves is also lowered when the time comes to finally land the colony sections. The Island modules in the Frontier fleet had armored shutters that roll up either side towards the centerline. We see them on one or two occasions in the series. I'd assume the Akusho block in Macross 7 had something similar, though I honestly don't recall if it ever used it.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    Have we heard anything WRT the actual release date for the VF-22 book? I preordered it on HLJ when it went up, but the release date keeps sliding.
  24. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah, I have no idea why that art is like that... the Macross 7 series itself showed the sky projected onto the inside of the dome like it was in Macross Frontier. Admittedly, I don't recall the hologram on the dome ever failing in Macross Frontier the way it did in at a few points in Macross 7, where you'd see sort of rectangular "pixels" of the sky start to drop out while the shell is up. Like Macross Frontier, they didn't often lower the shell in Macross 7. EDIT: They'd have to project the sky onto the dome instead of the shell... the colony ships belonging to the Macross-1 fleet seen in the series had no shell.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    Nah, in Macross 7 they're projecting an artificial daytime sky onto the inner surface of the dome... apparently the same as it is in Macross Frontier. There are a couple occasions in Macross 7 where you see the hologram on the dome start to fail, exposing the "night" sky of space. This answers 2. as well, I think. At "night", they can just turn the artificial sky off and show the stars of space. Save a little juice. Plus I'm sure not being trapped under a big armored bubble all the time does a little to prevent claustrophobia.
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