Seto Kaiba

I got nothin'... you sure?

Even if the parent site is down indefinitely, the material itself won't be lost. Mr. March's working copy is probably still safe on his hard drive, and if need be he knows he can always contact me and I'll get him a subdomain on my site with unlimited bandwidth for his use.

Good grief... what is it about Robotech that brings out the crazies? I'm betting it's the 20 years "the faithful" had to wait just to get a single half-assed movie. You don't get this kind of stupid poo in fandoms where the creators can get a product to market in a reasonable time.

Highly doubtful... I've experienced this a few times in the past... my guess would be it's regularly scheduled maintenance at their webhost. It'll probably be working again in a few hours. I'm not getting any response from the main part of the site either.

Not entirely surprising, thought Rhade does claim that he's sick of the "purists" on both sides and did all his own research. For reasons unknown, he's thoroughly convinced that this entire site is a monument to anti-Robotech sentiment, and that those of us who've done the research are twisting the truth to make Harmony Gold look bad. Kind of nonsensical, IMO... since Harmony Gold has never really needed anybody's help to make themselves look bad. Just look at their track record for screwing over fan projects out of spite. Honestly, what the Robotech fans need now is the kind of solidarity some of them had back in the early 90s when the promise of new Robotech animation was a distant "maybe" on the horizon and the steady trickle of comics and novels, regardless of quality, were what kept the fandom moving forward. These days, the fans are so busy looking for reasons to banish each other over opinions and personal preferences (Purists, Mckinneyists, Spanglerists, etc.) that the fanbase is slowly tearing itself apart and driving people away. A problem exacerbated by the very people who are, at least on paper, charged with stopping it... the Robotech.com moderators. Yeah, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Generally speaking, the problem is that as the Robotech fanbase has been gradually whittled down to a hard core of devoted fans by Harmony Gold's indifference towards the brand and their inability to keep what little momentum they achieve... and that the remaining fans tend to react with overt hostility when they see someone who says they like the originals better than Robotech, which seems to be interpreted by them as "betraying the cause". I guess in a way they're right too, since every person who gives up on the franchise out of frustration is one less person to buy the products that keep the Robotech franchise limping along. Yeah, it looks pretty awful... but the sad-yet-hilarious part is that in terms of the CG model quality there really isn't that big a difference between that fan-film trailer and Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles. Honestly, I feel kind of bad for the guys at UEG Productions, because they don't realize what they're doing (and have been doing for YEARS) is a total boondoggle. Not only are they apparently playing to the most hideously unpopular part of Robotech (Southern Cross), but they've managed to set themselves up for a fall by drawing the attention of Harmony Gold, who have put their foot down on anything that might outshine their current offerings. It certainly doesn't help that a lot of their CG models are ugly as hell, adding all kinds of extra detail and angles where none should be... presumably to cover their less-than-stellar texture work, and in some cases removing details from a lot of places where detail should be... the Zor/Tiresian ships being reduced from overly-busy designs to little more than a collection of floating elongated hexagons with one or two step pyramids on top.

Nah, if you listen to blokes like Maverick_LSC and Doug Bendo, who clearly know me much better than I know myself, I'm just here to enjoy the suffering of others between eating babies and causing earthquakes in third world countries.

The odds of which are practically nil... Exactly zero. Because the VF-1 design itself is copyrighted property of Big West, Harmony Gold and its licensees can't use the design in derivative works (new motion pictures) without obtaining license to do so from Big West. Only in the most general terms... you won't see anything recognizable as Macross, and you may notice omission of key terms like "Zentradi" as well.

In the Robotech fandom, who needs enemies when you have your fellow fans?

Well... it's certainly possible that other mass-produced Macross-class ships were reassigned to escort the long-range research fleets after the Megaroad colonization fleets they were originally tasked with defending located a suitable planet and established a settlement. At the moment I don't think the fates of the other SDFNs have been revealed, but it's still at least somewhat plausible that others would've been reassigned if the risks were high enough. The Global was likely assigned to the 117th Research Fleet because the fleet was setting out to research a particularly dangerous subject (the Vajra) and the U.N. Spacy felt that the extra firepower would be needed. None that I'm aware of... Since the creators of Macross like to play mix and match with designs from the original series and DYRL, it's hard to tell exactly what's going on sometimes. However, Macross Chronicle seems to be taking the line that generally the Super Dimension Fortress Macross TV series is the more accurate account of Space War 1. This would make it most likely that the mass-produced Macross-class ships were modeled on the post-2012 refit of the SDF-1 Macross, which pretty much is just the DYRL version. Exactly when they started building the SDFNs isn't known (yet) but it's likely that they started sometime around the launch of the Megaroad-01, as the SDFN-01 Hayase was supposedly completed in 2013. Not sure about "thousands"... the force disposition listed for the post-Space War 1 U.N. Spacy lists 100 functional Zentradi capital ships. Presumably it was easier or more efficient to build a ship for a miclone crew and colonists rather than try to convert existing Zentradi ships for miclones. Kawamori has alluded to the use of Zentradi warships as colony ships as well, albeit with giant crews.

And you never listen when I tell you I have better things to do with my time than deliver verbal thrashings to the deluded masses on Robotech.com. Right now, forcing the ignorant inhabitants of that den of bullshit and lies to see sense ranks a little below teaching myself to play the banjo and listening to paint dry on my list of priorities. One could argue that... but we're a much easier target to lay the blame on because we don't post our scathing criticisms of Robotech and Harmony Gold from behind the convenient veil of relative anonymity. It's a lot harder for them to ignore what we say because they can associate our remarks with an actual person. We also stand out because we don't just say "Robotech sucks", we offer a rationale to go with it. It's easy to ignore hate without context... but once an explanation for the dislike emerges it's a lot harder to discount it as irrational or petty. So... a Robotech fan who doesn't understand a situation is trying to speak about it as though he/she is an expert on every aspect of it. Business as usual. No wonder I still get at least two e-mails a week from people telling me they can't get straight answers to their questions on Robotech.com.

Logically... because they come here with the preconceived notion that we are THE ENEMY and that anything we do must ultimately involve hating on Robotech. I'd say the majority of them aren't coming here with an open mind, they're coming here looking for a reason to dislike the place so they can go back to hating on it as the ultimate source of the anti-Robotech sentiment they encounter all over the web. To them, we are the legions of the evil empire struggling to crush the last bastions of resistance in the world, and they, the Robotech fans, are the valiant rebellion struggling to free the world from our oppressive domination. It's an amusing fantasy, but fantasy is all it is.

Presumably yes... of course they're not even close to being the first fan project to have that happen. Even back in the 80s Harmony Gold was stomping all over fan projects at every opportunity. That they even thought Harmony Gold wouldn't is enough to rob me of any sympathy I might otherwise feel towards their plight. Oh its gets better... I e-mailed Rhade about his error expecting to hear it was an honest goof and he'd misremembered. Somehow, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he actually believes the provably-wrong tripe he wrote is factual, and started telling me that I was completely wrong. Among other things, he insisted that Studio Nue was "bought and absorbed" by Big West, that the "legal briefs" available on the web say that Tatsunoko was given the rights to the intellectual property of the series and that Big West only owns the rights to the story. He also repeated his claim that Macross is being kept out of the states because Harmony Gold owns the distribution rights to the entire franchise, rather than that it's being kept out by a trademark Harmony Gold filed for after the legal dispute started. He then fired back with this amusing little number: Now there's a butthurt Robotech fan who wants to keep living in a fairy-tale world. Of course, this is by the same guy who spent about six pages in the Robotech.com Lounge spinning an increasingly ridiculous yarn rather than admit that he'd made a mistake when he claimed that there was a dangerous new computer virus in circulation, which, when researched, turned out to be a five year old low-threat trojan horse. When confronted with this fact, he told everyone that it was a new variant, that the reason he knew about it before even Symantec and McAfee did was because he'd gotten the information through inside channels from back before he quit his job as a highly-paid security expert for Microsoft to become a hotel manager. (If your bullshit detector isn't redlining yet, wait a sec) When several people called "Bullshit" on that, he also claimed to be working a side job (or jobs) as a freelance viral code analyst for Microsoft, Symantec, and McAfee (all at the same time), and that they sent him viral code for analysis so he could develop countermeasures for it. Compared to that, this latest line from him really doesn't seem that bad by comparison. EDIT: I looked up Rhade's user account here. It looks like he's telling the truth when he claims he does have an account here, though he only used it for about a month after registering back in August '04. No posts, no profile views.

Another ignorant Robotech fan spews bullshit about a subject he doesn't understand... business as usual. I e-mailed the poor chap being misled by Rhade with the facts of the matter in simple, easy-to-understand terms, and also fired an e-mail off to Rhade pointing out where he went wrong and why. The fewer people misled by tripe like that, the better...

Let's not forget that they also captured, brainwashed, and integrated soldiers from the 35th Colony Fleet (Macross-5) in the middle of their conflict with the 37th Colony Fleet (Macross 7).

's probably why nobody really bothers trying to interview ADR directors and all but the most prolific and popular English voice actors. As far as having people care about their work, about the best they can hope for is a special feature on the DVD that covers the dubbing process like they had on the Excel Saga DVDs. Back in the 80's, Macek seemed rather upfront about the cosmetic nature of his "creative influence" in the editing process which shat Robotech into the world. I don't think he really started trying to sell himself as Robotech's "visionary creator" and an industry figure to rival Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas until after Robotech: the Untold Story flopped during its test screening and Robotech II: the Sentinels fell apart in early production. My guess would be he started trying to make himself out to be a visionary, industry-redefining figure as a way of reminding everyone he hadn't royally farted up when he "created" the "original 85" and to get people to come to the convention panels so they could market the decidedly lackluster products that kept the franchise afloat between failed comeback attempts. I don't think he started to believe it for himself until after the Robotech fans at the time started to buy into it. Of course, by now he's thoroughly invested in the myth of his own creative genius after decades spent lying about his role in the production process, exaggerating his own importance, and trying to minimize the role the original Japanese creators and their stories played. Essentially, he's deluded himself into believing he's the second coming of Gene Roddenberry.

Assuming they're dead set on doing their interviews in the form of a live or pre-recorded podcast, their options are, for all practical purposes, limited to just those people involved in the western anime distribution industry. That said, they're kind of pissing into the wind no matter who they interview because none of the available industry figures are involved in the creative process. They're just packaging someone else's product for distribution, and that doesn't really give them a broad appeal. Interviewing the distribution industry executives would be like interviewing the owner of a company that prints movie posters about the content of the movie. Similarly, the English voice actors have rather limited appeal, since they also have no real input in the creative process and their work is generally regarded as somewhere between "not all that important" and "a genuine hindrance to enjoyment of the show". Pretty much the only reason Carl Macek stands out in this entirely inauspicious crowd is that he claims to have, at one point in his career, been a "creator" rather than just a "editor" or "distributor". It's credit that he doesn't deserve, but because he's been distorting the truth and exaggerating his involvement in the production of Robotech and his importance in the early years of the anime industry for so long that some people actually believe his bullshit now, he's the only person they can get who speaks English and has even a halfway-credible claim of having a creative role in the industry.

Well, yeah... you're going to run into trolling on 4chan. Let's be realistic, trolling is to 4chan what monumental ignorance is to Robotech.com. It's the proverbial bread and butter of most parts of the community. Of course you're going to see some defense of Robotech every now and again, but you have to remember that in almost any case where someone starts posting inflammatory remarks about a controversial topic like Robotech, easily half or more of the "defenders" of the show are doing it just to get a rise out of everyone else and don't actually believe the stuff they're saying. /m/ is usually a more reasonable board than the rest of 4chan, but it does have a few commonly held pet peeves that trolls play on for the hell of it... bringing up Robotech in a Macross thread is one of the most popular, and is practically guaranteed to get people raging.

Soooo... tell them to keep doing what they've already been doing for a while now and take time out to raise Macross's rating in the process? Not exactly a tall order. After all, mentioning Robotech as something other than complete and utter shite on /m/ is a great way to get chewed out and accused of being a troll.

Don't tell me you're naive enough to think it's by coincidence that every time they're interviewed by professionals nothing negative ever comes up, and that every interview conducted by fans is so respectful it borders on hagiography. It's pretty much a given that Harmony Gold carefully vets their potential interviewers to make sure the professionals won't ask any awkward questions and the fans are drinking the kool-aid and/or will be so in awe of being recognized that they won't do anything but heap praise on their guests.

Already been mentioned... Okay... spellcheck is your friend. Use it. As far as integrating energy converting armor and gravity control systems into the rounds themselves... that's just wasteful. Increasing the mass after the projectile has already left the barrel is just a waste that will decrease the effective range in atmosphere, causing accuracy to suffer accordingly. Integrating an energy converting armor system into each slug is just plain wasteful, since each slug would need a dedicated internal power unit to keep the ECE system running long enough for the round to reach the target. When the same general results can easily be achieved by less costly and complex means by just using a denser material in the project, what's the bloody point? Um... what? Please don't use terms you don't understand. The whole point of frangible bullets is that they disintegrate on impact to minimize penetration. Rather pointless, actually... since after leaving the area of gravity control system's effect the slug would return to its normal mass, which in a moderate gravity environment like a planetary atmosphere would shorten the effective range and impair accuracy... making the whole system rather pointless. Eh? Are you sure you're watching the same Macross the rest of us are? Just a cursory glance at the first dozen or so episodes of Macross 7 would seem to be an astonishingly strong argument to the contrary, with fighters on both sides standing up to direct missiles hits and gunpod fire without being destroyed on several occasions. Macross Zero is a somewhat different story, since the VF-0 and SV-51 are both powered by overtuned turbofan jet engines instead of the thermonuclear reaction engines used on VF-1 and every fighter than followed it. It should go without saying that as energy converting armor technology improved, so too did the technology used to penetrate that extra layer of defense. As Sketchley pointed out, even the GU-11 had penetrating energy converting armor as a factor in its design.

It's certainly an interesting thought... but on the few occasions where the ammunition itself is clearly visible, it doesn't look much different from modern 30mm AP rounds. It's possible they found a more efficient propellant formulation for greater muzzle velocities, or one with a longer shelf life, but the cartridge design itself doesn't seem to have changed much. Well... not quite the same idea. I wasn't really factoring in anything like energy converting armor, since I'm somewhat more fond of the Macross II-era stuff where that particular technology doesn't exist and both "space metal" and "hypercarbon" are just astonishingly strong, light super materials similar to Mobile Suit Gundam's Luna Titanium (aka Gundarium). I'd imagine adding externally powered energy converting armor or an internal system to the gun pod would just make things more complicated and maintenance intensive... Of course, that's not to say the idea is without merit. I can definitely see potential applications for large, semi-fixed guns like a starship-scale railgun or the main cannons of a Monster destroid or the VB-6 Konig Monster. It would probably be a huge asset for the Konig Monster, reducing barrel wear on its four railguns and allowing them to stand up better under the stresses of transformation... and if memory serves at least part of the weapon is also used in the propulsion system too.

Rather a lot, I'm afraid... I was rather lucky when I first saw Macross 7. At the time, I was dating someone who was fluent in Japanese, so she made catching all the little jokes a hell of a lot easier, and got me started learning the language too. The experience I got back then is certainly making my re-watch of Macross with the remastered edition MKVs a lot easier. Just got started re-watching the series from the beginning (I know, slowpoke.jpg) the other day. It took a while to get the space cleared to store all 20gB or so of it.. just started into episode 15 right now. Definitely not my cup of tea, but it's a lot less annoying than I remember it being... probably because I'm no longer entirely dependent on Central Anime's spotty subtitles. All the same, I'm determined to watch the whole damn thing and reassess my opinion of it accordingly, and I still had a few "f*** yeah" moments with Diamond Force, Gamlin, and with Milia's VF-1J.

Especially since they have the benefit of overtechnology-derived super-strong materials and the like... which probably have more widespread benefits than just the projectile itself. Use of "space metal" or "hypercarbon" in the construction could have all kinds of benefits, like reducing the weapon's overall weight, increasing overall durability, and making the barrels less prone to wear and overheating. Granted, but you have to remember that if you get a more massive projectile moving at that same velocity it'll impart more energy to the target. There are a number of factors that can be manipulated to achieve the desired result, it's just a matter of what's the most efficient for what you're trying to accomplish. Was it? I could've sworn there was one that was bigger. That aside, it would make a fair bit of sense for the VF-25's 58mm GU-17A to have been spec'd with the Vajra in mind, since the Frontier's mission was, at least according to Kawamori, always going to be one where they encountered the Vajra while searching for fold quartz. EDIT: Yeah, there is... but not by much. The VA-3C's GA-22 gun pod is 60mm, the VF-25's GU-17A is 58mm.

Not really necessary, the point I was getting at there is that rather than use the wing root guns as a matter of course, the VF-25 pilots almost invariably attack with the ventrally-mounted gun pod. It would make some small measure of sense in the early parts of the series, but after everything's upgraded to MDE spec, it would make sense to use the wing root guns for fighter mode attacks. None of the other fighters equipped with similar forward-facing guns hesitate to use them. IMO, the VF-11's lack of a forward facing gun is a marked shortcoming of the design, and burning through your heaviest gun's ammo when there are readily available alternatives just doesn't make sense.

Well, we can't really say anything as to the propellant used, since nobody ever really seems to talk about it, but the animation seems to show that, even as late as 2040 the cartridge cases look essentially identical to those of modern rotary cannon ammunition of similar caliber. 's okay... it's not my error anyway. If you're looking for someone to blame for that particularly asinine goof you can start with the Japanese writers, Macross Compendium, and so on... they all list the gunpod as "cartridge-less". It's likely just a screwball terminology goof from someone who wasn't terribly familiar with firearms and they likely meant caseless ammunition, though they could have meant that it used some other kind of propulsive force instead of standard chemical propellants, thus omitting the cartridge case, propellant, and primer all in one go. In the interest of accuracy, I opted not to inject my own interpretation into the description, and instead used the description verbatim. About all we've gotten on that note so far have been two different cutaways of the GU-11... the official one in various sources, and a new, non-canon one in the VF-1 Valkyrie Master File. It's likely another non-canon gunpod cutaway will appear in the forthcoming VF-19 Excalibur Master File.