Kelsain

I was just watching the show again, and I just had a new take on Alto's "angsty" scene before the concert. It seems like most of us have been looking at this scene as though he's continuing the complaint of the sky being to low in the colony, and he feels trapped. This time around, it seemed like it was more specific to the moment: He crumples the paper plane that had soared before and says "I don't want to be here, in a place where I can barely breathe."* ie: I don't want to do this job; they're canceling my maneuvers and I have to fly around in an enclosed building. It almost looked like he wasn't going to the concert at all, but for Ranka showing up. He guides her there, playing it cool, but he actually likes her, so decides to go ahead with the job (queue fountain and commercial break). Then during the job, he is little impressed with Sheryl, but seeks out Ranka in the very large crowd.

Maybe I'm a little behind the curve and this is how you all read the scene before; but IMO, taking it this way makes Alto a little more likeable.

*Shinsen subs

When the VF-171's were being prepped for launch, you hear a voice talking about the heavy interference and setting the protection level (to 7 or something). I'd presume that they have a special mode that makes the hardware much harder to interfere with (perhaps with some sort of detriment that would make them not always use it).

Perhaps the Ghosts were simply set to level 1 protection or something, so were more susceptible. This is another good use of the Ghosts, to get a little test of the enemy's abilities before sending in your pilots. If Level 7 protection did have some sort of negative effect, it may explain the poor performance of the NUNS fighters.

Speaking of that scene, I like what they've done with the flight suits. They look very Macrossy, unlike those ridiculous things from M7. I really wish they'd gone back to Isamu's flight suit though, the transparent visor was a great idea;maintaining a full field of view while still hearkening back to SDFM.

yf-21 is more advanced but look how primitive the face is. Its so ugly that it knows it so the designer purposely hides it in a hoodie. Like the vf-11b head, it has no style. I understand robots are supposed to be functional, but a ball with an eyeball in the centre smack of laziness. Not one of the zentradi's best decisions if they want to impress the military.

In contrast, this is what I like most about the 11 and the 21. The face looks purely utilitarian, even intimidating on the 21. It kind of sells the design as though looking cool has absolutely nothing to do with its performance, as long as it gets the job done. Now I also like the other style of faces, especially on the 0S and the 17, but I think it looks wholly out of place on the VF-22. I'll meet you partway, though - I don't like how the 0A looks. Although I am interested to see if there'll be a 25"A" variant.

I, for one, can't wait for Nifty Show Time!

Got a question.

Has it been explained what SMS stands for? (If so, please forgive.) I couldn't help but wonder if it was something like Shinsei Military Systems. It'd help to explain why SMS has the newest fighters.

That's an idea. Shinsei decides to cut out the middle man and use it's own fighters directly. Come to think of it, their jackets are red & black, and the stripes on the YF-19 prototype were red & black...

I am envious of his skills and apparent time management. Even before I got married, I barely had the motivation to model, even though I love models. I think I'm just intimidated by the "blank canvas effect" of a new model. What color should I paint it? Should I mod it? Do I know how to mod it? Airbrush or hand brush? Oh, what? I've had this VF-1A for two years now? Where did the time go?

Maybe, given the suddenness of the attack, the tanks simply got there first?

Although, as we saw in M7, use of destroids within the dome might not be the best idea...

Indeed, I also recall this when I played Warsong on my Genesis (US adaptation of a Langrisser game). When the student finally knows enough, or needs one final lesson, the Sempai's days are numbered.

My friends and I refer to this as "Being Kenobi'd"

Good point. If the sky is a projection from the dome, why have the glass at all? Just leave it closed.

Like in the original series, originally the city had a very obvious ceiling until they built upon the ship's holographic system to project a sky for the sanity of the civvies.

Another thing is that, open or not, the atmospheric density seems to make the sky blue even when looking away from the shell ("What is that? a battle?"). So even with a big clear dome, the people inside don't really see outside unless it's something obvious - I imagine a nearby star, planet or moon would be visible. Maybe it's like trying to look through a window from a light room into a dark room, and the light is reflected back at you.

Well heck, another reason not to have big clear domes - what about when they're distant from a star? Then the Islands would be all dark and gloomy, lit only from the narrow ribs. Not the best system if these are the Ag ships. This might be averted if the colony fleet only folds into systems with Sun-like stars, which does make some sense. Really though, I see no reason for them to use the domes except to show that there are cities and lakes in these ships.

I've had a couple of stories in my head that would translate well. Bigger than movies can be, but multi-season animation would contain them nicely.

One's a variant of the standard fantasy setting with dragons and magic, but it's actually disguised scifi - dragons are aliens, the setting is a barely recognizable post-apocalyptic earth and the magic is actually very advanced science.

The other is a variant on the standard space opera that I'm trying to make a novel out of at present.

Both stories have the aspect of being very gray, no one's really good or really bad, and sometimes you don't know who t root for, or if you should be rooting at all. Although to clarify, I'm not talking about Gundam Wing levels of gray and unsure allegiances - cripes, that was just frakking confusing!

Mighty big gun for anti-personnel!

Zentraedi personnel.

Seriously, though, I bet that's probably it.

On the gravity control front, you easily see a guy on a hoverboard (from Mattel!) in the establishing shot of the school. At this point, limited gravity control is definitely consumer-level tech. I imagine the X-Gears are augmented by it as well, because those suits do not look like they'd provide enough lift, even if they're in a .7G environment. In a VF cockpit, I'm sure that such a system, acting along a vector counter to the G-forces experienced from maneuvers, would make the crazy aerobatics we see in Macross actually surviveable.

I totally see what you're aiming for, but honestly, I think the space is just too tight to have both VFs in there. I actually just watched that scene last night, and it would make a great diorama with a little more space. With the enforced top down view of being in the coffee table, it looks like they've been packed in a box. All they need is a few more feathers, a lid, and a spot in Mom's garage. Perhaps it's just how the last shot was framed, though. I really think that you could have a cool set piece with one or the other in there, but not both.

Edit - dang, I've been here 3 years to the day, weird...

Yep, teaser trailer for Star Trek.

I hope whatever is trashing the city in this movie, really trashes the hell out of the city and wreaks total havoc. Need a good giant monster movie.

Well, the trailer does say that the video was salvaged from what was "formerly known as Central Park."

As Sergorn said, we actually do see a shell down percentage counter on one of the tactical displays. I think they're trying to convey the idea that the shell is a pretty massive structure that actually takes a considerable amount of time to lower.

Which begs the question of whether it has any use at all.

Does it allow colonists to see out into space? No (except when there's a battle nearby)

Does it close quickly enough to protect colonists from battle? No

Could it protect colony from heat of atmosphere entry? Yes, but no obvious shells on the Island modules

It was a neat idea, but fairly impractical. What I could accept, actually is that the Islands are newer additions that have a more advanced shell system built into those ribs.

Cloning in Macross refers to a more general genetic engineering process, rather than straight copying. Taking the Zentradi specifically, it would appear rather than being straight generational copies, cloning applied to them would be more akin to creating genetic test tube babies, possably still created from mixing genetic mateiral, or posibly some other PC process of randomizing pre-existing DNA, who knows.

It just doesn't make sense to create & destroy entire bodies for shrinking/enlarging processes. For one thing, it'd be way too wasteful. Reconstructing & expanding/removing materials would make more sense.

Maybe they recycle the necessary parts & CHON raw materials to the next batch of soldiers? It's not something I've lost sleep over. Honestly, I always thought it was rather contrived that they even had miclone chambers in the first place. Here's a manufactured race of giants with a directive not to interfere with the civilization that created them - so why give them the ability to infiltrate that civilization? Oh, for the plot; that changes everything...

Back on topic, just watched M0, ep 5 again last night. As nifty as the birdman looks, I always wished that it would have looked a little more like it's skeleton. The head had a very Zentraedi feel to it, and I thought that fit well, since this was the first piece of PC technology we'd seen since Altlita (which may or may not have really existed in the Macross timeline). The body also had a really cool, semiorganic look to it. But then it metamorphosed, and the blue snake popped out of the side of the Asuka; and it grew into it's full body. Even then, the only thing that really bugs me is the giant foppish flower collar that it sprouts. Love the buster cannon, though...

I still say Max & Milia's aging is due to being Macronized for the filming of DYRL. Since Zentradi live longer, only stands to reason it strengthens their bodies.

I was thinking the same thing; after all, Milia does say that doctors haven't determined what the miclonization process does to lifespans.

I don't think micronizing/macronizing is so much dissolving & copying memories, as it is a biological representation of whatever iti s star trek transporters do.

I used to think that, but I've begun looking at as more of a clone/destroy process lately. It started when thinking of the use of the word Clone, and the notes about Zentraedi cloning tech. But, also, we all know of the physics problems of having actual humans the size that the Z's are. Since it's not really gone into detail in the show, I've used this as a little way to fill that plothole.

Totally off-canon, but I look at it this way: In the process of macronization and cloning of Z soldiers, they are semi-organic, utilizing OT materials and biotech to compensate for the physical limitations. When micloned, a body based on the original DNA used for th soldier is created, which is identical to a human. Bioneural interfaces such as those seen in DYRL, M+, M7, & M0 could be utilized for knowledge & memory transfer.

Hmm, of course, this is totally off topic as well...

I thought it looked more like the colony found the bugs. Don't we see the bug kick on? It seems to me like the elintseeker entered the bug's area which set them off. It didn't seem to me like th bugs were out in space pursuing anything.

It was too far away to see if that was a defold or simply an activation.

Shyrly Temple is a stuck up star who thinks she's the most important thing in the world and when trouble hits she high tails it away saying that the "professionals" should handle the crisis.

Some inspiration.

Perhaps it's some ambiguity in the translation, but what if Sheryl's referring to herself as the "Professional?" Also, I'm beginning to suspect the floaty-glowy thing she had on the starliner was specific to her: Everybody else behaved just like their 757 had just landed at the airport - she was disoriented and murmuring to herself. It was also rather similar to Mao's controversial telepathic projection from the end of M0. I'm betting it's something to do with being a Nome in space, and that the bugs were attracted by her.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Phew! Finally caught up with the thread... What a whirlwind of fun this weekend!

Gotta add my thoughts: The obvious woweewowwow! or ZOMG! is obligatory and appropriate. Awesomest, most exciting Macross I've seen since the opening of M+. It'll be interesting to see who becomes major characters out of all the little appearances made in this episode.

Love the character style, also got a slight Mospeada vibe, but the instant availability of the X-gear compared to unpacking the ride armor is definitely better. X-gear = "X"tra-vehicular gear? Really, it seems like a logical extension of the old pilot suit, which had thrusters built into it, now it's just practical in atmosphere as well.

The ghosts: Yay! I hope they counter the jamming later so we can see some serious M+ style arse-kickin' from them.

NUNS: say what you will about the new logo or unfortunate acronym, at least they switched up the paint scheme! I love the new pale green, pale blue over the way too bold blue and white from M7. I wonder if Battle25 looks tougher, like Battle13 - shot was too quick to tell.

The only flaw I had with the animation was the shot of Alto over the city. It was obviously CG, but it looked flat; like a weather map where they take a google earth pic and use it as a texture.

All in all, love it, hope the rest holds up!

Are you referencing the awesome dual-pony tail action going on?

It looks like it burst out of the chest of Red, from Fraggle Rock.

Seriously though, we've seen it become canon that the body style of alien is somewhat determined by it's host. But aside from being slightly more quadrupedal, the alien from A3 looked pretty much like all the others. Sometimes they have a smooth domed wiener-head and sometimes a ridgey wiener-head, but all of the aliens have looked very similar. I just find it hilarious that out of all the traits supposedly inherited from the Pred, the dreadlocks persisted. It's almost as silly as the tentacle nipples from Species - but at least that was pure HR Giger.

So here we have a male character who is older and a potential badass. Therefore, according to Macross cliche', he will die.

Maybe blue boy will cut his hair and take over Ozma's sweet ride.

Except that Global wasn't American, it was Italian. Besides which, the character design doesn't even look Russian.

Nonsense, he had a mustache! Ergo, Russian.

The Hikaru-colored VF-25's head doesn't look right. It looks too Photoshopped.

I think it looks a little off as well. Actually, it seems to be the neutrality of the pose and angle that makes it less appealing to me. At least the "S" has a gunpod and is looking at the camera. The other reason I'm not crazy about it now is that I really like the 3 eye setup on the S. I'll probably appreciate it more when we get to see it in action, though.

Flontier???

I don't think so...

The funny thing is, if they'd just move the "Macross" to the left a little, they could have done away with the little f and everything would look fine.