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Nekko Basara

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Everything posted by Nekko Basara

  1. Great photo. I was baffled by those faired-over intakes and had to google around until I learned that it was just done to conceal the new intake design (versus the XF-104 that didn't have/need shock cones).
  2. Well, the VF-27 appears in both the TV series and the movies, so we cannot reconcile the info about YF-29 data contributing to its development with the TV series where the YF-29 never existed, or to real life, where the production timeline suggests the VF-27 was designed first. I'm just saying it has to be a retcon applicable only to the movie universe, and not indicating anything about an intention to include the YF-29 in the show.
  3. Ragna had a thing that looked like a seagull with a pair of long tailfeathers like a lyrebird - is that what you are thinking of?
  4. I wonder if that's just artistic license in the heraldry, or if Windermere actually has six-limbed, four-winged native animals.
  5. If the in-canon explanation for the YF-29 is that it is an attempt to incorporate the capabilities of the Tornado pack into the core airframe of the VF-25, I think it's parsimonious to assume that Kawamori's own design process followed the same logic (i.e. he didn't retroactively design the Tornado pack that appears in movie 1 as a precursor to the YF-29 that would appear in movie 2). That would mean that the YF-29 was designed last in the real world - after the VF-25 was finalized, as shown by the concept sketch - which makes it less likely that the YF-29 was already on the table for the original series. That does make its alleged in-canon connection to the VF-27 problematic, though.
  6. That's the approach Bandai took with the horn on the MG Gundam Unicorn as well; you get a transforming version that doesn't lock together very cleanly, but you also get solid open and closed versions that can be swapped out. It's not ideal, but thin parts that split in half are just very hard to pull off well. I may be in the minority, but I feel like a valk design whose shield doesn't magically relocate itself is worth a few tradeoffs in the toy.
  7. I'm imagining Escaflowne colors. Off-white and gray with some strategically positioned expanses of red. And the sensors all in green or pink gem colors. I don't have a good in-story reason, but it wouldn't look out of place on a variable fighter. Would probably work better as a tribute on the SV-262Ba, though, given the head shape.
  8. Now I'm imagining every valkyrie having a bread oven fitted behind the cockpit, and the pilot is expected to spend any spare time producing batch after batch of fresh rolls and baguettes. Then he tosses them into space, I guess...
  9. Don't worry about those people. Let's enjoy new Macross!
  10. I'm bumming about the lack of aqua-kitties in episode 4. I hope the creators realize they've struck gold here!
  11. Am I seeing things, or are the -262's wings backwards in Gerwalk mode (trailing edge facing forward)?
  12. I'm not an engineer, but I don't think the distance between paired engines significantly affects their thrust. In real aircraft, the criteria affecting how two engines are arranged are things like controllability in a one-engine scenario, ease of maintenance, and the likelihood of damage to one engine affecting the other. I don't think heat dissipation has much to do with it, either. It's an interesting idea, but my uneducated guess why most valks have widely separated engine bays is that Kawamori was thinking about the transformation scheme and not the risk of them melting their feet off.
  13. The engines are still in the legs in the traditional way, so I think they must be paired. They just sit close together in fighter mode and the feet arrange themselves into what looks like a single exhaust.
  14. Now that I've got a better look at the battroid, I think the head is another win for the standard Drakken. The "nose face" of the lead machine is a daring departure from prior valk heads, but I just think the less shocking "conehead" design looks better. Don't get me wrong - the Drakken looks awesome in either version. But for every detail that differs between the standard and leader versions, I prefer the former.
  15. Not only do the drones have a layout like the various the lifting body test vehicles and the Dream Chaser (and the unbuilt Dyna-Soar), but the SV-262 itself has a somewhat similar shape when its wings are in the folded position. And, as mentioned, we actually get to see the -262 make a lifting body-style atmospheric entry in this configuration.
  16. At the risk of being un-funny, aren't seals with ears just Otariids?
  17. Nice collection of cats! I'm pretty sure the Hydra is a pokemon, though. I found this list of cat pokemon and it isn't included, so I think it must be more of a dog-type. Silly Zentraedi!
  18. If you want to be Earth-ist about it, sure. But maybe the Ragnans would disagree about which is the "real" catfish.
  19. I must insist on the term "catfish," because putting "cat" in second place to anything is unacceptable. As any cat will tell you, it's all about me...ow.
  20. I'm with you in preferring the "plain" SV-262 versus the fancy version. Although I think the design is exciting overall, I absolutely hate the giant dogtooth triangles that Kawamori added to the outer wings of the fancy version. Not only does the plain one lack this deviation from the Saab 35's profile, but it gets a more interesting wing-folding shape as a result. Whereas the fancy version's outer wings seem to simply fold upwards, the plain version has a cut inboard of the hinge that causes part of the wing to fold down, giving the effect of fins both above and below the wingtip. Much cooler! I'm just hopeful that the -262 will feature some way to display it with a proper canopy, as the VF-27 did. No matter how much sense it makes to abandon traditional clear canopies, valks just don't look right to me without them.
  21. Not that it's relevant to valks, but in WW2-era aircraft with more than 2 guns, there were a variety of standards for convergence that might be applied on a unit-level or even specified by the individual pilot. For example, I have read that some P-47 and P-51 units liked to have each pair of wing guns converge at a different range to give the best spread, while others favored concentrating all 6 or 8 guns at a single range. I also think I recall that certain pilots like Marseille, who favored shooting at very close range, would have their convergence set differently than the norm for their unit. Having said that, I think it's totally plausible that in Macross technology the guns could be linked to the targeting system and dynamically adjust their convergence.
  22. Wow, thank you. I'm amazed to see how much nose droop the -31 redesign of the -30 was able to incorporate, and I think it looks great. The Su-27-ish swan neck of the VF-25 and kin is one of my favorite things about them. I love the -30, but I'm adding this to my list of things the -31 seems to do even better. On a related note, does anyone else feel the way I do that the position and shape of the canopy has the biggest effect on how friendly or aggressive a valk looks? For example, I feel like the more forward-set and bulged canopy on the VF-0 makes it look less dangerous than the VF-1, and the VF-19's short nose gives it a downright adorable appearance. The VF-25 and SV-51, by contrast, look like deadly hunters. Anyone else feel that way, and what do you make of the -31?
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