guyxxed

Sounds good.  There were a few small things in the first episodes that may or may not be my bad memory (mostly with Roy and some of the establishing conversations he had with Aires and the chief mechanic about the zero), but the one that stood out was the beach scenes as the Anti-UN forces are invading the island.  The female marine that Shin had previously wrestled had a few moments of focus I didn't remember and there was more flow and dialog to flesh out what was happening than I recalled.  No idea if it's actually new or not, but nice little things that added to my enjoyment of it.

Another update:  color corrections to bring it closer to the screen appearance of the VF-171 in Frontier and added a Gerwalk mode to the scene.  Panel lines and detailing are next.  Don't know if it's any good or not, but it's looking like my intent when I started out at least.  I'll take the win.

Project update:

Cleaned up the design a bit (though I still think I'm overusing the black) and adapted some of the stuff I found in the Macross 30 archive to make a Battroid version using the same maps.  I'm liking it so far, but more fiddling to come.  Any thoughts, suggestions, or feedback would be welcome.

@reaper7092  Oops, never mind.  After a bit of internet spelunking and fiddling around over the weekend, I managed to stumbie into what I needed and get it to work.  Thank you again for making this resource available, it's amazing!  Really looking forward to poking around in it and seeing what I can do with it.  

Just got my copy and was able to sit down with it over the weekend.  Looked great to me and really liked having subtitles that weren't gibberish.  It might just be me, but it felt like there were some extended scenes and moments that weren't in the previous versions I've watched.  Could just be the result of "non-official" sources or my aging memory.  Either way, well worth the buy!

On 4/15/2023 at 1:27 AM, reaper7092 said:

My speculation is that some files use different encryption formats and will be skipped

For example, NUNS_maizuru carrier that cannot be extracted from "macross trial frontier"
 
And some maps cannot be extracted during "Macross Delta: Scramble"

This is all game resource that can be extracted from the "macross 30". You can search for it.

https://pan.baidu.com/s/1t52il63SDNmX3q3A49Z5jw
DL PASS:ab7i 

@reaper7092  Thank you very much for posting these resources, this is fantastic!  I'm a bit late to the party, but am really enjoying messing with these models.  Do you still have the instructions for how to extract content from Macross 30?  The link you posted on the previous page no longer seems to be active.  I'm happy to do the work to get what I'm looking for out of the data, but don't currently know where to start.  Any guidance you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Didn't think this deserved its own thread since I'm using someone else's models as my base, but wanted to share this and get feedback from anyone who is interested.

Always loved the NUNS VF-171s from Frontier, really a unique and good looking paint scheme.  Since the VF-25 was on track to become the mainstay fighter for the Frontier fleet, thought I'd give a try at coming up with a Frontier NUNS livery for it.  This is my first try at it.  I think I may have overdone it on the black highlights, but am still messing with it.  Let me know any thoughts, suggestions, etc.  Thanks!

No fancy backgrounds or lighting, was just fiddling with my most recent purchases and came up with something I liked the looks of and thought I'd share here.  Don't think I'll ever be up to the level of some of the talented folks in this thread, but these are fun toys to play with and are really capable of looking awesome in a bunch of neat ways.  Thanks for the inspiration!

 

Hello, I'm relatively new to collecting and just bought my first DX valkyries this year (a pair of 25s and a pair of 31s).  Both of the VF-31s (they are a 31C and a 31J) have an issue with the right hand wing where the folding end part does not snap into the "fully up" position and leaves a gap.  I read through this thread and much of the 31 DX thread and saw a few mentions of this issue, but no definitive solutions.  It's clearly interference from something "bottoming out" and not letting the wing snap home, but I've not been able to localize it so far (and not seen any sign of extra glue or sprue burs that are causing the problem).  I'm not averse to shaving and sanding, but want to make sure I go after the root cause and am not just trial-and-erroring it.  Since it's come up a few times here (and on both my items), it seems like there might be a common cause and it was worth asking about before I got out the knives and files.  Any input anyone has would be appreciated.

 

On 7/29/2023 at 11:07 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

Eh...

  Reveal hidden contents

Macross Delta didn't really NEED a second movie, but Frontier did it so Delta had to as well.

The film's a mess for a bunch of different reasons, but Freyja's death at the end of the film would've been a lot more impactful and emotional if the entire rest of the film wasn't devoted to foreshadowing it with comical levels of unsubtlety.  In the first thirty minutes, Freyja sets up like a dozen death flags for herself ranging from tragic keepsakes to the promises of a future together to visiting the childhood home only for it to be destroyed.  They might as well have called the movie Macross Delta: Freyja Dies at the End for how unsubtle they were being about it.  They just keep harping on it for almost the entire duration of the film as if they were banking on the audience assuming that they'd never actually DO it.  Like the reverse of how they foreshadowed Ozma's death and he walked away with nothing but some bandages.

It could have been impactful and tragic... but instead she's played like the space idol equivalent of the elderly police sergeant who's two days from retirement in any cop drama, exerting such a gravity of imminent demise that it's practically enough to redirect bullets towards them.

There was always a suggestion of an unhappy ending hanging around Hayate and Freyja's relationship.  Not just because Hayate's the son of the most hated man in her home planet's history, but because the difference in their respective lifespans of Humans and Windermereans put a rather immediate cap on the duration of their Happily Ever After.  Hayate's a kid of 17 who, with the right medical care, could easily live another century.  Freyja's got 15-20 years tops.  The oldest Windermerean we see, who is so infirm due to his old age that he can barely get out of bed, is the 35 year old King Grammier Neirich Windermere VI.  How much longer he might've held on is unclear since he gets murdered during the TV series and is dead at the start of the movie version, but considering the average lifespan is said to be 30 one can assume Freyja would've been around for a good time not a long time and Hayate would've been a widower well before he hit 40.  The first episode of the series actually dispenses some of the same factoids that the people in Freyja's village do in the second movie... she ran away from home at 14 to avoid an arranged marriage because, in Windermerean terms, she was almost too old to get married and have kids.

Just my opinion, for what it's worth.  Overall, I agree with the general criticisms of the movie, but on the issue above....

Not sure if anyone is in the DC area, but apparently Kawamori and Tenjin will be giving a presentation on Macross's 40th anniversary and global roll out of stuff. at Otakon  2pm on the 28th of July.  

Otakon 2023 :: GrowTix

I'll mostly just be happy to have new Macross in whatever form.  it might not be what I personally want, but a lving franchise is better than nostalgia for a dead one.

If I'm wishing for stuff, though, I'd like a series with lower stakes this time around.  Something like Macross the Ride or Macross Plus where it's more of a perssonal story than a galaxy ending threat.  Looking forward to it either way, though.

Got my Alto out over the weekend and zoomed it around in all its forms.  I get all the shade thrown for quality issues (the right arm of mine is super floppy) on such an expensive toy, but at the same time in terms of anime accuracy, both in looks and transformation mechanics, it's really hard to beat these things.  Color me happy.

Funny enough, the thing that made me smile the most was the english translations in the instruction manual.  Not particularly necessary, but a nice touch that says "hello to our friends in the US".

Got mine from Kappa Hobby yesterday as well.  First time dealing with them, but have no complaints.  $255 delivered, which seemed competitive to slightly better than other venues, packaging was solid.  Haven't messed with the toy itself yet, but plan to give it some attention over the weekend.

Delta question:  I don't have access to the Master File for the VF-31, so I apologize if this is something obviously covered there, but is there any functional difference between the VF-31F, J, and C variants?  In Frontier, the 25S, F, G, and RVF all have specialized roles in a mixed arms group, and that's shown on screen in multiple examples, but I don't recall ever seeing any difference in the roles of Hayate, Messer, and Mirage in combat other than Messer's the only one allowed to scissor.  I assume the 31F is still meant to be the striker and analogous to Alto in the 25F, but what do the 31J and 31C bring to the game other than giving each main character an ace custom with a unique head?

Love means never having to explain your toy purchases.  😁

Hey, all.  Longtime Macross fan and have often eyed the DX toys with great longing, but they've always been too expensive and too much of a pain in the butt to get (for a US person not on the west coast), and I could never justify the expense and effort of going after one.  World Wide Macross and this release finally tipped the balance for me.  The matte finish, the bundled super parts, and a US release with free shipping for $260?  It's still expensive and it's still a toy for a grown ass man, but I bought it.

At least with it being a pre-order, I've now got a few months to figure out how to explain to my wife what I just spent my money on.  Heaven help me if they release the Delta Valks here (the original 31J and 31C, anyway, I'm not crazy about the AX vresions).  I feel like I've just stepped onto a very slippery slope.

Hey, great to see you guys back!  Thank you, as always, for putting these together.  The podcast is really my primary way of experiencing Macross, as there aren't many other options here in the US.  Really appreciate all the time and effort you guys put in to keep us in the loop.

On ‎5‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 11:27 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

What I meant is I wasn't (until your most recent post) sure what precisely you were looking for... if you were just looking for confirmation of some story point or bit of technical trivia, or if you were looking for a full translation of the books.

 

Yeah, unfortunately for Macross the Ride the few translators working the seemingly unending stream of Macross publications (myself included) focused almost entirely on the mecha since the story was serialized in Dengeki Hobby and accompanied by all those custom model kits representing the mecha of the story.  The details of the story itself kinda got lost because there's only one or two who focus on translating actual stories, and they mostly go for the really old out-of-print stuff.

Like most side stories, Macross the Ride's plot has very little in the way of impact on the story of the main (Macross Frontier) series.  It's got some tenuous connections to the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross series, some fairly strong connections to Macross 7 and Macross VF-X2, and a lone connection to the novelization of Macross Δ, but it doesn't really have a very noticeable impact on anything that came after (chronologically).  Many of the Macross Frontier cast are present, but aren't really involved in the story.  SMS's Skull Platoon (w/ Ozma, Michel, and Luca) is present, Alto puts in a brief appearance as a fresh transfer to from entertainment to pilot training at Mihoshi, Ranka's an unremarkable junior high student, Sheryl's mentioned every now and then as the #1 idol in the galaxy, Brera has a bit part as the test pilot of the YF-27-3 Shahar ♂, etc.  The only one who's arguably involved in the goings-on of the plot is Col. Grace Godunowa (alias Grace O'Connor) of the Macross Galaxy Corporate Army intelligence service (because isn't she always?).

I'll work up a detailed plot summary and PM it to you, but the short version is that the two volumes are almost two separate story arcs.  The first six chapters concern themselves with the protagonist (Chelsea Scarlett) transitioning from a retiring idol singer to SMS pilot, and SMS pilot to air racer before taking on kind of a "enemy racer of the week" format where the story's only conflict is between elite air racers competing for a spot in the League's most elite race... the Seiten Cup.  The second volume concerns itself with the Seiten Cup itself and the venue being attacked by the remnants of Latence, the Earth-supremacist organization who staged the coup attempt in 2051 in Macross VF-X2.  

Connections-wise, the strongest ones are to Macross 7.  Both Chelsea and the main villain Naresuan used to live in the Varauta system, and were involved in the Protodeviln conflict.  The Latence splinter group Naresuan leads even uses old and upgraded Varauta mecha, and the venue for the entire second half is a ship design introduced in Macross 7.  One of the minor characters new to the story is a Zolan doctor.  Naresuan himself sports some ties to SDF Macross, being one of Vrlitwhai's subordinate commanders during the First Space War, though what he pilots in the end is a nod to the Macross Plus video game (a manned version of the Neo Glaug drone, the Ghost X-9's rival program).  His organization, FASCES, is a surviving splinter faction of Latence, the villains from Macross VF-X2.  The only real ties that go FORWARD in the continuity are that Chelsea and her mentor Angers 672 made some substantial contributions to the completion of the YF-25 prototype that became the VF-25 used in Macross Frontier, and that Chelsea herself apparently went into government after she retired as a Vanquish League racer.  The novelization of Macross Δ indicates she's a representative in the New UN Government parliament in 2067.

Thank you for this overview.  I would be very interested to see the plot summary as well, if it isn't too much trouble.  This story interests me because it appears to be a nice divergence from the space war story formula and also because it appears to have a lot of strong female characters in prominent roles.  The mecha is pretty cool looking, too.  ;-)

Thanks, Seto, that's very helpful, and does sound like a fun story. The characters are intriguing and I like the racer VF designs, I wouldn't mind at all seeing this in animated or manga form. In a perfect world...

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

Guess I should have asked this back when more people were still here. Ah, well...

My apologies for resurrecting this thread, but I was wondering if anyone has ever come across a plot summary of Macross the Ride?

I've read Sketchley's translations and seen the magazine pages, but have not been able to come up with any kind of description of what actually happens in the story. I'm not looking for a translation or a detailed retelling, I'm just curious about the main story beats and how the characters did or didn't relate to the Frontier storyline.

If anyone has a link or information, I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks.

I think you guys nailed it, I won't rehash my own comments because I think you covered the points very well in the podcast. Delta was certainly not a bad show, but it was definitely one of many, many missed opportunities and poorly executed beats.

Mostly, I just wanted to say thank you to the podcast crew. I really appreciate the time and effort that you all put into making these shows and being part of the Delta experience. It's been a lot of fun listening to your reactions and commentary, and I think I looked forward to the Gertalk almost as much as I did the actual episodes each week. Thank you, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all have to talk about next!

I have to say, that's one thing that's always disappointed me about Frontier: the lack of support material for the world. SDFM and DYRL both had extensive concept art published for pretty much every aspect of the productions (I grinned like a fool when I came across the sketches of the UN Spacy coffee mugs in Macross: Perfect Memory). I've seen some artwork for the environmental designs in Frontier, but mostly as tiny little border images in publications that focused mainly on character designs. I get it, that's what's popular from Frontier, but as a concept art fanboy, it's always been disappointing to me. I've seen more setting art for Delta than I have from Frontier, and Frontier's got some really cool stuff in it with some obviously extensive thought put into it that I'd love to explore more deeply. The whole design of Island 1 is fascinating to me. I'd love to have a Perfect Memory style book for Frontier, or something like the Earth and Garmillas books from Yamato 2199.

...and as long as I'm wishing, I'd like a pony, too.

Megaroad-01 should stay among the unexplained. Like JasonC, I'm fine with the name drop and giving hope that they're not all dead, but a new series or movie with centered on them drags the franchise backwards. Delta may not have gone the way I'd have liked, but it expanded the universe, gave us cool new stuff, and opened the doors on new possibilities. That's where Macross needs to go. It just...needs to do it better than Delta did.