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guyxxed

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  1. guyxxed
    Delta was on a good course up until episode 13. I felt that in a lot of ways it was improving on the Frontier model with its character work (though Messer's death was rushed). I'm glad that the triangle is finally in motion, but they desperately need to bring more depth to the villains and the Windermereian people in general. I have no idea at the moment how the civilian population is viewing their leaders or what they think of Roid and his war. Overall, I'm still liking Delta, but they've lost a lot of the rhythm that they had built up in the first half and are falling short in building tension.
  2. guyxxed
    Great podcast! And I agree with Jason, the back and forth between everyone was very entertaining and made for a fun listen. Two thoughts: First, on Hayate's pendant. It appears to be what allows him to resonate (he always grabs it whenever he's feeling the connection), so that makes me wonder what would happen if he gave it to someone else? If he let Mirage wear it, would she now resonate with Freyja? That might be too much 'midichlorian-izing' of the whole thing, but it's what came to mind. Second, on Arad and Kaname. I don't think Messer has come between them, I think it's their own putting up a front that's come between them. Their relationship was always comrades-in-arms in previous episodes, and only through the eyes of others was there ever any romantic angle to it. Karice pointed to the jellyfish snacks as flirting, but I honestly think it's just a comfortable friendship forged over spending lots of working time together. I like the idea that Kaname is offended at what Arad and Johnson knowingly did with Messer, and that's part of it, but I think that a few episodes back after Messer's death, when Arad and Kaname asked each other how they were doing and both basically said "Fine, never better", that inability to actually talk to each other is what is now producing awkwardness between them. They both know there's more, but now that they've both put a lie out there, they can't easily back down from it, and because of that what used to be easy and comfortable is now awkward and distancing. My two cents, for what it's worth.
  3. guyxxed
    Bogue has been very pro war to date, but his personal hero is also Hermann, who has been less than excited about Roid's pronouncement. Maybe the older knight is rubbing off on him? Hard to say since we get only such a short sequence. To me, the biggest significance of this episode is that it seems that we finally have an actual triangle. Hayate appears to have finally noticed Freyja as something other than a friend and doesn't know what to do about that just yet. Meanwhile, everyone else seems to be on team Mirage. I do like that he's been truly oblivious (even Chuck and Makina call it out) and not just badly written. It's fitting for his character to see things at face value only and be needing more of a push to see the things people aren't saying. Ironic that it's Mirage that gave him that push with Freyja. Now, back to the action and plot, please.
  4. guyxxed
    While all the theories that tie in to past series are fun, I don't think that's where Delta will go. Pretty much all Macross series to date have been pretty well self contained, with the tie ins more as just easter eggs than critical plot points. My theory: Keith and Roid are the ones that dropped the DE bomb, possibly with backing from Epsilon, and have been conspiring to usurp the kingdom out from under Gramia through his death and the manipulation of Heinz. Up until this episode, I would have said Roid was doing it for power and Keith was doing it for revenge (bastard son and all that), but Roid's declaring war on the galaxy seems counter to that, so who knows. I definitely second the thoughts that the villains are so far underwritten. Their motives are murky, their plans are unknown, and their personalities are thin at best. Grace was maybe not as developed as she could have been, but her actions were all clear and built a strong image of someone with a purpose, which was enough to successfully carry the story. The Windy's so far, not so much.
  5. guyxxed
    Agreed. Wasn't Roid the one saying that they'd gone far enough a few episodes ago and that they should start negotiations? Now in this episode he's the one refusing to talk and yelling 'death to the galaxy!' His character has gone back and forth a few times now between being the puppet master and being the reasonable, cautious one, with no real impetus for the change. It's starting to feel like a poorly written character. Still have hopes that they'll pull it all together well enough for a satisfying finish, especially after a nice strong start to the series, but it's increasingly looking like Delta is unraveling. Too many unanswered questions, too many ambiguous motives, too much repetition, too much 'superpowers > skills'. On a separate note, though, I wonder if the "We were supposed to do this together" talk between Roid and Keith is actually referencing a plot by the two of them to usurp the kingdom by manipulating Heinz until Gramia kicked off, rather than just executing the 'reclaim the cluster' plan. It would explain Keith's coldness toward Heinz and his insistence on pushing his little brother to his limits. Declaring war on the galaxy wouldn't seem to tie into that very well, so maybe not, but it would fit with everything else we've seen prior to the current episode.
  6. guyxxed
    I like Delta and am enjoying it, but in some ways it's in spite of itself rather than because of what it's giving us. The biggest issue so far (in my opinion) has been a poorly defined and motivated antagonist, and this episode actually made that worse.
  7. guyxxed
    Half way through, time for a quick mid-season review: Overall, I'm enjoying Delta and think it's a good addition to the Macross universe. It's exciting, it's interesting, and it's fun. I'm in it for the long haul and can't wait to see where it goes. That said, there are some things that it does well, and some things where...well, not so much. Good: Worldbuilding - Delta has given us some very nice locations and additions to the universe. I really like Thomas Romain's work in creating Ragna and Al Shahal as unique places, and really like the little technical details that get worked into many of the episodes (like the load out scene in ep 6, or the brief discussion of live vs. recorded music in ep 4). I like the maps we keep getting and I really like that this series is seemingly going to look closer at the legacy of the Protoculture and what it means to those in the present day. Cool stuff! Animation - The series is gorgeous, very well made and obviously going out of its way to give us more than it has to. This is a quality visual product, no matter what one thinks of the story. Tone - 'tone' might not be the right word, but what I mean is that Delta does a good job of keeping a balance of light and dark moments as well as being more mature in its overall thrust than some previous entries. Despite some of the choices in character design that appeared to be for pure titillation, the fanservice has been very minimal, and the characters have been pretty well left to stand as themselves rather than as objects or cyphers. Mecha - almost a given for a Macross show, but I like the new entries. The VF-1 was a hard act to beat, but Macross keeps giving me new Valkyries to love. I really hope we haven't seen the last of the new Zentradi mechs, too. Not so Good: Villains - I'm all for mystery and playing things close to the vest, but we're halfway through the show and I still don't really know what the bad guys' goals are. Push NUNS out and establish control of the sector, but what does that mean to them? Is fully enslaving the entire population the endgame, or is the Var just a means to an end with something else to follow? They clearly didn't know about the bomb, so did they know about the structure? If so, what was their plan to make it show up? Or was it all just a happy accident and they're just winging it? I have theories and suspicions, but the show hasn't given us anything to really tell us. This isn't a show killer, but it does reduce my engagement with the conflict because the stakes aren't clear. Which leads to... Action - Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of action in the story, and the choreography of the action sequences is really good. But I'm feeling almost like I'm watching G.I.Joe in that only faceless nobodies get shot down and I'm half expecting to see everybody parachute to safety. The Knights should have taken a loss by now. Alpha and Beta squads should have gotten some face time so that their losses meant something. I don't want dark and gritty with deaths in every episode, but I want to feel tension during battles, and right now I don't. Characters - This one could honestly have just as easily been a 'Good', because I actually really like the characters that we've been given. Hayate and Freyja are big improvements over Alto and Ranka in terms of complexity and agency, I really like that Walkure aren't just idol singers but also have other dimensions and values to them as well, I like Mirage and her self-doubt and pressures, I like that we have a broad ensemble that all have roles to play and fit together in interesting combinations that play well off each other. Which is why I'm a bit frustrated in some of the combinations we're getting. Mirage is a veteran pilot with actual combat experience, yet she's had to be rescued by Hayate (the green rookie) twice already. Arad has been hinted as being on Messer's level, yet we have yet to see him do...anything. There is a huge potential here to show Delta squad coming together as a team to save the day, where each of them balance out the weaknesses and strengths of the others, to be something more than any of them would be on their own, yet what we've mostly gotten is Hayate going from amateur to superstar in record time. Mirage is competent and tough, please show that side of her more. Chuck and Arad didn't get on the team because there were empty seats to fill, let's see what they contribute. I want less special snowflakes dominating the story and more of a team ensemble coming together to work as a unit. Frontier actually did a pretty good job of this, and Delta has all the pieces in place, it just needs to move the spotlight every now and then. Again, overall I really like Delta and am looking forward to seeing where it's going. There's a lot to love here, and I am loving it. No show is perfect, and my negatives above are just my opinions on where it could be doing better. It's a lot of fun, and I'm enjoying the ride. Hopefully most of you all as well.
  8. guyxxed
    From this last episode, it's clear that several of the players know more than they're letting on. I think what we're going to see is that both Chaos and the Windermerians have been played for a bigger prize. The main characters and plot we've been following so far are just being manipulated by others. Who exactly is pulling the strings and for what end purpose, we shall hopefully see soon. My biggest question from this is the same as RDX17S, how much of what happened were the Windermerians prepared for? Did they know the docking structure was there? Did they know the SV would so what it did? If so, were they expecting the NUNS bomb? I hope we get answers to those things, otherwise the plot starts to seem a bit arbitrary.
  9. guyxxed
    Pretty much. The king isn't running from a fight, he's out maneuvering Johnson, pulling the Elysion out of position to allow him a clean run at his last objective. I don't think we've seen anything that says the Windermerians need to HOLD the ruins on any planet, just activate them so that they'll resonate with the wind song. The king doesn't need to entrench and hold Al Shahal, he's literally fighting a blitzkrieg to achieve his first level objectives. With the Ragnan ruins activated, he controls the cluster whether Chaos and NUNS are defeated or not. Of course, he doesn't know about the plan to blow the ruins up, and that's where the mid-season "oh crap" will come from. It will be fun to see how this plays out.
  10. guyxxed
    I liked this episode, as it takes the next logical steps in bringing NUNS into the conflict and the bad guys using some unconventional tactics to change up their game. I can't argue with the complaints that too many episodes have ended in the middle of action that needed an on screen wrap up, or that there were a few too many times that one side or the other had an advantage that they really should have pressed, but the actions each side took in this episode made sense to me. Or, at least, made enough sense within the context of the story that I'm not going to quibble with them. The NUNS plan is extremely logical, I'm both surprised and pleased that the story went this way. I expect that the bombs will be set off and that we'll soon have ecological damage and native unrest as Ragna suffers a scar similar to the one Windermere has. The shafts leading to the planet's core aren't just for show and blowing up transdimensional ruins with any type of explosive isn't likely to go well. That would be a great way to up the stakes on both sides (damage to the home of the heroes, and a setback to the villain's plans in taking away one spoke of their wheel), plus it could lead to the next big twist, which I'm expecting to be an Epsilon plot or possibly some overtechnology bugaboo that threatens everyone. Time will tell. I'm a little disappointed in Mirage acting so schoolgirlish. Even she calls herself out on it, but it would be nice to see her step into the leadership role a little more strongly. I get that she has self doubts, but that doesn't mean she has to act like a shrinking violet. Really liked seeing the other pilots of Chaos and hope they get more than just background roles. I don't think we need anymore main characters, but I'd like to see the rest of Ragna branch be something other than just off screen cyphers. They should be like the ground crew where we see familiar faces and get some interaction from time to time. If they're just cannon fodder, well, let us get to know them a little so that it stings when they die. The take off sequence of the Elysion was ridiculous, as noted above, but very, very cool. The slaughter of all life in the harbor is a small, small price to pay for such an awesome launch.
  11. guyxxed
    As fast as the plot points are falling, I don't think that's how it will go. Macross is all about showing us why we should love our enemies and how conflict is usually more a matter of misunderstood motivations than actual villiany. Add to that the fact that the Windermerians as villians are pretty well played out at this point (there don't appear to be any underlying agendas, with the king's speech, the stated reason for the aggression seems to be the one driving their actions with no grander scheme beneath it) and I think we're about to be served a new threat in the next few episodes and that it will be the real big bad. There are plenty of ways to tell a great story and not follow that pattern, but this being a Macross story, this is what I'm expecting. SK may yet surprise me, though.
  12. guyxxed
    The two most predictable twists would be: A) the king dies/is killed and Epsilon usurps the PC tech and shoves their own agenda forward, OR B) the PC tech does something unexpected and the Windemerians lose control of it and it threatens everyone. I'm hoping Kawamori has a surprise third option up his sleeve, but this series hasn't stuck it's narrative neck out much thus far.
  13. guyxxed
    Very perceptive kid! :-) I think the pinpoint barrier system could have handled it (which is really what the drones are using), but if the shields weren't up, the missiles would be enough to blow one away.
  14. guyxxed
    This. I'd kind of like to see Hayate try to step up and take Messer's place only to get his ass handed to him repeatedly. Then have Mirage come to his rescue and they figure out that together they can do what needs done. No magic resonating winds, just good old fashioned teamwork.
  15. guyxxed
    I agree with this, with Heinz being an obvious second choice. I wonder, though, if they're not setting Keith up for a switch as well. His respect for Messer is a possible path to empathy if it drives him to learn more about his enemy. Possibly through memories his father (the previous Whiye Knight) might share in upcoming episodes about the first war and his experiences with Arad and Johnson. Couple that with a possible revelation that the Windemere scar wasn't inflicted by who they think it was and you've got a recipe for a classic heel-face turn. I think Bogue will be the vengeful holdout that presses the grudge to the end. Unless his lack of rune-discipline gets the best of him first. ;-) Speaking of which, did anyone notice that his runes were glowing a different color when Keith threatened him? They usually glow red but this time were blue. Does that indicate the emotion driving them or something?
  16. guyxxed
    The show seems to have taken a big step back from fanservice in general, which I think is a good thing. It doesn't offend me, but there were several times in Frontier that left me rolling my eyes and feeling like I needed to apologize to my wife that this really wasn't "that" kind of show. I'm liking Delta's more mature presentation.
  17. guyxxed
    I'm interested to learn more about the PC ship and what it can do. One question: as the Sigur Valens is launching, it appears the king is giving his speech from the bridge of the ship. Heinz is standing next to him during that scene, so also on the bridge. A little later, when Heinz starts singing, is he still on board? Does that mean that the relics and the chamber he's been seen in so many times is actually part of the ship? It appeared to be a stone chamber, so I would think not (plus, with the PC ruins connecting and all, one would think the 'activation point' that Heinz sings from would need to be in a specific spot and not roaming around the sector on a ship, but overtechnology may have other ideas). It's possible he just took a shuttle back to the castle after the speech, I suppose, but the episode flow makes it seem otherwise. The bridge where the king gave his speech looked like the same place Roid was giving commands from in episode 1, so maybe.
  18. guyxxed
    I believe it's the ship that was hovering over the Voldoran capital in episode 7, just seen from the side. To respond to the other thoughts, I've been thinking that the Windermerians must be getting manipulated into this action, especially when we saw Epsilon and Mr. Berger enter the picture, but this episode makes me second guess that somewhat. Gramia is pretty clearly driven by revenge, and the talk Keith and Roid have makes it seem like that's been the plan all along, no hidden agendas. With the ambiguity of who set off the dimension bomb and why, though, I wonder if the royals themselves might not know the whole story? Maybe the bomb was set off by a third party (Epsilon) to make both sides think the other did it and drive everyone to the present state of affairs. Just speculation. I've been hoping for more complexity to the knights and the king, but the more we see, the more they seem to be playing straight. Outside of Roid, they seem to be motivated exactly as stated. There are plenty more twists coming, I'm sure (we're way too early in the series for nothing but territory battles from here on out), but it will still be disappointing if the wind folks just turn out to be rubes.
  19. guyxxed
    Can't argue with that. SMS in Frontier had a very effective mixed arms approach to battle situations that fully depended on teamwork to pull off a victory, which was nice to see and also gave every character a chance to shine. In Delta so far, we've barely seen Chuck or Arad do much. MY biggest complaint, though, is that we're at episode 10 and we still don't have a very clear understanding of the villains. It's clear that there are layers there, what with Epsilon's introduction and such, and I'm fine with that (Grace didn't emerge as the big bad until well into Frintier), but we still have little real understanding of the knights. We have their stated cause and the clear implication that it's a ruse for something related to the ruins, but very little else. What is their command structure? Roid gives orders, except when he loses a fencing match with Keith, but then Keith has been shown doing things on his own anyway, and the king trumps them both, except he seems driven by revenge while the others seem driven by...being almost out of time? Mystery is fine, and this isn't really stopping me from enjoying things, but I feel like they're getting very close to the Lost trap of presenting too many questions without enough answers. It seems clear that the bad guys are hiding things even from each other, but I think we need to see what at least one of them thinks is going on fairly soon. The king's revenge would seems to be a good place to start, it's a pretty safe assumption that it's related to the war and the dimensional weapon, but let's go see what it is that drives him. The secret of the ruins can play on for awhile longer if we have at least one clear motivation to follow. And don't talk to me about unfair trade deals, that's just the propaganda that they're using to justify the cover story. Only naive youngsters like Bogue buy into that.
  20. guyxxed
    All good points, and I mostly agree. One caveat I'd throw in, though, is how a VF transform can be the unexpected move that tips the balance in an otherwise standard dogfight. Think Shin vs Nora in the last episode of Zero, Alto vs Kamijin-clone in Fastest Delivery, or even Hayate against Mirage in ep 3. I'm thinking that this is how they'll beat Keith: by not fighting by the rules. That's really how Keith beat Messer, afterall, by doing the unexpected, and who's our resident expert in unpredictability? That said, I also really like the idea that Mirage and Hayate have to become a team to defeat the bad guys. It's already happening and would be a perfect way to drive the triangle at the same time. Hayate's already resonating with Freyja, him finding a way to resonate with Mirage would be the perfect counterpoint. It would also be awesomely Macross. One aside - what happened to Bogue and the second twin while Messer was talking to Kaname? Messer only shot one attacker on his way down and fell over while blocking Bogue's shot. Neither Bogue or the other guy were damaged, just surprised. I guess because they're knights, they were being chivalrous and politely waiting for Messer to finish his conversation with the lady before resuming their attempts to murder them all?
  21. guyxxed
    Outside of the drama at the end, there were quite a few things thrown at us in this episode. The Epsilon representative having an Arabic appearance and the next Knights mission being to Al Shahal can't be a coincidence. It also seemed that Captain Johnson had a sudden insight when he looked at the star map with Al Shahal and the other 'resonating' planets indicated. Mikumo's underwater adventure just shoved her nature way out of the 'weird girl' zone and way over into 'what the hell is she' territory. Kaname, Keith, and Messer all resonating at the end (glowy aura effects) hints at something bigger than just the fold quartz effect that Hayate and Frejya experienced. Are the ruins producing an area effect fold resonance now? On lesser notes, really liked the jellyfish festival and that part of Delta platoon's mission is to integrate to native culture. Also, the Epsilon representative's ship was really cool. Very different from most Macross designs we've seen so far.
  22. guyxxed
    Well said. There are definitely aspects of Delta (and Frontier, for that matter) that I don't care for and wish were different, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating the aspects that I do enjoy. The magical girl stuff in the preview episode came towards the end, so that was the impression most people were left with, but on rewatch, most of what led up to those scenes was nicely grounded, very Macross, and fun worldbuilding. First watch through left me cold, but subsequent rewatches made me more enthusiastic. And the series itself has so far been doing a very good job of staying true to the roots of Macross and putting fun continuations and expansions of the world into each episode. It all comes down to personal taste. At some point, Macross may cross the line from having enough of what I enjoy to not and I will stop following it, but it's not there yet. For others, that line may have been passed a long time ago (I thought it had happened for me at 7, but then the next series course corrected). Until then, Kawamori is like a Japanese George Lucas: he's going to take the franchise where he wants it to go, and the rest of us can either follow or not. So, until Disney buys up Macross and puts J.J. Abrams in charge of a reboot, I'll keep following.
  23. guyxxed
    Agreed, there's almost zero tension in the battle scenes at this point because not a single one of the battles has had any real consequence to the plot or the characters. Hayate killing a redshirt is the closest we've come, everything else just feels like a game of tag. They need to establish some stakes very soon. That said, I really liked the camera work in the dogfight scenes this episode. The clouds were interersting and I Bogue's run up to attack Walkure where he skimmed the water before popping up over the Island was very nicely done.
  24. guyxxed
    I'm definitely with you on this. I think Macross overall does a better job than most, but I agree that the dogfight scenes are way too fast. Far too hyperkinetic for believability. One thing I appreciated in Zero was that the action pretty much happened at real world speeds. I don't mind some Rule of Cool physics bending, but I do want to be able to follow the action without having to review ot frame by frame. Or, maybe I'm just old. Damn kids...
  25. guyxxed
    Agreed on missing Renato (and Mike and Sarah) on this go around, but still a very good listen. I did really like having an outsider's (Sarah's) viewpoint on the last cast, although I think you guys do a great job keeping a balance of super-nerd and general viewer perspectives in your reviews. I've also been listening to the Dishing on Delta casts from Repacked, and I really like that deep dive style discussion as well. The two casts together are pretty much giving me exactly what I'm looking for: a review/interpretation of the episode and an in depth dig into the details. Nice work! Although, speaking of the DoD cast, has that fallen behind? I haven't seen any updates on the Repacked website since episode 6. Just wanted to make sure I haven't missed anything. Thank you!
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