This Confuses Gamlin

It's just terrible odds that Mike was unavailable to live chat for the episode that was clearly made for him.

Methinks marathoning Delta would give a more positive takeaway, but we shouldn't HAVE to do that.

I think that many series' pacing issues are remedied by viewing in hour-long batches or full marathons. The industry may have reached this state due to some expectation that otaku are going to buy the discs anyway, so if individual episodes are a little sloppy in composition, they just have to hold the viewer's interest for another few minutes and they can run the next one.

I assume Vár is meant to be a reference to the Norse goddess of the same name. She is associated to oaths, promises and marriage. If you broke a "Vár promise", you would be struck down be the wrath of the goddess, so you really had to keep that promise. Vár in the series is a form of mind control, so I can see the connection.

Wow, they really did go all the way with the Norse references.

The rampant fan service in this episode is another example of Kawamori simultaneously exploiting and critiquing an industry - in this case, sexualization of sometimes junior idols - and getting away with it.

I'll admit that I felt a little conflicted about this. Even as I spent time doing numerous screencaps.

why suddenly the windermere soldiers changed their minds to love the idols?

Good, good. Except that the default position is smallish white text on the bottom. I thought I saw alternative options for that in the menu, but didn't investigate further...

Some minor weirdness: Var is "Vár." They didn't try to convert "rune pika" into anything else. Etc.

But the official subs do go to the effort of suggesting that Freyja occasionally lapses into a weird accent, and they even provide the song lyrics.

The official subs... end up seeming like a decent fansub. Obviously you-know-which-subgroup's bonus profanity isn't there (and the songs are translated slightly less porny), but the official version reads pretty naturally.

Volume 1 limited edition is here. As usual I remain impressed by the Japanese habit of packaging the heck out of everything.

Hopefully my EMS delivery will be here within the next 24 hours. It would save time to drive to JFK and grab it directly from the international cargo area, but a variety of state and federal agencies would probably really frown upon that.

But Ernest Johnson is Guld too...

There was the scene a few episodes back where they established that Hayate had a Fold Receptor factor of his own, which seemed to shift the source of Hayate's synchronization with Freyja away from the Fold Quartz necklace to his actual person. Though that assumes that when they tested Hayate for that, that they controlled for external factors such as the necklace. Fold Quartz may be rare, but Mirage specifically identified it as such in Episode 14, and Walküre should know it too.

Or, I don't think that Mirage should/would be entirely assigning Hayate's connection with Freyja to the necklace.

Almost everyone on the podcast also found that idea hilariously callous. (Special nod to Adrian for the "Mormon Island 3" idea.)

The trinkets are still explainable if, as it certainly appears, Ragna's economy is largely based on tourism. People could visit the new town that was built after the landing, or see how the original colonists lived in the "old town," which looks a helluva lot like a shopping mall (and still different than the rest of Barrette City). We never did see what the interior of the Island Ship looked like during the first 13 episodes.

Most of the bits of random arts and crafts that they're selling shouldn't take up that much room, it's basic gift shop stuff.

Which begs the question, where the hell are they getting their supplies from if the whole cluster is under occupation.

Didn't the emergency Fold take them out of the cluster? They could be near other minor colonies that sprang up in the wake of the Megaroad fleet passing through.

That's an AWESOME idea for a Cosplay

"Are you a Macross, or a Dome?"

Wedge appears... "Oh hi, Wedge."

Dark Trooper-ish thing appears: "Ah ha..."

Thrawn appears: "YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!"

Zahn's also got another Thrawn novel coming, so this cranky old EU guy is at least mildly hopeful that there won't be a mess made of things.

Looking at that again, Milia squishing the Zentradi head is perfectly in-character for her badass introductory scene*, but I've only got a mild reaction to the poor chump who is decapitated by the blast door. It's just a bit of gratuitous random gore at that point and I wouldn't really miss it if it was gone.

*: Remaining uncensored is Max's introductory scene, where he pulls a Zentradi out of a Regult before gunpodding the guy in the head.

You'd think the NUNS would design the limited Ghost with a semi autonomous harden mode just in case all communication was severed with the master system.

They're probably still a little paranoid about Ghosts Gone Wild, even 19 years later. Luca saying "show them the power that terrorized Macross City" or somesuch is a nice callback, but it's obvious in the final episode that Galaxy's unrestrained AIF-9Vs are more than a match for the average VF-171 mook.

Is it a genre thing, that it ends up coming down to one on one super pilots?

The first example that comes to mind about multiple pilots in less-maneuverable fighters versus a smaller number of pilots in better fighters is the US Navy fighting Zeroes in WWII. Mirage, Hayate, and Chuck try it versus Keith, and while it should work, it fails because Keith and Hayate have to Super Saiyan their problems.

So, have we figured out how the Aerial Knights get around yet? It looks like they are projecting a fold from Windermere or something.

Considering that the Sigur Valens's demonstrated strengths in Fold manipulation, it very well could be some sort of Fold "transporter" (in the Star Trek sense of the term) system, removing at least some of the need for the vehicles that it transports to have extra Fold boosters of their own, or only requiring very small ones.

It's probably not (entirely) the Lil'Drakens, as the Knights usually lose several drones in each engagement and thus would have a difficult time getting home without them, so there is probably some system more attached to the Drakens. The Drakens always appear to have conformal pods mounted when they sortie, most of which appear to be used for micromissile storage, but maybe they've got a compact fold system in those as well.

Game of Winds?

Every time I see someone stand on the outside of the Sigur Valens I expect someone else to try and push them off.

Al-Shahal appears to have a role as a trading hub, but Ragna and Voldor look like they get by on tourism.

I swear they are cloning these NUNS fleet commanders.

About Windermeran tactical dominance:

Non-smiling album covers and commercials: Maybe they're just tired out from the volleyball game that they were playing on the Walküre Attack! cover?

Also, a karice guest appearance! Wow!