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In that case, maybe we should make bridges out of them. If Zentradi skeletons and tissues are made of the same stuff in the same way as humans (only scaled up 5-6 times), they'd probably be very vulnerable to fractures and broken bones if they got into a fistfight or fell down; even simple movements like standing up or walking might be challenging. (Elephants and giraffes are much bigger/taller than people, but their bodies are shaped much differently.) Maybe the Zentradi suits are designed to help support their bodies--in fact, their shoes look an awful lot like the feet of mecha--but as a general rule exoskeletons don't seem to work well for terrestrial organisms much larger than a mouse. Ergo, either Zentradi have special parts implanted and/or or their tissues are formed around artificial substrates during their "generation", or their genetic engineering enables their bodies to synthesize materials which are different from, and much stronger than, normal bones and tissue. Or we can just chalk it up to "anime magic" and accept it as a fundamental premise of the Macross universe, along with the feasibility of transforming airplanes, that ten meter tall humanoids can move and fight pretty much the same way as two meter tall people.

Anyway, someone asked about the transport. I believe it's a Glamor VC-33 "Mom's Kitchen".

Depending on how "realistic" you want Macross to be, it would stand to reason that the Zentradi (and Meltrandi in DYRL) should have some kind of artificial skeleton and/or an internal structure which isn't just a scaled-up version of humanity. Otherwise, they'd probably have difficulty moving and they'd be extremely vulnerable to injury when running or falling, etc.

The Monster, Q-Rau, and Regult are all out of scale with the Valkyries. I'm pretty sure the Monster is also out of scale with the Q-Rau and Regult, but those two may be in scale with each other. Nevertheless, I think they look very nice. Hopefully they are coming out.

Is there that much room behind the pilot's seat under the canopy? Could it be a VF-1D (with either a real girl or a poster in the back seat)?

Interesting stuff. The Robotech one also says 'under construction', by the way. Re: translation--that's just fake Latin which is commonly used to fill up text areas when doing layout, so you can see what the layout will look like before the actual content is ready. (Sorry if you were joking...)

I don't have a problem with Keith's interpretation of why things malfunctioned--or Azrael's, which in its latest incarnation sort of bridges the difference between what Keith says and what JB0 said about energy spikes and whatnot. But again, Global's verbatim quote in "Global report" is "The unexpected firing of the main gun affected all of the ship's systems, including our Fold system." Getting from that to saying that an underlying software incompatibility (or similar phenomenon) directly caused the malfunctions requires quite a bit of supposition. It isn't necessarily wrong, but the evidence to support it--and to discount all other possibilities--isn't really there. I'm happy this was brought up, though, because I learned something new about the events in episode 3. As I mentioned above, I find it far more satisfying to know that the antigrav generators tore out of the ship's hull due to an anomoly related to the "boobytrap", than to think that the reconstruction engineers and/or Global were too dumb to realize that the antigrav system shouldn't be used in Earth's gravity.

But something had to have been there in order for the main guns to fire. My guess is that a program still existed in Macross that they overlooked. But that still goes back to me saying we don't know. Everything happened after the fact. As far as they knew, everything was peachy and ready to go for actual testing. Who would know that the main guns would fire automatically, then have your grav generators rip themselves out of the hull, then have your fold drive act funny and ditch you around Pluto all in a day? Something must have set off the chain of events. I agree that it's reasonable to infer that the SA had left a hidden program in the Macross which caused the main gun to fire. But I don't see anything to indicate that the SA software directly caused the various malfunctions. Instead, Global blames all that stuff on the firing of the main gun.

They do. (This is also in reply to Akilae.) The easiest way to see this is to note that the Theory of Relativity indicates that information can't travel faster than the speed of light. If Proxima Centauri blew up, there's no way we could know about it until 4.3 years after the event. But if you use a hyperspace fold, you could be 1 light year away from the star, observe the nova, and then fold to the Solar System and tell everyone about it before it became visible on Earth.

Impossible. A ship can not simply be stationary, it can only be motionless in relation to it's surroundings. The Macross may have been stationary in relation to the surface of the Earth, but the Earth's surface was moving at about 1,000 mph (IIRC that is the rotational speed of the Earth), while the Earth moved rather rapidly around the sun, which itself was orbiting the center of the mily way, I could go on like this. The point is that a vessel can not simply be motionless, nothing can. It's one of the most basic tenets of reletivity. True. Velocity is relative to a frame of reference. But acceleration is absolute--albeit indistinguishable from being in a gravity field. Which means that the fold of an accelerating ship might look the same as the fold of a ship in a gravity well. Not sure if this correlates with what what see in Macross.

But TWDC, that's not what Global says in his report! I don't know where people are getting this software stuff from, but Global explicitly blames all the problems on the firing of the main gun. Maybe he was just covering his ass for all the bad decisions he made in episode 3...

Because it's not an independent company when it comes to Robotech stuff. HG can ask for whatever they want in exchange for giving Toynami the license. IIRC, HG had Toynami make HG-exclusive versions of certain toys. HG may demand that Toynami impose a certain retail price on retailers so that HG's online store won't be undercut by other stores.

We don't know what HG believes. We can be fairly certain that the M+ Valks didn't get released because HG wanted to be paid royalties if they were released in the US, and BW wouldn't allow that. BW/SN apparently sued first. At least, the character/mecha design lawsuit, in which they were plaintiffs, reached judgment long before the TV show lawsuit, in which TP was the plaintiff. I believe that BW/SN's strategy was to establish the various designs as independent copyrights from the TV show, and thus provide grounds for exploiting them in toys sold in the US. That's pretty much what BW said after the judgment. I think that TP's countersuit was really an attempt to argue against the character/mecha design judgment on other grounds. If so, it failed. The Yune comment seems to be an admission that HG doesn't have rights to DYRL. That's not the same thing as admitting that HG doesn't have exclusive rights to sell Macross stuff in the US. My interpretation of HG's position is that they can't do anything with DYRL/M+/etc. without BW's permission, and nobody can do anything with Macross outside Japan without HG's permission. The significance of the DYRL SP announcement and the Yune comment about getting the license is that BW and HG are probably beginning to cooperate in some way. By the way, I don't think HG really has a case on copyright grounds. I think the entire strength of their claim comes from trademark issues. Not greatly. Somewhat. HG certainly seems to have admitted that it has no problem with M+ videos being sold in the US. In theory, this could mean that the "Macross" trademark isn't infringed by the "Macross Plus" name. But it might only apply to videos--in which case, a "Macross Zero" video release might be okay, but "Macross Plus" toys might still be a problem. Besides, Yamato would have to have a license from BW to sell M+ valks in the US. Toycom had such a license, but it may not be in effect anymore. If BW is working with HG, we don't know what effect that might have on BW's licensing practices in the US. Could be, but far from clear. By releasing the DYRL toys, HG is simply releasing new toys under its existing "Macross" trademark. In no way does this conflict with the market notion that "If you want to buy 'Macross' toys in the US, you must go to a company licensed by HG." No, see above. It depends on what you mean by "be allowed to stop other DYRL items". If this is all the result of a settlement, then of course BW could have given HG certain rights in exchange for HG agreeing to stop impeding BW effort's to license Macross stuff in the US. If you say that by getting the license from BW, HG has automatically surrendered its legal argument over trademark, I think you would be mistaken. Yes, this is the scenario that I suggested in another thread. BW may be giving HG a shot at exploiting other Macross works, in exchange for HG ending its interference with BW's worldwide licensing enterprises. Not only does HG get another product to sell--and a bit of a head start--but HG will benefit from synergy/free publicity as the Macross name gains prominence more widely. I think it's plausible, but even if something like this is going on, we may not know for at least a few months.

Keeping the thread alive. Matchbox Nousjadeul-Ger (on the box it said "Zentradi Power Armor Botoru Battalion" or something like that). Scale is around 1/96-1/98. So let's put it next to a 1/100 Takatoku (Matsushiro, actually) VF-1J.

Maybe I missed that part just now. Do you remember when in the episode he says that?

Okay, just skipped around a bit in episodes 3 & 4. I couldn't find anything which really attempts to explain why the fold system malfunctioned. Before the fold, Claudia expresses misgivings about folding close to the surface--but it's not clear if that's because she thinks it won't work, or because she thinks it could be dangerous for the people on the ground. During the fold, Britai and Exedore express surprise and one of them asks whether a fold so close to the surface is even possible. Personally, I've always believed Egan Loo's interpretation--initiating a fold close to a gravity well can have unexpected consequences--but it's not entirely supported by what's in the cartoon. And Global's analysis of the problems would help explain why the artificial gravity generators malfunctioned, which has always been an annoyance to me. I mean, the engineers who overhauled the Macross must have calculated the mass of the ship and the strength of the fittings holding the gravity generators in place; that would have told them the maximum G force allowable (combination of local gravity conditions + acceleration). This in turn should have been set in software to prevent the generators from pulling out of their mounts. There also probably should have been sensors to measure the strain on the mounts. But if the firing of the main gun caused internal damage, etc., that could explain why the generators tore out of the hull.

The exact lines from Episode 14 come right after a flashback of the artificial gravity systems ripping out and the Macross settling back onto the ground. Global reports Nothing there about inexperience or folding too close to Earth. Also nothing about Supervision Army software. It's not even clear if the technical analysis blamed the firing of the main gun for both the misfold and the Fold systems' vanishing, or just one of those accidents. The actual events are in Episode 3. I don't feel like rewatching the episode just now, but here's what Egan Loo has to say. The initial quote is from a Robotech FAQ; the rest is his correction and comment. So Egan says that the misfold was caused by folding close to the Earth, but he admits that at some point, humans did develop the technology to fold close to gravity wells. In short, Global's report contradicts Egan. Is Egan simply drawing inference from the animation, or does he have some special insight either from books or from conversations with Kawamori? I don't know. If he's wrong, then it could be that humans had already improved the fold technology to allow folds close to a planet's surface, but the firing of the main gun caused the system to malfunction.

Yamato made public the fact that they were planning on doing a 1/60 Destroid Monster, but they currently have no release date. Some threads to check out: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=5356 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=4755 http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=2332

The firestorm of speculation comes because no one was for certain (and many hoped it did not) if HG's license extended to DYRL or not. Exactly. There's little doubt that HG was simply using the license obtained from Tatsunoko when they made the Macross TV superposables, just as there was no doubt as to HG's right have Animeigo do the Macross TV DVD's. On the other hand, both the M+ promotion and the DYRL superposable announcement are interesting because they pertain to properties that HG doesn't seem to own--at least not through Tatsunoko, and not until recently. ("[W]e finally got around to properly getting the license" --Tommy Yune February 20, 2004.)

I don't think it was that bad. I liked how the human's inexperience led to them dragging most of South Ataria island and the two carriers out to Pluto with the Macross. Since there were no ARMD's around, waste not want want not. Let's attach these perfectly fine carriers instead. Actually, it wasn't inexperience at all. All the shipwide problems, including the massively miscalculated space fold, and the gravity engines ripping away from the ship, were caused by a conflict between the newer ship's software, and the supervision army software that was re-actived by the boobytrap (see Global's Report) That's not how I remember it.

What Cyc said. Also, newbies may not be aware of the fact that HG also produced a set of Macross TV Superposables--pretty much (or entirely?) the same as the Robotech SP's, but with different boxes using Macross-styled art and the Macross names of the characters. Nobody saw anything wrong with that, because everyone knows that HG has the Macross TV (SDF Macross) license. In contrast, the recent announcement of DYRL-based superposables set off a firestorm of speculation.

Can't be "protoculture" anything. PCS gets used routinely, while "protoculture" is merely a crackpot pet theory of Aries and her old prof, as far as everyone else is concerned.

Besides which, robotech.com.au is in Australia. And HG had registered TRADEMARK (not copyright) in the US. You can't copyright a name. The distinction is important for many reasons. While copyright protection automatically applies equally in all countries which belong to the Berne Convention, trademark isn't inherently universal. You only "own" a trademark in the region where you use it to conduct business. So your trademark could be limited to a state, a region, or a specific country. Furthermore, copyright automatically stays in effect for a specific number of years; trademark can be considered "abandoned" based on far less specific criteria, such as whether it is being actively used and whether the owner has defended it against dilution or infringement. Even though registration isn't absolutely necessary to protect trademark in many countries, if HG didn't register their trademark in Australia, they would have had a weaker claim to it there. As well, I don't know how much Robotech business HG did in Australia up to that time. And yes, the Australian Robotech company is in a different line of business, so it's relatively unlikely to cause confusion.

Okay, I've found some useful info. Trademark registration is codified in state, Federal, and even International law, but trademark itself doesn't require registration, at least in the U.S. Registration does provide a lot of advantages. See Trademarks and Business Goodwill Other valuable links include How the Law Protects Trademarks (Findlaw) Using and Enforcing Trademarks (Findlaw) Avoiding Patent and Trademark Problems Internet Fan Site Article (Useful in that it discusses the need to defend trademark or lose it.) The actual Federal Code bearing on trademark is Title 15, Chapter 22, and is available on numerous sites on the Internet. In addition to discussing registration, the law defines infringment, including in cases of importation. (It's been mentioned before, but it is really quite remarkable that HG never followed up its cease and desist letters to merchants.) http://www.jurisdiction.com/part0001.htm Provides an example of trademark abandonment and the answer to my question by pointing to the relevant section of Title 15: The current text can be found at Findlaw here. EDIT: I just realized those Findlaw links may not work for everyone. To get them to work, you must first click on a few links at the Findlaw site to specify your state and metropolitan area. After that, the links will work. Sorry about the confusion.

Can anyone answer (with references, please!) whether a prior claim on trademark has a "statute of limitations"? I realize that trademark registrations expire after a few years if they're not renewed--that's not what I'm talking about. Rather, if say Sears put out a product a century ago under a certain name, but hasn't used the name in eighty years, would they still have a prior claim?