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You may be right about the smaller target issue, but a related issue is visibility. Here I do believe that larger aircraft can be visually spotted more easily and at greater ranges, especially when viewed from above/below (relative to the aircraft). Visual spotting remains an important factor in modern jet combat--and could become moreso if stealth technology outpaces sensor technology. Mass (or rather weight) is the denominator in thrust/weight ratio, so it is a factor in acceleration and certainly in vertical climb. The F-15 weighs about 50% more than the F-16 (empty weights) and the F-14 is 80% more massive than the F-18. Both of the larger jets are faster than the smaller ones, but they also have greater thrust. The VF-0 is probably 50-80% more massive than the VF-1, so the VF-1 should have better acceleration and vertical climb assuming the same or similar engines. At least, before considering aerodynamic streamlining; you may have a point about that. It's also possible that if they'd wanted to build the VF-1 bigger, they would have built bigger fusion engines, but we don't really know whether technological limitations could have played a factor there. Also, mass is an even bigger factor in space, while streamlining is irrelevant. So the VF-1's smaller mass is an even bigger advantage in that environment. (Although it is offset somewhat by having a smaller capacity for reaction mass. Once the FAST packs come out, though, small size becomes a huge advantage, since you now have huge propellant/reaction mass tanks attached to a relatively small craft.) If you're thinking of the later Su-27 variants, don't they get a lot of their maneuverability from thrust vectoring? In which case, apples and oranges. The VF-0 and VF-1 have similar thrust vectoring capability. More mass requires more thrust to reorient it. (Control surfaces are also a huge factor, according to David H. But again, the two airframes are pretty much the same here.) Since I found the original quote by Kawamori (in one of the threads Hurin referenced), I found another reason for the small size: stowability on space ships.

The VF-1SOL is another redesign of the basic VF-1 format. But we aren't sure if Kawamori did it. I think I read in an interview with Kawamori that the VF-1 is smaller than the VF-0 because it's designed to be able to board enemy space ships. Aside from that, the VF-1 doesn't need to be as big because it doesn't need to carry lots of fuel. And smaller size/mass means smaller target, better acceleration, and possibly better maneuverability. (Although I'm sure many, many factors contribute to maneuverability.) About the reason for the VF-0 and its relation to the VF-1, the links Hurin posted are the best place to start.

The problem was (probably) that the system clock runs a little fast. So unless it's been configured to automatically synch to a network timeserver, the time may start drifting again.

I heard Kawamori was going to redesign the VF-1... to look more continuity-y Where did you hear that? Some people here have speculated that would happen, but that's all I've seen--speculation. (Personally, I doubt it.) As for why the VF-0 is bigger than the VF-1, I seem to recall Kawamori saying something about the VF-1 being smaller so that it could more easily fight inside enemy spaceships. In any case, for an aircraft that uses conventional jet engines, bigger means greater payload, more fuel, and longer range. (I'm no expert on this but that's what David Hintgen keeps saying, and it is also notable that the Super Hornet is bigger than the regular Hornet for pretty much those reasons.) However, if you have fusion-powered engines, range isn't a consideration. So the only notional advantage of the VF-0's size is payload.

If that's a serious question, the serious answer is: probably nobody knows outside of HG and Tatsunoko. Now, what the license really lets HG do, and prevents Yamato from doing is another question. If you're interested, see the licensing debate thread for numerous guesses.

Take a look at my signature. ffmpegX and missingmediaburner are the tools I use under Mac OS X. If you use a different platform my links (or the ones elsewhere in the thread) might still help. BTW, I erred in referring to free software. ffmpegX is shareware (but the fee is cheap). Documentation on these tools is sparse, but a few web searches will probably turn you on to a good forum. Also, if you search on "VCD" or "SVCD" on MW forums, you'll probably find links to some good help sites. Use your knowledge only for Good. Finally, Mods, if I'm treading too close to forbidden ground, please tell me to edit my post, or feel free to do it for me, or delete it. (As if I have to give permission...)

Not really. Even if we accept the poll at face value, it currently shows a plurality of people wanting 1/48. But if you lump the 1/60 and 1/72 people together, there are more of them than 1/48 people. And there are a few people who don't care about the scale. BTW, congrats to Valk-1S on his poll design. But I think a far more important question than "what is your preferred scale?" is "will you buy it if it comes out in X scale"? It would be good to add some assumptions, such as whether other scales will be available, whether it will have perfect transformation, and whether the price will be roughly commensurate with the absolute size of the toy given what we've seen so far. That means a 1/48 would be about 50-100% more than a 1/48 VF-1, a 1/60 about the price of a 1/48 VF-1, a 1/72 about the price of a 1/60 VF-1. I predict that if you created a poll like this, assuming perfect transformation and that there will definitely only be ONE scale for the "high grade" VF-0, you'll find that nearly everyone finds the 1/72 and 1/60 scales acceptable, while only a minority would be willing to buy the 1/48, being content to own 1/100's or nothing. So my guess is that the 1/48 would only make business sense if Yamato made two scales beyond the 1/100. Probably 1/72 and 1/48, in order to avoid having the "mid-grade" and "high-grade" lines compete with one another. But I really think we'll just see a 1/72 or 1/60.

I agree. Nope, the F-16 is 15 m long. The F-14 is 19.5 m long so that would be a better comparison; I understand Walmart has it in 1/48.

If you can find an official stat for the VF-0 battroid height, I'd be glad to do the math.

The 1/48 Valks are 25% larger than the 1/60 Valks. A 1/72 VF-0 would be 39% larger than the 1/100 VF-0. A 1/60 would be 67% larger than the 1/100. In other words, either a 1/72 or a 1/60 would be a markedly greater increase in size over the "introductory" toy, compared to the earlier 1/60->1/48 sequence of the VF-1. As for the absolute size of VF-0 toys compared to the 1/48 VF-1, somebody's probably already done it, but here are the figures based on scale and official stats (i.e., not based on measuring the toy, but should be close): VF-1: Real length 14.23 m 1/48 scale length ~30 cm or 11-1/2 inches VF-0: Real length 18.69 m 1/100 scale lenth ~19 cm or 7-1/2 inches 1/72 scale length ~26 cm or 10 inches 1/60 scale length ~31 cm or 12-1/2 inches 1/48 scale length ~39 cm or 15-1/2 inches A 1/72 or 1/60 VF-0 would be around the size of a 1/48 VF-1. A 1/48 VF-0 might or might not be unwieldy but I'd expect it to cost considerably more. If nothing else, it would probably require around double the raw materials. (It's about 30% longer than the VF-1, which translates into roughly twice the volume.)

You missed several of the flamewars^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H discussions about the relationship between the VF-0 and VF-1. Basically, the VF-0 is a completely different airframe designed to test technology, which has been pressed into service since the VF-1's nuclear engines aren't ready. (The arguments are whether the VF-0 is supposed to test stuff for the VF-1 or for later, more advanced variable fighters. You can find them using the Search function...)

The design reminds me a bit of the Zentradi picket ship.

Thanks for the update, Kevin. I've been wondering about that dual-episode disk for a while. But after my problems with the episode 2 disk, I decided I wasn't going to buy any more M0 bootlegs. Well, I sort of changed my mind when a fellow MWer offered to create a DVD for me of all three episodes using the fansubed versions, essentially for the cost of materials plus shipping. He did a great job, BTW. In future, I'll probably create VCD's out of the M0 fansubs for home viewing. SVCD is the same quality video as DVD, CD's are dirt cheap, and I've already invested the time to learn how to create them using free software.

Prefer 1/60 for size, cost, and compatibility with the other 1/60's, so that's what I voted for. 1/72 would be okay for size, cost, compatibility with M+ Valks (even though I don't have any yet) and compatibility with toys/models of real-world aircraft. (Not to mention 1/72 ground crew figures, etc.) I wouldn't buy a 1/48. Too big, and likely to be too costly.

Yup, that's it! Of course, it would have helped if I'd rewatched the clip all the way through, since it has the title (in Greek) at the end. Am currently enjoying Patlabor TV, so I think this will go on my watch list. Thanks much!

Back when the promo clips for M0 ep. 3 appeared, I also saw and saved a promo for what looks like a low-tech scifi cartoon (very realistic looking space suits, a ship similar or identical to the Space Shuttle, etc.). The transliterated name is, I guess, Puratenesu, but I haven't been able to guess what that might really be. Does anyone know what this is, and if it's any good? Sorry, I don't have the link anymore.

For some reason, M0 feels very "earthbound". I doubt they're going to refer to the Tsiolkovsky incident. Just a hunch.

The answer is here.

What do you mean, "or"? Isn't MW a porn site?

I'd put it in the FAQ forum as a pinned topic next to the rules and regs. It could either be locked to keep people from monkeying around, or left open for people to post their ideas. But like the pinned imacross thread, it should probably either be closely modded or watched over by someone who can easily get a mod to delete stuff that's inappropriate or confusingly written. Edit: Or maybe it could be locked, but whenever someone writes something that they feel is worthy of inclusion, they could post it in the FAQ section and include a request to have it merged into the locked topic.

The -1R is purely a robotech thing. The three-laser CF's shown in SDF Macross are an animation error. Discussed in the licensing debate thread in the other anime forum, among other places. The official list of VF-1 variants is at the compendium, http://macross.anime.net/mecha/united_nati.../vf1/index.html Also from the compendium, Kawamori's credits for SDF Macross: See http://macross.anime.net/production/creato...hoji/index.htmlEdit: the original series director was Noboru Ishiguro. Here's his credits: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encycloped...ple.php?id=8366

Just an idea--maybe someone can write up a few tips on using the board. Most everything is pretty self-explanatory but I'm surprised how long it took me to realize a few things. Then again, maybe I'm just slow. My latest discovery, for example. If you are browsing the thread subjects in a particular forum, you can tell which ones have unread messages by checking to see if there's a little blue button next to the title. Clicking the button takes you to the first unread message (although the pop-up help when I move the mouse over the button says "go to last unread message", which would be nigh useless). But oddly, if you go into a thread and click the "first unread message", it seems like it takes you directly to the last message--useless. The "view new posts" link is extremely useful and in fact it's the way I generally use the site. But I'm not sure what the criteria are for determining what the "new posts" are each time I click it. I'm guessing it uses a cookie which times out after a while, since it often shows threads which I've read completely. But now that I know about the blue button, that's not a problem at all. BTW, the "view new posts" link is another thing that took me a while to catch onto. Before that, I'd first tried tracking threads (generates too much email) and then the "today's active topics" link (doesn't relate to my reading habits--will show too much if I've been reading a lot, not enough if I've been gone for a while). Finally, it took me a while to learn that when you do a search, you can view the results by post not just thread. Extremely useful when you're looking for something that's in a multi-page thread (let alone one of the pinned megathreads).

The whining on this board is reaching a crescendo. Don't use babelfish. If Imode's swamped after his generous offer, use an amikai-based translator like Excite or nifty. The real question should be, why don't the importers provide English translations of instructions or write up their own?

That's what I figured after looking at the bottom of the page. Now hopefully we can get past the fanboy feuds. (If it will help, I will admit that "official" isn't the same as "semi-official". Chiba co-authored the Macross timeline with Kawamori and also did the mechanical specifications for M7 with Kawamori, in addition to producing the MAT doujinshi.)However, note that you contradict WJ's page. He has ARMD-09 and 10 as You have 09 and 10 as attached to the post-reconstruction SDF-1.Also, I don't see how the fact that the VF-4's use the notional ARMDs as bases supports the idea that they can detach. Can you elaborate? Is there anything else from the game that would support the idea?Basically, you seem to be saying that the structures we're talking about are ARMDs and that the Megaroad is 5+ km long...which would mean that the structures are much larger than the stats given for ARMDs. I'm beginning to suspect that Kawamori et. al. didn't really think this through. They wanted something that was visually reminiscent of the Macross, but they also wanted to convey a sense of bigger-than-SDF-1 massiveness without being too specific about the size. And that's about where their thinking stopped, leaving Chiba and everyone else to try to fill in the details. BTW, even the SDF-1's official size is hard to reconcile with the fact that it is supposed to hold 58,000 civilians, with cars and amphitheaters and such, especially considering that only part of the ship was devoted to habitation. In short, we may be in anime-magic territory here.

The existing front page is out of date, but it's still one of the best references on the net for Macross products, especially older toys, books, and memorabilia. Shawn is obviously busy and/or burnt-out on Macross, but as long as he doesn't mind hosting the material, I'm glad it's there. Eventually, he'll either get some free time or he'll decide to share the burden of maintaining the site. The forums are great for information and breaking news, but material keeps getting buried and then the same questions get asked, etc. The front page serves as a more permanent reference.