PixelatedShinobi

I'm looking for art reference specifically. Thank you!

Been poking around trying to find things - are there any decent references for the YF-29's Super Packs? Been unable to find any on the Macross Mecha Manual. Worst comes to worse I'll find the issue of Chronicle it's in and scan them myself, but was wondering if someone else has done it for me. I've been unable to find the specific issue the Durandal is profiled in too, so anyone who knows which would be immensely helpful.

I just finished "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross 2036", a shoot-em-up set in the DYRL-Lovers Again timeline starring a grown-up Komilia, and I'd like to shine a spotlight on some of the excellent mechanical design present in it. The "Attack Valkyrie" or "VF-1KAI", a modified VF-1 with new head units, new inbuilt Super Packs, and a really nice proportional facelift from Koichi Ohata, is a standout (and naturally should be, being the lead machine). Komilia's unit (in red) isn't designated as anything in particular by the manual from what I can tell, but the Macross Wiki gives it the designation of VF-1JR (despite having a head more reminiscent of the 1S!). Conversely, her partner Lott's machine (in yellow) has a head more reminiscent of the 1J (and the wiki gives it the designation 1SR, for some reason. I assume this is some fan conjecture, because it's a wiki and they get things wrong all the time.) A grunt variant also exists, appearing in 2036's sequel, Eternal Love Song. (The wiki calls it the 1AR, for obvious reasons. Still don't know where the "R" came from!) While the U.N. Spacy fleet is primarily comprised of Zentradi ships (since the surviving human population in DYRL's version of Space War I was... small, to say the least), that doesn't mean they have zero presence. The Daedalus II type debuts in 2036 and returns in Eternal Love Song, a ship designed with the express purpose of accelerating to ramming speed and performing a solo Daedalus Attack on enemy ships, in one of the most metal things I've seen this year. On the opposing side of the Zentradi, spearheaded by a miraculously alive but very beat-up Kamujin/Quamzin/whatever, is a slew of elaborate and very oversized machines to serve as the game's bosses. While the stage minibosses don't tend to feel like they're from Macross (I love that they feel like Thunder Force rejects myself), the bosses are a wild and diverse bunch of Glaug, Queadlunn, and Nousjadeul-Ger evolutions with all sorts of wacky gimmicks. Kamujin's personal machine is a REAL bruiser. Unfortunately, he's one of the easiest bosses in the game to beat if you know good positioning. OUAREHRAHGH GH HPROOOOTOOCULLTAAAAA (dies) 2036 was a fun game! It ranks high in the list of Macross games for me. It's a very solid shmup in addition to having all this great mechanical design, has a fun story that while a bit basic, does have the standout personalities of Komilia, Britai, and Kamujin keeping it engaging. I'd definitely recommend to any fans looking for some new DYRL/II style content.

Gotcha. Excited to see the results!

Are you planning on putting the digitizations up publicly? Want to know if I should hold off on buying my own secondhand copies of the short story collections.

The /portable/ devs went bankrupt. They haven't made a SRW in ten years. The main devs are a direct subsidiary of Bandai.

Ah, makes sense.

Given Kodachi's prominent status in the franchise ever since Frontier and Delta, I'm inclined to believe his version of events - not to mention that Master File, from what I understand, plays things very "fast and loose". Of course, "canon" is what we make of it, and all.

There's a custom Konig with speaker pod shooting launchers, which is pretty neat, I suppose. I'm a graphic designer, so Photoshop is my forte, and I honestly find mindless tasks in it very relaxing. It's a bit of an oddity that the Cutlass uses the old concept art NOVA logo instead of either the UNS kite or the NUNS teardrop. Best explanation I can think of off of the top of my head is that, since this is in the transitionary period between UNS and NUNS, there wasn't a set logo for it to use. In all likelihood, the artist just directly referenced the Cutlass's concept art with the Nova logo. Overall the manga is /thoroughly/ unremarkable. I get the impression it was kind of only made for someone to show off their favorite obscure Valkyrie. It dangles "Basara and Gamlin will appear!" in front of the audience on covers like a carrot on a stick - which I honestly find an odd move, seeing as this is supposed to be set seven years after 7, and yet Basara doesn't seem to be the type to return to the Macross 7 unless literally dragged back. Can't have faith in our original stories, I suppose...

Worst comes to worst, I have the complete thing, I can pass it around in other places if need be.

There's an updated link with the Internet Archive files - I just confirmed those are legit.

Everyone's doing their best. I salute fan translators, they're the people keeping us alive out here. I'm really just out here because I want to read stuff and I want to work with people to get it translated. This summer I plan on finishing up the typesetting of Macross 7th Chord - a dear friend of mine commissioned the full translation but didn't have time to finish typesetting. It's not an amazing series to be quite honest, but I'm a very firm believer that information should be shared freely, and I'd just like to be able to notch another series off my checklist if nothing else. In terms of non-Macross LNs, I read I'm In Love With the Villainess by inori recently, very smart Gl series that really cannot be predicted at any time with how much it wants to get mindbending.

A reminder that the first Delta novelization has been translated by the lovely gubaba of gubabablog for anyone else who wants to check it out. I've not read it yet because I've been working on Frontier, but I'm sure there's plenty of Kodachi's trademark expansion and connections (and maybe a guest appearance from Leon and Aisha?) https://gubabablog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/macross-delta-vol-1-the-girl-of-al-shahal.pdf

I've been listening to the audio dramas on nicovideo and rather enjoying them, even with my limited understanding of spoken Japanese. "Alto Meets Sky" was some really excellent character work for the boy.

I've managed to find /alright/ priced listings on Amazon for both of them, so it'll probably just be an impulse purchase when I have some spare cash. I have actually read "A Day in Alcatraz" from Sheryl Nome Visual Collection Final since it's gotten a very nice translation - excellent story.