sketchley

No gun pod page. Known since http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...st&p=738254 Yuppers on the VF-14 Vampire (or Bampaia) - there's no mention in the subsection regarding the design change. Maybe it's like the Klingons in ST:TOS vs ST:TNG... a design change that everyone ignores (until Enterprise, but that's a decade or two after the fact). I also have got to get my eyes checked, the Fz-109 is a B sheet. Looks like we might be getting a Hidetaka Tenjin painting (fingers crossed for fighter mode). Glancing at the VF-25S sheet, I noticed "ASWAG". Which has been defined as "the stronger 2nd generation form of energy conversion armour". There's also "Harmaggedon mode" mentioned, and I think that's defined as when all weapons (missiles?) are launched at the same time. There's some more info (printed missile numbers of all things!) but that'll have to wait till after this quick rundown part deux is finished. The character sheets are unremarkable (as in, there's nothing that I wasn't expecting). Skimming and scanning I didn't notice Claudia's name on Edger's sheet, or vice versa. Maybe there is something... as I did miss the mention of multiple copy ships on the Megaroad-05 sheet... also, Claudia's sheet, as well as the bridge bunnies, are the DYRL versions. So, I wouldn't say that these sheets are the final word on their relationship. The B sheet for the M7 Mass Communications people is... interesting. (As in, do we really need it, interesting.) SMS sheet (have time, examining closely): front text description of civilian military providers and a paragraph on Richard B.. Rear starts with "the merits and demerits of entering S.M.S" (the two captioned pictures are of the trio of H/S kids in EX gear and the other is the funeral - which, IMHO, sums up the merits and demerits). There's small paragraphs on the SMS facilities (briefing room, micronization chamber, living space), as well as the role of SMS (partaking in the filming of "BIRD HUMAN" and anti-Vajra fighting). The remainder are a collection of paragraphs and small pictures on the main staff (characters) and the equipment of S.M.S. The ad for next issue, in addition to Hidetaka Tenjin's painting of a VF-25F battroid mode, are screen caps of Aruto, Exodol, and the Macross Galaxy surrounded by AA firing Vajra motherships. The back cover is an explanation on how to arrange the binders. Their recommendation is: Binder 1: mechanic sheets Binder 2: Character, Timeline and History sheets Binder 3: Technology, worldguide, and Special (gallery, song, goods, making & extra) sheets.

@ westfall. Picked up #21 today. Alas, no binders in the two bookstores near my workplace. I'll try Animate when I get the chance - it's the only other place that I spotted binders last time. Anyhow, contents runover: stickers - sweet. And there bottom has a sticker for "08" with the text next to it reading "please affix this to the top of Issue 14 pg 31" (that's 14-31 if you've already removed the pages - you know, the mistake I pointed out a while ago.) Glad that they're fixing it this way, and not reprinting the whole page like last time... VF-2SS - quick glance: based off of the VF-XX. Remote drones are named "Squires", and the gun pod is... gun pod/Nekkusu's (gun pod). Fz-109 - an A sheet (what? No Tenjin painting for it?) The exciting stuff is on the reverse, with an extra report on the VF-14 Nightmare; which contains line art for the M3 game AND screen captures from the M7+ animation!!! VF-25S - B sheet. Lots of hard stats; from the model kit box??? gah... running out of time, quicky of the rest: history sheet jumps forward massively: Minmei's farewell concert, Megaroad-01 launch, discovery of Eden, Megaroad 13, 2nd Macross city (something), Release of DYRL (in series) - 2012.08 to 2031 on one sheet!!! SMS worldguide: thumbs up Variable Fighter tech sheet - 1G. That's G, not C, D, E, or F!) 4 pages of Full Armour VF, yeah baby yeah! (plus a bit of armoured gerwalk and VB-6 luv in the lower right corner). Next issue: Tenjin painted VF-25F. Sweet.

Try the underside with the knees turned outwards - it'll provide more seperation between the thrusters; ergo more manuverability.

Just for fun... some random machine translations! "Well... I'm contemplating violence..." becomes: "Well, … I am considering violence. " http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/ "Well, … I am considering violence. " http://honyaku.nifty.com/ "Well… I' M where violence is looked…" http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt "Well ... I think I have a violent ..." http://www.google.co.jp/language_tools?hl=ja "By the way... I think about violence..." http://www.stars21.com/translator/english_to_japanese.html et naseaum the point: it only takes a couple of bad apples to spoil it for the rest of us. Nevertheless, Saito Kaiba, kudos for toning down the "colourful language". I also feel your pain. I'd like it to be as complete as possible, but it looks like that's beyond the scope of their mandate (for example, I've yet to see a reference to the AMM-1 missile, which is pretty much standard for the VF-1 in SDF:M, in any of the VF-1 sheets. I'm hoping for a page devoted to missiles now, but even that hope is waning.) As for issue #21... Golden Week vacation started yesterday, so I was no where near my usual bookstore(s). The ones I went to (I'll label them as being off in the boonies) didn't have them >.< . If I have the time later today, I'll go out of my way to where I usually get them... with luck, there'll be a brand spanking new binder waiting along side it. Gah... 3 binders...

Ah, I C. Attacking the straw man here. Anyhow, for those condoning that sort of behaviour, keep in mind that the people who create Macross are aware of Macross World (see Graham's recent talk with them). They have a less than spectacular command of English. What do you think their impressions of us English speaking fans are, after reading threats of violence in a machine-translation? Pffft... and you guys want Macross exported into English speaking countries. Why should the people behind Macross even bother when there are crazed fans that threaten violence, and others who condone it.

Who's worse, the person alluding to violence, or the person pointing out that the threat of violence reflects badly on the threatener? There are infinitely better ways to express disappointed (I'm disappointed with it, I don't like it, I hate it, etc.). The "character assassination" is prefectly valid.

True, true. But the gist I got from the translated article was more the implied changes from the super fold booster. Mind you, even without the use of the Vajra, the super fold technology would allow for some pretty quick communication across the galaxy. (I'm basing this on what we've been shown in the series (M7?) re: how much quicker fold based communications is compared to fold travel time).

I understand you're disappointment with Macross Chronicle. However, you've been negative about it from your very first post about it. After that, it's just been more, and more intense negativity. If you've got such a big problem with it, DON'T buy it! And live and let live. For some (especially the type that Gubaba mentioned), it may be the only Macross resource they'll ever get for the pre-2008 Macross releases. For others (like me), it's a good chance to get all the diverse Macross art collected into one book (I'd like to say handy, but at 5+ binders...). So what if there's only the odd tidbit of new information on the pages. The majority of MW aren't buying it for the text, so they won't notice what is, or is not, or is inaccurate in the text. So... let it go. Save your money, and petition for the ultimate Macross II publication. Or - accept that it is a revisioning of Macross II to better correlate it with the rest of the various Macross series. It's probably the best way to keep one's head from exploding (see Mr.March and the Factory Satellite). Or look at it as an alternative information source. Who knows, there may be some juicy new backstore embelishment to the VF-2S or something. Like, aside from the date, have you actually read the article? If I were you, I'd reserve judgement until after reading the article.

Not sure what the name is today (was out all day), but when it broke, it was referred to as 豚インフルエンザ (Pig/Swine Influenza). The next day it was 新型インフルエンザ (new type of/the latest influenza).

I believe the phrasing was along the lines of "it's like the age of exploration with e-mail". Or to put it in other words, it'd be like Colombus heading West across the Atlantic but sending and receiving e-mail. Given that the Frontier Fleet is a good 10 or more years space fold travel away from Earth, it makes sense that the organization of the UN/NUN and it's relationship with colonies and emigration fleets has changed. Of course, in the same article, Kawamori-san went on to mention what I believe means that the new super fold booster will be used to alter the situation again - consider the super fold booster akin to the effect of steam ships in the age of exploration - travel times reduced significantly (a 6 to 12 month journey being reduced to a mere month or so), and you get a fundamental change once more.

Looks like "Meltraendi Forces Warship(s)" or "Meltraendi Forces Fleet". Judging how sheets for similar background vessels are, we'll probably get one with two or three ships. @Gubaba: forgetting about http://linear.mv.com/cgi-bin/j-e/sjis/dict are we? Internet be good for reducing book lugging.

Opaque, just like real world jets. One must keep in mind that the excessive variety of, and use of bright colours is only being added to help the viewer differentiate between the different pilots. Going realistically (which the in-universe paint jobs are not), they would most likely be a Navy style paint job for atmospheric use, or dark, like the F-117, colours for space use. In this regard, the VF-17 and VF-171 are probably the only realistically painted/coloured VFs. All the line art penned by Kawamori are official illustrations. But, I'm guessing you meant an official non-series, realistic paint. Then that is lacking. Some others have provided alternative paint schemes, but they are usually similar to the (unrealistic) series paint schemes, and only a few head in a realistic direction. Check out TIAS: Macross Plus, Tenjin Hidetaka's Valkyies, and pretty much any issue of Model Graphix that has a decent sized article on Macross.

I'm not sure if you're asking for my personal opinion, or if it was a general question to the membership... so here goes my opinion: I haven't seen the original, only bit's and pieces of the translation ("adaptation"), and the majority of my knowledge of it comes from magazine (Protoculture Addicts? Mecha Press? Other?) articles. Nevertheless, I feel that it's not so much the ship that is heroic, but that the ship represents the ideals and team spirit of the crew (the Americanized version of this is the soldier's quip, "You do it for your buddies"). The Americanizers probably felt that the ship has too much quasi-nationalism/Imperial Japanese Army connotations to become anything but a villified show, "as is". Though, in retrospect, it is a bit baffling, as it was targeted at children, and the adaptors changed the doctor from drinking sake to fight the pain of a terminal disease (cancer?), to drinking mineral water for health reasons, amongst other changes. So... maybe I'm over-analyzing things, and the heroic nature of the ship was changed because, for the target demographic, the crew are heroes, is a lot easier to comprehend. So, blame it on simplification and the tendancy for Americanizers to underestimate kids, and to baby children. (Robotech, I'm also looking at you!)

Woah, talk about derail topic! Back to the original question: it stems from culture. This stems from a couple of angles: 1 Individuality vs. collective - the individual (USA, Canada, etc.) takes on all challenges, human, moral, philosophical, robotic, and so on. The collective (Japan, Korea, etc.) work together in harmony - even if that includes the robotic. 2 personification of nature - pretty common in English language users: boats and cars referred to as "she", weather having moods, etc.. By attributing emotions to things, including robots, it also allows for the lack of apparent emotions to become an emotion. Despite the common sense that machines are inherently free from emotions, they tend to be described as cold blooded, merciless, and so on. Therefore, it's easy to make the switch into being evil incarnate. Compare that to Japan (Korea, etc.), where a machine is a tool. Just as a hammer helps you build structures, so too can a robot help you (Patlabor). Which is why we tend to find the bad guys in anime the users of robots (mecha), and generally the ones that are disrupting social harmony (not always, but if one examines things close enough), and not robots themselves. 3 Nationalism - As a non United States of American, my impression is that to the average United States of American, it's the USA vs. all others; including the robotic. If you've ever met a United States of American overseas, who has been away from his or her country too long and is complaining about everything in the visited country and how great things are in the USA, you'll know what I'm trying to say here. (I'm only adding this because the original question was directly about it. Otherwise, the "robots/mechanized people* can be bad" is pretty common in English productions.) So yeah, it's a culture thing. * Borg is the first that comes to mind here.

Alrighty... I'm working on Chronicle Mechanic: MF UN 07a: Macross Frontier Vehicles, and I'm unsure if I've translated the name of the tank correctly. In Japanese, it's ベアトリーチェ. Which is romanized as Beatoriiche. With some minor internet searching, I've found a couple of (Japanese) sites that state that ベアトリーチェ is the Japanese version of Beatrice. Do you guys agree that this is the correct translation of the name, or is there a different, better name for it?

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, so I'll point it out anyways: the NMCV line in RedWolf's post is RedWolf's personal opinion. See: http://macross.anime.net/wiki/Macross_Galaxy_(fleet) and http://macross.anime.net/wiki/Macross_Galaxy

Perhaps you're looking at it in wrong terms. Look at the revival of all things Macross that we are currently experiencing. Can the series be that bad, when it's selling like hot cakes, spawned a whole industry of Macross related goodies, and has increased the likelihood of another Macross sequel significantly? (This is a rhetorical question, so don't feel obliged to answer it as it with your opinions on why the show isn't your cup of tea as whatever your opinions are it won't take away from the facts summarized in my post. )

You guys do realize that the VF is behind Exedol, and not in front, or even beside him, right? (Look for the wing disappearing behind his left shoulder.) Therefore, given only this image, with it's lack of any way to determine how far behind the VFs are, Exedol's size is ambiguous at best. Now, if once could procure an image from the same shot with what I think looks like a VF in the foreground, it'd be a lot more telling.

Started translation of Chronicle Mechanic: MF UN 05a: Destroid (Cheyenne II). If I'm understanding it correctly (haven't finished the lion's share of the text), it's only employed by the Frontier fleet. I'm really curious about the rest of the text, as there are numerous references to the other destroids (ADR, SDR, MDR types). Alas, my next goal is to start work on the article on the Frontier Fleets tank/APC thingy.

Looks like a typo on the website. The ad for it in the back of #20 has "VF-2SS Valkyrie II".

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much of this issue. Boy, was I surprised. YF-19 - nothing really new here. CVN-99 Asuka - at first I thought the tones/colours on the lineart made details clearer to see. Then I realized that there's a lot of previously unpublished lineart! Such as the bridge exterior and interior, open destroid booth, a rear 3/4 shot with the rear hatch open, etc.. I am disappointed that it doesn't list any specific weapons or the number of craft on it. But it does mention that the carrier has F-14A+, Avenger II, Sea Sergeant, VF-0, Ghost, and Destroids! Great to see SDF:M stuff mentioned. I was beginning to feel that M0 forgot about SDF:M. UN Forces Aircraft - another surprise: Glamor ES-11D Early Warning Craft Cats Eye and McNell Douglar EC-33B Disk Sensor. Art isn't anything new, but getting more info on these is great. Destroid - Cheyenne II: I was expecting the barest minimum of info on this. Having names for all of the weapons, along with engines, and other stats blew me away. The reverse has a bit of infor on the Destroid Works. Considering how much of a screen presence it had, it's great that it's getting a paragraph or two of write-up. Macross Frontier Vehicles - I didn't know what to expect of this one. It's the Beatoriiche (Vaytriche?) - the APC/tank! The write up is only the barest minimum, with minimal stats, but surprises of surprises - there's lineart for it!!!!!!!!!!! The other vehicle is the Trailor truck (used in MF to move damaged VF-25/Vajra/etc..) Nothing special, but again, it's nice to see MF background stuff getting a bit of detail. (Look closely, and you may notice the deck of the truck has absolutely no detail.) Isamu Dyson - nothing unexpected. City 7 Mass Communication peoples - interesting that we're getting a page devoted to news casters and reporters... Barauta Soldiers - surprisingly, the spiritia vampire/infiltrator gets the spotlight. Nice to see the Barauta Laser gun and Laser Rifle lineart. Timeline - lineart of Kamjin's half jungle covered Medium-Size Gunship is priceless. Does this page really mark the end of SDF:M??? The remainder is pretty much as expected, except... for next issue's cover: really, really, really sweet looking painting of the VF-2SS Valkyrie II. After M+ came out, I stopped being a fan of MII. But this one piece of art reminds me of the cool parts of MII. It also looks like next issue will have the Full Armour version of the VF-25S. As it's issue #20 - don't forget to fill-out the mail-in for your free post cards and chance to win something cool!

Now that raises an interesting question: do we really think in any language, at all? It took me a while to figure it out, but I've found that I tend to think visually (depending on what type of brain you have, you may be the same, you may think differently; such as sounds, smells, movements, etc., etc.). Once I figured that out, I started to append the words in the target language to the images that I use to think in; as opposed to appending them to the English words. It took a couple of years, but I've reached the point where I don't have to translate in my head, I only have to rearrange the word order (SVO for English/French, SOV for Japanese/Korean). The words are interchangeable (I think this is something similar to what eugimon's sister is doing). As for particles/function words... despite years... decades of learning the rules, I never could get them to work. So, I gave up and just watched TV and read stuff in the target language. And simply from exposure, I'm using them, largely correctly, based on gut feeling. Which, is exactly how I learned to use function words in my native language (English).

True, true. Though I feel that it must be added that some people just have a knack for picking up languages. I wish I could remember the name of that specific part of the brain that some have, and most do not, but as it was a term in the midst of a Korean show that I saw while living in Korea... my crusted over brain can't even remember if it was an English term, or not! Nods. I remember the day in Korea when I suddenly realized that all of the Sino-Korean words (about one or two thirds of the language) are extremely similar to Sino-Japanese words (about one or two thirds of the language), and just having undergone a phonological change that just occured to me. My vocabularly in Korean expanded by a couple of magnitudes in a matter of seconds. It frustrates me no end when I try and convey it all to my Japanese students... So yeah, analytical mind at work. But I still can't string together anything but a basic sentence in Korean, and I definitely miss a lot of stuff that I would've learned by copying, as kids do. So, I figure what the psychologists are trying to say is that adults can quickly acquire a vast sum of the basics of the target language, but it's the kids who, despite having a lower total sum, acquire finessed, native-speaker-like abilities. I disagree. I teach kids, and the majority of them learn something one week, and forget it by the next week, and have to be reminded of it for another few weeks, or months, or even years, before it sticks in their head and they use it actively. (Caveat: this is based on 1 40 minute lesson per week. My son, who learns daily from me, learns stuff, but forgets went to use it.) So yeah, kids have the potential of learning vast sums extremely quickly, but they are equally capable of forgetting it in an equivalent time period. Adults may not learn as much in the same period, but they tend to retain far more of what they've learned. Kids have the advantage. This has to be stressed to all learners of all things. Make yourself more than one goal in the target language (a girlfriend is a good, multi-goal motivation).

Ah yes... but we don't want to scare them off of learning languages, do we? For those not worried about being scared off, read on: The age when it happens is about puberty. If you've reproduced a sound in a foreign language all of once (possibly more, may be getting my facts wrong) before that magic age, you'll be able to reproduce it correctly any time thereafter. If you learn the sound after that age, it'll take years, if at all, to learn to reproduce it correctly. Another difference, is that during puberty the analytical parts of the brain are activated. Which is why us big kids get more out of learning grammer rules et al than the repeat after me, Johnny can do it, so can I way that kids learn. The flip side is that when learning the basics analytically, it's not like a native speaker, the rules are easily forgotten/confused and one is more than well aware of the size and amount of effort needed to learn - the dictionary stops being a fun place to learn dirty words from as we realize that all of the knowledge in that thick book must be crammed into our small heads. So yeah, get a girlfriend (or boyfriend), and you'll kind of return to the fun of looking up dirty words in books.

The lead singer of Kiss is the most noteable person that I can remember recommending people to get a boyfriend/girlfriend in the target language. Even if you may end up sounding transgender, it's still the best way - and probably the most fun you'll have learning anything. Of course, this is presuming that the person taking this advice is starting from zero, or is a beginner of the language - as it's quite difficult to make friends if one can't even string together the most basic of sentences. I do agree with finding friends of the same gender, and especially the point about making friends who don't use English nor have any interest in English. For starters, they'll still be your friends even if you stop using English to converse with them. Not to mention that they'll be more normal friends that you could develop into life-long friends. It is true that having a work environment in English does slow down the pace of language acquisition, however we have to work to live. Short of coming to go exclusively to school, the options are limited. How many companies are going to hirer a foreigner who doesn't speak the language and won't use English? The trick is to use Japanese as much as possible at work, and virtually all the time out of work. But yeah, I've heard of guys who've been here 35+ years, and they don't speak a word...