sketchley

I just glanced at the relavant sections of TIATS: M+ Movie Edition, Kazutaka Miyatake Design Works, and M+ Game Edition, and there is nothing that I spotted in the text nor notes on the line art to indicate that the weapons are beams, lasers, or even if there are any weapons!

I don't think invulnerable is the right word. There's no telling how many red nasties were obliterated along with the yellow ankle biters. For all we know, the ones that survived were far from the epicenter of the blasts. As it is, their skin was cooked and ripped off. Hardly invincible. Or "invisible". (Looks at VF-25 Messiah's latest post.)

Check the demographics of Macross F. It's also probably stemming from the same reason that we got a cutisie Ranka intro. I swear, some to many of the MF fans are of the female demographic. (One of my middle school students is a confessed fan. I'll have to ask her how she feels about Ozuma. Especially since we got treated to a younger version of him.)

Here fishy, fishy, fishy. Definitely not the VF-2SS. For the simple reason that it's from a non-studio nue anime, and has been cut from the timeline.

Doubtful. Perhaps it's a production VF-24?

"saabisu" being "service".

I think the *real* reason that the VF-4 is so heavy, is it's built in rocket boosters. Them, and their fuel probably weigh something much. But it is interesting that after the VF-4, beam weapons have been returned to secondary weapon statis. I think those mentioning power consumption are on the right track for explaining why.

Been talked about before here: http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?show...0552&st=120 (last few posts. Especially when Egan Loo started participating.)

I partially agree that the fleet has a different design to differentiate it (a la the Zentraedi motif of the M5 fleet in M7.) However, as it's radically different, I think it is also different as it looks like it may become the opposing enemy fleet of the series. Is it just me, or does the Macross Galaxy fleet appear to have more effort put into ship designs than the Vajra ships? Both in detail, and quantity of ship designs, that is.

One more random comment on beam/laser weapons in Macross: realism aside, they don't fire and hit at the same moment of time. If anything, there are many times that they have appeared the same as fired bullets. Yes, there are some laser or ray guns that appear to shoot and hit (or miss) at the same moment, such as the Ghost X-9 in M+. Anyhow... me thinks the gun pod works best because it is an independant weapon, with it's own internal power supply and ammunition. If worse comes to worse, it can also be dropped. Perhaps for these factors, as well as other ones mentioned, it is the "main weapon".

I always felt that the episode 6 reveal of different types of ship for the Galaxy Fleet was more for the viewer of preceeding Macross series. In that we see all the ships from M7 in the Frontier fleet, plus a few new ones, and feel that MF is a continuation of the preceeding series. The new ship designs being spawned from a different fleet mentality, etc.. Now, half (?) the series in, I feel that the different type of ships are our clue that the Galaxy Fleet will become the primary opponents of the heroes of the series. Perhaps that is why they did the slow reveal?

Good points all around. Nevertheless, I still think the deciding factors are: the volume of shots fired along slightly different vectors (the recoil factor); lasers are how many shots per second? The GU-11 was 20 rounds per second. Highly likely that the later gun pods have an even higher ROF. the realism factor (for the viewer)

I'm not disagreeing with the ability to put a continuous beam of light on a target. What I'm disagreeing with is the capability to do so when the firer and the target are moving on different vectors at different speeds. Also, in combat, Macross energy weapons aren't usually shown as continuous beams being fired. They usually appear along similar lines to those bullets. Though, even bullet fire isn't portrayed that realistically... mind you, if it was, we would only be seeing the muzzle flash, and maybe the tracers. Anyhow, there is also the idea floating around in RL about bullets that chase their targets. I'm not saying that gun pod bullets do that, but there is the potential of adjusting the course of the bullet after firing whereas beam weapons don't have that potential (tangent: unless if there's a lot of gravity or magnetic force. But at the scales I'm thinking of, why use beams anymore when one can crush the enemy in a micro black hole?) It should be noted that the cannon rounds fired by the VB-6 in MF do appear to possess the ability to change tragectory mid-flight (I'm scratching my head thinking how. There was no exhaust, nor flare from rocket engines being fired... no gas of significant quantity... something to do with the rail cannons and magnets???)

Japan: age of majority: 20 (drinking, driving, voting. Funny how those go together.) Japan age of marriage: men (over) 18. Women (over) 16. Japan age of consent: 13 (though most prefectures have ordinances against "immoral sexual acts". For more info, start here: http://www.interpol.int/Public/Children/Se...ws/csaJapan.asp ) Therefore, the questions are: Ranka is how old? Your intentions towards her are what exactly, son?

Story influences aside (hero must kill villian no matter what he shoots with, etc.), another couple of angles to look at are the ammo capacity and damage output. Gun pods tend to have large supplies of ammo, and barrel overheating doesn't appear to be an issue. Lasers/beam weapons in Macross - well, in my memory, I think it was mentioned all of once that head lasers overheat (in SDF:M.) Otherwise, I think the weapons are powered by a capacitor with a low recharge rate relative to the speed a new bullet can be loaded and fired in the gund pod. Damage output - as has already been mentioned, head lasers do far less damage than bullets. In M0 eps 1, Roy fires a bunch of bullets at an SV-51. If one looks closely, only two or three of them actually hit. All shots look like they pack a large punch, and the SV-51 is downed. Yes, technology advances, and the recharge rate of capacitors and the damage potential of laser/beam weapons increases. But so to does the ammo capacity, rate of fire, and damage potential of the gun pod. Another pair of non-technical angles are the human factor and misinforming the enemy. The pilots of VFs may simply prefer using gun pods as they feel more powerful (vibrations, etc.). The misinforming angle is making it appear like VFs are only armed with gun pods and missiles, and once both are gone, they are out of ranged weapons. (Yeah, I know this is a rather weak angle, as either the opponents are vaporized, or the VFs are before the missiles and bullets run out...) Lastly, and I think this is the real reason: as a viewer, guns firing bullets adds an element of realism.

Different mechanical designers, different robots. Don't forget the destroids that were converted into work mecha in M7. I'm waiting for a canon explanation as to why the Cheyenne disappeard from Macross for the duration of SDF:M, DYRL, M+, M7, M7 Dynamite, VF-X, and VF-X2, and makes a reappearance as the Cheyenne II in Macross F. So far, I only have the start of a theory:SMS being a military contractor trying out non-UN (or non-NUN) gear...

I know it's not new. I'm just happy that the VF-5000 is featured so early. Hopefully they'll have the UN Spacy FAST packs as well, sooner or later.

Ooooo! VF-5000 w/ FAST packs! Where'd you spot this?

Why gun pods and not lasers? Easy - lasers fire directly from point a to point b. The chances of that shot hitting a moving target (or the target moving through the area that the beam of light travels through) are low. Gun pods, on the other hand, fire a horde of metal on different tragectories. Depending how close one is to mass, the tragectories may be alterted (moreso than lasers over the distances both weapons are effective at.) Therefore, the chance of getting a bullet to hit is much higher than that of getting a beam of light is. I'm not saying it's impossible for the beam of light to hit, nor that the gun pod is more powerful. A couple of other factors to consider are the coolness and gimmick factors. Is it not cool to see a multi-barrel gun spitting out hundreds of bullets a second? Is it not retaining a gattling gun in a transforming jet fighter the gimmik; the factor that makes Macross unique from other mecha anime?

I take it you haven't seen the line art for the VF-25, and the translation of them?

Oh yeah... that reminded me: the plastic folder from animate has on the upper corner, the same VF-25/VF-1 in the Spacy kite. I can't say about the rest of it, as it was stuffed in a shrinkwrapped magazine, and I didn't want to rip it out...

<sigh> I believe that this post sums things up nicely: