sketchley

Ok, thank you for the list of callsigns (the disputed ones are fun reading too.) Though, I did answer your question in my earlier post. To repost the answer in other terms: the KISS principle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle The original Macross (which is what the original question appears to be directed at) is primarily a non-serious war show marketed at kids and teenagers. The KISS principle is very important when dealing with that demographic. Or, as the original Gundam was mentioned - what is Amuro Rei's callsign in the original Gundam TV series? And yes, viewers are stupid*. It's easier to create a succesful story for the lowest common denominator that way. An example of a show where the audience isn't treated as being stupid is Star Trek. But is that show really that popular? Compare the success of any one of it's movies to a movie like "Armaggedon", which does treat it's audience as stupid, and is, frankly, offensive to those who do understand a little bit about science and physics - yet the movie made $553,709,788**. *To clarify, I don't mean that they really are stupid. I mean that when they watch the show, they turn off their brains. Entertainment is escapism. If you want to escape from a complicated life, you tend to seek out simple distractions. Japan = complicated life in spades. ** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon_(film)#Box_office Star Trek: First Contact $150,000,000 http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/series/StarTrek.php

BSG? Battlestar Galactica? Top Gun? Movie? Please provide another Japanese produced anime with callsigns. Let's not mix differing cultures when it comes to entertainment.

It would confuse the heck out of the viewer. 1 less-than thirty minute episode once every seven days in a very busy life - it's demanding enough to ask the viewer to remember the names and the events that happened in the preceeding week! It is also one of the reasons why every hero has their unique vehicle and colours. Did Hikaru deserve a VF-1J when he joined? No. But it made him unique and visibly distinct from the legions of brownie VF-1A, and the yellow-black VF-1S. Later, Jenius in his blue trimmed VF-1A...

Enemies using UN Spacy equipment appears to be de rigeur in Macross. Macross 7 has the Varuta, VF-X and VF-X2 have enemies using UNS ships and VFs, Macross Plus has the stolen Ghost X-9 and SDF-1... I guess this is one thing that makes Macross II not Macross - enemies that do not using stolen UN Spacy equipment!

Also, is the market large enough to make it worthwhile? Of course there's the legal bills, but what I am mostly referring to is recouping the investment needed to create, manufacture, market, and sell enough DVDs to make a profit. In Japan, the DVD has a sticker price of ï¿¥7,800*, which is very expensive. Implying that it had a low print run, and even of those produced, they still can be found new, gathering dust, a couple of years after their release. Not a big seller in any sense of the word. * Comparissions (some prices as of 2006.11.12, and subject to change) Ghost in the Shell (movie) ï¿¥3,800 Macross Zero ï¿¥5,000 MI:3 ï¿¥3,134 Divinci Code ï¿¥3,343 Pirates of the Caribbean ï¿¥1,200 The Usual Suspects ï¿¥1,200 Sound of Music ï¿¥1,000 Superman 1 & 2 Set ï¿¥2,222

Ammo, in gunpods, is generally around the barrel. With the VF-11, it is clearly seen at the start of Eps. 01 when Isamu ejects the spent ammo cartridge, and replaces it with a fully loaded one (mounted on the rear of the arm shield.) If I'm not mistaken, the gun pod of the VF-11 carries 200 rounds (though it could be anywhere from 400 to 600 rounds! It's the GU-11 that definitely carries 200 rounds.) Not much when one considers that the GU-11 fires at a rate of 1,200 rounds per minute. Even with 600 rounds, that's only 30 seconds of continuous fire... doesn't Isamu do something like that when he pounds that one power suit from behind?

I'm not a 100% expert on it, but I believe that Photoshop will let you do it - using channels, if I'm not mistaken. Believe you me, Photoshop is one powerful piece of software. It's only *real* drawback, is that sometimes the file sizes are really, really, massive. But hey, that's a drawback to all programs that use raster graphics...

Maybe they just didn't have any spare glass panel remaining? It could also be that the designers didn't expect an enemy to penetrate right into the command bubble of the command center (and still have the ship, well, operate. Command center attacks usually mean the end of a ship.) I like the arguement of 'place box A into slot 1'. It makes a lot of sense, explains a lot of things (the general state of disrepair evident in the ships - leaky water pipes being harder to replace, etc..) We must keep in mind, above all else, that the Zentraedi are warriors above everything else. I bet they have extensive training in building things like foxholes and ground fortifications, and setting up radios, etc., too...

아멘

From the Compendium: 2025 VF-14 development begins. Megaroad-13 discovers an inhabitable planet near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The mission names the planet's system Varauta and immigration begins. 2043 While the Varauta research fleet surveys an "ice planet" in the system, scientists discover a mysterious energy field underneath the ice surface. With an undisturbed legacy of Protoculture apparently inside the field, a field-deactivation experiment is begun. The field strength drops and Protodeviln are awakened, starting with Ivane Gyuntar (later Geperuniti). 2045 March Macross 7 Episode 01 Speaker Pod The Fire Bomber band performs their first live concert with Mylene Jenius. New Macross 07 journeys near Planet Varauta. Exsedol Folmo has warned against coming close to this planet, but Maximilian Jenius did not heed his warnings .... In other words: there is 18 years of colonization going on (probably something more or less like Eden - medium to large sized Macross colony.) Research fleet members get brainwashed, research fleet returns to the colony, and brainwashes the colony populace. They then have a year to two years to retool the colony's manufacturing abilities, and start spitting out capital ships and the rest of their war machine - all crewed by brainwashed humans.

I think this list could be more along the lines of 'inspiring my imagination' above and beyond anything else. There are a lot more anime and manga that I like, but the following gets the most hits in my reference library. 1. Macross 2. Ghost in the Shell ((Following in semi-particular order. Tastes change with the seasons, after all.)) 3. Gall Force 4. Patlabor 5. You're Under Arrest! 6. Fushigi no umi no Nadia 7. Porcco Rosso and any other work by Hayao Miyazaki 8. Orguss II 9. Shin Seiki Evangelion 10. Gundam 0083 in particular, but manga like "MS Gundam: The Origin", "MS Gundam: Ecole du Ciel", "MS Gundam: Lost War Chronicles", and "MS Gundam: Space to the end of a flash" are quite good and getting me interested in 0079, Z, and ZZ Gundam. Though as the titles are in manga format... 11. Perfect Blue Yes, asked for the top 10, but I can't fit in Perfect Blue without knocking something off. And Perfect Blue demands to be included on these types of lists simply because it is unprecedented in anime. People compare it to Alfred Hichcock. I compare it to Stanley Kubric's "the shining"!

Maybe it's the speed or rate of change in the manuever? Pilots with skill did it better. Basara had a lot of inertia dampers.

Cuz we already knew that.

This talk of guitar control sticks got me thinking - is it really Basara who is flying? What got me thinking is remembering the scene inside of City 7 (after it was kidnapped by the Varuta) when Miria in her VF-1 and Basara in his VF-19 Kai are persuing a Varuta VF - Miria chastises Basara for his piss-poor flying abilities in a city. Why would this guy have piss-poor flying skills, when he is uber god at dodging? Because he isn't really flying the VF-19 Kai! He's merely inputing directions (go here, turn left there, etc.), and the VF-19 Kai's AI pilot does the actual flying. We know the Ghost X-9 project was successful (many of them were seen in VF-X2,) and that it's AI chip is especially good at being defensive. Why couldn't they have stuck the AI chip into Basara's VF-19 Kai? His poor city flying can be explained away by him getting in the way of the AI's flying - he, being human, overreacted, and made countless course corrections; the AI being set up to respond to pilot directions above all else... plus strip the AI from all connections from weapons (they can only be fired by human action,) and reduce the manueverability of the VF-19 Kai to a level that won't turn it's pilot into paste along the sides of the cockpit, and you've got one powerful uber-dodging, yet easy to fly VF, that any joe-rockstar can operate.

Chisels? Laser rifles? The Zentraedi use their barehands! Karate chop!

I think he already answered the question on afterburners - it's an all or nothing affair. I can't give any numbers on the second question, but given that jet engines suck in many, many litres of air per second, water consumption is fast. I don't have any figures, but what comes to mind is that the Harrier, with whatever engine it has, and whatever water load it carries, can only use water for anywhere between 1.5 and 5 minutes - basically used for take-off and landing only only. In a way it's like the Concord, using afterburners to get to cruising speed, or something like that (late, tired, no idea if this is coming across clearly.)

I was under the impression that the VF-14 only came into existance with Macross M3, and that the two Varuta VFs were based off of the VA-14 (funny how the VA-14 is NOT in any of Kawamori's design works books...) - the VA-14 having appeared in Macross 7 helps. Anyhow, agreed that the Az-130 is more advanced than the Fz-109, and the point can be debated.

Could be. But as the Protoculture are masters of bioengineering (at least from a human perspective,) and the Varuta, beyond mind control (which appears to be a power of the Protodevlin, and not a technology) don't exhibit any type of bioengineering, it is logical to state, as I did, that the Varuta fleet is limited by the manufacturing capabilities of the human fleet(s) that they captured. 3-Star Factory ships are quite powerful, but not quite as powerful as the replicator of Star Trek. My logic is based on the Varuta 1st gen* and 2nd gen* VFs - there is a noticeable difference in technology, and I believe that boils down to 1st gen relying on human made manufacturing ships, and 2nd gen being Varuta made manufacturing facilities. Of course, continuing this logic, I feel that if the Varuta war had continued, then we would have seen more of the advanced (meaning beyond human abilities) Protoculture technologies appearing - as in more Protodevlin, or worse, their offspring! I think it's dangerous to continue this line of thought... *1st gen being the Fz-109, 2nd gen being the Az-130 and FBz-99.

It is true that the people who make RPG stats do 'make stuff up,' but sometimes there are reasons for the inclusion. Sometimes they are very good (as in, other ships of a similar classification have them, it's a logical extension that these Macross ships should have them too (since cannon states nothing.)) Now, I'm not saying that you should trust Macross RPG stats entirely. What I am suggesting is that once trustyworthy things like the compendium, lineart, and Macross books are exhausted, look to RPG stats that have a bibliography. Those ones tend to have more thought put into them, and more care to make them as complete in the Macross universe as possibile. Just keep in mind that RPG stats are generally (or should be) created to fulfill the game and story needs of whatever system that they have been created for, and the needs, and possibly agenda of the particular game or person who created them. Be careful when referencing them, as even the best created RPG stats sometimes have glaring omitions (internally carried weapons pallets on Macross 7 and beyond VFs are noticeably absent, or misdescribed. So too are rear firing missile launchers on one of the later incarnations of the engine nacelle FAST packs for the VF-11, and don't get me started on the hip grenades for the armoured VFs...) The other suggestion is to add a disclaimer (when you make the final presentation) that though these ships that you've created are based on Macross fact, parts of them are non-cannon, and should be taken as non-cannon.

Basically yes. No, if it's only the Varuta. The Varuta are basically a human fleet that has been reprocessed by the Protodevlin. I suspect that the Protodevlin know of higher levels of technology, but they were primarily limited by the manufacturing ships in the human fleet they captured.

I haven't seen the show, and have no access to it.

The pictures that I have seen (some available as links off of the link I provided above) do not have coral on them, and are of the base rocks.

Ah, thanks. I think I understand it. Though there is one question I have: I have heard that the Harrier (Pegasis) engine uses water only while hovering. Did I hear that wrong, or is it related to the 'adding more into the engine to get more thrust out of it'?

Agreed that it may be reaching to conclude that they are structures akin to Egyptian pyramids. However, there are a lot of features in the ruins that hint at manmade origins - what I have heard on the subject is that the structures are not found in nature. An allegory could be made to the Greek ruins that, due to time and the movements of the Earth's crust, have sunk underwater. Though, as the structures have most definitely been reshaped by earthquakes - possibly having been partially or completely formed by them, it's hard to determine exactly what they are without further study. The fact that they are underwater further complicates things...

You cannot discuss Kawamori without understanding his cultural background. Ergo: walk a mile in his shoes. I agree that he isn't a stubborn old man who insists on reusing his old designs, but that makes sense, because it keeps him employed. Yes, perhaps my posts above were too simplistic, or perhaps they were subtly complex, being misunderstood. So, I'll simplify them here: a) mostly refering to live action dramas b) Japanese like new things. New stories = good. c) if old characters from old stories can have more of their story be told = good. d) there are exceptions to every rule* Now, if you still believe there are mistakes in this assertation, as I am in no way claiming it to be fact, but only a lowly gross generalization, I encourage you to study Japanese culture, history, and language at a major in university, and to come and live in Japan for the past 3 1/2 + years, like I have. I by no way claim that I am an authority on these matters, but am merely stating my opinion and personal perception of them. The main fact that I am asserting, however, is that Japan does not equal the country/state/culture/ethnic group of where you are from, if it is not Japan, and to assume that Japan is equal to your country/state/culture/ethnic group contributes drastically to misunderstandings, such as 'why is Macross 7 popular, when people in my country/state/culture/ethnic group generally opinionate that it isn't.' I hope this is a rhetorical question, as to answer the question honestly would start a cultural/ethnic flame war. * statement was implied, not directly stated. "Moderation in all things, including the act of moderation."