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sketchley

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Everything posted by sketchley

  1. The short answer: SDFM (1982) was created after the release of both SW Eps 1 (1977) and Eps 2 (1980) by relatively youthful creators. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the creators of Macross were cognizant that they were emulating Star Wars. Simply put, the Empire of Japan existed from 1868–1947, and the arguable top of the Japanese government has been an emperor since 660 BC (and still is). So, if one combines "a galaxy spanning civilization" with "what did we learn in social studies about our history", it's quite easy to get to "galactic empire". Again, it's a slippery slope, as cultural cross-pollination does happen, but often times that occurs at a subconscious level through the filters of one's own culture. The other thing is we have to be careful about misconstruing "publication date" as "creation date". E.g. Kawamori-san purportedly lamented that Dir. Spielberg was the first to publish the concept of a boy riding a bicycle in space, even though Kawamori-san independently came up with the idea long before E.T. was released! Regarding 3): The neighbours of Japan are the "Republic of Korea" (South), the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" (North), the "Republic of China" (Taiwan), and the "People's Republic of China" (mainland China). They appear quite regularly in the news.
  2. As others have said: it's an impossible question to answer. However, I would err on the "no" side, simply because SDFM does A LOT of world building, and MD doesn't (it establishes new worlds, but they are all built on an established setting). Case in point: SDFM goes into great detail explaining why Valkyries exist. MD's addition is "they haven't been replaced by drone fighters because they're also used as background dancers"*. * this is not a snide or snarky statement. Kawamori-san has continually gone to great lengths to justify the existence of manned Variable Fighters to the casual viewer. The above is the justification he came up with for MD. My guess is that it's due to real-world developments trending towards unmanned drones.
  3. I think Adam Savage summed the argument up right when he said offbrand bricks just "don't sound right" (when clattering with real Lego bricks).
  4. I would mark the increased costs due to mechanics relearning and acquiring newer jigs as negligible, as that's something that still has to be done with similar models. For a real world example, refer to the retraining required for pilots and maintenance personal for newer models of the Boeing 737 (E.g. the 737-900 to the 737-MAX]. Re: Engines If anything, the YF-21's are arguably easier to service and remove, simply because they are placed in a single large component—compared to the VF-1/11/19 (etc.) where they are squeezed inside the relatively tight airframe that composes the engine nacelles/legs and requires a lot more heavy-duty reinforcement!
  5. Fellow old timer here: Long story short, Delta is aimed at an entirely different demographic than us. They took all the things that (apparently) made Frontier popular with the youth, and built from there. My daughter likes it a lot. She also likes Vocaloid, as well as some hyper-kinetic Youtubers that talk a mile-a-minute ... which sounds pretty similar to your synopsis of Delta.
  6. It looks beautiful. But... all those repetitive detail elements! 😵
  7. The smallest alt. build is still quite sizeable. Here it is next to the spaceships from 70821, and 70841. I'm pretty sure that the ship in 70821 is the Galaxy Explorer, and I have a hunch that the mini ship in 70841 is also based on the 918 Space Transport (inspiration of the smaller alt. build—which is gigantic in comparison!)
  8. 10497 is a nice set. Alas, all three builds (main, and 2 alternatives) require many of the same parts. So despite the oodles of excess parts with the smallest alt build, it seems that one would need 3 sets... ↑ the coffee mug is full of parts, too.
  9. Elaborating on safer: I read somewhere that there were concerns about the way the YF-23 carried missiles internally and how it deployed them (was it in a rotary launcher?) In short: despite the far, far greater payload, there were concerns that a single missile jam would prevent the rest from being used. Thus the "safer" bet on the YF-22 where a single jam would not stop the other internal weapons from being deployed (despite the much smaller amount carried!)
  10. The white A4 paper (with the QR code) from the publisher that came with the book indicated those errors as well as the corrections.
  11. Yeah... what's up with that? How can he even see out of the helmet as it's right at the eye line?!?
  12. As Kawamori-san has said on numerous occasions: each and every Macross production we have seen is an in-universe dramatization of real events. While they are each "true" to themselves, the real story is something else.* So, the best way to 'read' the depiction of the SDF-1 in SDFM vs DYRL is as a reflection of the in-universe priorities at the time of their production. SDFM apparently being produced shortly after the end of the First Interstellar War (2012-ish), and DYRL being produced roughly 20 years later (in the mid-2030's). * Like how Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbour are dramatizations of real events.
  13. In universe: they were either damaged and waiting repair or restocking (if memory serves, that's some of the features of the Mobile Fortress), or high-value assets not needed in the battle (one doesn't general deploy sensitive recon equipment right into a pitched battle). Production wise, they were merely added to the scene to provide a sense of scale and perspective.
  14. No, and while there hasn't been an in-universe reason why we haven't seen one since (aside from the suggestion that it was a one-off), there is Kawamori's general rule of thumb that an enemy ship will always be portrayed as an enemy ship. His logic is that it prevents confusion in the average viewer. This is why, for example, DESPITE the Macross Galaxy fleet being human and from Earth, it is never depicted using the spaceships of the hero New Unified Forces (the exception being the flagship, but even that is visually different from the ones on the hero side). Instead, an entirely new fleet of visually distinct ships was created for it.
  15. Elaborating on the release date, the images you posted after say: Re: HG 1/100 YF-19 Water decals: "Planned release date: Jan. 2023."
  16. What you've been presenting is a 'glass is half empty' interpretation, but the original text is 'glass is half full', if you know what I mean. ... and when it comes to Japanese, subtext and context make all the difference in the world.
  17. The 'core' of the foot looks like it slides up and down a bit (no idea how it doesn't pop off in the GERWALK pose). Note how the front tawny plastic is "inside" the grey foot parts on the left image, but resting on top of the foot parts in the right image. I don't think it's far enough to resolve the gap problem that Shawn was pointing out, though...
  18. That quote from Kawamori-san is actually quite informative as to "why" he got it. Long story short: Kawamori-san's modus operandi is to give everyone visually distinct mecha. And "among the existing Valkyries" in their CG library, the YF-29 fits the bill. Here's the DeepL translation for those that don't:
  19. Almost... however, the legs/hips are the parts that are common across all three modes.
  20. I think Seto's comment has to be taken with a grain of salt. IMHO, I think the context is which plane out of the movie quality CG model art assets that they already have.
  21. That's only half of it. The other half is the lack of material—they just aren't releasing stat laden books (e.g. This is Animation) or magazine articles (e.g. Great Mechanics.G) for Delta like they did before.
  22. The PS1/Sega Saturn Game Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? took it a step further: they introduced a "Jamming Station" ECM drone that was used to actively block transmissions from the Earth's side in and around the Bodoru Mobile Fortress. One of the game's final levels was to defeat it so as to allow the Earth side's transmissions through, and the resulting chaos enabling them to make their final attack inside the fortress. It's a shame that that game's reimagining of the TV series wasn't fully incorporated into later Macross productions, as I really liked the Quadoran-Nona and Zentrādi APC that appeared in that game.
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