VFTF1

The future of Macross will follow Luca as he moves into a position of power in his business. The atmosphere will be harsh/realism - a bit like Macross:Plus and the focus will be on corporations using their clout to control politics and Luca's personal struggle with trying to navigate this kind of complex position of responsibility. There will also be war and economic crisis. Nanase will be his wife, standing by his side and watching as all of these nerve-wracking developments test her husband. Naturally, there will be some hotshot ace fighter pilot who is an idealist and who differs with Luca - and hates him. Meanwhile, Luca "understands" how the pilot feels, but it driven by necessity to compromise. Macross II will forever rest in peace Pete

See - almost everyone can agree that TF the Movie could have been "written better" - but then, when a concrete proposal of what to cut comes up - my reaction is: What!? No way:) The corny hacker subplot might have been pointless, but the corny hacker was priceless. Get of my Granma's carpet! My granma don't like no police on her carpet! AHHH!! (crash! smash through the window) "I'M JUST A COUSIN!" "She did! She did! Don't talk to me CRIMINAL!" "I ate ALL THE DONHUTS!" Just thinking about it puts a smile on my face - and to tell the truth - this kind of movie needs to have stuff like that. Honestly, what I feared the most is that it would be like the Dreamwave comic - which was just sooo full of pathos. Ooooo look! BIG robots - and not silly robots but really HEAVY AND BIG ones and we're going to launch nuclear missiles and quote the Movie with lines about the end being now and so forth and so on... I dunno - I agree, the Movie could have been written better - but how? What would you have changed? Me? Heck - the only thing I would have changed is HOW they got to the city. I think getting the TFs into the city was a must - to feature a city battle. But instead of "Autobots - let's take the Allspark into the City and then have a helicopter piloted by humans recover it - because -you know - not only will we endanger a city full of people, but the Decepticons can't fly - and Starscream is too slow and will never catch up with that helicopter - so the allspark will be in safe hands - like th city"... We should have had something like this: The Autobots decide to HIDE the Allspark in the city USING their ability to transform and blend in. Assuming that there would be some way to mask its' signal - this might be plausible. Another possibility would be that the humans evacuate the Allspark from the Hoover dam (not trusting the Autobots enough to give it to Optimus Prime/Bumblebee - they insist on flying it out in a helicopter). Starscream intercepts the helicopter and shoots it down OVER THE CITY. It crashes into the city thereby drawing both factions into the city for a battle. The Autobots decide to finish the Decepticons in the city, so Sam is given the task of taking the Allspark to another helicopter which will (hopefully) fly it out. I dunno - a million different possibilities to get to the city battle - this is something I would have fixed. But the hacker? He's soo funny Pete

This all just goes to show why Ranka and Alto should get married. Remember kids: If you don't settle down and start enjoying life with the one you love, you will end up shaving your head and dying of drug over-dose. Pete

I also prefer my girls in more tasteful outfits and would love a Ranka figure in the white dress. However, given the cannonical nature of this statue and how cute Ranka is anyways, and the stand/background thingy - I will get it and hope for more Rankas to come. Every anime show with a young girl in it was "loli" and every anime girl was usually in some way unconventional "for its' time." Minmey's shower scene in SDF M TV was probably considered "revolutionary" for its' time. Right now it seems "quaint" and "tasteful." "Loli" - to me - actually means nothing. It's like saying "you got the cooties!" Anyways - it's nice to wake up in the morning and see this thread at the top of the charts Pete

Super cool The stackable nature of the stands is a GREAT idea. Thank you Yamato! When? Where? How much? Pete

Not exactly Japense Engrish - but I think it merits a read - it's interesting and it's about Tuna : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090126/ap_on_..._fishy_tourists Pete

Strippers are so totally not worth it when compared to Valkyrie. Actually - strippers are not worth it period IMO. And to all pioneers who have the Devil vs. the Angel on your shoulder problem - remember: This is a Devil: This is an angel: The choice is yours. Pete

Hm. I tried to download it, but all I get is the warning message about not taking it anally. Am I doing somethng wrong? I love Getter Robo G's designs and am craving for Poseidon So I wanted to listen to your podcast Hopefully I will figure it out and do so Pete

Darn it. I wanted to watch the Gundam movie - the 0079 movie - the one that supposedly compiles together the original Gundam show. Why? Because I'm feeling that I won't be able to make it through the whole series. But accidentaly, I got Gundam 0079 Igloo. It's kind of cheesy. I don't like CGI people - although I admit these are very well rendered and retain an "anime" like characterization... but still... I prefer artist's renditions. Um...so...what is the name - the exact name - of the original Gundam movie? Pete

Ok - maybe I'll pose the question this way: What would have to be changed in the SV-51 to make it space-worthy? By which, I don't mean "able to fly out of earth's atmosphere into space" but rather - able to fly around in space itself and do battle there - without re-entry capacity- just survive in space and fight there? And by "change" I mean - barring a complete retooling - you have to keep the existing frame - it must still look the same - you can just alter internal elements - the engine - stuff like that. Pete

Thanks guys - and a big thanks to DarkReaper - this is the kind of info I need - where people not only lay out the science-talk but then give a graphic description like this one: So basically - it comes down to this: In space - an SV-51 COULD beat a VF-1 - IF it managed to do it within the scope of roughly....10 seconds. AKA- the pilot has to be extraordinary and the stealth capacities of the SV-51 have to be top notch. Final question then: What are the stealth capacities of an Ivanov type SV-51? ps - re the Vernier thrusts - could VTOL thrusters be called vernier then? From the utter zilch I know (aka wiki) - Venier thrusters are by definition used in space. But that's a side issue anyways - everything you guys have written has helped me immensely. Big thanks. Pete

Wow. Really? I have to go look under my Ivanov now... I didn't notice that... that is helpful and hints that somebody was thinking of space flight for these. Correct me if I'm wrong - but Vernier Thrusters have no use outside of space, right? Pete

Here's my list: Alto: Cut his hair and got addicted to booze. Suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome induced from the last battle. Ozma: Marries Cathy and gets killed the very next day in a flying accident. Ranka: Already seriously traumatized by past events, Alto's alcoholism and Ozma's death push her over the edge and she runs away from "home" and gets a job as a waitress in a chinese restaurant in some dump of a Colony ship and tries to rebuild her life - supressing all of the memories of her childhood. Sheryl: Marries Luca's dad because she is getting old, nobody likes her music anymore and she needs the money. Luca: Works for his dad. Traded his flight jersey for a business suit. Klan: Unable to let go, she hates Vajra for Mikhael's death and goes AWHOL. Leon: Shoot - executed for High Treason. Captain of the Macross Quarter: Forced into early retirement for Mutiny. Dies of lung cancer two years later. Cathy: After loosing Ozma, she dedicates herself fully to her military career and becomes a dry, depressed, despondant drone in the military machine, swearing off all love and emotions. Brera: Terminated, along with every other cybor, implant etc etc that the NUNS can find on the Frontier and anywhere else (since NUNS have started a crusade to purge AI from all colony ships given the events of first Plus then Frontier). Ai-Kun: Goes off to search for Ranka but faces discrimination because he looks like a slug having sex with a tick. Did I miss anything? Pete

For my part , all the flak I'm throwing is not personal Pete

Mr. March: Thank you so much for your detailed response. I read over the information on your webpage, but I was never good at translating such info into common sense, as you have done. To sum up then, would it be fair to say the following: An SV-51 CAN be made space-worthy, however, in space it's biggest problems would be relatively slower conversion time and relatively larger mass as compared to the VF-1 which is much much fast, and converts between its' respective modes fluidly and with ease. Finally - one thing I noticed: The Super VF-1 is likely more maneuvrable because it has thrusters/exhaust ports on its' sides - so in the vacuum of space it can maneuver quickly on the same axis as - say - a Revoltech Joint. The SV-51, even if we mounted some special booster to make it space worthy - is not at all maneuvrable in any mode. It would be relying on the simple laws of thermo-dynamics to move in space and would potentially have to "master" 0-G movement kind of like Minmey had to in DYRL? as opposed to being able to proverbialy far out of its' pores in order to maneuver (like the Super VF-1 can)? Your information will be put to good use - I promise:) Pete

Aw How sweet. Naturally I am over-exagerating. After all - I'm basing my opinion of a woman based one ONE picture, and then using that as a spring-board for formulating an opinion about an entire movie. I would love to get the DVD of everything, but in Poland the only anime I can get on DVD - besides the pseudo-hentai/loli ones - is Gundam SEED (which I think I might just do). Amazon doesn't deliver to Poland (or at least didn't last I checked) and I can't be arsed to drive to Berlin every time I want something So - eventually - I probably should get around to watching this. It's just that holding a fixed prejudice on a subject with no factual backing for my opinion is SO FUN Pete

Here's why: Yeah - a hero amongst fans of Robotech who crave exactly this kind of fan-wank which goes totally against the grain of Kawamori's style of leaving wonderful things wonderful so as not to ruin their memory. Just because they are red does not make the Vajra "copies" of the Invid. The Invid were metal mecha piloted by goopy little creatures who evolved using the "Flower of Life." The Vajra are bio-weapons that use fold waves and have no individual personality and communicate through their stomachs. Also - they come in brown variants as well. They have nothing to do with Invid - and to make the Vajra-Invid connection, you need to be a Robotech fan in the first place. Why does it make no sense that a theatre artist who dresses up as a girl and takes much of his looks after his beautiful mother wouldn't want to quit being an actor and be a pilot instead - and constantly get mistaken for a woman? Alto has his faults as a character, but the premise is interesting. To compare him to Lancer-Yellow Dancer makes no sense. The power armor does not transform into a plane and the aesthetic has nothing to do with the cyclones from Robotech. If anything - the theme is a continuation of the notion that pilots are helpless in space. Remember in SDF Macross when Hikaru yelled at Misa for not understanding - and only when she saw the battroid with its' chest ripped off and the dead pilot floating inside did she get it. The power suit was developed so pilots could survivei n space and save themselves even if their valkyrie was hit - which happened a few times in Frontier. Consider it more like a PARACHUTTE for space than a Cyclone fighter. Grace is not an android. The body is an empty shell for an A.I. program similar to Sharon Apple - and incidentially this theme of A.I. versus nature/naturalism has been around in Macross since Plus and if anything, is a hommage to Plus. As for Grace's character design - see Dynamite Macross 7. Janice, on the other hand, is nothing more than a walking android - a stereotypical cliche character that has been around as long as Sci-Fi. The comparissons are off IMO Pete

Well - something else that got cut was the butt grabbing scene between Misa and Hikaru. And I'm not just mentioning that to evoke images of Misa's butt, although that might be a pleasant side effect. The butt grabbing scene happened in an episode which was pretty symptomatic of the slow development of Hikaru and Misa's love - and particularly of the "opening up" to love that Killer Robot mentions Misa went through... Now that I think of it - this opening up took on many shapes and was presented with many different shades in SDFM TV - not just in the "notices something outside her work" shade - but more like "womanliness vs. professionalism" or something like that. I guess I'm just now recalling to mind all of the little scenes where Misa flashes her womanliness before us - and in those moments she becomes so lovable. In DYRL, this really happened only twice: once on the devastated Earth, in the tent - and really it didn't so much happen in a visual sense as Misa just basically explicitly SAID it ("oh how ironic, I, super-woman soldier, helpless and needy while you, insubordinate man who doesn't fit in - so in control and manly") - and the second time being her extacy when Hikaru says he had always loved her... Meanwhile - in SDFM TV - it comes in short spurts. My favorite is when they get stuck during the Transformation in that segment and end up talking - again - on a personal level and getting closer and closer - and as they seem about to kiss - the alarm is lifted and they are freed. Then, towards the end, as they are about to go their seperate ways - suddenly - BANG! Misa reaches for Hikaru's hand and motions that he stay with her a while. Just this one episode - which went from "you pervert! you grabbed my butt (although it felt good)!" to "Yes, I secretly love Kaifun like you love Minmey (so we can never be together)" to "screw appearances and conventions - I'm tired - hold my hand and walk with me because I'm happy with you around." The love story in SDFM TV is far more pronounced because we have episodes like that one (Shau Pi Lon) where the entire episode is really dedicated to fleshing out just the love story of Misa and Hikaru - kind of...hm...a bit like when Minmey and Hikaru were trapped, just, much sadder, less dramatic, more somber... Pete

Ranka has curves But maybe I shouldn't be knocking Ishta's thighs - what really bugs me are those legs: she looks like she does 25 miles a day on her exercise bike. Buff legs. And in the words of Cosmo: BUFF KLAN NEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! I dunno. I just don't like buff macho women. She looks macho in that picture. I have nothing against manly women as such; but I certainly don't find them attractive on a personal level Pete

No I built and photographed that almost a year ago and all of the components are now disassembled and restored to their original selves But trust me - the front was nothing pretty She was the kind of girl you only wanted to see from behind Pete

No. You need to use Yotsuba's Revoltech joint to connect the two. Pete

Hello Mr. March. Thank you for providing your wonderful website. I will read up on the subject that I am going to ask about soon, but if you have the time and desire, then please feel free to hypothesis on the following: 1) How would the SV-51r fair in SPACE? Was it only the VF-O that was designed for space/air/underwater/multi-purpose climate, or can the SV-51 also make it to space? 2) Presuming that the SV-51r CAN go into space - how would it function out there? Is there anything in the design that would limit it in terms of maneuvrability etc? 3) How would the SV-51r fair against a VF-1 with Super and Strike parts - in space? Abstracting from the reaction missiles that the VF-1s would have with their SS parts, how would the SV-51r do? Thanks, Pete

Welcome to the forum Knives - amazing pictures of an amazingly well done model Pete

Until I actually go rumaging for modeling supplies I won't know what I'll be doing. As much as I appreciate you guys pointing me to specific products - I honestly have no clue what I'll find here. Probably will go searching for this stuff some where in mid-Feburary at best. I won't have my 1/72 Macross stuff until the third part of this year anyways - so there's plenty of time for me to learn. Who knows... maybe I'll paint a Gundam in the meanwhile Pete

Both Killer Robot and Bri hit on some really good points. Can't argue with either of you guys. But does this all mean that Misa's character is really one dimmensional - since she looses the least and is the easiest to transfer out of the series into the movie? Also - about Misa- I think that something which can be inferred, although it's never said - about why she is the way is is comes from her past with Riber. She was in love with Riber, and then Riber dissappeared. It's never shown, but I can see Misa engrossing herself more and more into her military role and her job to forget about the pain of such a loss. Also - given her family's miltary habits, I don't imagine Misa ever learned how to do much soul-searching or come to terms with things like love and womanliness. As she herself said at on point, she's very much like the Zendradi in a way. Anyways - this would probably make the scars left by Riber's loss all the bigger. I think it's interesting that they show Riber in the movie - show that part of Misa. They make no comments on it, there is no narration - if you haven't seen the series you just have to infer that it's a lost love of sorts... But - yeah - interesting that they keep that part of Misa's past in the movie, while Minmey does indeed just get "reduced" to being an idol - and nothing more. And another thing about the movie which bugs me: THEY NEVER SAY WHY THE MACROSS IS FLYING AROUND IN SPACE in the first place. It almost feels as if the Macross is like an ark that managed to ESCAPE Earth - but then why would it be flying back...? Anyways - this is really a downside to the movie. Pete