ChronoReverse

I still want to know in the movie, whether while in fighter mode if the YF-29's twin beam cannons (the ones mounted between the tails in fighter mode), can rise up and swivel to shoot at targets in different directions, like the Tornado Pack's guns? Or are they fixed forward firing only in fighter mode? If not, it would seem to be a step backwards from the Tornado Pack!

Didn't Alto use them while in Fighter mode to shoot backwards or am I remembering wrong here?

Still not a huge fan of the YF-29 design because it's too busy visually (then again I didn't like the Tornado packs for the same reason). I'm probably letting my favor towards the YF-19 design cloud my eyes though (I also didn't like the space variants of the VF-19).

The Battroid mode is boss though.

I liked Galaxy a lot. It has good music, nice animation and good scenes. I honestly didn't mind Pedro at all but I saw this a long time ago before I even saw Macross 7 TV (I was really confused by the sound energy bits but thought it was awesome anyway).

The whole guitar duel between Basara and Emilia was great and Emilia really did get along with Basara in just one episode far better than Mylene ever did.

I like both so it's hard to say. In the end I guess the 0 edges out the 1 because of the longer sexy legs.

It could be a case of art reflecting life. With the real world planes that the YF-19 and YF-21 are based off of, even though what became the F-22 had higher manueverability, the YF-23 apparently had a higher top speed and was stealthier. Scratch the former, and you have a strong reason why the VF-22 is a special forces fighter.

Elaborating on this, both the YF-22 and the YF-23 matched and exceeded the requirements for the ATF competition. However, the design of the YF-23 was more "experimental" and the manufacturer wasn't able to prove that it could be mass produced by the deadline. For example, the neat ceramic tile design needed to keep the YF-23 engines from melting wasn't demonstrably mass produceable in time.

For a front-line fighter, the YF-19 was certainly less complex to manufacture since it didn't rely on bleeding edge technologies like the deformable wing, detachable limbs, QQR Inertial Vector system and the Brain-Direct systems. Furthermore, all that advanced technology only produced a plane that's at best marginally better than what the YF-19 offered. Even if the YF-21 had won, it would have had to undergo a redesign in order to remove the BDS and deformable wings, increasing time to delivery and cost.

I feel that part of the problem is how difficult it was to handle the 19 and the 21/22. Performance enhancements aside, the EX-Gear along with the Inertial Store were extremely important breakthroughs for the 25, reducing the physical load on the pilots and making it less punishingly difficult to fly.

They never used their gunpods in that scene. Maybe they swapped both out for reaction missiles.

The real question is what Graham brought up though, why didn't max use the forearm beam cannons. The only reasonable explanation is that the beam cannons use the same fuel source to generate their "plasma" as the reaction engines use for fuel. Max may have been low on fuel and opted not use the beam cannons becuase he knew he wouldn't have fuel to make his escape if he started openning fire with the beam cannons.

Here's something even more weird. Max used those beams just minutes before while in fighter mode to shoot the automated laser drones. They even draw the emitters on his arms when he runs out of ammo.

With that said, there was precisely 5 seconds between running out of ammo and Basara arriving. When I think about it, Max still could have switched to them after his "last words".

Each to their own I guess. Both the TV series and movie left lots of scenes with impact on me.

For example, three particular points really stood out for me in the movie. One was where Sheryl starts singing a capella and Alto wakes up. The second was the stillness as Alto and the Vajra Queen connected followed by Alto ending the triangle. Finally, Hoshikira and d Shudisuta b =)

Didn't seem very happy to me what with Sheryl in a coma and Alto MIA.

The Sheryl and Ranka concert at the end (with Sheryl talking about the wait and miracle) seems to indicate she's fine.

And surely she can't be that happy if Alto didn't come back from his adventures with the Vajra Queen =)

Do we know that the VF-19 has the "through the floor" monitors? I'm thinking that was a YF-19 thing, that was deemed too expensive/impractical for mass-production. (much like the YF-21's BDI system)

Well, Basara's VF-19 has it for sure. If you watch The Galaxy is Calling Me, you can see the lower screens with the kid sitting on them.

If you're referring to the head mounted lasers, then they're just "anti-aircraft lasers" used to shoot at your six in fighter mode and to shoot all around (usually missiles) in battroid mode.

In Plus you see both the YF-21 and the YF-19 use their lasers at least =)

BTW, in the Plus Movie, after Guld ditches the legs and arms of his YF-21 he proceeds to shoot at the X-9 in a dogfight until he rammed it. Weren't these lasers in the arms? What exactly is he shooting then? His head laser?

Does anyone know if there's an explanation for this other than "they screwed up"?

Is that YF-21 the Yamato 1/60 (are there other ones for that matter?). If I cover shipping to Canada would that be alright?

"Particularly prevalent" doesn't mean "all".

If I didn't phrase it so that you understood that I meant that this is especially common here then I apologize and will make clear that it's what I meant.

That is, the argument seems thrown around often as if "no character development" == "boring character".

wow, that's a huge leap. There's plenty of characters that go through no character development that "north american" audiences like very much. Such as Captain Jack Sparrow or Morpheus (as he is in the first Marix movie). American "sit-coms" were designed around characters that didn't grow or change through hundreds of episodes. James Bond, until the recent Daniel Craig era, had no real character arc either.

The difference is, those characters are all interesting.. Basara is not.

Eh, I was more referring to a common trend of labeling characters uninteresting because they don't undergo development. I was also snidely being snarky about those who try to be "refined" by using such arguments since clearly even characters that aren't developed can be interesting (which was the entire point so thanks for more examples).

As for Basara, he might not be interesting to everyone, but clearly he's interesting to many if even the non-jp poll here is split down the middle.

I think you've fallen into the trap of thinking that the only way characters can be interesting along with their story is along the path of character development and being identifiable with (i.e., have something in common with).

This seems to be particular prevalent in North American audiences but considering the popularity of Macross 7 in Japan, clearly that's not the only way a character can be interesting.

I liked Macross 7 a lot and even the character of Nekki Basara was appealing. My own beliefs aren't actually in line with him and I really have nothing in common with him besides the desire for peace (and even then I'm not a staunch pacifist). And as you noted, his character doesn't really change much during the course of the show. Still, that's not sufficient to make him a bad or a boring character to me; it's just not his development that interests me.

Things like character development and being sympathetic to the audience are simply tools that can be used to make a character interesting. However, the lack of such doesn't necessarily make such characters boring or bad. It's too often the case that characters are judged as such on the basis of the former to the point where the character really does become terrible to the judger.

Basically the pre-existing biases has made such characters unenjoyable to you and it's really too bad.

Considering what a good shot he is, I'd say he just wanted everyone to listen to his song and stop shooting each other (with deadly munitions).

No, you're right. It broke through the cockpit and released a sealant.

Yeah, in episode one it just hit the armor but I remember it penetrating to the cockpit and sealing itself too. Must be some kind of variable shock absorber.

Another interesting effect I found about the Frontier movie is the part at the end where Alto is charging the Vajra queen and the spectres of Ranka and Sheryl are flying around him. Somehow, it worked better in the movie and it even made a better justification for it IMO.

Especially as they're DESIGNED to penetrate the cockpit, thereby breaking atmospheric integrity and ensuring they're headed towards the pilot. And they're massive, in the literal sense, so they carry a LOT of momentum.

The initial premise is wrong.

Speaker Pod Gamma, the gigantic one, was designed to penetrate through but regular speaker pods just pierce and latch to the surface, working effectively to transmit to the cockpit even if it's the arm that was hit. So they're weren't designed to punch through the cockpit.

Of course, it COULD happen but clearly they're not as penetrating as even regular gunpod bullets (which a couple shots can explode the same fighters lol).

It is a projectile DESIGNED TO VIOLENTLY PENETRATE THE COCKPIT OF AN ARMORED SPACECRAFT. And one that carries an explicitly intended subfunction of rendering the pilot of said craft disoriented and confused in the middle of a live combat zone at that.

Moreover, he wasn't doing it to cause disorientation and confusion. He just wanted to sing to the aliens during early stages where he was using the speaker pods.

It was only until the sound boosters (which don't require contact) that their goal was to disorientate (well, Sound Force's anyway).

More to the point, are u guys admitting to watching Card Captor Sakura??????

Graham

I certainly do watch and enjoy CCS. It's the sweetest show with good animation and features none of the horrible forms of fanservice we get with shows nowadays.

but this is why some jaded anime watchers avoid post-2000 (beginning with Sakura Kinimoto) shows that have child-like teenage characters

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your comments but Card Captor Sakura aired before the year 2000 and Sakura is a 10 year old.

- i usually get goosebumps from musical scores. quite a few moments of that in the series, a couple in the first movie, none in this second outing. is it still YK doing the score?

Says Yoko Kanno and Gabriella Robin (same person) in the credits so yes.

I really loved the credits songs myself (Hoshikira and d Shudisuta b). The first was somewhat melancholic (Nakajima's voice has become a lot stronger) while the second switched over to full scale happy again =)

Totally interested in the YF-19

I dunno. Consider this, Alto was communicating with them directly, mind to mind, via the Vajra network. Basically, in an instant the Vajra knew every single memory, emotion and experience that made up Alto. And through him, Sheryl and Ranka, who were also connected in addition to the Galaxy conspirators, giving the Vajra a pretty broad and complete view of what was going on more than anyone else in the show.

True enough. Still, sometimes it's hard to argue with multiple wave motion cannons in your face =P

But yeah, the Vajra did get the benefit of direct mindlink with Alto.