Master Dex

Indeed the back section of the fuselage is still there, just no wings anymore, but they were already messed up anyway. Point is, cockpit was still fine. Plot device Morpheus, plot device.

Yeah, that one is my 2nd favorite of the movies. However I don't think Berman did bad, I like all Trek. While true a lot of the science in the Berman days is questionable, I like to think of it as science beyond what we understand today, as it is the future. We are likely to make discoveries in the future that change a lot of the ways we think about things now. In any case though you are right, that is the first time I learned of transparent metals of any kind and anytime I think of transparent aluminum I think back to that scene, and of Scotty trying to talk to that old Apple computer.

I was using transparent metals as a generic term, but I was thinking transparent aluminum as well actually. I never would assume they had an indestructible cockpit canopy though, everything has its limits. Aye Scotty would be proud.

Ah, I see now! I didn't know you had to watch it for that long, I expected it would be a quicker thing. While I see it happen of the ones you made Mercurial, I don't see Gubaba's avatar doing it at all.

Well that proves it was glass or weak plastic in the VF-1. Anyone know if this seems to hold true for all Valks or could they be using something stronger?

I never had problems with mysticism, I just don't like Basara that much for some reason, but the Planet Dance song is good (I don't really have a problem with Fire Bomber as a whole). Of course there is energy in songs and music, it is more or less the way it is used and portrayed in Macross 7 that makes we wonder. I've always said "magic is merely a form of science that has yet to be understood." I would chime in with more lines from Planet Dance... but I don't know any...

I don't know if any of those carrot pics are supposed to be moving but as far as I can see, none of them are animated. All I see is differently colored carrots (I can tell which carrot is Ranka before she would pop out), but nothing moving. I am using Firefox 3, so it would work, I see other animated gifs (like MisaForever's current avatar).

Going on the talk about the cockpit in Battroid mode, I will point out the the lower fuselage piece in addition to the ECA does a decent job of protecting the cockpit as seen in ep.7 when a yellow Vajra gives him a full power shot right in the back of his battroid and save for vaporizing what was left of his already damaged wings the back piece was still intact and covering the cockpit which we see a few seconds later looks fine and not cracked or anything (until Alto ejects and the whole fighter blows up but that is irrelevant). I've also always wondered if cockpit canopies in Macross still use traditional glass or some type of strengthened plastic or what not. I believe I've seen instances of a cockpit canopy being shattered although I can't think of one off the top of my head (I don't count Gilliam's fighter in ep.1 and 2 since he ejected and I think that blew off part of the canopy as a standard feature and that is why Alto was later flying it sans canopy piece). Something I thought about is whether or not the idea of transparent metals ever came to mind for use as such canopies and whether or not they have been developed in the Macross universe yet or at all. In today's technology transparent metals are still just an idea but one worth a lot of merit. It is hard enough making glass that can withstand the vacuum of space, but one as big as the cockpit canopies we see would have to be some really think glass. If it is some type of strengthened plastic then that might be different though. However if they have developed transparent metals then the canopy could be metal for all we know, just transparent. I have my doubts though that this has actually been done in the Macross universe though, but it makes sense.

Oh, I see. I was thinking of a different stand than that. The one I was thinking of is made by Yamato and it supports 1/72 through 1/48 scale figures. It is on Toywiz under Robotech>Japanese Macross figures (sad that the site list Macross figures under Robotech...). Or a link to a picture of it from that site: Box pic of Yamato stand with Super VF-1J Max.

The 25 looks just as good as the others to me. Maybe it is personal bias, do you not like the 25 by any chance? Or it could be that is still seems new to you. Everyone has known and loved valk designs such as the VF-1 and the YF-19 for at least 10 years (more than that for both really). The 25 is still new but it is already one of my favorites (from many standpoints). If I was able to play this game ever I can see myself replaying it so many times just to try the different valks but the 25 would be one of the first I'd probably try. Then the 19, the 22, 1, 0 even. Hell I'll use the SV-51 (it always looked weird to me but it is still intriguing).

The 1/48s are perfect transformation, I saw a video detailing the transformation of one once so there is no detaching. I can't help with finding super parts but I think the 3 pronged stand you are referring to is a special Valkyrie stand Yamato makes that can hold any of their valks depending on how you set it up. Again I am not the person who can help if finding it but I think I saw it at toywiz.com. However I'll let people more in the know tell you if that is correct or the right place which to go.

I don't know you at all. Since that is a fact I naturally would have to assume you are just not up to speed about this model so I told you what we know about that detail of it so far. Simple as that.

The only time I see gaps like that (in the latest pic I assume you mean) is in the shot of it with the super parts. That is most likely due to the addition of the super parts and I have a feeling those are just as prototype as the rest of the figure so your probably right in that it is because of it being a resin prototype and it will be fixed before final production.

Dude you quote a comment from page 3? It's been well known for a while now this is a perfect transformation model, as in variable. I think though there will be differences from this model and the DX toy (besides scale). I think the DX toy will be sturdier and tougher than this model.

This toy looks quite on target, I am still positive. I can live if the 12600 yen price if it is just the bare bones VF-25 and I have to buy the Fast Packs separate, but I would love it if that price did include the FAST packs. Thing is I hope they make the Super parts in colors for both Alto and Ozma, because I want Ozma's VF-25S with Super parts the most.

I see then, simple misunderstandings, they happen all the time. I think I saved myself trouble by not looking at that above mentioned dating sim game.

Ensign is a commissioned rank in the Navy... well it is here anyway (US), like I said it is all I know. As for the debate on what the show uses, it doesn't bother me what it is actually using for it's rank system, I was just comparing it to what I know so that bit is done. I wasn't so surprised to see non-coms in SDFM, however I think your right, non-coms generally aren't pilots. You could argue though that the Macross has a shortage or personnel and were taking anyone they could get (and got lucky they got Max... and Kakizaki).

Well it is said it will have a lot of different mechs, and we've seen pics with VF-1, 0, 19, 21/22, 25 (most important in my book) and who knows what else (hopefully VF-11 and 17 will also make there way in, maybe even 171).

Like I said, I didn't forget that it is a Japanese show or that it is a Japanese ranking structure. I was just pointing out originally what I believed the rankings in the series to be similar to based on US ranks since those are what I know best, and also since they are so very similar to other ranking structures, including Japan's, for the reason you just gave azrael. That is all I was saying there. I only elaborated on what I was saying so I wouldn't be considered to be someone who believed everything is intended to be like the US because I thought it was so great or some such nonsense. Probably no one thinks that but I'd hate to be misunderstood in any case. Now that this is all settled and we all understand each other I believe this discussion has deviated from the thread topic quite enough, we should continue with Frontier news... of which I have none at the moment, until then.

I don't mean to be biased, the ranks just all seem the same as ranks used my many different countries. I don't know Japanese, so that doesn't help either. However I understand exactly what your saying and I know it is a Japanese rank structure in a Japanese show. However the ranks are so similar anyway that I would just assume that the ranks were thought up based on rank systems from nations all over the world, which I did say in my last post, I just used US for an example. When I say that I mean if it were a real life situation (it could happen...), I know show creators just use a common Japanese rank structure because that is much easier than coming up with a hybrid of multiple nation's rank systems, especially when not a lot of people watching are going to bother to think about these things (excluding people like us on Macross World who love delving into these things hence why we are talking about this now).

I actually had an HD raw (used an .ass file for subs) so I guess missed it (will go back to see it), but it looked like a real sky. Still that doesn't mean Alto wasn't born planet-side, and it makes sense for him.

Eh, semantics. As far as it being a Japanese show indeed, but in a real situation with a United Nations space military they are going to go with a rank structure that has been tried and tested. Although the rank structure is already similar to that anyway it seems obvious that the set up in US militaries is something that works (while in a UN environment it would come from multiple nations usage but truthfully they are all really the same in the end anyway, it is just how they sound).

Very likely I believe. The flashback still showed him throwing paper airplanes and it didn't look like a dome. Having a love for flying and then moving onto a ship with a 2000 ft sky limit. It is like being a regular beach goer that moves to Alaska, or a city person that moves to a farm.

Actually what is common in Sci-fi when they do space militaries (each story uses its own name for them) is they use navy rank structure for the people commanding the battleships and carriers since those mirror Navy ships of today. Hence you'll see the commander of a ship being called Captain which the highest commissioned Navy rank below Admiral. How fighter squadrons and the such it seems common to use Air Force rank structure because it appears similar to that so then you see Majors and Colonels. SDF Macross seemed to use AF structure more than anything but Global was still a Captain somehow. In Frontier though we see Ozma is a Major and Mikhail is a Lieutenant (either 1st or 2nd, hard to say). So SMS being primarily fighter squadrons uses AF ranks except for Captain Wilder who probably has the same excuse as Global, whatever that may be. NUNS seems to use Navy ranks as Cathy was said in ep. 6 to be a Lt. Junior Grade which is a Navy rank equivalent to 1st Lieutenant in AF ranks. (Note: There seems to be inconsistancies with some peoples ranks in Frontier based on who's subbing it, in one sub Cathy was labeled Lt. Junior Grade but in Shinsen's sub of ep. 6 she is just called a Lieutenant which could mean AF or Navy rank version).

Ok I got a screen of the fold in DYRL mentioned in my above post. It is the fold after Roy's death immediately after the Meltrandi attack the Zentradi and which results in Hikaru and Misa becoming stranded on dead Earth. The fold actually happens as the ship glowing for a few secongs and then is sort of speeds off with a bit of a warp effect and disappears in the distance as this pink glow flashed out from the point where the ship vanished. Fold Gateway? The picture is just of the purple glow at the end of the fold after the ship has disappeared so you can no longer see the ship. Still it has me wondering since it looks so similar.