Product9

They DID deploy the multidrones - Kaname is seen with some right after Messer talks with her. Presumably they can't quite fend an Sv-262's main cannon, so either they didn't try or they were already tasked with other defensive functions.

Mark

Those drones were deployed by Messer as he took off

Don't you mean jellyfish goddess? She appeared to be swimming with them during the festival as if watching over them.

Nah, I'm pretty sure she's a distant relative of Squid Girl

I seriously doubt Kaname will start piloting a valkyrie and i'm not sure why people think this makes the most sense. Hayate notwithstanding, you just don't become a pilot much less for an elite team like Delta. If the show decided to go this route i'd seriously be dissapointed as this would be more ridiculous IMO than the Walkure girls flying around in ep1. Next thing would be scarcat flying a valk, lol.

I didn't mean to suggest she would become Delta 2 tomorrow. It would take training time, just like it did with Hayate. But I could see her becoming proficient by the time of the last major battle of the series or something along those lines.

I'm just saying that's what I'd like to see, but that doesn't mean that's what's going to happen (though it does make sense to me). I'm really looking forward to what is to come because this series has been pretty good at keeping me guessing.

IMO Kaname makes the most sense, especially considering she hasn't really found her place in Walkure, or as an idol at all.

I would really like to see that.

What happens to his VF?

Well with no pilot it will fall down and go boom.

The YF-29 weathered its fall surprisingly well.

Also, Mikumo confirmed for squid lady.

hahahahah... dude, what are you smoking? gimme some to dull ma painnnnnnnn~~~

I'll let you know once I figure it out myself. Truthfully, I just saw Civil War the other day so it was on my mind...

Okay, so, let me really get the crazy fan theory train rolling here

What if...

So, here's a bit of crazy fan theory:

What if it's a fake out and Messer isn't dead, just badly wounded. I know it's unlikely, but his Valk wasn't destroyed, we only see it falling.

Unlikely, I know.

is this legit and where did you get this

I really hope next time two aces fight they remember that they're flying VARIABLE fighters, if u know what I mean

Messer's gonna be so surprised when he finds out what that lever does.

And in an attempt to be on-topic: I keep calling Hayate "Alto". I don't really know why.

Maybe it's because Hayate "resembles that person"

I assume you didn't mean Alto but Hayate... (both blue haired main characters anyway). If so, the VF-31's guns are stored in the forearms and just flip out. They do have a beam gunpod which is part of the backpack but can be detached and held.. though I don't recall that being used in the climax of this episode.

Nah, I meant Alto. There's a scene in Frontier that has him piloting a VF-171EX with a rapid fire gunpod. If his gunpod were externally mounted (like the VF-171EX beam guns and missile pods are when in fighter) then it would explain a lot.

Hey, I just realized the VF-171 Phantom Gunpod problem is back. Where did the cat-ear'd ace pilot in the -171 get that gunpod from? It just appeared in his fighter's hand after a cut.

I thought I had an idea as to where a VF-171 could carry a gunpod based on the beam guns on the Frontier VF-171EX fighters (attached to the forearm/side fuselage in fighter), but after watching the scene in Delta episode 8 again there was no gunpod attached to that hardpoint.

Also, Alto's gunpod was pretty rapid fire in that one scene. I have to go back and check, but did he have the same beam gun as the rest of the squadron?

-Arad didn't really said "He would be proud of you" the actual line is "yoku nite yagaru ze"「よく似てやがるぜ、あの人に」, which is basically "He really resembles that person"

If that is indeed the case, then I wonder if Arad is referring to Alto.

... i mean they both have blue hair and everything.

"A Walkure for every Valkyrie"

I'm on board for this movement. Who's gonna make the signs?

He was in training to be a pilot. The show never really established how much stick time he'd had before climbing into a Messiah.

Maybe he spent time in simulators I would speculate, but in the show it seemed it was his first time in a real Valk when he jumped in one to save Ranka. He seemed nervous at first.

He was an Ex-Gear pilot, which was something he took seriously. Conversely, Hayate didn't take anything seriously.

Also remember Alto took his training seriously as well, where Hayate was blowing off classes he didn't like.

Yeah, it kinda seems odd. Alto had the same fetish regarding flying in the wind but he wore a helmet.... A bit puzzling.

Alto was a pilot before he ever stepped into the cockpit of a fighter. Hayate is a dancer.

I'm calling it now - Lady "M" is Messer

Wasn't that only for the toy?

http://anymoon.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Bandai-DX-171-7.jpg

I've checked the episode and they're not ventrally mounted in frontier. As Product9 states, Machida's 171 already has one in its hand when the arm swings out from behind the wings.

Here's a GIF I made

http://i.imgur.com/Q9m3pQ7.gif

I made it pretty slow so you can experience the magic

Also, note the other -171s don't have gpods. Guess there was only so much magic to go around.

Too long ago, can't remember episode 14 of Frontier, but VF-171s store their gunpod externally on the underside of the VF like the VF-1, not internally in the leg like the VF-17

It's not on the belly either. First you see of it is appearing from up top in the hand already.

But this is too off topic. I'll make a GIF later.

I think that the legs of the 171 aren't thinner in a "these are thinner than the 17" sense. Rather, they're thinner in the "we can't do anime magic anymore" and that those are the new proportions of both the 171 and 17's legs.

That's probably the case, but either way, there's no way the gunpod's fitting in there.

I just now carefully analyzed the scene from Ep14 of Frontier, frame-by-frame back and forth with as much zoom as I could get out of my local copy, and that gunpod is still a mystery. It's actually in the -171's hand as it transforms.

The only possibility I can see is that it was somehow hand-carrying it in fighter mode. It does appear we can see the fist exposed when in fighter, but the camera angle doesn't give us much to work with.

Sorry for going off topic.

PS, if you guys want a real slow GIF of that scene, I can make that happen

As for the phantom gunpod, you guys are looking for it while I'm still trying to figure out where the VF-171 in that episode of Frontier got its gunpod, since the -171's legs are far too thin to store it in there like the -17 does.

I've also been re-watching action sequences at 60% speed since Frontier because it's the only way I can make sense out of the action. They seriously need to slow it down a bit. Yes, I know it's supposed to be flashy and cool, but if you can't tell what's happening on screen then what's the point.

Though another benefit of 60% speed is it makes everybody sound like yakuza.

Anyway, I enjoyed this episode a lot and even though I was a little iffy at the start, I'm pretty much fully invested now. So glad we're getting more action than we did in Frontier.

Also...

27 also did not use Ex-Gear

I just checked both Frontier movies, and Brera's -27 appears to have Ex-Gear. I can provide screenshots if you want 'em.