dreamweaver13

These are very good points. And I'm starting to believe it's not so odd that the President of the entire NUNG is in a fleet, as opposed to being on earth. The concept of humanity as an “interstellar civilization” is something that deserves much discussion. If the true purpose of the emigration is to spread humanity across the stars, does there have to be a true center of human civilization? Is this new breed of space-faring humans still bound to the concept of a home planet? Maybe not. Maybe the human emigration project included a trigger point where once the emigration has reached a certain level, the center of human civilization would likewise move along with it. Remember that the farther humanity travels away from earth and spreads across the galaxy, the earth becomes less and less practical as a center of government, information and decision-making. So why does it have to be earth? Why even a planet? Someone pointed out long ago that planets cannot fold (and certainly you cannot place a pinpoint barrier system over it). In that sense, a colony sheep could actually be more secure than a planet, since the former could easily fold out of harm’s way, or use it’s barriers. yes, I definitely felt that way too. But that was until I started to think of the actual immensity of the colonization project. The sheer size of the galaxy. By now, how far away from earth are the colony fleets? If it’s already difficult to coordinate with the nearest fleet, how much harder to coordinate with eden? or earth? Also, in actuality, how many colony fleets still start from earth by this time? Isn’t it more reasonable that the newer colony fleets would begin from the farther colonized planets (i.e. eden)? They would cover more ground this way. in that respect, how many humans by this time still have emotional attachments to earth? perhaps less and less as time goes by. At some point, humanity as an interstellar civilization would have to veer away from its conception that the earth is the center of all civilization. If more humans are nearer to the center of the galaxy then they are to earth, then why not make the center of government move along with the general populace of humanity? let me take the concept of the independent nations one step further… ok let’s assume that the presidency is still voted by popular election (as was the case with millia as mayor of macros 7). If I were already thousands of light years away from earth, would I care to vote for someone that is on earth? Why does my vote have to be limited to someone on a planet so far away? Maybe I would like to vote for someone closer to where I am. and once i vote for him, why does he have to be brought to a planet i have never even been to? why can't he stay here? And we can’t say that only the votes of the people on earth would count. That would be an affront to the majority of humanity who are no longer on earth. So how about this? Maybe a general NUNG election is held every set number of years to determine the NUNG President from among the mayors/executive officers of each fleet and planet. Maybe it’s a vote by the entire human population. It could also be a vote among the mayors themselves (since the mayors were chosen by popular election, the president they choose among them would still be effectively the representative of the people by popular vote). It just so happened that at this time, Howard Glass was the one elected as president of the NUNG among the other fleet’s mayors. In that case, it wouldn’t matter whether he's closer to earth, to eden, or to the galactic center. He was chosen because he was the best elective candidate at the time. oh come one, it might be WAY different than anything in our time, but to say it’s juvenile? That’s harsh. Who knows what works in the future? As Zinjo pointed out, each fleet could be independent states, relatively acting on their own, having their own policies and sets of rules. Glass doesn’t have to have absolute control over the entire NUNG. He doesn’t have to be in charge of everything. He could just be an overseer. Maybe even a figurehead, for all we know. But that doesn’t discount the possibility that he is still the president of the NUNG, and not just the frontier “branch”. In that sense, he doesn’t have to meet other fleet reps/mayors regularly. They can just go their own way, run their own fleets/planets. But i’m sure there’s a trigger somewhere; some decisions so big that need the approval of the president (i.e. declaring pre-emptive war on another species; colonizing a planet; creating a new colony fleet). It is only then that Glass would need to coordinate with other mayors. Otherwise, simple news feeds would be sufficient. This is MACROss-management at its best. (hey, I just made a pun. Whipee. ) Your hardline stance could be a product of the biased conception of earth as the homeworld, as the center of everything. But if the human space emigration project is as big a project as I think it is, earth doesn’t have to be the center. Besides, as the bugs found out in Ender’s Game, having a home planet wasn’t that big of a tactical advantage in the end, was it?

thing is, we all know what happened, we just each have our own ways of saying it. knock-off, adaptation, re-editing, hack-job. each one's right, in a way. (although i must admit, the last one is my favorite. hehe.)

what, you didn't like my cast?? oh god, that is so true. porn with giant men watching the whole time.

one of the president in N.U.G.? ha. now that's an interesting thought. i didn't think of that. why not? who says it just has to be one president? this is a future government we're talking about after all. who knows what weird system they came up with? who ever is the supreme commander of the military (NUNS) is probably back on earth, in SDF-1 Macross. assuming, of course, that the SDF-1 is still the headquarters of UN Spacey after it became NUNS. but i think he did send the best army to rescue the galaxy. some are of the opinion that the frontier is the only fleet with an SMS and a Macross quarter. considering how special Glass seems to be, i think those special ships and squadrons are unique to the frontier. thus the best hope to rescue the galaxy would be to send the very best.

that's also what i thought, but the macross frontier website said otherwise. Glass is listed as the President (大統領) of the New United Government (新統合政府). (thanks to gubaba for the translation).

a small discussion started in the frontier plot theories thread when Kronnang pointed out that Howard Glass was not only the president of the Frontier, but of the entire New United Government. Might as well continue in a new thread here coz it would already be way too OT in that thread... it's interesting, actually, to have the president of the entire UNG to not be on earth, but on the Frontier. But that's not my question. i was just wondering about the government system in the macross universe. With HG (Howard Glass!, not that other acronym) as the President of the UNG, it would seem that the macross universe has adopted a presidential system. i wonder what kind? i would surmise that by that time, they had created their own government type with a unique balance between the civilian and the military. but i wonder which it is closest to? Since Glass is the president of the New UNG (and not the frontier), is it possible that the position of mayor in other civilian fleets still exists? All the while i had assumed that Glass is the president of the frontier, thus all other fleets have their own presidents. but with this, glass could very well be the president, and the other fleets would still be governed by their respective mayors (as was the case in Macross 7). if so, is it closest to a federal republic? with the president as the chief executive of all colony fleets and the earth government. but each separate state (or in this case, colony fleet) would have its own level of autonomy, through its local chief executives (i.e. the mayors)? Is Glass, in his role of the UNG, also serving as the commander-in-chief of the NUNS? or is the NUNS an independent entity altogether? i would understand if the military no longer recognizes the superiority of the civilian over the military, post SW1. but on the other hand, the NUNS do seem to give some level of deference to the commands of Glass. Or is it more similar to the rag-tag government system in the new BSG series, where the position of the President is more of a morale-boosting and ceremonial position, which the military can take away anytime? maybe there aren't enough facts to make an informed guess one way or the other, but it's still interesting to speculate. and of course, if this is already an old question that has been answered long ago, feel free to direct me to the newbie thread. (actually, that was where i originally intended to post, but the post got a bit longer than expected).

got it. should have read that more carefully. and now time for a newbie question...not here, of course.

wow. will ya look at that. quite a powerful person you have on this fleet. Frontier must be absolutely important in the whole scheme of things. a few things: 1. so maybe it is possible that only the Frontier has SMS, as opposed to other fleets. hey, if the president of the whole frickin NUNS is onboard, there must be a special unit assigned to protect his fleet. not to mention, a separate unit that's outside the control of the rest of NUNS (and another possible military insurrection). someone asked this a million posts ago. 2. is it possible other fleets still have "mayors" as opposed to presidents? 3. it's quite weird to have the commander of NUNS in any place other than the Macross SDF-1. 4. on the other hand, most likely Glass is just the civilian commander-in-chief of the NUNS, much like the president of a country. someone else is still the supreme military commander of NUNS.

does the official site describe him as the president for the entire NUNS (in earth and all fleets), or just the NUNS for the Frontier?

poor brera. his mecha ain't getting any love.

ep11 thread, dead at 15. we barely knew you. god speed. mr. march, it is indeed time for your eulogy. make her proud.

defensive, much? i was merely pointing out your repetitiveness, i wasn't even attacking your point of view. sigh. oh well. ok, then: first off... "fact"? aren't you deluding yourself a bit? it's an opinion. yours, actually. and the answer would be, in short, YES. if you have to say your "opinion" too many times, it sounds like you're trying to convince yourself. and what's with the boy in all cap? is that supposed to mean something?

other posters? reading back, seems like it was all you that posted that line. and this is the third. boy, when you raise an argument, you really keep at it, don't you?

as i said, if they do stay away from the macross story of RT, then there's really nothing to worry about. have fun with the alphas.

in that case...

yeah, the new BSG fleet may have gotten some ideas from macross (the cloud 9 ship looks particularly macrossy), and macross may have gotten some ideas from the original BSG. if that's the case, all's fair since they're feeding off each other.

shaka_z is trying to figure out if the religion during macross times will allow him to marry klanklan.

i didn't hate mac7 simply because i took it for what it is. i checked my disbelief at the door, and just watched. so it was ok for me. (of course, there were still "cringe" moments. everyone has them, except you. i think. hehe). but to actually try to scientifically explain the stuff than went on there? hehe, it;s just making me hate the series. so actually you're putting down mac7 for me instead of building it up. oh, the dilemma. hey... wait a minute... gubaba was able to stop singing?? de-culcha!!

dang, bullseye. and the radar didn't even see that coming...

if even the protodevlin couldn't stop themselves, what chance do you have?

tsk, tsk, man, that basara just knocks everyone up, doesn't he... starting to sound like the SMS song was written with him in mind... Iku ze iku ze SMS Ginga ni tane wo baramakou....

on the other hand, wouldn't that nevertheless limit the operating time of a valkyrie, if it needs fuel for the vernier thrusters? i don't recall any series where refueling became an issue (other than 0, of course).

it worked!! ranka popped out!!!

and the first case of heart-attack from reading a fan forum would be known worldwide as the "gubaba attack!".

ok, as a serious reply to the news clip... isn't that actually old technology based on magnetic/kinetic energy? i seem to remember old wristwatches powered by shaking your arm every now and then....