Firefighter Destroid

I'd say Macross R deserves an OVA or game given the amount of attention on this forum.

I would totally rock on a Macross MMORPG!

Huh... I didn't know they made a program to watch Youtube on the PSP. Perhaps you could point me in the right direction to snag that little application via a PM?

But getting a little bit more on-topic, given that we've (mostly) played the hell out of at the very least one of the Macross games on the PSP (or all three as is my case), aside from badass graphics, what should a new Macross game by Artdink include? Something large, I mean, not just model accuracies or missing VFs like the VF-14 Vampire and the or the VF-3000 that I only played with in Macross M3. I would still like to see a whole new story that while not necessarily should include a new VF, it could at least tell a good side story like VF-X2 for example or a story set in one of the colonization ships that have never been seen or we know little about like the Macross 11.

I've had my VIta since the Feb 15th launch, I love it so far. I am looking forward to importing any kind of Gundam or Macross game. Heck, even an Armored Core game!

It's called Destroy Gunners on smartphones.

No, that plot point has been closed off for a reason.

I hope the next game they release is a sandbox emulating the exactness of the likes of Grand Theft Auto IV or V.

Instead of Liberty City it'd be Macross City XX drifting in space toward some planned destination.

You can do all sorts of things in and out of the City aside from the usual mecha combat.

Everything will take place in real time making use of actual physics.

Grinding stats will be there for the afflicted but gameplay will be more than that.

And in space up and down won't exist and will be truly relative to your orientation and point of view.

And hopefully we'll discover what happened to the Megaroad.

Regardless of platform or console - don't you think it's time developers took these things into account when making that definitive Macross Game?

Hi Everyone!

It's been some time since I last checked on this post - something I started several space folds ago. I had to do some actual work that really kept me pre-occupied from here. And it seems in the time I was gone I had been give an actual name in the Japanese official site: 'Destroid Werk' (or Destroid Work if you prefer). It looks like I have a lot of catching up to do reading through all your entries (we've just started the groundwork for mecha control systems!). But even so, I want to express my appreciation on how this topic has sparked so much interest & response on what a VF is and what it can do and how it does the things we all love it for doing. Thank you all for your faith & enthusiasm. Domo arigato Go-Zaimer, fellow MetaCulture mechheads. Soredewa, mata ne!

I'm thinking Master Chief now... VF-27 RECLAIMER (ri-ku-re--ma--)

And another term associated with Messiah... VF-27 REDEEMER (ri-dji--ma-)

Well, it's in the Macross Compendium: Link

For what is that "fluid pulse actuators" thing, I have no idea. Maybe it's just another variation of the hydraulic pistons, but with some improvements from OverTechnology?

Here're the lines from the link then:

Eighteen P&W LHP04 low-thrust vernier thrusters beneath multipurpose hook/handles. Vernier thrusters with chemical fuel tanks in backpack section in GERWALK and Battroid modes. Vernier system below nose and in aft engine nacelles.

Fluid pulse actuators enable transformation.

Two cooling sub-air intake/airframe lift adjustment slits located on forward main body in Fighter mode.

Thanks for this, Sulendid. Now can anyone be imaginative enough to speculate how this thing works? It didn't say it enables robotic movement, though. Can we assume it does too since transformation effects & limb effects are intertwined?

wolfx, I can't believe that you forgot Noboru Ishiguro, the chief director of the original Macross!

I like the way Noboru Ishiguro directs. He puts a lot of goofy antics in the background scene. Like the Nue logo on the building in South Atalia that was smashed into. Where else can you see a fixed painting plead for its existence in a short moment? Or Shoji Kawamori being ignored while interviewing Minmay. It's sad this kind of comedy is absent nowadays.

Anyone wanna take a guess about the Firepower of the new Macross Quarter class?

I'm not sure that thing's main rifle really destroys things. Sort of like space folds them mutilatedly to another dimension where they can never, ever come back from.

For the VF-1 Its was listed as some sort of fluid pulse actuator, MR. March could we get a confirmation?

Alright!!! Our first real winner! Thanks for that, Fade Rathnik - Fluid Pulse Actuator (are you Zjentolhauean, btw?) . Now we can speculate how that might work if it were real:

Fluid - does a fluid run through it? Or does that describe the fluidity of its operation?

Pulse - perhaps this is similar to how nerve cells in our bodies transmit data at light speed?

Actuator - this speaks for itself, but is still an unknown in terms of what it really is like.

Any ideas?

the only real question would be how to power the thing, which SK & co. found a reasonable explanation for.

That and their inner motors they apparently forgot about that shake their metal booties.

Imagine building a Gundam plastic model kit. After completion you can pose it the way you want. But you must do it externally with your hands because you know the joints cannot move by themselves. You know that there is a lack of motors inside that might be able to move the toy figure on its own. The same is with the Macross VF canon. Official spec write ups are very comprehensive with a lot of things namely: sizes, weapons & engines. But in their ivory tower these authors fail to explain or give an idea on what devices makes the thing move around on its own two feet. Please be able to distinguish the Control system from the Actuator system. It is the former that you are answering, it is the latter that is being determined here.

HUH? What's a Minmay soul and why does it need to be saved...? And what's Protodeviln-like about Birla? I haven't heard him say ANYTHING about "the Beauty of Destruction" yet...

'Minmay Soul' is a singer-persona integral to the elements driving a Macross story. Lynn Minmay's singing saved the Zjentolhauean from becoming mindless drones forever drawn to war. Myung Fang Lone's quiet song saved Isamu from losing his sanity in Sharon Apple's music. Basara & Milene sang their throats dry to pacify the Spiritia hunger of the Protodeviln. Mao Nome sang to save Shin from plunging his harmonic-sensitive OverTech craft into the sea. In Frontier, President Glass specifically ensures the safety of the singer Sheryl Nome who we all surmise as the last living relative of the Nome sisters. I suppose you understand why such a person must be protected? The singer has always been integral to the resolution of a conflict. Now I'm beginning to think small furry green alien squirrels endowed with giant killing machines are beginning to like them too.

As for Mr. Bilrer, I can only say i have yet to see a micloned giant with an inhuman-looking forehead & right eye. But I have seen a Protodeviln in the Macross 7 show that has such mutant features. I believe he died while singing - saving his beloved Sivil in the process.

I hope when I survive to be real old the inspiration you've shared your children will ignite the spark to create a true-to-life tranformable aircraft-robot.

SMS is bossed by that creepy Protodeviln-like paraplegic dude in a wheelchair. What are his motives for running such an organization? To gain the full legacy of the ProtoCulture? To what end? To perpetuate the power & resource struggle that fuels meaningless wars within civilizations? (Well that seems more like Leon Mishima's cup of tea). Or is it to protect a certain type of person that can gain favor & access with whatever entity the Protoculture has become?

SAVE the MINMAY SOUL?

Definitely Ranka's impromptu performance at The Folmo. Sheryl should just sing to small furry Vajra squirrels.

Infinithi sounds like a rip-off of a Gundam Seed closing song.

The BGM seems patterned after OSTs from Jerry Bruckheimer & Michael Bay movies, doesn't it? I think Kanno's opus was fully spent on GITS & 2nd Gig. At least we have fresh new themes for new times.

They walk just by walking.

Let's not take walking for granted. It took the greater part of a decade for Honda Corp. to perfect the actuator system for the giggly stride of our new mechanical brother Asimo. While it may seem we take this aspect for granted in anime, the addition of such detailed renderings make for a richer story and background. Which is one among many reasons why we love Macross and the like. And so this dialogue was opened for you to stretch your imagination on the Robotic Aspect in Macross.

Sometimes I think the robotic aspect was deliberately left out by Mr. K to avoid confusing Macross with its bastardized clone nemesis R080+3(H.

I've been trying to figure out how the controls in the VF-1 work ever since I saw Robotech in the 80's, so I've given this a lot of thought. Obviously the controls in fighter mode are much like other aircraft, though it is certainly "fly by wire". where you tell the plane which way you want to go, and it figures out how to move the control surfaces to do what you want it to. In Gerwalk, I believe the foot pedals adjust the angle of thrust foreword and back. (ie rotate the legs) The left stick controls the throttle and probably the pitch yaw and roll of the plane. Right stick controls weapons, the stick moves your cross hairs, buttons on the stick select what weapon you want, pull trigger to fire. Like the flight controls you tell the computer and it moves the arm or head or whatever to attack the designated target. I do believe there is also a "manual" mode for controlling the arms, the four pressure sensitive buttons on the stick control each finger, moving the stick up,down,left and right moves the hand in that direction. the stick could twist to control wrist rotation, pushing on the palm buttons on the stick could move the hand foreword and back, allowing the pilot to manually pick up and manipulate people or clothing etc. Controls in Battroid are similar, left stick indicates the direction you want to move, the buttons would fire boosters or movement in space. Alternate pushing the left and right foot pedals to move. The faster you push them, the faster you walk or run. Head movement could be slaved to the plots helmet orientation. A sudden hard foot press could automatically kick toward the current target, a sudden hand thrust a punch. Think of a fighting game or first person shooter. You indicate the generals of what you want to do and the computer fills in the blanks. With the Ex-Gear You could perform actions like Alto's Kabuki pose, save the movement data in the gears computer, then you program what button inputs you want to use to execute the gesture when you are in the Valkyrie. or perhaps the Ex-Gear is a learning system that watches your movements, and what the minimum buttons and controls would be, to recreate that movement. Then when you input those controls the Valk knows what you want and does it. Theoretically the Valk could even walk like you do, because it uses your own motion data recorded by the Ex-Gear. Everything is also completely customizable by the user.

Thanks, JT Silversmith. That was a very detailed interpretation indeed. I bet if you had a VF of your own it'd be configured this way. And from your explanation I can understand how deeply you feel about the Valkyrie - its elaborateness does this to a lot of us.

Regarding Battroid/Gerwalk controls:\

There's just too many questions, I wonder if Kawamori can answer that........i have a feeling it's anime magic.

Dude, you came up with a lot of great ideas & I thank you for that. While on the whole it really is anime magic for now, maybe in a decade or two we can all laugh off how we used to think about these things because we would have made them real by then simply because we started believing in them now. That's how we as a people have advanced technologically.

Well let me take this opportunity to clarify to all the purpose of this query: I opened this up to get to the bottom of a gap Mr. K left open - what sort of robotic system is employed in a Valkyrie? Is it hydraulic? Is it artificially muscled? Does it use multi-axis servo motors? Or does the rocket thrust from the apogee motors on its limbs make it flail about?

Talking about moving a VF, I always wonder how the pilot control the arms movement like Alto's valk grabbing Ranka with two hands? I mean, in that situation, you can hold Ranka with either a hand (Like Hikaru did to Mimmay in DYRL?)or two hands, so how pilots suppose to determine which methods to use?

Regarding the Controls, I think it was in shown in Frontier episode 2 how Alto appeared to be pressing or rolling the bulges on the flight stick handle to manipulate the right hand's fingers in cocooning Ranka precariously. As for general limb movement, that must have been done by the new special EX-Gear suit pilots wear. The machine just mimics the pilot's body motion as if on a puppet string. I suppose by then they probably already use a wireless method more advanced than wi-fi or bluetooth.

But tell me, do you have any idea what sort of robotic motors a VF might have? The diagrams sent in here ruled out hydraulics & artificial muscle fiber, leaving only a bunch of vague 'circles'.

Anime magic!

Got to believe in magic, huh? Great idea!

Taken from the Macross Compendium:

Regarding Energy Converting Armor, here's my entry from my website, the Macross Mecha Manual:

It seems hard to imagine a radiant form of energy strengthening the molecular density of a solid object. But I get your point about the specially designed armor that can utilize this energy. It's pretty far-fetched indeed. Thanks for your entry, it cleared up some confusion.

But I would have also like it if the SWAG also acted as a universal conduit system that distributes power to all the VF's facilities. This would free up a lot of internal space for a variety of useful equipment, wouldn't you agree?

Actually, Reactive Armor takes the hit for the vehicle wearing it, hence it's always something worn over the vehicles own armor.

Wherease most composite armor simply absorbs and dissipates the force of the hit. The concept is to simply convert the explosive energy to something less dangerous to the vehicle and its occupants, done usually by spreading the force out through different layers of weave or tiles. My idea was that it simply redirected some of that force back, either through the material used or the way it was weaved or most probably both.

So SWAG would more or less be a physical defense system. Kind of like instead of the part collapsing due to impact, the energy kind of vibrates & reverberates around the struck area until it dissipates. Like a tuning fork.

What about the energy needed to operate the robot motors? Or the robot motors in question. There is hardly any info regarding this. Officially documented specs never mention the robotic system. It's usually only the powerplant as a propulsion engine. So what makes the VF swing its foot forward to walk? The foot thruster fired backward forcing an equal and opposite reaction?

My idea of SWAG is that it simply converts the force of the impact and sends it back at whatever is hitting, nullifying it to a degree (depending on the % of the force reflected).

I believe that was a function of the GBP system - the Reactive Armor concept where the kinetic force against a plate is equally repelled back. That all started with the Ingram's (Patlabor) cloth-like suit which balloons after getting hit. Besides, if SWAG was merely an armor concept what would distribute the VF's energy to enable its robot motors? Cables & separate conduits are absent unless the Boss (Mr. K) says otherwise.