ShadowValkyrie

That's what makes it such a great finale, there's still so much more to learn. On the queen, I got the impression that the "Throne"-- as Grace called it in ep. 24-- is some sort of nest combined with some of funky PC tech. If you look at where Grace was located, there were a number of pods like the one she was in. And given that we knoe the PC liked to play aground with genetic engineering, it's entirely possible that the "Throne" is another one of those type of experiments. I don't think teh Vajra took out the Megaroad 01, but I think that the planet and the Vajra are a clue or sign post that we're getting closer to what happened. For all we know, the Megaroad 01 could have found the PC homeworld.

Well know we know why he ended up with two girls at the end of things. Interesting that you brought it up though, cause that scene did make me wonder how much a remotely operated a slaved VF-25 can do.

I would think, assuming they're still normal humans, they'd be hauling backside and looking for assistance at this point-- assuming they can't find a planet they can drop anchor on and colonize. So NUNS might not have to do to much locking for them. Wouldn't the larger question be-- assuming the city/islands survive-- how much experimentation were they subjected too, and has the v-type virus spread through their population.

No, you can't make me, I refuse Of course we could all end up with a left field hit and Alto ends up with Klan

In regards to the ship, I think it'll end (if we get a 100% conclusion one way or the other) being Alto and Sheryl, with Ranka moving on as she rediscovers the brother she lost and her new life as a go between for human/Vajra interactions. In a way it's a sad ending for Sheryl, in that her career and everything she considers "her life" was more or less a manufactured reality-- from a certain POV-- angled towads someone else's agenda.. So I can see Sheryl wanting to move on to actually live a life of her making.

Should have been clearer, my bad. What I meant was that the Megaroad 01 one fleet was composed differently from the successive fleets. Megaroad 01-- 1 ship, battleship/colony ship in one package; accounting for a dual designator. Where as the fleets from that point on, are all Colony ship + a space fortress (SDF) escort ship.

Or represent a different fleet configuration. -- Megaroad 01 one ship, two possible hull numbers/designators; due to the fact of the ships short of unusual construction history. Unless there is an Macross Class SDF tucked up inside that we've so far never heard about. -- Megaroad 02 onward -- Megaroad is the colony ship (City ship to use a term), and SDF refers to a battleship (we'll say Macross class for now, owing to the existence of the "Global") and fulfilling the duties that the later New Macross Class docked battleships would serve. Giving us the double designators, which would refer to both the civilian (colony) and military (SDF) component of those missions. Just spit balling ideals, really. What's it going to boil down to is being whatever SK wants it mean when or if, big if, he ever wants to address the topic.

It might a case of the Megaroad-01 being an odd man out, special case. Since, officially, the Megaroad was a heavily redesigned and rebuilt SDF-2 the ship might carry both designators-- SDF and Megaroad.

That's a possibility. More or less him sorta of/sort of not teasing the old-school fans. Not to mention this is the 25th anni., so it's a nice little nod to the roots of the franchise and to the fans at the same time; a "Gone, but not forgotten" moment. As for B's motives. Anything from him being a simple fanboy, to being a survivor or Megaroad-01, to him having a hand in or know the reason for the colony's loss. Maybe the movie will clear things up a little, but I'm not hedging bets on it doing so. It's a pretty open ended couple of seconds of footage-- which I think was deliberate-- and can go anywhere they want if they want to revisit/expand on that story point in the future. As much as I'd like a "hunt for the SDF-2" type story-- not sure if I want them to actually find the SDF-2 or not, I'm curious about the Vajra/Protoculture planet that Frontier colonized. There's bound to be tons of stories to be had there.

And it's not unheard of for a franchise's creator/head to back up and reverse a statement/deceleration about not covering a specific event. Perfect setup for another season of episodes or a few movies. Either he knows what happened to the Megaroad, or there is something surrounding her that makes her that makes her very valuable-- beyond the personalities aboard her when she was lost.

Minmay gave the old Varj a wee bit of culture-shock back in the day, eh? Could work. Which we could have gotten a little more info on how the Protoculture worked into all this. So far it feels/seems that coreward of the Milky-Way something big is waiting for humanity. Man, Comcast is going to fraking hate me this weekend

I think...hells, I'm sure it's Minmay. Which case, I wonder if we're [the franchise] are getting closer to the mystery of the SDF-2's disappearance.

Good...Great...finale, but it feels like there's a whole bunch of new questions out there now.

Dodgy stream, but did I just see a locket with Minmei's photo in it?

Die buffering monster. Great opening.

Another possibility: A Protoculture Birdman crashes/is left on the Vajra homeworld. They start poking around/studying it and end up accidentally devolving/evolving (all a matter of POV) into what we see them as today.

See, I'm just not 100% convinced that there isn't some sort of connection. Given that Protoculture fooled around with humanity's evolution, maybe the Vajra are a product-- gone wrong-- of another attempt by the PC to direct/control evolution.

Just had a bad mental image of Ranka or Sheryl breaking out in a rendition of "We Will Win" complete with Reba West's voice

1st thought, giving the anniversary and all that, it's going to be Minmay/Minmay's spirit. 2nd thought, some sort of protoculture being.

Or perhaps, while they were experimenting on a Vajra queen, Ranka was singing in the lab and her voice/song-- whatever have you-- implanted onto the Queen and by extension her offspring.

Technically there isn't, but it's a common sci-fi staple-- and I've seen it pop up in real-world space news a few times-- an cliche that humanity uses the galactic core as a center point to dictate a N, S, E, W orientations based on Earth's plain of travel in relation to the core.

Well, I suppose, after they colonize the ships could have served/serve as a sort of flagship for the colony. And 20 years for a ship wouldn't make it too old for useful military-- with continual upgrades and modernization to keep it in pace with the fleet. Granted, they would be eventually phased out for newer and better designs, but that could take decades.

I have a pet theory/idea that, given the official history at this point*, based on the SDF-2 being rebuilt/retooled into the Megaroad-1. Perhaps most, if not all, of the Megaroads have a SDF type cruiser at their core than can be undocked -- like what we see in M7. * - Try to avoid the word "canon" and the phrase "official canon", flashbacks to other fandom messageboards.

My wack-a-mole theory on the WTF-1:

It's Macross, for some odd reason humanity seems to like to build everything to transform-- whether it's justified beyond "Effing cool" or not As for the design not fitting a science-ship, maybe not, but I bet it makes a hell of a secure location to capture, detain, and experiment on a Vajra Queen. Great episode, craving subs like no other episode before. Makes me wonder how many Macross Class Cruiser/carriers were actually built; and by extension if they were built on the salvaged/captured/wrecked hulks of old Zentran/Supervision Armor cruisers like the "Macross"