Shaka_Z

i like that angle!

on the other hand, it could be just another emo act. running just to get away from all those deaths, like he did in ep2 when he remembered gilliam-juice.

when did he run away in ep 2? granted he did ditch the valk and ranka, but damn... she was safe, the valk's owners were going to be coming for it, and he had just been witness to something really really gruesome - it would leave most people with emotional scars and the need to retreat to deal with it. remember, Alto-hime isnt one to cower in fear from things when they are happening - he is actually a pretty quick thinking and decisive individual. dealing with the scars afterwards is his problem, and that is pretty normal. by the end of ep 2 he was demanding to fly a valk!

hmmm... I am thinking it is Alto running to find Sheryl. it is quite likely that klan will tell him about Sheryl's condition now that michel is gone - remember she wanted to tell Alto everything after Sheryl left them in the library in ep 18. I think that given her admonition to Alto in ep 20 that she would be highly disposed to force Alto's hand by breaking the silence about it.

Zentraedi have relatively stronger bone structures, and more resistant phsyical attirbutes then the average human, whether micronized and macronized. they were probably built/evolved that way by the protoculture so that they can withstand being a giant soldier.

this much goes without saying. I have to wonder though if the Zentran/Meltran were originally developed from ancient human stock or not, considering the whole 'interbreeding compatibility' angle. it would seem very likely.

i would like to think that when a normal human is macronized, his bones would not be strong enough and would crumble under the pressure of his own weight. (much like an article i read that a giant insect is not scientifically possible since its frail legs would give in to its own increased mass). just my thought on the matter. that, and the fact that i've never seen a macronized human before in macross canon (movie aside) and that characters automatically assume that a giant is a "zentraedi", and not simply a macronized human. i don't think it's just a matter of economics, as you suggested, but of actual physical attributes. if a human can simply be macronized, then why the need to differentiate between the physical attirbutes of a human and a zentraedi?

this idea is quite reasonable... one quibble though - using insects as an example is not the best idea, as fossilized remains of giant insects have in fact been found (dragonflies among others iirc). insect size is more dependent on oxygen levels in the atmosphere from what I remember, as they breathe through their traechea, which doesn't function very well past a certain size in modern atmospheric conditions.

good catch with the white toyota van... some designs are pretty much timeless.

i stand corrected...

lol... dirty thought here - I'm gonna spoiler tag this, so be warned... naughty adult thoughts here ^^:

maybe Max looks so good at 52 because of something meltrandi women.. secrete under certain stimulation... that would be fun

I agree. After all, Zentradi and humans are genetically identical, so why couldn't it be done?

not identical, but much closer than we are even to the apes and chimpanzees - all the differences are effectively cosmetic, and frankly make your typical meltrandi female much more... physically endowed than the average normal human. not to mention they dont seem to lose their step with age... look at millia - 11 kids and still looks delicious... Max had to actually swear off that booty, cuz he just couldnt seem to be able to *not* make her pregnant. makes you wonder why humanity needed zentran cloning tech at all lol.

sorry... i almost reverted to horny rapper speech there ^^.

no worries bro I see where your going with it. And wasn't really calling you out in particular or anything I know I've seen lots of people comment that they think Sheryl is somehow related which I sorta did at first but started having my doubts around episode 18 or so whenever Grace and Sheryl had their falling out. And true I was wondering what if Grace didn't just randomly find her and is lying/controlling Sheryl even more. With Grace you never can tell o_o

I really do like how they are added things into Zero's BD release to tie things together though. haha guess they can always claim "well it was there its just that without the awesomeness of high def none of you viewers ever really noticed it yeah thats it ^_-" lol

lol no offense taken man - actually quite the opposite.

I still am quite convinced of the 'Sheryl is a cousin from Sara and Mao's Dad's side of the family' vector... there are just too many things we know about Sheryl now, and here are 4 of the bigger points:

1. the Nome name - yeah grace could have named her... I know

2. the earrings - these little baubles are directly connected to Mao, we just dont know the chain of possession.

3. sheryl is fluent in french - a language that should be effectively dead by 2059, having been replaced by something much closer to an english based 'standard' language - lets face it, the vast majority of the population of Ataria spoke english, japanese and chinese. it was however a language the Mayans spoke (apparently the island was a french territory at some point). I admit this has some problems, such as why was Sheryl a street urchin on Galaxy, but she could have been orphaned by the loss of the 117th. hopefully we will see some more of her past, as it seems that Ranka and Brera aren't the only ones with amnesia.

4. her blood type

granted, given the events of SW1, the likelihood of any such relations survivng is slim, and dependent on wether or not the relations moved to Ataria Island - given that the entire population of Mayan was likely relocated there, it isn't much of a stretch that if Mao had any remaining family they would relocate to wherever she was, given that she was only like 12-14 years old, and the UN wouldn't be very willing to let any mayan native have free roam of the world - too many potential leaks and political fallout.

In response to Shaka_Z about having a 19 or 21 with an EX-gear, does anyone out there with any ideas on just how the EX-gear system works to enable the pilots to push their bodies harder. What I mean is that today both the USAF and USN use a system called Combat Edge that provides tactical aircrew with an assisted pressure breathing for G (PBG) system for positive acceleration protection between +4 and +9 G to an altitude of 50,000feet. This system has allowed aircrews to with stand up to 11g without blacking out. (on a side note I have heard from F-14 drivers who have pulled over 12g before this system was issued) I can't see the whole assisted pressure system being pushed that much farther without doing harm to the aircrew.

well.. its' got something to do with those skintight mechanical pressure flight suits. they are probably far more effective at combatting G's than any suit based on gas pressure. I always envisioned them as being not so much skintight, but almost like an oversuit of synthetic muscle fiber, which could literally make a 90-lb weakling like Luca look like bruce lee at his physical peak (he was what... 5'7" and 130lbs of absolute muscle, many of which were in places where most people just don't have muscle)

thats truly awesome that they added them onto the BD collection

although I dont think that proves that Sheryl is any relation to Sara necessarily. Since as Grace stated she found her and made her who she was, it seems more likely to me that Mao from back in the Zero day just kept the earrings and somehow Grace got them. Then with Grace finding Sheryl (if that was even her name) she decided to give her the last name Nome and the earrings as part of her experiment.

I also like the comment about how possible the crystals were on earth then and possible part of the bird humans blood or maybe out of its body. A definite possibility and interesting one at that

But time will time

well I never stated or implied that the earrings proved a blood relation between sheryl and mao or any other nome. all it really proves is that the earrings are related. I am still of the opinion though that sheryl is related somehow... wasnt it mentioned somewhere in Zero that mao/sara's uncle had left the island for the big cities... or was that just a general mention of the island population leaving for the riches of civilization? maybe she is a cousin from that side of the family (ie the uncle ended up in france and married there). that would certainly explain her lighter complexion compared to mao for example.

an additional thought:

Ranka started to sing while in pain, vajra started to get more violent.

Ozma declares, "this is just like what happened to the 117th"

could it be possible...while ranka was a child, she was pissed off somehow and the vajra started destroying the 117th fleet. of course, the vajra left the little queen alive.

so... ranka was the cause of the 117th going bye-bye?

dude... Ive been saying this for the last 2 weeks and nobody's bothered to read my posts!!!

On the topic of Ghost fighters, remote controls and lag there is also the reason that by using a data link in almost any form blows away any type of EMCON, or emission control. That means that if the enemy has any type of electronic warfare support measures they could use the data link to find out where the fleet is. Space is big and if you are at war you may not want to give away your location by having what is the electronic form of a leash going from your air wing right back to your carrier. In today's military there are many times when aircrews will not even use the radio for most if not the whole flight, using only hand and light signals to communicate. I'm not a real big fan of UCAVs (unmanned combat air vehicle) I feel that they have their place in war, but should never replace pilots in many missions.

I second this opinion... I am really uncomfortable with the USAF's drive to UCAVs - they've basically all but stated that their objective is to all but eliminate manned aircraft in the future battlespace, and that aircraft like the F-22 are quite likely going to be the last of their kind. I certainly hope that our Pilots take that threat for what it is, and follow the example of Isamu - remember that he didnt go to earth to rescue myung (initially)... his intention was to kill the AI ghost fighter outright, in front of the entire military establishment, on the day of its' public unveiling (basically he was going to assassinate the damn thing). Guld was sent to stop him, as aside from the X-9 ghost itself, there was really nothing and no-one else in the inventory that stood a chance in hell of catching Isamu and the YF-19, much less killing him.

it was really just a coincidence that the unveiling was set to be part of the Terran debut of Sharon, who promptly made her bid to take over the world, take myung hostage, and take control of the ghost. (ain't coinkidinks fun?)

[edit]omfg... I just had an evil thought. it's known that the yf-19 and -21 were so advanced that they were operating right at the bleeding edge of a 'normal' humans performance limits. what would happen if say... SMS fitted a -19 with the Ex-Gear system?[/edit]

Vajra is the only known source of the crystal, hence the Proto-culture made contact with them before the Birdman reached earth.

operative part of that is only known source. there is no evidence either for or against the idea that the beings who we know as the protoculture - no biological remains of one has ever been found afaik - did not either use, make or have as internal organs fold quartz crystals. it just hasnt been hinted at in the macross mythos before Frontier (Zero BD retconn notwithstanding).

we may actually be witnessing the birdman himself (SK) doing something we never thought he would do - tying up the background story of the universe. some of this actually reminds me of Babylon 5, in that as the series neared its' end, the most fundamental aspects of what happened in the distant past were made known to all, leaving the younger races to 'make their own magic' (I loved that little exposition by Delenn). now that I thnk about it, there seem to be a number of parallels... I just can't put my finger on them atm.

wow! just... wow!! the plot thickens! great catch!

indeed... I wonder just how much SK is going to reveal, and how many more questions will be asked thanks to the revelations.

Wow... Then Sheryl's earrings were in fact made by the Protoculture!!!

The whole "Birdman cutting off its own head" is just an interpretation of the Birdman's head module/ship that separated from its main body. The birdman is a highly advanced protoculture mecha... not a living being after all. I believe that the earrings belonged to some Protoculture individual who was piloting the Birdman and refused to follow their protocol of destroying humanity when they discovered that it was a warlike race...

it doesn't necessarily mean the earrings were made by the protoculture. it means that somehow or another Fold Quartz was on the island... perhaps it is a crystallized form of the bird human's blood or something, that the islanders found at some point and fashioned into the earrings for the priestesses? it is one possibility, that might be borne out if Sara is shown wearing them. conversely, they might be cermonial.

he is definitely not full-blooded human. like I said earlier, given that fact I give him no more than the typical human time for surviving - about 5 minutes. this assumes that he would immediately be getting oxygen thru some form of direct blood infusion, as his lungs would be damaged far beyond any hope of repair at the 3 minute mark. Uninjured I have no idea how long he could survive given his genetics.

colonies are a bio plant everything organic goes into a giant pool and broken down and then recycled into new organic material. even people.

I hate to say it, but thats pretty much a small scale technology-based copy of what a planetary biosphere does... both are huge recycling centers - one is just a helluvalot bigger than the other.

one word... LAG

that remote control setup likely is not very effective as range increases.

where are you guys getting this??? michel wasnt out to prove anything to alto or anybody else - he leapt without hesitation to defend klan, got impaled, and without hesitation leapt to defend her again, which got him sucked out into the void.

thoughts of his own survival - not there at all. the only thing that mattered to him right then was protecting her. utterly selfless IMHO. Alto would have been right there with him if there weren't more bugs breaking down the door. all LUCA could do was stand there next to Ranka - he didnt even try to assist. I agree with others... Luca should have bought it instead. however, this only means that he now needs to atone for his inaction, and perhaps grow to be more than the namby excuse for a guy that he is. no wonder nanase doesn't actually see him. but then she has been little more than a footnote herself.

By contrast, guld's descision to kamikaze the ghost was much more of a rational choice. to be perfectly honest, he didnt have to kill it.. all that was needed was for him to buy time long enough so that Isamu could get to myung and deal with Sharon, at which point the ghost would have dropped like a fly.

well... I posted this in the ep 20 thread... but it seemed to get ignored - twice, so here it is where it might be appreciated:

thing is that the effects of Ranka's singing was quite obvious anytime she was present in the battlespace riding along in the Monster... she starts singing, and after a moment of indescision, all the vajra in close proximity start heading her way. should have been easy to spot in the after-action debriefs. I am amazed that none of the skulls caught it at least... or even Carnalia... SHE should have been the first one to say 'WTF??? as soon as she started singing my Monster became a vajra magnet???!!!???' this should have been promptly followed by 'bitch, STOP SINGING, or so help me I will throw u out the airlock, and not give a DAMN what Ozma does to me later!!!' then, after realizing what she just said, she should be like 'hmmm... that might be interesting... WTF AM I THINKING... I'M MARRIED!!!'

would have been hilarious...

I apologize for the spamming...

4 words to make a fortune in the macross universe...

macronized

meltrandi

hygiene

products

'nuff said

Here is a nice pic of the VF-27 cockpit. Is that the left shoulder of an Ex-Gear to the right of the pic?

certainly looks like it... that doesnt surprise me in the slightest.

I swear nobody seems to have seen this post of mine back on page 18 lol, so here it is again!

thing is that the effects of Ranka's singing was quite obvious anytime she was present in the battlespace riding along in the Monster... she starts singing, and after a moment of indescision, all the vajra in close proximity start heading her way. should have been easy to spot in the after-action debriefs. I am amazed that none of the skulls caught it at least... or even Carnalia... SHE should have been the first one to say 'WTF??? as soon as she started singing my Monster became a vajra magnet???!!!???' this should have been promptly followed by 'bitch, STOP SINGING, or so help me I will throw u out the airlock, and not give a DAMN what Ozma does to me later!!!' then, after realizing what she just said, she should be like 'hmmm... that might be interesting... WTF AM I THINKING... I'M MARRIED!!!'

would have been hilarious...

indeed... my vote stays with michel for the same reasons, although Guld does come a close second.

new avatar??? hell no... I printed it to 24x32 inches!!! nice to have a large format printer at one's disposal

Hey Shaka Z, where did you get your avatar? I like it, the YF-19 almost looks photo realistic. Probably because of the small size.

honestly... I dont remember where I found it... the original is 500x800 and while it doesnt look photo-realistic at that size, it still looks very good. I have a bigger one somewhere of a 19 on the ground that really looks realistic... I will try to find that one for you guys.

here it is...

thing is, if you restrict things to fighter mode only, Hikaru would probably be #1 on that list followed closely by Roy and Isamu who would Tie for 2nd. although there is a possibility Isamu would be #1 in that case.