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Ender's Game. Not to be confused with Bender's Game

What a nostalgia trip! It really helps that they use the same music as in the previous series. It feels like no time has passed at all. I'm so glad they chose to continue the story, instead of doing a re-make. It really gives me hope that unfinished stories like 12 Kingdoms and such could be continued on later, even if it's been 10 years since the last installment.

I'd like to think that Zendtradi are kind of like Kingons in that if you survive the battle simulation, then you pass the training. So I would be prone to assume that the old Zentradi would use live ammo instead of paint rounds. May or may not be true, but definitely sounds more bad-@$$.

Quick question: I know that it's pretty obvious that the ship on Galia isn't the SDF-2, but for the sake of argument, why couldn't it be an ASS-2? The arms are buried about half way, so there's a possibility that the things on its arms might not be ARMDs, and I would assume that it's quite possible that the Supervision Army had more ASS'es in their fleets. I think it'd be naive to think that the ASS-1 was the only one. Or has the possibility of the above been disproven somehow? Edit: Personally, I'm leaning to it being the actual SDF-1, but how do we as fans know for certain that it isn't another ship built by the Supervision Army that crash landed there a very long time ago?

Nah, that would have been a moot vote since it's clearly spelled "Ranka" in the first set of ending credits. A better poll would have been "Considering all the cliches and homages Frontier has been throwing in, do you think we'll see some hardcore yaoi action thrown in (yes/no)". Honestly, they're kind of hinting at girl-love with Nanase and Ranka (at least on the side of Nanase), and with Bobby being who he is and Alto being a cross-dresser, there's got to be some boy-love coming down the horizon to make everything come full-circle. The question is, who will it be between?

If the WTF-1 is from an alternate reality, then voting for both could be true. After all, if that were the case, then it would be the SDF-1, yet not the SDF-1, all at the same time!

I just voted for both, mainly because I saw two check boxes and thought to myself, "there's no way that this can work; I'm sure it'll only restrict me to one." I was mildly surprised to find out that it actually did let me vote for both. In any case, what I really would have voted for was "Yes". It could be an ASS-2 (wouldn't surprise me if the Supervision Army had more than one and the ASS-1 that crashed on Earth was one of many), but that wouldn't explain the ARMD carriers attached to it (although since the arms appear somewhat buried, perhaps those aren't ARMDs at all). Either way, I suppose we'll find out in Ep 13 just what exactly is going on.

You mean, like if it turned out that the Marduk were the ones behind the scores of renegade Zentradi that seem to be everywhere these days?

This is something I've been wondering for a while. In the official Macross continuity, perhaps it's been NUNS all this time, and now they've just started to use the acronym more often. Of course, if that is true, one still has to wonder what happened to make that change (along with an obvious logo change), since we've never seen it so explicitly before in the various other series. So either way, the same question still remains: what the heck happened between Macross 7 (and perhaps VF-X2) until now? And I wasn't implying that Macross II's NUNS or anything in it had anything to do with Frontier. I'm quite happy to leave it as alternate timeline-type stuff and any similarities found in Frontier to it as fan service. There'd be no point in debating any of it since Kawamori et al have already dismissed the events. Just thought it was interesting that the NUNS acronym was displayed so prominently in that OVA. Of course, Ranka = emulator-type person wouldn't surprise me, since they've shown her singing has a weird effect on Vajra. And heck, with having the SDF-1 deposited in a decrepit state on a distant planet, I wouldn't be surprised if it were to get destroyed at the end of this series in a similar fashion as the end of Macross II. I mean, why not? You'd never have thunk they'd do something like that officially to the Macross (having it uprooted from Earth). So at this point, I like to think that anything goes. Certainly interesting times for a Macross fan.

I think this one is more graphic...

Oh yeah, that's right. Makes you wonder how *that* fits into everything, considering Wendy Ryder's not only from an alternate timeline, but also from the future.

Really? I thought they all declared it a bastard child of the franchise and would have assumed they'd try to ignore it. Kudos if they're trying to borrow some themes though.

As promised, I've posted those screenshots here. Cheers!

Back in December or so, I was catching up on all the Macross series in order to prep myself for Frontier. I finished all the series, and figured I'd watch Macross II for the heck of it. When a poster in the Ep 12 thread said that there's been no NUNS reference before Frontier, I knew that wasn't quite true as I could have sworn I saw NUNS somewhere in Macross II, although it has been a while since I had last watched it. So I figured I'd watch Macross II again a little bit more closely, and try to track down the instances. So here is what I found, although I wasn't watching with a fine tooth comb (I could have sworn that NUNS was painted on the side of a building, but I couldn't find it so I might have mis-remembered that; I did watch a lot of Macross that day). I used PowerDVD to catch the times and VLC to grab the screenshots, but the times don't sync up. The times I'll be quoting are from PowerDVD. To set the stage, Culture Park was just attacked by the Marduk, Hibiki and Ishtar are recovering at Hibiki's apartment. They are watching the news of the attack, and Hibiki continues to be disgusted at how the Military is covering up the incidents making the operations look more successful than they actually were. The news report starts talking about the aftermath of the attack. At 0:46:17, a victim is being interviewed: Now, based on that, you may think that NUNS is just another channel. But three seconds later at 0:46:20, we see this: They're using the UN Spacey kite logo as their station logo. So perhaps they're not a regular TV station (SNN seems to have their own logo and doesn't touch the kite logo at all); most likely, because of the logo use, the people providing the report on the TV are probably attached to military somehow (heck, maybe the military even has its own channel). Here's another shot from 0:47:06: and fast forward to 1:51:23 when messages on television start to come through assuring the civilians that the current invasion by the Marduk is nothing to worry about, but as a precaution, they're evacuating people to shelters (this despite the fact that the military is getting their @$$es handed to them). Note the NUNS label on the camera, and the military people on the stage. In fact, it kind of looks like the camera guy is wearing a uniform as well: So based on the shots above, the acronym 'NUNS' has been around since the early 90's. Whether or not it means the same thing as the NUNS in Frontier is unknown. What NUNS's exact relationship to UN Spacey in the context of Macross II is also unknown, although I'm leaning towards an informational/propaganda arm of the government because we see some "UN Spacey" labels in the OVA as well (sorry, forgot to get shots of those). Although, I do think that the NUNS in Macross II does have some strong ties to the military somehow. Just curious, the subtitles (translation by Neil Nadelman, I believe) state "UN Spacey" when people are talking about the military, but for those fluent in Japanese, is what the characters say the exact same thing as what the UN Spacey is called in the other official Macross series? I think more relevant to Frontier is the theme of the military in Macross II getting complacent after 80 years, and exploring the fact that they have to work hard to keep up appearances that all is going well with the Marduk because if they don't, the civilians will lose faith in the military. I think that theme is more relevant to Frontier, and is part of the reason why UN Spacey rebranded itself into NUNS. So, what do you guys think?

I'll try. Give me a few hours. Have to figure out how to do that in Linux since my Windows machine is currently down for the count. Also have to re-watch to find it. Edit: Since it would probably make an interesting discussion point, I might just make a separate thread about it once I get a good screenshot. I'll let you know when I'm done though.

To be fair, NUNS is referenced in Macross II on the walls of some buildings and such (and spelled as 'NUNS' as well), but since that's an alternate story line, I suppose that really doesn't count. However, we can take that to mean that the concept of NUNS has been around since the 90's.

That's not true at all. The SDF-1 was repaired and turned into UN Spacey headquarters. It was seen in Macross Plus, fully functional with electricity and everything. And once Sharon Apple hacked the system, the ship even lifted off for a moment. And the anti-air defenses were going as Isamu was making his approach in the YF-19. In Robotech continuity, the SDF-1 was destroyed. Not so in Macross continuity. Although, who knows what's going on now with it being found on Gallia, approximately 50 or so years after the first series, and 19 since the events in Macross Plus.

No longer true. In North America at least (and maybe Japan, not sure about Europe though), Sony has re-released a new 80GB PS3 bundle including Metal Gear Solid 4 that can play PS2 games in the region that it was bought. So the 80GB versions with some PS2 backwards compatibility are available again. The 40GB models though still can't play PS2 games.

Wouldn't it be funny if the bad VF-X2 ending was the canonical one, and that was how the whole NUNS thing came about?

I think she said it herself in one of the previous episodes. Alto is a person who has always treated her like a normal person, and not as the Songstress of the Galaxy. And to a lonely orphan who had no friends and no family growing up, it probably means a lot to her that someone is treating her like a normal person, perhaps almost like a friend. It's allowed her to let down her guard, take off her mask, and start acting like a normal person too. Perhaps for the first time in a very long time, she's able to feel human, after being surrounded by cyborgs most of her life. So, in other words, Alto is just a victim of circumstance because yes, I agree, there are a lot of better guys out there. Hot, lonely, desperate-for-attention females who end up being easy to snag for it, FTW!

Just curious then, but what is the current date on Macross Frontier (we know it's 2059)? And I just noticed that the dates of her blog jump around. That's really weird. I wonder if rearranging them in chronological order would make the plot make more sense? Perhaps we could piece together hints for future events.

No not saying that. Saying that right now, they both probably know that the WTF-1 disappeared since I don't think UN Spacey/NUNS could hide that fact. But by how they sounded surprised, they probably didn't expect to find it on Gallia. My money is that they go to investigate, access some mission logs or something on the ship, and find out what the deal is. Then they, and us the viewer, find out how the heck it got there. I'm sure that if there were any circumstances that led up to the disappearance that was common knowledge to the public (ex. coup d'etat, terrorists nuking Earth, Anti-UN forces forcing a civil war, etc), that'll be discussed as well by the characters. So perhaps we'll finally get some concrete hints on what the entire deal is with the re-branding of UN Spacey into NUNS. And somewhere in there, Alto fights Brera, according to the previews.

Agreed. It's way too early to tell what's going on with the WTF-1. However, I want to think that NUNS has no idea that it was there. Based on the amount of building infrastructure on that planet (or lack thereof), I want to think that the 33rd has only been there for a short while, barely long enough to build a base. So they may not have found the WTF-1. I would assume that if they did, they would have done something about it right away. In fact, the picture of the WTF-1 on Ranka's monitor looked like it had moss on it. I'm not sure how long it takes moss to grow on stuff, but I'm going to assume it takes years. The only reason why Alto and Ranka found the WTF-1 was because that APHOS thing killed their flight systems and they conveniently landed near the ship. Since it's been shown that Ranka has the unique ability to activate Vajira with her Aimo song, perhaps it's the same with APHOS-type technology. And, as we saw in Episode 12, that APHOS-thing activated when Ranka was done with Aimo. So with that in mind, finding the WTF-1 was probably pure luck (or the Power of Plot). Definitely interesting to see what Episode 13 holds in store. It's too early to tell what's going on with the WTF-1, but perhaps that episode will fill in some of that back story for the viewer. I'm sure that Ranka and Alto know though, because I would assume that whatever event that resulted in the SDF-1 going missing is common knowledge; it's just that perhaps no one knows where it went.

My theory on the whole "send Sheryl to Gallia 4" thing: It was a set-up by NUNS (or a secret or black-ops faction of NUNS operating independently; since Leon didn't seem to know about Agent G(race)). NUNS has been established as being weak, cowards, and with low-morale (related to why the WTF-1 was doing on Gallia 4? Perhaps due to their ineptitude to keep it secured to Earth? Who knows). So NUNS needs something to show that they aren't as weak as people think. So they decide to create a "situation" on Gallia 4, knowing that there are some hostile, malcontent Zentradi there (Zentradi they themselves sent there). The ones pulling the strings may have originally intended something as simple as a kidnapping of a famous person (ex. Sheryl), but the whole fainting thing inciting a riot would work just as well. So the situation turns critical on Gallia 4, and nothing can be done about it for at least a week, because that's how long it would take to send a force there. Enter Brera in his VF-27, sporting the NUNS colors, and saves the day. Either by rescuing the famous person (Plan A), or by smacking down the rebellion (Plan B). NUNS demonstrates their ability to take charge and resolve a crisis, and people's faith in NUNS is renewed. NUNS could then use this as the starting point to begin asserting themselves more strongly in the rest of the fleets. But of course, this is all ruined by Michel and Ranka, and could explain why Leon is grilling Luca in Episode 13, probably wondering how SMS got a hold of LAI neo-fold boosting technology. So my theory is that the whole Gallia incident was politically motivated by NUNS (or a hardcore separate faction), but kind of backfired due to the unforeseen intervention of SMS. As for the WTF-1, no clue. I want to assume that it emergency folded from it's original location on Earth due to some crisis, based on its position and stature which seems exactly the same as when it's in its original resting position in the lake. Of course, that doesn't explain that APHOS-like thing we saw in that lake bed or ocean on Gallia 4.

I voted First Attack, but what made it really awesome was the lead up that Bye Bye Sheryl gave it before. In any case, story wise, they've all been good this season, which is refreshing to see.