Vinnie

I think Toni Lombardi (see avatar and attached comic) is to some extent a self-portrait of the artist. Though an exaggerated cartoon version of myself, much like Mohammad Haque's Hawk from Applegeeks. I have better luck with aircraft, worse luck with women, and hair to the left though.

Yes, indeed it was the ultimate Fanservice!

Polidread you need to do (Mac F Ep21 SPOILER)

No Northern Cross, AGAIN!?!? One of the best anime endings ever and they constantly refuse to use it. I presume next episode we'll get it since it's the title track... I think Keith may have pointed it out with Ranka earlier, but I thought that both she and Luca looked a little older little more mature this episode. Could've just been my imagination.

I'm trying Keyhole today, but I don't see MBS (there's MBS radio.) I actually only have 10 channels at the moment. Does one of these other ones have Macross F as an MBS affiliate or is there another method I should be using for streaming TV today?

He may still be alive in the Fufonfia universe? Perhaps he's the company's silver tounged legal consultant or genius marketing executive? And while Ranka is the coffee machine girl, he's the cappacino machine guy. One shot, one fill! Like a shot of espresso and then fill it with cream, and the sniper saying...nevermind.

Check the last page or two of News thread III

All except the Edgar part. I mean, he was the best character in Macross Zero aside from maybe Roy. I was always more concerned with whether Edgar was going to come out alive than Shin. I'm sure that with his luck he's probably still kicking around in the Macross Frontier timeframe.

Michael: I am the Blancinator, a sophisticated Sex-Robot sent through time to change the future for one lucky lady. Klan: And I am lucky lady? Michael: Klan, you've been targeted for Blancination. Come with me if you want to live. *Ref - American Pie 2

And you're still alive to tell about it? (she was in Macronized form when he passed.) ... I want to retract my earlier statement of how I think Michael really should've gone.

I still think he should've gone down in his Valkyrie. A pilot should either go in the cockpit or peaceful as an old man* not on the ground slinging a rifle like a grunt. Moving on to the acceptance stage: So, eh, Klan's single now. *Though the two should not be combined. As in: "I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not yelling and screaming like his passengers in the back."

Haven't watched much Star Wars, have you?

Okay, so now the question becomes, how did Vajra fold quartz wind up with the Mayan people...

Was it really a different version, or just the same Diamond Crevasse with different track mixing? Kind of like the one version of Don't Be Late that played when Sheryl flew the VF-25 or in the previews for All That VF.

Seems to me that the macronization process would include more cells rather than larger cells because of this. Edit: And to address the OP's question on time. Much like whatever is convinient for the director, so too should it be for the GM. If you need it to work faster or slower to fit your needs. You can address it as being the latest tech or an old PC relic. If you need it variable, you can accomodate with either broken technology "Sure is working fast today. I guess all it takes is hitting it with a wrench a few times" or a number of other plot devices from operator skill to material/energy rationing. I believe that's the secret to good GMing, coming up with interesting reasons why something works the way it does rather than going by hard and fast stats.

Arkan hurts my ears. I'm very glad it was replaced with Aimo Tori No Hito in the Frontier version. And I wasn't on board with Aimo until around that episode. I think the BGM for M0 really fits the animation, but it wasn't enough that I ever wanted it on my iPod to listen to on it's own. It very well could be that I was so turned off by the anime that I had negative association with the music.

The one Macross OST I didn't like was Macross Zero. As a matter of fact, there's not much I liked about M0 except the mecha fighting and that the plot sets us up for Frontier. On the subject of track rankings as mentioned by Kronnang Dunn, here's mine: My Top Frontier Vocal Tracks Ranking 1) Northern Cross 2) Infinity 3) What 'Bout My Star @ Folmo 4) Sagittarius 9pm Don't Be Late 5) Interstellar Flight (SO CUTE!!!) 6) Lion 7) Diamond Crevasse Welcome to My Fanclub's Night 9) Triangler 10) What 'Bout My Star My Top Macross Vocal Tracks: 1) After In the Dark 2) Angel Voice 3) Northern Cross 4) Tenshi No Enogu 5) Mou Ichido Love You 6) New Frontier 7) Watashi No Kare Wa Pilot (Minmay, Mylene, or Ranka ver) Infinity 9) Information High 10) Ai Oboete Imasu Ka Honorable Mention for topping the Galaxy Network in 2 alternate realities: Soko Ni Aru No Ga Mirai Da Kara My top Macross Instrumental Tracks: 1) Dogfight - the song by which all other BGM is measured by 2) Fly Up In the Air 3) Takeoff 4) Breakout 5) Vital Force I may throw the generic SDF:M guitar and horns BGM that's also used in the next episode previews there as well. Not as comprehensive of a list because the BGM of the original and movie weren't that well defined, M2 BGM was sort of forgetable in comparison to it's vocal tracks, M7 had no true BGM - just a handful of Galaxy Net instrumental songs, the game level songs were little more than chiptunes, and M0 was about 13 different kinds of fail. It really just leaves M+ and MF.

Lion is definitely growing on me. I suppose it is one that I had to hear a couple times to really dig it. Northern Cross is still win in my book though. More importantly, any word on Ranka's new song in Episode 19? Title, possible release, etc? That one seemed to (pleasantly) come out of the blue. Edit: Quick check on http://gabrielarobin.com/ says it's Anata No Oto and has what little we know about it...

Ah, you didn't include the sarcasm smiley! Not to go off topic, but if two episodes of still frame shots, text, and recycled animation doesn't constitue a weak ending, I'm not sure what does.

There's a gashapon series for MacF. I sent my buddy to Akiba yesterday to grab some for me, and he reported that the few GatchaGatcha parlors he went to were sold out. He said other MacF merchandise was hard to come by, but I could get every flavor of Gundam imaginable. I don't know if it's overwhelming popularity or simply small production runs of the products, but here's hoping.

Evangelion anyone? I don't think M0 had a week ending. It just needed an OVA 4.5 to better transition to it. Unfortunately, I think we'll see the same thing happen in Frontier. They're going to take the last 2-3 episodes to do what they should have done in an extra 13.

I'm right there with you, although I find Armoured VF-25's shooting their load (of missiles) far sexier. It's called Mecha Pr0n for a reason.

I'm in agreement about Lion as an OP. As I mentioned in the Ep 18 thread, visually the OP is quite nice and appropriate for the show. The song though fell below expectations. Just seemed like kind of a generic pop tune that didn't really showcase the talents of either singer or do anything grabbing with the instrumentals. Didn't quite compare to What 'bout my Star @ Folmo nor is it anything like May'n belting out Northern Cross, which may have set my expectations for a new song a little high. Is it because of Megumi Nakajima's experience as a singer and them having to write the song for both of them? I started thinking that when I heard May'n's Aimo this episode. I mean she made it sound like a sultry blues tune and Maaya Sakamoto also had a lot of depth to her sweet lullaby in Ep 14. Not to say that Nakajima-san isn't talented. I love Interstellar Flight Song. It's a real catchy tune, but it's written for her. I'm still looking forward to the single though and maybe Lion will grow on me after listening to it in CD quality on a decent sound system, or after a few more episodes. It just wasn't the instant hit that Interstellar Flight, Infinity, or Northern Cross were (or Don't be Late back in late 2007 when all we had was a 1-minute preview.)

Eh...I felt that Lion was a little lackluster for a Sheryl - Ranka duet, compared to What 'Bout My Star. The animation is great, but the song itself...didn't meet expections. I may need to hear a full cd version on a decent sound system for it to grow on me. Northern Cross was an instant hit with me though, and I still say this can stand toe-to-toe with After in the Dark as a cliffhanger closer.

And let's not forget Bees & Honey, Fly Up in the Air, and Dogfight from Macross Plus being used in Iron Chef.