Radd

The people who run these companies aren't always known for making logical decisions. Look at the movie industry. When Final Fantasy the movie came out and bombed in theatres, many studios dropped major CG movie productions. Their reasoning? The public did not want CG movies at that time. When Spider~Man 2 came out, as well as a couple other big name sequels, most of which were pretty well made movies and did well at the box office as a result, production companies came to the conclusion that it was "A year for sequels! People want sequels!" I'm certain the toy industry, the videogame industry, the music industry, all have similar tales to tell. People are unhappy with the DX VF-25, but the models sell well? It's not a stretch to see them drop the idea of 1/60 toys altogether and concentrate on model kits and other merchandise, rather than dropping the DX and coming out with a new 1/60 toy that would actually appeal more to fans and collectors.

I'm not ready to cancel my pre-order yet (though if that "armour packs only through Bandai's website" thing is true, I may have to reconsider), but I can't say with any certainty that I'll nab the whole lot of them, either. I think the criticism of the look of this toy is fair. Those shots of Mikhail and Luca's in the armour packs were fairly cringe-worthy, when we've been spoiled with Yamato's collector's market designs. Also, I've really not had that many Yamato QC issues. Only two come to mind, the reversed leg latches on the Konig Monster, and one of the gunpods on my old 1/72 YF-21 was glued shut. I don't treat my toys as if they could fall apart at any moment, either. I don't buy them just so they can sit in a sealed display case for eternity. I transform them and re-pose them often. If the quality of Bandai's VF-25 is spectacular, (tight joints, no QC issues, everything locks firmly into place in all modes) then maybe I'll be able to overlook the toy's aesthetic shortcomings somewhat. But with the price tag they're asking, I really kinda expect collector's item attention to detail. I think the comparisons to the 1/55th Takatoku/Bandai VF-1 toys are an exaggeration, but I can also certainly see why people are saying that. It's chunky, and seems to have poor proportions and is a bit skimpy with detail. It really is more of a "toy" than a "collector's item", if you follow the distinction. I'm definitely still on for at least one. I may have to think a bit more about whether I want both Alto and Ozma's right away, or if I'd be willing to wait on one until after I've had one in hand to see how I feel about it. I do agree that I'd rather not spend my money if I'm not happy with the toy, even if that means Bandai cuts the line short due to lack of sales. I'd rather no toy, and more money to spend on things I'm happy with, rather than a full line of Frontier toys that I'm just not happy with. Of course, that's assuming I get my first VF-25 and find I don't like it.

I'm definitely getting the Tomahawk, how much I enjoy it will determine whether or not I shell out for the others. I've always been a fan of the destroids, though, and really hoped to see more of them in Frontier (Only one model? What a jip!).

König is the german word for "King". I believe that's the reference.

You don't know that!

Ja, would totally pick up some DYRL stle enemy mecha. I'd also love the variable glaug as someone else suggested. But ja, like others said, I'd have to see them first, but I'm sure Yamato could put out something to make me open my wallet.

I've always had the impression that the extra armour isn't ideal for flying inside an atmosphere, whether it's on a planet, or inside a colony dome. Even Mikhail left his armour up in orbit when he went planetside to save Alto and Sheryl with an impromptu Ranka concert.

There's mountain with my last name. And a kind of pudding. There's a race car driver who I am not related to, and yet he has my last name. A photographer with whom neither of us are apparently related. And that's just a few real world examples, not in a far future where humanity was obliterated down to a few thousand or a million, and then the population was beefed up through cloning for several decades. Sheryl might know about her link to the Nomes from Macross Zero, but it just doesn't mean much to her. She's been pretty successful on her own. Or she doesn't know (pale blonde pop idol related to some tan skinned island natives?) and the name is just a mild curiosity at most, given the circumstances. No matter how you slice it, it doesn't really affect the plot, so I wouldn't exactly call it a plot hole.

Woops, heh, good call.

Gave it a try, despite the glowing praise I read about it here. Ja, not going to be following this one.

That alone, no, but the reference specifically to Klan and Nene's heritage and the brief moments of interaction we see between the two did make me wonder for a moment. I would even agree that together it's not much I'd care to read too much into, however it's at least as much to go on, more I'd say, than the speculation that Raramia was not meltrandi or whatever. If I were to speculate at all, I'd say that the most likely reason Klan mentions Nene and no one else simply has to do with the fact that Nene, at the very least, had some dialogue, whereas Raramia appeared even less often, and had no dialogue whatsoever. She was practically, and unfortunately, a non-character. Or, if there was any reasoning beyond that it may simply be that Raramia's heritage comes from a different fleet. Either those that joined humans shortly after the war, or from one of those random Zentradi/Meltrandi fleets which were encountered well after SW1 had ended. For all we know she might be a relatively recently cultured meltrandi, and didn't have parents at all.

Actually, in the final episode, at least in the version I watched, Klan Klan refers to Nene as "sister". Maybe Klan wasn't excluding Raramia, but rather Klan was possibly indicating Nene's and her own parents specifically?

Er, the Global clearly looked identical (or nearly identical) to the DYRL and later version of the SDF-1 Macross. We had several very clear shots of the ship to see that. There would be some significant visual differences if it was based on the unused SDF-2 design. Proportion, the bridge, the shape of the leg-like sections, and in the central torso itself (even assuming it was redesigned to fold up like the SDF-1).

There's certainly things I would enjoy seeing expanded on, but I really don't know that there's anything one might call a plot-hole. I definitely agree that we don't need a condensed version of Frontier. Though I'm sure I'll be constantly refreshing the usual fansub sites in eager anticipation of getting to see it.

You, sir, are a scholar and a saint.

Well, since this thread is here, does anyone know if any fansub groups maybe redid their fansubs of Macross 7 using the higher quality remastered footage? I peeked at the usual torrent sites, but didn't see anything indicating whether or not a particular group's files used that, or were the older, lower quality video files. I'm not entirely certain when that came out, is it too early to expect a group to have used it? Thanks much in advance. More on topic, I enjoy the series. There's a lot of things I don't like about it, but the things I love about it really carry the show for me. I'd actually much rather a DYRL style remake of Macross 7, maybe as a high budget OVA, than a movie condensed remake of Frontier. I think M7 could benefit from something like that a lot more. (I'm hoping the Frontier movie is a side story or continuation or something. It only just ended, and it was so great as-is, it really doesn't need a retelling.) I'm not really a fan of the posts trying to convince others that they're wrong for liking or disliking it. Like I said, I like it, but it's got some serious flaws. I really suspect the suggestion that "it gets good after episode 20-something" really only applies if there are things you enjoy about those earlier episodes. If those early episodes really don't appeal to you in the slightest, you're probably not going to get much out of the last 20-30 episodes. If someone doesn't share your opinion then no amount of arguing, no matter how rational and well thought out you think it is, is going to convince them to see the light that their opinion is wrong. I liked Dynamite 7 a lot more. It's definitely not the epic "galaxy in crisis" kind of story M7 goes for, but I thought it managed to ditch a lot of the things I disliked about the tv series. On the other hand, you do kinda got to have liked Basara and other characters from the tv series, and have seen the tv series to have any sort of idea of what's going on. Also, there's people that liked M7, but really hate Dynamite. It does have an odd little sidestory going on back on City 7 which seems to make little sense and serve no real purpose, recently I gathered that it's referencing another Macross 7 story, like a comic or radio drama or something, but I'm not clear on the details.

Wait, I just caught that...PC game demo? New? Your news intrigues me, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Ja, I hadn't seen 'Golden Wings' since those early VHS years. I've very happy that the Gaiden episodes are something else, and that they keep the OVA art style. I'm downloading an episode now and then, moving through it very slowly. After all, I'd finished the main OVA over nearly a decade, then discovered there was more! I'll be sad to get through it all too quickly, especially now that Frontier is over and there's nothing else really grabbing my attention.

I really liked the way the story was handled in Frontier. I might have mentioned that I love stories with a slow reveal of the facts. I suspect with subsequent viewings people will realize that there's really not very many plot holes. Even up to the last episode they would refer back to things from early in the series, though, so I suspect a lot of people may have forgotten certain things from that far back. Of course, there are certain things to which I wish there had been more focus on the secondary and tertiary characters the way SDF:M had. The bridge crew of the Quarter all seemed interesting, and I wish more of Battle Frontier's bridge crew was seen, whenever they did appear it was to deliver only one or two very brief lines to move the story along. Really, it's that kind of secondary character development and day-to-day storytelling for which I still enjoy Macross 7, which excelled at it. One thing, that surprised me when I realized it, was that I tend to re-watch Macross 7 far more often than I re-watch SDF:M. I've always though SDF:M had a better, and better balanced, story, and more compelling action than Macross 7, yet I can pop in a random Macross 7 episode on a whim and just go, where as I'm unlikely to crack open my SDF:M DVD cases in a given year. I've never been much to do a marathon viewing of a show, but I can do that with Macross 7. I've sat down and rewatched episodes of Frontier several times each, and am currently working my way through the entire series, about 6 episodes at a time, with some friends. I wonder if, once the honeymoon is over, I'll still be able to come back to it as frequently as Macross 7?

Don't forget Captain Wilder's announcement to the fleet. "The Vajra our not our enemy! Macross Galaxy, and Grace O'Connor who has hijacked the Vajra queen are our true enemies!", very reminiscent of Vrlitwhai's announcement to the fighting Zentran and Meltran fleets, "We have one enemy, Gorg Bodolza! Defeat him and bring culture back to us!" So much so, I called him delivering that line several weeks before episode 25 aired.

Wow. This is still going on?

Macross 11 probably wasn't chosen for any significant reason other than it's known to be exploring the outer rim. Frontier is near the galactic core. And then Earth, the cradle of humanity, is also shown. This illustrates, simply and quickly, that the Vajra were suddenly appearing all over the galaxy where humanity had spread. They didn't have time to spare in the episode to show more, or they probably would have. This was the most efficient way of driving the point across.

The colonization graphic at the beginning of Frontier has enough wrong with it that we can safely dismiss it as a pretty looking dramatization. As such, I wouldn't take anything seen there too seriously.

Megaroad 13 was attached to the fleet taken over by the Protodevlin, wasn't it? I don't recall mention of that one having settled on a world. Of course, the Megaroad ships were the colony ships of a fleet. I can certainly see the colony ships remaining with the colony for a long time after a planet is settled, since they're a ready made city that people have been living in for some time. However, the NMC Battle sections could easily be attached to a new fleet once the colony is basically set up. Especially those not cut off from other areas by fold faults.

It's entirely possible that colony ships and their escorts wound up serving in multiple fleets. More than possible, I'd say likely. If not the city section, which might remain with a colony as it's main city for many years, then at least the escorts. I'd say this is especially likely with the Megaroad colony ships and NMC battleships. There's also likely a number of NMC ships that are not used in colony fleets. The 55th colony fleet might not be Battle 25's first mission. It's possible there was a "City 25" at some point in the past, and it's already been dropped off somewhere. We know that Eden isn't the only colony. We know that a first generation Macross class was attached to a research mission.