Super Macross Mecha Fun Time Discussion Thread!

[pengbuzz]

4 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Unclear... he does let the YF-29 crash after abandoning it, but there's nothing saying it's unrecoverable.  We've seen worse.

Yeah; they've had worse:

 

[Seto Kaiba]

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Yeah; they've had worse:

Specifically, I was thinking of Macross Plus: Movie Edition and the wreck of Isamu's YF-19.

When we see it being brought in for repairs, it's in pretty bad shape.  The nose and left wing have broken off and are sitting on the hangar floor, the canopy is cracked, the canards are bent 90 degrees, there are several external panels and control surfaces that are entirely missing, the landing gear cover is deformed, the rear-facing laser cannon is bent, at least one of the dorsal intakes is crushed, etc.  All of that and Shinsei Industry still has her flightworthy again in short order.

The YF-29 we see at the end of Sayonara no Tsubasa (we get a clean view in Tenjin Hidetaka's Valkyries: Third Sortie) isn't exactly in fantastic shape itself, but the damage is a lot more limited.  It's covered in grass stains, the horn on the monitor turret is bent or broken, the starboard wing and canard are both broken off about halfway along their length resulting in the loss of the No.4 engine, the port stabilizer is completely sheared off, and the port wing is bent with some nozzle damage on the No.3 engine, but that's about it.  (Which I guess is just what you'd expect from a VF with twice the armor and four times the armor strength of the VF-25 or VF-27 with no mode limitation on energy conversion armor usage.  It won't bounce, but even an uncontrolled crash landing after a bailout at Mach no-thank-you isn't going to wreck it.  They just have to go find whatever hillside the No.4 engine ended up in and they can probably just replace the wings and fly it again.)

[pengbuzz]

9 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Specifically, I was thinking of Macross Plus: Movie Edition and the wreck of Isamu's YF-19.

When we see it being brought in for repairs, it's in pretty bad shape.  The nose and left wing have broken off and are sitting on the hangar floor, the canopy is cracked, the canards are bent 90 degrees, there are several external panels and control surfaces that are entirely missing, the landing gear cover is deformed, the rear-facing laser cannon is bent, at least one of the dorsal intakes is crushed, etc.  All of that and Shinsei Industry still has her flightworthy again in short order.

Was that after his first flight with the 19, or when Guld shot him?

I suspect given how many other pilots wrecked, they probably had a considerable store of spare parts and fabrication/ repair/ maintenance equipment onhand. It does help that the fighter is robust though.

 

9 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The YF-29 we see at the end of Sayonara no Tsubasa (we get a clean view in Tenjin Hidetaka's Valkyries: Third Sortie) isn't exactly in fantastic shape itself, but the damage is a lot more limited.  It's covered in grass stains, the horn on the monitor turret is bent or broken, the starboard wing and canard are both broken off about halfway along their length resulting in the loss of the No.4 engine, the port stabilizer is completely sheared off, and the port wing is bent with some nozzle damage on the No.3 engine, but that's about it.  (Which I guess is just what you'd expect from a VF with twice the armor and four times the armor strength of the VF-25 or VF-27 with no mode limitation on energy conversion armor usage.  It won't bounce, but even an uncontrolled crash landing after a bailout at Mach no-thank-you isn't going to wreck it.  They just have to go find whatever hillside the No.4 engine ended up in and they can probably just replace the wings and fly it again.)

Yeah... probably replace a few parts and clean the paint really.

I just wanted an excuse to post that snippet from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 

[Seto Kaiba]

4 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Was that after his first flight with the 19, or when Guld shot him?

I suspect given how many other pilots wrecked, they probably had a considerable store of spare parts and fabrication/ repair/ maintenance equipment onhand. It does help that the fighter is robust though.

That's at a bit after 31 minutes into the movie, after the test montage and the first Sharon Apple concert.  The scene where Isamu finds Dr. Neumann hiding out in what looks to be a either a supply closet trying to "kidnap" Sharon Apple.

There's no clear event that led to the YF-19-2 being in such a state in the movie version, due to events being reordered.

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

That's at a bit after 31 minutes into the movie, after the test montage and the first Sharon Apple concert.  The scene where Isamu finds Dr. Neumann hiding out in what looks to be a either a supply closet trying to "kidnap" Sharon Apple.

There's no clear event that led to the YF-19-2 being in such a state in the movie version, due to events being reordered.

This, right?

Looks like they might have disengaged the nose cowling, but it's also entirely possible Isamu damaged it enough that it was barely hanging on.

[Seto Kaiba]

6 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Looks like they might have disengaged the nose cowling, but it's also entirely possible Isamu damaged it enough that it was barely hanging on.

The reason I think he managed to break the nose off the plane is that the camera/LIDAR modules are a part of that nose block and they're visibly still on the aircraft in that shot.

[pengbuzz]

10 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The reason I think he managed to break the nose off the plane is that the camera/LIDAR modules are a part of that nose block and they're visibly still on the aircraft in that shot.

Yeah; it also looks like the wing "cuts off" a bit before where the ground would be; I wonder if the wing somehow folds up (like the corsair of WWII fame), but from what I've seen of the YF-19, it wouldn't fold that way, right?

Pic is a bit confusing, so I think I'm just going to go with your explanation. It would fit that Isamu wrecked the thing up....

[Seto Kaiba]

11 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Yeah; it also looks like the wing "cuts off" a bit before where the ground would be; I wonder if the wing somehow folds up (like the corsair of WWII fame), but from what I've seen of the YF-19, it wouldn't fold that way, right?

The YF-19/VF-19's wing folds backwards for storage, not up.

 

The wing in this shot is no longer physically connected to the aircraft.

On 12/28/2025 at 3:55 PM, pengbuzz said:

That, combined with the fact that the leading edge slats are damaged and one section is straight-up missing, along with visible damage along the entire length of the wing, implies that this wing did not go gently... it hit something and was likely broken off.

 

11 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Pic is a bit confusing, so I think I'm just going to go with your explanation. It would fit that Isamu wrecked the thing up....

To be fair, that was hardly a problem unique to Isamu.

The YF-19 had six prior test pilots before Isamu was assigned to Project Super Nova.  Four of Isamu's six predecessors were hospitalized with injuries they'd sustained during testing and the other two died from injuries sustained in accidents during testing.  The YF-19's performance was pushing the limit of what the human body could withstand in terms of g-forces thanks to its exceptional acceleration and maneuverability, and the previous-gen ANGIRAS airframe control AI used in the first two prototypes was absolutely not up to the job and as a result the prototype had extremely unforgiving handling.

(That Isamu was able to not only handle the YF-19 in testing but draw out its full potential and even enjoy the experience is a testament to what an absolute goddamn MONSTER he is in the cockpit.)

Edited 8 hours ago by Seto Kaiba