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 December 30, 2025 by Seto Kaiba

[Scream Man]

On 11/30/2025 at 9:42 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

 

Algenicus, though... I've been unable to find anything on that one.  It's such a specific name, and they went to the trouble of spelling it out in English... I get nothing for any possible spelling of it, and the kana doesn't produce any results in the Japanese wiki either.

Its probably not this at all but Argocentus is a kind of Spider in Australia. 

Im just excited i know something off the top of my head that theres a very tiny chance helps among you big brains 😛

[Scream Man]

On 12/1/2025 at 8:48 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

I'm not sure how laser weapons work in Star Wars, so I can't say much about that.

OO! I know this one too! I know stupid $h1t about Star Wars the way Seto knows things about Macross tech! 😛  
Star Wars blasters fire a particle "bolt." The size doesn't really matter its more or less the same from handguns to spaceships: Theres a gas container that, when the gun is fired, sends a small amount of gas into the main chamber, which is then excited/energized by a power source (The source depends on the size of the gun. so on a hand blaster its a battery, on a ship it comes from the ships energy stores.), then travels into a containment area and focused using magnetic fields, then passes through a crystal (The kind varies) which then forces the excited particles forward in a beam. The color depends on the kind of gas used (In Empire Strikes Back, Landos Tibanna gas mine is so lucrative because Tibanna gas is used in a lot of handheld blasters). 

I know this isn't Macross, I was just excited to contribute. 

[pengbuzz]

14 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

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.

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.

 

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.)

Thanks for the info Seto; I wasn't sure (I thought it folded back, but wasn't sure if it could also fold up). Guess Isamu wrecked it.

[Seto Kaiba]

10 hours ago, Scream Man said:

Its probably not this at all but Argocentus is a kind of Spider in Australia. 

Im just excited i know something off the top of my head that theres a very tiny chance helps among you big brains 😛

> Australia

> Spiders

Of course it would be spiders. 😆

Now, we do know of at least one Macross design that IS apparently named for a specific genus of spiders.  The Annabella Lasiodora mobile weapon from Macross VF-X2.  Not sure what the "Annabella" part is in reference to, but Lasiodora is a genus of tarantulas native to Brazil.

 

9 hours ago, Scream Man said:

OO! I know this one too! I know stupid $h1t about Star Wars the way Seto knows things about Macross tech! 😛  
Star Wars blasters fire a particle "bolt." The size doesn't really matter its more or less the same from handguns to spaceships: Theres a gas container that, when the gun is fired, sends a small amount of gas into the main chamber, which is then excited/energized by a power source (The source depends on the size of the gun. so on a hand blaster its a battery, on a ship it comes from the ships energy stores.), then travels into a containment area and focused using magnetic fields, then passes through a crystal (The kind varies) which then forces the excited particles forward in a beam. The color depends on the kind of gas used (In Empire Strikes Back, Landos Tibanna gas mine is so lucrative because Tibanna gas is used in a lot of handheld blasters). 

Huh, OK.  That's a pretty solid description of the basic mechanics of a charged particle beam weapon hearkening back to Nikola Tesla's original design proposal in 1934.  In principle, very similar technology to what's used in a lot of sci-fi including Macross.  

The description of turbolasers I remembered from long ago (which is apparently Legends now) was more in line with the gas-dynamic laser used by the VF-1's Strike Pack (using heat flows and pressure changes in a gas to generate a laser beam).

 

[Scream Man]

14 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The description of turbolasers I remembered from long ago (which is apparently Legends now) was more in line with the gas-dynamic laser used by the VF-1's Strike Pack (using heat flows and pressure changes in a gas to generate a laser beam).

Right, its more or less like that. I think in Canon they say that the gas is the same basic gas types used in Blasters, its just the its charged by a larger powered laser. So it works kind of the same way, but using a laser instead of being energized by the power source. I also don't think it uses a crystal to focus its beam IIRC, it just compresses in the barrel like blaster but then fires a more broad strong beam.  

[aurance]

So, in footage most fighter sized fold boosters are depicted single use (fold, then eject). I think it’s been mentioned in other media that some of the most advanced fighters (gen 4+) should be able to fold in, decapitate enemy with missile strike, then fold out.

How are they supposed to fold back out? Are those boosters *not* single use, but they’re just ejected due to circumstantial inconvenience?

[Seto Kaiba]

9 minutes ago, aurance said:

So, in footage most fighter sized fold boosters are depicted single use (fold, then eject).

The ones in Macross Plus, Macross 7, and Macross Dynamite 7 are broadly indicated to be the initial generation single-use type.

By the time of Macross Frontier, the technology had improved to the point that modern (c.2059) fold boosters could perform multiple fold jumps and do so over longer distances.

 

9 minutes ago, aurance said:

I think it’s been mentioned in other media that some of the most advanced fighters (gen 4+) should be able to fold in, decapitate enemy with missile strike, then fold out.

How are they supposed to fold back out? Are those boosters *not* single use, but they’re just ejected due to circumstantial inconvenience?

4th Gen VFs had the concept of inserting a VF behind enemy lines using stealth and/or fold capability in order to strike enemy command centers, carry out hostage rescues, etc., as a part of a larger operation.  Escaping via space fold is not mentioned.

As with the 5th Gen YF-24 Evolution, use of a fold booster in direct combat is described as a way to maximize the element of surprise, and the VF's extraction from the combat area afterwards isn't mentioned.

Presumably in such an operation, they would use stealth and their high flight performance to escape the enemy and then link up with friendly forces.  Escape via space fold might be possible in later generations where reusable fold boosters exist, though leaving the booster behind would be quite risky.  (There is some material to suggest mounting multiple fold boosters is possible.  Macross Frontier shows this being done with the VF-171 and Master File shows the same with a VF-19.)