Graham

Is that a Fold Booster in Eugimon's Omega Pants™, or is he just please to see me? Graham

Ha Ha....Nope! I personally prefer DYRL Valks. Don't understand why everybody keeps asking for a Max and Kakzaki TV 1A, they are so bland. I'll be happy if Yamato makes the following DYRL Valks: - VF-1A Hikaru Super Valk. VF-1S Hikaru Strike Valk. VF-1S Roy Strike Valk. VE-1 Elint Seeker. VT-1 Super Ostrich. VF-1A Max Super Valk. About the only TV Valks I'm interested in are the Hikaru VF-1J and the VF-1D. I've never been a big fan of Max & Millia's VF-1Js. Graham

Yamato engineers are worried that the YF-21 display stand may suffer from erectile disfunction...............................in Eugimon's Omega Pants™. Graham

Short answer UN Spacy is now New UN Spacy (NUNS) with a new logo. Graham

Still no sign of the new issue of Shonen Ace in the shops here yet. As soon as I can find it, I will scan the pages of the Frontier manga. Graham

So did anybody manage to download the Don't Be Late song from that site that is mentioned on the official Frontier site? Graham

Again this is all just personal opinion/taste, but I'm really liking the characters and character designs in Frontier and can't wait to find out more about them. Certainly I prefer the characters more than those in Frontier's contemporary, 'Gundam 00', which to me manage to combine utter blandness, with in some cases a really freaky look that takes the whole 'big-eyed' anime look to new extremes of ridiculousnes and makes the characters look like humans that have mated with Speilberg's ET. Graham

I'm really surprised by your negative comments about the 3D/2D integration, when this is one aspect of the show that has been highly praised by nearly every member here so far. Granted I'm not in the animation field and I suspect neither are most of our members, but from a layman's view it was great. Some shows such as GITS SAC I have found the integration realy jarring though. Likewise, I really don't get where you are coming from comparing the action scenes here with Super Robot anime? Common characteristics of Super Robot anime is that the mecha are nearly indestructable, super powerful and the pilots usually shout their attacks. So let's see how Macross Frontier stacks up to these criteria: - Nearly Indestructable: Well, we see the Ghosts, VF-171s and one of the VF-25s easily taken down by the bugs, so the mecha are far from indestructable. Super powerful: Again, nope. The Ghosts and VF-171s don't even manage to take out a single bug and the VF-25s only manage to take out a couple of Hammerhead bugs. The guns and missiles of the VFs seem mostly ineffective. Shouting Attacks: Nope, again doesn't happen here. IMHO, the action in Macross Frontier has a very strong real robot vibe, with tense and exciting action scenes. Graham

Hopefully, the missing VF-171 forearms will be added in time for when the 1st episode airs in April 2008. Another possible mecha animation error is in the asteroid field when Ozma transforms his Armored VF-25 from Gerwalk to battroid mode. You see him transform to battroid, but then the next frame he is back in Gerwalk mode again and transformingto battroid again! Graham

There seems to be an animation error with the VF-171 that Ozma first flies up next to. When we first see it shortly before Ozma arrives, it seems to be missing its forearms/vertical tails and instead has some sort of cylindrical object mounted in place of the forearms (see attached screen captures). Yet later on the forearms reappear! At first I thought it might be a new variant, but later on after Ozma finishes talking to the pilot, the forearms magically reappear. Graham

The official site has an update. Something about the song 'Don't Be Late' and the date 2007-12-30 and the time 9.00. Anybody care to translate? Graham

I think the key phrase here is "all known". Graham

Sorry, this whole thing about Max & Millia faking their divorce smells like fanfic to me. I'm definitely calling BS on it. Graham

And after 12 viewings so far, I'm still not getting bored and plan to watch it another 2 more times tonight (AiA sub). Reallly really excited about Frontier. The character designs, mecha designs, music, action, story, enemy. All fantastic. This is probably the best first episode of an anime ever IMO. Graham

Regarding the VF-25 pilot that gets crushed by the red bug, when I first watched the raw video, I thought his name was Gideon. However after repeated watchings (12 times so far), I'm also leaning more towards Guillaume. Not that it really matters, as he is puree now. Graham

So the Shinsen Subs version refers to the 2 different types of augmentation pack for the VF-25 as "Super Pack" and "Armored Pack". It will be interesting to see how the AiA translation calls them, once I've finished downloading it. (Edit in) Actually, listening to what is being said, rather than reading the subs, you can hear the SMS commander(?) clearly say "Super Pack" & "Armored Pack" in English, so I guess that makes the names official. Personally, I love the look of the Armored VF-25 fighter mode more than the Super Pack VF-25. I really love the Stampeed Valk vibe. Graham

I find it interesting that Michael and Luca seem to be connected to SMS, while Alto is not, even though they all go to the same school. See the attached screen shots from the Shinsen subs version. When Ozuma and the other pilot see Ranka at the concert on TV, they comment that it is the concert that Michael and the others have the part time job at. Later when the bugs attack, Michael gets a call telling him to leave, he then asks Luca to go with him, but not Alto, who is left behind. Graham

I'm very curious about what is being said in this screen capture from the Shinsen subs version.: - "A message from both of the Macross Frontier Governments". I wonder are they referring to both New UN Spacy (NUNS) and the civilian city government, or perhaps there is a different government structure in place? Graham

And the missilon dollar question is, just what is that purple CG VF on the screen? It isn't a VF-25, SV-51 or VF-4, although it shares elements of all. Perhaps a mid season replacement for the VF-25? OOr maybe just an earlier design for the VF-25 that Kawamori discarded. Graham

As it says VF-171 on the side of the fighters in big bold letters, plus two Japanese magazines have already published the name as being VF-171, I think it's a pretty safe bet that the name of the fighter is indeed VF-171. Graham

Heh, in ep 1 we did see lots of dead ghosts.....LOL! Graham

Kresphy, do you know how many pages is the Macross Frontier manga in the new issue of Shonen Ace? Graham

Err, I think it's probably a pretty safe bet that we all noticed this. . Graham

Cool, the VF-171's head looks like it closely resembles that of the VF-17D, my favorite ever VF. Now I want a toy of this more than ever. Graham

While not official, all indications are that Yamato does not have the Frontier licence. As I've stated multiple times before, the initial licence toy goes by default to the major sponsor of the TV series, which is Bandai. And given Bandai's past track record with Macross, I'm not expecting much from them. I'd kill for a 1/60 Yamato VF-171 and FP equipped VF-25. It's not all bad news however. If my understanding is correct, the Frontier toy licence will open up to other toy companies after a couple of years. Graham