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Seto Kaiba

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About Seto Kaiba

  • Birthday August 22

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    http://www.Macross2.net/m3/m3.html
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    MacrossMike

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Lagrange Terrace (a stable community)
  • Interests
    Anime (duh), Antique Firearms, Cryptography, Mechanical Design

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows... yeesh, what happened? It wasn't a great series by any means, but the animation quality took a real hard dive in this episode. There are a few scenes, esp. ones with the "mystery antagonist", which look like they were animated by rank amateurs. Classic Stars remains delightfully unintelligible. I have no idea what is going on, and the series is half over. It's like a drug trip, but you can have it while you're sober and with zero danger of ending up in jail from it. The Too-Perfect Saint is leaning real hard into its form letter "the prince is a twit" plot. Like, it's really really boring and you can just tell that the plan to give the prince enough rope to hang himself with is gonna backfire epically.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    In all fairness, even the cartoons (esp. The Clone Wars) make it very clear that even in-story Mandalorian warrior culture is considered insanely toxic and self-destructive at best by anyone who's not in one of their feuding warrior cults. WRT the ignored epiphany from the end of season two of The Mandalorian, it probably doesn't help that the only survivors of Mandalore are the crazies. The reasonable folks got nuked. Fans just tend to... overlook... that little detail because Mandalorians are very action figure-friendly. The series as a whole is a direct sequel to a cartoon... it doesn't excuse the cartoon logic, but it explains why the writers fell into that trap in the first place.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    Probably not, lol... but he can claim three main fleets and probably dozens of straggler forces up until around 2054.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Not a surprising outcome. The difference in tone between the very much for-adults Andor and the more conventional all-ages writing of Rebels is massive. Doubly so since Andor, like Rogue One is largely devoid of the Jedi-centric shenanigans that bring most of the lighter and more kid-friendly fantasy elements into Star Wars stories like rigid Good/Evil alignments and blaster fire being treated like a nuisance rather than a life-ending threat. The rules aren't really different, IMO. Andor, being aimed at a more mature audience, differs from more conventional Star Wars titles in that it leaves the ugliness and trauma of the war on full display instead of hiding it with reaction shots, cutaways, and the like. Rebels has moments just as ugly as Andor's, but they happen "just offscreen" to keep the violence kid-friendly. For example, the Grand Inquisitor is introduced in Rebels when he simultaneously beheads two bumbling Imperial officers with his lightsaber. It's very clear contextually what happened, and everyone but Tarkin is visibly horrified, but they don't actually show the lethal blow or the headless bodies to keep the show's content rating down. Rebels also had a fairly direct depiction of a much more total genocide, but it didn't land quite as hard because we only see the aftermath, the victims were the bug-aliens from Attack of the Clones, and the traumatized sole survivor of a planetary genocide didn't speak English. Yeah, Filoni's work is passable most of the time but he's too much of a fanboy to be an effective creator on the franchise. His shows run primarily, if not exclusively, on fanservice. The new Tales of the Underworld series is a perfect example. Filoni penned two three-episode story arcs around a pair of hilariously one-dimensional recurring minor villains from his Star Wars: the Clone Wars series. Neither story is compelling or even interesting, and both of them read like they were written specifically to pad out that character's Star Wars Fandom wiki page rather than tell an engaging story. I will admit, I'm actually kind of curious whether this franchise-wise preoccupation with Filoni's work is because the franchise has too many "promoted" fans working on it or if Filoni is just that convinced that he's a great creator.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    My group just finished watching Andor's latest batch of episodes about 30min or so ago... That was INCREDIBLE. I am blown away. Just absolutely jaw-on-the-floor blown away. Having now watched it myself, I have to ask... "Just one?" Andor has, in my opinion, firmly cemented its position as the single best Star Wars series ever made and combined with Rogue One the best Star Wars story ever told. To hell with the moral absolutes of the glowstick enthusiast society... this is where Star Wars should focus its efforts. Not on high-and-mighty space monks fighting battles over destiny and prophecy, but on the regular people of the galaxy struggling against tyranny and oppression. This series stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the very best of Star Trek in terms of socially aware and relevant allegory and commentary. This hit like a sledgehammer. I do love that they took the time to, very quietly and subtly, tie Mon Mothma's escape into the Rebels episode by mentioning Gold Squadron had been dispatched to escort her to Yavin IV. They didn't make a meal out of it or use it for cameos, but the connection is there.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    Oh, I am very familiar with it... it took a very long time and a lot of judicious importing of hobby magazines to get much of any information on the game (and its TRPG nominal sequel Eternal Love Song), since almost all the coverage of it is in hobby magazines for the PC Engine game system. It was my second-ever big foray into researching and translating Macross publications, kickstarted by my initial project for Macross II: Lovers Again based on oh-so-many inaccuracies in the Palladium Books RPG. How time flies. That was more than twenty years ago now. Incidentally, to answer your question about the designation... the VF-1AR/JR/SR designation comes to us primarily, but not entirely, through Bandai Entertainment Bible No.51. It is most commonly referred to as the "Attack Valkyrie", but sometimes/rarely as the Refined Valkyrie... which is where the R comes from. It is a late 2010s/early 2020s-era major upgrade to the VF-1 Valkyrie. Its boosters are a semi-permanent attachment called the Super Pack II that combines the functions of the Super Pack and Strike Pack. There are 3 primary variants, same as the base model VF-1. Komilia's VF-1SR, Lott's VF-1JR, and the grunt model VF-1AR. Same as in Macross II. The UN Spacy had a LOT of Zentradi and Meltrandi defectors on its hands after the First Space War, and so in the Macross II timeline they make use of a great many Zentradi ships that are retrofitted to accommodate Variable Fighters and miclone crews alongside giant Zentradi. By this point in the timeline, Humanity has started incorporating both Zentran and Meltran overtechnology into their own ships and weapons. A slow process that will culminate in the post-2054 major revamping of the UN Spacy fleet and the creation of the Macross II designs. The Daedalus II-class is an Advanced ARMD that's one of the post-war developments. There are at least 18 of the things kicking around in 2036-2037 including the Daedalus II and the Prometheus II. They were developed to support extrasolar exploration fleets led by Macross and Megaroad-class ships. Yep... they're not meant to be as big as the game represents them, with the exception of Quamzin's personal machine which is a mobile suit that's practically Sazabi-scaled for a Zentradi. In the main, this game and its TRPG sequel Macross: Eternal Love Song, really cemented the idea that there were a BUNCH more Zentradi designs out there that various fleets had that Earth simply hadn't encountered yet. The sequel as also the first time any official media depicted the VF-4 transforming or gave it a name (VF-4 Siren). That original name remains a canonical in-universe nickname of the VF-4's. The backstory implies that Quamzin survived the events of DYRL? and went on to lead an insurgency in a similar manner to what he did in the TV series, but instead of making his suicide run he legged it into space once he got his hands on a ship. He comes back to Earth twice... the first time looking to Get Revenge for the defeat of the Boddole Zer fleet by bringing the Neld Main Fleet to Earth. When THAT doesn't work, he tries to weaponize Earth's culture against a Meltrandi fleet and that backfires too. Both games help set up/corroborate a plot point in the Macross II: Lovers Again about how Earth comes under semi-regular attack by Zentradi (and Meltrandi) fleets and that the task of fighting them off has become routine enough for the military to become complacent. By 2092 in that timeline, Earth had successfully fended off at least five Main Fleets from the Zentran and Meltran forces (Moruk Laplamiz's doesn't count, IMO, since Boddole Zer did that) and was being attacked every couple years by smaller straggler forces of rogue Zentran and/or Meltran ships left over from the defeated main fleets.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    I fear I may have caused a misunderstanding. It doesn't happen in the TV anime itself... it happens in a side story set during the series that was published in Macross Ace. In that side story, Akira Kamishima (the actor Alto stood in for) gets some help with reshoots of his cockpit scenes from SMS. Alto takes him up in a VF-1C so he can experience being in a real Valkyrie instead of a cockpit set.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    If you think about it, it's not surprising that Zentradi would make up the bulk of anti-government militants. There were 8 times as many Zentradi as Humans living on Earth after the First Space War, and there's likely been a fairly decent intake of Zentradi over the decades as the New UN Forces encounter and defeat various Zentradi scouting forces and such. It's been fairly well established that a lot of Zentradi struggle to adapt to a life without the rigor of military discipline and the adrenaline high of combat. Some get over it in time. Some turn to substance abuse. Some join the New UN Forces to find a "healthy" outlet for their urges, and some wind up joining anti-government groups either because they feel discriminated against or simply so they can indulge their designed-in instinct to fight. The number of incidents seems to have gone down with time, though... whether that's simply because the New UN Government is getting better at rehabilitating Zentradi soldiers and integrating them into society or because the Master File-mentioned gene theraphy is helping more Zentradi control their inbuilt aggression is unclear. Probably. I'd expect there are some medical firms researching ways to make micloning safer and more reliable, since there are at least a minority of people who suffer some kind of health problems because of it. It certainly seems to have been, yes. You already beat me to the reference I was going to point to, and Exsedol's bio suggests that micloning him involved removing a bunch of the biotechnological "features" that his role required... and that he reinstalled them when he returned to living as a giant for fear of running short of memory capacity. For what it's worth, Ranka's hair is never mentioned as being a quirk/abnormality... just a trait she has through her Zentradi heritage. We know almost nothing about Tokugawa-san, that giant Zentradi enka singer from Folmo mall. He doesn't quite have tusks... but two of his bottom teeth do protrude past his lip almost like he has cute girl fangs. That could be a genetic quirk, or it could also be an affectation he's adopted for his career as an enka singer along with his traditional Japanese wardrobe. We do see other Zentradi with aggression/anger management issues in Macross 7. The only hint we have as to why that tapered off is Master File's assertion that there was a gene therapy developed in the 2040s and 2050s that dialed the Zentradi's aggression responses back to Human levels, eliminating the need for the kind of medication that Guld was taking in Macross Plus. Now, we know he has a history of choosing the underdog/losing side in basically every conflict he's fought in... but he's not that old. His official bio says he's "in his 40s" in Macross Delta's TV series, meaning the earliest he could've been born is 2018 (assuming he is 49 in 2067). Quamzin's forces were wiped out in 2012, six years or more before he was even born.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    If I could change any one thing, I'd have kept the F-bomb in the conclusion of Maarva's speech in "Rix Road".
  10. Seto Kaiba
    Andor has always been among the very best Star Wars has had to offer... IMO, it crossed the line to being The Best back in "One Way Out" and cemented its permanent residency in the top spot with "Rix Road". Haven't seen the new episodes yet (that's tonight), but I am VERY much looking forward to it.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    To be honest, the main cast of GQuuuuuuX is so underdeveloped that I can't say that either Machu or Nyan feels particularly distinct. Ep5 seems to suggest that the reason we have two female leads is to tease a possible love triangle centered on Shuji. Why either of the girls would be interested in a boy with no apparent personality traits to speak of and the emotional range of a cress sandwich remains to be established. Five'll get you twenty the Red Gundam's Alpha Psycommu is...
  12. Seto Kaiba
    IMO, Hikaru's getting an unfairly bad rap there... he was ordered to take off directly into enemy fire, got hit almost right away, and crashed because his aircraft lost power. He did fumble with the Battroid, but at least part of that is also attributable to the battle damage his Valkyrie had suffered making it even harder for him to control. Alto had prior experience on older model Valkyries before he jumped into the VF-25 at the start of Macross Frontier. It doesn't come up in the TV anime directly, but supplemental material, the TV-adjacent short stories, audio dramas, and alternate versions of the story like the novelizations and manga all indicate that Mihoshi Academy's aerospace classes involve training with real Valkyries. Specifically, Mihoshi Academy is said to have a number of civilian market VF-1C Valkyries kitted out as flight training aircraft. In the TV series short story "Actor's Sky" and the Macross Frontier TV novelization, Alto takes the guy playing Shin Kudo in the Bird Human movie up for a training flight in one to help him prep for the role. That's part of why he's able to fly his borrowed VF-25 as effectively as he does, since all he's really unfamiliar with at that point are the weapons.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Please do not give Dave Filoni ideas... as third Tales of series clearly shows, he is clearly desperate enough that he's not particularly picky.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Caught the new episode of GQuuuuuuX today over lunch... and it's legitimately boring. Once again, the most interesting part of the story is the implication that Big Things are happening offscreen back in Side 3 and we just don't get to see any of it because it's much more important that we watch a 16 year old spoiled rich kid sunbathe or get stuck in a train station locker. Since GQuuuuuuX is Studio Khara's baby, I think my nickname for it is going to be "Kharbage". Short for "Khara's Garbage". The writing is incredibly weak, the characters are badly underdeveloped even five episodes in, and many of the designs are sinfully ugly. It's like Studio Khara showed up to a game and creativity pitched a perfect no-hitter. The most interesting part of it thus far has been finding out what became of the iconic One Year War characters in this alternate history.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    Assuming Andor's story continues to skip forward one year for each three episode story arc, the Ghorman massacre and Mon Mothma's speech about it should occur in the block of episodes that drops tonight. Season 2's first block of episodes started in 4 BBY. The second block was in 3 BBY. This next block should be set in 2 BBY, the same year as the Star Wars: Rebels episode "Secret Cargo". That was the episode that depicted the final leg of Mon Mothma's escape from Coruscant to the rebel base on Dantooine after she made a speech in the Senate about the Ghorman Massacre. That last batch of episodes should be in 1 BBY, the year before Rogue One.
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