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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    If only the large-scale version... it's noted that the miniaturized version (MDE) was an invention of Legodt & Angeloni Industries in the Frontier fleet. Even if Macross Galaxy hadn't used a Dimension Eater to destroy Gallia IV, the New UN Government would almost certainly have still imposed the same restrictions on harvesting and trading in fold quartz to avoid seeing the proliferation of the smaller-scale but still incredibly potent Dimension Cutters and MDE weapons and avoid antagonizing more Vajra hives. Windermere IV's government seems to have been profoundly upset about practically any of their obligations as a New UN Government member nation. The New UN Government restrictions on trading in fold quartz were simply the most frustrating single point under the broad header of their discontent with their world's slow economic development. That may have been exacerbated somewhat by their short lifespans. To a human, 10-15 years is maybe 1/3 to 1/4 of their working life. To a Windermerean, that same period is pretty much the entire span as an economically active adult. Rather than take the time to develop their economy properly, given that they'd started out as an agricultural world still in its feudal period and skipped right to the interstellar age, they wanted instant economic success even though the entire region of space they were in was struggling economically as the result of its isolation. As firepower has increased, I think we'll probably see things stay the same size now that beam weapons are becoming the standard rather than increasingly powerful solid ammo guns. Hard to say... one of the problems underpinning all of these fold wave technologies is the need for an appropriate fold wave source to activate them. Master File, at least, takes the view that the YF-29's impossible-to-mass-produce Fold Wave System could force-activate itself without the need for an external fold wave source due to the massive amount of the ultra-high purity fold quartz it used. More resource-conscious versions need an external fold wave source to activate, which is why them used in Macross Delta when Windermere's Aerial Knights are burning up their runes and Walkure are singing. The whole funnels/bits thing has been done, but I'd expect an explosive warhead intended to breach energy conversion armor would probably be more effective against the armor than a high-velocity shank. Yeah, though in-universe the amount of time between Valkyrie generations has been growing. The 1st Generation was about eight years in development but lasted only about twelve years as main fighter. The 2nd Generation was in nominal main fighter service for around 18 years. The 3rd had 20+. The 4th is still hanging on almost 30 in-universe years. The 5th Generation is only JUST entering service in the 2060s in most places. So unless we skip a good couple decades down the road I'd expect to keep seeing 5th Generation YF-24 derivatives for a while. The full panoramic cockpit thing has been an on-and-off feature since the Gen 3 VF-17, but I'd expect the seamless version we saw in Delta to become the norm eventually... though that's not fold quartz tech, that's just holographic projection. (Depending on which source you ask, holographic projectors may use fold carbon tho, like Walkure's supposedly do.) I'm kind of expecting to see more emphasis on smaller Ghosts similar to the funnels and bits that were present in Macross II's timeline, as well as a move away from conventional cannons to railguns and especially beam weapons. Now that VFs have enough spare generator power to operate a large external particle or dimensional beam cannon, there's no major obstacle to doing away with solid ammo cannons in favor of something that has effectively unlimited ammunition as long as the generator is running.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    Hard to say... we haven't seen any actual specs for it yet. I'd assume its Battroid mode will be close to the average 15m size. While it can be kind of hard to tell from the toys, many of which aren't in precise scale, Valkyries kind of hit a size plateau starting in the 4th Generation designs introduced for both the Macross Plus OVA and Macross 7 series. Later designs got simmer alt-modes now that hand-drawn animation has been replaced by computer-aided animation and ful 3D CGI animation, but starting from around the VF-17 they've all been tailored to produce a Battroid that's approximately 15m tall. That puts them at pretty close to the same size as your standard Zentradi battle suits and pods, and half-again the size of a Zentradi infantryman. Being around the same size as Zentradi standard mecha was probably the goal, at least in-universe. Once they hit that point, they rarely went bigger except in the case of special duty units (mainly Bombers). Both Macross Frontier and Macross Delta have generally set a trajectory towards fold wave-based performance enhancement systems being the Next Generation core technology. Macross Delta's Blu-ray extra features indicated that the 5th Generation VF-31 Kairos was considered to be a 5.5th Generation VF once it was upgraded with a fold wave system and compatible engine design. Master File also took a similar view, suggesting the YF-29 may technically be a 6th Generation VF. So I'd expect the next evolution of the VF concept is a productionized version of the Fold Wave System... probably with synthetic fold quartz. Not just for greater engine output, but a move towards powering VFs with fold dimensional energy conversion and probably some of the other fold wave-driven advancements like the Sv-303 Vivasvat's fold wave-based energy conversion armor.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    That's a different kind of resistance to stress... lol Still, that the military was experimenting with ways of artificially boosting a Valkyrie pilot's resistance to high g-forces even before the YF-19 and YF-21 is an interesting point. We know the VF-16 used the initial type thermonuclear reaction burst turbine engine and that those engines produced enough power for running up against a pilot's biological limit in terms of sudden changes in g-force loads as on the VF-17D type and 4th Generation VFs. One has to wonder if the systems trialed on the VF-15 simply weren't up to the job when it came to fighters able to pull 10+ G's in straightline acceleration. No reason explicitly given... I'd suspect that, as with most shady corporate deals, there were some kickbacks or other anticompetitive behaviors involved somewhere along the line like the promise of being awarded supplier contracts. Legodt & Angeloni Industries made a LOT of different high-tech products from personal computers to micloning machines...
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Palladium Books's Robotech and Macross II games got up to some shenanigans on that front because the writers had no sense of scale. For whatever reason, they ignored the show showing that Zentradi soldiers spend their off-duty time in bunkrooms and wardrooms little different to those on any naval vessel and decided that the Zentradi rank and file are kept in cold sleep outside of immediate battle conditions... even though that would've made it impossible for the events of Macross to happen, what with the spy trio exposing their fellow troops to artifacts from the Macross in their free time. Given that the Zentradi were regarded as disposable resources by the Protoculture and that mass production of them was a given, I doubt they even wasted the effort to give them unnatural longevity. We're talking about the same people who weren't willing to even consider operator comfort or ease of use on the Regult. It's never made clear what caused Vrlitwhai's eye to be ruined... there's no scar shown in the art, just a non-functional eye. He may have had a genetic defect that wasn't so severe it caused him to be rejected in quality control. Maybe... it's possible they didn't even need to consider it, since quality of life on its own has a pretty significant impact on your longevity and most accounts of their civilization at the peak of its power put them in "crystal spires and togas" territory. You can stay remarkably hale and hearty as a human well into your 50's and 60's with proper diet, exercise, and the benefits of modern medicine alone. (It's also possible some of them experimented with unnatural means of lifespan extension and the results were unfavorable. Ingues in Macross II has a lot more personality than an average living command computer, and he'd supposedly gradually lost the plot over time and become a complete psycho.) He's referring to the TV version, not the movie version. Vrlitwhai's animation model sheets for Super Dimension Fortress Macross - viewable on page 137 of Entertainment Bible 51 or his Macross Chronicle character sheet TV Zentradi 01A's reverse side - shows that the metal plate half-mask he wears is an outlandish eyepatch concealing a non-functional right eye. The way it's drawn, it's a lazy eye and appears blind as well. Macross Chronicle notes that it's not clear whether this is the result of injury or a defect in his construction. Not extensive ones... they have the connector to link their bio-fiber optic nervous systems to the controls of the Queadluun-Rau battle suits, but that's about it. The bio-fiber optics in their nervous systems are apparently a part of their genetic makeup. It's been explicitly noted on a few occasions, particularly in connection with Exsedol, that the micloning system can add/remove mission-specific Zentradi biotech features during the process. Exsedol stripped out his records officer modifications when he micloned, then reinstituted them when he feared losing his memories and storage capacity when he switched back to living as a giant. It's unclear whether this is simply enabling or disabling specific sections of their tailored genetic code or if the system is actually changing their genes. Since clones are created for specific roles at inception, I'm inclined to suspect the latter. It's been indicated that some of the necessary data involved in micloning is written in the spaces between genes normally active in humans, like the instructions for changes in biochemistry and body structure that restructure Zentradi anatomy to compensate for the square-cubed law among other things. That's one of the pieces of evidence in the series that made it explicit that the micloning system is determining the user's body state using their DNA. Klan is noted, both in series and official publications, to have a rare genetic abnormality that prevents her from micloning properly. Michael Blanc is also noted to have issues with a miclone system because of his genetic structure. His mixed heritage of Human, Zentradi, and Zolan, apparently causes issues with the process that could seriously sicken or even kill him to the extent that it's noted he'd only be able to go through the micloning system as a one-way trip. The aforementioned genetic abnormality, possibly a result of her being a natural born child to two Zentradi parents and some simple bad luck, is what causes that. Whether that can be done for real with modern technology... it's a popular convention in science fiction at the very least. You'd know far better than I how much actual support there is for Olovnikov's telomere hypothesis of aging. However it works in the miclone system, the system always seems to be able to produce a copy of the body at the exact same age barring rare malfunctions caused by genetic code abnormalities like Klan's. One nagging question about miclone systems that's never been addressed is if you lose things like scars and tattoos going through the process... since it conveniently seems to keep even your hairstyle.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    Yup.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    That shouldn't be taken seriously though, as it's an acknowledged in-joke by the show's creators. Her aversion to being called obaa-san is a pretty standard cliche for middle-aged women.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    That's a bit different... Titan Comics did their own alternate universe story, then used it to take the piss out of Robotech after fans got pissy about them messing with the sacred cow that is the status quo. They turned the sequel into a borderline Macross fic so they wouldn't have to adapt the Masters Saga or New Generation. Yeah, the old Robotech comics were pretty bad both art-wise and in terms of a lack of creative thinking. They fell into the standard EU trap of having characters from the series written into every major or minor event in the setting's entire history. IIRC that comic tried to establish it was getting shot in the face by an Invid that got him his mask from the series.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    The body that's constructed by the miclone machine is, more or less, an exact copy of them genetically... and the cause of aging is technically a generic factor (telomerase), so cloning your way out of aging doesn't quite work.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    The New UN Gov't is still figuring out what the average Zentradi life expectancy is. Humanity hasn't been living with the Zentradi for long enough to have a clear picture of that yet. It's played for laughs in Macross 7's "Which One Do You Love?", when a 50-something Milia gets sick and WebMD's herself into believing she's dying of old age when she's actually just got the space equivalent of the common cold. By the 2050s, Zentradi who were in their 20s and 30s in the First Space War are showing signs of old age (e.g. Richard Bilra) but with modern medicine and the generally decently high quality of living they're still pretty darn spry for their age. It's usually assumed that Zentradi have very similar natural lifespans to humans, though modern medicine skews that quite a bit due to the high standard of care and living.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    Granted, the whole line of inquiry here is completely idiotic and I've said as much in several previous posts. Why is it completely idiotic? Because I'm actually entertaining the OP's premise of doing a Robotech comic with this specific subject matter. It's an objectively terrible idea, but to actually give meaningful feedback to their topic instead of just dragging them for posting it I'm asking them the same questions and posing the same concerns they'd face if they were actually pitching the idea. Remember, the Robotech fandom is INCREDIBLY change-averse and generally apathetic towards anything that isn't "the Macross Saga". The status quo of the franchise is their sacred cow. Mess with it, and they'll burn your project down like they did to Robotech 3000, Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles, and Robotech Academy. If you tried to pitch the idea of a comic about the Zentradi fighting the Invid back when Harmony Gold was actually entertaining the idea of licensed comic tie-ins to the series, you would've been obligated to make your work compliant with the official setting. You'd be locked into the aforementioned scale issues with the biggest pre-series Invid mecha being not quite waist-high to the average unmounted Zentradi and most being the size of a small yappy dog and unarmed to boot. How do you make them threatening when the fighting basically looks like this? (Spoiler-tagged image is that statue "Angry Baby" from the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo, Norway... tagged thusly for those who don't want to be ambushed by an exposed bronze johnson.) I can't imagine there's much entertainment value in watching a colossal (literally and figuratively) group of elite soldiers gunning down hordes of unarmed aliens the size of small children. If you change the relative scaling, you're going to have to have a clear, believable explanation for why the Invid were so much larger and why they shrank by the time they met the humans... and for the continuity problems it'll cause... and a host of other issues like why the fight is happening at all when the standard Zentradi MO has always been "flatten the planet from orbit and get on with life". If you can't explain these things away convincingly, the fans'll get pissy and burn your story down with you in it. Of course, they might do it anyway just for spite. Yeah, the whole topic is ridiculous and completely idiotic... but that's what comes from trying to take this kind of fanfic nonsense even slightly seriously.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    Nah, even in the original series the "culture shock" effect of the Minmay Attack and so on was shown to vary depending on the individual and the duration of their exposure. The Zentradi spies were immersed in Earth's culture for a month or so and being the inquisitive sort from a reconnaissance unit they went native pretty quick. Others struggled to adapt and lost to their engineered fighting instincts and the Protoculture-designed mental conditioning only to be killed in combat by the UN Forces. Among the Boddole Zer main fleet, of the 4,000,000 ships left after the Grand Cannon was done firing the only ships and crews left after the fleet scattered with the loss of its mothership were the ones who'd already sided with Earth against their own people (for fear of being destroyed by their own people as "contaminated") and those that'd been shot down and crashed on Earth as a result of the fighting. The overwhelming majority of the 3 million ships left after the mothership blew up scattered to the metaphorical winds rather than stay at Earth. There's some excellent examples in Macross II's timeline, where Quamzin and some of his malcontents not only escape into space but repeatedly come back wth other fleets and try to destroy Earth. They're clearly having none of it. Basically, to some Zentradi the exposure and interest in Earth's culture is a passing fancy. To others, that culture is internalized and becomes their own. That's why there are the occasional outbreaks of violence among the Zentradi population on Earth as folks struggle with adapting to Earth's culture and sublimating or suppressing their instinctiver drive to do battle. Some get through it by simply being well-adjusted and openminded. Some need a little medicinal help, like Guld. Some self-medicate in unhelpful ways with alcohol like Roli Dosel did. Some don't get through it and either get packed off into a New UN Spacy Marine Corps unit to help them live a productive and full life while indulging in the combat instincts they couldn't suppress (e.g. the 33rd Marines in Macross Frontier), and the ones who go off the metaphorical reservation and become terrorists tend to end up shot.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    That's not the name of that class of ships in Macross or Robotech, hence my confusion. Yes, that is kind of what I'm saying. The difference in the level of capability between the two settings is a difference measured in multiple orders of magnitude. It's why these kind of comparisons are problematic at best, and a lost cause at worst... and why the Robotech setting leaves the question of who exactly the Zentradi were created to fight unanswered. There isn't a plausible answer in the setting because they're so ridiculously overpowered compared to everyone else. (Which, when you think about it, makes them an amazing deterrant if you're empire-building... and would explain why the Masters went unchallenged until the well ran dry on their macguffin fuel source.) It's like how Star Trek originally regarded the Borg... they were one of the show's most impressive villains, but they were so hard to write for because they were made so powerful in their first few appearances that they were impossible to use in any story that involved fighting them. TBH I'm not even sure why this is a surprise to you... the Zentradi are a clone army created by sufficiently advanced aliens, while the Zor are a race of mutated, temporally-displaced human technical pacifists. You wouldn't expect a species like the Zor, who abolished not only war but all internal conflict through genetic and social engineering to come loaded for bear. For the record, the Zor "motherships" only have one kind of beam cannon turret in the series and production materials. They seem to have just stopped drawing the spiraling beam effect partway through the series. It was probably too expensive to draw on a regular basis. There are one or two shots showing ships seemingly being destroyed in one hit, but in most cases the Southern Cross Army's ships are shown taking many hits without incident. That's not what we were talking about... that's a one-of-a-kind in-universe character, not the designs shared between the original MOSPEADA animation and the low budget work done for Robotech II: the Sentinels.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Nope, they just kinda go off and do their own thing I guess... they're never mentioned again. (It was an unbroadcasted episode, so it borders on being a Big Lipped Alligator Moment.)
  14. Seto Kaiba
    It's actually presented more along the lines of LAI itself leaked the information...
  15. Seto Kaiba
    "YF-28" is on the list because it's mentioned in Macross the Ride, though the rumors connected to it in the story where it's assumed to be a Macross Galaxy-developed rival to the Macross Frontier fleet arsenal's YF-29 actually refer to the production VF-27 design. At the time, Macross Galaxy was hiding the true specs of the VF-27 behind a misinformation campaign with the help of some purpose-built lower spec prototypes including the YF-27-3 Shahar Female type. All we know is what's mentioned in the article... it's some kind of system that uses lasers, electromagnetic pulses, infrared stimulation, and other means to activate the body's own natural resistance to stress.
  16. Seto Kaiba
    All told, it's about time this got a freshening too to cover the new info from Macross Delta: Absolute Live!!!!!!. For the sake of convenience, the following rant will be color-coded! VFs that officially exist and have appeared in a Macross official setting work VFs that officially exist and have NOT appeared in a Macross official setting work. VFs that exist solely in non-official works like Variable Fighter Master File VFs whose placement is speculative. Last Edited: 23 Dec 2021 - added SV-303 Vivasvat and VF-31AX Kairos Plus to 5.5th Generation Generation 0 - "Prototype Generation" This generation is purely speculative and exists mainly to segregate designs that do not fully comply with the design qualifications for the First Generation Variable Fighter (e.g. thermonuclear reaction turbine engines) and were built principally for evaluation purposes rather than mass produced for actual combat service. YVF-X-0 VF-0 Phoenix (YVF-X-0B) VF-0-NF Sv-50 Sv-51 Sv-51Σ (Unmanned Sv-51) Generation 0.5 - "Upgraded Prototype Generation" This generation contains designs that exist only in Variable Fighter Master File. These VF designs are upgrades of the 0th Generation prototypes that were upgraded with technology from 1st Generation VFs or otherwise modernized to make them viable for long-duration operation. VF-0+ Phoenix Plus Sv-51Ω (Repurposed incomplete Sv-52 with conventional engines) Generation 1 - "First Generation" The defining traits of this generation are the adoption of Overtechnology, including thermonuclear reaction turbine engines, laser weaponry, energy converting armor, etc. in a production variable fighter. Sv-52 VF-1 Valkyrie VF-X-2 Generation 1.5 - "Upgraded First Generation" First Generation designs upgraded with Second Generation hardware drawn from the VF-4. Sv-51 Replica (Macross 30) VF-0 Phoenix Replica (Macross 30) VF-1 Valkyrie Plus (Blocks 6 and later, incl. VF-1X) VF-1P Freyja Valkyrie VF-1X++ Valkyrie Double Plus VF-1C Civilian Valkyrie VF-1EX Valkyrie EX VF-3000S Crusader VF-3000B Generation 2 - "Specialization for Emigrant Fleets" The hallmarks of the Second Generation designs include the adoption of Zentradi overtechnology, refinements for regime-optimized performance in either atmosphere or space, "lessons learned" from the First Space War, and optionally the adoption of particle beam weaponry. Most were intended for use by emigrant fleets, with low cost, simplified manufacturing, and parts-sharing. VF-X-3 VF-4 Lightning III VF-3000S Crusader VF-3000B Bomber Valkyrie VF-5000 Star Mirage VF-5 VF-6 VF-7 VF-9 Cutlass VF-X-10 V-BR-2 VA-X-3 Generation 2.5 - "Upgraded Second Generation" Second Generation VFs that were modernized to keep them in service alongside Third Generation VFs. VF-4G Lightning III VF-5000G Star Mirage VF-9E Cutlass Generation 3 - "Project Nova and Diversification" The Third Generation VFs are defined chiefly by the Project Nova design contest that decided the generation's main variable fighter as a true all-purpose successor to the VF-1 Valkyrie, but also by the continuing diversification of variable craft design into dedicated Attacker and Bomber roles. VF-11A/B/C/D Thunderbolt VF-14 Vampire VF-15 VF-17A/B/C Nightmare VA-14 VAB-2 VA-3 VBP-1/VA-110 Variable Glaug VB-6 Generation 3.5 - "Upgraded Third Generation" Third Generation VFs that've been modernized or upgraded with technology drawn from Fourth Generation VFs to keep them viable or evaluate technologies meant for Fourth Generation implementation. VF-11MAXL Thunderbolt VF-11C Thunderbolt Interceptor VF-16 VF-17D/F/S/T Nightmare XVF-19 (a modified VF-11) Fz-109 Elgersoln Az-130 Panzersoln FBz-99 Zaubergern Generation 4 - "Project Super Nova: the Advanced Variable Fighter" The Fourth Generation's distinctive design traits are among the best known in Macross. The adoption of the next-gen ARIEL airframe control AI, thermonuclear reaction burst turbine engines, fighter-scale pinpoint barrier systems, and native compatibility for fold boosters. This generation was largely defined by Project Super Nova, the ultimately futile contest between the YF-19 and YF-21 at Eden's New Edwards Test Flight Center. The insurmountable technological and performance complications of the two designs led to a third design, the VF-171, becoming this generation's main variable fighter. VF-19 Excalibur YF-21 VF-22 Sturmvogel II VF-22 Sturmvogel II (SMS Type) VF/B-22 Jagdvogel II VF-171 Nightmare Plus (Blocks I and II) VB-171 Nightmare Plus (Blocks I and II) RVF-171 Nightmare Plus (Blocks I and II) Sv-154 Svard Feios Valkyrie Fz-109G Elgersoln Gustav VBP-1/VA-110(改) Neo Glaug bis Generation 4.5 - "Upgraded Fourth Generation" The Generation 4.5 designs are few, and consist mostly of VF designs that were either upgraded to evaluate tech for eventual adoption by Generation 5 designs, or ones that were upgraded in extremis to make them more effective in combat against the Vajra. VF-19ACTIVE Nothung VF-19EF Caliburn RVF-19EF Caliburn VF-19EF/A Excalibur ADVANCE VF-22HG Schwalbe Zwei VF-22 Sturmvogel II "Manfred" VF-22 Sturmvogel II "Ushio Todo Custom" VF-171 Nightmare Plus (Block III and IIIF) VF-171EX Nightmare Plus EX VF-171EX Nightmare Plus EX Throne RVF-171EX Nightmare Plus EX Queadluun Alma Generation 5 - "Project Evolution and Decentralized Development" The Fifth Generation of Variable Fighters started development as a response to the disastrous first contact with the insectoid alien race known as the Vajra. Existing VF designs proved utterly inadequate to rival the performance of Vajra drones, and new programs were launched to develop countermeasures for the high-g forces and other major problems with the newly finalized Fourth Generation. The design hallmarks of Fifth Generation Variable Fighters include the adoption of Inertia Store Converter technology to insulate the cockpit against high g-forces, Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engines, contactless Linear Actuator technology for transformation, the ARIEL II airframe control AI, Extender Gear (EX-Gear) user interfaces, Advanced Energy Conversion Armor (ASWAG), and heavy quantum beam weaponry. YF-24 YF-24 Evolution VF-24 YF-25 Prophecy VF-25 Messiah YF-26 YF-27 Shahar VF-27 Lucifer YF-28 YF-29 Durandal YF-29B Percival (NUNS Ver.) YF-30 Chronos YF-30B Chronos (NUNS Ver.) VF-30 VF-31 Kairos Sv-262 Draken III Queadluun Alma Unknown New VF - Absolute LIVE!!!!!! Generation 5.5 - "Fold Wave Performance Enhancement" The precise criteria for considering a design to belong to Generation 5.5 are unclear at the present time, but remarks by Tactical Sound Unit Walkure leader Kaname Buccaneer and team mechanic Makina Nakajima suggest that a Fifth Generation VF which has been upgraded with a fold wave-based performance enhancement system may technically qualify as Generation 5.5. The only craft explicitly identified as belonging to this VF Generation is the Xaos Valkyrie Works VF-31 Siegfried, which may indicate Generation 5.5 is an informal classification used only by Xaos. Previous media have suggested the VF-31 Siegfried and others are considered Fifth Generation VFs. YF-28 YF-29 Durandal YF-29B Percival YF-30 Chronos YF-30B Chronos (NUNS Ver.) VF-30 VF-31 Siegfried (Xaos Custom) Sv-262 Draken III Sv-303 Vivasvat VF-31AX Kairos Plus
  17. Seto Kaiba
    Ah, nice. I'm doing well, working on my own website and all... still hosting M3 and all. You may find this helpful, my breakdown of all VFs by generation:
  18. Seto Kaiba
    What's a "Tou Redir"? Also, the simple answer... as noted previously, despite a technological head-start measured in millennia, the Zor's weapons technology isn't depicted as being significantly more powerful or more effective than the basic laser weapons that are the Southern Cross Army's stock in trade. What's more, the setting generally presents laser weapons as being roughly equivalent in power to a conventional gun of the same bore... a trait shared with MOSPEADA for the most part. They're not "immensely powerful". We're shown that the fairly primitive space warships fielded by the Southern Cross Army can tank multiple hits from them without issue or impediment. The reason these comparisons always run into problems is a difference in the scale of technology. Most mecha anime, including Southern Cross and MOSPEADA, are on a level much closer to real world technology despite having things like giant robots. You could say UC Gundam is the archetype there. Giant robots might be able to generate a couple megawatts of power at most, and a megawatt is a lot of power in a generator or an energy weapon. A mecha-mounted weapon might have an effective range of a kilometer or two, and a warship maybe tens of kilometers in good conditions. Energy weapons as a whole generally aren't significantly more powerful than conventional alternatives... just more space-efficient and accurate. Macross is really quite unusual as a mecha series for shunning that convention and going to almost the opposite extreme chasing a power system that could realistically provide the instantaneous acceleration of a high performance jet engine even in space. A megawatt is, consequently, a piddlingly small amount of power with even small fighter-mounted beam weapons throwing around tens or hundreds of megawatts and ship-based weapons using anywhere from thousands to millions or billions of megawatts with ranges to match. It's part of why the creators of Robotech stayed away from depicting the Zentradi fighting... well... anyone. The scale of them is just so different to anything else in Robotech that there's no plausible way anyone could actually win against them in a fair fight. How's a hostile alien power that could barely cope with a few thousand human troops despite the benefit of superior numbers supposed to credibly fend off a force of seven billion soldiers, each of whom is more resilient than a main battle tank in their underwear? The scale of the threat they pose is so huge that even in Macross the only way they can be worked into the narrative is as an invincible apocalyptic threat to be avoided at all costs. They're more aggressive, not necessarily more powerful... and there is no size difference it's just dodgy off-model animation from the ultra-low budget Sentinels series.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    ... woah, now there's a name I haven't seen in a long time. How you doin'? As for your question, the Macross Compendium Wiki is probably as close as you'll get in English right now... I don't think anyone has a complete listing, partly bceause some stuff doesn't actually have names and partly because definitions of "complete" vary a bit depending on whether one wants to count material outside the official setting like Master File.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    Myung Fang Lone's psychological issues definitely played a role because her emotional responses were sampled to simulate emotional responses in the computer model of the human brain that governed Sharon's behavior. That said, both the OVA and Movie versions of Macross Plus are pretty clear that Sharon was little more than an elaborate puppet thanks to an incomplete AI system until she was outfitted with the prohibited bio-neural chip and became self-aware. Her AI was a separate development from the work done in cybernetics, with Macross Chronicle asserting the Sharon-type AI was sponsored by the New UN Forces for use as a sort of supervisory AI to maintain public order in emigrant fleets due to the less-than-comfortable living conditions in early emigrant ship types. Undoubtably there were some "cloning blues", though the New UN Government seems to have deliberately acted to separate clones for that reason. Marge's issues are attributed by Macross Chronicle to an unhealthy obsession with Sharon Apple rather than anything to do with his upbringing though. For him, it may have been a bit of an ego thing since he was the lead developer on the Sharon-type AI and when Sharon Apple debuted she was falsely promoted as not just a completed AI system, but also as being able to feel authentic human emotion. The AI was actually incomplete and the emotion program just didn't work, so he was probably quietly seething for a good while at being made to look a fraud. He seemed to see Sharon's true completion as his vindication, and eventually her awakening as her becoming an actual life form. (He does show some transhumanist leanings philosophically, like when he notes he doesn't share Aristotle's view that the mind must be tied to the flesh... which is actually pretty reasonable when humanity has access to cloning systems able to transfer consciousness between bodies.) That's just regular war profiteering by the Epsilon Foundation... though they started dealing with Ivan Tsari and Grammier Neirich Windermere VI under entirely legitimate conditions.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    Almost certainly not... though, I suspect, as much from a simple lack of inclination as from a difference in the scale of warfare between shows. The Zor were quite advanced, but they were also a fundamentally peaceful people who'd retooled their entire culture from the ground up to forsake conflict after their civil war left Glorie in the grip of a nuclear winter like their ancestors had done to Earth. Despite a head start measured in millennia, their weapons technology was mostly on par with the Southern Cross Army's despite being a lot more complex.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    This is a do-over on an episode of the original series (#15) that Yoshiyuki Tomino was so unhappy with he asked for it to not be aired or included in the home video releases in the Americas.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    That's a beautifully animated Gundam... it'll be interesting to see how they clean up the story.
  24. Seto Kaiba
    Given that the Invid Regent's forces spent the better part of twenty years getting repeatedly rolled by a few thousand human soldiers with comparatively primitive weapons before his entire force was wiped out by being shot in the back by an ally mid-fight, it strikes me as rather unlikely that they'd pose much threat to a much more advanced military with far more manpower behind it. Even the original Genesis Climber MOSPEADA had a lot of trouble trying to make the Invit out to be a serious threat to anyone. There were a lot of them and they were indifferent to their own casualties, but that's all they had going for them militarily. Once you got past that, they were just big, clumsy, dim-witted mechanical bugs that could be killed easily using man-portable laser weapons and rocket-propelled grenades without even being able to shoot back.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    An interesting idea... though it doesn't seem like any of the surviving Protoculture-created humanoid species were far enough along to even consider a scenario like that when they were found by the New UN Government's emigrant fleets. Humanity was, as far as we know, the only sub-Protoculture species yet depicted to have actually begun space exploration at the time it had a first contact scenario. The Zolans were the next farthest along, but they'd only achieved a level of technological advancement equivalent to the first half of the 20th century when an emigrant fleet found them. In Macross Delta, the Brisingr cluster's native sub-Protoculture species don't seem to have been even that far. Windermere IV was still living in the age of mounted cavalry when the Megaroad-04 blundered into the fold fault surrounding the planet and was knocked back into realspace. The New UN Government has a pretty good idea what's out there, but that's their reason for spreading out as far as they can... so no one planet being attacked could result in human extinction.
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