Seto Kaiba

Well, the Neo Glaug from 2000's Macross Plus: Game Edition and Variable Glaug from 2001's Macross M3 have no hands whatsoever and the same type of hub-based fingers-only hand that the VA-3 has respectively... The real standout answer to this question would be the SeiRan 99kou (Starstorm 99-Armor), which was set to be the protagonist mecha in Air Cavalry Chronicles before the format of the story changed from science fiction to fantasy... effectively making it an early version of the titular Guymelef from Escaflowne. The Starstorm's distinctive trait, besides wielding a katana, was that it had a variety of option packs that didn't so much add weaponry as convert the mecha into a completely different type of vehicle. There were normal FAST Packs that look and function just like Macross's, but there were also packs that converted the fighter into a high-speed boat, a heavily armored glider, and a much larger two-seater aircraft with more powerful engines and forward-swept wings. Kawamori briefly toyed with a similar idea to that last one in the early designs that became the VF-11 Thunderbolt, where the canards were instead the wings of the Alpha parts and there was a second cockpit where the rear-facing laser gun was that was the cockpit of the larger Beta parts. When the two linked up, they looked a bit like the VF-11D. He never incorporated that kind of gattai mecha design into Macross proper though he did get close with the Sound Boosters in Macross 7 and the Zentradi rebels had a gattai-capable unit that was a boss mecha in Macross M3... though its combiner was a giant version of a Nousjadeul-Ger battle suit. They do have sub-nozzles in the feet for precision lift control in GERWALK mode, though the thrust for lift is mainly from the thrust-vectoring bypass vent in the bay where the legs are normally stored.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess? Stardust Crusaders is a hell of a tough act to follow, so that may be coloring some people's impressions of Diamond is Unbreakable. It's still a great show, it just doesn't feel like quite the white-knuckled wild ride that Jotaro took us on. (Part of that might just be our boy Josuke actually has social skills, where Jotaro just wanted to get right to throwing hands.)

Nah, Kawamori's supervisory role has him working on or contributing to a lot of material that is officially considered to not be part of Macross's official setting. Variable Fighter Master File would be the highest profile recent example. Kawamori's a recurring contributor/supervisor on that series, but each book self-disclaims as not official Macross setting material. It's an interesting look, and there's no guarantee that things he's done as what-ifs or unrelated non-Macross projects won't eventually find their way into Macross in some form or other. Kawamori's c.1985 Advanced Valkyrie project is a great example of this in action. Advanced Valkyrie was a non-Macross project Kawamori was developing in partnership with Bandai, and after Bandai pulled out it started finding its way into Macross one piece at a time. Its story about a pair of competing variable fighter test teams in a design contest to select the next-generation main fighter developed into the story of Macross Plus. The VF-3000 design was brought into Macross pretty much as-is via Macross M3. Macross Chronicle brought other Advanced Valkyrie designs into the Macross official setting directly including the VF-X-10 and VF-X-11, the V-BR-2, VA-X-3, and VF-X-7 Ghost Valkyrie. Some of the designs in Kawamori's Advanced Valkyrie were further developed for another project called Air Cavalry Chronicles - the VF-X-10 becoming the III-C Baron Rouge - and then being imported into the Macross setting alongside original Air Cavalry Chronicles designs. The plot of Air Cavalry Chronicles split off and became The Vision of Escaflowne, while most of its mechanical designs were imported into Macross: the III-C Baron Rouge became the VF-9A Cutlass, the A-9B Invader became the VA-3 Invader, the LV-7 Valorous Rapier became the SV-154 Svard, the Me-175 MesserGern became the VF-14 Vampire, the Fz-109 Elgersoln and Pazersoln became the... Fz-109 Elgersoln and Panzersoln, the Fz-109G Sturmsoln became the VF-14 Spiritia Dreaming Type, and the Fz-109Q Varutasoln became the FBz-99 Saubergern. One thing you can say about Kawamori, he seldom throws a design away. The SW-XAII seems to have developed into the YF-29 Durandal, but it's not outside the realm of possibility he'll one day find a way to include the SW-XA1 in the official setting. (For a friend's Macross MUSH, I actually brought the SW-XA1 in as an enhanced version of the VF-1X+ that'd been brought up to 3rd Generation tech standards as an improvised main VF for players on the anti-government faction.) Yeah, a lot of what the SW-XA1 had has already been incorporated into current VFs... the passively stealthy designs and conformal bays in the legs were already present on the VF-11, VF-14, VF-17, VF-19, and VF-22 when the article came out, and are also present on the VF-31.

The 2016 Ghostbusters movie, which relied heavily on the same "accuse its critics of racism and/or sexism" strategy Star Trek: Discovery currently uses to deter legitimate criticism... but with even less success, finishing somewhere between $75 million and $125 million (US) in the red. Speaking of Discovery's failures, I've heard that the second season of Short Treks has apparently had difficulty gaining a foothold in markets outside the US. Apparently a number of its intended markets opted not to carry it due to insufficient demand. I'm rather surprised that CBS managed to convince Netflix to open its wallet for a third season of Discovery given its lackluster performance as a streaming series and accusations CBS's admission of massively overstating its viewership numbers on its own service to its stockholders (which is a crime, btw). Also newsworthy, I suppose, is that the first round of Anas Abdin's lawsuit against CBS ended a bit ago... the court found in CBS's favor, so they're appealing. The guy from Nerdrotic apparently set up a GoFundMe to help Anas with legal fees for the appeal.

Star Trek became a bit self-aware about that after a while. The Star Trek Relaunch novel-verse even established that there was a bit of a superstition about ships named Enterprise being unlucky in the Federation's early years after the original NX-01 Enterprise was wrecked in the Earth-Romulan War and an Andorian ship in the newly established Federation Starfleet whose name translated as Enterprise was later lost with all hands as collateral damage in a brief Klingon civil war. Admiral Archer shut down any attempts to name another ship Enterprise for eighty years until finally relenting and approving a new Constitution-class ship to receive the name (and promptly dying the day after the new ship's christening). Unless you wanna count Ashes of Eden, where she got blown up in battle before she could meet her intended fate of... being fully decommissioned and blown up as a drone ship in a live fire exercise. Missing, presumed destroyed, in 2329 near the Cardassian border.

Hrm... I don't currently have either on that list. Truth be told, I hadn't considered their placement at all since the VF-Experiment article that Kawamori did for Character Model magazine was more or less a "what would the VF-1 look like if you designed it today". There is a little bit of setting-related backstory to them but, because they were both non-official setting material and a "what if" exercise, I'd left them off the list. They'd be non-official works category for sure, 3rd Generation experimental airframes based on the limited non-official setting descriptions they're given. As described, the Stealth Wing X program's goals were mostly the same as Project Super Nova's... develop a new, highly stealthy, multirole variable fighter with performance exceeding the VF-17's to cover the air superiority and interceptor roles the VF-17's attack focus made it unsuitable for. The Stealth Wing X program used VF-1s as the basis for its experimental airframes, built up with newer, stronger materials and improved systems. The timeframe is somewhat problematic, since it would've kicked off around the time Project Super Nova was getting ready to take delivery of the first YF-19 and YF-21 prototypes and been redundant in terms of its design goals. The closest I've seen to an official acknowledgement of the Schneegans is in Variable Fighter Master File: VF-25 Messiah... there's a YF-29 in there that's done up with this same paint scheme, as an apparent nod to the YF-29 design's origins.

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, and I can't quite shake the feeling that the fourth chapter of Jojo can't decide what it wants to be. Josuke really feels like a low-rent but more personable knockoff of Jotaro, but the season feels pretty unfocused. The first half didn't really have an overarching plot or antagonist... it was one part "hijinks in Morioh" with Josuke and his friends and one part "new Stand using jerk of the week" like a low-stakes version of Stardust Crusaders. It feels more focused now that it has an arc villain in Stand-using serial killer Kira Yoshikage, but at the same time it feels more derivative of Stardust Crusaders than ever. Kira's even starting to look a bit like Dio, with his new face and hairdo (and his Stand Killer Queen already looked like The World by way of Beerus), and his ghost father is playing the same role Enya was for Dio... to the extent that I half suspect he was one of Dio's minions.

That's one gorgeous Excelsior. It's so detailed I can't quite put my finger on how big it actually is.

Delta. Windermere IV was discovered by Megaroad-04 in 2027.

She was the first Megaroad-class emigrant ship... the New UN Government made at least twenty-five of them, given that the highest sequentially numbered one mentioned was the Megaroad-25.

So far, Kawamori's been borrowing the SV Works design numbers from German Focke-Wolf and Messerschmitt World War II-vintage aircraft... I'd guess that trend will continue as long as this is a hostile fighter.

My flight back from Super Dimension Convention 2019 really left me wishing that Crunchyroll supported downloading episodes for offline viewing the way most other major streaming services do... in flight entertainment's best offering was three episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, which is a bit like visiting a hotel buffet to discover that everything's started to spoil but a platter of lutefisk and kæstur hákarl. Got back to watching Lost Universe and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable since this past season's offerings were mostly garbage. The fall season isn't shaping up to be any better, with a lot more bargain basement isekai trash like Didn't I Say To Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life? and High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World, a lot more waifu trash from the Fate franchise, Azur Lane, and a new one called Tenka Hyakken, another bloody Sword Art Online, and another sh*t-awful gunpla commercial in the form of Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise. About all that's on the horizon that seems worthy of interest is Shokugeki no Soma's fourth season and My Hero Academia's fourth season. Really underscores what a terrible call it was on Big West's part to do a second Macross Delta movie for 2020 instead of focusing on a new Macross series that could be cleaning the f*ck up when everyone else in the industry seems to be engaging in some hardcore phoning it in.

No, we just got the picture like two weeks ago... and that's a rough draft. I wouldn't expect to see any information about it until we start seeing magazine articles about the actual content of the movie a month or two before it's set to come out.

Really? I've posted several versions of this list previously, updated as new information becomes available or new designs come to light. I should actually edit it to include the Neo Glaug bis from Macross R... one sec. I'm not entirely happy with that official name, given that the Neo Glaug bis isn't actually a custom Neo Glaug, it's a Variable Glaug that's been updated with technology from the Variable Glaug's 2040s vintage "Neo Glaug" unmanned conversion from Macross Plus: Game Edition. Depending on how things shake out, I expect we'll be depositing the new VF for Absolute LIVE!!!!!! in either Gen 5 or Gen 5.5.

Taxes... and having twenty-odd factory satellites to do all the heavy lifting, manufacturing-wise, after the war. Before the war, the military buildup and all of the associated R&D was consuming a significant percentage of the global GDP. Some of the later, larger emigrant fleets are explicitly acknowledged to have been sponsored by megacorporations. The 55th large scale long distance emigrant fleet "Macross Frontier" was sponsored by Bilra Transport, a major player in interstellar cargo transportation that established its subsidiary SMS initially as a guard detail to protect it's shipping before branching out into private military contracting. The 51st ("Macross Galaxy") was, itself, a corporate entity. It was a flying R&D facility for the defense industry giant General Galaxy, set up as a subsidiary of General Galaxy and managed entirely as a corporate facility.

Around 60,000... ~20,000 crew, and ~40,000 civilians. There were originally 58,000 civilians, but between those who volunteered for military service and deaths due to various enemy attacks on the Macross, that number dropped a bit. There were approximately 1 million human survivors of the First Space War between the refugees and crew aboard the Macross, the surviving UN Spacy ships (two ARMD-class carriers and a handful of Oberth-class destroyers that weren't at Earth), the moon bases, the space colonies and factories at the lagrange points, and the bases under Grand Cannons III and V. There were approximately 8 million Zentradi survivors living on Earth at the end of the war. Several human characters like Max Jenius and Shammy Milliome are noted to have had LARGE families, but Earth also cheated up its population numbers using captured Zentradi clone synthesis systems for about twenty years until an increase in the occurrance of recessive genetic illnesses prompted the program's termination. There are, consequently, reasonably large population centers on Earth, at least one on Mars that we've heard about (Gamlin's home town of H.G. Wells City), and major space colonies ("satellite cities") orbiting several key planets like Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, etc. If they're launching emigrant ships with populations comparable to modern New York City, there have to be some fairly substantial cities on Earth and Eden in the 2040s, 50s, and 60s. Even the now-medium-sized emigrant fleets are space conurbations that've got populations comparable to Detroit's. Zentradi-Human hybrids are not uncommon, but also a long way from being the norm due to humanity's explosive population growth. Compared to today, certainly...

... well, it's about time for this mighty list to rear its garishly-colored head once more... 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: 10 Oct 2019 - added Neo Glaug bis to 4th 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 Unknown New VF - Absolute LIVE!!!!!!

DYRL? is an in-universe work of fiction as far as the main Macross continuity is concerned, and it biases more heavily towards the TV series version of events. Super Dimension Fortress Macross's version of events saw the loyal elements of Boddole Zer's main fleet withdraw from the battlefield as was standard practice for the Zentradi forces when the chain of command was broken by a command ship's destruction. This tactic was the heart of the UN Spacy-Zentradi alliance's strategy, forcing entire branch fleets to abandon the field by focusing their attacks on command ships. What was left when the dust settled and the Zentradi who hadn't defected had retreated to attempt to regroup - which doesn't seem to have worked with their chain of command so badly disrupted - was the hundred or so ships loyal to Vrlitwhai that would go on to join the New UN Forces. At least a couple, it's doubtful we see the entire fleet given that first generation emigrant fleets are said to be a few dozen ships. AFAIK, it's meant to be the latter. That's WAY more people than the fleet had... and we know that some of those ships ended up in the hands of the New UN Spacy Marine Corps, while others were seconded for duty as short-distance emigrant ships. Vrlitwhai only commanded about 1,200 ships... and his forces were up against a fleet that outnumbered them almost four thousand to one. That he had approximately a hundred ships left in working order when the dust settled is a real testament to how well both his and Exsedol's strategy of focusing fire on enemy command ships and the Minmay Attack worked. No doubt the New UN Forces have acquired more Zentradi ships along the way, but they're still a small fraction compared to the much smaller, miclone-suitable ships the NUNG has been building by the thousands and they're being put to the most appropriate uses, for Zentradi who prefer to live as giants in military service.

It's not that far outside of the norm, tbh... Gundam, for instance, maintains a main portal site similar to what Macross has that focuses on news for the latest and the ongoing projects, and then separate websites for each individual project. Where Macross differs is that Big West Frontier seems to be doing it on a going-forward basis only, where Sunrise also worked backwards and created websites for shows that aired before its current portal site (or even the internet) were available. Perhaps they'll do that when the next round of Blu-ray re-releases comes around... as I believe that was what dictated the site build schedule for Sunrise. Er... you're thinking 3rd and 4th Gen, not 4th and 5th. The VF-11 is a 3rd Generation design, the YF-21 is a 4th. But yes, the 3rd Generation Active Stealth technology that the Advanced Variable Fighters (4th Gen) were designed to take was to be the standard active stealth tech for new fighters. Its adoption was a bit slow, but the VF-19, VF-22, VF-171, and all later VFs use the 3rd Generation active stealth. IIRC, the VF-171 is noted as having received its 3rd Gen Active Stealth system at the Block II update. Next-generation active stealth in Macross will likely include active countermeasures against detection by fold wave radar as well as the current protections against electromagnetic radar.

The New UN Forces only have a couple hundred Zentradi ships at most... compared to the over 9,000 Northampton-class frigates built and commissioned by 2045. It's not that they aren't out there, it's that they aren't THAT numerous compared to the ships the humans build for their own use. The main Macross continuity isn't like Macross II, where the Spacy was repo-ing every Zentradi fleet it met.

The front page of the Macross portal site devoted to current news and events is pretty much exclusively Delta stuff right now, but that's because Delta is still the current series. The old official site and the series-specific ones for the Frontier content are all very much still present. They're just not on the front page anymore because Frontier's been over for a decade.

Perhaps, but it's not every day you find your home beset by self-replicating buffalo wings.

Angry tribbles? What're they going to do, stop up the drains in the showers?

The Short Treks are, lamentably, the only thing worth half a damn that CBS is actually producing for Star Trek... by dint of not being gritty, grimdark, action trash like Star Trek: Discovery and what we've seen of Star Trek: Picard. It's rather frustrating, since "The Brightest Star" is the closest they've come to a proper bloody Star Trek story since Enterprise went off the air and they're still only managing about a 50% success rate with "actually feels like Star Trek" with 'em.

Ah, you're correct... my mistake. The novelization of Star Trek IV did have the disabled ships survive, and Tuvok's father did at least one tour aboard the Yorktown around that period (c.2293)... so presumably the ship and at least part of its crew survived.