Seto Kaiba

So, to the rest of the world on a three month delay? I confess I'm mildly interested in that one just to see how reliable their cloud service ends up being. Hyrule Warriors DX ("Definite Edition" in the US) came out the other day. Been having a grand time with that. It looks at least as good on the Switch as it did on the Wii U, and adding some costumes and so on from Breath of the Wild was a nice touch. Weirdly, I find myself missing the minimap on the Wii U gamepad's screen.

Nothing explicit, that I recall. Just a fairly generic statement that the Aegic Pack Kai used by the RVF-25 had been enhanced by L.A.I. to boost its performance in the name of overcoming Vajra ECM and other electronic interference. The change in radome design was probably part of the "anti-Vajra upgrades" that make it the Aegis Pack Kai.

The RVF-171 Nightmare Plus isn't covered in exhaustive detail, but enough is said about it to get a good picture of its role and capabilities. One of the many virtues of the General Galaxy VF-171 Nightmare Plus is its high multipurpose utility, being readily adaptable to a number of different roles including Bomber, Reconnaissance, Electronic Warfare, Designated Marksman, and UCAV control. The VB-171 and RVF-171 are the only two that are explicitly mentioned by designation, the Electronic Warfare type and UCAV control type are both described as part of the RVF series. Master File identifies the Designated Marksman type as the VF-171AS. The RVF-171 is a production reconnaissance variant outfitted with the same AP-SF-01+ Aegis Pack used by the RVF-25, albeit apparently without the customizations Luca made to his RVF-25's Aegis Pack. They're indicated to be a standard part of the fleet's airborne (spaceborne?) early warning system, patrolling the perimeter of the fleet at all times. Same deal with the RVF-171EX, as that's just an RVF-171 upgraded to the EX standard.

On display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard". Alternatively, assuming your name is not Arthur Dent, there are the following sources: Macross Chronicle Macross Frontier Mechanic Sheet NUNS 02A "VF-171 Nightmare Plus" Macross Chronicle Macross Frontier Mechanic Sheet NUNS 03A & 03B "VF-171EX Nightmare Plus EX" Macross Chronicle Macross Frontier the Movie Mechanic Sheet NUNS 02A "VF-171/Destroid" Macross Chronicle Other Mechanic Sheet 08A UN 08A "YF-30 Chronos" (minor detail only) Macross Chronicle ALL Mechanic Sheet ALL 01B "VF Masterpieces seen from their Development Lineage" Macross Chronicle Technology Sheet 01C "Variable Fighter: Gunpods" Macross Chronicle Technology Sheet 01D "Variable Fighter: Missiles" Macross Chronicle Technology Sheet 01G "Armor Packs" Macross Chronicle Technology Sheet 01N "VF Development History 2" Macross Chronicle Technology Sheet 01O "VF Development History 3" Macross Chronicle Technology Sheet 01Q "VF Family Line Diagram" Macross Chronicle Technology Sheet 13A "Dimensional Weapons" Macross Chronicle Technology Sheet 16A & 16B "Spacesuits" Macross Chronicle Technology Sheet 17A & 17B "EX-Gear" Macross Frontier: Official Fan Book Macross F: 2059 Memories Macross Frontier the Movie: Sayonara no Tsubasa Official Complete Book Great Mechanics DX 4 Great Mechancis DX 9 Great Mechanics G 2016 Autumn There's also a minor bit of info on it in Variable Fighter Master File: VF-25 Messiah mostly 'round about page 108, and some very basic stuff in Macross the Ride Visual Book Vol.1 on page 14 and in the Macross Frontier Blu-ray Vol.1 liner notes. I think there's also some minor stuff in Variable Fighter Episode Archive, but I've done precisely bugger-all with that book. There's also a bit of coverage in the Macross Delta Blu-ray liner notes, but I don't recall which volume offhand (it's just repetition of stuff already said elsewhere).

The only ones that leap to mind is Variable Fighter Master File: VF-0 Phoenix making a VERY brief mention of a prototype designated SV-50 about halfway down page 28, and two transitional early prototype VFs based on Grumman F-14 Tomcat. One, the F-14++ Advanced Tomcat, is basically analogous to the Super Tomcat 21 concepts that were floated by Grumman as alternatives to the NATF program. It's a single-seater F-14 with passive stealth refinements to the airframe's shape, thrust vectoring, and a developmental model of the VF-0's engines (EGF-120). The other is the F-14X Tomcat Phase 1.43 which is a converted F-14D+ outfitted for transformation testing. By in large, what Master File has in terms of original designs that are not official setting material is lots of Master File-exclusive variants of official VFs. The VF-0 book didn't go in for it, but the other books did. Some of them overlap, broadly, with official variants (e.g. the VF-1N and VF-1G being essentially the VF-1A+ and VEFR-1), while others are a bit "out there" like the ones that appear in the VF-4, VF-22, and VF-31 Master File books. Others overlap and contradict the official setting variants, like Master File's VF-19E basically being Basara's VF-19 Custom or the VF-4 book basically ignoring the official variants except for the VF-4G and VF-4SL.

I'm not altogether surprised... it seems like almost anything marked "Limited Edition" these days is going to come with some kind of bonus item if you preorder from a particular store. I've got a tiny mountain of unasked-for "clear files" and other stuff from various CD and BD imports. 's the reason I stick to CDJapan unless it can't be helped... everything is very straightforward there.

Woah, the formatting on those search results is TERRIBLE. There's only the one version of the movie coming out on DVD/Blu-ray, it looks like Amazon's pricing higher if you want a limited edition Macross Delta tote bag extra with your disc.

The Variable Fighter Master File series of books are NOT fan-produced. The series is published by Softbank Creative, the same publisher behind Gundam's Master Archive series, and Shoji Kawamori is credited as providing supervision for their creation. The Master File books are official publications, but they self-disclaim as not being official setting material ("non-canon"). Bad analogy. Star Trek doesn't consider ANY of its technical manuals or encyclopedias canon, even ones on which production staff collaborated. (Ever since Gene Roddenberry had his falling-out with Franz Joseph, the author of the first Star Trek tech manual.) Star Wars, I understand, is more this speed where there are publications that run the gambit from totally non-canon to valid supplementary material for the film canon. Not really, no... there's so much material that an exhaustive list would be next to impossible to compose. A reasonably complete list of series artbooks wouldn't be a tall order, but there are so many books and mooks and magazines with creator interviews and so on that it defies exhaustive listing.) The main MacrossWorld.com page has an out-of-date listing with a bunch of the older (pre-Frontier) artbooks though. The big ones to get are books like Macross Perfect Memory, the Macross: Do You Remember Love? Data Bank (AKA "Gold Book"), This is Animation 3, 5, 7, 11, Special #5, and the volumes for Macross Plus and Macross 7, the Macross Frontier movie artbooks, Macross Chronicle (81 volumes), Variable Fighter Master File (VF-0, VF-1, VF-1 Vol.2, Squadrons, VF-4, VF-19, VF-22, VF-25, VF-31), the Design Works books for Kawamori and Miyatake, etc.

No idea, but enough that it even had to include his wages from SMS.

Whether the story is actually set in Vancouver is another matter entirely... as in the case of AVP:R, which was filmed in Vancouver, but set in Gunnison, Colorado. Filmmakers'll go film wherever the production can get the best tax breaks, and to hell with accuracy. (Whether those gits had ever been to Gunnison is another matter... it seems like they were working under the misapprehension that it's spitting distance from Colorado Springs, instead of the 3+ hour drive it actually is.) "The role of Dallas in tonight's production will be played by Vancouver, British Columbia." Either that or they're taking the threat level WAY down for this one. Perhaps they're reluctant to set a Predator movie in a modern warzone because the Predators aren't bulletproof against conventional small arms the way the Xenomorphs of the Alien franchise are, and don't wear body armor. It'd be kind of anticlimactic if the Predator picked off a soldier and the rest of his platoon decided to call in reinforcements or opt to blanket the area with machinegun fire and fragmentation grenades. The Predators have done as well as they have in the past by choosing an environment where their prey are isolated figuratively or literally. Aliens was a mistake, to be sure, but that's kind of overstating it. Hicks's shotgun only worked on that one xenomorph because he jammed the barrel into its mouth and fired, bypassing its armor. That ruined the shotgun and nearly killed Hicks too. Alien's at least succeeded with it on one front... Alien: Isolation managed to make the xenomorph pants-crappingly terrifying again alone AND in numbers.

Nothing directly connected to the movie... just that, after Isamu decided to retire from the New UN Spacy because he wasn't happy with being gradually steered towards a desk job c.2058, he joined Strategic Military Services. He wanted to fly a VF-19A, but since SMS was only able to field a small number of "monkey model" VF-19s due to arms export restrictions the New UN Government put on the fighter (as a result of his own actions with the prototype in 2040), there was no way for him to get one. Not being one to let things go, he contacted his old "friend" Dr. Jan Neumann of Shinsei Industry and tried to persuade him into selling him the parts to build a VF-19 under the table. As owner of a functioning brain, Jan realized this was a spectacularly bad idea and said no. To stop Isamu from doing something even more reckless, he talked Shinsei into letting him do an experimental VF-19 as a test for ways to extend the fighter's service life, modified a VF-19EF Caliburn back to specs approximating the YF-19-3's, and stuck Isamu with the bill for the whole affair. Yup. It's a VF-19EF that's been modified to return its aerodynamics and control systems back to the levels of the YF-19-3/VF-19A.

It'd probably be less of an issue if four of the five previous Star Trek series1 hadn't already done that very thing in stories involving the holodeck or time travel. (See TAS in general, TNG: "Relics", DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations", ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly" parts 1 and 2)

Well, the UFP Starfleet does change its uniform A LOT. The maroon uniforms from TOS movies 2-6 were the longest-lived ones to date, lasting about eighty years from ~2270-2350. If they'd take that view, it'd help matters immensely. But they continue to insist that Discovery is a prime universe series, and the end of season one and lead-in for season two seem intended to keep pushing that agenda.

Maybe this is just a really awful trailer, but I've come away from it with the impression that this is going to be an Excuse Plot sequel like Alien: Covenant1. One clicky boi leaves his key fob on Earth, so some idyllic suburban neighborhood's gonna get it. Unless this suburb's in Texas, the maximum threat level's probably one of those small ratty dogs whose breed I can't spell. Kind of a big step down from a dystopian Los Angeles in the midst of a war between drug cartels, or ambushing a military op in a banana republic. At first I was gonna object, but no... that's actually totally correct. They ARE the iconic (inhuman) modern horror movie monsters. More than that, what they need are writers who understand the fundamental principle of monster horror movies... the more you see the monster, the less scary the monster is.

Pretty much. It's a source of some considerable frustration among the few Masters Saga fans out there that Toynami is unwilling to develop Southern Cross toys for Robotech, as its management doesn't consider the projected return on investment sufficient to justify the effort. It's a fairly common conclusion that most Robotech licensees end up reaching. Roy's slightly haunted, done-with-this-crap expression perfectly mirrors my feelings on this dreadful tome. I do like how everyone on this cover looks profoundly bored. It looks like she has a tomboy haircut... Is everyone there standing with bent knees because Laplamiz is apparently super thicc in this version? I knew the comic was bad, but I have to admit being SO bad that even the characters a struck blind is a new one on me... I'm increasingly inclined to suspect that every woman in this comic is traced from either porn or the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

It's on my list. Admittedly, I haven't played a Legend of Zelda game since they remastered Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 3DS. (I think the last one I actually played was the 3DS Virtual Console port of A Link to the Past.) Cloud save data backup is a nice touch, but it comes packaged with two unpleasant downsides. The first being the death of Nintendo's Virtual Console series. Now you'll have to get a subscription if you want to play older games in emulation on the Switch, with only a very limited library available at launch. Games-as-a-service instead of buying and owning a piece of software. Kind of a downer for me, since I got a lot of mileage out of the Virtual Console games on the 3DS and Wii U. It's also bringing an end to free online play. Starting with the launch of this service, you'll have to purchase the subscription in order to play online... including games that are currently free to play online like Splatoon 2 and ARMS. It's not even one-subscription-per-console, if you have multiple player profiles on your Switch you have to spring for the Family plan at about twice the price. But at the expense of Virtual Console... and free online gameplay.

True, true... but Toynami would hardly be the first company to look at Southern Cross and think to themselves "wow, I want NONE of that hot mess". Bandai Popy1, Vicious Cycle, TDK, Take-Two, Ninja Division, Kitz Concept, DC/Wildstorm, Strange Machine Games, and Harmony Gold USA2 all opted not to pursue merchandising for that series. Titan Comics probably belongs on that list as well, given that they've rewritten the Macross Saga's story in such a way that it eliminates any need to progress into the other sagas. Kinda leaves an awkward open-ended boostrap paradox WRT the ship's origins, but hey... 1. Originally Popy Co. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary spun off of Bandai toy division in '71 and reintegrated as an operating division of Bandai in '83. Known as the originator of Bandai's Chogokin and HI-METAL lines. Now known as Bandai boys toy division. 2. The merchandising they do themselves has studiously avoided Southern Cross for about the last fifteen years.

Honestly? Yeah, I do. Harmony Gold is gonna do everything in its power to milk the Macross license in the time left to them, since nobody gives a toss about the other two. They've probably been shopping for a new comic licensee since DC/Wildstorm dropped it last decade.

Surely we're not so short on valid counterarguments that we'd resort to a No True Scotsman. That's different from every other Robotech project of the last two decades HOW? Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

If the Super Pack boosters covering the wing gloves don't, then there shouldn't be anything in the transformation that does. I don't think we've had one that has that issue since the 2nd Gen VFs like the VF-4 and VF-9. The VF-25's got a near-ideal situation there, since the entire center body forms the back, so you don't have the wings getting folded into the sides like on the VF-171 or VF-1.

OK, now I'm lost... which epic Kickstarter failure are we talking about here?

Doing a Bioroid properly means not doing it at all... just ask Toynami. Those kind of gimmicks are required because the dedicated comic book fans have long memories, not short attention spans. By in large, that kind of thing doesn't bring in much in the way of new readership. Kids these days are quite an astonishingly cynical bunch, and are more than capable of spotting pandering for what it is from a young age. This kind of gimmick is for the older fans, who have been following a given series for enough time that the story has become too boring, samey, and self-referential. They try to mix it up and make the story feel fresh again by putting a different spin on an existing character or event... and, of course, they reboot whenever they write themselves into a corner of readership falls off. It's the laziest art form since minimalism. Robotech fans have seen the Macross Saga story adapted a half dozen times already in comic book, novel, and video game form. It's not surprising a new publisher would want to put their own mark on it rather than following the established story religiously. (Doubly so if they're not going past the Macross Saga, which AFAIK they haven't announced any plans to do.) Robotech's fans also have long memories, somewhat by necessity since the franchise has done bugger-all of value since '86. There's only so many times you can tell the exact same story before it gets dreadfully dull, and a fandom that has spent the last three decades obsessively poring over a series with no sequels is going to be in desperate need of something fresh. ... surely you jest. DC and Marvel live and breathe the status quo. They might flirt with different gimmicky ideas from time to time, but they always come right back to the same formula they've had for half a century or more. This is literally there reason "comic book death" is a trope in its own right. Everyone knows that no popular or established character EVER stays dead because status quo is god. It runs on soap opera logic, with reasons running the gambit from standard "never found the body" and "nobody could've survived that" up the line to "magic" and "someone punched the universe so hard it unkilled me". I believe DC had, a few years ago, an entire crossover event devoted to the death-is-a-revolving-door status-quo-is-god antics being laying the groundwork for the god of death to invade reality. Any character development that changes the dynamic of a series will inevitably be reversed. Bruce Wayne will ALWAYS be Batman, and will always work with Commissioner Gordon. Spider-Man will always keep getting reverted back to being a broke college kid from Queens living with Aunt May and obsessing over Uncle Ben. Superman's introspection on his place in the world ALWAYS ends with him deciding his place is "punching distance from the bad guy" and his relationship with Lois Lane will always return to her being oblivious to the fact that Superman is sitting right in front of her. The X-Men never make any lasting progress towards public acceptance of mutants, because it'd be boring if they weren't the hated and feared outcasts. Professor X has been re-crippled after regaining the ability to walk on too many occasions to count. Anyone who loses their superpowers will inevitably get them back, and anyone who gains NEW powers will inevitably lose them (Spider-Man being a rather frequent offender there), with speed directly proportional to how broken up they are about it. Even the smaller third party publishers can't escape it. Archie hasn't been permitted to make any lasting relationship progress with Betty or Veronica in SEVENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF SERIALIZATION. Granted, but in large groups personal preference ultimately means the success or failure of a given property. Most Southern Cross viewers' personal preference was to turn the TV off rather than see the series, for instance. Yes, we do. It's kind of a niche sport, like lacrosse, but we do have rugby leagues here. One of my younger brothers played in a high school rugby league, and is now a coach. Not really, no... Southern Cross is basically a nonentity in Japan, with some HG staffers claiming that Tatsunoko barely remembers the series was one of theirs. Robotech is more or less a nonentity too outside of South America, so no help from that quarter, and its Southern Cross adaptation is so unpopular that several markets didn't bother airing it, skipping right from the Macross Saga to New Generation. Pretty sure that was the point of the Zentradi redesign, actually... to make them REALLY ALIEN, at least visually. They're just not as intimidating or otherworldly-looking when they're a blue man in a smock and a short brown man in a bright purple tailcoat and knee-high boots. Because artistic styles still belong to humans... what looked futuristic thirty years ago looks quaint and silly now. Mind you, the artistic style of some parts of the original Macross series looked a bit goofy and dated even back when it was new, like the UN Spacy uniforms with bellbottom trousers, the capes worn by Zentradi officers, or Boddole Zer's Ming the Merciless robe. Because they're not tied to real world clothing styles, the DYRL? Zentradi designs seem to have more timeless appeal. ... well... the Zentradi generic body armor's helmet does look a lot like a German stahlhelm... but I doubt anyone would have that conversation under those circumstances unless the story ends with "and that's why we moved to Argentina in the mid-forties".

Maybe the keg-gun is serving American beer, and they're big on recycling?

Back when the designs were being developed for Air Cavalry Chronicles - which became The Vision of Escaflowne - there was a definite German theme to the naming of the Zaibach Empire's variable fighters, they appeared to follow the Reichsluftfahrtministerium aircraft designation system, and in one case they had markings that looked suspiciously like a swastika. In the published materials, they were the: Fz-109G Sturmsoln Me-175 Messergern Fz-109F Panthersoln Fz-109A Elgarsoln "Zorn" would be an acceptable rendering of the kana used for that part of the name (ゾルン), and would make a lot more sense than "Soln". "Sturmzorn" is definitely an aircraft name that sounds a bit impressive on its own. Hm... considering it was the personal craft of a Protodeviln, that may be rather apt. A being whose abilities were essentially indistinguishable from magic. That got me thinking of this: https://satwcomic.com/language-lesson#/

Finally knuckled under and bought a Switch a couple days ago... just in time for this little tidbit to drop. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/04/the-unpatchable-exploit-that-makes-every-current-nintendo-switch-hackable/