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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    Nah, Mirage is bulletproof... they'll never let this one out of the gate without a proper romantic foil for Freyja. It might've been workable if Mirage hadn't been made the serious girl in the obligatory love triangle. (Also she's more maroon than mauve... but hey.) Well, they've got the dying part down in the series... what with King Grammier, Qasim, Roid, and Keith all dying and Heinz at death's door due to overuse of his rune. All the architects of the war have been killed. The only Aerial Knight aces left are the ones who either opposed the campaign against the New UN Government or were spreading Walkure fandom around behind the scenes. Safe bet they'll be suffering after the war ended as well. Their Kingdom of the Wind's government is either an absolute monarchy or very close to it, and the royal family is on the brink of dying out. Its economy is in tatters with its only marketable exports unsellable for health reasons. To put the cherry on it, their source of technological aid bailed on them, so they have no way to even mount a new offensive or keep their existing aircraft operating for very long.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    How dare you, sir! That's the best character in the show. Someone give the mercat a VF-31 damnit.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    Hm... the ones I know that've been explicitly stated in one publication or another: Sv-51 = Su-27 VF-0 = F-14D Tomcat VF-1 Valkyrie = F-14A Tomcat VF-3000 Crusader = F-14A Tomcat VF-4 Lightning III = XB-70 Valkyrie / SR-71 Blackbird VF-5 = F2Y Sea Dart VF-X-7 Ghost Valkyrie = Martin Marietta X-24B V-BR-2 = SR-71 Blackbird VF-5000 = F-16C/D Fighting Falcon VA-X-3 = None acknowledged1 VAB-2 = None acknowledged1 VA-3 Invader = A-6 Intruder VF-9 Cutlass = Grumman X-29 VF-X-10 = Grumman X-29 VF-11 Thunderbolt III = Su-27K/Su-33 Flanker-D VF-11MAXL = F-16XL Fighting Falcon VF-14 Vampire = SR-71 Blackbird VF-17 Nightmare = F-117A Nighthawk Y/VF-19 Excalibur = Su-27 Flanker/X-29 YF-21/VF-22 Sturmvogel II = YF-23 Black Widow II VF-171 Nightmare Plus = F-117A Nighthawk YF-24 Evolution = F-22A Raptor VF-25 Messiah = F-14D Tomcat/Su-27 Flanker VF-27 Lucifer = F-14D Tomcat/Su-27 Flanker/SR-71 Blackbird YF-29 Durandal = None acknowledged2 YF-30 Chronos = None acknowledged3 VF-31 Kairos/Siegfried = None acknowledged4 Sv-154 Svard = F-104 Starfighter Sv-262 Draken III = Saab J 35 Draken One could be forgiven for getting the impression Kawamori-sensei has a very great enthusiasm for the Su-27 Flanker's many variations and the F-14 Tomcat. 1. None stated, but almost certainly the B-2 Spirit bomber. 2. It's widely hinted-at, but not explicitly confirmed, that the YF-29 Durandal is a modified reuse of the SW-XA II Schneegans from Kawamori's VF-Experiment column in Character Model magazine, which would make the YF-29 indirectly inspired by the Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut (NATO: Firkin). 3. Explicitly derived in-universe from the YF-24 Evolution, suggesting it's probably another F-22A Raptor-inspired design. 4. Directly derivative of the YF-30 Chronos, making it arguably indirectly derivative of the F-22A.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    So, Arad going out for revenge after Windermere conquers Ragna and cuts him off from his supply of jellyfish snacks?
  5. Seto Kaiba
    Dunno~! Macross Chronicle is the only source I know of that talks in-depth about the VF-19EF/A, but it doesn't say anything about why it only adopted the NP-FAD-23 wing boosters from the VF-25's SPS-25S/MF25 Super Pack. If I had to guess, my guess would be that the NP-FAD-23 was the only part of the SPS-25S/MF25 that could be easily adapted for use on the VF-19EF/A that wasn't also redundant in the face of the existing VF-19 Super Pack parts like the NP-AB-20 (leg) and NP-FB-FA07 (shoulder) conformal tanks. There'd be some significant remodeling involved to get the other parts of the SPS-25S/MF25 to fit the differently-shaped limbs, body, and shield of the VF-19.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    A strange guy indeed, though in this case I think he probably had second thoughts about where to put Reconguista in G after writing began in earnest and he realized there'd be a huge plot hole or ten if he kept it as a prequel to Turn A. I'm launching my latest effort to get through Gundam SEED today... I fear this will be another doomed expedition into the wilds of the darkest Cosmic Era.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    Ah, I can only hope this'll be the reverse of the Macross Frontier movies sparing Michael Blanc... and they'll actually whack Makina, Reina, and maybe a few other deadweight flat characters in the cast. The trailer's underwhelming as hell compared to even the teaser trailer for Macross Delta's TV series.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    What don't know exactly what it's made of, just that when it's energized it catalyzes the creation of heavy quantum... and that the raw form of the stuff is apparently a byproduct of supernovas.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    Not a fuel source, but a fuel catalyst. When used in a fold reactor, the fold carbon or fold quartz is part of the Gravity Inertia Controller in the reactor core. It produces the heavy quanta that the GIC system uses to catalyze thermonuclear fusion in the reactor's fuel and to contain the resulting plasma.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    Initially, when Reconguista in G was being promoted he'd said it was a prequel to ∀ Gundam but once the series was out he started asserting it was a sequel to ∀ Gundam set ~500 years after it. The latter makes more sense, IMO, given that the Earthnoids in ∀ Gundam couldn't possibly have built that orbital elevator on their own when they could barely build copies of archaeotech mobile suits. Their ignorance of the Moonrace's existence in the Correct Century also wouldn't fit if they'd spent several centuries dependent on the Moonrace's lunar colony of Towasanga and the photon batteries it produced for their entire energy infrastructure. It fits better if the troubled times of the early Reguild Century occurred after the Moonrace started trying to recolonize Earth and then gave up for a time to support its recovery before planning their reconquest of the planet.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    The Bird Human is a bio-technological construct that the ancient Protoculture created, inspired by the Vajra Queen. The statuary modeled on it is something the Protoculture created and left behind on various worlds... it's their calling card. That does seem to be the case, yes. The "magic floating rocks" (no I don't have a better term) are also presumably some of their sufficiently advanced technology. There's the interesting related question of whether the megastructure on the Vajra planet in Macross Frontier was something that the Vajra built or something the Protoculture built for the Vajra, considering both have an organic design aesthetic and the part in which the Vajra hive is situated is a large spiral design very similar in appearance to the icon associated with the Protoculture on several occasions. It raises the question of whether the Protoculture created a home for the Vajra and then tagged it with their Stellar Republic's insignia or whether the Republic adopted the Vajra's hive design as their formal emblem.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    Being holier-than-thou arseholes whose entire reason for invading the rest of the Brisingr cluster was that the New UN Gov't had dropped one on their planet, they probably would've considered actually using a dimensional warhead themselves to be quite an evil deed for a group who saw their activity as almost literal white knight-ing for the allegedly oppressed races of the Brisingr globular cluster. Given how shady the Epsilon Foundation has proven to be, and that they have ties to General Galaxy and potentially the Macross Galaxy fleet considering they were able to furnish Ivan Tsari with a VF-27 and cybernetic body, I suspect that if Epsilon was paid with fold quartz from Windermere IV's mines for their technical support of the Kingdom of the Wind's offensive, that they'll have resold the fold quartz to other corporations under the table. It's like conflict diamonds, only worse.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Exactly how much time occurs between each case of some jerk finding a Moonlight Butterfly-enabled mobile suit and resetting the world is unclear. The only example we can put even a rough figure on is the Universal Century, implied to be the last one which had finally broken the cycle. Per the character bios in Mobile Suit Gundam UC, the Earth Federation formally changed over to using their Universal Century calendar on the 1st of January, 2045 AD. The events of ∀ Gundam can tentatively be placed via an in-universe history text that put an approximate number of years between itself and the "present day" in the Correct Century as somewhere in the early 7000s AD, with Reconguista in G somewheres around 8160 AD based on my math. Given that the Gundam shows usually point to development of ESP as the next big thing in human evolution and ESPers are always wiped out in whatever Gundam timeline's conflict du jour, that may be an evolutionary roadblock (in addition to a few millennia of a technological step back having undone some of humanity's post-civilization progress). As far as "relatively unchanged", it's hard to say if humanity is or not in some of them. Quite a few characters evidence odd traits that aren't part of our normal gene pool, like an explicit acknowledgement that spacenoids have weird hair colors, or apparent super-strength or super-agility on the part of a few otherwise normal people. "Sequel" might be stretching it, but Tomino has indicated that Reconguista in G is set in the same timeline as ∀ Gundam, just five hundred years or so further down the road. Ameria and several other things from ∀ Gundam are also mentioned, there are a few Gundams that have moonlight butterfly systems present (e.g. the G-Lucifer, the G-Self w/ Perfect Pack), etc. Some horrible stuff apparently went down around the time the moonrace started trying to resettle Earth, ending in sanctioned cannibalism and other atrocities that were only ended by the AG-tech taboo and the Space Umbilical Cord orbital elevator. ... is he... in anguish... or what? Last time I heard a person make a noise like that, it was a friend's college roommate who was having an episode of explosive diarrhea after being tricked into eating half a dozen MRE servings in a single sitting.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah, Gundam SEED was kind of a "fun with acronyms" moment on that front, coming up with a couple different meanings for GUNDAM IIRC. (My friend Jack Verse is a big Gundam SEED fan, so I've absorbed a bit of information about the series that way, despite having never been able to get through the first half of the first series myself.) Maybe I just have more pop culture-conscious coworkers? I've had a few coworkers at FCA identify my desktop collection of Valkyries (a VF-4G, VF-2SS, VF-171, VF-25, and lately a VF-31J) as being from Macross, a few others who hazarded Robotech as a guess based on the Super Packs, but the majority confuse them for Transformers. (A pretty chill bunch, regardless... I've been using my lunch breaks to speed up my rewatch of Mobile Suit Gundam 00. I've finally gotten to the point where the 00 Gundam has the 0 Raiser and isn't useless anymore.)
  15. Seto Kaiba
    The bit that's really convenient for Windermereans was a few paragraphs further on... Windermere IV is a planet rich in fold quartz, to the extent that its current (5th) generation main VF - the Sv-262 Draken III - was able to adopt a scaled-back version of the fold wave system for mass production! It doesn't confer fold dimensional energy conversion capability, but Windermere's Fold Reheat technology offers a 25-30% engine power boost... up to twice the engine performance gain offered by the fold wave system in the VF-31 Siegfried.1 1. The Ba variant issued to normal pilots has a reheat system that produces a 25% improvement in main engine output. The Hs variant issued to squadron leaders offers a 30% improvement in main engine output. The VF-31 Siegfried's fold wave system only improves output 15%.
  16. Seto Kaiba
    Indubitably. Nein. Thus far, the Fold Dimensional Resonance system has only been implemented on the YF-30 Chronos prototype operated by Rion Sakaki. We know SMS went to considerable lengths to avoid disclosing the specs for the technology, but it's not clear if it either was never disclosed, or wasn't suitable for production due to cost or stability issues. Surya Aerospace's VF-31 Kairos left out any kind of fold wave system derivative when they used the YF-30 as a starting point, and Xaos's own custom version was built with a fold wave system.1 They kept most of the YF-30's other features, including the Brunhilde-type ARIEL II airframe control AI, ordnance container system, etc. No I won't, because it's never been properly explained HOW the fold wave system improves engine performance and so on. I mean, I can guess... but I can't speak with authority on the matter. If I had to guess, I would assume the improvement in performance is coming from either using the fold dimensional energy conversion feature to replace the generator output from the engine's CTR, allowing it to devote 100% of the reaction energy to thrust production, or that the fold waves from the system allow the GIC's dimensional resonator inside the CTR to produce superheavy quantum instead of regular heavy quantum, making the reaction more energetic via better gravitational fuel compression or perhaps substituting heavy quantum for fuel entirely (turning the engine into a low-powered Macross Cannon used for thrust). The non-proprietary stuff in the YF-30 has, like the ordnance container and its choice of airframe control AI (the YF-25's ARIEL II/Brunhilde). Fold quartz adoption is likely to remain constrained to essential systems in the near term, as the New UN Government still restricts [mining/harvesting] and trade in fold quartz to slow down the proliferation of dimensional warheads. Synthetic fold quartz like the Protoculture were eventually able to produce is beyond the capabilities of the New UN Government at this time. The reason given for the change in the design of the aircraft's nose in Macross Chronicle2 is that it was lengthened to improve and refine the fighter's aerodynamic profile in the name of boosting its all-regime performance. Being designed mainly for space, the VF-17 is noted as having been a bit deficient in atmospheric performance and the VF-171 sought to address that. The changes to the transformation were intended to simplify the overall transformation of the VF-171 for the purposes of cost reduction and maintenance simplification of the mass production unit.3 1. Or, if you trust the few non-contradictory portions of Variable Fighter Master File: VF-31 Siegfried, the Xaos Valkyrie Works outfitted the VF-31 Custom Siegfried units built for the Ragna branch's 3rd Fighter Wing Δ Flight with a seriously cut-down version of the fold wave system that uses much less fold quartz. It uses the same two pieces of high-purity fold quartz for both fold wave projectors AND the fold wave system core, thus letting them build three VF-31 Custom Siegfrieds with the same amount of fold quartz that'd go into one YF-29 Durandal at the expense of high performance. 2. Mechanic Sheet Macross Frontier NUNS 02A VF-171 Nightmare Plus, bizarrely mentioned under the Battroid Mode section rather than in the Fighter mode section. 3. At least initially, the VF-171 Nightmare Plus was the K.I.S.S. version of the VF-17 ("Keep It Simple, Stupid") meant to economize the design for the kind of large-scale mass production and operation that the VF-17 never got with its sub-1000 unit initial production run. Later improvements made in Blocks II and III boosted its performance such that it was actually superior to the Generation 3.5 VF-17 in almost every respect.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    ... normally I don't pay the slightest attention to American superhero stuff, but this looks so downright bizarre that I think I'm going to have to keep this one on my radar.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    A few shots were also taken at it in Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Skull Heart. Umon Samon had customized his RB-79 Ball to look like a Gundam head (jokingly called the B Gundam), which raised impressive amounts of completely unintentional hell in the Battle of A Baoa Qu when part of Zeon's forces (incl. Anavel Gato's 302nd Patrol Squadron) mistakenly believed it to be the severed head of Amuro Ray's RX-78-2 Gundam and left their position to investigate, allowing Federation Forces that had launched from White Base to slip through the lines while other, more observant forces noticed the scale was off and created a persistent rumor that the Federation had built a GIANT Gundam... resulting in Axis Zeon wasting resources on completing another Zeong in Char's Deleted Affair. Has anyone let them know we get the same damned thing here in the US, except everyone mistakes every robot for something from Transformers?
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Maybe someone's a Macross the Ride/Macross Frontier fan?
  20. Seto Kaiba
    Hmmmm... if I'm not careful, this'll end up another slippery slope like when Mr March encouraged me to get a DX Chogokin YF-30 Chronos. I know this is one of those things most Gundam fans don't like to think about, but what with Tomino establishing back in ∀ Gundam that all the Gundam AUs up to that point (pre-SEED) were all various historical periods in the same shared universe there may be something going on there related to the way the same design aesthetic keeps getting applied to uberpowerful mobile suits that emerge right before some utter berk digs up a mobile suit equipped with a Moonlight Butterfly system and resets the frigging world. Genetic memory is a load, but there may be something cultural going on after a half dozen or so apocalypses brought about by suspiciously similar-looking robots. After someone sporting the same look ends your civilization for the fifth time, that look might be intrinsically associated with BAD THINGS. They do seem to have finally kicked the habit once the cycle is broken in the Correct Century and the second millennium of the Reguild Century brings about something approximating lasting peace and prosperity under the AG-Tech taboo until Towasanga and the bloody idiots at Venus Globe go and screw it up by sharing the Rose of Hermes blueprints. Nobody in Reconguista in G goes and wets themselves in fear after seeing the G-Self, no matter how many mooks Bellri shoots down... that story made the G-Self into just a rejected prototype and nobody seems that intimidated by it until it starts acting on its own under the Rayhunton Code. Granted, but in Gundam Wing the only mobile suits built with Gundanium armor are the five mobile suits built for Operation Meteor until like 2/3 of the way through the show when the five doctors all get caught by OZ and forced to build the Mercurius and Vayate. Until that point, and the rollout of the Virgos based on them by Tubarov's men, the Gundams had plenty of time to establish that the iconic aesthetic derived from the XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero as "The Gundam" while they had more or less a free hand to wreck OZ's sh*t. It's been bloody ages since I last tried to watch Gundam SEED (another attempt to get through it is pending once I finish rewatching Gundam 00), but IIRC isn't Kira like the only one to actually call a mobile suit a Gundam? He gets a dumb look from Lacus for saying it too... Dunno 'bout that, they've all got some pretty similar structural aspects 'round the head. They just look like more complex or angular riffs on the RX-78-2. Plus the Feddies and AEUG keep painting the damned things in that iconic yellow, white, red, and blue. At least Celestial Being had the decency to not only announce that their fancy mobile suits were called Gundams AND write the word "Gundam" all over 'em like a first-year marketing major.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah, that's still the case. Unconventionally, the VF-0 Phoenix seems to have made fuel management available to (or maybe even the responsibility of) the RIO to permit the pilot to focus on maneuvering. Edgar did have to chastise Shin several times in Macross Zero to keep an eye on the fuel consumption. First and Second Generation VFs seem to have kept tandem cockpits around for just three specific cases: Enhanced Attack variants (e.g. VF-4B) to assist in bombing and guided munitions operation. Model conversion training and/or new pilot training Airborne Early Warning and Control variants (e.g. VEFR-1, VE-1) From the Third Generation on, the full tandem cockpit seems to have become purely the territory of the dedicated training aircraft. The VE-11C Thunderseeker had a solo cockpit, as did the RVF-19EF Warning Calibur, RVF-171 Nightmare Plus, and RVF-25 Mainstay. It does look like there's a distinct pattern emerging where there's a N+1 training variant for each mass production variant. You have the -A variant that's the first production unit, then a -B variant that's its tandem equivalent, then a improved production -C unit, followed by a -D tandem variant. The VF-11 and VF-17 bucked that trend by having a low-volume variant that was superseded almost as soon as it was delivered. The VF-11's first mass production type (VF-11A) was superseded pretty much right away by an improved model to address deficiencies (VF-11B) and an economy model for emigrant fleet use (VF-11C), so the tandem cockpit trainer became the VF-11D. The VF-17 had the same issue but one variant later, with the VF-17B presumably being the first conversion trainer and the VF-17C being superseded quickly by a Gen 3.5 replacement, the VF-17D, pushing the N+1 onto the Gen 3.5 command type as VF-17T. Master File does confirm that the VF-19 and VF-25 followed this pattern, which is hinted at in official sources as well though to date no tandem version for the VF-19 has directly appeared. I'd expect that the VF-27 probably doesn't have one, since the VF-27's control is achieved through implants and therefore special controls are not necessary.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah, I could kind of go for another serious Gundam series where the Gundam isn't so OP that the enemy mooks start crapping themselves when they see one. "It's a Gundam!" followed directly by messy death has become such a thing in the Universal Century, After Colony era, and Anno Domini era that you have to wonder why mooks stick around to obligingly get mulched by a Gundam after spotting it instead of more sensibly legging it and nuking the thing from orbit like a certain bad guy figured out recently. It does kinda look like a more near-future version of Five Star Stories... especially with those wasp waists. The Kimaris especially looks like an A-TOLL Swans and Cobra type, and after upgrading to the Kimaris Vidar, it looks like it's trying pretty hard to be a LED Mirage (Mirage D1). Not nearly as blatant as the ones in 00... after all, they hung a lampshade on it and actually called the guys collecting death flags like they were going out of style "Flag Fighters".
  23. Seto Kaiba
    Only about half, and only after the thing with the Brewers... Akihiro and Chad are the only regulars who were slaves, the rest were just orphans and urchins turned child soldiers who agreed to undergo dangerous cybernetic surgery to get a job at CGS should the implants actually take. Still, that's probably worse... what with the high failure rate, horrible consequences thereof, etc. etc.. Post-Disaster is a really lousy time to be alive even by Gundam standards unless you live on Earth.
  24. Seto Kaiba
    Hm... I can kind of understand having a difficult time getting into Mobile Suit Gundam 00, given that it was essentially New Mobile Report Gundam Wing made over in Gundam Evolve's art style. I'm still rewatching that one currently, for the first time since it came out. Iron-Blooded Orphans is definitely one of Gundam's darker installments, and it takes the franchise's "war is hell" message a lot more seriously than most Gundam shows do these days. As a result, its first season drags a fair bit when the writers jump on every opportunity to show how awful life is in the space colonies and on Mars thanks to Earth's oppressive policies, enforced economic inequality, and the corruption of Gjallarhorn. It echoes SEED when it comes to antagonists, with them being either Noble Demon punchclock villains or Complete Monsters with very little middle ground. The main characters hold the idiot ball a bit too often, though that's probably a realistic outcome of a bunch of uneducated child soldiers operating without supervision. The combat feels VERY different from a Gundam show's usual flavor. The absence of any kind of beam weaponry and the armor tech making conventional guns mostly useless makes the battles a lot messier and more brutal. It adds some real weight to the proceedings, since instead of having clean-edged beam saber slices or exploding into censor-friendly pink clouds, the mobile suits from IBO beat each other into submission with edged and blunt weapons until the brutalized enemy MS goes eerily still like a corpse. The cockpit-crushed-in death that was too grim for anyone but total monster Paptimus Scirocco in Zeta Gundam is pretty much the standard in IBO, and the incredibly messy consequences are shown often enough to be kind of unsettling (which was the point). The kid gloves are off in IBO, I guess is what I'm trying to say. I thought it was quite good, though I seem to be something of an exception in that I found season one to be almost as good as season two.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    They've maintained the designation pattern thus far, and Variable Fighter Master File (though not a canon resource) does also spin that into dedicated tandem cockpit training aircraft for the -B and -D on the VF-25. The VF-31B's likely also for model conversion training, though the only info we have on it to date is that it's a thing that exists.
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