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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    According to her published bio, Myung is part-Chinese and part-Caucasian (of no specified variety).
  2. Seto Kaiba
    Yes, using the On'yomi reading of the kanji it comes out as "Kai". (改 is often mistaken for meaning "Custom", it's actually more along the lines of "Revision". If you work in an office that likes trendy BS, this is the first kanji in "Kaizen", the other one being 善.) Part of me really wants to make a joke about how there isn't a therapist's couch in the world big enough for a VF that's doing that much projecting... Still, the goal is presumably to allow for either a more targeted and direct application of fold song into specific groups of enemies, or to extend the effective range of a fold song by acting like a repeater. (This isn't necessarily mutually exclusive either.) With respect to cost, yeah... the YF-29 Durandal was a bank-breaker. That's why the Macross Frontier fleet only built the one, and even then had to rush it and reuse VF-25 parts in some areas. Fold quartz was quite expensive, and still is to a large extent, because there are very few ways to get your hands on the stuff in any usable quantity or purity apart from hunting a very large, very heavily armed Vajra for its "brain". Never mind that it's illegal, it's a distinctly unhealthy thing to do if you intend to stay alive for very long, which is why planets with the stuff in reasonably large quantities (e.g. the former Vajra planet, Uroboros, Windermere IV) would be the richest planets in the galaxy if not for the ban on trading in the stuff. The YF-29 was made possible by picking over corpses of the larger Vajra forms during the war, and the YF-30 by the deposits of the stuff the Protoculture left behind in ruins. I'd assume that the VF-31改 used fold quartz from the New UN Gov't-controlled mines on Windermere IV from before the first war. Either way, the YF-29 takes the cake in that it has no less than six large chunks of high-purity fold quartz (four in the fold wave system, two in the fold wave amp), the canopy was coated with granulated fold quartz, and the Super Packs had some smaller but still substantial chunks of the stuff. Small wonder it was too expensive to produce in numbers. The order of developments is... complicated, and it's been refined by several different sources including Macross R and Great Mechanics DX. The logical place to start the genealogy of the 5th Generation Variable Fighter is with the program inception for the original YF-24 prototype, an unseen and allegedly ugly plane that had the uninspiring nickname of "The Camel" because of the hump made by its prototype ISC. From that, the YF-24 Evolution prototype was developed in the 2050's. From there, we get to branches in the design family tree: Trunk: YF-24 → YF-24 Evolution Evolution Branch: YF-24 Evolution → Production Design Frozen (2057) → VF-24 Evolution From there, we get to what Master File refers to as Project Triangler, a joint development program between at least two (three in MF) emigrant fleets to develop a 5th Generation VF based on the redacted YF-24 Evolution prototype specs that were transmitted by the New UN Government to all member fleets and worlds. Messiah Branch: YF-24 Evolution → Project Triangler launched → YF-25 Prophecy → Paladin Pack → Production Design Frozen (2058) → VF-25 Messiah (LRIP type Block 0/1) → Super and Armored Packs Olympia Branch: YF-24 Evolution → Project Triangler launched → YF-26 → Canceled Lucifer Branch: YF-24 Evolution → Project Triangler launched → YF-27 → Development data for YF-29 covertly obtained through L.A.I. → VF-27 Lucifer (undisclosed production model) → Super Pack Galaxy Branch: (Alleged/Speculative in-universe, may have been a smokescreen for production VF-27 or just an unfounded rumor) YF-24 Evolution → Project Triangler launched → YF-27 → Development data for YF-29 covertly obtained through L.A.I. → YF-28 (alleged) → ? → Profit Durandal Branch: YF-24 Evolution → Project Triangler launched → YF-29 development type (parallel with Y/VF-25) → Tornado Pack (for VF-25) → YF-29 Durandal (Alto) → "Holy sh*t that's expensive!" → Super Pack because why not? Percival Branch: YF-29 Durandal (Alto) → Spec shared to New UN Gov't → Shinsei head office refinement → YF-29B Percival Chronos Branch: YF-24 Evolution & YF-29 Durandal (Alto) → Richard Bilra's obsession with fold faults → YF-30 → a few crashes and one borrowed YF-25 airframe control AI later → YF-30 Chronos The YF-30 Chronos, of course, because its own new starting point for the Brisingr Alliance's next gen VF thanks to a partnership between their local Shinsei Industry and LAI offices and two other companies: Bharat and Hiotori. The partnership marketed itself as Surya Aerospace. Kairos Branch: YF-30 Chronos → Spec shared to New UN Gov't → Shinsei head office refinement → YF-30B Chronos (maybe) → Simplification by Surya Aerospace → YF-31 → Production Design Frozen (2067) → VF-31 Kairos Siegfried Branch: YF-30B Chronos (maybe) → Simplification by Surya Aerospace → YF-31 → Production Design Frozen (2067) → VF-31 Kairos → Xaos Valkyrie Works customization → VF-31改 Siegfried Then there's these total smegheads... Draken III Branch: Sv-50 → Sv-51 → Sv-52 (in theory) → UN Wars end → We're only in it for the money! → VF-4 Lightning III → General Galaxy founded → SV Works founded → SHENANIGANS! for like three fighter generations → Sv-154 Svard → SV Works sold to Epsilon → Sv-262 Draken III → "Maybe selling weapons to a genocidal madman wasn't such a good idea" If you're still with me after all that, the gist of it is that the YF-25, YF-27, YF-29, and YF-26 (but only if you trust Master File) were developed side-by-side as parallel programs. YF-27 got ahead by using stolen development data from the YF-29 and beat the others into production, the VF-25 was the first to go officially into production, YF-26 got canned (maybe), and YF-29 turned out to be too expensive to produce. The VF-25's Tornado Pack was used to test hardware and flight control for the YF-29. The YF-29's Super Pack was developed because of the Vajra in the hopes of maybe finding a nonlethal alternative but carrying enough kaboom to make it out if it didn't work. The VF-27's may have been a response to the YF-29 nearing completion to help make up the difference in performance, but no definitive reason has been given that I'm aware of.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    It does, albeit nothing particularly detailed or well-drawn. The focus is principally on character drama, so the few times we see a Svard it's either from inside or flying overhead at a decent altitude. We do, however, get an introduction to the unnamed White Knight of Darwent whom Arad shows a picture of in his Ep5 briefing, who died in Windermere's war of independence and cleared the way for Keith to take the title. ... there was a lot of comedic potential in smartarse replies to this one, but I'm going to give it a miss because probably ninety percent are in screamingly poor taste. The correct, strictly un-funny answer is that they're fold wave projectors. They are, in practical terms, a pair of high-powered fold wave amplifiers intended to facilitate communication and peace with the Vajra through the usual Minmay approach of making the enemy LISTEN TO [THEIR] SONG. (In this case, by projecting said song "loud" enough for the Vajra to hear it and understand.) The large fold quartz fittings installed on either side of the airframe behind the cockpit on the YF-29, YF-29B, YF-30, and VF-31改 Siegfried are there for the same reason, as fold [wave/song] amplifiers. EDIT: Before someone asks, I flat-out refuse to call the Siegfried just "VF-31". It's not the production model, and really isn't a factory-done custom job like the VF-11MAXL, so it properly ought to be VF-31改.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Not sure what perfect ending you're referring to... Macross's original ending was pretty damned bittersweet. By the end of Ep36 the vast majority of Earth's population is dead, the planet itself is a wreck that'll take tens of thousands of years to repair, the planetary capital is in flames, the titular warship is a wreck, and Minmay gets dumped. (I know that last one's kind of "Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking", but it still counts as this is a romance series.) The adaptation takes that up a notch in darkness by having the Macross irrecoverably destroyed, most of the cast killed, and the city irreversibly contaminated to the point that they had to abandon it, but that's still small potatoes compared to what was already in the original. Granted, the bowdlerized rewrite makes that the first step in a protracted humiliation conga for Earth, but there isn't a big payoff at the end either. Earth may not be as much of a wreck as it was, but there's been a total societal and economic collapse, the only remaining government is an exclusively military fascist nightmare right out of Warhammer 40,000, the invading aliens took pity on humanity and prevented a self-inflicted genocide (or maybe just didn't want to be one-upped), the love story ends with the male lead being unable to get past a case of fantastic racism, and within hours they're at war with someone else. There's no happily-ever-after or other uplifting payoff there... the best case scenario is Mad Max with more greenery. I'm not honestly sure if the adaptation's version of Southern Cross's ending is less of a sucker punch than the original. Instead of the idiot protagonists screwing up by shooting the one guy who could land the bloody ship and causing the Zor Lords to win the war posthumously by turning everyone on Glorie into Zor, the idiot protagonists screw up and accidentally turn Earth into a paradise for a genocidal alien race who regard humans as vermin or dumb animals. (Either way it's kind of a firm "F-you" from the writers to the audience, though I guess in the latter case it's only delivered by proxy.) ... kill it with fire. Preferably napalm. Or white phosphorous if you can get it.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    I do, I've met two... both of 'em while I was working with Sumitomo Electric a few years back on a technology demonstrator. I miss being able to write off trips to SoCal and Japan as business expenses. K-A-N-A-M-E? That's not how you spell "Mirage", man.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    It's a unisex name, something that from my experience is actually fairly popular in Japan. (Hell, Macross's original leading man, Hikaru Ichijo, has a given name that's used for girls as often as for boys. Most of the Hikarus I know, in person and in fiction, are female.)
  7. Seto Kaiba
    Unfortunately, there's not really anything more to say. One of the most frustrating things about Southern Cross is that the show's creators put very little effort into developing the setting. The few magazine articles, leaflets, and the one artbook the series got explain virtually nothing, and the few things that do get explained almost never get an explanation longer than a single unqualified sentence. It's way beyond the level where some shows just say "x many missiles", only the Spartas has even the most cursory stats and the vast majority don't even have names. The line in question was a single-sentence statement in part of an advertising leaflet for the series which talked about the mecha. All it had to say, besides some very basic statements about the Logan and Auroran's alt-modes, is that the Logan was only an annoyance to the Zor. The Auroran's similarly basic description mentions only that the Logan wasn't able to oppose the Zor advance and was being replaced by the Auroran as a result. Everything else on the leaflet is a statement of the blindingly obvious, like that fighter forms are good for high-speed travel and dogfighting. (It was less disappointing than the other mecha magazine insert I worked on, which was one long series of sucker-punches for anyone hoping for info on the background mecha.)
  8. Seto Kaiba
    As a rule, no... if you want Macross on Blu-ray you'll have to import it from Japan. The prevailing legal situation being what it is, it's unlikely that there will be any Macross Blu-rays from western distributors. (In the event You-Know-Who tried to put one out, it'd only be an upsampling of their 480 DVD remaster.)
  9. Seto Kaiba
    Oh yeah, that's a bootleg. Almost certainly a fansub burned to Blu-ray, and the sheer number of episodes they're getting into six discs suggests the quality is going to be pretty poor. The only way to tell for sure of the quality would be to watch it and see what fansub was used though. The legit Super Dimension Fortress Macross Blu-rays were just the TV series, with DYRL? and Flashback 2012 as a separate set, and Macross II as another separate set, and none of 'em had English subs.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    Didn't care for it, myself... but then, I've always been somewhat put off by the way The Show That Must Not Be Named keeps coming over a bit Warhammer 40,000 by turning xenophobia and blind obedience to a military-run authoritarian regime into virtues. Kind of seems insulting toward the original works, all of which were shooting for themes of understanding. The feudal thing never made any sense in the context of the show either, since we're clearly shown a modern capitalist economy rather than anything in line with a feudal society. I tend to ignore it given that the writers of the adaptation were just throwing whatever at the wall regardless of whether or not it stuck, and frequently used words they didn't truly understand simply because they thought it sounded cool. I've seen similar efforts to handwave it before, but they never quite work in the face of the operational factory satellite we're shown seven years before the events of the adaptation version. If they're so resource-strapped, why did they develop separate models of robot for each specialist group inside the army? The hybridized story of the adaptation was always going to cause a certain amount of mental calisthenics to attempt to explain away why each installment had totally separate mechanical designs, but the adaptation of Southern Cross really took it on the chin as the least technically-advanced of the three, the most obviously flawed of the three, and the only show out of the three to have its own creators identify the mecha in the show as poorly designed or inadequate. (I was rather surprised when I found that last bit while working on a translation for a fan of Southern Cross on another forum. It wasn't exactly scathing, but having the Logan's effectiveness compared to a mosquito wasn't exactly flattering either.) To be frank, I'm fairly certain that "undoing" of Leonard's backstory from the canon comics was entirely unintentional. At best, Palladium Books has only ever bothered to do the most cursory background research before writing a licensed book... and even that is only because Harmony Gold forced them to actually do research this time instead of just skimming the back of the video box twenty minutes before the book went to the printers. They probably didn't even notice the comic book in question exists. Pretty sure the comics made him into the villain because he was already a total bastard in the TV show, and most of the adaptation's fandom actively dislikes him.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    Nothing I'm aware of... the interior of the engine is protected somewhat by the reactor's GIC system containing the reaction plasma, and the thermoelectrics in the engine converting some of the heat into electrical energy, but the exhaust velocity is still EXTREMELY high. 10km/s on the VF-1. Reasonably, standing near the exhaust stream of an actively running engine should be a manifestly unhealthy thing to do.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    Very little of actual substance, really... the weird part is it's kind of written in two minds. On the one hand, the RPG's chronology section tries to throw the adaptation's version of the Southern Cross Army a bone by attributing the pacification of post-bombardment Earth during Macross's timeskip to an ad hoc force of survivors that became the Army later. On the other hand, it also throws the modern Southern Cross Army of the adaptation under a bus in truly spectacular fashion. In the RPG's version, the government is a de facto military dictatorship that uses a civilian parliament as a sockpuppet to keep the proles in line by rubber-stamping military decrees, the military leadership is monstrously incompetent and hilariously petty pack of morons, and caps it by explicitly establishing the Southern Cross Army's hardware is inferior-grade gear because their leadership decided the SCA should develop its own mecha because Leon/Leonard was upset that his force was a low priority for resources. It's not quite the calculated insult that the comic books delivered by rewriting Leonard's [Leon's] backstory into being a traitor and spy who tried and failed to sabotage the VF-1's development, orchestrated the hijacking of an ARMD and an ersatz-nuclear strike on multiple key military bases, etc..
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Somebody better pick up that phone... because I called it. They're using almost exactly the same format they used with their last artbook, The Art of Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles. They've got barely enough text for a pamphlet, most of which will doubtless be reprints of pages from their old website, so two-thirds of every page is given over to screen captures to pad the page count. It looks a tiny bit more professional than their last one, but it's still pretty clear Udon's phoning this one in.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    You mean the Complete Blu-Ray Box (BCXA-0719)? I've got a copy. I've had no complaints with the quality of that release. The video quality is excellent and I took a number of reference screen captures for the Macross Mecha Manual's use. I can't speak to the quality of the audio transfer from 2.0 to 5.1ch since I watched it on my desktop with kind of a weenie set of speakers instead of my home theater system, but I didn't find anything that's overtly off or upsetting. I've never actually watched the Macross Plus dub, but I'm given to understand from the Japanese fansites and the disc credits that the "International Version" (English dub) of the Macross Plus OVA episode 4 does in fact have a different cast from the first three episodes. This was apparently done to address the old English dub's use of different background music and sound effects for that episode for reasons unclear. The Blu-ray's version restores the original audio for the sound effects and music at the expense of having to commission a new English dub for the episode. While they were at it, the did a new translation for the script, though they had to change actors for the principal characters because the original actors were not available.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    For me, the nagging question left by that article is exactly how far they intend to take this new "less nice" riff on Star Trek's setting. I have no objections to, say, a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine level of ongoing conflict-driven story arc because in there they didn't sacrifice the generally optimistic Roddenberry-esque tone that is Star Trek's most iconic trait. Starfleet never stopped hoping the conflict could be resolved by diplomatic means and in the end it was. They still saw themselves as explorers, and the wars as a wasteful distraction from that primary mission. What they've given us every reason to expect, and what I DO object to, is a dumbed-down Star Trek series à la Jar-Jar Abrams that replaces the franchise's trademark introspective science fiction with a CG special effects extravaganza backed by paper-thin action movie excuse plots. That dumbing-down is a big part of what ultimately killed Enterprise and it won't endear this new series to existing Star Trek fans either.
  16. Seto Kaiba
    One has to wonder if he volunteered, or it's just a feeble attempt to drum up some enthusiasm from the ambivalent majority of Star Trek fans.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    They say the key to success is having a consistent process, and mine is: 10 START 20 ACQUIRE VF-2SS 30 GOTO 10 After that it's like a six way tie, since I have two VF-4's, two VF-171's, two VF-25's (if you count the YF-25 as one), two VF-31's, two YF-29s, and two VF-1s.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    VF-2SS Valkyrie II... I currently have two old Bandais, six Evolution Toys (two Sylvies, three Fairy Platoon, one Nex Gilbert), and I'm looking to get at least one HiMetal.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah, it's me. As JB0 already pointed out, the latter two "sagas" of The Show That Must Not Be Named are completely separate shows and the hostile factions depicted in them don't really have any kind of equivalent in Macross. The creators of Macross don't really care for the idea of direct sequels, you see. So, as a result, instead of having installments where one story follows directly on from the conclusion of the one before it (as in the "Sagas" you're thinking of), each new main Macross series is effectively a stand-alone story set in a different time and place in the shared Macross universe. There's usually very little to directly connect one Macross show to another, apart from characters showing a basic historical awareness of important events and people from previous Macross shows that are set, from their perspective, in the past. Each new series is set in a different locale, separated from the other shows by years of time and many light years of distance. There's very little in the way of characters from one show returning in another, and apart from the extended Jenius family there's even less of characters who are relatives/friends of previous characters showing up. Take, for instance, Macross Delta. It's the latest series and following on from the success of Macross Frontier, but the settings of the two shows are separated by eight years of time and a whopping 50,000+ light years. The only overt, non-historical connection between the two is that Freyja Wion is a fan of Ranka Lee's music. (The secondary works that are part of the official chronology like light novels, manga, and video games do indulge more in joining up the dots, though their favorite method is usually some flavor of Remember the New Guy. Macross R, for instance, established that several of its all-new characters were veterans of the Protodeviln conflict in Macross 7.)
  20. Seto Kaiba
    The earliest direct mention of a crystalline resonator being involved in the function of fold-based devices goes back to Macross VF-X2. The improved "subspace resonance lens" that was the basis for Critical Path's "magic flute" and Jamming Sound system is implied by the Frontier novelization to be one of the first real applications of fold quartz after its discovery. (They imply therein that Critical Path sponsored the 117th Research Fleet that was destroyed by the Vajra, and that Ozma was dishonorably discharged from the NUNS for assaulting their CEO during the debrief.) Hadn't thought of that, to be honest... but it'd certainly explain a few things. Nope. In all fairness, that beautiful VF-31A Kairos represents neither a quantum leap nor a discrete step forward. Were I forced to pick a short, pithy descriptor for it I would have to go with "economy model". It's not exactly a surprise that it would be, given that one of the few details we're told of the prevailing situation out in the space boonies of the Brisingr globular cluster is that they're cash-strapped and economically underdeveloped worlds who will still be flying the Block II VF-171 a decade after the rest of the galaxy started to broom it. (A not-inconsiderable number of the VF-31A's parts are "off the shelf" slightly newer variants of hardware developed for the Block 1 VF-25. Irritatingly, this carried over to the Master File book, which recycles a LOT of content from the VF-25 book.) The Compendium's got a modest version of the official spec (M3 articles for Delta are in the works). I did a fairly wordy comparison of the two a while back which can be found on the link below: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/topic/42189-avf-discussion-thread/?page=21#comment-1317676 The short version is that the trial production VF-31A Kairos in 2067 is projected to be comparable or slightly inferior to the trial production VF-25A from 2059. This is mostly because it offers an airframe oriented around low-altitude atmospheric service and short-ranged combat rather than balanced all-regime performance, and its negligible output improvement didn't offset its increase in mass from the ordinance container. It probably compares unfavorably to the current production model VF-25 in 2067.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    There's one little thing that's bothering me about the uniform... at the time period Discovery is set in, each starship had its own unique insignia on the uniform. The insignia they have there didn't become the Federation Starfleet standard until the timeskip between TOS/TAS and TMP. I'm not sure if I'd go quite that far... but The Oroville is deliberately trying to be as much like Star Trek as it can for parody's sake, where this is trying to break new ground (for better or worse).
  22. Seto Kaiba
    From the thread where the question was originally asked:
  23. Seto Kaiba
    Sure thing. Fold carbon is the synthetic crystalline material that is the heart of pretty much any device that operates on super dimension spatial physics like thermonuclear reaction power systems, all forms of fold technology (fold communications, cross-dimensional/fold wave radar, fold systems, etc.), heavy quantum beam weapons, and reaction warheads. Its main use is that it produces the impossibly high-mass dimension-straddling exotic matter known as heavy quantum when energized. Heavy quantum's impossible mass produces intense gravity, so much so that if left alone it'll collapse on itself and fuse. That gravity, properly contained, is used to provide compression and containment of fuel in OTM thermonuclear reactors, to manipulate the fabric of space-time for gravity control and space fold jumps, and its tendency to collapse on itself and fuse is exploited as the mechanism by which most beam weapons in Macross work by collecting a big chunk of heavy quantum and corralling the resulting fusion reaction into a beam (most notably the "main gun" systems, but the little turrets work the same way). Otherwise, it does all the same stuff fold quartz does (receiving, transmitting, amplifying fold waves) but less well... fold quartz is basically super-high purity fold carbon that humanity isn't able to synthesize (yet, but the Vajra and Protoculture can/could) that produces a better, even more potent form of heavy quantum and thus tends to improve any super dimension-based device when substituted for fold carbon (e.g. fold systems, beam weapons, etc.). EDIT: Because fold quartz can't be synthesized (yet), it's rare and expensive... and also a heavily regulated substance since it can be used for somewhat less benign purposes like making dimension eater bombs and MDE weaponry. "Big Waist?" Machine translating has a looooong way to go.
  24. Seto Kaiba
    With the sole exception of Walter Koenig's Ensign Chekhov, Star Trek: the Animated Series had all of the TOS regulars present and voiced by their original actors. Chekhov was cut to keep the voice actor budget down, and was replaced by a three-armed, three-legged alien named Lt. Arex (voiced by Jimmy Doohan). Majel Barrett also voiced a new character on top of returning as Nurse Chapel, a Caitian comm officer Lt. M'ress, who was Uhura's periodic stand-in. (Walter did pen at least one episode of the series though, so it's not like he was totally uninvolved.) The quality of the series is iffy... at its worst ("The Slaver Weapon", "Bem", "The Magicks of Megas-Tu") it was downright Scooby-Doo levels of silly or stupid. At its best ("More Tribbles, More Troubles", "How Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth") it was every bit as good as TOS's better episodes. Still massively camp, but good. They almost started adapting backstory events from TAS in Enterprise (the Kzinti wars), but were mercifully prevented from doing so by the cancellation of the series. Mercifully, we'll never know if the Kzinti were to be as violently in love with the color fuschia as they were in TAS. A pretty common sentiment among older fans and folks who didn't like the Abrams movies.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    If you want that exact experience, there's a Star Trek novel you should read... How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford. No, really. Anything I could say about it wouldn't do it justice. (Hah! Available through Google Play Books for nine bucks...) It's turned into rather a controversy conga... first the reuse of that hideous McQuarrie Star Trek Phase II design for the USS Discovery, then the new Klingon designs, the decision to keep it exclusive to a proprietary streaming service in its home market, then the completely ridiculous (and ironic) furor over cast diversity. That's why I've got a bet on with several friends that it won't last more than one season... and that's assuming that they produced the entire season before it went to streaming. I suspect they're hoping and praying the fair weather casual fans who made the Abrams movies a commercial success are going to carry Discovery... they're about to learn the hard way that particular audience isn't all that invested in Star Trek proper and only saw Abrams' efforts as a string of half-passable popcorn flicks.
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