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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah, I'll admit if this one didn't have Macross in the title it'd long since have joined the very elite fraternity of shows that were so awful I couldn't finish them. In a lot of ways, it feels worse than shows which were garbage from the outset like Stratos4 or Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 AD because all the elements of Macross greatness are there. The main trio are actually quite interesting, even the weaker songs like Walkure Attack! are eminently listenable, the mecha are interesting and some downright gorgeous, the scenery is beautiful and the setting enormous... but it's put together wrong. It's painful to watch because it's obvious a competent staff could have turned this into something wonderful and exciting, and the nutters running the show have produced something that I actually straight-up dread watching every week with a plot that is pants-on-head retarded. In all honesty, Mythbusters proved you could polish a turd (Ep.113)... but some turds really don't deserve the effort. I doubt condensation is going to do this sh*t awful barely-there plot any favors, and I don't need Macross serving up two disappointments in a row when installments are so infrequent.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    All right! In the interest of honesty and in acknowledgement of the show's horrendous track record, I'm not going to pretend I have any anticipation for this new episode... so, instead, we'll settle in for another date with Delta Disappointment and spend 24 minutes wishing we were watching something else. This was actually a mild improvement over the shoddy mess that was 19 and 20, but it still feels like Macross Delta's producers are desperately rummaging around in the show's toybox for something to show us. Trying to humanize Mikumo NOW is a waste of time. It should've been done half a series ago, and falls flat now that she's Ms. McGuffin. So I'm going to have to tender a negative vote again, but with less venom this time.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    Apart from Ozma's modified 2003 Lancia Delta HF Integrale, which has clearly been equipped with Milky Road modifications, it's kind of disappointing that they seem to just be reusing CG models of modern cars from other shows. I'm offended beyond words as a powertrain engineer that the f***ing Prius seems to have survived into the spacefuture but not something much more satisfying like a bloody Alfa Romeo 4C Spyder, a Dodge Viper, Mustang GT, etc. Small wonder these people are always going to war if everyone's daily driver is a soulless mess like a Prius... they must be dying for a little excitement, even if it involves explosions. ... ... ... please no, not another edition so soon. My wallet cannae take the strain!
  4. Seto Kaiba
    That would be the opposite of what I, and almost everyone else in the thread, have been telling you... so the answer is "No".What we have been repeatedly telling you is that even if the VF-31 is using stock FF-3001/FC2 engines, the engines will still need to be adjusted to accommodate the unique characteristics of the VF-31's airframe. These adjustments could be manual modification of the engines by the ground crew, control restrictions and input adjustment set by the fighter's Ariel II airframe control AI, or both... and would almost certainly result in changes to the maximum output the engine could deliver. The real world truth of it, as related by folks who work on jet engines for a living, is that even minor differences in airframe design can cause measurable changes in engine performance. Nah, Delta has so far been pretty lame on the mecha front and I don't expect that to change. They made a lot of grandiose promises about how this series would be different from the Macross norm, but so far the only way they've really stepped out of the mold was with the worst writing in Macross history. Everything else has been a by-the-numbers affair. I'm pretty sure we're not gonna see a new Super Prototype at the end of the series. They've barely used the fighters they have.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    For the most part, handguns and other firearms seem to be one of the things in Macross that haven't really visibly benefitted from OTM. Outside of the original series, where we had caseless machine guns and other fun toys, rifles and pistols seem to be mostly the same as modern weapons.She's in good company, since SMS seems to issue Glocks to its people, Frontier New UN Forces infantry use a clone of the H&K G36, the security forces in City 7 had AR-15s, and so on... It's even more frustrating because the YF-29B was The Rival's plane... having no stats would be every bit as frustrating as not having stats for the Draken III. Not really. The third approach I mentioned is actually extremely common. Major automakers, for instance, don't write all-new engine software for every single model of car or even every variant of engine. It's actually much easier to put together one or a small handful of engine software packages that adapt how the engine performs based on external inputs from other controllers on the vehicle data bus. (Considering we've seen that some add-on equipment for VFs is practically plug and play in previous shows, that suggests they're passing vehicle configuration data over the control bus the same way a modern vehicle is.)
  6. Seto Kaiba
    The VF-1 Valkyrie's GU-11 gun pod is a rotary cannon driven by an electric motor, so the rate of fire can be controlled across a wide range by controlling the speed of the motor. The VF-0 Phoenix's GPU-9 had selectable fire rates ranging from 60rpm to 2,500rpm. The GU-11 tops out at 1,200rpm with its larger rounds, but I'd assume it's able to fire every bit as slow as the GPU-9.Variable Fighter Master File: VF-1 Valkyrie Vol.2 has an excerpt from a VF-1's JOFTOPS manual that indicates the GU-11A has a selectable rate of fire and could fire in single shots, bursts, and full automatic. This is controlled from the cockpit via the fire control system. All variants of the GU-11 described thus far have been built for 55mm rounds of a much greater power than conventional ammunition. The main reason that "traditional" guns are in common use is that the energy conversion armor that pretty much every mecha has is incredibly tough stuff and has good heat resistence. That protection can be defeated with greater ease using special armor-piercing explosive ammo than by trying to get through it with brute force. (It helps that overtechnology improved guns and explosives an awful lot, so these "traditional" guns achieve muzzle velocities you'd probably need a railgun for otherwise. The GU-11 is throwing those 55mm shells downrange at 2km/s, and it's one of the slower ones!)Most human mecha simply didn't have the generator surplus necessary to achieve the same kind of results with energy weapons that could be achieved with that special AP ammo... destroids had low reactor outputs, and VFs used most of their energy on energy conversion armor to beef up their defensive ability and on flight. You're 0 for 3 on assumptions about disadvantages to energy weapons though... only the massive ones mounted on the largest warships have had any mention of cooldown times between shots, for the most part they're driven off the reactor(s) of the mecha mounting them or capacitors fed from same, and "beam machineguns" are totally a thing. The reason they were mostly secondary or special duty weapons is that the amount of power necessary for a mecha-mounted beam gun to achieve sustainable destruction on a level equal to or greater than those high-powered rotary cannons and their special ammo was not readily achievable until the 5th Generation VFs... which has seen a lot of beam rifles in service. The Monster uses cannons because what it's got up the pipe is an assortment of specialized artillery rounds for land warfare and anti-ship thermonuclear reaction warheads for space warfare. It exists to make that ugly city-sized alien warship into an ugly but ultimately non-threatening cloud of debris.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    I'd give an awful lot for detailed specs for the YF-29B Percival... I actually bought the DX from a vendor at last year's MacrossWorldCon, and was disappointed that the included manual didn't give stats for it any more than the game, the game's art book and player's guide, or Macross Chronicle mechanic sheet did.Literally all we know is that the YF-29B Percival was an improved YF-29 given to ace pilots attached to the NUNS Special Forces unit "Havamal" including their top ace, Rod Baltemar. I would assume that, given that it's a NUNS Special Forces unit, the YF-29B's systems were improved... more engine power, more powerful weapons, tougher armor, etc.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    I feel I didn't communicate the substance of my point correctly... the finer points of engine design and tuning are obvious to an engineer, but not necessarily to the average person. What I'm talking about is a circumstance where the FF-3001/FC2 engine is running with a stock configuration and stock ECU software, but external controllers on the data bus communicate in such a way that the engine is simply never commanded to yield full power. The engine is still capable of that power on paper, but the control software elsewhere in the aircraft is written in such a way that the aircraft is not capable of commanding the ECU to yield that much power. (This is actually quite common in automobile engines as a safety feature... particularly with e-motors, which can yield maximum torque at 0 rpm. I've had personal experience with what can happen when that protection is not functioning, and it certainly gets the adrenaline pumping.) You're misremembering, I'm afraid.It's the fighter you race him with BEFORE you get the YF-30 for the first time that suffers engine trouble, causing you to lose the race. (On New Game Plus, this is literally whatever fighter you're flying, even the YF-29.) The second race when you're using the YF-30 is then interrupted by Guld and Brera attacking you and dumping you into one of those trench runs. Slightly different model. The YF-29's two main engines are FF-3001/FC1 engines, the difference in net thrust between that the the /FC2 type the YF-30 uses is just 5kN.You are right that the YF-30, with its high-powered engines and fold dimensional resonance system, was able to go toe-to-toe with an improved YF-29 designated YF-29B Percival and win.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    No, they are both just FF-3001/FC2... the VF-31's FF-3001/FC2 engines are just detuned 11.1% for reasons that have not been explained. There are probably as many possible reasons for it as there are parts in the engine itself.Like I said before, having two of the exact same model of engine tuned to different levels of performance is something that happens a LOT in Macross. Just because you don't like it won't make it untrue. There are any number of potential reasons for using a detuned engine... like increasing the time between maintenance overhauls of the engine, reducing the burden on the cooling system, reducing structural stresses on the aircraft, reserving more reaction output for generating power instead of producing thrust, etc. The airframe shape and mass had pretty much nothing to do with it, actually... unless you'd count the airframe design being incompatible with an ISC. The reason the VF-171EX uses detuned FF-2550F thermonuclear reaction burst turbine engines is that they pushed the fighter right to the design tolerances. Had they tuned those engines for maximum power the excess thrust and its implications for maneuverability would have put the pilot in the unenviable position of being able to accidentally fly the plane to pieces. There is a third possibility, as we have alluded to before... the engine could be the same FF-3001/FC2 and something in the design of the aircraft the engine is installed on is imposing a limit on the engine's performance, like greater system loads on the PGS, the design limits of the airframe, inadequate cooling, etc.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    The Blu-Ray Limited Edition's liner notes are an official publication for the series, vetted by the show's creators, so it's an extremely safe bet that the stats are accurate.Macross Chronicle is by no means the only source of official stats or an exhaustively complete resource, but it is an excellent centralized information source spanning all of the main Macross titles produced prior to its time of publication. It's certainly not unheard-of for there to be errors when a magazine is the source doing the "big reveal" of the stats due to editorial cockups, but by the time they've made it to stuff like art books or liner notes they're pretty well vetted and official... so I wouldn't start holding my breath for a correction at this point. As I've said several times already, this is not an uncommon thing for Macross to do... having the same model engine tuned differently installed in two different variants, or two of the same variant built to different local specifications. (The VF-19 Master File has, IIRC, presented the same model engine used in a half dozen VF-19 variants tuned at least four different ways... but even the VF-1 has examples of this.) Aye... I'm a powertrain development engineer working in vehicle electrification and alt-fuel systems.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    Not what I meant. We don't know what actually changed between those models of engine... and thus, why it went to a completely new form of designation that hasn't been used before now. Very rarely they do (VF-19EF Caliburn) but more often than not they don't... they're simply identified as local/regional versions of that variant.You'd run out of letters pretty quick considering there are dozens of planets and fleets out there, each of which is technically at liberty to modify specs for whatever it's building. (Not everybody uses the same alphabet, but you'd still run out of letters right quick.) Our resident aviation engineers would seem to disagree with that "it must be a defective model" on a real-world experience basis... No, they're both using the "real" FF-3001/FC2. Just ones built or tuned to a different set of operating requirements or local build standards. That would be because Macross Delta is the first title to start to put actual quantification of the engine performance improvement resulting from a fold wave system. Prior to that, the increase was simply "large".It certainly appears that, when the fold wave system was conceived, Kawamori didn't anticipate it being included in aircraft intended for production. (Also, no slash in the FF-3001A's designation.) Yes, I and everyone else here is very familiar with it... but the problem is that's for competing hypotheses on otherwise equal footings. What I'm pointing out (and others are as well) is that your premise isn't as realistic as you believe it to be... and that I'm not really debating here, I'm merely pointing out long-established trends and facts in the Macross universe. Macross Chronicle has not yet covered anything from Macross Delta. The stats come solely from model kit packaging and the liner notes for the Blu-Ray limited edition release.I'm sure that, some day in the not-too-distant future Macross Chronicle will receive a 3rd Edition to cover Macross Delta and any newer titles released in the interim with an even greater page count than the 1,600 page 1st Edition or bookshelf-straining 2,560 page 2nd Edition. I won't look forward to that day without at least a little worry, since it's not a cheap undertaking when it's ~$7 a volume (not counting shipping) and the number of volumes gets close to 100. (1st Ed. was 50, 2nd Ed. was 81.) As previously explained, it is not uncommon for two VFs to have the same model engine tuned to different performance levels... so I doubt the VF-31's engine is a typo. It was meant to be a derivative of the YF-30 (per Kawamori), so it seems highly unlikely that citing the FF-3001/FC2 engine was an error. Esp. given that it's been cited consistently.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    The point is that we don't know how similar the FF-3001A and FF-3001/FC2 are... we don't know what technological advances were made between those two models to produce that sizable jump in power. No, it's a relatively well-established fact that not all fleets and planets possess the same levels of manufacturing capability. It depends on things like the age of the fleet or colony, the industrial presences there, whether or not they have factory satellites, etc. They have, for the most part, the same blueprints... but not all of them have the ability to build them to the same standard, and some choose not to build them to the same standard for their own reasons.One example given is that the Macross Frontier fleet did not have the ability to produce the specific grade of hypercarbon armor used in the VF-25's wings, which had to be supplied from the Macross Olypmia fleet. Some of the initial batch of VF-25s had wings made with inferior materials as a result. No I'm not, you just don't appear to have understood me. I'm just stating the facts of the Macross universe here.In the Macross universe, it's an established fact that a particular variant built in different locales will not necessarily be identical in terms of quality or performance. But they will, however, carry the same basic designation because they're local versions of that base variant spec adjusted either for the tactical demands and preferences of that regional military or the limitations of the local manufacturing capabilities. The VF-171 is practically the poster child for this (and may be the original offender), but it's been mentioned in connection with the VF-19 and the VF-25 as well. The VF-25, however, wears that fact fairly openly... There's even one case where a locally-produced VF-19C was made with adjusted specs for what I can honestly only characterize as "trolling". (Seriously, Macross Galaxy's corporate army really is THAT juvenile sometimes.) No, I really meant "to a higher standard"... see the above.Though there are any number of other minor modifications or limiting factors that could also account for the VF-31's FF-3001/FC2 engine having inferior performance to the YF-30's... like cooling system issues, airframe structural limits, tuning changes to optimize the engine for a particular set of operating conditions or requirements, etc. There is, however, no indication that the FF-3001/FC2 engines in the YF-30 were in anything other than factory condition when the fighter was put into combat service briefly in 2060. We're talking about a VF from a game, yes, but the stats are presented in the same format and in the same official publication (Macross Chronicle) as the stats for any VF that's shown up in animation.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    At the risk of pointing out a hole in your reasoning, you're assuming the FF-3001A and FF-3001/FC2 are only slightly different. That isn't a fact. That is an unfounded assumption as well... one of the more frustrating parts about the way the New UN Government and New UN Forces are presented in later Macross works is the existence of regional variations. This was first hinted at in Frontier and exploded into an ugly mess with the help of Macross the Ride, the fact that the vagaries of having the individual fleets and planets of the New UN Government having a choice between building their own VFs, buying export models, or locally building an existing fighter design under license led to a significant amount of local variation.(Believe me, this next bit frustrates me to no end...) So, starting at some as-of-yet unidentified point in the 2040's, you could have the same variant of VF built by three different local governments and all three could have different specs while retaining an identical operational designation for most purposes. A VF-171A built for the Brisingr NUNS could have a different set of capabilities and performance limits than a VF-171A built by, say, the Macross Frontier fleet... but they're both still VF-171A's as long as the base design isn't deviated from too heavily. (So, of course, now every time we go to document a fighter we have to stop and ask "Is this the base spec, or is this a local spec version?".) It's perfectly possible that the FF-3001/FC2 engines built by Uroboros AWDAP for the YF-30 and the FF-3001/FC2 engines Surya Aerospace acquired for VF-31 trial production were the same design built to different standards based on budgetary constraints or issues of material quality. The Brisingr cluster is not a wealthy region, so they may have built the FF-3001/FC2 to lower design tolerances to save money or because the VF-31 lacked the structural strength for the full-strength engine as a model economized for mass production. They could have made minor design changes to reduce the thrust output in favor of greater generator output or more stability in a particular power band (since the VF-31s are mostly used for low-altitude combat). The YF-30 was, after all, built by Aisha Blanchett and Uroboros AWDAP with the nearly unlimited wealth of Strategic Military Services and Bilra Transport Co., so it wouldn't be surprising if they could build the FF-3001/FC2 to a higher standard. The teased VF-31 Master File may lend some help on this front... or it may do what the VF-25 book did and comment almost exclusively upon one of those local variations instead of the base design! That's inconsistent with over thirty years of relatively consistent formatting of information... overboost performance is always given separately from normal engine operating maximums. That's why I don't buy that theory... it would mark a radical and pointless departure from their well-established stats publishing format. Even the VF-31 stats are presented in that consistent manner. Word.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    There may be some method to their madness, I will elaborate below. Granted, that's the case normally... but the choice of "tuning" carries a much broader set of implications than "trimming" does, and I don't think they're misusing the term. (This is coming from my work as a powertrain development engineer in the auto industry, mainly, but also a bit of my experience in robotics.)What you call "trimming" is also commonly referred to in other applications as "chip tuning": changing the engine control software calibrations stored in the engine control unit's EEPROM. The engine itself isn't changed, but the way its software behaves can be altered by changing timings, pressure limits, etc. for improved or diminished performance. The term "tuning" also encompasses "performance tuning" as well... in which an engine's hardware, software, and calibrations can all be modified to increase aspects of the engine's performance (usually at the expense of other areas of performance). It's this that I think they mean when they use "tuned" to refer to modified engines. Physically modifying the engine for increased power, for greater fuel efficiency, for greater generator output, etc. (or the reverse, like the VF-171's FF-2110X engines). I think it's particularly likely that there are changes to the engine hardware and software in cases where they refer to tuning... especially given that many cases are engines of diminished performance intended for export, and the NUNG wouldn't want to make it so easy for the people buying the export engines to recal them for the same output as the federal NUNS fighters have. I wouldn't put it past them to write-protect the engine control software as well, so an engine couldn't be rebuilt to federal NUNS spec and still function normally. If it's just a calibrations thing, then the engine cals could be reprogrammed or reset to increase the performance of the detuned engine. If the tuning extended to changes to the engine's hardware and software, that would be much, MUCH harder to reverse. As noted above, I suspect this is what was done to export model engines... and why, when aircraft that were using a detuned engine model were upgraded they outright replaced the engines with a new model. (The VF-171EX.)
  15. Seto Kaiba
    There are a few significant problems with your reasoning here.The first is that, while it may be the same engine, the version the VF-31s are fitted with is a significantly detuned version... so it's the same engine, but the performance is not the same. The second is that the YF-30's 2,110kN is NOT presented as being the engine's boosted output, but as the rated performance of the engine itself... the same as the VF-31's 1,875kN. The only logical interpretation of the stats is it is NOT accounting for the improvement provided by the fold dimensional resonance system. This is true of experimental and early prototype aircraft... but the ones that have featured in Macross stories have been pretty uniformly the late or final prototypes which were built to full or near-full military spec using the production-intent materials and hardware. The VF-X-11 No.2 that was appropriated by the Dancing Skulls for a rescue op became the final production spec for the VF-11A. The YF-19 No.2 prototype in Project Super Nova was practically identical to the initial VF-19A Excalibur production model. The YF-21 No.2 didn't change a hell of a lot either, given that most of the changes were to the control system. The YF-25 Prophecy also was pretty much full military spec except for the special monitor turret for data recording. The YF-27-5 probably doesn't count because even though it was nowhere near the military spec for the VF-27, it was still fully combat-ready and was made with an intention to mislead people about the capabilities of the true VF-27... The YF-30 was, by all accounts, a full custom-fab job by the Uroboros AWDAP facility in partnership with Shinsei and LAI. The only part I'm aware of that was "off the shelf" was the Ariel II "Brunhilde" super-AI control package off the VF-25. (It's a safe bet the VF-31 is also an Ariel II platform, but I wonder if it's also using the Brunhilde build or if Surya came up with their own software to drive the flight control system?)
  16. Seto Kaiba
    The YF-30 Chronos and VF-31 Kairos/Siegfried use the same engine... but the version used by the Kairos and Siegfried has been detuned 12.5% (1,875kN vs 2,110kN). Given that one of the only stated details of the fold dimensional resonance system is that it outclasses the fold wave system of the YF-29, even if the increase in thrust provided by the overboost mode was the same 15% the YF-30 would be producing more thrust because of the greater capability the base engine offers. (The YF-30 is also capable of independently penetrating fold faults, an option no other fighter has.) The YF-30 Chronos is only a technology demonstrator as seen in Macross 30, but with less mass, 12.5% more engine power, a superior version of the fold wave system that grants independent ability to penetrate fold fault barriers, and the heavy quantum beam rifle the fighter was equipped with for live combat was a MDE beam rifle (one megadeath nastier than what the VF-31 has.)
  17. Seto Kaiba
    No problemo... the "thermonuclear reaction burst turbine" isn't a term often used. Macross the Ride threw it around a lot, and Macross 30's voiceover actually did throw it out rather blatantly at one point, but it's usually a "blink and you'll miss it" kind of affair.(As a fun note, it appears that the easiest way to tell the engine type apart is the model number. Each block of engine types seems to start with __99, the initial one being FF-1999 for the QF-3000 Ghost, while thermonuclear reaction burst turbines started at FF-2099 from the VF-16 and VF-11MAXL, and Stage II engines appear to have started with FF-2999, for which an upgraded model was used on the Sv-262.) If someone wanted to be a smartarse, the point could be made that Isamu's YF-29 from Macross 30 was a vanilla-colored YF-29. IIRC didn't that one have the fold wave system as its Box 3 weapon in-game? We know for relatively certain (thanks Great Mechanics G) that the Kairos does not have a fold wave system or any fold quartz-based subsystems except its ISC. Given the parts commonality between the two, I'd argue it is a fair statement since the Kairos and Siegfried are using detuned versions of YF-30 parts with performance differences in excess of 10%. The Draken III only superficially looks like a single-engine VF... it does in fact have two FF-2999/FC2 engines.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    Yep... unless the fighter in question is outfitted with a fold wave system or fold dimensional resonance system, or a four-engine configuration using Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engines. There's no "burst" in the name of the Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engines. The thermonuclear reaction burst turbine engines were the previous generation engine model that replaced the initial thermonuclear reaction turbine engines and were in turn replaced by the Stage II thermonuclear reaction turbine engines. It's a lot more limited than that.The stock 2-engine 5th Generation VF has enough surplus generator output to run only light energy conversion armor around vital areas like the cockpit and the engines. GERWALK mode and Battroid mode enjoy boosted armor strength for the entire airframe. The VF-27's 4-engine configuration enabled it to optionally run its energy conversion armor and pin-point barrier in fighter mode, though it isn't clear if the generator surplus is sufficient to fully power the armor or if that all-around coverage is at a reduced level vs. battroid mode. VFs like the YF-29, YF-30, and VF-31 Siegfried Custom are able to fully power their energy conversion armor in all modes because their generator output is supplemented by the fold wave system or fold dimensional resonance system providing energy directly from super dimension space. (This, of course, is bank-breakingly expensive and not widely applied.) Aye, 100% in all three modes if you've got a fold wave or fold dimensional resonance system supplementing (or outright replacing) generator output from the engines with energy drawn from super dimension space.As noted above, the YF-29, YF-30, and the Siegfried version of the VF-31 can all do this by virtue of being equipped with either a fold wave system or a fold dimensional resonance system. Whether the Sv-262 is able to do this is unclear, since its reheat system is a sort of poor man's fold wave system to improve engine performance... it's not mentioned if it has dimensional energy conversion capabilities too. At present, there is no indication of any YF-30 besides the one on Uroboros... which was apparently economized significantly to make the VF-31. (Curiously, the VF-4 Master File makes brief mention of a VF-30... so the original model may have made it into mass production after all.) See the above about the VF-27's armor... it could run the armor, certainly, but at full power without a fold wave system? That's not clear. No source I am aware of has described the fold wave system as anything other than a standard feature of the YF-29 (and presumably YF-29B).
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Nah, Battroid mode has a few other major tactical advantages in a dogfight... its agility is extremely high because it can leverage, AMBAC-style maneuvering, high-thrust verniers, and the main and sub-engines for one. It also makes it a good deal easier to bring the heavier guns to bear on multiple targets and intercept missiles. (This is the subject of some considerable fussing on Gamlin's part, because battroids were presented as being capable of high lateral g-forces during that kind of maneuvering and he was hacked off that Basara could handle it to the fullest and he couldn't.) Macross 7 and Macross Frontier were both quite good about showing that Battroid mode could be used offensively in a dogfight... and even Delta threw that one bone in a recent episode where Hayate went charging at Keith in battroid with his gun pod blazing. Max, of course, sets the gold standard back in the original series against Milia inside the Macross itself.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    Not even the audience. In all honesty, I have this weird suspicion based on the way the guard had NO PROBLEM letting Kaname into the same hospital wing as a patient that, if Walkure had foregone the attempted break-in and simply showed their IDs and asked to visit Mikumo, the guards would've had zero problem letting them in and would probably have asked for autographs. Like... getting tossed in the clink for an episode was a "Why did you do that? You could've walked right in the front door any time you wanted!" thing. And remove his Orphan's Plot Coupon? NEVER! From what we've been told, it sounds like the movie was intended to be a wrap-up/climax rather than a compilation movie like DYRL? or the others. It sounds like the stuff that was earmarked for the movie got rolled into the 2nd cour, so there may not be a plan to do a movie after adapting the movie's plot for the extended series.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    Well... I'd imagine that fold quartz is like any other commodity, with a value that varies from place to place based on a variety of market factors. Supply and demand, the relative difficulty and/or danger of extracting it from Protoculture ruins or Vajra hive sites, the purchasing power of the local currency, and the exchange rates of the different local currencies should all affect the regional market price for fold quartz. On Windermere, the market value of fold quartz appears to have been relatively low. It was plentiful and easy to harvest, and demand was and is limited by the difficulties of Windermere's trade situation.1 Fold quartz is probably more expensive on a planet like Uroboros, where it's plentiful but dangerous to harvest because the Protoculture ruins all over the planet are positively crawling with lethal bio-technological guardian creatures2 able to inflict serious harm on even a modern Valkyrie... or a planet that doesn't have any Protoculture ruins or former Vajra nesting sites. OK, I could understand discontent with the Sound Force Valkyries... but otherwise I thought it was all right. Macross Zero is kind of its own category, because its VFs have extremely low thrust-to-weight ratios3 and aggressively limited endurance because they're relying on conventional overtuned turbine engines burning high-powered jet fuel. With them needing more than half their engine output just to stay aloft in Battroid mode and energy conversion armor consuming 90% of the engine output in Battroid mode, that was always going to be a losing battle where battroid mode was less hovering or flying and more "falling, with style!". 1. Being surrounded by fold faults, the Windermere Kingdom's interstellar trade relationships were fraught with difficulty for any export at even the best of times. The New UN Government's strict oversight, regulation, and restriction of trading in fold quartz certainly didn't help, and I'll wager the trade restrictions that came with being reclassified a hostile foreign power after the war of independence did not improve matters one jot. 2. The Dyaus, who are also large enough to make sending explorers in on foot unviable... and that's not counting the occasional cruiser-sized Mother Dyaus. 3. ~1.8, approximately 1/2 that of a stock VF-1A-4 Valkyrie.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    Don't apologize for asking questions! As to whether the Xaos Valkyrie Works VF-31 Siegfried customs have the super-high purity fold quartz classified as the "Philosopher's Stone", the published specs don't say but it's a safe bet they do. Probably only two of them instead of four, given that the VF-31 has just the two engines. I'd have a hard time formulating a sound theory regarding the Sv-262's "reheat system", since that's a poor man's fold wave system. My gut feeling on that one would be that it probably is using lower-quality fold quartz below the "Philosopher's Stone" level, since the writeup says it's fold quartz nicked from the ruins on Windermere. (But at least these philosopher's stones aren't made from dead people or sought after by a noseless magical nazi, right?)
  23. Seto Kaiba
    I'm crushed they didn't reenact that one scene from Titanic out on the bow of the Sigur Valens. That's assuming the movie is still a thing... and, honestly, with as many problems as the TV series has had I don't have any confidence in the staff polishing this turd for the cinema.
  24. Seto Kaiba
    Ah, his One True Threesome. Don't forget holograms!Maybe the original plan was to cure Var syndrome through nuru massage? Seriously though, the explanation in the Blu-Ray special features is stupid too... there's really no reason for the body suits to be completely transparent or for the holographic projector harness to be underwear. It's fanservice and nothing else... one more serious flaw in an overwhelming litany of flaws that plague this series. Well, strictly speaking... you don't have to, but you absolutely can. Honestly, what it feels like is fan fiction. BAD fan fiction. The kind of bad fan-fiction you normally have to go to the eight letter R word for.Macross Delta had some pretty glaring problems even before the second half went to hell. A bunch of its cast are blatant expys of the more popular characters in Frontier, and the cast is so huge that characterization got spread awfully thin and left almost the entire cast a collection of flat characters, and many of them aren't really relevant to the plot at all. They expect us to care about all these flat, largely useless characters like Theo, Xao, Qasim, Makina, Reina, Kaname, Messer, etc. Several of them, like Makina, Reina, and the twins, are obviously only in the show to throw the h-dojinshi circles a bone and could be deleted from the series without consequence. The first half of the series is better, but if you go back and rewatch it you quickly notice that the characters are present... but don't seem to be at all involved in the story until the last two episodes. Stuff is happening around them, but all they can do is react to it with dull surprise until the attack on Ragna. Nothing they do has any real effect on Windermere's advance and the Aerial Knights. In short, they're not really participating. Literally everything they do either achieves no result or helps Windermere, and for the majority of the series they don't seem to even care. They actually attempt to stop the NUNS from taking a proactive stance to oppose Windermere, which is full-on "Whose side are you on, anyway?". They do such a sh*t-awful job that it's impossible to take them seriously as an elite mercenary outfit hired to protect the Brisingr Cluster when they achieve nothing, practically hand the cluster to Windermere with a bow on it, and their leader's only character trait besides being XBOX HUGE is that he's renowed for being really phenomenally bad at his job. Lady M is no better, since she seems to be holding an idiot ball up until Windermere seizes Ragna, and then quietly vanishes into the background. For the first time in Macross history, they've managed to take a great set of mechanical designs, great music, a handful of engaging characters, and an enormous and well-developed setting and produce a whole that is somehow significantly less than the sum of its parts. Macross II and Macross 7 used to be the fandom whipping boys for being unimaginative in story or mediocre in animation and design... but now we have Macross Delta, a show we can point to and definitively say "This is how you do a Macross series wrong."
  25. Seto Kaiba
    Are "Dancing Skulls" or "Havamal" necessarily better? Those are two famous special forces units in Macross.IIRC the name "Londo Bell" is something to do with the unit being headquartered at Londinium colony in Side 1... and may have originally been meant to be London Bell.
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