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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    So... incredibly short version:Macross Frontier fleet, 2058. SMS Apollo Platoon pilot 1st Lt. Chelsea Scarlett is suffering some classic emotional trauma after a bad experience in battle, so she becomes a VF air racer instead. Gets stuck flying the VF-19ACTIVE in the Vanquish League's Ultimate Class races, because Shinsei and LAI want to collect development data on the VF-25 hardware installed on it. Shenanigans ensue, she ends up developing a friendly rivalry with veteran racer Hakuna Aoba (who may or may not be former NUNS Special Forces). Macross Galaxy is caught red-handed illegally carrying out field tests of the YF-27 prototypes when they attack the race for shiggles. A great deal of fuss and noise is made about that, and the completion level of Galaxy's next main variable fighter (and allegations of espionage on Galaxy's part). Then some remnants of the Earth-supremacst group Latence attack and try to take a resort ship hosting the races hostage. Worked pretty well, IMO. Well enough that Vanquish League races are referenced in Macross 30 as well, as a playable extra game mode to unlock certain bonus items and blueprints. (You also have a few unavoidable races, like the race against Isamu.) Not so much... yeah, most (but not all) of the Vanquish League entries to be featured in the story have corporate sponsorship, but it's only recently the military-industrial complex started using the Ultimate Class races as a very public venue for testing new technologies, and it's only one or two teams in the league doing it. Shinsei's in-house team, and SMS's (which was using the races to test Shinsei and LAI advances). They're accused of trying to win by sheer fiscal supremacy (by throwing 4th Gen VFs into the race when everyone else is flying 3rd Gen and older...).
  2. Seto Kaiba
    It's not really talked about much, but my understanding of what little is said on the matter is that the eye-following pointing system used to aim the VF-0's guns and designate targets for the FCS was production-intent hardware that was intended for the VF-1... and built into all of the VFs that followed (with the possible exception of the YF-21).I'd assume the reason it didn't show up in visuals was simply that Kawamori and co. hadn't thought of a way to make it look visually appealing. Helmet-mounted targeting systems have existed since the 1980s, but even today they're still not much in the looks department. Kawamori probably needed time to think up a way to do it without obscuring the pilot's face, and real-world technology didn't start to offer an answer to that until the mid-to-late 90's (using infrared or other forms of optical tracking).
  3. Seto Kaiba
    On a proper-sized carrier, you'd have a couple different options... like using the ventral verniers to "hop" the fighter and transform that way, or taking it down to the hangar level on one of the elevators in GERWALK and using a crane.(There is official precedent for both.) They weren't intended to operate on small warships. That's what VTOL-capable aircraft and helicopters are for... many later VFs were VTOL capable in all modes, though the capability was seldom used since dedicated naval vessels weren't all that common and the surface-based carriers offered pretty darn significant decks. Actually, the VF-1 has a set of large, high-powered verniers on the outside of each engine intake for rapid deceleration... many other VFs are outfitted with thrust reversers. The VF-1 is also unusual in that there is a clearly marked "Reverse" setting on the throttle lever. Aaaaactually, Hikaru briefly hovers a VT-1 to transform it from fighter mode to GERWALK mode in DYRL? during the escape from Vrlitwhai's ship by using the ventral verniers. The reverse should be equally possible.The verniers on VFs are small, but they're quite powerful. Especially those reverse verniers and the wingtip ones used for roll control. Prior to the First Space War VFs were deployed to the large carriers and to ground bases... not really to small warships. The smaller space warships like the Northampton-class had very small footprint but very tall hangars and stored the VFs in battroid mode instead.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    We don't make the news, we just report it... though I'd imagine the wingtip roll-control thrusters, the reverse verniers, double-slotted fowler flaps, an AI based airframe control system, and the stonking huge size of the carrier they were intended to land on probably help somewhat. That the Prometheus having seven cross-deck pendants instead of the usual three or four for a modern aircraft carrier may also have helped.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    I've never really had an issue with it... since it was, at least, applied consistently until Macross Delta and the Valkyries were as much infantry as aircraft. About all we know is that, according to Variable Fighter Master File: VF-25 Messiah, the VF-171L was the last mass-production type of the Nightmare Plus which was used by the Macross Olympia fleet in 2065 when they were starting to transition to the VF-25 they'd codeveloped with the Macross Frontier fleet after canceling their own YF-26. I'm not sure if that version corresponded to what Macross Chronicle called Block II (the 2055 update, which was what the Macross Frontier fleet used) or the Block III update that served as the basis for the Frontier fleet's anti-Vajra upgrade. On review of the animation of Macross Delta's first and sixth episodes, I would be inclined to suspect that the Brisingr Alliance's NUNS is using a VF-171 variant corresponding to the 2055 Block II update.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    http://www.macross2.net/m3/sdfmacross/vf-1a-valkyrie/vf-1-fighter-controlsurfaces.gifhttp://www.macross2.net/m3/sdfmacross/vf-1a-valkyrie/vf-1-fighter-machinery.gif Mecha Manual's got your back. It looks like they deploy from the landing gear bays, from the side closest to the aircraft's centerline, and are canted slightly inwards towards the center.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    That's a question with a lot of potential answers... since older fighters are often retired from normal duties and placed into the training fleet, and the special forces are sometimes keeping the fighters in service much longer.The VF-1 Valkyrie, for instance, went out of mass production in 2015 but was still being used as late as 2050 by the special forces because it was as close to invisible-in-plain-sight as you're likely to get with a giant robot thanks to the prevalence of civilian VF-1s. That's a good 35 years after mass production ended. The VF-4's mass production ended in 2022 and it was still in service in 2047 with the special forces, though it'd otherwise been retired to training service. It was presumably surplussed out to civilian buyers in the late 2040's or early 2050's, same as the VF-1X series. That's around 29-30 years. The Frontier fleet was selling off the last of its VF-11s in 2058 to civilian buyers, though we don't know when mass production ended on that model. It didn't enter production until the end of the 2020s, so it was only in service for about 28 years total, though as an emigrant fleet main fighter there probably wasn't any one end of production galaxy-wide... every fleet likely stopped at a different time. The VF-171 is already staring down the prospect of replacement at only about 20 years in service, though like the VF-11 it'll probably be retired at different points in time in each fleet using it. Master File suggests that it was still being produced around 2065, with the final variant being the VF-171L.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    This will never happen, because neither Sony nor the clueless idiots behind The Show That Must Not Be Named have access to the Japanese BD transfers... and likely never will, because Big West doesn't do business with the clowns in Cali, and rightly so. They don't have any rights to the Japanese DVD/BD extra features, so they wouldn't be legally allowed to include them. If they did, they'd be sued for copyright infringement. I would not, and will not, purchase any Macross goods that would support Harmony Gold in any way. I don't think many Macross fans would.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    Not just anime... one of my favorite manga titles, Five Star Stories, has at least as much material in supplemental publications as it does in the actual story.Macross Delta's info is actually shockingly thin on the ground for a Macross title...
  10. Seto Kaiba
    Macross Δ's visible in-show text, official subs, and merchandise all translated Δ小隊 as "Δ Flight"... prior to this series, 小隊 was always translated "Platoon".Mirage gives the unit's full designation as Xaos Ragna branch 3rd Fighter Wing Δ Flight. (I guess since the default currency of the armed forces is the VF platoon, Xaos and SMS don't see a need to organize into any units larger than that.)
  11. Seto Kaiba
    That's true of a lot of Macross shows... and, to be frank, a decent-sized crosssection of anime in general.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    The original Macross series has been available for bloody forever in the US in English subs (via Animeigo and ADV Films), and also with a breathtakingly bad dub (by ADV). Macross II: Lovers Again and Macross Plus can be had thru legit channels as well, and some Japanese home market releases of Macross Frontier's two movies, and the current Macross Delta DVD/BD release have official English subs... so the American fan who speaks not a word of Japanese isn't as dependent on bootlegs as he used to be. Still kinda up a certain septic creek without a paddle when it comes to 7, Zero, and the Frontier TV series tho.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Yep, that. It folds out into this weird double-jointed winglet thing that the art shows firing little pink plumes of exhaust that, for some reason I cannot precisely recall, puts me in the mind of Gundam SEED.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    As expected, the official Blu-Ray liner notes offered some clarity on this subject.The liner notes for BD Vol.3 have a somewhat reduced version of that chart from the Summer '16 issue of Great Mechanics G comparing the VF-31A/B Kairos to the VF-31 Custom Siegfried. In the special equipment line item, the VF-31 Custom Siegfried has "fold quartz", but the VF-31A/B's entry is a blank (just a hyphen). (The VF-31A stats block on page 22 unfortunately does not do anything to clear up the wing pylon issue. I am, however, slightly befuddled by Messer's fashion sense... all of the Xaos staff kind of dress like bums or out-of-work gigolos, but I cannot fathom why Messer's day-to-day attire includes a pair of side-buckle shoes and what are very clearly kneepads.) BD Vol.4's liner notes are exceedingly light on technical material, but there is one point of interest therein. The Aerial Knights don't use EX-Gear, and their ejector seat doesn't seem like it's got maneuvering thrusters built into it. Apparently their pilot suit has a pair of extendable winglets with verniers built in... it's the gold trim bits shaped like <> on the backpack. (On another unrelated note, we're going to have to correct the spellings of a few names... apparently Hermann's surname is spelled "Kroos" and Qasim's name is really spelled "Kassim Eber-hardt". I have to wonder if Berger Stone is fully human too... his concept art in the booklet has what looks like pointed ears under his headscarf.)
  15. Seto Kaiba
    As most of them can plead "mind control" and point fingers, prosecution probably wouldn't go very far...
  16. Seto Kaiba
    Nope, you're thinking of the New UN Government theories... which we pretty much settled not too long ago with the conclusion that the New UN Government had been a thing since shortly after the war.The New UN Forces became a thing after the Latence mess, which in the novelizations even prompted the formation of an independent watchdog organization to ensure the military didn't get any more unseemly ideas above its station.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    To be fair, until the applications of fold quartz were discovered in the late 2040's or early 2050's, Windermere probably didn't realize fold quartz was anything other than tacky costume jewelry. Within two years of the first widespread applications of fold quartz, the stuff was made a restricted substance and Windermere's potential windfall became a lot of deadweight.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    Because, in the final episode of the series, the ship is revealed to be just fine... Neither really makes sense, since Lady M has supposedly been active since just after the First Space War and the Megaroad-01 is still MIA in 2067... while Mao has been dead since 2048.Plus, if Mao were Lady M she would've been one of the wealthiest individuals in the entire galaxy... and wouldn't have needed to beg Critical Path corporation for money to finance her expedition to Vajra space in the 2040s. The design was kept secret until mid-2059, at which point they HAD to disclose it because, hey hey, it would've been damn near impossible to deny that they'd been mass producing it from the point Galaxy's "survivors" joined up with the Frontier fleet... and certainly impossible after squadrons of VF-27s fought Frontier's forces at the end of the Vajra conflict.Galaxy probably coughed up the plans in an effort to avoid sanctions, or their specs were taken by Frontier when Galaxy forces took shelter there.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Ah, no... the problem is you're assuming the L-5 Manufacturing Station that built the majority of the UN Spacy's early fleet is the same installation as the L-5 Lab Station which Master File alleges existed and was destroyed by the Zentradi.Where the logical flaw in that assumption comes in is that the L-5 manufacturing station is allegedly producing new VF-1s and so on in the period between the First Space War ending in 2010 and the first mission to capture a factory satellite in 2011. (You have to admit, dead workers in a destroyed factory building new fighters and ships for the newly established New UN Government would be a work ethic above and beyond the call of duty...) For the record, the L-5 in question for both the Manufacturing Station and Zentradi factory satellite is Earth-Moon L5. (This is very briefly visible on Exsedol's console while they're folding the factory satellite back to Earth.)
  20. Seto Kaiba
    In pretty much any fleet battle that isn't hopelessly one-sided, you're gonna see the escort ships taking damage or getting sunk. That's far from being the kind of curbstomp battle you're implying, where the capital ships are utterly helpless against enemy fighters. It's usually the Nightmare Pluses getting creamed that's the measure of "look out boys, here comes a serious contender", and even THAT'S not exactly balanced coverage considering that we've never not seen the Nightmare Plus go up against an enemy that doesn't have a monstrous performance advantage.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    That largely depends on the capability of the ship's radar, but yes... their limited utility is probably why they fairly swiftly became one of the Option Pack choices for normal aircraft instead of a dedicated aircraft (barring an assortment of amusing unofficial designs in Master File). I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion, given that the "Space Wing" VFMF book mentions the L-5 Industrial Station is still very much around in 2029. There's a Zentradi factory satellite at L-5 as well, but to the best of our knowledge that's called the New Frontier shipyards after its capture.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    Oh, very likely... though I'd have expected Walkure's equipment to be based on fold quartz instead, since that's a more effective resonator and apparently is better suited to controlling and amplifying fold song. Dr. Chiba's song energy amplification system from the 2040s was built around the core of a fold system and therefore was probably packed to the gills with fold carbon. Personally, I'm not so sure that's actually the case... or at least, that it's not the case when there aren't Villain Sues and copious shenanigans.In Frontier, the New UN Spacy flotilla protecting Island-1 scored quite a few kills on the highly mobile Vajra with their AA guns despite the Vajra in question being far more agile than the typical variable fighter of the day. At the end of the day, only a handful of Vajra actually made it through the anti-aircraft fire to the emigrant ship, and a large share of the blame there rests with a lack of preparedness on the part of the fleet's top brass for venturing into Vajra territory and not bothering to equip their fighters with ammunition powerful enough to hurt the Vajra. We only see ships taking a pasting when the fighter screen has taken a powder. Delta is an exception, but that's pretty much entirely down to the fold songs of King Ketchup giving the Aerial Knights an unfair leg-up and making it all but impossible for the fighter screen protecting the warships to do its job.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    My suspicion is that they simply didn't know the significance (or, rather, lack thereof) when they were given the notes to write the article on... it'd make sense if they were simply told the difference was that one was special because it used fold quartz and the other's design is using fold carbon. To someone not in the know, that would sound like fold carbon were special rather than the basis for a good chunk of the overtechnology in every VF for the last 60 years.
  24. Seto Kaiba
    The Macross had actually lost her main sensor system twice over... first she lost her cross-dimension radar when the fold system vanished during the botched fold jump that landed them at Pluto's orbit, and then her main radar when Quamzin "accidentally" shot it.It's not clear how good a ship's cross-dimension/fold wave radar is at spotting small targets like fighters over long distances, and the conventional radar's range is limited by the noise of background radiation and intervening obstacles, so a small craft-mounted reconnaissance and electronic warfare system with a high-powered radar makes a fair amount of sense. (Particularly once they switched from conventional radars to cross-dimension/fold wave ones.) Not sure it's talking about the same installation, to be honest... the base at L-5 was a manufacturing station and shipyard, not a lab, and IIRC the Squadrons book has the VF-1L's being built there in 2011.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    In the closeup of the VF-31A sitting on the Aether's deck when Hayate joins Xaos, there doesn't appear to actually be anything there... just an empty space. You can see the panel line through the space where the crystal and its mount should be. The question then becomes "did the person who wrote the article understand that fold carbon isn't anything special?". IF there's actually a chunk of it mounted there... and there doesn't appear to be, based on the animation and the available model kits.There's no acknowledgement of any kind of fold carbon crystal or system using same in the official specs for the production model Kairos.
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