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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    Source found, completely by accident! It's the second-to-last page (#38) of the Macross Delta BD limited edition Vol.2 booklet.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    If true, that certainly explains why Delta's second half was such a mess... it wasn't supposed to exist.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    Maybe it's just going to be a 22 minute public apology for the second half of the show being garbage?
  4. Seto Kaiba
    The bit about the VF-22 is a theory on my part... at the time the specs were written, they had not published any information about the g-damping capacity of the Quimeliquola Inertia Vector Control System borrowed from the Queadluun-Rau for the YF-21 and VF-22. It's highly probable, given the VF-22's outlandishly massive g-loading limits compared to production and heavily customized ultra-high performance one-off units from the same period, and would put the structural g-limits for the fighter much closer to other production models of the same era if that number factored in the damping effect of the fighter's inertia capacitor. Well, we can't speak for the entire VF design series in the 20+ range because we don't know what the spec for a potential VF-20 or VF-23 looked like. If they were Shinsei designs they wouldn't have had an inertia capacitor in that period, since that was a uniquely General Galaxy design feature initially... the result of General Galaxy having been contracted to restore the Quimeliquola AWDAP facility in Eden's orbit. It's probably safe to assume the YF-26 was in that range, since it was supposed to be a competing design from the same program that gave us the YF/VF-25 and YF/VF-27. You gotta hand it to Shinsei for what they achieved with applying fold quartz to improving existing inertia capacitor technology... they achieved a 52% improvement in g-force displacement performance with the TO21, and then built on that strong start in later models. Nah... in most fighter-mode dogfights, the pilots aren't going to encounter g-forces sufficient to actually put that kind of massive g-loads on the airframe. They're subsonic most of the time. Barring the fold wave Var syndrome bullet time shenanigans we've seen a few times now in Macross Delta, they probably wouldn't be pushing their aircraft anywhere near hard enough to peak the performance of their inertia store converters for any length of time... except perhaps trying to brake with GERWALK mode from a low supersonic speed in the manner that seems to be the default ending of those bullet time dogfights these days. Macross Plus and Macross Frontier had no problems showing dogfights with LOTS of transformation... Delta's just got crappy dogfight choreography. Apart from something like an Immelmann turn in episode 3, the only air combat maneuver we've seen has been excessive repetition of The Scissors.
  5. Seto Kaiba
    Wow. OK, how did I miss THAT? The section's title is literally just his name. Yeah, like I said before that doesn't fit with the other sources that discuss the origins of the Variable Glaug and Neo Glaug. The writer of that sheet got the development timeline backwards, though at least his uncertainty is clear given that he didn't state that backwards relationship as a fact. Macross M3 and Macross R's descriptions both establish that the Neo Glaug was developed for the AVF Program in the late 2030's by the Macross Concern. They used the EVA (Enemy Valkyrie) based on the Glaug which Zentradi rebels created using stolen/leaked overtechnology (from the VF-4) in the late 2010's. The Neo Glaug was created first in production terms, but in the story the Variable Glaug was developed a good twenty years before the Neo Glaug was even conceived. (That isn't to say rogue Anti-UN sympathetic engineers weren't involved... as we've been told they had a hand in helping develop all the EVA units.)
  6. Seto Kaiba
    Duly noted and recorded, thank you. Every little bit I add to my notes helps when His Marchness decides to start covering Delta. If it's not an imposition, where is Alexi mentioned in the VF-4 Master File? I don't doubt you, but I've skimmed the book a few times now and I haven't found him yet. Is it one of those little marginal notes like the test pilot bios on pg29, or is he buried in a paragraph somewhere? Macross R gave us a bit of long-overdue insight into the world of non-defense corporate culture in the Macross universe... but it was still rather lopsided and oriented toward megacorporations, since the corporations featured were ones rich enough to sponsor their own Vanquish teams.Apart from Oscar Brauhitsch of Team Shinsei, most of the teams were sponsored by corporations that dealt in the civilian domain. The most common were those interstellar shipping concerns like Bilra Transport Co., Viswa & Oder, and Tachyon Express (the latter of which is apparently Space UPS). There were a couple oddballs in there, like Skylab: a food service company that started as a coffee chain on Eden. For a while there I think Kawamori was going a bit Ghost in the Shell with megacorporations influential enough to be a law unto themselves the way Macross Galaxy was as a branch of General Galaxy.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    Ah, yeah... now that's a familiar situation. I'm just trying to figure out why one side of the booklet says "General Galaxy SV Works" and the other says a subsidiary of Epsilon Foundation.Incidentally, where was the 29.5G loading for the VF-31's ISC cited? That puts the YF-29 on top of the known ISC systems with: YF-29 - 32.5G Sv-262 - 30.8G VF-31 - 29.5G VF-27 - 27.5G VF-25 - 27.5G
  8. Seto Kaiba
    Kawamori's only providing supervision on this one, so it wouldn't be completely out of the question... but if they intend to wrap this series up for a 26 or 27 episode final count it's going to be an absolute and unholy train wreck.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    This raises a few awkward questions... like why are the writers working at cross-purposes, indicating that the Sv-262 was designed and built by the General Galaxy SV Works and then saying it's actually built by a company named Dian Cecht? Does this mean that Epsilon is merely financing the SV Works division, do they own a partial stake in it, or is Epsilon merely a dummy corporation run by General Galaxy from the shadows? Insofar as the Anti-Unification Alliance personnel, they weren't integrated into General Galaxy... they apparently helped create General Galaxy from their positions inside the surviving manufacturers that merged to form it. That bit about the Variable Glaug doesn't sound right... can you source it? Existing lore puts the Variable Glaug in service two full decades before the Neo Glaug was even prototyped, being that it was a derivative of a stolen VF-4A Lightning nicked by Zentradi rebels. The Neo Glaug was supposedly a Project Super Nova-era improved (unmanned) version and rival candidate to the AIF-X-9 Ghost. Don't you dare apologize for asking questions! Questions are like 90% of what I'm here for! All told, that's an infuriating area where Macross Chronicle did not present information in a clear manner... which caused no end of confusion. You see... we're never actually told what the airframe maximum design limit is. The Macross Chronicle Mechanic Sheet coverage of the VF-25, VF-27, etc. misuses the airframe maximum design load field to give the maximum g-forces the inertia store converter can buffer instead... so the Mechanic Sheet for the VF-25S, for example, just lists the g-limit as 27.5G+. The confusing way that was presented was exacerbated thanks to English language fansites copying Chronicle's presentation style for the info, making it seem as though airframes of the 5th Generation have somehow become more fragile despite being said to have a defensive strength that greatly exceeds the preceding generation's (and, in some cases, exceeds that of battleships). The actual maximum G-limit of the airframe is the structural limit (unknown) plus an unknown percentage of the ISC limit (usually given). So even if structural strength didn't improve one jot from the VF-19's, we'd still be talking about a VF with an actual operational maximum g-load greater than the ISC output. Come to think of it, that explains the VF-22 having a significantly greater maximum design load than the VF-19. The VF-22 had the ISC's little brother, the Quimeliquola inertia vector control system that was also used in the Queadluun-Rau and Queadluun-Rhea, which was good for buffering up to 18G for short spans of time. If the 60G maximum limit listed in the stats is its boosted g-limit, that'd mean its actual structural design limit is a more reasonable-for-the-period 42G. (Mind you, even if the airframe's maximum design load and ISC design load were the same number N, that'd mean the fighter's total g-force endurance was 2N... the output of the ISC plus the fighter's physical g-limit... which would put the VF-25 at a respectable 55G anyway.) EDIT: The YF-29 mechanic sheet in Macross Chronicle 2nd Edition has a well-camouflaged statement of the VF-25's structural g-limit. It's apparently 30.5G without the assistance of the ISC buffering up to 27.5G. The YF-29's is 40G, also without the ISC support buffering up to 32.5G.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    Unless they intend to try to surprise us with a Season 2 announcement at the end of the final episode the way Iron-Blooded Orphans tried to, they're going to have to jettison a LOT of the build-up they've done to get this series wrapped up in an orderly fashion. The fast, almost frenetic pace of the first half practically screamed "2 cour series"... but the glacially slow, padded-like-a-menstruating-firehose pace of the second half feels more like it belongs in a 3 or 4 cour series. Damn near worked on the audience instead, so I can only imagine how bad it was for the guards... I'll just sit and wait for Pink, Neon Green, and Red to be the new Green and let them all get Kakizaki'd.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    Yep, it's using the Saab 210's name... which was the predecessor/prototype for the Saab J 35 Draken. Not the first time General Galaxy has been caught doing that either... Macross Galaxy's in-house development group was the Guld Works, apparently named in honor of deceased General Galaxy contractor Guld Goa Bowman. There are a couple problems with what you just said... The General Galaxy SV Works were set up at the behest of Alexi Kurakin, once of the Anti-Unification Alliance... but they were not sold to Epsilon. All indications are that the Epsilon Foundation has been used as the go-between through which the Windermere Kingdom has been purchasing Draken III's from General Galaxy. Per Great Mechanics G, Windermere IV is an underdeveloped planet due to the difficulty of getting there through the fold faults surrounding the planet, so it seems a safe bet they don't have the technical infrastructure to produce the Draken III's locally under license. With the Windermere Kingdom effectively an independent power after its secession from the New UN Government in 2060, their interstellar trade is probably subject to much tighter restrictions and greater scrutiny than trade between NUNG member worlds... and thus they'd have to buy weapons under the table using sympathetic (unscrupulous) intermediaries like the Epsilon Foundation. Also, General Galaxy had no role in the development of the VF-4 Lightning III. The company didn't even exist when the fighter was developed, and it was developed by the companies that merged to become the chief rival to General Galaxy: Stonewell, Bellcom, and Shinnakasu... the forerunners of Shinsei Industry. At present, it's not clear how new the Windermere Kingdom's space fleet actually is. Windermere IV was colonized in 2027 and didn't secede from the New UN Government until 2060, so they had a lot of time to build up their fleet through entirely legitimate channels. Considering what kalvasflam noted about being able to see visible gun turrets on the Windermere ships but not the Macross Galaxy ones, it's possible Windermere is using older versions of some of the General Galaxy ship designs that were updated for Macross Galaxy's use. It would be far from uncommon for a warship class to remain in production with updates for that span of time in Macross. It may be that the Macross Galaxy versions are using high-angle beam cannons instead of turrets... that type of beam cannon uses a pin-point barrier-like deflection field to bend a beam coming out of a fixed gun port. The Mardook ships in Macross II: Lovers Again and Varauta ships in Macross 7 used these a lot. That isn't exactly surprising. A fold system is a big, unwieldy thing that isn't about to fit gracefully into a VF... even the compact fold boosters for fighters are still about the size of a Ghost or Lilldraken. The only time we see the Aerial Knights arrive by fold and witness the fold effect close up behind them, a ship comes out... so it seems a safe bet they're riding inside the fold effect of a warship as is fairly common practice in the Macross universe. Not so much for Epsilon, who are intermediaries reselling the fighters to Windermere... but General Galaxy could probably be pretty smug about how their latest under-the-table toy is kicking a Shinsei-derived next main VF around like it's no big deal. One has to wonder if they'll slap some EX-Gear in that sucker and try to remarket it to the New UN Forces later on, like what happened with the captured Variable Glaug being produced as VA-110. In a word: "Yes". Strictly speaking, it's not a structural integrity system in the Star Trek sense where they're running a force field through the structural frame to increase its resilience. It's a g-force displacement system that prevents the g-load on the airframe from exceeding the biological tolerances of the pilot and the design tolerances of the aircraft by converting the g-forces into dimensional shift energy and temporarily buffering it to clip the peaks and fill the valleys in the graph of experienced g-forces. The pilot and airframe experience a nice, gentle, survivable change in g-forces instead of sharp jumps during intense maneuvering. For humans, this is helped by the EX-Gear, which functions as a vital point stimulation seat that changes angle and position inside the aircraft's cockpit to optimize the pilot's blood flow and g-force stresses on the pilot's body, which helps prevent g-forces from reaching incapacitating levels. Windermereans are just made of sterner stuff, so they forego the EX-Gear. Exactly how the Draken III's 30.8G ISC rating compares to the VF-31's is unclear, since the VF-31J spec didn't give us an ISC value for that fighter. Curiously, the Draken III seems to be using an improved/enhanced variant of the same Inertia Store Converter employed in the VF-25 Messiah (ISC/TO21). The original TO21 was rated for 27.5G, and the TO21G used by the Draken III apparently offers a 12% improvement over the original model in terms of buffered g-forces. That puts it in the same league as the YF-29's ISC/TO22, which was rated for 30G.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    The funny part is that one actually makes more sense than the Super Pack they put elsewhere in the book that completely covers the engine nacelles... that would inhibit transformation, while the conventional FAST packs wouldn't. Pretty much, yes. The VF-4 is basically a VF-1 that internalized its FAST packs and, in so doing, achieved a 40% improvement in combat performance in space.I suppose that, since engine efficiency and fuel storage didn't increase by an incredible amount due to the similar airframe size, they'd still need some drop tanks or something. Some, yeah. The VF-0 and two main VF-1 books didn't really do anything wild, but there were some oddities like the configuration with the four NP-BP-01 boosters in the VF-1 Squadrons book. The VF-19 book had a few kooky variants, mostly in the special purpose roles like the dedicated attacker variant, AEW variants, and non-transforming transport model. The VF-25 book didn't really come up with new ones, it inherited most of its wacky ones from existing magazine custom jobs in Macross Ace and Figure Oh, IIRC.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Back when I (like many others) was assuming the Draken III was an Epsilon product, I equated them to Gundam's Anaheim Electronics... selling weapons to both sides to ensure there would be ongoing conflicts to drive demand for those weapons and future developments. I'd be inclined to say that, with a good chunk of the galaxy still dependent on General Galaxy's VF designs and GG-built starships, they're probably "too big to prosecute" just like Anaheim is for much of the Universal Century.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Mine arrived today.
  15. Seto Kaiba
    Well, you didn't hear it from me...REJOICE, BROTHERS! Macross Delta Vol.2 BD liner notes have specs for the Sv-262 Draken III! In M3 form: Equipment Type: Variable Fighter Government: Windermere Kingdom Manufacturer: General Galaxy Corporation SV Works Accommodation: Pilot only Dimensions: Length: 17.54m (Sv-262Hs) Wingspan: 13.00m (Sv-262Hs) Height: 5.74m (Fighter), 15.78m (Battroid) Mass: 9,810kgISC Max G-Load: 30.8G Power Plant: Two P&W/RR/LAI FF-2999/FC2 Stage IIG thermonuclear reaction turbine engine Propulsion: 2x 1,955kN (Hs type can increase output nearly 30% using reheat system) Thrust-to-weight ratio: 40.642 (unboosted) Performance: Mach 5.8+ at 10,000m (capable of independent flight to satellite orbit) Design Features: 3-mode variable transformation, ISC/T021G inertia store converter, SWGA energy conversion armor, pinpoint barrier system, active stealth system, chaff/flare/smoke discharger, bulletproof shield. Armament: 2x Ramington LM-27C 27mm railgun pod (right forearm) 1x General Galaxy GBP-35A beam gun pod 4x Micro-Missile Pod (detachable) 2x Lilldraken (armament options available) 2x Laser machine gun (Hs type only) Armament: (Lilldraken)1x 30mm beam cannon 4x Micro-Missile Launcher Armament: (Lilldraken, Alternate)1x Jamming SystemIn this day in age, Sv apparently doesn't stand for Sukhoi Variable anymore... it's "Slayer Valkyrie".
  16. Seto Kaiba
    I've not seen anything to indicate they were treated as anything less than completely independent individuals. Presumably, given the extreme situation they were "born" into, they probably saw the necessity of doing what they were good at rather than chasing their dreams... and were probably made using volunteers.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    Great Mechanics G hints at it in places, mentioning that technical advancements like EX-Gear have been left out of the design because the Windermereans have no need of the increased g-force resistance. Without cheats like running the energy conversion armor in fighter mode or using the pin-point barrier, ~Mach 5 is pretty much the lower atmosphere speed limit for VFs due to atmospheric friction-heating of the fuselage. The few fighters noted to be able to exceed that don't seem to carry ordinance out on the wings (e.g. VF-27, YF-29). The (New) UN Forces have ways of making high-speed reentry with missiles and bombs mounted out on the wings though... the reentry sleds from Macross 7 being one way of letting them make a ballistic reentry without exposing themselves to the intense heat such a course normally generates. That's pretty much my running gag... made funnier by the reveal that Dr. Chiba is apparently one of her students. Mikumo's origins really shouldn't be all that remarkable, since Humanity was making extensive use of cloning not even 40 years ago from Macross Delta's perspective and a decent-sized chunk of their population must be clones or the descendants thereof. Cloning is used casually by Zentradi troops too (that's how a micloning machine works), so you'd think "You're a clone?" would be delivered with the same surprise as finding out there's tapioca on the lunchroom menu today.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    I could buy that... though I'd be disappointed it didn't have a Battroid mode. They could have done the paintjob to look like a tuxedo, like how they did the Angel Birds up to look like sailor fuku or the Sister Valkyrie from Macross R was done up to look like a nun's habit. (The beam cannons are like cufflinks... deadly deadly cufflinks.)
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Aye... it was also in that picture I linked earlier, dated November 1987. That... isn't super clear from the text, or maybe I'm missing something. They talk a little about a similar VF-4A-based variant (VF-4AS "Special") and an unarmed YF-4 (YF-4 Nak.) and something about the service ceiling being over 100km, but exactly what makes it smart... either I'm missing it or it's not said. The original (official) version VF-4SL was, essentially, the VF-4 Sea Lightning, Light Equipment-type.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    Actually, the Super Packs are a very old design Kawamori did back in 1987... we have some pics of line art prints of it that were included with an old VF-4 model kit over on M3's VF-4 page. The annoying part is that, but for the VF-4A and VF-4G, the authors basically ignored the existing (official) VF-4 variants entirely. Those official variants were: VF-4A: Initial all-regime mass production type. VF-4B: Two-seat enhanced attack type, sometimes used as a training aircraft VF-4C: Atmosphere-service retrofit #1 VF-4D: UN Navy version 1 (mostly used at Naval Air Stations) VF-4S: UN Navy version 2 with improved salt damage resistance VF-4G: Final space-use enhanced type Instead we got: VF-4A: Initial all-regime mass production type VF-4B: Two-seat standard version VF-4C: Improved VF-4A VF-4D: Two-seat VF-4C VF-4E: Improved VF-4C VF-4G: Improved VF-4E VF-4S: Command variant VF-4G complete with VF-1 style head lasers ... and the later-mentioned Smart Lightning is actually the VF-4SL type from Macross the Ride.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    It looks like a lot of the squadrons in this book are ones that have also appeared in previous books... The SVF-168 Death Adders are new, but we've seen the following squadrons before: SVF-1 Skulls (VF-1 Vol.1) SVF-137 Metal Robins (VF-19) SVF-26 Royal Cavaliers (VF-1 Vol.2) SVF-50 Spirits of the Sword (VF-1 Vol.2 and Squadrons) SVF-152 Star Streaks (VF-25) SVF-166 Tiger Waves (VF-19) SVF-73 Sidewinders (VF-19) Ah, yeah... that happens occasionally when they don't get enough copies in their initial shipment to fill all the preorders. I'm not sure if they dole them out to private warehouse accounts "first come first served" or in order of who files their shipping request first when it shows as available, but it's usually best just to sit tight unless you're really impatient for it to arrive.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    ... that brings a new and uncomfortable context to the slang "brain boner". There's usually some kind of evolutionary reason for the odd traits a sub-Protoculture species displays... but one has to wonder what the Windermereans evolved from that they have a big glowing tentacle jammed into their heads. Maybe they're space anglerfish?
  23. Seto Kaiba
    Just offscreen, there is a very bored security guard they're telling all this to... and no doubt he's wishing they'd skip ahead to something more exciting like the group bonding over a lingerie pillow fight. Because Roid has a great big boner for the idea of Windermere's manifest destiny to rule the galaxy as the heirs to the Protoculture... never mind that it's complete malarkey, and that the Protoculture were such massive dicks that the best they could do was leave warnings behind saying "We totally screwed up the known universe. Sorry 'bout that. We hope you won't repeat our mistake." Gramia only wanted to establish the Starwind Sector by liberating the Brisingr cluster from the New UN Government and end it there. Smart money says Roid whacked him because he's obsessed with his belief that Windermere is destined to rule the universe because of their imagined manifest destiny as the Protoculture's appointed heirs. Nah, Macross 7 did all of its time-wasting up front with its glacially slow, 20+ episode run-up to the actual plot. Once it got going, it was narratively fairly tight and flowed well. Macross Delta got to episode 13, then slowed to a crawl and completely forgot there was a war on. ... I saw this, and all I can think of is Arad (or perhaps Messer) waxing poetic about the bro code... which would've been a lot more amusing.
  24. Seto Kaiba
    It's never fully explained, but Zentradi cloning technology does possess the capability of integrating recorded or duplicated memories into clones. It seems likely that their basic training is done via memory implant and further specialized or job-specific training is conducted after the clone emerges from the clone synthesis system. The UN Forces used this technology in the aftermath of the First Space War to provide sufficient crew and skilled laborers to support emigrant fleet operations. That's different. Sharon Apple was, prior to Marj's tampering, operated using a sophisticated computer model of a human brain supplemented in realtime by emotional data sampled from the mind of Myung Fang Lone and external feedback supplied by biometric monitoring of the concert audience. She was not, strictly speaking, a copy of Myung's mind. She was a simulation crudely controlled by, and later imitating, Myung's emotions. Likewise, Grace wasn't jumping from body to body... she was, by all accounts, remotely operating artificial bodies from afar Ghost in the Shell-style. IIRC, that art is taken from Macross Chronicle mechanic sheet Movie Frontier NUNS 04A "Special Forces EX-Gear". The mechanic sheet doesn't mention any kind of active camo capability. It asserts that the camouflage pattern on the NUNS Special Forces EX-Gear isn't even paint... it's self-adhesive stickers that can be easily applied, removed, and changed to equip the suit with camo appropriate for any environment. No, it is not. (See above)
  25. Seto Kaiba
    My copy rolled in the other day, just in time to render true my joke about it being SoftBank's birthday present to me... Fairly satisfied with the book, despite it reiterating the somewhat nonsensical claim that the VF-4 wasn't capable of transforming until around the VF-4G. I did get a chuckle out of the few nods to Macross II: Lovers Again on pages 26-27 and 64. Nice to see we're not forgotten by the licensees. Also, did anyone else notice the subtle in-universe plug for Variable Fighter Master File: VF-31 Siegfried on page 117? They've got a VF-31A Kairos with markings from NUNS SVF-168 Death Adders, captioned with a mention of the VF-31 Master File. Like the others, the VF-4 book is written as a later date retrospective on the fighter's service history, in this case conveniently a retrospective published with an in-universe date of July 2067. I'll hold out for Volume 2, and the inevitable Greased Lightning.(They missed a golden opportunity to make that the name of the VF-4A-HSA "Hypersonic Agileness" test airframe.)
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