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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    A giant robot in Macross is highly agile and capable of human-like movement? How very unprecedented... Yeah! To pull that off they'd have to have some kind of proven technology that could manipulate inertia in order to insulate a fighter from g-forces by converting that energy into another form and storing it. Some kind of inertia store converter, if you will. Y'know... kind of exactly like what was installed in the Queadluun-Rau, YF-21, VF-22, YF-24, Y/VF-25, Y/VF-27, YF-29, and YF-30. Also, fighter pilots flying without a visibly-sealed flight suit and helmet? Madness! What kind of show would possibly have something like that on a regular basis...? You'd never see something like that all over Macross's original series, or at the finale of Macross Plus, or on a regular basis in Macross Frontier. Since the advent of the virtual cockpit in Frontier, not seeing a pilot suit is no guarantee that they're not wearing one... and restraint systems have typically involved docking the backpack and/or shoulders of the pilot suit to the chair. Very few VFs have a traditional harness. Some supplement the suit connectors with a lap belt, but that's about it. Speaking of virtual imaging... where's the magic? I see no sorcery here, sir. There's the ubiquitous holographic technology that we saw for the first time in Macross: Do You Remember Love?, and which has been shown to be portable and capable of some rather expansive effects from Macross II and Macross Plus on... Energy shielding that can be re-positioned on command? A barrier that can be moved to for precision - dare I say pin-point - interception of enemy fire? Surely that is a new and unprecedented idea in Macross. No? Drat. The only new wrinkle with the multidrones is that the barrier is generated by a multitude of smaller craft instead of one larger one... and who says Walkure/Chaos is the only user of this tech? They're the only ones we've seen so far, but that doesn't mean that it's unique to them. (Esp. likely, as we're told that the VF-31 is already a production aircraft.) So... a small number of state-of-the-art craft are shown to seriously outmatch significantly older fighters, but have to fight on an even footing against other state-of-the-art fighters? Once again, hardly a new trope... we've already seen this in Macross Plus (YF-21 vs. VF-11), Macross 7 (Fz-109s vs. VF-11s, VF-19s vs. Fz-109s), and Macross Frontier (VF-25s, 27s, and 29s vs. VF-171s). I know, right? To pull that off, you'd have to have a highly proficient operator and the controls of a VF and a modern Destroid would have to be essentially the same. We're explicitly two for two on that front... so what's the problem again? A great deal of context, apparently...
  2. Seto Kaiba
    Oh yes, Mr. Kawamori absolutely delivered the goods this time around. I remember back when Macross Frontier first started airing, I wasn't really sold on the series until the one-two punch of the fourth and fifth episodes had Alto grow the beard (metaphorically speaking) and took Sheryl from Queen B*tch to Defrosting Ice Queen. My first run-in with Macross 7 and the wandering, weak plot that we got in Macross Zero had left me kind of up in the air as to whether Macross still had greatness left in it. Frontier absolutely sold me on Macross's potential for future excellence and, IMO, Macross Delta seems to be set to continue living up to that high standard. I think I've warmed to Hayate, Freyja, and Mirage a good deal faster than I did to Alto, Sheryl, and Ranka. In general, they seem to be a little less angst-y than their predecessors. (Between Macross Delta, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, and the 30th anniversary of Five Star Stories, this is shaping up to be a fantastic year for mecha... and a terrible, TERRIBLE year for my wallet.) Yeah... the unbalanced love triangle was my biggest problem with Macross Frontier. Alto was as indecisive as you'd expect a teenage boy to be for most of the series, but it definitely felt like the participation on the part of the girls was uneven. Sheryl was the one putting in all the effort and having all the moments, while Ranka's only involvement for most of the series seemed to be lurking on the periphery so she could get upset whenever Sheryl decided to steal a march on her and get closer to Alto. Freyja Wion seems to be a lot more upbeat and driven, so I'm betting she shows a more initiative than Ranka did. I'm still rooting for Mirage though... and strongly suspect her stiffness will set her up to be a tsundere type.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    So far, so good... I was very satisfied with Macross Delta's first episode. Tone-wise, it feels very similar to Macross Frontier, which IMO is nothing but good. Hayate seems like he's less conflicted and passive than Alto was... Likewise, Freyja seems to have a lot more drive and confidence than Ranka did in Frontier, which IMO makes her much easier to like. Still very much in Camp Mirage though, but at least it looks like there'll be two actual contenders in this love triangle instead of one serious player and one hanger-on. (Yay!)
  4. Seto Kaiba
    The Macross Frontier Official Fan Book, and I believe the novelization of the series also describes him as having Zolan ancestry. Macross F 2059 Memories indicates that he has some Zentradi ancestry as well, which quite frankly means someone (or several someones) in his family really idolized Captain Kirk. "Cute alien girl, gotta get me some of that!"
  5. Seto Kaiba
    This was discussed in depth on the previous page... the short version being that a radio play overheard in Macross Dynamite 7's final episode has a line or two that suggests Humans and Zolans can't procreate because Humans don't have pouches (which, apparently, damn near everything on Zola does), but this may not have been accurate (or, in production terms, may no longer be accurate due to oversight or intent) given that Macross Frontier's Michael Blanc has a Zolan grandparent.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    Not necessarily... the character design aesthetic WRT ear shape as an indicator of species heritage lost some of its consistency in Macross Frontier. Prior to Frontier, the big Record of Lodoss War elf ears were a Zolans-only thing. That changed in the Frontier series, which gave Zentradi and part-Zentradi women (and only the women) a more subdued version of the elf ears instead of the Spock ears that were the standard from DYRL on for most Zentradi characters.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    I await the outcome of that with great interest... even if it is just a video of Kawamori making a mad dash for the nearest fire door.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    Actually, I'd say the opposite is true... the Valkyrie II's Squire auto-attack bits are a good deal less advanced than the various drone fighters that can be controlled from, and operate in support of, Valkyries in Macross Frontier and Macross Delta. The Squires are bits that operate automatically in defense/support of a VF that serves as their mothership, but they're not capable of operating independently the way the main continuity's drones are. They're smaller, but their performance is lower and they have a lot less weaponry (no missiles). The VF-19 basically had disposable funnels (funnel missiles) already... they are WAY ahead of where the timeline of Macross II was WRT drone technology.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    The Sv-262's Lilldraken drones? I can't say I agree... they're physically connected to the airframe of the Draken "mothership", and used like a Ghost Booster until ejected. That'd put them more in the same category as the VF-0's Raid configuration from the final episode of Macross Zero or (most closely) the VF-27γSP Super Lucifer from the Macross Frontier movies. The VF-27γSP had the ability to detach its QF-5100D Goblin II booster for independent operation in the same manner. The VF-2SS Super Valkyrie II's bits are never connected to the airframe... they're launched separately, and aren't capable of being operated autonomously. By in large, they're bits in the Gundam sense except they're computer-controlled instead of controlled by psycommu (so sort of like the GN Fangs in Gundam 00). The VF-4ST Super Siren's funnels in the Macross II prequel video game (for PC Engine) Macross: Eternal Love Song did start out docked to the fighter, but they weren't autonomous either.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    Well, I feel a little better about not being able to make out all of it... Yes, I have... several times, in fact. Other than the apparent hint at an enemy songstress, I didn't really see anything that could be characterized as a distinct nod to Macross II... at least, not in the way Macross 7 Trash, Macross the First, and a handful of other official and fanmade titles have. Did you have something particular in mind?
  11. Seto Kaiba
    To be fair, the Macross Chronicle coverage was separate for all of the Macross movies except Macross Plus's... no doubt because the differences between versions of the story were much less significant than usual. As far as Macross's ongoing continuity catching up to the time period of Macross II and its technology, we've already seen a couple examples of technological convergence... but I'm convinced those convergences are simply coincidental. It's mostly minor stuff like the portable full-body holographics, the pilot seat of VFs incorporating a powered armature intended to help combat g-force strains on the pilot, railguns as gun pods, or VFs that are modeled on Zentradi battle suits. (On that last note, the two timelines went with different suits... Macross II's are modeled on the Nousjadeul-Ger, and the ongoing continuity's on the Queadluun-Rau.) I doubt we will see anything overtly Macross II though... True... but after a while the problems can start to compound, like what seems to happen every few years in the American comic book industry when they reboot titles after sales-boosting crossovers result in continuity lockout and sales start to slip.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    I'm having a hard time making out some of the words, but I see "pod" (ポド) and "takeoff" (発進) in both, so I'm guessing that they're both identifying points where battle pods can be launched from the ship (the hangar in the rear and that black spot up top?). EDIT: As I was just reminded, the official trivia gives this craft three launch bays for battle pods... two centerline and one rear. 's not exactly a new position on his part... he's been using similar statements to justify Macross's broad strokes continuity for something like twenty years now. I think the only thing that's really different now is he's started explicitly including Macross II: Lovers Again in that... though its creators actually gave it its own self-contained continuity. It's not a bad approach, mind, since it gives him a free hand to do whatever he wants with any new Macross title without having to worry about the little details of previous works (he can either change their context of ignore them outright) and thus can handily sidestep potential continuity lockout problems and handwave all the various examples of zeerust that will inevitably occur as time passes.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    Duly noted. Thanks for sourcing that. I don't have that album, I've only ever heard the bit that's in Macross Dynamite 7... Seems like they've decided to roll with their error, though... Macross Chronicle's Worldguide 13A "Various Planets" also notes that it seems possible for humans to mate with Zolans.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Very true... but not the inconsistency I was pointing out. The inconsistency is that, starting in Frontier, Zentradi and part-Zentradi females have sporadically been depicted with smaller anime elf ears rather than the Spock ears or rounded ears that had been used in every previous title. It's not a uniform change either... it's ONLY on the female Zentradi characters, and only on a few of them (Klan, Pixie Platoon, and Mirage). The others have all kept the Spock ears or rounded ears, even in titles that came out after Frontier (e.g. Chelsea Scarlett, Angers 672, and apparently Reina Prowler).
  15. Seto Kaiba
    The bit about Zolans not being able to procreate with Humans is, IIRC, an assumption made by fans based on an overheard line from a Zolan localization of Romeo and Juliet that is briefly audible in Macross Dynamite 7. It doesn't actually say that "Zomeo" can't get "Zoliet" pregnant, just that she thinks they can't raise a child together because he's human and therefore doesn't have a pouch. (Zolans apparently share some traits with marsupials.)Macross Frontier's Michael Blanc is supposedly part-Zentradi and part-Zolan, so that would tend to cap the argument in favor of "Yes, they can"... though it's worth noting that the design aesthetic WRT the ears as a species trait is inconsistent from Frontier's designs onwards. Prior to Frontier, the aesthetic had been that Zentradi had the pointy "Spock ears", and the Zolans had the full-blown Record of Lodoss War "elf ears". That got muddied somewhat in Frontier and its related titles. Michael Blanc has a mixture of the elf ears and Spock ears, presumably because he's part-Zentradi and part-Zolan. Anri Mahlberg's pure Zolan and has the Lodoss War elf ears. Male Zentradi seem to have kept the Spock ears, but several female Zentradi (Klan) and part-Zentradi (Mirage) seem to have been given more subdued versions of the elf ears, and other part-Zentradi women like Ranka Lee and Chelsea Scarlett have rounded human-like ears.
  16. Seto Kaiba
    I'm looking for multiple copies of those first two... I've already secured copies of that third one (Unified Forces 2) for myself and Mr March.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    Can't seem to find a copy of the first one for love or money... got the second one. What's in the third?
  18. Seto Kaiba
    I have a brief question I wasn't able to find an answer to via searching... Has a release date been announced for a physical media version of the Ikenai Borderline single?
  19. Seto Kaiba
    My best guess is that it's a place name that has a non-standard romanization... many of the escort detail ships in Macross 7 are named for various locations from Earth, like the carriers Maizuru (a city in Kyoto prefecture, Japan), Mamoi (an alternate spelling of Mawei, a district in Fuzhou, China), Brampton (your guess is as good as mine which one), Aberdeen (in Scotland), or the Bolognese frigate group (named for Bologna, Italy). When they're not named for places and terrain features like mountains, bays, etc. they're usually named for modern or historical warships, which are much easier to identify... and these names apparently fit neither that I can find. EDIT: I have two probables for "Makurisu". There are not one but TWO Greek islands that have borne the name Macris/Makris... one is now known as Corfu and is associated with a mythical figure by the same name , the other is now called Icaria. No clues yet for the other one.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    I got nothin'... the closest I get when I search the kana version of Markreis redirects me to "Marx" and "Marcus".
  21. Seto Kaiba
    As far as I am aware, the only way that Zentradi have ever been officially sub-divided based on physical traits is the particular job they were engineered for. Macross Chronicle Worldguide Sheet 10A classifies them in three groups: General Soldier type - the typical Zentradi soldiers Staff Officer type - the administrators, like Exsedol, who manage fleet records and advise commanders Commander type - the leaders, like Vrlitwhai, who are bigger and tougher than the average Zentradi I'd guess that the female Zentradi who are engineered to be superior pilots might be a fourth type or a sub-type of the General Soldier.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    That sounds plausible... Kawamori does like his Aesops to be topical and delivers them with all the grace and subtlety of a half-brick to the skull. I'd originally assumed his Aesop this time was going to be "terrorism/religious extremism is bad", on account of starting the story on a conveniently Middle East-themed planet... maybe the Aerial Knights are going full Mardook on this, and declaring war against the neighboring New UN Government systems because they feel that the extrasolar cultures they're being exposed to are [disrespectful to/incompatible with] their faith in the "Great Wind" (if that's truly a religion and not just a cultural platitude or idiom). ... so far, no signs of anything Egyptian, but I'll admit I'm also a bit odded out by the sudden inclusion of blatant Greek in what, thus far, has been shaping up as "Wagner's Ring Cycle (Space Edition)". It seems like a rather unlucky name to give to a warship too... considering that Elysion/Elysium was part of the Greek underworld/afterlife where slain heroes and the righteous congregated after death. If they were after that theme, I would've expected it to be named Valhalla or Folkvangr for consistency with the other bits of Norse references being tossed around, which are the Norse equivalent of Elysion. (Odin and Freyja split the tally of those who die honorably in battle 50-50, half go to Valhalla and half to Folkvangr, though Freyja seems to be rather equal-opportunity about it... while Odin's hall is more of a men-only club.) (I'm still betting that the Aerial Knights HQ or mothership will be named Tarnhelm though...)
  23. Seto Kaiba
    Unless I've missed something, I don't think that Ragna and Windermere were settled by emigrant fleets while they were already alien civilizations living there... it was, IIRC, actually illegal to do that under galactic law. (Probably nothing preventing people from moving there once they join the New Unification Government's sphere of influence, but they probably don't want people just plopping down emigrant ships on inhabited planets and going "Our world now!") It turns out (courtesy of Ernest Johnson's bio update) that the "Macross Elysium" some folks thought had colonized Ragna is, in fact, a Macross-type battleship named Elysion (マクロス級戦艦エリシオン) attached to the Ragna branch of Chaos, the organization that backs Walkure. The bios were updated on the official website... Chuck's now lists his place of birth as "planet Ragna".
  24. Seto Kaiba
    AFAIK it's legitimate... it's part of a set of concept art done for the series that did the rounds a couple of years back.One of the other pieces of concept art from that same set labels the VF-2SS knockoff there as a placeholder so they could illustrate various aspects of the "Proteus group" starship, which was to be the main ship in Robotech 3000's godawful excuse for a plot. Presumably they never got as far as a finalized design for an original fighter before overwhelmingly negative reactions to the public screenings of the first teaser trailer got the project canceled.
  25. Seto Kaiba
    If his public remarks are anything to go by, Mr. Kawamori's more of a "broad strokes continuity" kind of guy... but it would appear, via Macross Chronicle, that he and Big West at least agree on a rough continuity. Yep... god of time and all that, though it was originally built as a testbed for traversing fold faults and to explore the ruins on Uroboros.
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