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Seto Kaiba

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  1. Seto Kaiba
    Neat graphic... I've never seen that one before. The scale on the pilots is a little bit off, but on the whole it does seem to fit rather well. Where'd you find that one, if you don't mind telling me? None that I'm aware of, I'm afraid... were such a piece to exist, it would most likely be found in a comprehensive publication like Perfect Memory, the Gold Book, or the art book that came with the remastered edition of DYRL. I've checked a few of my more obscure old books and found nothing like what you're looking for. I'll do a bit more digging after I get done with breakfast, but I don't expect to find anything. Ah, now THAT has a straightforward explanation... you're right to think that the legs on the apparently U.N.-designed Queadluun-Rhea are incapable of fitting the operator's legs in the fashion the Queadluun-Rau appears to. What little we see of the Queadluun-Rhea's interior in the animation seems to suggest that the Queadluun-Rhea's cockpit is modeled on that of the Regult, and located entirely inside the mecha's torso with the operator in a sort of hunched-forward sitting position similar to the one seen here. This is presumably one of the design changes made to improve operator survivability (along with beefing up the armor around the cockpit). The Rhea's a whole different creature from the Rau.
  2. Seto Kaiba
    Unfortunately, if such a diagram does exist then I'm not aware of it. The best I could find on perusal of the Macross: Do You Remember Love? Data Bank book (the "Gold Book") and Macross: Perfect Memory is the art we already have available on the Macross Mecha Manual. I'll check Entertainment Bible 27 and Macross Chronicle in just a second though. EDIT @ 05:10: No, neither Entertainment Bible 27 nor Macross Chronicle offers a better view of the cockpit than what was already available. Sorry. From what I've been able to discern based on this and this, it looks like the way it's handled is exactly the way you've visualized it... improbable as it seems. It looks, for all the world, like the pilot is situated with their shoulders roughly level with the center of the mecha's shoulders, and control both the arms and general flight maneuvers using the control banks inside the torso. The leg articulations look to be controlled by the movements of the pilot's legs inside them. I doubt the leg of the pilot goes all the way down, but it looks the hip and knee articulations ought to be controlled by the corresponding joints on the pilot's body, though the foot obviously will not reach all the way down to the mecha's foot, and is in all likelihood either operated automatically or on a pedal of some kind manipulated by the operator's own foot. To get a good picture of how the pilot shapes up compared to his craft in size, here is a size comparison for the DYRL versions of the Nosjadeul-Ger, Queadluun-Rau, VF-1S Strike Valkyrie, Zentradi, Meltrandi, and human pilots (also courtesy of the Macross Mecha Manual): GO.
  3. Seto Kaiba
    One would imagine that if the idiots in charge at Harmony Gold were decent people (a longshot, I know) they would at least pay her travel expenses while they drag her out to various conventions in their ongoing use of her husband's death to promote Tommy's shitty Sentinels fan-films and the live action movie that doesn't look like it will ever happen. Really, I think it would say worse things about her AND them if she WAS getting paid to eulogize her husband over and over again as part of Harmony Gold's ongoing use of his death to promote the franchise. I can't imagine many things sleazier than using someone's death as an advertising tool, and for her to help them use her husband's untimely death to promote that hackneyed mess is just disgustingly disrespectful.
  4. Seto Kaiba
    Oh, it's simple enough... there are two basic reasons why Harmony Gold can't do squat to these guys. You see, unlike copyrights, which are respected around the world under international law, trademark laws only apply in the jurisdiction of the country where the trademark was filed and registered. In short, there's really no way to register a trademark once and have it apply all around the world like you would a copyright. You would need to register your trademark in every country you wanted it to apply in. Not to say that there aren't some means to internationally enforce trademarks, but really they have no grounds for a complaint anyway... the Robotech "brand" literally has no presence there, and is contractually prevented from having a presence there by the terms of their license agreements and copyright law. They could hop up and down and make a fuss all they liked, but they can't do a damn thing about the expo's name. Not that I'm aware, no... the salient points of the court opinions have already been summarized several times over. It's a twitchy thing, posting full translations of the court rulings, since in some states (notably California) court documents and the like are considered copyrighted property of the government body that generated them, so an online, unauthorized translation could be problematic depending on where it's hosted. I think you and I actually discussed this before. ^^;
  5. Seto Kaiba
    Eh... to be honest, I think their bizarre tendency to view the Robotech RPG books as tech manuals instead of game books has more to do with the truly underwhelming nature of Harmony Gold's official coverage of the characters, mecha, and story than an entirely justifiable loathing of the game system itself. Regardless of the sizable body of incorrect and author-created information they contain, the Robotech RPG books are still the closest that Robotech fans have ever come to having a reasonably detailed and comprehensive guide to the series. Outside the RPG books and their manifold errors, all they have are the teaspoon-shallow coverage in Robotech.com's Infopedia section and a modest assortment of fansites whose contents are generally even less accurate than then RPG books. Despite having been around for a good 25 years now, Robotech has never really had anything on par with the old This is Animation series of books, or any other official artbook. The best they've ever done on that note is the old Robotech Art books and Tommy's Art of the Shadow Chronicles, which is "Robotech Art 4" in everything but name. Those were hardly informative, as they were made up primarily of an overlong explanation of the production process (and how it went so badly awry), with a few badly copied pictures of the mecha and, if you were lucky, a glossary of key terms. Oh, I'm no stranger to Palladium's many inaccuracies... after all, my research into the Macross II OVA and its supporting continuity started as an attempt to sort out a few of the more obviously-incorrect things set down in the Macross II RPG books. To be fair to them though, the old Robotech RPG's inaccuracies can largely be put down to a lack of support from Harmony Gold that forced them to pay for translations of what little they could obtain in the way of artbooks, and to frequently fall back on the tried-and-true practice of freeze-framing the animation to count beam weapons, missiles, and the like.
  6. Seto Kaiba
    Oh, there's no doubt that there are still a few determined dimwits out there in the vast hinterlands of the internet who are trying to have fun with Robotech that doesn't involve endless reminiscences and long-unresolved plot threads. Their efforts don't meet with much success... but at least they're trying, right? Here's a brief rundown of those I'm familiar with: Earlier this month, an enterprising thread necrophile by the name of eihwaz tried to build interest in restarting the long-dead Robotech MUSH by reviving the tired old proposal first tabled by Brooklyn Red Leg back in 2005. Needless to say, he's having no luck whatsoever. There's no mystery as to why, since most Robotech fans seem to be under the impression the RPG books are tech manuals instead, and most are too apathetic to invest time in such a game. Last I checked, there were also one or two modestly sized groups playing the old edition of the Robotech RPG on RPOL. I know they were still trying to recruit new players via advertising on Robotech.com, but I don't think they met with any success. I'm fairly sure one of the old Robotech RPG groups founded in the 2003-2005 period is around and active still... though I would hesitate to call it a proper Robotech game, on the grounds that apart from the setting the game's story has more in common with the old Outlaw Star spinoff Angel Links than with Robotech, and many of the mecha are stolen from various Macross titles incl. Macross Flashback 2012, Macross 2036, Macross Digital Mission VF-X, the videogame version of DYRL, Macross: Remember Me, and Kawamori's Macross Design Works book. Also on the RPG front, I had the great displeasure of being subjected to a fan-made RPG for Robotech based heavily on shamelessly ripped-off from D20 Future. The author (Jeebers) is still working on the game, as I understand it, though he may have finally given up on it due to everyone telling him to shut up about it and hearing that Palladium took a dim view of such things and might come after him for it. There has also been some noise from robotech.com user Jono and imbecilic moderator MEMO1DOMINION about their own Robotech Wiki projects, both of which seem to have been roundly ignored, though the latter seems to have only drawn attention (and of the malicious sort) from 4chan's /m/, whose acts of vandalism have been the Wiki's only actual contributions to date. One could also argue that when JT isn't being bogged down by the clouds of drama given off by jealous wannabe-rivals, he rather enjoys his work on the Protoculture Times podcast, though that falls into a gray area of your definition since it's technically also just reminiscences about how great Robotech was back in the day. What, don't tell me you expected actual SUBSTANCE from them this time around? After all, twenty-five is just a number... so is zero, and zero happens to be the number of people with working brains who expected the twenty-fifth anniversary to be anything other than another damp squib. Of course they're repeating the same old garbage... that's all they know how to do, because it's all they've ever done in twenty-five years of wallowing in mediocrity and failure. If their estimates here are the same kind of estimates they made back when they started work on Shadow Chronicles, we can expect to see it sometime in 2012 or 2013, tho that's assuming it doesn't die early on like most of them did.
  7. Seto Kaiba
    Oh, naturally... though I wouldn't put it past them to attempt to duck the questions it would prompt later with their habitually vague responses. The exact extent to which the mooks at Harmony Gold itself are paranoid about negative feedback is unclear, though it certainly looks like their volunteer moderators THINK they are. Back when Maverick_LSC and MEMO1DOMINION were banning people left and right for asking awkward questions about Harmony Gold's (in)ability to use Macross designs, they justified a lot of what they did by claiming that Warner was keeping an eye on robotech.com and that HG didn't want them getting a negative impression of the franchise. Whether or not that's actually the case is certainly open to debate, but at the time I interpreted it as a blatant ass-pull on Maverick's part, since he was (and still is) a habitual liar prone to telling any tall tale to make it appear that he's an insider. Not just "us", mind you... quite a few of the more devoted Robotech die-hards are firmly convinced that it's an organized conspiracy of MacrossWorlders headed up by yours truly. I'm told that some of them even attribute events like the cease and desist letter sent to UEG Productions and the gradual decline of the robotech.com community section to the influence that shadow cabal of Macross purists and me in particular. I guess it helps them feel like the heroic underdog if they make us strawmen to rail against in the defense of the dying Robotech brand. (Personally, I find the whole affair extremely amusing. It gives me all the street cred of a supervillain without having to actually do anything overtly evil, and I don't have to worry about being beaten up by an overmuscled guy who wears his underpants outside a spandex bodysuit every alternate tuesday) Crap... now I want to attend one of their panels just to see if they'll try.
  8. Seto Kaiba
    Is it bad that my first thought on seeing the title "Macross Trial Frontier" was a Macross-themed version of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney? (No joke, it's a bizarre mental image) Still, looks awesome. Shame I don't have a PS3.
  9. Seto Kaiba
    Good question... can't answer it because this machine only has the one user account.
  10. Seto Kaiba
    *sigh* Oh well, I suppose a ballpark figure based on a completely unreliable source is still better than nothing at all. I would be inclined to stick with the 15 fighters per squadron number though, since that at least comes to us directly from Macross's creators. Eh, if they had enough time to refit and upgrade Britai's command ship before the launch of the Megaroad-01 in 2012, it doesn't seem at all unreasonable that they would have had the time to outfit the ship with VFs. Britai's ship didn't seem to have any significant problems deploying Super Valkyries once it'd joined the U.N. forces in the original TV series, so I don't see any reason why the refit couldn't after they'd already had a go at upgrading it and clearly had enough time to staple some kind of command tower to the top of it. Now, if this latest news about the Megaroad missions using the VF-5 came from one of the unambiguously canon publications it would be big news. Unfortunately, it's from a source that reiterates a not-inconsiderable amount of material from an unambiguously non-canon doujin published before DYRL came out. We can say with some certainty that the Megaroad missions did employ the VF-5000 side-by-side with the VF-4 (thanks to Macross M3) and it logically follows that the VF-1 should have filled the role the VF-5000 did back before there was a VF-5000, but there's no evidence the VF-5 was ever involved. Granted, it's certainly a plausible theory that the VF-5 might've been involved in the Megaroad missions as a potential low-cost substitute or partner for the VF-4, but we've never had anything to suggest that it was actually used in such a capacity. It would've been nice if Chronicle had touched on some of the "budget Valkyrie" models made for the colony market, but I suppose we can't have everything.
  11. Seto Kaiba
    Yeah... each and every one of 'em. The only one that generated results was disabling the on-download virus scan altogether in about:config. Oddly, I've noticed that it only does this "file goes missing" malarkey to the first file downloaded in each session... others downloaded after it seem to stay put just fine. This would seem to be an issue unique to Firefox-on-Vista, since I tested it on one of my other systems running the same antivirus program and the same browser version and add-ons, but on Windows XP, and it didn't have any issues.
  12. Seto Kaiba
    You got my permission, feel free.
  13. Seto Kaiba
    So, it's just business as usual then? Harmony Gold makes a big fuss over how many people attended their panel, and most of the people at the convention barely noticed that they were even present. Something like that... I remember Tommy saying something about the reason they wanted to redesign all the characters was so they'd be able to market it in Japan without getting sued six ways to Sunday. Eh, they cared enough to try to make some money on it again a while back... it didn't pan out well.
  14. Seto Kaiba
    Okay, gotta ask... brand new legitimate copy of Microsoft Office Pro 2010? Is it a student license? An OEM license? If it's the retail version then I gotta ask... what's the catch?
  15. Seto Kaiba
    But that's an apples and oranges comparison... you're comparing a "naked" VF-4 with no super parts or externally-mounted ordinance to a fully-loaded VF-1 Super Valkyrie. The basic armament of the VF-4 is essentially comparable to the standard combat load of an old VF-1 without super parts, though it presumably enjoys added range and endurance as the result of having built-in rocket boosters to supplement its reaction engines. Even without super parts of its own, with properly loaded hardpoints it can still rival the VF-1 Super Valkyrie in terms of ordinance. Not necessarily the case... if memory serves, all colony fleets receive routine resource replenishment from the U.N., so it wouldn't be at all out of the question for them to be receiving modest numbers of new craft along the way too. I do think that the number made (8,245) is far too small to represent the fighter's status as a main VF during the first wave of space colonization. Even if it was still being leavened out by surplus VF-1s and VF-5000s, more recent information suggests that the scale of the fleets and their use in later years should mean there are a hell of a lot more than just 8,245. Eh... while I feel the ARMD-like structures on the side of the Megaroad certainly look a good deal like ARMDs, what little up-close footage we have of them would seem to suggest that the similarity is cosmetic in nature. It's certainly possible that they used design elements from the ARMD in constructing the Megaroad's hangar though. There is, in the same source(s) referenced above, at least some evidence to support the idea that the Megaroad colony ships carried a mix of different fighters. At one point in Macross M3, a Megaroad is depicted as carrying a mix of VF-4s and VF-5000s, so it doesn't seem unreasonable that earlier ones launched before the VF-5000 was introduced may have supplemented their complement of VF-4s with VF-1s, QF-3000s, or something else. Given what's seen in Macross: Eternal Love Song, it's likely that the ones that were launched in the parallel world continuity of Macross II probably carried a mixture of VF-4 Sirens and VF-1 Valkyries. Later ships probably used the VF-1*R Attack Valkyrie to fill out their fighter complement.
  16. Seto Kaiba
    No dice... and uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox 3.6.8 didn't sort it out either. The files aren't ending up in the quarantine folder or anything like that, so I'm inclined to suspect Firefox 3.6.x as the culprit rather than my antivirus software. We weren't having problems until they introduced the plug-in container, at which point the stability of the browser promptly went to hell in a handbasket. Given that the problem doesn't happen when I'm using Internet Explorer 8 or Google Chrome, my guess would be it's a problem with the way Firefox is calling the antivirus program to scan the file(s). Ah well, I guess I can file a bug report with Mozilla and run it with scanWhenDone turned off until they either fix it or roll out Firefox 4 this fall. On a note related to the originally-unrelated tangent (now that's a mouthful), I'm biting the bullet and upgrading my main machine to Windows 7 Ultimate. It previously had an OEM edition of Windows Vista Ultimate, which wasn't exactly a bad deal, but post-Service Pack 2 the Windows Search 4.0 shenanigans drove performance into the toilet by starting up at random intervals and monopolizing the hard disks for an hour or so at a stretch, even if the search indexing option was turned off.
  17. Seto Kaiba
    Granted... but not a workaround I'm particularly happy with. I prefer to take a somewhat paranoid outlook on system security, since my immediate family are about as non-computer savvy as it gets, and I want to keep them from making more work for me. (To say nothing of focusing on network security technologies when I was working on my master's degree) Ah, that article somehow eluded me whilst I was searching for some rather more specific terms in the Firefox support section. Thanks for digging that out for me. It wasn't the right solution, but definitely something to hang onto for future reference at least. Have you tried pausing Norton, to see if FF downloads work? Yes, it produces the same results as disabling scanWhenDone, though I still suspect the process Firefox uses to invoke the scan or the Norton IPS plugin as the prime culprit, which lays a little blame on both sides Can you download files with IE? Yeah, though I'd never use that as my primary browser for obvious reasons Does your FF use the default downloads folder? If yes, then try setting it to prompt for a download path. Tried that, same results... Maybe reset the downloads folder: reset anything under browser.download.xxx that has the status "user set" Tried that too, just for giggles... didn't work Have you tried uninstalling and then re-installing FF? Not yet... I wanted to fix the software in place since getting my plugins back on and configured the way I like 'em would take a while.
  18. Seto Kaiba
    Let's examine this closely... the VF-4 has a potentially unlimited number of combinations of ordinance it can take using its six wing/body hardpoints, whereas the VF-11 can take a set of protect armor loaded with short-range ordinance and trade its transformation and a good deal of maneuverability for armament, or it can take the standard set of super parts and carry a single long-range reaction missile in each leg bay. Of course, if we were to take the external modules out of the equation altogether since the VF-4 doesn't NEED them, we're left with an even more significant disparity in the VF-4's favor. NB: Some of the art (dated 1987) shows the VF-4 with a maximum of eight hardpoints, two inboard and two outboard of each engine nacelle. Just looking at it, that's an arbitrary maximum of four times the VF-11's anti-ship reaction ordinance, or a mixture of other missile types that may meet or exceed the capabilities of the VF-11's standard armament. I think this rather supports my hypothesis that the VF-4 wasn't a bad fighter, but rather a fighter designed to fill a need that ceased to exist with the introduction of larger colony ships. EDIT: At the prompting of Talos, it's also relevant to note that the VF-4 can trade its beam guns in for a set of 30mm gatling guns similar to those used by the VF-11, as per a Great Mechanics DX (I think) article that was translated by sketchley a while back. I believe that same article also said it could take a gunpod if need be.
  19. Seto Kaiba
    Eh... you'd think if there had been a major change in tactical doctrine like the US's odd insistence that "we don't dogfight anymore", it would've been mentioned at some point. It seems a trifle odd that, if the VF-4 was as unsatisfactory as is being implied, that they would take the pains necessary to keep it in service into and beyond 2047. I'd guess that the VF-4 was the right fighter at the right time... a space-optimized VF that had all the capabilities of a VF-1 Super Valkyrie in a single compact package, for colony ships where space and resources were at a premium. As I see it, the VF-4 is ideally suited to something like a Megaroad colony mission. In an operational environment where space is at a premium, having components that would've otherwise been built into super packs built into the airframe instead and a set of main guns that don't require the production and storage of physical ammunition would both be significant virtues. Note that the VF-11 was conveniently introduced at the roughly the same time that a new model of colony ship with significantly greater space, much looser resource restrictions, and greater manufacturing capacity was pressed into service. The established colonies and majority of the local fleets wouldn't suffer from the resource and space limitations that would make the VF-4 advantageous, so they could afford to go back to using simpler (and presumably less maintenance-intensive) gatling cannons and separate super pack systems when they picked up the VF-11. IMO, it's probably more to do with appropriateness for their operating environment than than any issue of the VF-4 not being up to snuff. Doubtful, given what little visual evidence we've seen... It figured reasonably prominently in Macross M3 and Macross 7 Trash in the main timeline, and Macross: Eternal Love Song in the parallel world continuity. A reasonably prominent and important fighter in the latter case, and still in service about twenty years after being replaced by the VF-11 in the former case. On the first note, we agree... on the second, not so much... one could assert that the VF-4's six hardpoints and conformal munitions give it greater flexibility than the VF-11 with its apparent lack of hardpoints and need to be permanently wedded to a set of super parts to have weapons in space.
  20. Seto Kaiba
    Hmmm... the pose is a little awkward looking, but that's one damn fine CG modeling job you did there.
  21. Seto Kaiba
    Eh... there are few things in this world quite as obnoxious as someone who offers obvious advice that they've already been told point-blank doesn't work. Of course, none of this has anything to do with the question I actually asked about an odd behavior observed in Firefox 3.6.8, so what the hell guys? By way of an expanded explanation for what I've already told you, taking this system over to the NVIDIA website and using their fancy little "find the right drivers for my machine automatically" tool generates a message politely asking you to f*ck right off back to the manufacturer's website and download the version they've modified and vetted. Selecting it manually using the dropdown menus lets you get as far as running the executable, at which point it promptly informs you the card isn't supported by the current driver release, and exits. Issues of sanity aside, HP has clearly done SOMETHING to the system to ensure that even after a clean install of the OS, the only version of the drivers that'll install and work properly is the one they provide. Stupid? Absolutely. Sadistic? Very probably. A big pain in my ass? You bet. Tempting... but what I said about the system self-destructing when the hacked drivers are used for any length of time was no exaggeration. In any event, I don't really care to buy the Windows 7 update at $200+ for a machine that only gets used when my girlfriend or one of my siblings breaks their good computer. It's just not worth the money. The question I asked... and am still waiting on an answer for... is whether anyone else has experienced the aforementioned anomalous behavior from Firefox 3.6.x (any downloaded files vanish into the ether when the browser is closed when post-download virus scanning is enabled) and if anyone knows what the root cause is so I can either put together some kind of workaround and/or file a bug report with the party responsible.
  22. Seto Kaiba
    Eh... I suppose it's more a matter of the hardware itself being compatible with Windows 7, but the stupid manufacturer-specific drivers for the video card aren't. The system uses a GeForce Go 7600, but the driver installer supplied by NVIDIA won't recognize the card and their site insists that it's advisable to use the driver supplied by the manufacturer. Of course, those don't work very well on Vista, let alone Windows 7. Using hacked installers to load the most recent drivers onto the system is inadvisable at best, since it breaks a fair few elements of functionality, renders the driver unstable and crash-prone, and adds an amusing overheating problem that destroyed a motherboard before we identified it. Basically, it's not that the hardware isn't theoretically compatible with Windows 7, it's that we have ample evidence to suggest that it'll literally self-destruct if we update it to the new OS.
  23. Seto Kaiba
    Hey all, don't routinely post in this thread but I've been having a rather unusual issue with Firefox 3.6.x on my system and figured I would try appealing to my fellow tech-savvy Macross fans for insight and/or a solution... Let me say in advance, I know Vista sucks. This is a cheap work computer I bought for, oh, about $400 to give to whatever family member breaks their good computer... an event that happens with all the regularity of the f***ing tides. Upgrading it to Win7 isn't a viable option since the hardware won't support it, downgrading to XP isn't an option as the install disks are impossible to find, and the various flavors of Linux won't do for my technologically-inept family. Okay, so I've got a cheap little work laptop system here that's running Firefox 3.6.8 w/ Norton 2009 on Windows Vista 32bit, and ever since about Firefox 3.6.6 I've noticed that Firefox exhibits some weird behaviors when downloading files. Ever since they introduced that godawful unstable mess called the plugin container, Firefox takes bloody forever to scan files when downloading. Now, what I've noticed is that on Firefox 3.6.8 the files I download will disappear from the downloads folder when the browser window is closed. The files just flat out vanish, even if you have the folder window open and just refresh the view... they just disappear. If you use the search tool to look for them, they do appear briefly, but show as being 0kb and promptly disappear from that view too. After checking for malware and ensuring that the file system hadn't started to fall apart on me, I dug into the Firefox configuration, and found that manually setting the value of the key for browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone to "false" seems to eliminate the problem. Any idea which party is the guilty one? Firefox or Norton? (I'm inclined to go with FF, since nothing's showing up in the quarantine)
  24. Seto Kaiba
    Yes and no... the 'Siren' was the first name given to the VF-4 and its first set of battroid and GERWALK modes, prior to Kawamori's return to the franchise and subsequent completion of the VF-4 design as the Lightning III you're familiar with. Its first appearance was in the PC Engine game Macross: Eternal Love Song, one of two games created as canon prequels to the Macross II: Lovers Again OVA. It was erroneously listed as VF-X-4 Siren in the game manual (an goof that was subsequently duplicated in the Macross Compendium), though was referred to as the VF-4 Siren in-game, with the base variant being the VF-4S, and the two types of super parts adding a letter to make the VF-4SP and VF-4ST. The original variant of the VF-4 Siren (implied to be VF-4A) entered service in 2014 as the fighter complement of the Megaroad-01 (not a typo, LONG STORY). By 2037, the variant in service was the VF-4S, which sported the slight modification in the form of a S-style head turret similar to the one on the VF-1SR Attack Valkyrie, adding four forward-facing AA laser guns to its preexisting armament of 2 beam guns and ~12 conformal missiles. The VF-4SP Siren had super packs that boosted its missile capacity (as one might expect) and the VF-4ST Siren had super packs that provided it with extra missiles, a set of funnels (yes, like in Gundam) and a heavy beam rifle almost as long as the plane itself. Its most notable combat action was spearheading the final offensive on the Zentradi Army Burado main fleet's mobile fortress and the attack on its commander at the conclusion of the 2037 Zentradi invasion. See the attached images for some art of the VF-4S's battroid mode and forward view of its fighter mode (sans super parts). The ship in the background is the Prometheus, a Daedalus II-class ARMD/ramship. EDIT: As far as being related to the VA-1SS Metal Siren, which I forgot to cover, the VF-4S Siren isn't a direct relative of it. It is, however, a design ancestor of the VF-2SS Valkyrie II. Don't you know... noises like that are louder in space because there's no air to get in the way!
  25. Seto Kaiba
    In what little animated combat footage we have for the VF-4, its large-bore beam guns are quite effective and powerful. The opening cinematic for canon videogame Macross M3 depicts Max using his VF-4's beam guns to destroy a booster-equipped Glaug in a single direct hit. If I had to guess, I would be inclined to suspect that the reason beam weapons of various types lost the battroid mode main weapon position was probably that gatling guns are mechanically simpler and cheaper to produce, and possibly that their ammo is specifically designed to penetrate energy converting armor (as per something sketchley translated, if memory serves). Of course, the VF-4 as it appears in the alternate universe stories is another case altogether. True, the U.N. Spacy in that universe eventually went back to projectile weapons (railguns, to be precise) but the VF-4(-/S/SP/ST) Siren was wildly successful... and both its integrated gun systems and gunpod were beam weapons. It had the same large-bore beam cannons as the one in the main timeline, plus the -S variants had four forward-facing laser cannons on the head, and the beam rifle strongly reminiscent of the Zeta Gundam's hyper mega launcher in both appearance and firepower (said to be a particle beam cannon). They were so brutally effective that the VF-4ST was used as an assault fighter for attacking Zentradi/Meltrandi mobile fortresses.
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