Seto Kaiba

You forgot Kazumi Fujita on your list there... but exactly who did the starship designs is something of a mystery, as all of the designers specialized in humanoid mecha in their later careers. A lot of the Gundam themes and technology that snuck into Macross II are likely the work of Koichi Ohata, who had worked on Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack several years earlier. (Kazumi Fujita had also worked on Gundam prior to working on Macross II... he did designs for Zeta Gundam, A New Translation, and Gundam ZZ)

He didn't. The mechanical designs for the PC Engine games were done by Koichi Ohata, Kazumi Fujita, Junichi Akutsu, and Jun Okuda, who did the mechanical designs for Macross II. Nope. Miyatake wasn't involved. The only notable returning staff members from the original series and DYRL were Haruhiko Mikimoto (character design) and Sukehiro Tomita (story).

This is a clear case of what I like to call Robotech syndrome... a strange and mysterious mental illness which causes those afflicted to enjoy horrible sequels just because they contain some familiar characters or mecha. For me, and many others, the experience of watching Macross 7 could be faithfully replicated by spending 18 hours pounding nails into your face while you clean out your ears with a baseball bat covered in 40-grit sandpaper. It would take a MASSIVE undertaking to shoehorn Macross II into the main continuity... the two backstories are fundamentally incompatible... something I'm immensely grateful for. The U.N. Spacy of the alternate continuity actually considers the Zentradi a serious threat right up until 2082, and there's no silly magical singing.

It's posts like this that make me fervently wish I had the power to smite people over TCP/IP. I have only one question for you... "Why would you want to do this terrible thing?" Seriously, why would you want to include a decent show like Macross II: Lovers Again in a continuity that contains pants-on-head retarded poo like Macross 7? Including Macross 7 in ANY Macross continuity is like having your breakfast with a nice tall plague rat smoothie... you're just going to regret it later. Macross II is much better off as a parallel universe that maybe one day Big West will return to and explore in more depth. Likewise, the main Macross timeline would be much better off if Macross 7 were written off as a long, particularly obnoxious nightmare Ozma had because of a morphine overdose while he was laid up in the hospital. Actually, there's more to it than that... there're also two canon prequel games, Macross 2036: the Neld Fleet Incident, and Macross: Eternal Love Song. Not to mention a couple novels.

For one, no source I'm aware of calls that a sensor on either aircraft. For two, that isn't exactly unique... every Gundam since the original has had a big red plate above the eyes, and it's not exactly uncommon outside of Gundam either. There are a literally hundreds of different mecha that particular cosmetic touch could have come from. You don't even have to go outside of Macross to find examples... just look at the Cheyenne I. That little indentation on the inside of the forearm is about the only link you're inferring between the VF-25 and VF-2SS that can't be disproved by simple examination. The design upper arms is not the same. Nor is the stripe pattern. A very similar paint pattern can be found on the YF-19, and several other VFs. It didn't necessarily come from the VF-2SS. The patterns you pointed to on the VF-25S Armored Messiah's forearm shield and stabilizers are nowhere near the same thing... on the VF-25 they're essentially flat cosmetic patterns in the armor plate... on the VF-2SS they're not cosmetic at all... they're raised at least several inches, because they're swing-out doors for mini-missile launchers. Like having a red plate above the eyes, having wheels in the feet of a mecha is hardly a unique trait... Macross II was one of the earlier examples, but by no means the only one. The Armor Shrikes in Blue Gender had feet set up similarly to the Cheyenne I, and the show coincidentally completed its run right around the time work started on Macross Zero. The similarity I'm surprised you missed is what's hanging underneath the Cheyenne I and Cheyenne II's gatling cannons... the shape of the magazine feeding the gatling cannon gives the arms a profile very similar to that of the Tomahawk II. The difference being that those aren't magazines on the Tomahawk II, they're railguns. It's pointless trying to find Macross II references in Frontier. Sure, Kawamori swiped some of the soundtrack for Macross 7, but that's about the extent of it. He's made it clear on a number of occasions that he really couldn't give a tinker's damn about Macross II. It's kind of like the Robotech fans who were convinced that Battlestar Galactica was crammed full of Robotech homages... imagining links that don't exist. Now I'm a huge Macross II fan, and I'd love to see some straight-up homages to my favorite OVA, but it's just not gonna happen so long as Kawamori's calling the shots.

Well... I've got copies of all five novels, but we aren't planning to translate them ourselves (I can't stomach translating 5 ~200pg novels) so we're gonna take up a collection sometime later this year and farm the work out to a professional translation service. Yeah, there's that... the Jamming Birds sing "Riding in your Valkyrie". *cough* Yeah... I can see the similarities too... they start and end with the fact that both the VF-2SS and VF-25 are updated versions of the VF-1 with drastically improved technology... the difference being that the VF-2SS has a damn good reason for basing itself off the VF-1, and there's no good reason for the VF-25 to have such an anachronistic design.

Actually... I think they listened a little better than you're giving them credit for. One of the few facts that Harmony Gold staffers have released about the Robotech live-action project is that it's going to be a re-imagining of the original Robotech series. All the people I've talked to thus far have interpreted that as an announcement that they're going to a highly unfaithful adaptation of Macross with new mechanical designs (probably ala Bayformers) and a drastically revised story. It's looking to me like the live-action Robotech movie will be a Macross Saga one, re-imagined to avoid a legal battle, and dumbed down enough to appeal to the same lackwits who thought Michael Bay's Transformers movie was a cinematic masterpiece. I'd feel bad for them too... if only I'd met any. I think Warner is smart enough to know that the only way a Robotech movie will sell is if it's a Macross Saga one. Let's face it... finding out what happened to the Macross Saga characters was far and away the most popular reason for interest in Robotech II: the Sentinels and Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles. Without Macross to prop it up, the whole shoddily-built Robotech house comes tumbling down.

Quick piece of advice... get rid of the music. As much as I like the soundtrack of Macross II, the music is making the process of loading each page significantly slower, even on fast connections. If you're unwilling to axe the music, at least scale down the bitrate to around 160kbps instead of around 320kbps.

Yeah, there is a gunpod for the VF-171 Nightmare Plus, but I can only think of one scene where the fighter is actually depicted carrying it. The Macross Frontier Official Fan Book has art for it on page 114. There's also color art of the RVF-171EX holding it. By the look of things, it's virtually identical to the gunpod used by the VF-17, right down to the Gundam-style grip on the left side. It may or may not have originally been stored inside the leg like the VF-17 had, but in its one appearance (episode 23) it's shown being carried on a ventral hardpoint like most gunpods. (The particular scene is where Alto and his two hapless wingmen are flying by Island-1 in their new VF-171EX's, and Maruyama points out Sheryl and asks Alto if he can get him her autograph).

I've been trying to get Kevin McKeever to cough up those numbers for a while now... he's mysteriously reluctant to do so. Yeah, the context of "sold quite well" is the interesting thing. Shadow Chronicles was made on a budget that'd have to double before it could honestly be called "shoestring". Tommy Yune seems to classify it as a success because it earned back its initial investment through DVD sales, the theatrical run, etc. Gotta admit, at the price it was originally selling at, they wouldn't even have to sell 50,000 copies to classify it as a commercial success. I guess their strategy is to claim success by setting ridiculously easy goals for themselves. I gotta admit, I hate Doug Bendo with a passion... I was fortunate enough to be one of the people responsible for getting him permanently banned from Robotech.com. I agree with that assessment... It's surely no coincidence that Harmony Gold's release partner ADV Films wasted half the box blurb on Macross's original series gabbing on about how it was part of Robotech. Well, if you're a big Southern Cross fan, you're already a glutton for punishment, if not a full-blown masochist, so dealing with Harmony Gold is probably quite enjoyable for them.

The password is "archive"

Oh no, you heard that from me. Kenichi Yatagai, the director of Macross II, gave an interview in B-Club Magazine where he talked about the backstory of Macross II. He made mention that the military selected a new song for the Minmay Defense every year, and that it was a big PR thing.

To the best of my knowledge, said holographic singer has never been identified. I gotta say, if it IS Minmay, she's looking pretty good for a woman about to celebrate her 100th birthday.

Somehow, I can't see the few remaining moderators or the admins looking for a reason to ban me just to make their balls feel big. They're not quite that petty... yet. I suspect a lot of it is just that I don't tolerate idiots, I expose BSers for what they are, and I tell moderators off for bad judgements. Now it wouldn't surprise me at all if I were being targeted for a ban because I'm poking holes in the pretense that the Robotech franchise is healthy, active, and popular. Yeah, there's really not a lot of point to being a moderator there. Traffic in the forums is so light that it's not even really worth it, and the officer's forum is a complete waste of time. Most of the "cool" moderators are gone, lost either to total apathy about Robotech's future, or a simple case of "couldn't be arsed". We're left with three, maybe four mods, only one of which I can honestly say I like and respect. It was even worse back when I first joined, where for every good moderator there was a mod living out some kind of juvenile power fantasy. That's the Harmony Gold way... arbitrarily screwing over the fanbase. The Robotech.com forums are pretty much dead these days... there's somewhere around 25 regular contributors who mostly sit around and rehash the same tired arguments over and over again, broken up by the occasional newbie asking a simple question or a totally absurd hypothetical.

Actually, it makes a decent amount of sense... it's an electromagnetic railgun, which works by passing an extremely large electrical current through the projectile, which interacts with the magnetic fields generated by the rails to accelerate the projectile. Gold is an excellent electrical conductor, so gold mixed with something more magnetically responsive would be an excellent material for railgun ammunition. Expensive as hell, but very effective.

Yeah, but the YF-21's a unique case... none of the limbs contain essential systems. They exist solely for the sake of the GERWALK and battroid modes. As far as transformation impeded by damage, loss of limbs doesn't seem to be a huge issue, as Hikaru is able to get his VF-1S to transform after losing both arms in the TV series. The loss of limbs is apparently a lot less of a threat to transformation than than damage to the joints that carry out the transformation, as with that VF-2SS.

Actually, yes. In Episode 5 of the Macross II: Lovers Again OVA ("Station Break"), a VF-2SS is hit by a beam cannon shot as it starts to transform, and the damage causes it to get stuck halfway between fighter and battroid modes, until a power armor tears it apart. I would imagine so, but I don't think that much has ever been depicted.

I wouldn't doubt it, but then again it wouldn't really be much of a change from the status quo where I'm concerned. For a while now, I've had reason to suspect that at least one moderator has targeted me for a permanent ban. I haven't exactly endeared myself to the moderators with my zero-tolerance policy for bullshitters and spammers, my refusal to tolerate stupid people, and my tendency to argue with moderators when I disagree with their judgements. By some extraordinary means, I seem to keep dodging the bullet. Steve Yun, Tommy Tune, Kevin McKeever, and Tom Bateman seem to have all developed some serious apathy for the message boards, and the few remaining moderators don't seem to care much what I do so long as I don't cuss. As the boards have really quieted down, I think part of it might be that when I'm not acting like some foul-mouthed ninja for hire, I'm one of the site's most respected and knowledgeable contributors. (Of course, that doesn't mean a lot over there, since there're probably only about 50 active members there) Perversely, Tommy even seemed glad to have my feedback on the retcons he made in the RPG. Well... I'd imagine they probably keep a closer eye on the moderator staff's behavior offsite than they do the general membership. All the mods seem to present a united front that the new movie(s) are great stuff, which leads me to believe they're expected to parrot the company line or risk losing their posts.

Honestly, I'm not seeing the resemblance. Now THERE you might have something... No, the mystery ship from the Macross Galaxy fleet is NOT a VF-2SS. It has some minor design commonalities with the VF-2SS, but all in all looks more like that one fighter from the first episode of Yukikaze. The people who think that's it's a sign that Macross II is going to be recanonized are daydreaming...

I'm pretty sure that a chant was INCORPORATED into the story of the novels, actually... didn't the children of the REF crew start chanting "protoculture" and have creepy psychic powers? Um... Memo... I think you might be misunderstanding something... "Codices" is the plural form, and I'm pretty sure that's the english pluralization at that. It's been a while since I last cracked my Latin book, but I'm fairly sure the proper Latin plural is "Codicis". Anyway, unless you intend your project to be a collection of books published together, rather than a single book/magazine, you'd want to use "Codex", not "Codices". (If you want to get REALLY anal about proper classical Latin, the singular form is "caudex" and the plural "caudicis")

How the hell does THAT work? Lately, I've come to suspect that Harmony Gold is modeling their corporate operations on 3D Realms, and spend the time they ought to be using to develop new products thinking up excuses for why they don't have any new products to show the fans. Of late, their favorite response is "Oh yes, we're working on stuff, you can tell we are because we don't have anything to show for it!" DON'T GIVE THEM IDEAS!

That's pretty much what I was aiming for... the majority of the Robotech fans on the Robotech.com message boards are reasonably civil and polite, even if their grasp on reality is a little bit shaky since they don't want to admit that they bet on the wrong horse. There's this genuinely cult-like cluster of fans on there who come charging into threads to defend the retcons Tommy made over the last couple years, telling critics that they're not real Robotech fans, and happily say "thank you sir, may I have another" every time Tommy and company shat out another mediocre comic or third-rate movie... the sort of mad Robotech fan whose love of the series borders on the fetishistic, who vehemently disavow its links to Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada, and who defended the obscene price for the Masterpiece Beta as reasonable... in short, people like Treiz and Jeebers. (To give you an idea of HOW crazy these nutters are, I've been told by some of them that Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada are ripoffs of Robotech, and not the other way around) Doesn't surprise me... the average age of fans on Robotech.com is over 18... yet they insist on keeping the site kid friendly enough for preschoolers.

Doesn't surprise me in the least. Back in 2003, when I first registered on Robotech.com, I noticed that Harmony Gold seemed to have a crippling fear of being criticized, particularly where their new projects are concerned. People who predict that new products will turn out badly tend to find themselves the objects of an unnatural amount of attention from the moderators. What's more, when disputes break out between the glassy-eyed Robotech fan-zombies for whom Tommy is something of a messiah and the people with working brains, the moderators always seem to decide that the critics are trying to stir up trouble. Right now, I'm pretty sure I'm under the close scrutiny two, possibly three, moderators for my criticisms of the coming live-action movie and my arguments with a dyed-in-the-wool fanatic by the screenname of Jeebers. I've always wondered why they're using the plural form "Codices" instead of the singular form "Codex" for the title of the work in progress. Any light to shed on that? If all the Robotech Codex project is is a condensation of half-assed Robotech books like the Robotech Art series and the Palladium RPG, what's the effing point? You can put a pretty bow on a turd, but that's not going to disguise the fact that it's a turd, nor will it distract anyone from the stench. Not only will they have to jump through hoops to get Harmony Gold's OK to print, they'll have to jump through more hoops to get Palladium's OK to use art or content from their books too, and heaven help them if they want to use stuff from the McKinney novels. All in all, an awful lot of trouble for not a lot of useful content. What good is a publication like that if the mechanical design stats they print go out the window in the next Infopedia update? No kidding... I remember seeing a couple signatures on Robotech.com that went to the effect of "Former Robotech fan, lost to Macross due to no movement from HG". Pretty fair description of where I was, circa 2003. Though Robotech continues to lose ground in my book, because Tommy is wiping his dick all over the franchise and turning it from a polarizing, if anachronistic, classic, into bland, samey dribble. I know... I've made that observation several times... message board activity on their site has dropped off sharply, so that there are barely thirty people posting in 90% of the site. Most of the old times have been banned or left when the site suddenly turned from something like this place into a kid-friendly poster child for political correctness. Harmony Gold employees (particularly Kevin McKeever) protest that their franchise is growing, bigger and better than ever before, and that the fanbase has only grown, offering no actual evidence to support his claims in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Ask the joe average anime fan what he thinks of Robotech and you'll get one of two answers most of the time... either "What's that?" or "That's poo!".

Okay... that's enough to completely reverse my opinion of him... anyone capable of being pals with Doug Bendo is someone I'd prefer to regard only while on the opposite side of an unbreakable two-way mirror.

Hmmm... that's actually a really cool concept. Nicely done.