Seto Kaiba

We haven't seen a broad enough sample of Zentradi fleets to know one way or the other. Based on the very limited sample we have, it seems likely that having a records officer/archivist is a perk of rank for the commanders of branch fleets and larger formations. Vrlitwhai had a records officer, but a division commander like Quamzin doesn't appear to have been extended the same privilege given that he was accompanied by the similarly gung-ho but not terribly bright Oigul instead. Ogotai in Macross Frontier was the same type as Vrlitwhai and presumably a former branch fleet commander, and he also has a records officer.

Between December 23 2022 and January 15 2023, they apparently did some kind of write-in campaign for fans to suggest new Macross model kits as part of an event to celebrate the 7th anniversary of Let's Talk at Macross Modelers. The results of the write-in campaign/voting are being announced at 2200 on February 2nd.

The more I think about it, the more I want to see this. They seem to be going to some pretty impressive lengths to be faithful to the art style of the original manga, and that means we are very possibly going to see some f***ed up Tim Burton-esque nonsense and some Bollywood action movie-grade CG at the same time. There's a very real possibility this will be like watching Dragonball Evolution on a literal gallon of acid. That's the problem... they're not afraid to do it. They should be, because every prior attempt has been a failure that finished tens of millions in the red, but they're not. The optimism on display would be inspiring if it weren't so obviously misplaced.

Almost certainly not. Concept art is development material. As far as any reliable source can prove, the proposed Robotech live action movie never got any farther than being a proposal. They paid out of pocket for a handful of story treatments in order to pretend that their writers were attached to write the movie itself, but those and all the other announcements of people being attached to write/direct/produce so far have all proven to be verifiably false. They're not at the point where they'd be producing concept art. There are a lot of other properties this could be from... the cancelled sequel for Edge of Tomorrow, any of a number of cancelled Transformers sequels and spinoffs, a cancelled G.I. Joe movie, etc. Nobody could call a Robotech movie "huge" with a straight face, which is one of the many reasons it's been in preapproval development hell for *checks* nearly 15 and a half years at time of writing.

Partly. There's quite a bit more to it than that, though. BattleTech/MechWarrior and Robotech both have a lot of legal baggage, particularly involving their use of third party intellectual property. BattleTech/MechWarrior in particular has a black mark on its name because of the many lawsuits it has faced for using copyrighted materials without permission. They're also old and rather obscure properties that never did quite "make it big". As such, they wouldn't really be likely to end up on a studio's short list of successful properties to adapt. They're basically looking for an instant win condition by adapting popular and celebrated shows. Macross had the legal obstacles put in place by Harmony Gold making it an unappealing prospect. It also suffers at bit from its approach to music not being something that would translate well to a live action format for western audiences. Plus the CG tech necessary to do it justice on the big screen is extremely expensive and relatively new. Gundam actually has a live action movie. It was a far future Universal Century sequel called G-Saviour, and it was... not well received. But for the most successful properties out there, the main obstacle is that there are some things about anime as a format that simply don't translate well (or at all) to a live action project written with western sensibilities in mind. One Piece is a prime example of that, with its strained-at-best relationship with realism, comedic tone, and unusual art style. It's not impossible... in the same way that my arse spontaneously sprouting wings and flying me to Europa isn't technically impossible. It's just so unlikely as to make no odds.

Wow. Just... wow. I'd like to be charitable and call this a bold move on Netflix's part. It's not, though. This is suicidal overconfidence at its finest. This is the "Hold my beer" moment at the beginning of a Florida man story that ends with the subject's hideous demise, a Darwin Award nomination, and a coroner's report that reads like a MythBusters insurance claim. This is just such an obviously terrible idea and so clearly doomed to fail that I have a hard time believing a human being is responsible for it. FFS, it's barely been a year since their live action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop got savaged so badly by critics and general audiences alike that they had to announce cancellation of all future plans for it not even three weeks after its premiere. This is going to be a beautiful disaster of such magnitude that it will make audiences look back on the 4Kids version of One Piece with genuine and heartfelt fondness. Far more so than Cowboy Bebop, I am absolutely fascinated by the prospect of how they might **** this up. The first couple story arcs were pretty heavy on the comedy with the big bads being fat!Alvida, Helmeppo and his dad, Buggy the Clown, and Jango and Kuro. They've shown a set for Baratie and Sanji's on the cast, so I'd guess they're going to end their first season with either Don Krieg or Arlong. Will we see some heavy and awful prosthetics work or some laughable uncanny valley CG? Which characters will get bowdlerized in the name of political correctness? (Safe bet Alvida will, but who else?)

Speaking for the audience at the end, I see. "Are you enjoying this?" "No. Are you?"

Because the gravity is artificial and precise local control is nominally possible, gravity may be neither uniform nor fixed at any given point and as we've seen in some works even what constitutes "down" may vary depending on where you happen to be standing. This was demonstrated in the opening of Macross Frontier's first episode, when we see Sheryl and her entourage disembark a galaxy starliner in microgravity and pass into an area where the gravity is raised to 0.75G as they enter Island-1 proper. Most, if not all, of the Macross's interior seems to be kept at normal Earth gravity of ~1.0G during normal operations but this can fluctuate a bit or fail due to damage or the Macross's transformation state. The Prometheus, and later purpose-build space flattops like the Uraga-class and the Macross Quarter's ARMD-L use a lower intensity artificial gravity field that's projected up over the deck to assist in arrested recovery operations. The ARMD-class and its successor designs don't seem to follow this practice, however, since they adopt a more space-friendly approach of just kicking the aircraft out the door and either letting it do its trick unassisted or using a non-contact electromagnetic catapult to provide some initial acceleration.

The writeups of the various 5th Gen VFs typically mention it: Queadluun-Rau IVCS: ~4.5-7G (unclear) YF-24 initial ISC prototype: 2.0G VF-25 ISC/TO21: 27.5G VF-27 ISC/TO21: 27.5G YF-29 ISC/TO22: 30.0G VF-31 ISC/TO21C: 28.0G VF-31 Custom ISC/TO21C?: 29.5G Sv-262 ISC/TO21G: 30.8G VF-31AX ISC/TO24V: 30.0G Macross Chronicle only ever mentions a specific protective inertial neutralization capacity of the system in the Macross Frontier TV Mechanic Sheet for the Queadluun-Rhea. Both the YF-21/VF-22 and Queadluun-Rhea are mentioned to use an improved version of the Queadluun-Rau's Inertia Vector Control System, though exactly how the system works is never properly described AFAIK. Macross Perfect Memory describes it as an inertia control system that is used to improve the Queadluun-Rau's acceleration performance and the propellant efficiency of its engines and verniers. Macross Chronicle describes it as related to or based on gravity control but otherwise declines to offer an explanation except to go on about how it's an essential part of the high maneuverability of the YF-21/VF-22 and Queadluun series battle suist. Even Master File largely evades the question. Its mentions of the IVCS are mainly related to how it impacts flight control. It notes that the Inertia Vector Control System can control the magnitude of an acceleration vector but not its direction, amplifying or diminishing the effects verniers and control surfaces have on the aircraft's inertia. Based on that, it seems like protecting the pilot from g-forces is actually either a secondary function or a byproduct of its manipulating the aircraft's inertial mass somehow.

All 5th Generation VFs use fold quartz, albeit quite sparingly. It's the essential material needed to construct the core of the Inertia Store Converter that protects the pilot from their incredible maneuverability. It's doesn't need fold quartz of an exceptional size or purity, but it does need fold quartz. (It is possible to build an inertia capacitor with high purity fold carbon, but it's much less capable as a result. The Queadluun series battle suits and YF-21/VF-22 have one called the Inertia Vector Control System.) They put fold quartz to a bunch of different uses in the series... fold quartz-based fold communication systems to prevent jamming from disabling Luca's Ghosts, fold wave jamming systems and amplifiers, the prototype super fold booster, and of course the many different flavors of MDE weapons. Of course, the Fold Wave System and its accompanying engine mods became the most extreme application of the stuff short of the planet-killing Dimension Eater bombs.

Assuming the VF-31X, or whatever its actual/official designation ends up being (VF-31X was an informal one used because the VF-31 was the base design they started from) is an actual thing in-setting and not just an unofficial contrivance of Master File? Veeeeeery unlikely. The VF-31X proposed by Master File is an attempt to make a YF-29-esque 6th Gen VF economical and even the book about it suggests it failed miserably in that regard and became yet another unviable super prototype with a total galaxy-wide production volume in the low double digits. I'd assume whatever the next series is will either continue flogging General Galaxy's poor old VF-171 or we'll see a point where 5th Generation VFs are the norm and the only difference between hero and fodder Valks is paintjobs like in the original series. Sakuradite!

I really do have to admit I appreciate the lengths the new Master File is going to to explain how and why the Kairos Plus is a flawed and improvised weapon instead of just painting it as an amazing new design. Yeah, it has improvements, but those improvements are either unsuitable for mass production or applied unevenly enough that the greater performance ended up being detrimental to the aircraft in many other ways.

Because it's been a rough week, I decided to take a bit of time to poke at Variable Fighter Master File: VF-31AX Kairos Plus again. It really is interesting, and a little bizarre, how fold quartz has become a swiss army molecule to the writers of Master File. Up to now, it's been officially used in place of fold carbon to generate fold waves and heavy quanta in gravity and inertia control systems and fold devices. The newest Master File alleges that it has yet another use besides as a fold wave version of a radio crystal and a catalyst for producing exotic particles: it can be used to make superefficient quantum processors too. Master File's explanation for the "ARIEL III" airframe control AI adopted by the VF-31 custom Siegfried and VF-31AX Kairos Plus is that it's essentially a version of the ARIEL II airframe control AI that's been modified to take full advantage of the significantly greater computation speed offered by fold quartz-based processing. They say it's four orders of magnitude faster, making it essentially 10x better than the improvement gallium arsenide offers over silicon semiconductors for switching speed. This seems to be subject to all the same issues with fold quartz scarcity that every other important system the VF-31AX has, so it's essentially unsuitable for mass production. It's that massive leap in processing capability that lets the system get away with calling itself a next-generation control system and not an improvement of ARIEL II like the system adopted by the Sv-303 and VF-31. Also of interest is an explanation for the VF-31 Siegfried's apparent fragility under high speed maneuvering. Master File describes a manufacturing difference between the VF-25 and VF-31 in terms of how weight reduction and armor mounting to the frame is managed. The VF-25 went for weight reduction by designing the airframe around molding/bonding the armor directly to the frame. The premise was apparently that the greater material strength of the HLC-1221 would resist damage and structural stress better this way, and that when the aircraft was damaged individual cast-in-piece segments could simply be exchanged. This apparently worked pretty well, except that the joints between the cast-in-piece parts of the aircraft suffered more from fatigue during high-g maneuvering. The VF-31 used the same frame and armor materials, but went for an easier-to-repair method of simply riveting armor to the structural frame at the expense of slightly increasing the total weight. This ended up causing unintended problems when it was combined with a design change to the ISC on the VF-31 Siegfried. The Siegfried's ISC function was expanded to protect the entire airframe instead of just the cockpit in the hope that it would reduce fatigue. It ended up having the opposite effect because the ISC's discharge behavior was altered from a continuous slow discharge to a periodic discharge when the g-load dropped below a threshold. This resulted in the unintended behavior where the ISC was both less effective and actually applying torque to the airframe in multiple directions during its intermittent discharge cycles, increasing the fatigue on the airframe as a result. This apparently explains why Hayate's VF-31J was something of a hangar queen, needing a lot more repair because of its rough handling. The VF-31AX apparently addressed that problem in two ways. It went back to the VF-25's approach of using molecular bonding to attach the armor to the frame, but also adopted a reinforced frame applying a new approach to energy conversion armor technology where the material was made directionally strong. As in, the material was made such that it could be reinforced to better resist g-forces along a single axis. That was then layered to provide a three-dimensionally-strong reinforced frame that could better resist the torque from its rapid maneuvering and the periodic discharge of the ISC. This new material resulted in the weight reduction we see in the VF-31AX stats. It's noted that because this new material is only applied in a haphazard manner to the repaired VF-31 Siegfrieds, the weight distribution and balance of the resulting aircraft is poor and maintenance requirements increased.

A good read indeed. Nothing particularly unexpected among the subject matter, except for how surprisingly blunt he was about finding Netflix's adaptation of Cowboy Bebop distasteful. I figured it would come up, but I figured he'd be diplomatic about it and either sidestep the issue, give a noncommittal answer, or damn it by faint praise. For him to come right out and say he found it so unpleasant that he'd failed to get past the first scene and that it was not Cowboy Bebop and never would be was far more direct, unreserved, and openly negative than I'd expected.

Buddy Daddies can best be described in "Like X but Y" form. Like Spy x Family, but intensely irritating. Spy x Family's Anya was an adorably precocious kid who, in her own way, desperately wanted to help her adoptive father. The kid in Buddy Daddies is a few years younger, a fair bit more realistic, and as a result a LOT more annoying and detrimental to the story's entertainment value. It doesn't help that there's no real reason for the protagonists to keep the 4 year old kid around either. They're hitmen, not spies, and she's not a part of their cover. She's just a rather bratty four year old. (Let's be honest, the "major event interrupted due to kid needing to pee" gag is funny exactly once in a story. Past that point it's just grating.)

Presumably the countermeasure dispenser in the VF-1's "backpack", which is known to contain tank-style smoke canisters in addition to chaff and flares. Macross Chronicle mentions a hypothetical "smoke generator" mounted in that same position for the purpose. Macross Chronicle confirms that the Angel Birds VF-1s were, in all respects, fully operational VF-1As (pres. Block 4 type) and that their laser weapons were not rendered inert. It does not, however, confirm or deny that the Angel Birds were pressed into combat service when the Zentradi attacked. While not strictly official, Variable Fighter Master File does assert that the Angel Birds saw combat. Like Macross Chronicle, it doesn't confirm or deny whether they fought during the initial attack. It does, however, claim that the Angel Birds were among the UN Forces personnel who were transported into space along with South Ataria island and became part of the Macross's crew. The unit is said to have been reorganized and integrated into the Prometheus's airwing as Angel Platoon, and served with distinction in several engagements on the ship's return flight to Earth. Following the war, Angel Platoon was retired from combat duty and once again became the Angel Birds flight demonstration unit.

My assumption would be that there's more than one "end" to the launch arm, and there's some end that slips into the gap in the foot and connects to the underside of the craft to move it.

Possibly. It's not said if there are rollers or some other concession to towing it or moving it across the deck. Given that they mention the landing gear/feet it has are mainly meant for emergency landings and parking, I'd assume there's some external mechanism or vehicle to move it onto and off of the deck.

The RC-4E seems to be intended mainly, if not exclusively, for use in space given how much is said about the amount of propellant it carries and that the "feet" it has are mentioned to be its landing gear.

Looks like some poor schlub in the Mines of Nostalgia dug too greedily and too deep if they unearthed this Balrog of a property. What's next? Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills? I swear, I'd almost convinced myself this and Street Sharks were the products of some fever dream and not a real thing that existed.

Time will tell if Walkure's impact on the franchise will match that of Sheryl Nome or Ranka Lee... but I suspect we will not be seeing people clamoring for them to come back the way people have for Frontier's idols. All in all, I suspect we've probably seen the last of Walkure in animation since Absolute Live!!!!!!... It's a jab at Mobile Suit Gundam: the Witch from Mercury... which a lot of folks think is either painfully mediocre or just plain bad.

Nah, you won't whip the fujoshi into a furor with two tops (seme)... you need at least one bottom (uke) in the equation before they'll get excited. (Oh the things you learn dating fellow anime hobbyists... ) Same. Or, at least, make the PMC the villains the way they so often are in reality. The whole "hypercompetent heroic PMC" schtick was already a little stale when Macross Frontier did it, though at least they tried to make SMS seem superficially shady at times. It had crossed the line into being an awful cliche by the time Macross Delta was made, and it didn't help that Macross Delta openly acknowledged that Xaos personnel were unlawful combatants in a declared war the same way real mercenaries would be. Hopefully real world influence will push PMCs out of the spotlight in Macross. There's been an awful lot of news about war crimes committed by PMCs in the last year. Probably indefinitely. Kawamori et. al. seem to have taken the view that the events of Macross VF-X2 led to a major reorganization of the government and military which will likely remain in place going forward. IIRC, they've denied that HG had anything to do with the change in the military's insignia. My suspicion is that we'll see them go somewhere else in the galaxy during the reign of 5th Generation VFs and see some other government's new 5th Gen fighter.

It'll be interesting to see where they go from here with new Valkyries in whatever the next series ends up being. Relatively important, I think... since the main characters are almost invariably pilots in some capacity. Macross - like the real world - rapidly walked back the idea that the 5th Generation was to be the "Last Manned Fighter[s]". I don't think we're in any danger of unmanned fighters becoming the norm anytime soon in the real world or in Macross.

Okie-dokie! I'm bored AF anyway. It's that once-quarterly Agile planning period called Big Room Planning and I've got ****-all to do until tomorrow because of how far downstream of the requirements activity my organization is. EDIT: On the other hand, today brought me what might be my favorite worst mental image yet. "The anatomically-incorrect Halloween skeleton for a biblically accurate angel." I am horrified enough by what this would look like that I would probably buy one just to annoy my brother. So... the actual origins of the Fold Wave System are a bit mysterious still. We know the technology originated in the Macross Frontier emigrant fleet as part of the YF-29 program. The remarks in Variable Fighter Master File: VF-31AX Kairos Plus seem to suggest that the the Fold Wave System is a convergence of two or perhaps three distinct lines of research. First is the work of Dr. Mao Nome into fold wave theory and fold quartz, sponsored by Critical Path and possibly having culminated in the so-called "Manfred Thesis" on the applications of fold quartz in the late 2040s or early 2050s. Second is the work of Dr. Gadget M. Chiba in codifying first the Song Energy hypothesis and then his Unified Fold Wave Theory. Lastly, it may also have developed out of the ancient knowledge and practices of the Windermerean people, who Master File alleges used to specifically wear fold quartz jewelry and create all manner of arrangements and alignments specifically to produce resonant amplification effects. The Fold Wave System (Macross Frontier/YF-29 version) Developed by engineers in the Macross Frontier emigrant fleet during the Vajra conflict, the Fold Wave System uses four 1,000 carat-class ultra-high purity pieces of fold quartz to detect, analyze, and amplify fold waves. This basic function allows it to do three things: Act as a fold wave sensor. Amplify fold waves with synergistic effect to improve the performance of the Valkyrie's thermonuclear reaction engines beyond the normal operational limit. Exactly how is poorly understood, but probably involves improving the operation of the Gravity and Inertia Controller inside the compact thermonuclear reactor to allow it to run at higher temperatures and pressures both inside the reactor and inside the turbine. It's believed that it also improves the function of the Inertia Store Converter and potentially any dimensional beam weapons the Valkyrie may be carrying as well. Use fold wave resonance to draw energy directly from higher dimensional space, providing the Valkyrie with an inexhaustible power source that can allow it to run energy intensive systems that would normally be mode-dependent in ALL modes. Macross 30 and Macross Delta materials imply the YF-29 is extremely impractical to reproduce because the necessary size and purity of fold quartz to build the Fold Wave System borders on impossible to find. Master File came right out and said it, indicating the original YF-29's Fold Wave System can't be reproduced because the fold quartz needed is just not obtainable and using smaller and/or lower-quality fold quartz reduces the system's performance. One additional detail mentioned is that the YF-29's Fold Wave System does not require an external fold wave source to activate, it can be forcibly activated. The Fold Dimensional Resonance System (SMS Uroboros/YF-30) Developed by SMS Uroboros in partnership with Shinsei Industry and LAI, the YF-30's Fold Dimensional Resonance system is an improved version of the YF-29's Fold Wave System with one additional function: it can allow the YF-30 to independently traverse fold faults and the dimensional fault barriers used in realspace by the Protoculture and Vajra. Exact details of its operation are a mystery. The Fold Wave System (Xaos Valkyrie Works/VF-31 Siegfried version) A reduced-capability version of the YF-29's Fold Wave System adopted by Xaos Valkyrie Works on their custom VF-31 "Siegfried" used exclusively by Delta Flight. It uses less, and less pure, fold quartz and as a result the performance improvement it offers is much lower. It still has the same functions as the YF-29's version, but the reduction in performance was enough to permit more than one system to be manufactured. Master File alleges that its use of (relatively) lower quality fold quartz (compared to the YF-29) prevents it from being activated at will. A strong external source of fold waves (e.g. Freyja or Mikumo) is required to trigger activation of the system. When active, it provides a 15% improvement in engine output over the maximum, but with rough handling this can overstress the VF-31 Siegfried's airframe and cause damage. The Fold Reheat System (Windermere Royal Aviation Factory/Sv-262 version) Another take on a reduced-capacity version of the Fold Wave System. Master File seems to imply that this was potentially something developed by the Windermereans based on their own unique and centuries-old understanding of fold quartz resonance effects. It lacks the ability to serve as a fold wave detector and amplifier and it cannot carry out fold dimensional energy conversion to provide the Sv-262 with power. Its one and only function is to provide a short but substantial improvement of the Sv-262's engine output. By dedicating itself to that one area, it produces an improvement almost double that of the VF-31 Siegfried's Fold Wave System (25% on the Ba type, 30% on the Hs type) and it can apparently be mass produced. If the Macross Delta TV series is any indication, sustained use of the Fold Reheat can cause damage to the Sv-262. The Twin Quartz Drive (Windermere Royal Aviation Factory/Sv-303 version) All info is per Master File. An improved version of the Sv-262's Fold Reheat. It has higher output improvement and longer continuous operating time than the Fold Reheat system on the Sv-262. It was developed for the manned Sv-300 and later adopted by the unmanned Sv-303 where it was used to run the drone's overtuned engines in "overdrive" mode constantly. This had some negative consequences for engine durability, to the extent that engines were only good a few sorties before requiring replacement. Needs must as the devil drives and all that...

Development of the VF-25 was a joint venture between the Macross Frontier fleet's local branches of Shinsei Industry, L.A.I., and the Macross Frontier fleet arsenal. (It's also worth noting that basically everything that isn't a weapon, engine, or structural/armor piece is electronics... so L.A.I.'s contribution was quite substantial, and refinements to things like the airframe control AI, sensors, and esp. the L.A.I.-manufactured Inertia Store Converter can have a HUGE impact on performance.)