Keith

Meh, I liked G, it was just different enough to give it a special place in teh franchise. I didn't mind the super robot take at all. But Turn A is definately the first AU show that should be seen. X is a strange combination of ZZ & Orguss, while Wing & SEED/Destiny all tread back over 0079 & Zeta territory.

Gamlin could easily have been re-assigned to escorting Mylene. It's made pretty clear that "Firebomber" as a group has played its last concert (so no, Mylene has no more engagements to perform), and Basara is probably headed off to the same place Sara & Shin are. You just wait, the mythical Macross finale will have Basara pilotting the AFOS!

Ballsiest moment still goes to Exedor. Intentionally misfiring the Macross cannon, & making it appear to be a mistake was classic.

No one "ever" died as a result of Basara's singing. Simple fact is, regardless of whether he would have been fighting or not, an extra pilot on the battlefield served to distract more Varuta away from the cannon fodder VF-11's. One more pilot taking pot shots at them wouldn't have made a difference. Besides which, very few, if any, of those VF-11 pilots actually died. Part of the reason they were taken out so easily is that they weren't just being shot at, they were having their spiritia drained. That nullified their ability to retaliate against their attackers, and left them immobile targets. And considering when all is said & done, that the Protodevelin's technology vastly outclassed any weaponry the U.N. Spacy had, just fighting them never would have ended well. If anything, the singlemindedness comes from those who think only returning violence against violence will solve a conflict. Considering there was a whole fleet full of fighter pilots, one (then later 4) musicians hardly put the rest in danger. Except nothing of the sort is even remotely shown. It's doubtful the Protodevelin would have treated the Varuta forces any different than the SA, and the the Varuta treated the PD at best like an aristocracy, most certainly not like gods. Considering the Varuta were shown to still possess complex technical skill, that's quite likely, as someone would have to re-engineer the weaponry of their fleet, and it's doubtful the PD would want to sit & do all that work themselves. The same should be true for the PD. What Macross were you watching? Britai's ship had that technology, as did the rest of the bulkier ships in Bodolza's fleet. That's what they used to toast Earth. Also note, the whole "true story is somewhere between the two" spiel is from before Kawamori's return to Macross with Plus & 7, i.e. before DYRL was relegated to a movie within the canon. Let's put this into perspective then. The only real sign of the Supervision Army has been half demolished ships. By the 2040 era of Macross, the U.N. Spacy has spread a pretty good bit through the Universe. While there are indications of Zentradi fleets still roaming around, the general implication has been that many were "mopped up," so to speak. Britai was so bored at the beginning of Macross that he & Exedor went chasing after a near comfirmed kill just to make sure there was nothing left to fight there. The only other Supervision Army ship aside from the Macross that has been seen was another wreckage in 2011. When the Protodevelin revived would have been the time to regroup any significant SA force to complement their newer army. When Basara was regaining major chunks of the Varuta would have been an even better time to pull back in any remaining SA. They had the ability to fold damn near anywhere they wanted, they had all the modern communications equipment they'd need, and they had no reason "not" to use them. Hell, when the PD learned to sutain themselves at the end of 7, you'd think that if for no other reason then to tie up all bygons they'd regall the SA "then" just to demilitarize them. But still no sign of them. Considering all the facts presented, combined with the general take of "in-fighting" of bored Zentradi like Kamjin, that the SA were pretty close to whiped out by the start of the first Macross series. And even if they were to pop back up, they would no longer have any reason left to fight. Contrast this with the Marduk who are shown to have their own mythology (apparenlty loosely based on a mythical space ship), and dialogue from either Ishtar or one of the high priestess emulator's (I forget which) that the Marduk were once an independent race just like humans who came across the Zentradi & won them over with their culture (only to enslave them & use their technology to stomp over the galaxy), and you have very little similarity to the SA at all. Hell, their "mind control" technology couldn't have been more different. The SA/Varuta were still capable of independent thoght & action, just skewed towards the PD's goals. The Marduk Zentradi on the other hand were reduced to animal actions of fighting & sleeping, nothing inbetween.

Again, actually "watch" Macross II. The Marduk share very little in common with the SA at all, and are far more akin to a warped Earth. Regarding Varuta, considering the Supervision Army were being regularly hunted down by the Zentradi (and to the contrary of what you believe, I got the impression that they were dying out, not flourishing across the galaxy), it wouldn't make sense for them to draw attention to Varuta, as all that would bring is a bigass fleet (like Bodolza's) to take out the planet. It would make far more sence for the SA to stay as far away from Varuta as possible, make some attempt at gathering enough Spiritia to awaken the PD, then returning.

"And monkey's might fly out of my butt."

Actually, I think the official reason for the split was regarding their ranks in the 7 fleet. Max being fleet commander had the highest rank, and Milia being a bit jealous that she couldn't match his place in the fleet decided to retire her commission and take up the highest civillian position (i.e. running for mayor). The problem then being that the possitions of fleet commander & city mayor caused them to butt heads on enough issues to put a strain on their personal relationship, hence the split. The rumors of Max's affair in Trash were just that, rumors. The situation seems to have had far more to do with Milia's bullheadedness, and perhaps a lack of sensitivity on Max's part. By all appearances, it never got any bigger than a seperation, and again, by the end of the series, all seems to be resolved.

Everytime these discussions about Emilia come up, I can't help but thnk of that one scene from Village of the Giants, with the guy hanging off of the giant blonde's tits as she's dancing.

Actually, I think the Mayan legends explain why the head of the AFOS was removed. After the bit about the fish man having his fins cut off and developing legs, then eventually coming to an island and sobbing because he was alone, the legend says this (going by the ANBU digisub). "Then the Bird Human came down and cut his own head off. The blood that poored from his neck became the first female, Rooy Waka. Rooy Kanu & Roy Waka joined together and gave birth to many children. And after giving birth to their children, Rooy Waka left and returned home to the stars which was far across the ocean. Rooy Kanu My dear wife, please come back to me. The Bird Human replied and said, My dear husband Rooy Kanu, the day I come back again will be when the destiny of the stars crumble. It is the day when the song of destruction will echo into the world" What the gist of this means to me is that the AFOS was always meant to be a safety measure should humanity turn out too warlike. If you look at the timeline of events surrounding the time the Protoculture visited Earth, you can see a jump in the Protoculture conflict & weapons technology (developing the Evil & such), and it could be that the faction that visited Earth were already expecting the worst to come from their civil war. The fact that that particular group had direct combat with other Protoculture & were opposed to the Stellar republic says a lot, as the implication has always been that all conflicts were handled by the Zentradi. If that fundamental base was already breaking down, things must have been bad. Rooy Waka is clearly implied to be a member of the Protoculture, and the original pilot of the AFOS. Her direct family line goes all the way down to Sara & Mao, who are from birth raised as Shamen, and unknowingly trained in how to pilot the AFOS in the doomsday judgement scenario. Considering Sara & Mao were in contact with the head & body at all times, it s indeed more likely that the seperation was done for conservation pruposes, or likely to prevent an accidental activation. In bringing the head & body together, there would have to be direct intent to use the AFOS. On to the Marduk thing. I thought the one well spelled-out thing about the Marduk was how they came into being. The Marduk were a species much like those of humans who came across the Zentradi in a similar scenario. Just like humans they used "culture" to overcome them, but in their scenario, they enslaved the Zentradi with it instead of integrading with them, and in the process stole their technology & turned the Zentradi into their own slave military. Ingus wasn't a bio-computer like Bodolzaa & Laplamiz, but instead was a Marduk Citizen who somehow found a way to integrate himself into one of the mobile fortresses in the natural pilots place. You'll note he himself is never shown to be giant.

Looks like this is one & the same gundam game. It's something different, but definately potentially fun. Mind you I never played any of the dynasty warriors games, but there is something enticing about that shot of the Zeta slicing through a group of mobile suits.

It'll be released, and I'll bust out my copy of the sentinels to watch before it, and laugh my ass off. Then I'll watch it, and laugh my ass off again...then maybe I'll throw in Space Gandam V for good measure.

Everyone know's anime pilots never carry spare helmets...ever. Sure it'd be a good idea considering how often they get smashed, shatttered etc. The only concievable reason I can think of the "spare helmet" thing coming into being, is to take a knock at the whole Mu thing in SEED. But since Tomino doesn't watch AU shows, that doesn't make sense either.

So where's the link....

Never happen. Kawamori isn't happy unless something major is vague at the end of each series.

Why make the whales? Perhaps a stepping stone in their experiments to bridge their technilogical abilities & bio-engineering technology. Perhaps the whales themselves were a model of ship (slightly more primative than the AFOS) that wound up being abandoned. The fact that they're sentient, have red blood, and embody a facet of Protoculture technology, combined with the of harboring themselves around a Protoculture influenced world just seems like too much of a coincidence. And while it could be argued leaving "tests" for sentient life that would pop up in the universe is vein, it could also be argued that it was done in the hindsight of all the destruction the Protoculture themselves directly brought. Everyone wants their children to become something better then what they were afterall. Not that your average parent would kill their child for not... As for the Ruins, I actually got the impression that it may have actually been more directly one of the Protoculture, either imprinted somehow on the machinery of the ruins, or a living actual remnant. Whatever it was, just seems like something more than an A.I.

Mylene was clearly going to end up with Gamlin. No woman but Sivil was ever able to move Basara.

I dissagree, especially after Zero. The AFOS was a very specific test left behind, and combined with whatever was keeping an eye over the ruins on Lux (more than a computer to say the least), it wasn't just Protoculture blood, but a being who's blood was specifically mixed with Zentradi, meaning that it would only respond to a race who had overcome the Protoculture's biggest mistake. As for the Whales, I think you're forgetting why they were being hunted. Their bodies were capable of being used as comonents to spaceship engines. And of course they were beings capable of long distance fold, being tied to Zola to regenerate their energy enough to continue travelling through space. And I don't know about you, but when the AFOS first joined its head & body & began transform, it looked a lot like one of the whales to me. The whole thing smacks of Protoculture technology. I should have been more specific about what I believed to be the similaritiesin the Zolans & Mayan's however. That being their myths & art styles. The murals on Zola looked entirely similar to the Mayan's paintings & the scrolls in the Protoculture ruins. The Protoculture themselves are believed to be extinct, nothing definative has been stated on the subject. Considering their once vast occupation of space, it's hard to believe some small faction couldn't have madei t out somewhere. Even if not, there's no reason to believe before dying out, that they couldn't have left technology behind to test the remaining life in the universe, ala 2001.

I don't plan on watching the dub either, but can't seem to tear myself away from these dubbing polls. Kyon is apparently also up. Out of all of them, I chose 5. I was leaning towards 1, but he had trouble pronuncing "Haruhi," which like #4 in the Yuki set, knocks him out by default.

Sometime in the 2012-2047 era, while Earth was colonizing worlds, they came across Zola which had also been altered by the Protoculture. The Zolans, unlike the humans, hadn't taken to space, and if you'll notice, actually share quite a lot in common with the Mayan islanders. Apparently the U.N. Spacy declared them a colony, and set up the Zolans with technology. After Grahams wife was killed while studying the effects of singing to the Ginga Kujira, Graham went out & got himself Macronized using the U.N. Spacy's tech. The Zolans themselves were left with no such technology by the Protoculture. Regardless of whether you like Dynamite or not, the major point to the plot, much like Zero & the "Mystery of the Ruins?" story arch of 7, was that the Protoculture were leaving behind "tests" for humanity to overcome, likely to prove their potential for succeeding the Protoculture as a race that can spread out through space & not blow everything up. If my guess is correct, then a future Macross project will take this all to a head, and have one final bang up test, possibly including the remains of the Protoculture.

Milia being a hypocodriac is totally in character. Don't forget: -She threw Komilia! -She hung out in the Macross, and sustained herself in an arcade. -Her idea of revenge was a badly animated knife fight, the idea for which I can only assume came from watching a bad drama while aboard the Macross. Etc. She was always on the neurotic side. As for their relationship in 7, at the end it is pretty much all but said that they've reconciled.

Or Turn A Space!

Gundam hasn't done well in the U.S. because Wing is the only series that got the full marketting machine behind it. Had SEED been shown in the weekday afternoon block like Wing, it would have had a more successful run. Bandai missed their opportunity to strike while the iron was hot on their Wing success. X should have followed up before G, as should V. 0079 would have been a crap shoot to begin with, and honestly should have stuck with a DVD only release instead of an attempted broadcast. The Dub only-ness of the TV series sure as hell didn't help. I'd be surprised if the movie box & CCA didn't sell better than the Gundam TV dub only disc's. All things considered, I wouldn't at all mind limited edition box only releases of ZZ, V, X, & Turn A. Side releases of Evolve & MS Igloo would be just as welcome.

The major problem, amongst other things, is that Vegatative Camille awakens newtype powers within Judau. With Camille in full force, there's no point to having Judau. Mind you I like ZZ too, and I can't help but think that the decision to make the Zeta movies after all this time would have been better with 100% new animation, there was absolutely no (good) reason not to.

1 is definately the best, 4 can't even pronunce "Haruhi" & fails by default.

::shrugs:: sounds different, the one mentioned on gunota sounds more like a Vs styled game, but we'll see.