Keith

I just finished watching it the other day.Awesome series, proving yet again that the 80's was truly the king of the mecha era.

And if not the show, then at least the toy commercials, as those were freakin' classic. As for DVD, I'm still rooting for Exo-Squad.

I find it funny that an FBI agent is the one who chose to name it after Macross.

Let's see, $10 for a theater seat, $20 for a DVD (though with a little luck, maybe $14.99!), that's an easy choice

After this long, I can't imagine them doing anything other than a re-interpretation of the original series. But who know's, I wouldn't knock it if they picked up where the last one left off.

Chances are they already developed contingencies for such problems, as the ship was meant to go out on a long distance voyage anyway. Water purification/recycling shouldn't have been an issue. I've always assumed Overtech came with methods for such things as rapidly producing air, food, & water, as (aside from the food ratoining) none of that ever seems to be a problem in Macross.

No problem. I definately reccomend sticking with the Macross themed routes, as there's a great stage done in a Macross Plus Meets Macross 7 style. Also, I forgot to mention that occasionally flashing white squares will pop up on the battlefield. Those are tied into various objectives. Sometimes a specific character has to land on them. Sometimes they'll be in a line that you either have to lure the enemy across, or prevent them from crossing.

Or would she be classified as MILFia!

Don't forget about possessed Akiko & the hot dog...how was this a kiddie who again? 425790[/snapback] ya'll say it like it's a "bad" thing.... 425799[/snapback] Not a bad thing at all!

I just picked this up a month & a half ago. It looks intimidating at first, but the best thing I can reccomend is to just jump in. If worse comes to worse, you'll get blown up, and start the stage over again. Play with things, and the menu's will become very clear. Definately check gamefaqs, there are some helpful translations & scenario synpsis there. And as soon as I finish the game, I'm going to read them all before my next play-through But here's what I've learned from playing around (I'm on scenario 52 or 53, nearly the end of the game). When in an actual battle scenario, there are two different menu's you can bring up. The first being when you put your curser over a unit, you bring up your units battle settings menu, and when you place the curser over an empty space, you bring up a more general settings menu. The two most important things in the general settings menu being the very top, and the very bottom option. The very bottom option is your static save (the one you'll go back to when selecting "continue" from the main menu when starting the game), and the top option is for when you have fully moved your units & whatnot for your turn, it ends your turn & starts the enemy's turn to attack you. Make sure you don't mix them up, as you can royally bone a campaign that way. Other options that are available in this menu are you general audio & game settings, a rundown of what your objectives are for that particular stage (which is entirely in Japanese, but you can usually tell from that screen how many turns you have to achieve your goal), one that shows the current status of your entire group such as HP (Hit points, the main green bar), EN (Energy points, or how much energy you have left for attacks), & SP (Seishin points I believe, akin to spells in an RPG, with various effects such as boosting defence, targetting accuracy, evasion, healing, etc), and the rest I don't quite remember right now, but aren't terribly useful most of the time. The Battle settings menu is more detailed, and you'll use it very often. -The top option selects how many spaces your unit will move (which is also determined by the terrain you're on, the top of units you have in that particular group, what transformation they're currently in, whether they're flying types or what not). Choose this option last, as once you finalize your move, you either have to attack or stay stationary for that partuclar turn. If you select it, and select as pace, it will give you two options, the first is to choose an attack, and the second is to stay there & not attack. If only one option pops up, you're too far away from an enemy unit to attack, and will stay in your selected spot. -The second option is for attacking without moving, and selecting a target from those close-enough to you too attack. Mind you attacks themselves are highly dependant on how much energy you currently have left, how close you are to an enemy, and where you specifically are in regards to an enemy (some require you to be close, some require you to be far, some reguire you to be in an exact spot). Things in this menu are very easy to decipher, as it's almost all numbers based, and the types of attacks are abbreviated in enlgih (well, romanji I suppose, but that's neither here nor there). Attacks that are listed as "all" will obviously attack every member of the enemies party. Attacks listed as "MAP" will attack within a specified radious on the map (note some will hurt friendly units on the map, so be carefull when choosing this). And the lower you go down the menu, the stronger the attack is (and the more energy it consumes). Also make sure to keep an eye on the top of the attack selection menu, as some attacks can combine multiple units (like say all 3 Eva's, or Freedom & Justice Gundam's), and the top will show how many units are included with pictures of them. Note that once you select an attack & a target, a Vs screen will come up. This is a very important screen, When attacking the enemy, the basic set of options here are simple, as it turns the battle animations on or off. When being attacked, you can select the second option down to select an available counter attack (1) choose to stand & take an attack, but brace for defense (2) or attempt to avaid the attack & (but not retaliate). Note, that those specfici options are only available when being attacked). In this very same screen, if you tap left or right on the crosspad (or stick), the part that says "on" (or off if you turn off the battle animations) will now show green text that says Offense & Defense. If you move the curser down above those, you'll see the units on opposing sides will show percentages. Depending on whether it's your turn, or the enemies turn, determines who's offense & who's defense. What those percentage numbers mean, are your chances of hitting (the numbers on your side) or being hit (the numbers on the enemies side). When it's your turn, you can alter these numbers easily enough by using the seishin (spells or what not). When you're being attacked, the only influence you can have over those numbers are the options I listed above, with selecting an attack, bracing, or dodging. Obviously if your chances oaf attack are 100%, you'll get an absolute hit, or if your enemies chances of attack are 4%, you can pretty safely assume they'll miss you. -The next option usually involves transforming a unit, combining two units together to make a larger one, or dropping a units excess hardware (like the GPO3's mobile armor). This option can vary in placement depending on who you're selecting, and whether you even have transformable/alterable members in your party. If you don't, then that option won't appear. The same goes for whether you have equipped/usable items. -The option after that I think gives you access to all of the spells in your entire attacking group, at least the ones who haven't moved for that turn yet. -The second from the buttom option is your spells (I hate calling it that, but that's pretty much what it is) menu. Best thing I reccomend is to save before you use any of them, and play with them to see what they do. Though I think Gamefaq's has a rundown of all of them for this game, including translations for the Japanese text. But basically, each pilot has a variety of different spells avaiable to them, and you get more as you gain experience levels. Also note that some spells only affect specific turns, some (such as defense or evasion) only work until you've had to defend against or evade a direct hit attack, some (such as healing) can be used on any unit in your whole party, and that there are usually two different types of the same thing. Such as an individual healing spell that only does partial, or a more expensive one that will fully heal an entire party. There are also ones that boost your attack strength, and that raise your abilities (depending on your pilot, and or story progression). Note that some robots have multiple pilots, and those that do you can hit R2/L2 to switch between pilots, as they usually have different available spells. Also note that you can select a spell with the Square button, which will highlight it green. In doing this, you can select multiple spells at a time (not all spells can be used this way, as some have specific effects that need to be done individually), which will save you time on casting, as you can cast many at once. -The last option general status information. Also, if you have your curser over one of your units, hitting triangle will tranform the lead robot (if they're transformable, and pressing square will cycle through them to switch the leader. The lead unit will have the most powerful attack, and the secondary one will lead the others in a weaker attack before your main attack (depending on various factors at least. The play mechanics are pretty easy once you get used to the menu's, and are very intuitive if you're used to playing turn-based RPG's. Now once you've completed a scenario, there's usually a bit of story (hold circle & R1 to speed through text if you don't want to sit through it). After that will be your inbetween stage menu (blue background). Initially, you don't need to worry about things such as assigning different units & groups, but later on things get detailed here. The top group is entirely for assinging robots to groups. The first option I haven't played with, I think it's for auto assinging, which I don't reccomend, as it's not as fun. The second is for manually putting robots in groups (which is dependant on how expansive that particular robot is). Pay attnetion to how many bars each robot taeks up. Whle you can have a maximum of 4 per group, if you try to play too many strong or large (ones with many bars) robots per group, it'll fill up much faster. If it says OV in the bar, that means you're over your cost limit, and will have to take a unit out. BTW, the first optoin in the assign bar (rectanular black box with 3-4 rows of Japanese characters, the first being the top on the left side) is for choosing a robot, the one right below it is for unchoosing a robot. The rest.....hell if I know The 3rd option in the top set of options is for assigning a pilot to another robot. Some robots are switchable with various pilots (usually depending on being from teh same/similar show). Though some can only be used with their main hero pilot. -The next group is for status (as it obviously says status). I haven't found much use for this. -I think the next one is customize, where you can use your PP (pilot points?) to upgrade your pilots in various fields (option 1), your mecha in various fields (option 2), and your attacks in various fields (option 3). The points assigned for use with pilots are individual per pilot. The points assigned for use with robots are for "all" robots, if you use them all up on one for that turn, you have to wait until you earn more d uring your next scenario. -The next one is Parts. Here you can assign various items to robots for status upgraddes (see Gamefaq's for a rundown on what each does), which is option number one. Option number 2 lets you alter the configuration of certain robots. Like sasy switching the Strike Gundam's various packs, or choosing whether or not Freedom & Justice will take their meteor units into an initial battle (this option depends on robots currently in your party having features that can be changed here). -The last are he final options. I forget what the first one does. The second one is for saving (these saves are between stage saves that you can access by choosing "load" on the main menu), and the 3rd option starts up the next story segment & scenario (so make sure you're done before choosing it). The next thing that will happen is some more story. It's a good idea to not be too hasty with clicking here, as sometimes you'll have to choose between story path options here (see the story synopsis on gamefaqs for help in knowing which route goes with which part of the story). Early in the game, the next thing to happen will be immediately jumping into the battlefield. Later, it will take you to a very similar menu as the one inbetween the stories, but this one has a red background instead of a blue one. The major difference is that you can "not" save here. What this menu does, is based on your current story path, you may have a different group of robots available, and this one lets you make any final unit groupings before your battle. The very buttom option now will take you to a list of units that you can take into battle. Depending on how many battleships you have with you, I think depends on how many units in your party you can take into battle. Selecting units will turn the bar next to them green, and when you're maxed out, a small menu will pop up (pick the middle option), and you'll see the battlefield with numbers over your units. Here you can choose the placement of your units, then hit start to go into the actual battle. Sometimes you'll also have to choose which battle ships you want to take into battle as well. The game really isn't "that" complicated, and I'd picked up most of this stuff within a couple hours of playing. Just keep messing around, and if worse comes to worse, you'll just start the scenario over again. Hopefully these descriptions have been helpful, but definately check out gamefaqs as well, as the story synpopsis faq is invaluable. The only problem I've had in playing this game, is the urge to check out shows I haven't seen before (Getter Robo & Gao Gai Gar for instance. There are also some fun features in the options menu from the main start menu, such as pilot pictures (as you unlock them), the show themes used in the game (again as you unlock them), a bunch of show information in Japanese, and a timeline map of your progress (which also has sidestory missions as you unlock them)

Don't forget about possessed Akiko & the hot dog...how was this a kiddie who again?

The Guitar stick is only dangerous when 3 year olds try to tag along in the cockpit while you're being attacked by a Quadran Rau who's pilot has the largest bra in the galaxy. The rest of the time it's quite safe. As for the MAXL Kai, femine mecha & giant robots are far from uncommon, I rather like the swan motif.

Considering they let Tommy Yune do the character designs & direct it, they truly only have themselves to blame.

Did anyone else get an image of Milia trying to style her hair with cum while reading the title of the topic? Little did I know that wasn't too far from the content

I like to think of it this way. Macross 7 was designed with a main character to focus on the 3 different potential aspects of viewing the series. -For those with a more militaristic view, who wouldn't quickly accept the more idealistic events portrayed, there's Gamlin. -For those who are younger & more impulsively minded, there's Mylene. -And for those more idealisticly minded, who would immediately get/accept Basara & his antics, there's Basara. Personally I fell into this group, as my first watching turned from checking out an episode, to watching half the series within 2 days, then watching it again while waiting for my next batch of fansubs to finish the show off. I still like to theorize that Mao may actually be Basara's mother, as her survival through SWI would be likely, as the most probable place to ship off the remaining Mayan Islanders would be South Atalia, given new jobs "working" on the construction of the new ship. That would be the quickest & easiest way to keep them quiet about the events they saw, while keeping them centralized in an area where other secrets may need to be kept. Having a direct bloodline with the Protoculture would explain Basara's ease in developing his abilities, as well as his instintive nature with what he was doing, just as Sara & Mao had before. I don't see Basara as a "superman" character at all. Just a man who has an idea, and the fortitude to see it through no matter what. It's all too cliche to have "flawed" main characters who are totally unsure of themselves, depressed, self doubting, etc. I like Gundam as much as the next guy, but I also welcome Kawamori bucking the trend by having a strong willed main character who knew what he wanted, knew what he was doing, & knew he was right. And in that light, Basara is no more superman than Max & Isamu were.

Didn't UN spacy order Max to launch an attack on the planet holding the PD's bodies? And as a result he was forced to carry out Stargazer in order not to sacrafice the whole fleet in a pointless battle that would give his fleet a 0.0001% chance of success? Giving them permission to use their nuclear weapons to me seems to be no different than when UN Spacy gave the SDF macross macross before they sent them off to space to certain death. No, Stargazer was Max's idea, which is why it involved so few ships in a last ditch effort to protect the fleet. If anything, the U.N. Spacy would have been against that, as the loss of the 7 fleet would have resulted in the Protodevelin searching out a new target. Please re-read the quotes I am referring to. In one paragraph the PD are proported to be self aware "captial ships", in the next they are possessed "capital ships" ( I use the term capital ships, because the larger ones had the power and size of one, no other reason), I want to know what Keith is describing them to be as there is a contradiction in his explanation. As Noyhauser already pointed out, the "Protodevelin" possession of the Evil Series wasn't in their original specs. They had actually been designed many years before, but weren't feasable for combat given their power limitations. When the Protoculture learned how to tap power from an alternate universe, the project was revived. The unfortunate nasty side effect was that the energy being tapped was self aware, and without its food source, took to feeding off of the local life forms. And what I was saying was that in their original design, they were self aware battleships. Once the Protodevelin were implemented as an energy source, they were possessed battleships. Worse yet, given that the Evil were meant to be a next level super weapon, there was something inherent in their design that screwed with the Zentradi, and caused them to cower in fear, making them inefectual as a weapon against anyone but other Zentradi. The upside of this was that the Protoculture civil war was resolved so that they could band together to fight the Protodevelin, and took to the front lines for likely the first time in millenia. The downside to that was that while their own race wasn't terrified of the Evil, they were succeptable to mind control, and many were formed into the Supervision Army. And just as U.N. Spacy ships were re-engineered into Varuta troops, so were Protoculture ships re-engineered into Supervision Army ships, one such ship being what would become the Macross. Then faced with reduced troops, and ineffective (against the Evil/Protodevelin) Zentradi, the Protoculture fully boned themselves by removing the restrainst they had placed on the Zentradi againt attacking Protoculture. This gave them enough manpower & time to develope the original incarnation of Anima Spiritia, which likely was only used to hold back the Protodevelin enough to use whatever sealing technique they used to put them away. This also resulted in a major backfire when the remnants of the Protoculture, who apparently finally realised all of their past mistakes, decided to patch things up perminently between their two factions & rebuilt peacefully, and finally demilitarize the Zentradi & integrate them into their society. The Zentradi saw that single action as a threat, and without their boundries that restricted them from attacking their creators, took too whiping out any reminants of the Protoculture that tried to "culture" them, as well as whiping out reminants of the Supervision Army. And that of course was where the original series picks up, and why Bodolza saw Earth as such a threat. All things considered, this is the most civil Macross 7 discussion we've ever had....

And Heavy Metal 1 for that matter....

It would be hard to top the original, as it was a revolution in itself. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any of the new OVA, and hopefully Honeamise will set up a release not long after the first OVA.

POWER TO THE RAINBOW, POWER TO THE FUTURE....

I don't think it was a simple lack of armor, but a total cheapening out on materials all together (like the toynami's). If they had better armor, they would have only cracked to pieces in side that armor. Plus they couldn't even kill an old man!

Most of the pilots on the battlefield weren't even allowed faces, much less voices. Except that one guy screaming into his helmet while they sucked his spiritia out, and he was a metric buttload of pilots' face. I doubt Gamlin was calling in just to be a whiny crybaby. It's safe to assume Basara WAS a nuisance. It's safe to assume nothing of the sort. Had Basara been that large of a problem, pilots would have been in an upgroar, nothing happened, and obviously Gamlin was the only one with a problem. Docker, Physica, & Kinryu all seemed to get by fine. Gamlin however had a strict sense of "order," and an unknown on the battlefield more than anything is what bugged him. I never got the impression he actually LIKED Basara's music, though. He just ceased to hate Basara with the burning heat of a thousand suns and acknowledged that Basara DID have talent, even if he didn't care for the music. And yet Gamlin would be the first in line to hear Mylene... And that still doesn't change the fact that they used Basara as an instrument of torture. Aside from the fact that never happend you mean? Random thought: given that the usual view of rock music is "louder = better", it's highly possible Chiba had things turned up way too loud for Gamlin and was causing him physical pain. Doubtful, he was still a doctor afterall. I'm just saying that adults typically acknowledge that the world isn't an ideal place, and that idealism often has to be set aside for reality(like Hikaru setting his "war = bad" idealism aside for the defense of the Macross, and ultimately humanity itself). And I'm just saying that the concept of following an ideal doesn't make something "kiddie." Rampant idealism is typically a sign of a kiddie show. I thought rampant violence was a typical sign of a kiddie show. Basara never questions the idea that there's a non-violent solution to everything. What's more, he never questions that the solution is people listening to his song. He either blames everyone around him when his singing fails or assumes he just isn't good enough. The opposite could just as easily be said. Most characters in many series never even entertain the notion that there's a non-violent solution to everything. It's far more common to just pull the trigger & be done with it. And the reason he never questions that the solution is that people listen to his song is the core of what Macross has always been about. If one person shares their emotions with another (through the medium of music), they will be able to move that persons heart. In the original series, it was instigated through music, then carried out through full exposure to human culture/way of life. The Zentradi decided they would rather enjoy the new feelings & things they were experiencing, than destroy it & continue roving the galaxy. That's what lead to the rebellion of the Britai Adoclas fleet. The same applies here, Basara know's that regardless of whether people like his music or not, if they can feel the emotion he's putting into it, they'll understand what he's trying to say. Gamlin & Mylene were interesting because they were placed there to grow to the point Basara had already been at. But the focus was on Basara, not Gamlin and Mylene's adaption to him. Those story angles were sacrificed several times for the sake of more Basara. And why exactly shouldn't the focus be on Basara? As I said, Gamlin & Mylene were secondary characters who's purpose it was to grow past the specific skeptacism that certain people would have to such a situation. And in that task they succeeded. QUOTE As I said, Basara had no conflicts, problems, etc, because he already had his sh!t together from the start. Everyone else was playing catch up. That hardly makes him a flat character. Yes, it does. He's a static and unchanging fixture in the show. What need was there for him to change. He was right, he knew he was right, and it was everyone else around him who had to change to realise that. Basara's growth was that of effectiveness. He started out with an ideal, and grew in strength enough to realise that ideal. I'm just saying that Basara's character could've been developed through backstory without altering his character signifigantly. A single flashback of him trying to move a mountain with his song isn't my idea of character development, or even establishment. And yet it was, that single bit defines exactly who Basara is. Doesn't matter where he comes from, doesn't matter where he's going, Basara is Basara. QUOTE Macross 7 also only pursued one major point. SDF Macross had many concurrent major threads. Some were fully realized, others were truncated or abandoned. Fair enough. Personally, I don't think Mac7's version would fit in the setting of SDF Macross. Despite the fact that the groundwork was already layed down for it? You'll recall that the Zentradi mistook Kaifun's movie antics for an ancient secret weapon. And while I've lost since lost the newsgroup article. There was an old post by one of the Macross Plus translaters who claimed that he heard from the Nue staff that many aspects of 7 were originally intended for the initial 52 episode layout of SDF Macross. While I obvioulsy can't comfirm that, I've always found it interesting. Because it is explained that they have never known such things and as such would be fearful of it as is typical of most people who become afraid of something they don't understand... Did I mention the fact that they were giant space aliens who were freaked out by sex & music? You can't call one seriouisly hard sci-fi, & the other silly, without coming off as a hypocrite. Really? Ask a few pilots and then get back to me on that one.... Conventions are only conventions because they're the accepted norm. That doesn't make them the only way to do things, or even the right way to do things. Saying that using a flight stick shaped like one thing is more viable than using a flight stick shaped like another thing specifically based on what's normal & what's uncommon is...silly. QUOTE(Keith @ Aug 12 2006, 01:36 AM) And then you go and claim the AFOS to be more believable, despite its complete & total lack of mechanical parts? None of the powers (aside from possessoin) are anything that wasn't already shown to be possible with already existing Protoculture technology. For all intents & purposes, they're bio-engineered self aware battleships, be them suped up past anything given to the Zentradi. Ahh, but they were'nt ships were they, they were Monsters... Had they been similar to Sivil, but capable of taking over any mechanical device or could "become" as powerful as a captial ship, I would have liked them better, but that is my preference. The AFOS doesn't need mechanical parts to do it's job, so why would the PC have grown them?. Actually, they were as powerful as any capitol ship, that was the point. The protocutlre simply blended their advanced warship technology, with their advanced genetics technology, and created living weapons. The Evil series (bodies which were possessed by the Protodevelin) were no more "monsters' than the Zentradi. For a similar convention, look at Farscape. Biologically created ships with weapons are a convention in that seires, and not considered "space monsters," nor should the Protodevelin be considered here. All of the abilities they showed (aside from possession, which wasn't in their original design). were biological representations of features already existing in overtech. Space Fold, Barrier shields, energy weapons, all pre-existing tech. The AFOS's design was also along similar lines. You'll recall the research scientists on the carrier commenting how its organs are similar to the technology found in the Macross. Had the Protoculture not fallen, likely all of their technology would have gone that route. Well since you brought up the GI Joe show.... Kinda sounds familiar huh? Not at all similar, had censors allowed them to kill characters there, they would have. As is, they were restricted to having parachutes & exploding robots due to broadcast standards. Anime has no such conventions in place. You really must stop trying to assume what my expectations are... You see your description of Basara is not dramatic, he only sings really well. Where as your description of the character who must overcome obstacles is more dramatic. My daughter never had much time for dramatic characters, but ones who were flashy or could sing well...she had plenty of time for. Hence my point. Actually, Basara's abilities have little to do with how well he signs. His power comes from his passion, not from his voice. Music is only the medium through which he applies it. Basara could just as easily have the same effect if his passion was knitting, carpentry, screwing, peeing, or killing. Since Macross's theme has always been music, that's the chosen way he expresses himself. But if you strip away the songs you still have the passion, and that's what's creating the anima spiritia. True. Had the show that started it all been given 52 episodes, it would have faced the same issues. That doesn't mean it would be any less annoying... All I'm saying is that 9 out of 10 anime series have just as much recycled footage, be it launch sequences, henshin poses, special attacks, or what not. 7 shouldn't be judged any more harsly than them, especially since 7 didn't rely on a clip show episode to stay on budget, when the average for a series that long is to have at least 2 clip shows. Hell, look at the SEED's, there are more recycled animations & clip shows than anything previous. Huh? They were light years away and able to communicate regularly, exactly how did they get abandoned Are you sure you watched this show? The Galaxy network keeps all of the colony fleets in contact with each other & earth through fold communications (fold communications have existed since the first series). Assumedly, the technology allows instantanious transmission in much the same way that fold travel allows instantanious travel. Anyway, the U.N. Spacy brass decided to sacrifice the 7 fleet to the Protodevelin, since they were the only thing that the Protodevelin seemed to take interest in. Max however went against orders, and decided to keep fighting against the Protodevelin anyway. I'm not quite sure about that last one. Artist = Firebomber. Idol = Jammingbirds. If they were so similar, then why all the debates? Clearly a change was made. IMO it was that the target audience was a younger age for Mac 7 than SDFM and thus what worked for one audience doesn't work for another. Because people get too wrapped up in the superficial aspects. Shooting verses singing, a hero who gung-kills as opposed to one who sings. To deny this reality is only to fool one's self. And to dislike something because it looks different, despite being the same, is to be prejudice None were principal characters, they were supporting at best, except for Gigil and frankly I was never drawn in enough to his tragedy to really care that he died. Physica was given some background, but only in an attempt to garner the audience's sympathy. Kind of too little too late. In SDF you have 2 main characters and a few related characters who die. You get to know Kakizaki and Roy and when they fall you have an emotional response to it. When Admiral Hayse goes up with the Grand Canon you can empathyse with Misa, I never developed any care for the fates of Kinyru, Physica or Gigil. I felt for Sivil and even a bit of sympathy for Basra's attempts to revive her, but not much more than that. Kakizaki was hardly more of a main character than Kinryu or Physica, and definately less of one than Gigil. As for the rest, that's more personal preference than anything. The same thing goes for the Megaroad 13 populace. OK they possibly died... and? It's like watching a Star Trek episode, it's an interesting piece of information that explains part of the story, but has no real impact on the viewer. You can't dismiss the tragedy, but you don't really care about the people either, because the viewer was completely insulated from the incident. It's not like you were introduced to the millions of people on Earth who died either. One is hardly less tragic than the other.

I honestly don't see why they didn't just design these for the DS. The extra screen & touch would have helped with the smaller size. With that said, I'm still not sure if I want to pick this up, as I love Alpha 3, but a big part of my love has to do with all of the licensed characters & mecha.

I think this says it all: "And on the other end of the spectrum it seemed like the creative directors were trying to put their own, unique spin on the production and make it "their own," rather than be compared to the past and the creators who originally made their mark on this legendary series. " As that was always the problem with robotech to begin with. Strangely enough, this has not detered me from wanting to buy this one bit, and if anything, it's making me want to re-watch the Sentinels in all its gay 70's spandex & handlebar mustache-ness. Just what is it that draws me to these robotech sequels?

Does it at least tie up its own story, or does it leave things open there too?

To be fair, they had a lot ot make up for after the flatchested manly women of the Sentinels. I'll still buy it, and I'll still stick it next to Space Gandam V on my Shelf.