Zinjo

So what is the source of the these comments? Video commentary? Interview? What?

Well Keith you and I have debated this point at length before and I don't buy it still. Highly unlikely in my opinion, unless the Mardook possessed PC weaponry and the ability to brainwash their troops, ala the PD. This we do agree on. Modified, it could be shoe horned in, as it was originally written, there is no way.

Exactly how are you so sure? The producer said so or just a magazine ad for 6 episodes? In an OVA series, if the first one doesn't sell well, and the second is in the can, then why wouldn't Bandai pull the plug on what they expect to be a flop (cut your losses, so to speak)? The production values of the subsequent episodes certainly are not on par for a series intended to "only" be 6 episodes long, the budget would have been set and the episodes would have been made according to what resources were available for the allotted money. Bad writing is one thing, inept writing is another. The writing staff had members from SDFM on it and they already proved their pedigre. Setting up a love triangle between Silvie, Hibiki and Nexx and then abandoning it is not something even a bad writer leaves hanging. The "bad" writing came with trying to condense a longer story into a limited number of episodes. Now the set up was in place by ep 2 and the ball drop came when they didn't resolve it, even with throw away dialogue. I find it highly doubtful there wasn't a plan to deal with that thread ultimately. It's easy for the Kawamori fanboys to dismiss the show because SK wasn't involved for whatever pet reason, however Mac 7 is not much better until the second season when the actual meat of the story gets started. It isn't the best Macross ever produced, however it has always appeared to me that the story was truncated and as such became rather disjointed in several areas. The poor execution IMO was the very beginning, where the audiences were bored by the introduction of Ishtar alone in her chamber, followed by Hibiki's introduction as a tabloid reporter. Nothing to hook the audience at all. They tried to be "artistic" rather then following the fundementals of visual story telling. "Hook the audience within the first 10 minutes or you've lost them..."

Doh! My bad! I forgot about that deadalus punch....

Actually the VF-0 was designed as a test bed for the VF-1 systems, not to combat the AUN Army. It was pressed into combat service when the SV-51 was revealed by the AUN. One could explain the rather plain look of the VF-1 to production concessions. The designers may have wanted to use the better VF-0 wing types, but budgets and the need for a quick production turnover may have prevented several "better" design elements to be included. They needed transformable fighters and they needed them fast, as an imminent alien threat was expected at anytime. The VF-0 was a corvette, while the VF-1 was a chevelle. One expensive and advanced, while the other was a basic production line vehicle built to do a job in large numbers. The same type of vehicle, just not the same level of tech.

Fair enough I stand corrected, however I still stand by my assertion that a crafty opponent could easily disable the Valk during that phase of the transformation by simply firing at the hydraulics as the legs drop into place. When one takes into account the VF-19 and most recently the VF-25 this vulnerability is substantially minimized.

She wasn't blown up. Her bridge and gunship were destroyed, essentially crippling it in a fight. The Battle Galaxy for the most part survived.

Kinda blows one away when you consider how big the BSG is and then realize that the Pegasus was BIGGER!

It's more like "the Sponsors EXPECT a new mecha design for merchandizing..."

Well said. I've always felt that the series was meant to be longer, but budgetary restraints and poor acceptance by the market killed it. Too many threads started and never finished. The story was rushed as if the writers just didn't know how to distill the story to it's most important core in light of the shrinking episode count. The premise is something that really appealed to me and yes it's execution was quite poor. I do agree the Metal Siren was the most uninspired mecha design I've seen in a Macross production. At least the VF-2SS was a hybrid of Kawamori's VF-1 and VF-4 which made it much more redeemable and quite innovative at the time. The SDF-1 "upgrade" was very disappointing, along with that iconic ship's destruction. Totally unecessary. The animation quality definitely suffered with Bandai essentially pulling the financial plug on it half way through, which is essentially Bandai's way of cancelling the show (the Japanese don't suddenly drop a show from production when it is cancelled, they typically give the producers "notice" that in X number of episodes the show will end).

The VF-1 probably had the most inefficient transformation system AFTER the VF-9! The VF-1 required the engines to separate from the fuselage to complete the transformation process. Eventhough it was momentary, it was an incredible vulnerability that could easily be exploited by a crafty enemy. Even the Zero used swing bars...

True, however it isn't clear whether the Global was patterened after the SDF-1 or SDF-2 designs. The SDF-2 was 400m longer than the Macross and likely had designed spaces for various missions (civilian space for short range colonization fleets or military facilities for escort missions), unlike the Macross. The NMC is approximately the same size as the SDF-2 Megalord warship. Thus that size must have had benefits to the military for it to become a standard size for Macross type warships.

I suspect Grace meant that the Vajra were the first natural creatures to utilize SD energy. Possibly their SD organs are what inspired the development of the artificial ones used in the EVIL series. I agree that the PC may well have derived their SD technology from Vajra research, however their "fear" was most likely borne out of their understanding of the fold network they could create and it's potential perversion into a means of slavery for the galaxy as well as the potential (that Grace demonstrated) that with such a network a group could wage a battle simultaneously on hundreds of fronts. I tend to suspect that the fold network is what sparked the PC civil war. If humanity could figure out the malevolent uses for the fold network, no doubt a faction of the PC did as well.

So the Vajra started it all... They are a natural race of creatures that the PC must have discovered and mimicked. I always knew this would somehow come back to the PC, it always does (with the exception of Plus). I tend to wonder if they were the reason for the PC civil war in the first place. If humanity could figure out a malevolent use for the fold network, then no doubt a faction of the PC did as well. Thus the civil war was one against slavery to the fold network that the Vajra naturally existed in. I liked the fact that Grace, Mao and the research team honestly believed it was a "good" thing to have this network of instant communication galaxy wide. Their ideologies justified the sacrifice of free will in the universe. Even Brila bought into the idea with his own adgenda of finding the Megaroad 01 and ultimately Minmay. Kawamori has certainly matured in his story telling. The PC used the Vajra's abilities to enhance their own technology, to be sure. The fold quartz would certainly solve the fold fault problem for them as well as allow them to directly interface with their bio-mecha, which may well have been the case with the APHOS. It may also be probable that this is how they discovered Super Dimensional travel in the first place. Some may think the resolution a bit trite, but let's face it so was SDFM. A love song ended a cataclysmic war and so another love song(s) ended a war with a race of ancient beings. Ranka, like Minmay became a bridge to peace. I'm sure SK could have made the ending much deeper, but he had to consider his audience and their lack of experience. The finale was layered enough for the old guard, but simple enough for the casual viewer to understand. Nicely done!

Yeah it was a pretty good interpretation. However certain lyrics could use some work. "Do You Remember" was conspicuously absent and that I definitely missed. The line "...my hand in yours..." would have sounded better as "your hand in mine" as it worked better with the preceeding lyric. I have to agree, if I could get an MP3 of her rendition of her song, it would definitely be a keeper!

WOW! I didn't know you did a sunset version of the Macross! Stunning! One of my all time favorite renders of the ship... Would you post a hi-res version of it here?

This one is better than the last! Great work!

Very Nice!

Wow can't wait until this mod is complete! Need any testers?

The Megaroad design has been confirmed in the Chronicle, so that is no longer in question.

Yep, I got my 1986 printing of Perfect Memory from those guys too... That's how I know it came with a poster, just like the first printing did...

Wow dude, I knew it was young, but wow! 13 years? It hasn't been that way in the West for about 90 - 100 years.... Canada used to be 14 years then recently it was changed to 16. There were many various stipulations as to what was and wasn't considered legal attached to the criminal code.

SDFM is still the best, as dated as it is. It was a compelling war story which didn't back away from mature themes, however Frontier is definitely second on my list! For animation quality, Frontier is certainly the best. As much as I love the animation in Zero, Frontier took it so much farther...

Makes sense to me, since "Judah" or rather "Judas" implies treacherous behavior and if the Sharon Apple type of AI is used, they would need some sort of system to keep it under control. Possibly it was meant to be called the "Judas" System and the writers made a mistake with the name.

It could possibly be one of the first Island Cluster types produced...