Zinjo

If BW and Bandai are behind the publishing, guaranteed Mac II will be in it. Bandai owns the merch rights and BW considers it part of the franchise...

Well Bandai has the rights to all the new designs so Hasegawa has to do something to compete on the model kit front... Hell they could release a fighter with the Minmay guard decals again, the color schemes are endless. They should hold a fan contest and the top three winners get their schemes immortalized in a kit....

It wouldn't surprise me if they "plan" for 2 seasons, but won't actually announce it until they are sure the ratings will pay for it... 3 episodes is not enough to base a trend on, unless you are FOX....

True enough! SDFM revealed the giants almost immediately, while the PD were left until nearly the end.

They were the first to get their "Obsequious Toady Badge" at the Harmony Gold booth?

Yeah, I am thinking the same way. In the Newb thread apparently a French Macross Wikipedia (not much of a reliable source I agree) lists two dates in the 2050's and refers to a splintering between the UNG and the colony worlds and a form of cold war forming. Now this is absolute speculation of course, but what if such events DID occur? What if apparently aligned groups (Frontier & Galaxy) were actually politcally at odds and competing? What if the SMS being a civillian profit oriented military contractor were supplying both sides? What if the Vajra are a group that have PC weaponry/technology at their disposal and both sides are looking to court them into an alliance? The whole turning the universe on it's ear, that Marchalongcassidy suggested, would fit, since typically it's been "us" (humanity) against an alien threat-Zentreadi, PD, Aphos, etc.... A suitable change up would be that humanity becomes it's own worst enemy and an alien people are witnesses to this! Yes it's very Gundam, however for Gundam to do the same, they would have to have the mobile suits suddenly face an alien threat to humanity... Now what in the world could a brand new Battle fortress with dual Macross cannons for arms need to shoot at? How about another brand new Battle fortress on the other side of the fence? Macross Plus, 7 and Zero proved one thing about the macross fanbase, we LOVE variable on variable fighter combat. VF vs alien mecha tends to bore most of us, thus the ultimate macross mecha porn is an all out battle between transforming fighters and of course transforming battleships... It's all speculation of course, based on a dodgy wikipedia source, but not impossible, just one of dozens of possibilities...

Well we don't know for sure if there was economic stagnation or if there was a change in the political landscape of the universe. The UN Spacy lasted for 40 years (at least) and then within a decade of 2050, we see a NUNS organization come on the scene, with no initial reason. If all was happy in the home, why reform an effective military organization of 40+ years? Supernova as well as the Ghost X9 project certainly pushed the envelope of design, however it appears with the VF-25, the needs of the military have changed to a more utilitarian requirement as opposed to bleeding edge weapons systems. It gives me a sense of building a fighter system bred for large scale war (similar to the VF-1) rather than testing the boundaries of what is possible with variable fighter aircraft design.

One thing not considered, is "Could Gilliam have fired a couple of missiles from the fast packs (off camera) that ultimately homed in on the Vajra lobster as he approached?" It seems a bit weak and reaching, but I thought I'd toss it out there...

Cell shading has been around for several years now. Best examples of that would be (off the top of my head), Last Exile and Ergo Proxy to name a couple. The cg is almost seemless. Oh and don't forget Shadow Chronicles... , OK, OK, sorry, I lost my lunch and I feel MUCH better now....

Fair enough, however the weight of 2 mid-range missiles in 2059 could very well be less than that of 12 mini-missiles along with launch carriages in each leg. Essentially the 2040's era fighters were much more self contained weapons platforms as opposed to the VF-25's bolt on weapons packages. The impression I get is that the VF-25 is primarily an atmospheric/trans-atmospheric fighter with add-on mission packs for whatever environment it is tasked to engage in. Very much old school thinking, however much more cost effective than an all environment self contained variable fighter system. A much more modular approach, with the potential for faster re-deployment time in combat situations.

Wow that didn't take long....

Red unit? Are you referrring to the Q-Raus?

I could have sworn I heard that the SK designed the VF-25 to be slimmer than it's predecessors to accomodate the FAST Packs and Armor Packs. With the apparent "lack" of internally stored ordinance, would not the thrust to weight ratio be increased on a non-augmented fighter? We've been told that the FAST Packs are primarily for speed (although I am sure they are armed with micro missiles, if one considers the tell tale ports on the top) and the Armor Packs are for superior weapons loadout. Gilliam jestisoning of his FAST packs in ep 1 makes sense, since he didn't need them to fly around an environment that is only 15km long with a ceiling of 2 km, however utilizing an Armor Pack would be tactically wise for close combat in the same environment. Now since the classic GBP was primarily designed as ground based weapons augmentation, would not the designers keep that in mind with the new Armor pack? Thus, would they not possibly utilize light weight ceramic alloys to provide maximum protection along with minimal weight gain for atmostpheric engagements? The most efficient way to get to a combat zone with an Armor Pack quickly is via GERWAK mode, since transformed jet air flight would be like trying to fly a "truck"! I suspect or would expect the armor pack NOT to be made out of iron, but much lighter, stronger alloys, to accomplish this end. IMHO.

There is a 50/50 chance the LaSalle's will come up in the Encyclopedia, however considering how "implications" are very important in Japanese culture, I strongly suspect the Nome name did come from Mao. There are too many coincidences that would lead one not to believe otherwise. However, I am getting a strong sense of a bit of political drama is brewing in this series, since it is a genre that Kawamori has yet to exploer in his career and well he does like to make each Macross series vary by genre, I suspect to keep them distinct from each other. We will have to see...

Well I won't rule out a rail gun, since theoretically if the projectile is fired at sufficient speed it would become a bolt of plasma, thus giving a similar affect.

Now you're being silly. The rational and most realistic way, is to give her a customized VF-25 with a guitar control stick and speakers to attack the Vajra in space with.... SWEET! AiA has released their sub! The waiting is now over...

I am leaning toward a DEW personally. If one looked closely at the frames, it exit wound was a vaporized "hole" similar to that created by the Lobster Vajra's back cannon on the capital ships. I tend to wonder if it is some sort of micronized buster/macross cannon or high energy plasma thrower. It doesn't do devastating destruction, but is capable of doing critical damage to whater it hits.

Try here, this seems to be what you are looking for, but they are out of stock: http://pricescan.ca/__Toys/Robot_Hand_Grab...item171212.html This guy on ebay has 7 available, everyone else seems to be out of stock. http://cgi.ebay.com/Robot-Hand-Grabber-Toy...Q2em118Q2el1247 The grabber has 4 articulating fingers, it appears the thumb is rigid.

Wow the Ride Armor is coming along really nicely! Then again it's much less complex than a Valk...

"Gubaba Jell"...

REPULSOR LIFTS!!! No wait, wrong franchise Grav control generators, superior thrust capacity, anime magic...please somebody pick one...... PULEESE...

I have to agree. A common hybrid genetic anomaly would make a lot more sense than a dismissive, "Well it's always been that way, didn't you notice?"

True, the SMS are using a derivative of what was used in VF-X2.

Fair enough, where is the "Macross Aircraft Carrier"? There is the SDF-1 Macross, but it was an SDF class battleship, was it not? There is a "York" city, hence the name "New York", there is a country called "Mexico", hence the name "New Mexico", there is an Orleans city, hence the name "New Orleans", etc... Yet no Macross Class Aircraft carrier, on the SDF class....