Zinjo

If that's the shot of the 3 or so City ships leaving Earth's orbit, you can save it, as that has been discussed here before and ultimately it's not conclusive to any argument. I can't watch the youtube link as it's a blocked site where I work.

I am not too sure that is correct. Why carry a million colonists on a mission to "rewire" the galactic network? I don't recall Mac 5 having any more than 1 city ship...

In all the published literature about Mac Frontier thus far. You'll have to search through previous threads to find the translations done by the membership. The Frontier is the "11th Super Long Distance" emigration fleet. It isn't the same type of fleet as the Megaroad or the New Macross fleets, eventhough it still uses the New Macross City class ship. The Mac 7 was the 35th emigration fleet (IIRC). Not likely. The Frontier is the 25th New Macross City class ship built, thus the "25" name. The Mac 7 fleet had only 1 million colonists looking for a habitable planet to colonize, whereas the Mac 25 fleet has 10 million colonists looking for a habitable world in the Galactic core region. Except they didn't build a brand new Battle 7 or City 7 and they also had the benefit of the 3 Star industry ship which appears designed to repair the capital ships enroute. Then there is the issue of where exactly were they able to house even a fraction of the 10 million people in a fleet that would be capable of only carrying 1 million? I am not saying what you are suggesting is impossible, but when one looks at the size and complexity of an "Island" ship, it seems very unlikely it is something built enroute, they'd have to park the fleet for several years to mine and process the materials just to build one without the factory satellite... You may want to examine the episode again. The Islands are evenly spread out behind the Frontier in what appears to be a "V" like formation.

I just had a thought. Why not finish and polish the right hand side and leave the left like a rough sketch. In varying degrees show the picture taking shape? The unfinished image inspired me... Something to consider.

It looks like a placeholder icon for an unknown ship. They were experiencing jamming remember, I doubt they got a decent scan of what was out there...

I disagree. The Island ships may have been physically "connected" to Frontier City over time, but they are far too large to have been built on the fly (no pun intended). The emigration fleet has 10 million people, the Mac 7 had only 1 million. The Island ships number about 30 compared to the 7 industry ships in the Mac 7 fleet. Then you add the compliment of NUNS capital escort ships, the analogy of a City State is really not that far fetched. It might also explain why the fleet has a "President" as opposed to only a "Mayor"... This is the 11th Super Long Distance Fleet, but we can surmise the this may be the 25th New Macross Class City ship (complete with Battle section), which does track since we know that the 13th New Macross Battle Fortress was already deployed in 2050. Sheryl's surprise with the Island ships' bodies of water suggests that the Galaxy fleet (being older) may not have such things or possibly may not be as large.

February 22/08 along with the SDFM series... according to Amazon Jp

Love how you added the fire reflection on the fuselage panels.. Very nice work!

What the hell font is that?!

The civilians are spread out over the Frontier City and Island (pill) ships. There is no need to have high spires like in City 7 because the population density is spread out over the various Islands. I expect each island to have its own city and suspect that the cities are named after pre-SW1 cities of the Earth. It wouldn't surprise me if the various industry ships used in the Mac 7 fleets were now somehow integrated into the Island ships. This fleet is the 11th Super Long Distance fleet, unlike the Mac 7 fleets which were smaller and more integrated. The Frontier, Galaxy type fleets have many more separate capital ship escorts compared to the Mac 7 fleets who's escorts were largely integrated with the various industry ships in the fleet.

That's to replace the rediculous "Milky Road" from Mac 7... thank God!

Well if you can provide a screenshot to that effect I'll believe it. As far as I know the term "Phoenix" was coined by Newtype USA. The VF-0 was called the "Zero" as a homage to the Mitsubishi Zero of WW2...

I agree, however I'd change the VF-5000 with the SW-XA1 Schneeblume. The SV-51 for it's preying mantis like Battroid mode and the VF-25 fully loaded is quite badass, not that it isn't elegant neked... I prefer the VF-171 over the VF-17. I can't really put my finger on it, maybe it is because it doesn't seem so "fat" comparatively, but more delta wing like... Love the VF-9 fighter mode, but the battroid looks like Kawamori's first try at lego..(Yikes!) I've always like the concept of a purely space based anti-capital ship fighter that was the Metal Siren, but it's ultimate design was sad. I would love to see how Kawamori would design it...

I suspect the VF-25 are not much more outstanding than the VF-171s. You put an experienced pilot behind the stick and toss on some uber fast packs and then the aircraft becomes formidable. I suspect the SMS would have lasted much longer against the hammerheads in the VF-171s than the NUNS greenhorns did.

INCONCEIVABLE!

I have no doubt. I liked the concepts behind the fighter, but was not a fan of its design... The VF-2 Valyrie II however is another matter...

Dude So wanting hires scans of those pages!! There are shots of the Armor pack in Battroid, the VF-25 in GERWALK and the various nice shots of the red (hero) VF-25....

That would be the VF-2SS long range visor for the SAP rail gun and it looked stupid back then too... If they are not mecha then that definitely throws in a bit of a twist to the story, but that doesn't explain the guns and missiles? Hoping its a red herring or else I smell another Mac 7 coming...

Hmm, well if that is indeed the case then the bible clearly doesn't say that destorids are discontinued, it's only speculation...

The days long before the Compendium ever existed....

The PD were all highly experimental prototypes, not exactly standard issue gear for the PC forces. They are quite fantastical and much of their weaponry seemed less based on reality and more based on the needs of the story, thus very difficult for even the ardent Mac 7 fan to explain. The spiritia harvesting is not a PC weapon, it was necessary to feed the super dimension entities possessing the EVIL series creatures. Comparing the current bio-mecha to the AFOS or even the space wales in Dynamite (yes Keith I believe you were right about the space wales-now) is probably better as the they are most likely at the same tech level.

Miyatake was not hired to design destroids in Mac 7, his tasks were to design capital ships, the initial designs for the Varuata fighters (which Kawamori finished) and the PD. Why would he design a mecha that he wasn't hired to do. I suspect that the issue was to distinguish the Macross franchise from the Gundam one, eventhough the Destroids were not nearly as complex a mecha as the Gundams were. The Koenig monster was a stupid design IMHO, however as a highly mobile artillery platform it would have it's uses, predominately in space. To deploy that mecha in an atmospheric enviroment would cause more damage than any benefits it could possibly have (mostly during its landing sequence). I tend to agree that any updated destroids by 2059 would be formidable ground forces. It is also conceivable that with the costs of emigrations fleets requiring contracted defence forces to augment the NUNS forces, destroids would be considered too costly and relegated to Marine forces in military fleets. In that respect it makes more sense to deploy more conventional AFVs on non-eventful colony trips. However, it is a risk to take that route since you are sending out large populations of civilians into areas of un-explored space where you know Zentreadi and SA forces could still be lurking. Combat effectiveness is not a very strong argument for the lack of destroids seen in Macross since DYRL. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` I expect the VF-25 is the next generation of front line fighter. It has no SOCOM aspects that we can determine like the VF-17, VF-19 or the VF-22. By all appearances it is the latest generation of standard variable fighter that requires weapons augmentation packs for maximum combat effectiveness. The biggest weakness of the VF-171 is it's apparent inability to carry much more than what the fighter already has besides underwing missile hardpoints. With the exception of beam weapon fast packs, what you see is what you get, which is somewhat limiting. No doubt the VF-171 is very effective against Zentreadi weaponry, which would be why it is the standard fighter of the NUNS.

Passive stealth in what way? It's shape is that of a typical flock of birds (patterned after the F-117) which is not really relevant to space, the materials that would absorb or deflect Cyclops radar would be expensive to produce and for a mass produced front line fighter may be cost prohibative for the construction of the masses of fighters needed in a fleet the size of Macross Frontier. I've always felt that passive stealth on a space based "stealth" fighter would be essentially pointless and would have to be active to be really effective, however that is my opinion. In terms of destroids, one must wonder why new designs of destroids with more effective weapons packages and mobility would NOT have been considered for Colonial defense, Marine Divisions and even internal fleet defence? If variable fighters could advance to such an extent as they have, would it not make sense to have destroids with roller wheels on their feet similar to the Mac II designs and with weaponry like GU-11 gunpods replacing slow reloading cannons, etc... Yes the variable fighters are a formidable weapons platforms, but their complexity, cost and ultimately their availability would certainly limit their uses to space and air engagements as first line of defense and offensive weaponry. Granted the destroids are not the stars of the shows, but even marginally they'd have some sort of role in the military arsenal, one would think.

2 totally different armored packs. The Armored pack for the VF-25 looks more like a gundam armor pack than Mac II...

The dome is a physical clear shell and what most are overlooking is that the Redbug had to use of it's mini-macross cannon to blast a hole in it. I suspect that outer shell is a protection device (as well as a holographic emitter like it was used in Mac 7 (although I prefer the more realistic close time in Frontier) and could be for things like meteor showers, protection from a close proximity to a star and atmospheric descent, not only for battle protection. The battle caught the fleet by surprise as was the ineffectiveness of the NUNS VF-171s against the Hammerheads and Redbugs. The speed at which the aliens reached the fleet gave them no time to drop the dome. Then there is the situation of the "Island" ships which have no such protection. The deploying of the SMS and the barrage from the cruisers bought some time, but only enough to get the civilians into shelters.