Zinjo

Would "RE-FIT" be a fair translation?

Besides the "coolness factor" (of which I don't subscribe with respect to the 19 & 21), I don't see how FAST Packs actually benefit either the YF-19 or the YF-21? Both have superior acceleration and space flight capabilities and if, as March says, the reactant lasts for months as opposed to hours then conforming fuel tanks are essentially a waste of materials. The primary role of the FAST packs on the VF-1s and VF-11s respectively are for short distance high powered combat thrust and weapons systems augmentation. The VF-19 and VF-22 series of fighters are nearly self contained units requiring very little in the areas of augmentation it appears. If the packs sole purpose is to provide additional sensor or ECM packages, then their small size would make sense, but as already stated if the fuel consumption is minimal then the need for conforming tanks is not necessary.

I agree. Mainly because the original history seemed so hastily thrown together as opposed to how Mac Zero was more deliberate. Establishing the AUN as an army as opposed to some unrealistically well equipped terrorist organization. How well equipped they really were was logically kept secret from the public to avoid errosion of confidence in the young UNG. The metaphysical retcon, is debatable. I thought it was much better presented than Mac 7 if SK insists on keeping it in the universe (although why he feels its necessary when he has the SA and the PC cultures and tech still to explore in the universe-would love to be able to ask that question directly... ).

Interesting speculation, however it is equally plausible to expect that the AFOS had a telepathic link with it's pilot similar to the "Brainwave Interface" of Macross Plus however much more advanced. It is also conceivable the AFOS chose a voice to communicate that Sara was familiar with, hence her father's. I doubt that it has any more significance than that.

Assuming humanity even knew about such a phenomena, that's very advanced stuff for a squadron commander... Even his ex girlfriend Aries would not have told him of such things, if she knew....

Moving on to REAL topics... while others boost their egos with grammar books...LOL I am not disputing the facts so much as offering an opinion on the characterization of the PC's themselves (oh wait Protoculture - just in case sketchly and eugimon wish to "chastize me again... ). In that, why would an uber advanced race that had been around for Centuries not wish to "teach" the folly of their actions in the dusk of their civilization to those child worlds they had manipulated? Why did it take the AFOS's pilot to show the morality to defy barbaric orders and stop the annhilliation of an entire world? Maybe it was a commentary on the differences between the morailty of a government as opposed to it's citizens (whether the moral question was intended or by coincidence)? Either way, it doesn't paint the ruling body of the PC's in a very benevolent light, which tends to ignite my disdain.

That WAS an SA wrecked ship. The concern over it being booby trapped, is why they left it alone.

The thing I like about the CVS class ships as well as the Battle class ships is that they appear to be designed to land in the water which is a common theme for space faring civilizations in anime...

Good point. It could also be that the ship sketchley is speculationg about is the reason that brought Vritai's fleet into our solar system to begin with.

Yes I did, however, my post is not diminished by it, the name originally posted is not obscured by the lack of a second capital letter. In future, I will endeavour to be sure all my Capitals are in place along with crossed "t"s and dotted "i"s... Who am I kidding, I probably won't care, so long as I am clear....

Like I said....

Good points, however, I didn't mean the AFOS was "evil" as in having a malevolent spirit, but EVIL as in the EVIL series of bio weapons created by the PC. The principal difference between this one compared to the PD is that the AFOS required a pilot, a moral center if you will, whereas the original EVILs were autonomous beings, similar to the Zentreadi. Which as it turned out was the best design characteristic the PC could have built. Without the pilot, the AFOS would follow it's programming to the letter without any consideration for any redeeming qualities a race might possess. Which is why I tend to balk at the idea of the doomsday weapon idea of the AFOS, mostly in terms of the PC setting a higher standard for their experiments than they set for themselves... That such an advanced race at the brink of it's own destruction still didn't learn how to teach it's legacies as opposed to destroy them as they were about to be destroyed. I find it rather 2 dimensional of them to do such a thing, which one has to assume they did to the hundreds (or thousands) of worlds they bioengineered.

Well telekenesis is a bread and butter SF element and SK coupled that ability with song, which is much more palatable than magic light beems creating a sheild from a buster cannon type blast.. I tend to agree that the M7 director took the idea of song energy (or sonic energy as I prefer to refer to it) and turned it into a juvenile light show as opposed to the more subtle manner SK used in Mac Zero. Until we get an interview with SK with specific questions on what he wanted M7 to be as opposed to how it turned out, we'll never know how much was actually intended. However with him in a more supervisory role on this project, I suspect we'll get a better idea of what kind of personal vision he has for the universe. Considering this is his first direct return to an all out series since SDFM, it will be interesting indeed. As for Minmay's abilities, in a universe of Anima Spiritia abilities, then Minmay would be the audience's first experience with such an ability. Granted she was untrained in how to utilize the ability and it was undeveloped, but the natural affect was still there, which is why she is so iconic to the survivors of the war. It is implied by the story itself, in that a virtual unknown is able to reach pop idol status in mere months aboard the ship with her songs. In a population of 50,000 there must have been several music acts entertaining the people, yet Minmay was reveared by all. Possessing anima spiritia abilities, her music would have a greater impact than any other singer at the time, if the whole Fire Bomber success is used as comparison.

I am not discounting the training aspects at all, that is an additional issue. "Costs" are relative when one considers that raw materials just have to be harvested from planetary bodies, and considering we do not know what kind of economy the post apocalyptic UNG ran, even that is speculative. We are not shown how people are compensated for their work, but more importantly how colonization or military expenses are accounted for. For all we know it could be decreed that all such expenses are not accounted for in terms of the public economy, but are outside of it as considered esssential to survival of the species. Not too far a stretch considering what the world population had exeperienced... You make a good point about the self sufficiency of emigration fleets during the Cityship era. All that is required to rebuild squadrons and even captial ships are planetary bodies from which to harvest the needed raw materials.

Is not a "vision" a hallucination?? Sara didn't stop attacking Shin even after he stopped attacking her, she was still caught up in the machine induced hallucination, it wasn't until she recognized him directly that she ceased the attack. I tend to believe the AFOS was a Evil series bio-weapon that required a pilot as opposed to the autonomous "first batch" that went terribly wrong... One could compare the Ghost X9 of Mac Plus as the human equivalent to the PC's Proto Devlin. Only the PD were much worse.

Agreed. The idea of spiritia is not as offensive as the rainbow lights, speakers in space and an abrasive "super" rock star character that worked for the kids, but not the old guard fans. More subdued effects and implied alien powers akin to Mac Zero would have worked for me. Hell if the PD were as terrifying looking as Exodol was scared in M7, I would have bought them too...

There is also the reality that the VF-19 went through a design change from the VF-19A to the F/P/S designs which no longer sported the swing wing capability. That swing wing capability was only kept in the A's and K's and none else. Now it is possible that the design change delayed the mass production of the VF-19 series fighters or as already stated, the fighter was so complex (particularly when one compares its transformation sequence to most other fighters of the same era) that it became a special ops fighter, similar to the VF-22 as opposed to a line fighter like the VF-11C. One other thing to consider is that it may have become the front line fighter for the UN Air Force and not the Navy (aka- Spacy), thus any Naval deployments would be limited in number compared to planetary based forces. One could extend that speculation to the UN Marines, but we have no documented evidence (thus far) that the Marines still exist in the mid 21st century... It is also possible that the design change was requested by the Navy for naval deployment and that all UN Air Force VF19's still retain the swing wing for air superiority in atmospheric combat... I can't see production facilities being that much of an issue, as one must expect that after 30 years of research into the technology of the factory satelite, I find it difficult to believe that they would not have enough accumulated knowledge to be able to build a reverse engineered version of the same facility at least on a small scale to be deployed at colony worlds.

Doh, nevermind!

That's debatable....

Not that I recall. What is implied is that the Birdman/AFOS is a very powerful "being" of legend that is to be feared and it appears to be awakened by conflict or the results of conflict (wreckage, blood, etc...), not much more is revealed. However it did seem to have the ability to induce hallucinations in it's pilot, for reasons not explained, possibly an interface enhancer of some kind?...

Yes that's right. I was confusing it with M3...

Not necessarily so. As an example, Toho's Appleseed movie did 3 times the DVD business in the West as compared to the Japanese release of the same film. Now even if the pricing in the West is half of the domestic Japanese release (a discrepancy sketchly aptly pointed out as being necessary to recoup the expense of a limited domestic printing release), BW, via Bandai Visual could still make a lot of additional money from Macross titles here. If one goes by the idea that 2 DVDs sold in the West equals 1 domestic Japanese DVD, then they could make 1.5 times more revenue by fighting for their market share here as opposed to be cocooned only in Japan. There are very real profits to be made by freeing up the Macross brand in the West and with shrinking domestic profits a producer has to expand or they simply won't grow. There is a reason why the trend is for asian partnerships between Japan and Korea to share the costs as well as the artistic visions of new anime titles to be marketed internationally, the cost benefit ratio is much greater this way. As for Japanese English dubs, it is highly unlikely they'd do such things themselves. They'd contract out like they did in the 90's with the Mikyazaki films, Robot Carnival, and Megazone 23 Pt2 (there may be a few more titles I am not aware of). All these were dubbed and then sent back to Japan for the Japanese subtitles to be added. A few studios actually gained a license to distribute the titles here at the time. So such activity is not unheard of. However with all the dubbing studios doing anime now, it may not be as easy get a contract without some sort of distribution side deal or unusually high contract price. They may go with Bandai US for the dubbing as it's parent company is in Japan...

You make valid points, the question remains is with the amount of potential revenue to be made internationally by Bandai Visual (the typically distributor of Macross productions domestically and now with a brand spanking new office in America) and Big West, one wonders if a challenge is a possibility. Strategically now is the best time. If not, then it was a pleasant dream nonetheless...

I believe both games take place at different times in the universe. VF-X2 takes palce in 2050 and I may be wrong but I think VF-X1 takes place in the late 2030's as the VF-11 is still in development in that game.

If that is indeed the route this new series takes, it would be an opportunity to retell the same story but add additional elements hinted at in other shows or publications, as well as certain story threads that could use an overhaul (Max and Millia's love story, the post war Earth, etc...). It would allow them to introduce non-disputed designs of both character and mecha (Mikimoto has already updated his designs for Hikaru and Minmay in recent years). If BigWest and Bandai Visual are looking at the cash cow of the Western market, this is a golden way to do it. The Toho film "Appleseed" did 3 times the DVD business in North America as compared to how many units sold in Japan. That's a lot of revenue for an anime producer in the cash strapped domestic anime market in Japan.