Zinjo

LOL. even more impressive!

The math doesn't add up there bud. Combining those numbers gets us 7310m, so something is missing, but the line art says the same as what you say, so where did the remaining 460m go?

I can only go on what you post and how it reads brother... COOL! True enough, however it only works on products currently in production, like the Macross Zero DVDs. The greater the demand the greater the DVD production, the more money Big West makes the more it reconsiders the market potential of new productions. Out of print DVD titles are essentially a waste of time to get (unless you are a hardcore collector or wish to take the superior R2 transfer and add your own subs to it), as Big West will not see anymore revenue from their sale. I disagree. The main sponsors of anime in Japan are the merchandisers who will pony up the money to sponsor new shows if they believe the market is still open to more merchandise. It wouldn't surprise me if the North American fanbase is helping to prop up support for the Macross merchandisers (Kensei in particular... It would explain why Yamato and other Japanese producers have not struck any deals with HG over SDFM merchandise as they know the importing of their products won't be legally impeded. Well some individuals would consider fansubs to be a form of bootlegging and/or copyright infringment as the titles are being distributed without license or the producers consent. The only real market the bootleggers have are with those who are either incapable or unable to make hometheater capable DVD transfers of fansubs. Some may think it is an "easy" task and with the right equipment and no desire for anything pretty one can produce a very basic subbed DVD from a fansub, however anything more than that takes a certain level of skill. Ask Hurin how much... As for the FB2012 & 20th Anni DVDs, both can be found as bootlegs, and essentially they would be the same as you'd get if you picked up a R2 Japanese release. I have yet to see either one with any subs from bootleggers.

The Macross was 1210m long. The Megaroad colony class was 1620m long (planned length-according to the compendium - however that is debatable as a picture of the 4000m long NUPETIET-VERGNITZS CLASS ship was pictured along side the Megaroad and the megaroad appeared to be at least a 1000m longer in "Flashback 2012 Graffitti") The New Macross City ship is 7770m long, not including the Battle 7 carrier. The Battle 7 Carrier is 1510m long... So the total length of the New Macross City ship would be 9280m in combined length.

I never said Mac II was perfect...far from it. There several issues one can make with it, particularly when compared to Mac Plus, it's immediate successor. I do agree that if anything the landed Zent ships would be over ridden with "additional" structures tacked on the superstructures, to the point of barely being recognizable as Zent warships. Mac 7 had it's big slow cap ships, but it was mostly reserved for the Battle 7 warship and the colony ships of the fleet. As you say, not so much with the military escort ships. Yes it does and that is conspicuously absent from the series. They could have used it for dramatic effect or at least mentioned it in passing dialogue, but for unkown reasons chose to ignore that important element of the original story. There are several other issues I have, but are not relevant to this thread.

So you are saying that SDFM, DYRL, Macross Plus OVA's, Macross Plus Movie are all "still" being actively printed in Japan? I suggest you get your self away from that mirror you enjoy so much and look around you... They are NOT in production anymore and thus any purchases are either second hand or a resellers old stock. Old money that Big West has already made and is no longer making on such items. If I wish to truly support future Macross projects, I will buy the toys that have come out and are coming out, the licensed figures, statues and even the Macross Zero DVD's (which ARE still being produced). Oh wait most if not all on these boards are doing just that! Hmm, I guess because we are not buying items that are no longer making Big West any money we aren't entitled to be so self righteous or self important as you... Oh well, we'll live...

The canon purists wouldn't be satisfied unless Kawamori himself gave the RPG royal ascent... Let's face it SK didn't hold true to the SDFM conventions in Mac 7, so why should Grebo be forced to? Kawamori himself has stated he doesn't believe in strict adherance to "canon" like Star Trek ultimately did. The fact that Mac Zero changed the back story of SDFM is not an abomonation, but simply an "adjustment" IMO. To this point SK has not definitively stated that SDFM is the "actual" story of SW1, he is leaving his options open to re-tell the story if he sees fit. He says it is a story about SW1, but no where does he commit himself to say IT IS the story... So IMO Grebo is well within the spirit of Macross, even if it isn't canon to the purists...

The best/worst I ever saw was a cam bootleg of Howl's Moving Castle. The subtitling was shall we say not for kids... They must have learned English from sailors because the language would have made a marine blush... Not to mention it made absolutely no sense to the story!

LOL

Well the orientation is at least useful to the battroid now...

Additionally, another way BigWest could get into the North American market without having to deal with HG, is by simply adding an English subtitle track to their DVD releases! With the current import laws in North America, there is nothing stopping importer from selling imported japanese DVD's. Then all that would be required by us is to decrypt the Region coding and enjoy! However even that little thing is not being done, it is very unfortunate but we are forced to rely on fansubs or the substandard translations of Chinese bootleggers who often have a poor grasp of the English language.

It's not you... The YF-19 & YF-21's fast packs were nothing more than augment attachements to the aircraft that were barely noticable unless they were pointed out. It was the Mac 7 designs that came up with the fuglies...

Considering most of the post Mac Plus projects are not licensed in North America and may never be (due to the HG bullsh*t) and that most if not all Region 2 Macross DVDs are now out of production (not sure about Mac Zero though) all that is left to most fans are the bootlegs. Would I fork over for domestically released editions of the Japanese DVD's, you bet and most of us would, however that isn't really an option. I personally own both Bandai R2 versions of DYRL Perfect Editon and the Mac Plus Movie Edition on DVD, however, I still have to decrypt them to watch them on my home theater DVD player... If BigWest truly wished to break into the North American market, more effort would be required to challenge the HG claims on the franchise. Maybe they intend to do just that once all the Japanese law suits are settled once and for all. However, in the meantime, we as non-Japanese based fans, have to get our fix one way or another. The only other way to get Macross is via fansub groups and some consider that bootlegging too. Getting bootleg copies of shows currently available here is not supported, but if they are not available here, then there is little choice left to most fans.

I prefer the YF-19 and the VF-19A (Pre-Mac 7) versions. They are more Gundamized to be sure, but more palatable than the designs for TV series that followed. Even the Stormvogel II that I have come to love had the silly brainwave bubbly canopy as opposed to the straight conopy SK designed for the non=brainwave version. Though I never understood the need for thos fugly fast packs! Something along the lines of the Strike packs and the like would suit the fighter better, but the question remains as to how can it transform with them still attached... A dilema for sure...

I am not sure what the differences are between the advanced valkyrie and the M3 versions I've not seen them side by side. The similarities are mostly in the fighter and GERWALK modes as opposed to Battroid.

If you were to look at the Cannon, you would realize that it isn't 4 capital ships attached to a central hub, but the gun mechanisms of Zentreadi ships. There are no aft thrusters at all and they are considerably smaller than the cruisers they look like and appear as though the aft hull behind the gun was made up solely of energizing equipment. From a design point of view, having tandem guns locked into position on each arm doesn't work well for multiple target firing solutions and the only possible reason it should ever need to transform would be to free up the arms to fire on multiple targets. They used it in the series as a mobile grand cannon type of heavy artillery, which was a disservice to the design concept. In terms of a mobile gun platform capable of grand cannon like destructive ability it served it's purpose, but IMO the producers were a bit short sighted with it's use. The hybrid elements of the design are consistent with the universe of Macross II, in that Human/Zentreadi society chose to recycle existing space craft and designs to quickly rebuild after the final battle with Bodolza. ~Do I think it could have been designed better, sure, I would have put the Macross 7 type gun boats on it as the main guns and had each gunboat able to fire on somewhat different angles from one another to allow it to engage multiple targets simultaneously- Now THAT is a Grebo project I'd like to see . ~ Now the ship carried AA weaponry as well as destroids and VF squadron escorts. Yeah it was a big target, but just like any big gun it had a lot of support ships to provide cover. However the Marduk were very adept at swarming such large ships and doing enough damage to disable them or in one case destroying them. Although I do agree with sketchley that a better name would be "Grand Cannon II" as opposed to "Macross Cannon".

I always felt that the VF-3000 was the inspiration for the Macross II VF-2SS. Several design similarities between the two...

Another one. I am not satisfied with how this one turned out. The fighters swarming around the Macross are too blurred. I'm going to do this one again, but here's the one I've already finished.

A wallpaper of the A.S.S. in space above Earth. It isn't anything ground breaking, all I did was add blur effects to create the illusion of depth and distance. The chief differences betweent the three is the sun light effect. I made them all 1600x1200 because most here can reduce the size to their liking. Those who can't let me know and I'll reduce whichever one you like for you....

Well one has to consider that in the Macross Universe, even the Protoculture did not create an autonomous AI. The AFOS is a perfect example of a bio-engineered ship with limited AI that ulitmately required a "pilot". To allow for maximum pilot protection from g-forces and other dangerous effects of the craft's apparent manueverability, the pilot was surounded by a buffer liquid (that possibly filled the lungs of the occupant as well) that probably adjusted it's pressure in accordance to the pressure exerted on the pilot. It is a possibility that actual AI was never truly realized, even by the Protoculture themselves. The biggest failure or risk the Ghost demonstrated was that it was vulnerable to "hacking" and that it could ultimately be hijacked remotely, unlike a piloted aircraft.

Nice!

I stand corrected...

On the contrary, the Super fighter looks pretty good. The over shoulder strike cannons just don't work for me... What would be very cool is that if those mini missiles were able to launch out of the ports at the top of the leg covers while in fighter mode, similar to how the fast packs worked in SDFM!

In other words you didn't find the characters interesting enough to be engaging or for them to engage you into their individual stories? Tony Montana isn't a likeable character in a hero sense, but he is an intersting anti-hero that makes you want to find out about his story.

Well IMO the most viable Macross property for the North American market is currently "Macross Zero". The problem with Mac 7 is that it is so heavily reliant on the music elements, unless you have translated lyrics sung by the original artists, the show will be missing something integral ("To be in Love" from RT anyone?!), not to mention the Japanese record companies would likely make the licensing fees prohibative at the start. Though there are more and more international co-productions coming out, something that was unheard of, even 10 years ago. IGPX, Animatrix, etc... I believe the producers are looking at international markets to co-finance these projects if indeed the money for entertainment production is on the lean side, then they should be. North American cable networks have contributed more to quality television shows and innovative stories in the past 20 years than the mainstream networks have in the past 50. The same can be said for indie films. Indie films or small studio productions have seen greater box office success than any of the formula movies from the major studios and it isn't because of the budgets, it's because of the openness to fresh ideas and the willingness to treat the audience as intelligent adults. Therefore with this trend, new anime productions could benefit from this change in business model. I agree that Macross saw it's greatest success when it targeted adolsecents and adults in SDFM and no doubt BigWest is still seeking that success, but hasn't found the "mix" that will create that level of explosive popularity. Mac 7 may have come close, but kids are fickle and as soon as it was over it's popularity quickly waned. BigWest would do well to look for international financing to offset any domestic shortfalls on new productions. RT's success is directly attributable to it's anchor show "Macross". It kept me watching past the initial 36 episodes and even through the trash of the Southern Cross series in hopes of finding another "cool" chapter from that universe.