Zinjo

Deviously clever...

I believe that is where it failed. Gubaba has a point though, that anything coming after DYRL was going to be treated like the rebound girlfriend. So Mac II had high expectations to fulfill coming out of the gate and then didn't... It would have had greater longevity had it's story been tighter or the episodes been extended from 6 to possibly 8 or more. The writers couldn't be brutally honest about the story and were far too attached to their initial outline, even when they realized they were running out of time. They were writing a limited episode OVA like a full blown TV season and it just didn't work. The elements were there, the premise solid, but execution was lacking. The animation didn't help either. Sometimes great animation will allow an audience to be more forgiving of a poor script, but I got the impression Bandai cut the budget and walked away from the series when they didn't see block buster numbers after the first few episodes were released. I'd like to see a re-edit to tighten up the story to see if that would improve it.

I have to agree with Seto on this with respect to the OVA format not lending itself well to what appears to be a much longer story. One could resonably criticize the writers for not distilling the story down to its most essential elements to fit the format, but that's another debate. I liked the mecha designs as well, with the distinct exception of the Metal Siren. I found that fighter blocky and fairly unimaginative (a project I'd expect Miyatake or Kawamori would have done better with). The VF-2SS being a sleek and sexy fighter was clearly a derivative of the VF-1 and VF-4, having several elements of both as well as original ones. The use of rail guns as opposed to beam guns or chemical projectiles I also found refreshing. The human capital ship designs were much like the Metal Siren, blocky and unimaginative. They so very much reminded me of the late 70's, early 80's designs of capital ships in anime. As Seto has said strongly influenced by Gundam a decade earlier. I too didn't care much for the leg cannons on the Macross. Some might disagree, but it made logical sense to me for the bridge section to act like a life raft of sorts. Initially it struck me as odd, but with time it made logical sense for such an upgrade to the ship to exist. The cannon bursts to signal the detection of approaching ships was never really explained, since the SA's booby trap was disarmed after it initially fired. If it was some sort of territorial beacon to the military units of an impending attack, that was never explained. As an alternative universe, where humanity took a different path from that of the Nue continuity I found intriguing. The turn about of an enemy using song in battle as well, truly excited me. It tossed out the question of "What if your enemy used the same tricks you used, what would you do then?" Ingus was quite 2 dimensional for a villan and the aspects of the Alus Legend were not fully realized or understood in the final act, IMO. The Gina / Nexx / Hibiki love triangle was very weak. I would have preferred they focus more on the Hibiki/Gena/Ishatar triangle instead of wasting screen time with Nexx. Nexx was the typical hero mentor character for Gena, tossing in a romantic sub-plot between them simply didn't work. Hibiki's character development was far too rushed and maybe they should have gone with a simpler motivator for him. Gina was hardly fleshed out at all. Her attraction to Hibiki, the reasons why she put herself in harms way in a Valkyrie, etc... The best developed characters had to be Ishtar and Feff, though Ishtar had the most of the two. You understood them the most and why they did what they did. I enjoyed it and have to say I prefer it to Macross 7. Mac 7 was a show which had a short meaty story, that ran one season too long...

Not really a great example, since the resolution of 35mm film is still higher than HD (thus far). The biggest challenge to Lucas was remastering a decade old copy and cleaning up the SFX of the movies since the film projectors back then were much more forgiving as compared to how HD tvs are now... The fact that most of us have become accustomed to the near flawless results of CGI lately, the flaws of old films like Star Wars really stand out to us now! Even with all that he did, there were still several scenes that he missed during the clean up. I suspect he's working on the blue ray masters for the saga right now... If he gets it done by Christmas, it'll be a massive seller...

Same time...

If I could get a high enough resolution kite, I might do one, but so far those are pretty hard to find... There are a few other Frontier pictures that might lend themselves well to a phone wallpaper, but I haven't worked on them yet.

It depends on how its presented. Kawamori used misunderstanding to drive the conflict of Vajra. Who knows, he could use ignorance as the basis for a conflict with the SA... However, one thing I do realize is that he has yet to come up with something we'd expect...

I tend to foster the belief the SA are fighting for their existence because it makes sense to me. The PD were sealed as a result of the PC Anima Spiritia soldiers' work. We know that after PD mind control is broken the victims take several hours to recover. Now place this into a battlefield situation. The Zentradi and PC forces square off against the PD and the SA. The AS soldiers go to work. They could conceivably disable the SA fleet just from the affects of Anima Spiritia (I won't say singing, since it really isn't established what forms AS came in, we've only seen one) and then move on to the PD. Now when the SA come back around they become aware that they are on a battlefield with hostile Zentradi forces all around. Fight or flight kicks in and we go from there. With the PC only able to reinstitute the non-interference protocol in a portion of the all their Zentradi forces, they loose control over their army. Whether the PC recognize the SA as repatriated citizens or not, the SA has become a target for the Zentradi, who either equal their number or are vastly out numbered by the giants (since the Zents are clones, I'd lean toward the latter). Since the SA were composed of PC and Zents and being an Inspection force tasked with guarding the EVIL series research site, I'd expect they had the latest hardware available, couple that with absorbed armies of Zents, I suspect, "pre-protocol removal", they would be a formidable enemy. Now when faced with millions of enemy ships and billions of enemy soldiers the battles would have been quite brutal and no doubt the SA's numbers suffered. The only thing I'd expect that gave them a survival edge was the superior weaponry they may have possessed and their ability to repair and improve their gear. I tend to believe that the reason why there were so many collateral casualties in the subsequent battles was that any PC world that would have given aid and comfort to the Zentradi enemy would have been decimated much like Bodolza's demonstration to Hikaru and Misa, when he ordered his ships to bombard a nearby planet. It wouldn't matter to the Zentradi and any pleas that the SA were actually repatriated PC would likely be considered a trick by mind controlled microns... There could very well still be mind controlled SA still in the galaxy, however after countless ages I find it difficult to believe that the PD mind control would be generational and that at no point were the SA ever exposed to music or culture of any kind in their travels. That's my theory anyway...

Many writers have said that you don't have to like a character for them to be the protagonist, you just have to understand them. IMO, Mylene was the protagonist of the series since she grew the most and we saw much of the story through her eyes. She was a spolied child (common with the baby of the family) who had to grow up and be the responsible one since Basara was so irresponsible. Basara was more of a principle character that became Mylene's catalyst for change and growth. I've come to understand Basara since I've known a few of his type. The "artist" out of touch with reality. Seriously, if you honestly believe you can move a mountain by shreiking at it you are in "La La Land"! He's the type who'd be perfectly content being a busker on a street corner living off the loose change, so long as people heard him sing. It was Mylene and Roy who were the driving force behind the band and actually built the Firebomber fanbase. Basara couldn't care less about the fans, he just wanted his songs to be heard by anyone, anywhere, it didn't matter. He also fulfilled the role of hero pilot for the series because every Macross series has to have one! Though, Gamlin was his chief rival in that respect. The antagonists IMO should have been scarier and much more menacing, which they unfortunately weren't. It made it hard for scifi fans to believe that these characters could have been responsible for the downfall of a Galactic Republic that lasted for thousands of years. As a vehicle for the record company and the toy makers to capitalize on, it did its job. Unfortunately it was about 25 episodes too long to have a tight, compelling story. The good stories always seem too short and the weak ones always seem too long... However, it wasn't until Dynamite that Basara actually became a protagonist. He actually did something meaningful in that show as opposed to play his guitar, write his little songs and brood about how everyone else didn't get his message, eventhough he didn't articulate it very well at all.

The "girls'" as in Sara and Mao. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the reason for their parents death is so ambiguous....

True, however, I doubt Tatsunoko had the same deal for DYRL as they had with SDFM. By 1983 BigWest was swimming in money from their hit show (if one considers how much merchandise was produced for the show and how many licenses were sold for said merchandise). So it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't pay for DYRL with cash!!! Though if memory serves me correctly, the international distribution rights for DYRL are still a mess. I heard BW sold dist rights to everyone back in 1984, to get the movie shown all over Asia. Now, they simply don't know where all the rights are held anymore and by whom!

Personally I like it! None of the productions are an actual historical record of the Macross history... All are based on it, but not the exact history. In essence the chronology in the Compendium and the history data sheets in the Chronicles are the only records we can rely on. In Macross Zero, we know that an alien artifact was discovered near an island in French Polynesia (most likely place) and the AUN forces fought with the UN forces to gain control over it. It became activated and and nearly destroyed both sides before taking off into space. In SDFM, we know that a starship crashed to Earth and was rebuilt into the Macross. The Zentradi were provoked into attacking by a booby trap on the star ship and SW1 happened. We know a pop idol named Minmei was instrumental in ending the war along with many other historical characters. The aftermath of SW1 prompted the emmigration progams into space. That is what happened in the most general sense. In Mac Plus we know that during the competition for the next advanced variable fighter between Shinsei Industries and General Galaxy, a rogue AI took control of the Macross and the prototype Ghost fighter. A pilot named Isamu Dyson was instrumental in stopping the AI. In Mac 7, we know that the Macross 7 emigration fleet under the command of Max and Millia Jenius encountered the Protodevlin and singer(s) with what was described as "Anima Spiritia" abilities (possibly Basara Nikkei and Mylene Jenius) were instrumental in neutralizing that threat. In Mac Frontier we know that the Macross 25 fleet encountered the Vajra race and were attacked. A couple of pop idols were also instrumental in ending the conflict. We also know that the Macross 23 fleet may have gone rogue and separated from the UN Federation. The historical facts apparently remain, but the details are up to dramatic interpretation, based on the shows. This may also extend to the official games, as well. I get the impression that Kawamori has not left his initial position when first posed a question about which were the true events of SW1 after DYRL came out. He responded with "The actual events of SW1 are somewhere between two". In that the exact historical record has not been told in the shows. It was smart to keep that aspect of the show open ended. This way there is no "RETCON" since none of the shows can be considered canon, only the characters, vehicles and general plot points. Although I too would like to know what kind of "hate" Macross 7 could have introduced...

Not a newb question, just a question. Do we know what happened to the Nome girls' parents? If so, how did it happen? I don't recall an explanation in the anime...

Well after he and Miyatake refined the designs in DYRL it became an aesthetic choice to follow the DYRL designs rather than the TV series'. The newer designs were much more dramatic looking and no doubt part of it became the legal entanglements associated with SDFM at the time. With the courts finally siding with BigWest, we got to see some of the TV designs resurrected in Frontier, i.e. the Zentradi personal armor on Gallia IV. Should BigWest choose to update the animation of SDFM for the show's 30th anniversary in 5 years I would expect the DYRL designs to take precedence over the original show's to further differentiate the franchise and the show from the old Tatsunoko owned animation. However, we have no idea if such a production would happen. IMO it would make good business sense to do so and from a creative point of view it would allow the production team to tighten up and harmonize the story in some places...

I don't know if its official, but a fan made custom used (made?) this insignia for the squad... http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...st&id=70824 The rest of the images can be found in this thread: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...9566&st=980

Dude, I so can 't wait for your hires beauty shots when this baby is done! I am such a fan of your work...

Actually the statement is partly true. Bandai has the "most" experience with Gundam kits since that is their bread and butter line. They typically only produce Macross kits when they have a hit TV series they've sponsored. Then there is also the dilution of the Macross merch market with BigWest giving licenses to just about anyone who'll buy one, which is beginning to overlap the Bandai lines...

A few I created for my Blackberry 8230 in 240x320. I plan to make more when I get the chance...

I love the nostalgia of having all of the singers on one song. Quite cool. With the exception of Mylene, I recognized all the voices. May'n still never ceases to amaze me with her voice. She's definitely this generation's Mari Ijima!

It's highly doubtful the Megaroad will ever reappear. Kawamori has no interest in revisiting that story in the universe. Besides, the longer it remains a mystery the greater a legend it becomes...

Is dark iron the color you painted the whole armored pack with? If so, I like it!!! It gives the armored pack a more realistic look to it, unlike the dark grey.... Nice work!

What? Like General Galaxy's VF-9 Crusader? What an abortion of a transformation sequence!!! If any valk would fall into the category of a problematic fighter I'd say that one would!

If they redid the original based on Mikimoto's manga, I'd be a very happy camper! It has all the elements that I like an none of the little annoyances the original series had (granted there are few)...

Interesting little tidbit. Thanks

If the line sticks around I'd expect to see either the VF-17 first or VF-171 after either one has been released. Essentially they are the same fighter except for the nose, so following one up with the other only makes economic sense. I am really curious to see how the VF-2SS (if ever released) sells? The 1/250 scale display fighters are fairly popular it seems. The only custom I want to make (assuming Bandai doesn't do one first) is a VF-25A CF version. Though I am not sure if they are just basic tan colored or if they have striping like Micheal's 25G (black and white)?