TG Remix

That's what I assumed, at least retroactively since fold carbon seemed like a thing made for Frontier's worldbuilding, mainly for its fold quartz. From what I've been told it's also been synthesized early on by the UN so there wasn't any reason to mine it extensively like fold quartz. Though of course it's right to assume that more of the natural stuff is more richer, hence the whale poaching. And with our own coal deposits one source would never be the exact same as another. The scale of VF-X2's events, as future series (especially with Delta) always made it seem like it spanned all the way to even the deepest parts of the galaxy. Giving it the name of the "Second Unification War" also helps with that as well I'd assume. Kinda makes me wonder how some of the places we've seen before and after were effected by such a conflict? Long range emigrant fleets seem like they'd be least involved, as they probably were cruising wherever in the galaxy. And even if the central UN knew where some were, I heavily doubt Latence would even DARE mess with the Macross 7 fleet considering they were quite literally in the center of a galaxy ending event and lived to tell the tale. That's probably how Max supposedly supported Vinderance (who's leader also may or may not have been one of his daughters that went incognito) behind the scenes without fuss. Planetary governments may vary; Eden may not have to worry as the first planet colonized and has previously mentioned direct relations with Earth, Zolan has it's bacteria as a factor that can't let humans live there long term, so insurrection probably wasn't an issue. Considering how apparently corrupt the local NUNS government in the Brisingr Globular Cluster was, to the point that apparently in Delta's novelization they assassinated someone on Earth looking into the trade and negotiation with Windermere, it probably wasn't nice for them at all. iirc Kaname's home planet was still in a civil war because of it, and Windermerean's involvement in it was the catalyst for their first war of independence later on. The Varauta system's government though....I'd assume they wouldn't have gotten off light at all when Blue Rhinoceros' interference with the ice planet is directly the reason why the Protodevlin were released to begin with, that'd be something the UN would hold them over until the heat death of the universe. As if their entire population of several hundreds of thousands of people being brainwashed for several years wasn't bad enough... And of course the Galaxy Fleet threw caution under the wind and decided to mass produced their own take of Sharon's little nightmare with their AIF-9V (Ghost V-9/MG.) Not even the worst thing they did considering how the VF-22HG practically had the YF-21's BDI, proving more over time that there was no lessons from Plus learned. Though I'm assuming with the fleet's lost status, we won't have to worry about any surprise AIF-9Vs popping up, if the fleet was willing to share to begin with. Thanks for reminding me of the 9B flight patterns in VF-X2... god those things are a niiiightmaaaaaaaareeeeeeeeeee Aegis was certainly a trooper having to fend off 6-8 of those from the Macross 13, almost makes Tohma's VF-19 intervention seem elementary by comparison. As a side note, the one time he did lose his patience with Basara was when he got Mylene to leave the band for a stint over his stubbornness. If that doesn't say anything about Mylene's contributions, what really does lol.

Going back to finish up my findings for M3, because there's not much to talk about worldbuilding wise. Episode 6 has the level take place in Planet Dahan, a resource planet which from its illustration looked like it only has 5 Namekian minutes left. But it seems important enough that if the terrorist group "Struggle" (made out of Zentradi defectors of course,) invaded the planet and destroyed the energy satellite system, the United Forces would have a energy deficit of 5% a year, severing limiting fleet operations. I'm not sure if we know more planets like those in the bigger franchise, the only exception being the coal mine in Planet Banipal Isamu was threatened with in Plus, and the remote planet from The Galaxy Is Calling Me with its Barunasium Ore. Episode 5 and 8 has its setting on Planet Susia, it's described to have volcanic activity, and in the former's case it proves to be a problem where UN had to locate their Weapons Development plant there somewhere else due to it getting higher than usual. I'd question why you'd have one on a planet that's characterized by such, but once I saw it was essentially a giant mobile platform traversing through the Scarlet Desert, it made a tad bit more sense. The 8th and final one didn't make it clear if a civilian population is on there, just that there's a UN Spacy headquarters that Iron Discipline (ANOTHER guerilla Zentradi group, you think they'd just combine them all into one instead of having them be almost entirely unconnected) targets, after being the threat in Episode 5. The biggest takeaway is the previously mentioned "sisters" of Moaramia being the attackers specifically, of course that and the reveal that... Episode 7 is the most outstanding one in terms of worldbuilding. For the mission where all three Dancing Skulls members reunite, the stage that sets on Planet Belfan is the most dire, as Lawrence Junkemar, a deputy consultant of the UN, was kidnapped when he visited the planet by anti-UN insurgents who took over the UN's secret base there. Negotiations seemed fruitless as it was seen as impossible to free the political prisoners, with the Algencius' Captain remarking that an autonomous and independent government in Belfan as an impossibility. With Neo York's New York Liberation League, and Cristrania's Zentradi fundamentalists with notable Anti-UN activity being hidden from the central government, and the final plot with Moa being the focus, it's interesting how as a semi-prequel to VF-X2's conflict between the central Earth government and colonial planets and emigrant fleets, showing the cracks and gears spinning of Earth's practical but very flawed ideology of having full control over their sphere to make sure future threats won't happen again. And as I said I'd mention before, the reason why Max and Milia, was brought back for this mission, despite being the captain of the stealth cruiser Haruna and the director of the Eagle Nest Air Combat Center respectively, was that apparently some radical members of the regular army stationed at Belfan proposed an incursion to wipe out the enemy forces in the base, but as high command was very doubtful about their efficiency due to their inexperience, they wanted the Dancing Skull squad to preempt the regular army's arrival so the moderate Belfan faction wouldn't have to poke the bear with the hardline/radicals. And since this is the mission where you can pilot the brand new YF-11 prototype, it really reads as a publicity stunt for the sake of central UN morale if anything else, adding on to the conflict that accumulates with Latence around 2 decades after. It was to the point that the high command wanted the entire site wiped out, but opted to have a covert mission taken care of because a large scale offensive would reveal its existence to the public. Maybe that's how Mikumo later on was able to go under the radar even after the reveal. So that explains the two different designations, although I never heard of the AIF-3Ex/QF-3100EX until now! I'm assuming it's under a novelization or some kind of short story? Would also explain why the Neo Glaug bis was described to have electronic warfare functions that can have it control 2 QF-3000Es, something that's several decades behind alongside the VF-1!

It's more specifically the Dancing Skulls escorting the VF-5000 to the Algenicus itself so further testing could be done without a anti-UN group taking the opportunity to "acquire" it for itself. I'm assuming after unit 2 I think New Edwards had enough of Isamu testing and galivanting away with their delicate machines and probably was one of the people directly involved in his "promotion," lol. Nothing official at least, although going through Mission 4 was quite a treat going through the absurdness of it all. The research on the biological weapon project took place in New Asia, where it's said to hold ruins of a Protoculture-era civilization, apparently they seem to be spread out throughout the planet, so much so that the project's facilities not only took the shape of these ruins, but they were even camouflaged as sphinxes. Why Protoculture ruins look a lot closer to ancient Egypt ruins in a planet called New Asia of all things I'm not sure, but there's a place called New Alabama in a place called Neo York, so who am I to judge. There was very little military involvement with the project except for the periodic investigation reports, but of course this backfired when a biohazard outbreak wiped out the entire staff. Considering there's ancient ruins tied to this and Protoculture revered the Vajra, I can see someone like Frontier novelization and 30's author Ukyō Kodachi connecting the two together for continuities sake. Although they don't look all that much the same, the Vajra are giant monster bugs with folding capabilities and cannons attached to them, while the New Asia biological weapons are more giant flies that had the scale tool used on them.

A "small number" in the context of Macross can be very misleading considering how huge humanity's reach is through the galaxy lol. The VF-17's production was 718, and compared to the thousands of VF-1s and VF-4s, and MF's notion of several tens of thousands of VF-11s, that's a bit minuscule, but logical as a special forces VF with a steep learning curve to pilot. It'd also seem the bomber-variant VF-3000B mentioned in Chronicle would have a better sell for more production numbers since it's bigger size could be to its advantage for that type of role. Could be a case where the (or even a) VF-5000 was only tested on Neo York as opposed to being built there. In this game alone there's a later mission where either of the three characters can pilot the YF-11 for some live combat testing (And with Mission 7 it almost reads as a publicity stunt, more on that in some time,) and in some sources it describes there being more then one YF-19 and YF-21 for testing before and after the events of Plus, so it's not impossible that a frontier planet, probably with its own economical woes, was chosen for the inexpensive VF to spread its wings. The planetary condition on Neo York is a bit interesting on that topic, since in the mission briefing the planet if seen from space makes it seem very green with regular clouds, not really a Class A planet like Eden and Vajra (which is still a funny name the Frontier fleet chose for the planet by Zettai Live,) but when you fight the New York Liberation League from the mesosphere, it's a more standard blue. Maybe just simple miscommunication between the art direction? Makes me wonder if things like the VF-22 and Queadluun-Rhea that uses VCS could be swapped with the ISC to lessen manufacturing costs while still keeping their performance (I'd mention the Feios Valkyrie, but those things pop up once in every 2 lunar eclipses.) A part of me wonders if the Variable Glaug and Neo Glaug were built with the former in mind as well, since both M3 and The Ride mentions that they were designed based on feedback from a Zentradi's physical functions; especially so since Moaramia was allowed to be captured since she and her "sisters" that serve as the final boss were born with experimental bodies to analyze their own physical factors using Earth technology. As VCS was a Protoculture thing it seems like whatever the Variable Glaug was using seemed to be some type of reverse engineering attempt to do that with the available technology they had.

Inspired by PixelatedShinobi's MTL journey of Macross Frontier, I wanted to share a little on what I learned worldbuilding wise from Macross M3 out of curiosity. Episode 1 and Episode 3 takes place in Neo York. Nothing really any noteworthy about the former, the mission is just taking out the Zentradi groups before they reach the supply base in New Alamaba (an ironic name for sure,) and the VF-4 that acts as the boss had it's data presumably be used for the Variable Glaug, Episode 3 however establishes the conflict between the planetary government and the rebel group New York Liberation League, which seems to be made up of both miclones and giants as you fight their VF-4s, VF-3000s (which is especially odd as a unit that wasn't really produced in a wide scale) and Gnerl fighter pods. The captain states there's a delicate balance between the two, and the VF-5000's development on the planet would seem to cause "unnecessary friction" between the two. Considering the VF-5000 was designed as a relatively simple to maintain VF to be built in low numbers, it'd make sense that it would've had its origins on a remote planet, compared to the YF-19 and YF-21's on the more prestigious Eden. (Ironic how the Algencius' Captain's worry that the capture of the VF-5000 would signify the public opinion of a decline of military control which would affect the political power of Neo York's government, considering our little maverick Isamu Dyson did that in a much greater scale 2 decades later.) Episode 2 takes place on Cristrania, which is a planet that was handed to Zentradi fundamentalists, and given autonomy even as a NUNS colony as early as 2018. It was described to be a natural planet for the development of life for Zentradi, so it's implied that it has a potential population of mostly, if not all of giants. Of course, the reason why it's the setting for that level is that some of them have made contact with anti-UN forces, specifically those who were stationed in the New Nile Factory base that was producing the Variable Glaug. Of course the local government denies this and is reluctant to have a military inspection take place, hence the Dancing Skull's covert operation and the eventual introduction of Moaramia as the pilot of the variable battle pod. Considering even as a child (presumably born the natural way and not cloned, though the last mission makes that a bit unclea) she was raised to believe that Zentradi only exists to fight, I'm wondering if that was something that the anti-UN forces stationed there taught her, or it's a ideology Cristrania itself culturally seem to have. (Interesting how not only the one NUNS Zentradi colony that's not the poor Macross 5 fleet is not only heavily implied to be made to have a strict conservative-like ideology that willingly houses anti-UN activity, but is one or two letters away from the anarchist commune Christiania, but I digress...) We really don't get much of planetary conflicts or development in the franchise in general, so even if this was just flavor text for the sake of spicing up the game, I appreciate M3 for giving different glimpses of life in the smaller colonies that aren't just the emigrant fleets all over the galaxy.

Never really thought about that, but that seems to be consistent. Aside from Eden who's easily the most developed of the planets we've seen, like how Sephira from VF-X2 only seemed to have Hyde City, and from what I remember Al-Shahal only had its city. There are a few exceptions, such as Ouroboros in Macross 30, which aside from Britai City had towns spread throughout like Leopold City, Bowen, and Daoren. There's the multiple metropolis' in Digital Mission VF-X before they were mysteriously and appallingly abandoned. I remember someone saying that's a spaceport, but we wouldn't know for certain. It's an eyecatching design regardless. I know there are come cases with Zentradi unable to miclone properly (like Klan Klan) and their size becoming a factor when they do (notably as shown with Ernest Johnson's introduction in Delta,) but at least with SDF it seemed like many who went through the process blended in with humans just fine? And that's not factoring others like Guld, Micheal, Timoshie, etc. It does seem a bit more situational, at least with what the main animated series showed, unless it's just the franchise more or less making Zentradi conveniently different from humans when it calls for it. Maybe that's another reason in-universe to why the VA-14 was specifically made for Zentradi, but it would conflict MF's notion about fitting in the cockpit. Though I suppose Macross Chronicle said the VF-14 was popular with Zentran for a reason... Seemed like the NUNS battlepods wasn't that great of a selling point anymore lol. Jokes aside, this would be by the time when Queadluun-Raus were beginning to get rarer within the military. There was also the Variable Glaug stolen and reproduced by the UN, but the only thing we get to imply how common it's operational usage was is seemingly hard handling, and The Ride's Neo Glaug bis' notion on how it'd be difficult to pull out its full potential unless you're a small (aka, child sized) Meltran. It's a bit ironic considering even though the VF-11 is essentially the second coming of the VF-1, the VF-14 was said to be built with the idea of being modified and upgraded through it's service due to it's larger airframe. Since it was conceptualized to be self-propelling, I wouldn't be surprised if sketchley's notion that it was specifically for Project M that something so nondescript or disused could be issued to be docked to City 7 without worry. Sound Project seemed to still have research being done by 2047, as the Milky Dolls were said to be a source of income for it. Not entirely sure how they fit into it all as I'm still in the process of MTL'ing the game in a exercise of endurance and futility (especially when the rogue Zentradi only seemed to kidnap and hold them as hostages as a distraction for Commander's true plan...No I didn't miss an "I" there, he genuinely has no name aside from his role in the story,) but I am a tad curious on how it could affect the franchise since Frontier and the franchise forward took a lot of elements from 7. Nothing at all really. And you'd be hard pressed to have any additional material on the VF-14 in general; out of the "main lineage" of designed VFs, they're easily the most overlooked in the franchise despite being the competing design of the VF-11. They don't appear much aside from a few seconds of Spiritia Dreaming in 7 PLUS, and it was completely redesigned for M3, but that's very minuscule compared to even the VA-3. Not even their Varauta counterparts get the spotlight aside from The Ride, and despite 7 being the franchise's money maker of the time I don't even think they got any merchandise period. Even the Sv-51 had a bone thrown at it.

Would make sense if it was either or, though I'm wondering if Satellite Cities would only be a thing within Earth's Solar System, as I'd assume most emigrant fleets, long or short distanced, would prefer wanting to find or work with a planet that could be livable as opposed to a gas giant or somewhere as hostile as Venus. On the topic of colony ships, I've just recently learned that the Akusho/Acshio Area that's docked onto City 7 was a old generation self-propelled colony capsule, which was said in its concept art and repeated in the Macross Chronicle glossary, which would explain how decrepit it looked in the series proper. With it being stated to be around 300 meters, I'm kinda assuming that ships of its kind would've been for short range colony fleets back in the day, and with the timeline from the Macross 7 and Plus Movie Program book being the one that said they were from old cargo ships, it would match considering there's a leftover gas tank and container at the bottom as well. Old doujin stuff like this is always fun, like a peek inside the obsessive fans of the old to see how they'd rationalize or further develop the world of a series with what they have at the time. The VFS-3S for example being a stand out with what Seto mentioned about what eventually happened to that lineage in modern official lore. It is kinda funny as a side note that it's more or less not just a pilotable bullet but like it's almost trying to miniaturize the Daedalus Attack into one single aircraft. Aside from really wanting to believe (and finding amusement of) a Regult potentially being as maneuverable as a battlesuit, the boarding and disembarking system comment made me wonder how you're supposed to get into or get out of Delta's Regult Type 106, considering the hatch on the regular model is completely obscured by the Queadluun backpack. I'm also assuming it probably wouldn't go into its "resting" pose like that in the way as well, unless there was a still of it in the background I wasn't aware of where it does.

Makes sense, considering a giant mech that can transform into an aircraft would be hard to deconstruct in general. And in this economy, best to use everything for their worth. Now I'm wondering what was the references for the SVMF-42 Blue Phoenix VF-4s, until Frontier's 33rd Marine Battalion there wasn't really any indicator of the Marine branch of the NUNS. I thought the same thing about the VF-2 Sonic Birds squadron for the VF-1, but that was understandably connected to the CVN-101 Prometheus before the plot literally connected it to the Macross. That would explain some things...But like you mentioned they were more stunted emotionally as opposed to "fighting unemotionally" like the brain in the jar explained. If anything it's been consistently the opposite even the standard antagonist rogue Zentradi forces are very passionate to living life as warriors. The pilot suit always did feel faintly familiar, and I'm glad it probably wasn't just due to Mikimoto's general style. Always liked the 2036 and Eternal Song pilot suits, they're almost like a good blend between both Earth and Zentradi aesthetics instead of one of the other. Around 776 meters long and can accommodate up to 4500 people, I'd imagine so. It seemed more like a cruise ship then just a something of an airliner like Plus more or less painted it as. On more unknowns of the UN sphere, I know I asked about how Apollo Base and the lunar colony would be like in Macross, and from what I remember there's more colonized moons like Ganymede. Though what got my attention was the other settlements in the rest of the solar system. Miho Miho was said to have been born on a satellite city named "White Flora" that was in Jupiter's orbit, and it seems that Neptune and Venus has their own as well. I'm assuming we don't know much of them as well, but I was imagining something like the City-class ships as a frame of reference, unless they were something more typically designed like O'Neil Cylinders and the like. Wondering for the VFs who have internalized beam guns like the VF-17 could have paint or training rounds stored inside them, since of course the ammunition wouldn't be physical. Does this make Sharon and the Ghost Skynet and Robert Patrick lol.

Wow, no wonder these things were everywhere in the civilian market in The Ride, much less the Frontier fleet having a surplus amount of them still somewhat in use. Can never go wrong with a balanced performing grunt like that....until the story knocks them about, but it's not their fault they were dealing with VF-14s injected with space steroids with eldritch space vampires as their leaders. On the topic of Shinsei technology, are they known for doing more than just developing variable fighters, or they didn't really open their wings like General Galaxy and LAI did with ships and down to common appliances? And another note, do we have any word on what kind of cargo ships the UN/New UN operated before and after SWI? Reading the timeline on the end of certain Macross 7 Trash volumes (Which side note, was not a fun read other then Mikimoto's almost criminal art direction, it's the only thing I'd say I dislike from the franchise overall. Seriously, where did he get the idea that Zentradi lacked emotions from humans they treat it as a drug?), it said while long range emigrant fleets used specifically designed ships for the journey like the Megaroad-class, the short-range emigrant ships only used lightly equipped, old transport ships due to the population boom on Earth and lack of resources. Though years later in the Otani interview, Kawamori said a lot of old Zentradi ships were used as colony ships for short ranges. Coupled with the fact that the Meltran LSTs were used as transport ships in VF-X2's third mission, I have the working theory that at least some of those and the Quiltra Queleual class ships of the same purpose were refitted into colony ships, whether as intact examples or some of the literal thousands of wrecks that crashed to Earth.

The thanks should really go to @PixelatedShinobi, the one who recorded the videos as well as getting them up and in the internet! Here's the final set of videos, being the alternate path if you decide not to join Vinderance, as well as alternate date scenarios if you finish certain missions with a high enough rank.

The finale missions 9-12 have been released! But don't worry, there's still going to be more bonus videos afterward as well.

Missions 5-8 translated!

That makes sense, and I was wondering why those designations were different from the norm. Would make sense if they catalogued them through codenames/IDs since there's probably a lot more overlap with squadron/fleet/battalion/etc. names all across the galaxy than we realize. We did see some armored vehicles in the Frontier fleet and some modern renovations of Destroids in the Frontier and Delta era, so that tracks. Though considering variable attacker's Battroid form are said to be more analogous to Destroids in function (or at least the VA-3, Macross Chronicle seems to suggest it for all VAs in a general sense,) I'm wondering if their more ground based orientated designs would help in that regard too. First time I've heard of that, would that be related to the Master File books at all? The 3d models and similar drawn art style seems to suggest that. I'm just imagining the exact opposite reaction to the poor emigrant fleet that discovered the planet that they mine Barunasium from, or the people that were forced to abandoned Elysium. Spending who knows how long cruising through only to deal with the bare minimum at best lol. Though the conditions of habitable planets got me curious. There's some pre-established places that aren't suited to be colonized like Gaul IV, and some planets had to be terraformed to live in like established with Sephira, but at least in the solar system we know there's people who live in the Apollo Base colony on the moon (which is how some of Shammy's family survived SWI), the H.G Wells colony in Mars where Gamlin comes from, and unless I'm mistaken, some colonies were established across other planets like Jupiter around the SDF era. So I'm wondering in the case of the moon or other similar uninhabitable places you make due with what you have and make underground cities a la Gundam's Granada and Von Braun. Makes a lot of sense that you'd have to prioritize what resources you need in a environment like that, in a way why by Delta the VF-31's regular gunpod is a railgun, since at a point physical ammunition would be a lot more tedious to handle economically.

Going through the on going translation videos of Macross VF-X2, there's a good amount of interesting things that are somewhat revealed for us English audiences. Firstly, the briefing from Mission 2 gives us some distinct units and their designations; The Hyde City blockade force had the VC806 Laramith Air Force, FG651 Mobile Space Force, and the WE-9 Land Force. It's a nice look to see what a planetary military would have instead of what usually makes up a emigrant fleet, especially when the Air Force is named after the star system as opposed to the planet it's based on. Though I do wonder what would a "Land Force" entail in the Macross universe; almost sounds like a niche the New UN Army would have, if not a sect that has more emphasis on Battroids or even something like the Patroids the City 7 Police used. On a side note, almost forgot that Hyde City is the capital of planet Sephira, which is where Leon Sakaki from Macross 30 comes from. Considering the game and novelization of which was written by Ukyo Kodachi, I like the sense of continuity he builds between side material as opposed to how loose Kawamori plays it; not that it's a bad thing, both have their merits after all. Although for a planet that was colonized and terraformed by the Macross 4, it seems like a awfully quick time for a long distance emigrant fleet to discover, as the terraformation process was completed in 2033, which judging from the launch dates of the others (the Macross 1 fleet in September 2030, and Macross 7 in 2038), seems like at most a couple of years to discover the Laramith system the planet belongs to. The one that caught my attention the most when talking to the gameplay recorder was in Mission 3, where the VF-X Ravens are tasked to protect the UN transport ship "Embatelion" (a repurposed Meltran Assault Landing Ship), and their cargo seems to be something that more or less shapes the franchise after it; the Die Zauberflöte, which Wilbur describes as the UN's new communication device that uses "Hyperspatial Resonance Crystals" (which were discovered in 2043) to make fold transceivers. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? It seems like at least the concept of Fold Quartz from Frontier had it's footing from this game, albeit in another, more colloquial term.

Missions 2, 3, and 4 translated! And I feel the need to give proper credit to PixelatedShinobi who's releasing these videos.