sketchley

Doodled this up last night. It's the transformation sequence of the VF-5 that I've been whiping up. It looks like it *may* be able to do a gerwalk mode... but it's not going to be a very stable mode on the ground. Perhaps that's why it's so cheap? EDIT: the artwort is available here: http://studiootaking.deviantart.com/art/VF...mation-62766890

NVM - no delete feature !.!;;;;;;

Yes. That's the pre-tax sticker price. Part of the reason is the low print run due to the low demand. Given that I was able to get a new copy from a store that was discounted, you can guess that even the print run was greater than the demand... Some comparison prices: Macross Zero: 5,000 JPY/episode. Star Wars III: 3,990 JPY (w/ tax) Star Trek movies 2x: 2,500 JPY (w/tax) I'd give a ballpark figure of between 2,000 and 4,000 for the average new release. With DVDs that hangout too long in the shop, they get an easy 10 to 50% discount off of those sticker prices.

The 'big plot holes,' so to speak, are the post SWI to the Macross Plus/Macross 7 era. That 'hole' was partially filled with the backstory of both Macross Plus and Macross 7. In addition, Macross M3 went back and did an extensive story taking place in those 'missing years.' Another way to look at is - nothing interesting happened during those years. Well, nothing interesting enough to make it into animation or a video game. Sure, they have ongoing mass cloning and colonization, but is that really enough to keep the viewers interested? Heck, it was the backstory to Macross 7, the justification of being where they were, and it was only briefly dabbled on. IMHO, if we are to see more Macross series, it'll be in opposite directions. Given where Macross Zero took us, I'm not even going to attempt to guess where and what any new series will be.

Just to muddy the waters of this debate: wasn't Breetai operating under orders NOT to destroy the SDF-1 and capture it instead? There are many episodes in the series where the Zentraedi could have easily vaporized the SDF-1, but chose not to, with devestating loses. We know that the Zentraedi fleet has specialized cannon ships - why weren't they used? Until episode 27 we don't know if they existed either. I think this boils down to a case of 'maybe they wanted to do it, but they never found a spot to include it, until the movie.'

The fold generator presumably ran on electricity, which was used to A. alter spacetime around the vessel, or B. punch through to another dimension(AKA hyperspace). The fold effects would seem to imply the latter. There's nothing to imply any sort of exotic energy is needed to operate the fold generators. In-continuity, I'm not sure why it was dubbed the Super Dimension Fortress. Maybe because it COULD fold, or maybe just because it was really huge(large dimensions). Of course, out of continuity, it was intended to be Super Space Fortress, and was engrish'ed. 405660[/snapback] http://macross.anime.net//story/encycloped...fold/index.html I believe the intent is simply that the fortress can go to and travel via super dimension space, and not that there is anything super or extra-dimensional about the fortress (beyond that it can go someplace special.)

We'll I'll be damned. They actually do call it ASS-1 (comes across as ae-esu-esu-won, mind you,) in the animation. I stand corrected.

Interesting... my first tries with the overlay mode ended with mixed results - stronger black lines, but the dark blue went to neon blue... will play more with this later. I should note here that I'm more 'fluent' on Adobe Illustrator than Photoshop... I should note that I had to rescan the original image, as in the creation process of the gif above, I vaporized the 'white' pixels and made the background blank/empty. The white pixels eat up far too much disc space, IMHO.

Notes: legs rotate just above the knees, to expose the knee joints and protect the water skis/keel. Transformation is "like" the VF-17, with the nose/cockpit section first going down (to form the hips) and then the cockpit sliding up into the protective 'cocoon.' I'm not 100% happy with it - specifically the head and chest details. Also, my Photoshop is not behaving itself and it is a struggle getting all the 'white' of the paper out of the original image so that the colour layers underneath show through. Gah! Edit: the artwork can be seen here: http://studiootaking.deviantart.com/art/VF-5-62767743

"Heard?" As in the spoken Japanese? Or in the fan-created English subtitles?

I never said I was including Active Stealth. The claim that I was making when I made that post is that it is possible for every and all VFs except the VF-0 to have it.

Well, why not GASB? It's technically one less keystroke than ASS-1, AND it's official.

Yes, but didn't that mostly occur in the form of a trial, in a space station around Jupiter? (Or was it Earth?) I don't think the point of that episode was about the academy, but more an individual failing to understand what 'leadership' truly means, as they strive to be the best.

I've heard the Gun Destroyer referred to as the Monitor Class too. To be honest, a lot of the info on the QMDB is... how shall I put it? Creative. My recommendation is to refer to the original source material (animations, video games, and lineart books), and Macross Compendium, in that order. Other websites do have information, but you must be careful to avoid the common myths and falicies. For an example, a lot of English web information refers to the SDF-1 Macross, pre-crash, as ASS-1 (Alien Star Ship 1.) In the original series, it is NEVER refered to by this name. In reality, it is refered to as "Macross" or "Giant Alien Space Battleship."* *"Macross Perfect Memory" pages 10 and 11. "デフォールドã—ã¦ãるマクロス" and "西暦1999å¹´ã€å…¨é•·1200mメートルã«ã‚‚ãŠã‚ˆã†ã¶å·¨äººãªå®‡å®™æˆ¦è‰¦ãŒåœ°çƒã«è½ä¸‹ã—ãŸã€‚"

I didn't recal Kamjin's splitting anywhere.I remember BRITAI'S splitting in the factory satellite episode, though. 405395[/snapback] I think he's referring to the final episode - Kamjin attacks the SDF-1 with an underpowered and heavily damaged Gun Destroyer. But yeah, the Zentraedi had only two ships with the big gun (Breetai's flagship) and the Gun Destroyer. The quantity over quality - in the Macross DYRL for the PS1 and Sega Saturn, a single shot from a 'regular' Zentraedi ship cannon vaporizes a good couple of city blocks, with cuncusive force spreading damage further beyond that. They show only 4 or 5 shots hitting the city on South Ataria Island - and those few shots destroy a good half of the city. So yeah, who needs the big guns when you have a fleet of a 5 million plus ships, each carrying at least 8 (conservative estimate) of those 'standard' cannons?

IMHO, the only reason they are contemplating an academy film is because: - it's the one thing that hasn't been dwelved into at great length in anything Star Trek released to date. Sure, they've had flashbacks and 'back in the academy...' dialogues, but nothing definitive. Thus the producers de jour probably feel that it is new territory. - cashing in on the 'Harry Potter' wave. HP = an academy with magic. The HP 'formula' is turning into an "it'll make money" concept... will it work for ST? Doubtful, as ST is supposed to be science fiction* and not Sci-Fi. * Pseduo-science and action aside, the last five ST movies have been great science fiction ones - all meditating on some type of an issue. Only Generations, and First Contact doubled as decent sci-fi movies.

Here's the rear 3/4 view from the underside. The water landing skis, and the nose undercarriage doors have been removed (from the picture) - as they made those parts of the jet visually confusing. The rear landing gear doors have been left in. Edit: the artwork can be seen here: http://studiootaking.deviantart.com/art/VF-5-62767743

Here's the first of at least 3 planned images of the VF-5 I am designing. I've made some small changes to the design that I submitted above, as per the course of this thread. I think the biggest change is the inclusion of rear tails - reason being: I found a way to include them in the battroid design, and the jet looks that much cooler with them. Edit: the artwork can be seen here: http://studiootaking.deviantart.com/art/VF-5-62767743

It's been about 7 years since I last purchased any English comics/manga - so I may have forgotten some specifics and I definitely do not know the current situation. What I do remember vividly, is that Dark Horse Comics, in general, perfers the mini-series format. I also remember, in the case of Ah! My goddess! That they only did a few of the very, very original manga chapters, and jumped ahead a few years to stories that matched the original OVA that was released at about the same time. Thereafter, they published from that 'fast forwarded' position and didn't go back and print more from the start of the series. I'm not sure if they are continuing this practice, or have rectified it since I left to live in non-English speaking countries. Re: cost... there are a number of factors involved with it. There's always fluctuations in currency markets to blame for royalties that need to be paid to the original creator and publisher (in Japan, invariably rights to the material are split between the two.) In addition, there is the cost per unit - manga has a much lower print run then, say Spiderman. The cost per unit on a lower print run is much greater. Lastly, the last I heard and checked, almost all comics produced for the US are printed in Canada. Canada's currency has skyrocketed vs. the US currency in the past 2 years - especially the past few months. I am not sure if this is effecting pricing yet, or it already has - as publisher scramble to find 'cheaper' printers that, invariably, are more expensive then the Canadian printers before the CAD went up. Nevertheless, EXO is extremely correct. From, I think, 1996 or 1997 there has been only one major comics destributor in North America (Previews.) This distributor is, how shall I put it, the one that (at the time) was not-so-nice to small businesses selling niche market items. They have been the dominant force in making or breaking a lot of comic series, creators, and ideas different from whatever passes for the norm in the comics world.

I have something against full barriers. It's along the lines of why I don't really enjoy Macross II: the heroes are all powerful without opponents that can truly cause them harm - thus battles are not that 'thrilling.' Anyhow, back to the PPB discussion, I forgot to add that the PPB for the VFs that we know have them, are only available in gerwalk and battroid modes. This probably has to do with less of the engine's 'power' being used for flight, and more of it being available for other purposes. (SWAG, AWAG/RA etc., works along a similar principle.)

*Cough* Basara *cough* As in Basara Nekki.

You mean the Armoured Gerwalk?

There's nothing in the compendium describing the PPB. T.T It is true that the PPB of the SDF-1 was powered by the reactors of the SDF-1. HOWEVER, the development of the PPB was more along the lines of 'we have this huge empty space inside of the ship with random releases of energy. Can we harvest this energy and put it to use somehow?' So no, by the intent of the series, VFs would not have a super-dimensional reactor on them - just plain old thermonuclear reactors. Given the size of the Shinnakasu Industry/OTEC FBF-1000A external fold booster, it is entirely likely that, as Graham said, the next generation (by the series, not design release dates) will most likely have one built in. The thing is like what, 90% capacitor and 10% actual motivator/engine? As it's human scientists themselves who made the PPB (notice the complete lack of them on the Zentraedi ships? That's not a result of battle damage. Do the Varuta ships also not have them?) The '35 year' wait time from capital ship to VF sized PPB is only due to the process of micronization.

The ガンダムエース monthly manga book is 25.7 x 18 cm and 3.2 cm thick. The アップルシード 1 compilation is 14.8 x21.2 cm and 1.7 cm thick. It is larger than normal. The Gundam Side Story 1 compilation is 12.8 x 18. 6 cm and 1.7 cm thick. THIS is the standard size. The パトレイãƒãƒ¼ 1 compilation is 11.3 x 17.7 cm, and is 1.4 cm thick. This is smaller than normal. The reference item is a 15.2 cm/6 in long steel ruler.

Some answers that have been overlooked: English is read left to right, top to bottom. The average English speaker who picks up a comic that is right to left, top to bottom, will immediately put it down. In other words, leaving manga as it is, is like subtitling anime. Anime subs sell FAR less in English speaking countries (despite higher quality, IMHO) than dubbed anime. The same is true for flipped and unflipped manga. Truth be known, there are NO manga covers for individual chapters. Sure there may be posters or the covers on the collections, but the average chapter is crammed in the middle of a single monthly (or biweekly or weekly) telephone size manga book with many, many other manga. Yes, there are title pages, but they are 99% of the time black and white. Black and white generally doesn't make for a good selling point in a comic shop. (Believe me, I worked in a comic shop.) Dark Horse's white paper are a step above the original Japanese print run on recylced newsprint (more often then not.) It is only the Japanese collections that have slightly higher quality paper (not be much of a margin.) It is also only the higher quality (or 'master grade' compilations) that have paper similar to Dark Horse's, without the gloss The manga are not enlarged in any way. They are the same size as the original Japanese print run, which is FYI, also shrunk from the size that the original artist drew the manga (this is common for all comics and manga the world over.) The Japanese publishers shrink the original print size even smaller for the compilation releases. The main reason for that is that pocket book sized publications sell a lot better in Japan. It also maximizes what limited storage space Japanese have for their manga collections.