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sketchley

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  1. sketchley
    Three examples come to mind: 1) SDFM: Max vs Miria battle (where the battle progresses from over the ocean to inside the SDF)—it's literally blink or you miss it. 2) Macross Plus (OVA edition): opening battle in the asteroid belt. 3) Macross Frontier first episode: Vajra(!) use countermeasures to stop missiles (admittedly not a VF, but it was stopping VF-launched missiles. ) The frustrating truth is that by and large, flares/chaff/decoys are not focused on when used, and are literally blink-and-you-miss-it. Nevertheless, all VFs come with a full set of them. The VF-0 also comes with a tow-able decoy (the AN/ALE-55 FOTD [Fiber-optic Towed Decoy]). Not that we ever see it in action, though.
  2. sketchley
    I think you are reading things into it that aren't there. Let me try to explain it in different terms: When English speakers translate Macross terminology, some translate "軍" as 'army' and others as 'armed forces'. Why? Because that's the common term that is used in their respective cultures and countries. There is no political bias, cultural baggage, agenda, or anything else going on other than that's the word used by people from where they are from for that particular concept. The same holds true for the people who created Macross and their choice of the term "empire".
  3. sketchley
    The short answer: SDFM (1982) was created after the release of both SW Eps 1 (1977) and Eps 2 (1980) by relatively youthful creators. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the creators of Macross were cognizant that they were emulating Star Wars. Simply put, the Empire of Japan existed from 1868–1947, and the arguable top of the Japanese government has been an emperor since 660 BC (and still is). So, if one combines "a galaxy spanning civilization" with "what did we learn in social studies about our history", it's quite easy to get to "galactic empire". Again, it's a slippery slope, as cultural cross-pollination does happen, but often times that occurs at a subconscious level through the filters of one's own culture. The other thing is we have to be careful about misconstruing "publication date" as "creation date". E.g. Kawamori-san purportedly lamented that Dir. Spielberg was the first to publish the concept of a boy riding a bicycle in space, even though Kawamori-san independently came up with the idea long before E.T. was released! Regarding 3): The neighbours of Japan are the "Republic of Korea" (South), the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" (North), the "Republic of China" (Taiwan), and the "People's Republic of China" (mainland China). They appear quite regularly in the news.
  4. sketchley
    As others have said: it's an impossible question to answer. However, I would err on the "no" side, simply because SDFM does A LOT of world building, and MD doesn't (it establishes new worlds, but they are all built on an established setting). Case in point: SDFM goes into great detail explaining why Valkyries exist. MD's addition is "they haven't been replaced by drone fighters because they're also used as background dancers"*. * this is not a snide or snarky statement. Kawamori-san has continually gone to great lengths to justify the existence of manned Variable Fighters to the casual viewer. The above is the justification he came up with for MD. My guess is that it's due to real-world developments trending towards unmanned drones.
  5. sketchley
    I think Adam Savage summed the argument up right when he said offbrand bricks just "don't sound right" (when clattering with real Lego bricks).
  6. sketchley
    I would mark the increased costs due to mechanics relearning and acquiring newer jigs as negligible, as that's something that still has to be done with similar models. For a real world example, refer to the retraining required for pilots and maintenance personal for newer models of the Boeing 737 (E.g. the 737-900 to the 737-MAX]. Re: Engines If anything, the YF-21's are arguably easier to service and remove, simply because they are placed in a single large component—compared to the VF-1/11/19 (etc.) where they are squeezed inside the relatively tight airframe that composes the engine nacelles/legs and requires a lot more heavy-duty reinforcement!
  7. sketchley
    Fellow old timer here: Long story short, Delta is aimed at an entirely different demographic than us. They took all the things that (apparently) made Frontier popular with the youth, and built from there. My daughter likes it a lot. She also likes Vocaloid, as well as some hyper-kinetic Youtubers that talk a mile-a-minute ... which sounds pretty similar to your synopsis of Delta.
  8. sketchley
    It looks beautiful. But... all those repetitive detail elements! 😵
  9. sketchley
    The smallest alt. build is still quite sizeable. Here it is next to the spaceships from 70821, and 70841. I'm pretty sure that the ship in 70821 is the Galaxy Explorer, and I have a hunch that the mini ship in 70841 is also based on the 918 Space Transport (inspiration of the smaller alt. build—which is gigantic in comparison!)
  10. sketchley
    10497 is a nice set. Alas, all three builds (main, and 2 alternatives) require many of the same parts. So despite the oodles of excess parts with the smallest alt build, it seems that one would need 3 sets... ↑ the coffee mug is full of parts, too.
  11. sketchley
    Elaborating on safer: I read somewhere that there were concerns about the way the YF-23 carried missiles internally and how it deployed them (was it in a rotary launcher?) In short: despite the far, far greater payload, there were concerns that a single missile jam would prevent the rest from being used. Thus the "safer" bet on the YF-22 where a single jam would not stop the other internal weapons from being deployed (despite the much smaller amount carried!)
  12. sketchley
    ↑
  13. sketchley
    The white A4 paper (with the QR code) from the publisher that came with the book indicated those errors as well as the corrections.
  14. sketchley
    Yeah... what's up with that? How can he even see out of the helmet as it's right at the eye line?!?
  15. sketchley
    As Kawamori-san has said on numerous occasions: each and every Macross production we have seen is an in-universe dramatization of real events. While they are each "true" to themselves, the real story is something else.* So, the best way to 'read' the depiction of the SDF-1 in SDFM vs DYRL is as a reflection of the in-universe priorities at the time of their production. SDFM apparently being produced shortly after the end of the First Interstellar War (2012-ish), and DYRL being produced roughly 20 years later (in the mid-2030's). * Like how Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbour are dramatizations of real events.
  16. sketchley
    In universe: they were either damaged and waiting repair or restocking (if memory serves, that's some of the features of the Mobile Fortress), or high-value assets not needed in the battle (one doesn't general deploy sensitive recon equipment right into a pitched battle). Production wise, they were merely added to the scene to provide a sense of scale and perspective.
  17. sketchley
    That's why we've seen incredibly few 'allied' ships outside of SDFM/DYRL. (Macross II doesn't count as Kawamori-san didn't work on it.)
  18. sketchley
    No, and while there hasn't been an in-universe reason why we haven't seen one since (aside from the suggestion that it was a one-off), there is Kawamori's general rule of thumb that an enemy ship will always be portrayed as an enemy ship. His logic is that it prevents confusion in the average viewer. This is why, for example, DESPITE the Macross Galaxy fleet being human and from Earth, it is never depicted using the spaceships of the hero New Unified Forces (the exception being the flagship, but even that is visually different from the ones on the hero side). Instead, an entirely new fleet of visually distinct ships was created for it.
  19. sketchley
    Elaborating on the release date, the images you posted after say: Re: HG 1/100 YF-19 Water decals: "Planned release date: Jan. 2023."
  20. sketchley
    What you've been presenting is a 'glass is half empty' interpretation, but the original text is 'glass is half full', if you know what I mean. ... and when it comes to Japanese, subtext and context make all the difference in the world.
  21. sketchley
    The 'core' of the foot looks like it slides up and down a bit (no idea how it doesn't pop off in the GERWALK pose). Note how the front tawny plastic is "inside" the grey foot parts on the left image, but resting on top of the foot parts in the right image. I don't think it's far enough to resolve the gap problem that Shawn was pointing out, though...
  22. sketchley
    That quote from Kawamori-san is actually quite informative as to "why" he got it. Long story short: Kawamori-san's modus operandi is to give everyone visually distinct mecha. And "among the existing Valkyries" in their CG library, the YF-29 fits the bill. Here's the DeepL translation for those that don't:
  23. sketchley
    Almost... however, the legs/hips are the parts that are common across all three modes.
  24. sketchley
    I think Seto's comment has to be taken with a grain of salt. IMHO, I think the context is which plane out of the movie quality CG model art assets that they already have.
  25. sketchley
    Don't Fold Faults work the opposite way? Time passes infinitesimally slower for those stuck in them?
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