Dio

My guess would be that more MW members prefer Sheryl at this time.

A buddy of mine who played it completely through said it took him about 20 hours, and the rumored 90-minute cut scene is .

I think the allspark page linked a few posts ago has added some photos of exactly what you describe. Earth Mode Prime is able to pull off some incredible flexing poses... I want to take out that hip spring though and just make it an articulated waist joint though, since I dislike gimmicks that compromise articulation. By far my favorite so far is Prowl though, there seems to be no limit to the number of cool poses/crouches/stances he can achieve, especially if you flip and invert the thigh pads (I think he looks better that way anyway, like they switch from looking like intakes to vents or jets). I wanna get a second one and kitbash him a samurai-armor sidecar. Haven't actually seen any for sale in TX though, the ones I do have were bought through a friend in Ohio who took advantage of Botcon pre-stocking at stores. I plan to milk this line slowly though, since I need to save for VF-25's that are gonna all but bankrupt me

Everything I can recall reading says in the fall, like August-September.

I believe Episode 27 or 28, where they start using Song Energy, is where the series really gets going.

Eagerly awaiting the revised earrings - if they turn out well, please PM me how much it would cost to make another set? My wife would absolutely love them (yes, we watch Frontier together)!

Man, you'd think they could at least show who the missing 3 CF pilots are and give them names, not like there's a hundred or so to account for. Answer is appreciated though!

Another real-world explanation for the triangle never getting resolved (be warned - sociology ahead): I think Alto's going to be the "everyman" in the series. The "Sam Witwicky," if you will - intentionally vague with some minimal character development. Generic teenaged male who generally does the right thing, is faced with confusing choices in life and doesn't want to be held down by his domineering parents who want him to carry on their dreams instead of his own. In the broader spectrum, Alto-hime is a symbolic emasculation and restriction of the average teenaged anime-watching male (hereafter referred to as ATAWM). It's the polar opposite destiny of what ATAWM would like to do with his life: do you want to be a heroic robot-jet pilot with girls from both ends of the spectrum fighting over you, or be your angry dad's little princess? If Alto were to get too defined, he would cease to be the vessel by which the ATAWM can place himself in the show. Shin in Zero was the same way - a generic ATAWM fantasy who really doesn't do anything other than realize fighting is bad (and saves the world in the process). Michel is already locked in with Klan-Klan, and their relationship was pretty much explained in Friendly Fire. He's a defined character that not everyone can relate to. Luca's the same way - his personality, and his romantic interest, are both pretty clearly defined in short order. The results of the poll reflect this - Klan-Klan has her following, as does Nanase, but those followings probably either share a general similarity to Michel and Luka, or are just more superficial in nature. I don't expect their ratings to shoot much higher in subsequent polls because they're not really "on the market" - they've already got an appropriate pairing established, unlike Ranka and Sheryl. Off topic, but I think the poll is proving the series is doing exactly what it's supposed to do as entertainment. The narrative is good enough to get us interested in the characters, and the way the show chooses to grow the characters is being reflected in the numbers. In short: Damn, I love this show. It does what it has to, and does it well.

Adding further to the "Skull 1, Skull 2, Skull 3" question: The markings on the fighters I know of are as follows: SMS 001 = Ozma SMS 002 = ? SMS 003 = Michel SMS 004 = Luca SMS 005 = ? SMS 006 = ? SMS 007 = Alto (formerly Gilliam) Has it been figured out yet who the missing numbers are? I don't see any markings on the Konig Monster, which makes sense because it's sort of a special unit. The only other option I could think of is Klan-Klan's trio (Pixies?). Having her as 002 and her wing-ladies as 005 & 006 might make sense from a ranking perspective, but why would Ozma's right-hand man (presumably - he seems more of a full-timer than Michel & Luca) get shifted to the #7 spot in the order?

Someone earlier said it best, I think (paraphrasing): "Sheryl has the fame, but wants the personal connections. Ranka has personal connections, but wants to pursue fame." They're both approaching the issue from completely opposite angles, which works great for the love triangle thing. My only beef at this point is with Alto, who seems to just let his life happen to him and only ever really chooses to act a certian way when someone's life is in danger. Aside from his tendency to "do the right thing at the last second," what do we really know about him other than that he has issues with being confined (both physically in the Frontier bubble, and in life by his father)? The reason I inject Alto into the argument is because... well, it's ultimately up to him and his personality to decide which Frontier Girl is most appropriate to be romantically involved with. But, I suppose that's for another thread. If I had to pick right now, I would probably say that by the end of the season, he will end up with neither of them, but remain in the awkward limbo between possibilities. He's the Mylene of Frontier. There will be strong arguments both for and against the relationship choices he can make, but ultimately nothing will be resolved - why? Well, because it's the classic "Ross and Rachel" scenario, if there's any watchers of Friends out there. We watch the show for the mecha porn, but we also keep coming back and debating through lengthy threads over which of the two directions the character drama will go in. As soon as that's decided, what do we have left - just pointless mecha porn which, while pretty to watch, doesn't have any driving force behind it aside from "blow up bigger bad guy next week," which isn't really Macross. Hikaru made a choice in the original SDFM, but that show wasn't so much about the love triangle as it was about how he was maturing as a character against the backdrop of an interstellar war. His relationship with Misa wasn't really agonized over until well later in the series, at the point where he was starting to abandon the childish attraction to Minmay because he was growing up, growing more responsible. The love triangle in Frontier is the focal point of the story, where the triangle in SDFM was more a plot foil to show Hikaru's changes as a person from freewheeling stunt pilot youngster to responsible military leader. I just don't see Alto making that sort of character progression... Frontier, at the moment to me, seems like it's going to be more about Ranka's growth as a character than anything else, and that's why I'm certain we'll see the polls shifting heavily in her favor over the course

Gotta give my Kudo Shin 0A some love, just re-watched Zero today.

My big demands are: 1) Articulated fingers at least on par with an MG Gundam model, and 2) No parts swapping to transform, or detaching/reattaching. If they have to take some liberty in the shape of one mode or another to make that happen, I'm OK with it. The odd gap or panel separation line here and there is not enough for me to disown the model, so long as I get a cool toy that transforms without me having to dig things out of a box, set pieces aside (gunpods are the exception), or otherwise lose the fantasy of the toy transforming in my hand the same way it does on TV. Dex - good to see another engineering student on the boards! The grass is much greener on this side of the fence - once you get your degree and start solving problems - so definitely stick with it and good luck

Flabortast, I am so on the same page as you! Following up a little on my theories from above, I believe the Vajra are a human mistake: Once again, I go back to the fact that Macross Zero is playing so much into Frontier, moreso than any other canon has. Humans would undoubtedly like to get their hands on the powers of the Protoculture, as was evidenced in the fight between the UN and Anti-UN forces in trying to control the Bird Human. We also know (from Zero) that the Bird Human is an organic construct, with a distinct blood type that matches the Nome sisters. Hence, it wouldn't be "built" so much as "cloned" using the only remains they have from the incident, which would be the APHOS blood samples. Assuming humanity never forgot its urge to control the APHOS and harness its powers, what's to stop them from trying to clone it? Vajra have markings and structure like the APHOS, but are simpler and more primitive, and while they can act independently they seem designed for remote control either by an outside source or perhaps a direct pilot. I would even go so far as to call them "APHOS Lite." They also respond (albeit unpredictably) to music from the girls I mentioned earlier as having genetic links to Sara and Mao Nome. But, humans are nowhere near the Protoculture were in terms of technology, so anything they make would be a primal and pitiful facsimile of the Bird Human. Sara Nome was observed by the government(s) at the time of the APHOS incident demonstrating her powers to lift rocks, control PC remnants, etc. Mao was "reborn" by the tribal ritual on the deck of the carrier Asuka, and presumably developed Sara's same senses/powers, but was never really looked at by the military as anything other than a weird kid with the same blood type as the APHOS because all she ever did publicly was give Shin telepathic warnings. Naturally, the military would be more interested in Sara than in Mao, because it was Sara who hopped into the Bird Human and almost apocalypsed (yes, I used it as a verb) the Earth - and so "Dr Mao" would be able to pass on into society without too much scrutiny, all the time having a special link to the Protoculture after being transfused and reborn. The fact that the APHOS incident was classified for such a long time plays into this as well, because keeping it secret would only help to eliminate any evidence of Mao being connected to it. Side note: I noticed in Zero, Mao responded to trauma by regressing into an unresponsive, thumbsucking fetal position - perhaps Ranka's dissociative amnesia is a hereditary condition? On to another topic: Brera Sterne. Obviously a cyborg, and connected to Ranka in a way that screams "family." He works for an outside source, who we're fairly certain is Grace & Co, and who holds something from his past over him as a means of extortion. If we're to assume he's a blood-relative of Ranka, then perhaps he was rescued from the same fleet after being left for dead, and was repaired using cybernetics? I don't want to draw similarities to Gray Fox from Metal Gear, but he does seem to have that amnesiac good-guy-being-manipulated thing going for him at the moment. Coupled with Galaxy's disappearance (conveniently after Sheryl got famous on it for her singing?), I'm thinking Brera (and potentially others like him?) is being used to keep the Vajra as much a secret as possible until whoever is behind everything figures out the way to control them - using Sheryl, or perhaps Ranka once her special nature is realized. If the Vajra are an out-of-control mistake by a power-hungry military group (we know in this series, military powers can be privatized), then they would most certainly want to keep it under wraps. Vajra can reproduce, as evidenced by the ship Brera toasted, so it doesn't seem out of the question that they could have gotten free and multiplied in that Weyland-Yutani sort of way. And if Sheryl was their (failed) attempt at a song-based control mechanism, they have to either completely eliminate their experiment or find another way to handle it. Side note: Ranka sings from the heart and is able to get peoples' (and Vajra) attention, but also caught the attention of the green squirrel (who seems tied to the Vajra in some way) and got it to sit down in patient observance. Sheryl, on the other hand, would have grown up on Galaxy singing to people in a sterile chemistry lab, rather than the slice of nature that is Frontier. Sara Nome made a point of her song being tied to the life around her; the military, however, would have only witnessed "singing controls alien technology," so they'd probably want to produce a pop idol rather than a nature-centric folk singer (it worked for at least two previous series, ya know?) Reason for edit: Added last paragraph.

Sheryl's still my #1, probably moreso now that she's decided she wants to be a pilot too. She's not happy until she excels at everything she sets her mind to! Klan did warm up a bit for me as well, especially seeing her softer side in recent episodes. Ranka's still low on my list, but I get the feeling she's gonna have a series of shining moments in the near future that'll propel her to near the top, if not all the way.

I too re-watched Zero to try and glean some things from it. It's interesting how a seemingly innocuous statement early on in a Macross series can actually be a major hint at things to come. Why is Sheryl the seemingly only "all-natural" human among the Galaxy fleet? I've got some ideas about her... Some have theorized she's a clone of Mao, but I think it goes slightly deeper than that. I think Sheryl is actually a clone of Sara Nome, herself. Dr. Hasford's stolen blood sample had to have been put to use for something, and what better place to try and push some scientific limits than on Galaxy, where technology is en vogue and research considered illegal elsewhere is commonplace? The NUNS is in charge now, but it's more like a confederation than a single governing body (hence different laws applying in different fleets), and the APHOS incident was declassified relatively recently as of Frontier, so perhaps some group took interest and tried to recreate the circumstances. Side note: Zentradi technology would undoubtedly make cloning an easy point in history, given a good enough sample - perhaps she's blonde-haired and blue-eyed because they used a 50-year-old vial to recreate her Why would this show go well beyond just homages toward Macross Zero (compared with the abundant tips of the hat to other Macross series) and actually include the retelling of its events as part of the Frontier storyline? Perhaps it's a means to allow viewers who hadn't seen the Zero OAV to get the basic info from that story since it's about to become relevant to the Frontier storyline? Sheryl has no recollection of her parents, and is instead watched over by Grace, who we're pretty much certain has extra stuff going on behind the scenes (though I don't think she's evil - more like a guardian). She made the side comment about having never experienced school (quickly covering up by implying she meant the Mihoshi academy). And, she's 100% natural because it's a "selling point," but what if that was by design to try and make her as purely-Nome as possible? Her blood type is Alpha, so she's definitely a Nome of some sort. And her singing affects Vajra, same as Ranka's. My theory here is that Ranka is a living descendant of Mao - her blood type is different, having been spliced in with Zentradi blood among others through two generations, but I think the heritage would trump the dominant alleles - and thus her singing has an effect on Vajra as well. Sheryl and Ranka are "related," but at the same time they're not. And likewise, I think Sheryl is the factor the Galaxy fleet (or whichever ominous background group is at work) knows about, but Ranka is the wild card no one predicted, hence their similar special abilities. Poke some holes in this, please, o ye more versed ones - I got some other theories about how Brera fits in with this, but I'll save those for later since I gotta go teach some Jiujitsu now.

If you'll recall, when they went out for Alto's final induction into SMS (paintball fight), when asked what armor package they all wanted, Mikhail said he wanted the "Sniper Pack" for his VF-25. I assume that's what carried over to this situation (along with Luca getting the recon packs, Alto getting the basic super packs, etc).

I'm very much of the opinion that Brera pilots his VF-27 from within, rather than remotely. From a TV-Show standpoint, it's the only sensible way for it to play out, given the information we have thus far. In the intro, we see Alto's VF-25 juxtaposed against Brera's VF-27 in what appears to be a dogfight - there's no dramatic point to having a dogfight with your antagonist's remote control airplane, because there is no element of risk attached to one half of the equation. Guld v. Ghost X-9 was even played up as giving the Ghost a rudimentary personality, where Sharon Apple had taken it over via AI - and even then, it was secondary protagonist versus secondary antagonist (or extension of primary antagonist, at any rate) while Isamu dealt with Sharon directly. The Alto-Brera fight looks to be much more personal between the two of them, and adding a video-game element to that would take away the impact of the battle. In Ep. 7, when we see Brera in his cockpit/chamber, it's also shown in a back-and-forth manner with the outside of his ship, hyperspace zooming by, etc - strong indicators that he was present in the cockpit of the ship displayed. I think it would have been shown differently if her were piloting from outside somewhere - and don't forget, even with the fold signal antennae there's still something like a 40 second lag, which would not be good for piloting or large amounts of data collection. I think he shot Alto's gunpod simply to keep Alto from raising a huge ruckus inside the enemy ship and blowing everybody's cover. Dio's Wacky Theory Time! (i.e. skip this section if my verbose postulations are just plain silly) I think this series (in the macro-sense) is going to branch off more into a discussion on whether artificial enhancement (biological or mechanical) is good for humankind, with Brera being the poster child for the pro-enhancement side of the debate if current theories hold. He's attached to Leon, who we know is up to something shady, as well as Mr. Bilra, who looks to be rather cyberneticized himself. He seems to pilot a very advanced valkyrie with no actual manual consoles, and may be in fact "jacked in" somehow since it seems he's surrounded by space/data/Lifestream/raspberry jello in his cockpit. Who better to put up against Alto, with his 100% natural talent? More than that, maybe there's an element of "Humans try to play God" in the overall story. We know Ranka originally came from a research fleet, perhaps the Vajra attack on that fleet originated from within, rather than outside? If the Vajra are humanity's dirty little secret (after all, once the APHOS was found they started to try and replicate its powers for themselves, even screwing over an entire island civilization in the pursuit of said knowledge), then some might know about it and want to keep the truth hush-hush. Maybe Ozma was serving under one of the original hush-hushers who ordered him to make that dirty little secret disappear? Further research (10+ years later) may have even continued and led to the production of some individuals like Brera, who could be literally the leading edge of human-technological innovation, but at the same time the farthest removed from their original humanity. If he's someone's research project, then Ranka could absolutely have a past acquaintance with him, from the research fleet. They both have the odd green pet-things, which could also have been experimental (since they are portrayed as pretty exotic even in a space colony) in the Lilo-and-Stitch sense. Conclusion: I need to post more frequently. This stuff sits in my brain far too long, and comes out in far too lengthy of bursts. Thanks for reading

So I like to freak my wife out from time to time by setting up my displays in really random poses... don't ask about Luchador Penguin and the breakdancing Gundam

I'm gonna say no, initially. If you look at the assortment photo above the prototype, you see Mikhail's and Luca's blue and green 25's, but neither one of them looks to have any additional parts beyond the main Valkyrie unit. Mikhail's is the more visible of the two, and doesn't look to have anything other than the standard gunpod - nothing extra on the shoulders, no sniper rifle, etc. I'm praying they don't make that an exclusive feature to the 1/60 DX line... It's sort of odd, actually, since those two are never seen in the show without their packs equipped. Their 25's look rather skinny without the extra goodies. However, knowing that Bandai has been great about including extra modification stuff with their MG Gundam models (sometimes enough to build your choice between multiple versions of a figure), perhaps it's just something we haven't seen yet. Either way, I'm actually liking the 1/72 MG model versions better than the 1/60 DX so far. Better price point, and I get the pleasure of assembling them too!

I have to admit, my opinion is colored by my impression of each lady's personality, and my favor of Sheryl as a character over Ranka does influence my choice in their singing, but I will try to be objective... Ranka, to me, is the idealistic, talented karaoke singer with dreams of something bigger. She's unrefined, but spontaneous, and probably has a lot more raw potential than Sheryl. As of Episode 5, she sings to try and draw something out of herself. Sheryl, on the other hand, is practiced and professional. Her songs are certainly layered with production effects, etc, but she has also gone past the phase where she's trying to find the music within herself and is instead performing to give that emotion and energy to others, to be inspirational and entertaining. Give it some time and Ranka will probably surpass Sheryl, I have little doubt. However, for now I'm gonna stick with Sheryl as the better voice behind the music.

I'm getting some of those weird vibes from this episode, like I'm starting to put some pieces together and form wacky theories. Stop me if I'm getting stupid here Ozma + Cathy Glass I think their ex-relationship status might be related to Ozma's ex-NUNS status. Moreover, I think Ranka's accident had something to do with him leaving the service (and hence, Cathy) - perhaps he became disenchanted by the "fold accident" coverup and that pushed him to leave NUNS and take care of Ranka, but he can't abandon his training/nature so he still works for SMS? As for him recruiting Alto to SMS, I don't think it's him trying to subvert Cathy's military enlistment offer, but more like a general motivation where he thinks Alto's potential would be wasted in NUNS ("cowards," as he called them in the first episode). I doubt it goes much deeper than that, given current information. He doesn't seem particularly close or mentor-ish to Alto, and is instead more of a supporting character. SMS vs NUNS I think the difference between this series and Macross 7, in terms of military presence, is that the Frontier fleet seems to be much more civilian-oriented than the Macross 7 fleet. We know the population is much higher, and so the military presence is probably minimized as a result, as well as the fact that they expect to encounter less hostile resistance. Since the Frontier fleet is heading inward, toward the center of the galaxy, perhaps they feel like it's more familiar/safer territory than if they were to go outward toward the galactic rim... My Predictions based solely on Upcoming Episode Titles "Bye Bye Sheryl" = Sheryl steps out of the limelight. Maybe she decides to turn Ranka into her successor since she feels like Ranka got gypped? "First Attack" = New antagonist character identified. Brera Sterne, possibly? "High School Queen" = Sheryl joining the high school as an ex-celebrity and now more prominent vertex of the series love triangle. "Friendly Fire" = Not Pineapple Salad. In fact, I think Ozma's going to survive this series. Instead, I think this could be an episode featuring some long-brewing conflict between NUNS + SMS. Conversely, perhaps Ozma becomes the target of some jealous rage by Leon, and gets double-crossed and ends up seriously hurt. Leon seems shady enough to try something like that on Ozma, especially with their mutual interest in Cathy Glass.

Alto-Hime has had that going on since the Deculture Edition... and he even has the purple hair...

Of course, I had to see that picture about 2 hours before I head to Jiu-Jitsu practice... you are a cruel man!

My bet is that the character development is gonna hit Sheryl at some point, and she will end up with Alto. Ranka is cute, but like others above me have said, she seems to have a loftier destiny in this series. It's also far more sensible for the writers to give Sheryl a reality check and personality makeover, than it is to artificially mature Ranka up to an age where she can be portrayed in a romantic way. This series has a lot of homages to earlier series, but I can't see them taking it so far as to flat-out repeat the "green recruit pilot meets ordinary girl from the block who becomes the next idol" formula. Then again, maybe they'll pull a Mylene with this one and Alto won't actually decide on anyone by the end. Mikhail and Klein is a good pairing, since it's a) non-essential to the overall story arc, and b) a great homage. Cathy's also off the table for Alto, she'll belong to Ozma again by the end of this series

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