JB0

A. It's laser. Actually LASER, which is an acronym meaning Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, but... that's too long. Lazer is only a valid spelling when it's followed by Tag. B. They ARE lasers. http://macross.anime.net/mecha/united_nati...yf21/index.html They may also be "beam guns" or "converging energy cannons" in some planes. But they are NEVER plasma cannons. C. Lasers DO have a physical form. Maybe you've heard of the photon before? There are REAL-WORLD cutting lasers in use NOW. The military has a FUNCTIONAL laser weapon prototype. I'd like to know how a beam with no physical form can interact so substantially with matter. D. Plasma is a HOT GAS. How do you make a beam of it? Fair enough. There's still far less room for evolution than in other weapon technologies. Lasers are in their infancy, and we have yet to create a viable energy weapon. And I remain convinced that a gun is a poor choice of prikary weapon for space combat once alternatives are available. But then, the VF-1 was a poor space fighter. Otherwise the FAST packs wouldn't have been made. Perhaps the VF-4 reached too far too fast, but the VF-17 is a viable example. Same size as the VF-1, lighter than the VF-1. Not the 1-shot super-beam Gamlin used as a finishing move, but the integrated chest lasers and arm cannons(and ye olde head turret, but everything has THAT). It's possible zentraedi armor is more resistant to energy weapons than traditional kinetic weapons. That's the only logical argument I can think of that justifies the continued use of projectile weapons as primary armament. On the VF-1 side of things, more head lasers would boost the effectiveness greatly. And we know that 4 such lasers can be mounted at apparently no performance loss. Though it's quite possible each laser's support hardware is large enough to severely restrict plausible mounting locations, given the head unit volume increases dramatically with laser count. Lacking the opportunity to place them on the arms would make them far less useful in GERWALK or battroid mode. ... I think I'm just rambling now. A. We don't really know the energy consumption of the lasers used in Macross, so making claims about the resources needed to fire one is a bit iffy. We DO know that a VF has an obscene power generation capacity, though. The VF-1 is claimed to have a near-infinite operational time. While I believe Focker to have been GREATLY exaggerating, the point is that it has power to spare. There IS a clear resource limit on the gunpod. 200 rounds on the GU-11, which has no provisions for reloading in battle. Presumably higher capacities on later gunpods, as well as the animated perk of field-changeable magazines. B. Beam weapons rapidly dissipate in atmosphere, but not space. C. Trajectory adjustment isn't possible for bullets either. And lasers have the advantage of reaching the target MUCH faster. In fact, the laser will always be the first weapon to hit a target thanks to the 1c speed limit imposed by relativity. If you NEED to correct trajectory with a laser, you're entirely too far away. It is NOT possible, as both the YF-19 and YF-21, as well as their production variants, mounted pin-point barriers without sacrificing conventional lasers, "converging energy cannons," and "beam guns"(depending on which specific plane you look at) There WAS an unknown interference between the first-gen barrier systems and the Macross' "super-dimension-energy cannon with beam polarizing converging system"(which I suspect to be the same technology as both beam guns and converging energy cannons, but which is rather obviously not a laser). That issue has apparently been ironed out in later years. Even if it hasn't been fixed, I highly doubt the barrier could interfere with laser operation, as it'd have to seriously screw up basic physics, which would be detrimental to the people being protected by it. "Activate the barrier!" "I've gone blind, captain!" "No you haven't the barrier just interferes with photon transmission. You'll be all right as soon as we cut it back off." "This is stupid, sir!" "I agree. Deactivate the barrier." So the zentreadi found beam weaponry more useful than shields? I find it more likely that the zentreadi mecha were simply designed before barrier systems were invented. Or at least before they figured out a way to get enough power in a reasonable size.

Hot Mom

Which I found utterly absurd given that people have been doing this for DECADES with VCRs. And before that there was the mute control, which at least reduced the commercials. I've found that what people believe copyright law to actually say is downright scary at times. I think the worst I've seen was that inserting a game console disk into a PC is a violation of the law because the copyright holder never SAID you could stick it in something other than a game console. Most of what I have to say already has been said somewhere. For the product to remain viable State-side, it needs to reach the US in a far more rapid fashion than it does. The whole entitlement thing has gotten WAY out of hand(I want it, so I can have it free! I'm a whiny spoiled brat! WAH!). There need to be more outlets for viewing a show without committing to a purchase. A few companies ahve made efforts at this, but not many, and not well-publicised. The whole entitlement thing has gotten WAY out of hand(You're gonna buy it even if it isn't any good! I'm a whiny spoiled brat! WAH!). And of course, one thing everyone's missed... merchandising. Bandai is one of the few companies to truly push merchandising hard, following on the heels of Gundam Wing's US popularity on Cartoon Network. The models and toys sold fairly well. And then they shot themselves in the foot. Repeatedly. They tried to follow Wing with the original Gundam. The 70s animation failed to appeal to the Wing fanbase. The show was pulled partway through it's first run. The toys littered shelves. They replaced Gundam with G Gundam. Which apparently did fairly well, fan griping aside. The merchandise lineup was screwed for 2 major reasons. 1. The action figure line had all the mechs in equal quantities. The popular 'bots sold out, and retailers were left with big piles of unmovable toys because no one wanted what was left. 2. In a VERY botched attempt to capitalize on the inexplicable demand of "battle damage" variants, they had an entire SECOND line of action figures called Gundam Battle Scarred. Which stores apparently ordered in similar quantities to the regular line. 3. Guindam Battle Scarred had the same character distribution issues as the regular line. So stores stated with both lines. As the "good" characters in the regular line sold out, they packed more bad characters and battle-damage on shelves to try and get some of the debris out of the way. As people realized there wasn't any more of what they wanted coming, they settled for battle-damaged versions of the good characters. And if they couldn't move the bad characters in pristine condition, you can imagine how much trouble they had with battle-damaged versions. Finally, they went with SD Gundam. From what I hear, it was NOT a well-liked show. And the SD Gundam toys littered shelves. And on top of this, they were bringing models over not just from the current running-in-the-US series, but from other serieses too. I saw frickin' SEED models selling alongside the SD Gundam toys. The Gundam name can't move mass-market merchandise by itself, and there was no SEED anime to promote it in the US(barring fansubs, which hit mainly the free-stuff entitlement crowd and the hardcore fan that was getting the original J package models from the comic store anyways). In the end, what COULD have been a cash cow for Bandai turned into a series of marketing fiascos, and Wing was a highly-profitable fluke. But the games did consistently all right, so I guess that's better than nothing.

Actually, that's EXACTLY what they did for the movie edition. Complete with hard subs.

IMO, the gunpod argument is stretching it a bit. A slug thrower is a slug thrower is a slug thrower. It's still a basic kinetic energy weapon. Power is a function of slug mass and velocity, and no advanced hyperalloys or exotic propellants will change that. More power = more recoil = less accuracy, and in extreme cases a new form of maneuvering thruster. The A-10's cannon, while devastating to tanks, ALSO generates enough recoil to totally negate half of the plane's total thrust. AND has to be mounted so that the firing barrel is aligned with the plane's centerline so as not to throw the aim off when it fires. Even with friction and aerodynamic control surfaces recoil is a HUGE issue. Throw everything in space and tack it onto an impossibly light vehicle, and the situation gets far worse. But working in space isn't overtech. There's a lot of airtight conventional cartridges that would work in space. Speaking of Overtech.... the A-10's GAU-8 has a much higher rate of fire than the VF-1's GU-11. Of course, if the GU-11 is loaded with explosive shells, they could have more yield(the GAU-8 is loaded with a "cocktail" of DU-tipped incendiary rounds and explosives). But 200 rounds isn't a lot any way you slice it(which lends weight to the argument that the head laser was intended to be a primary weapon). That's what bothers me most about the sequels, though. Energy weapons are long since perfected(Hell, the VF-4 was supposed to have integrated beam cannons as it's primary weapon), and there's simply no good reason that I can see for them to be carrying a slug thrower as the standard-issue primary weapon on the VF-19.

SWAG has the benefit of explaining durability variances between battroid and fighter, in that it's only active in battroid mode, allegedly because it uses surplus energy(though it falls apart when you consider the flying battroids in Zero use MORE energy than flying fighters). It also explains why a Valk can run around on it's exhaust ducts without damaging them excessively. Not necessarily. SWAG could be akin to Trek's "structural integrity field." Rather than preventing a hit entirely, as Macross barrier technologies do, it strengthens the material being acted upon, making it more durable. And given in ten years they managed to engineer transforming jetplanes, and then invent the pinpoint and omnidirectional barrier systems(not reverse-engineer, as barrier technology was completely unfamiliar to the zentradi)... But honestly, I thought I remembered the SWAG concept being in the pre-Zero material too.

That got a Dreamcast port back in 01, with upgraded graphics and a metric buttload of extra features. I strongly recommend it. It's supposed to be VERY similar to the Giga Wing series. Which I've failed to play as of yet. For some reason everyone talks about the Giga Wings, but no one ever mentions Mars Matrix.

"I know now why you cry... but it is something I can never do."

Guy doesn't get a second chance either? Lame.

1/8 scale! THAT'S THE ONE I WANTED AS A KID! Now I know why I remembered seeing an impossibly big one of those on the shelves. It'd be almost a foot tall, and I was probably only about 3 feet myself at the time. ... Which makes it all the more scary that I VIVIDLY remember seeing it and asking for "the big blue Robotech fighter" as a Christmas gift. Needless to say, no one could find it with THAT as a description. I even remember the blue Alpha I wound up with instead... and the accursed metallic pile of hinges holding the arm on that kept me from transforming it myself without popping the arms off. Drove me mad having to ask mom to change it for me every time.

If I ever become a father, I'm doing that. My wife will probably kill me, but I have to. I hope you're happy. You've probably signed my death warrant.

I saw it. As with all things Ultimate Bumblebee, I found it hard to care. I just jab the sound buttosn when I walk by to see what pops out.

The lasers are officially anti-aircraft weapons. And whether something explodes or not is gonna be a function of how rapidly you dump energy into it, and where you're dumping that energy. You can get a good bang out of a fairly low-power shot if you melt a hole in the fusion core. Outside of that, you have to dump a lot of energy into the target in a fairly short period of time. Armor-wise, you want... A. Reflective surfaces. B. Curved surfaces. Or my personal favorite... C. Thermally superconductive armor. A is obvious. With a perfect reflector, you're invincible... Of course, a perfect reflector violates the laws of thermodynamics, and won't stay perfect for long as dust and scuffs accumulate. But even an imperfect one greatly reduces the energy you absorb. Thus, white valks are safer to fly than brownies... and now you know the secret to Hikaru's high survivability. B spreads the laser over a wider impact area increasing the amount of power you need for a given effect. There's also some weird optical properties with curved surfaces that I don't understand. C spreads the heat over the entire armor piece, meaning you have to dump MASSIVELY larger amounts of power into the target to get an effect. But if you can pour enough energy in to vaporize a large piece... it ain't gonna be pretty. Lasers are weird weapons. I think it's safe to say that no sci-fi does them right. By the Compendium's specs, the head lasers ARE pulsed. 6000 pulses per minute. You could attribute variances to pilot usage more easily than variable pulse rates, IMO. They're probably trained to fire short controlled bursts, as the gunpod carries little ammo and the lasers overheat with sustained fire. Or you can take the artistic license angle, as the beam shouldn't be visible AT ALL in space regardless of fire mode. In an atmosphere... I don't know. There's no available wavelength or power ratings. And that's really out of my depth anyways. I don't know what sort of power level you'd need to get a visible beam, though I know it's possible. The animation can't be used as a guideline, as it shows beams, no beams, and gunpowder muzzle flare in both environments. Occasionally with machine-gun noises. It also shows a combined visible beam+muzzle flare that makes it appear as if, rather than an actual laser, the gun uses a mass of energy that accumulates at the tip of the barrel and the beam emits from that mass. Aesthetically pleasing, certainly, but utterly impossible for a laser. Either way, I'd be willing to bet the head lasers are used more than we think. Several scenes have lasers emitting from the FLIR sensor bulges. These likely would have been from the head lasers, had the animation teams responsible understood the Valk's design better. Ironically, these are consistently treated as lasers, despite being COMPLETELY WRONG. I can't think of any scenes that used machine-gun effects for the FLIR sensors. And given the highly variable animation(the gunpod often fires lasers, and the head lasers often fire bullets), there's no way to tell if a given shot came from the gunpod or head turret in fighter mode, unless we actually see which gun is firing.

Begin at the beginning. Watch the original SDF Macross TV series(NOT Robotech). From there, I'd recommend Do You Remember Love and Macross Plus. DYRL assumes TV series knowledge, so while it's REALLY pretty, it's not a great starting point. DYRL isn't available in the US, though. But there always be a solution to that, ARRR. ... Actually, where you start probably depends on what KIND of anime fan you are. SDF Macross is low-budget 80s animation. It is, shall we say, not very pretty most of the time. If you value flash over substance, jump straight to DYRL and Plus. But if you're looking for content, character development, and a story, start with the TV series.

I suspect the problem fell under the work-safe label. Or the "Holy CRAP that GERWALK is scary" issue.

To be fair, Millia could turn a dented tuna can into a deadly space fighter if you gave her a can of red paint.

Seems like it comes WAY too far out for that. Especially the back of Cammy's ponytail. 1 pixel in and there's an entire tile of hit? Hit detection wasn't restricted to whole tiles even back in the Atari era. We've ALWAYS been able to clip it to just the visible part of the sprite. If they're restricted to 64*64 tiles for hit detection, it's not only a HUGE step backwards, but gonna lead to a REALLY ugly-playing fighter. That color is a traditional transparency indicator. I'm betting it's just "this part of this tile is transparent" and hit detection is FAR closer to the actual sprite outlines(actually, I'd bet it IS the sprite outlines in most cases). There's a new Roadblasters coming out? Why didn't anyone tell me?

Also worth noting that UN Military HQ is inside the Macross. Odds are good they don't want it going far.

Ummm.... Guld DID use his mind to pilot the YF-21. And his body, to the extent that he had to remain conscious and NOT jerk into a stray switch during high-G maneuvers. Isamu just slapped a bunch of levers and buttons and the YF-19 did all the work for him.

Not even in the same company. It'd just be nice to see some R-Type fighters get the same treatment the Vic viper is getting. The Gradius link is just an easter egg for the fans. No continuity connection.

I highly doubt it. Given there appear to be mounting points for his coronation armor, I'm pretty sure they planned a G1 paint scheme from the start. Besides, have they EVER passed up a chance to do a repaint and sell the same toy all over again? A sprue issue would mess up Seeker repaints, too. I don't see any possible way AT ALL that they thought there was only going to be one deco job for that mold.

Yeah. I know different materials hold paint different. Seems to me, in my amateur opinion, that those wouldn't hold paint well anyways due to location and function. It'd scrape off pretty fast, if I had to bet. And on top of that, Hasbro tends to use less paint when they can, and they could easily have felt the cost of the paint wasn't justified, especially given the high scrape factor. So if they couldn't mold it in the right color to start with, it'd be very likely to stay the wrong color. Just saying, given the character lends itself REALLY well to redecos and there's circumstantial evidence a G1 paint scheme was planned from day 1, it's not likely to be a gang-molding issue unless someone was terminally stupid(which has happened before, admittedly).

Which would be pretty darn stupid of the mold designers given they'd almost invariably planned for a cartoon color scheme when they made the mold(I seem to recall discussion about it having mounting points for a crown and cloak), and they've ALREADY started doing repaints for the rest of the seekers. Personally, I'd bet Hasbro made the hinge pieces black for some sort of durability reason(I don't recall hearing about them being failure points, but...).

Oddd.... I saw it and thought "BOMBA!!!!!"

http://www.eants.co.jp/valis/ is the official game site. Contains non-safe content. Both in the traditional "naked women" sense and the "WTF did they do to Valis?!?!?!" sense(hint: they lesbian tentacle-raped it).