Master Dex

I've actually watched episode 18 already, and 19 I think... whichever one was Life Threatening Date, that it the last I saw, I just haven't done reviews lately.

It is obvious by finish, actually obvious earlier than that. You'll understand everything about this enemy by the end. They made it purposefully confusing. It is actually quite interesting though. The short answer without revealing anything to you is that Gigil is both human and not human at the same time, as is Gepelnitch.

Indeed so, after all the Protoculture designed the bodies they are using. Those guys were the definition of a Type 3 civilization, had the power of an entire galaxy. They could literally do anything. I would just assume since the Evil series are living beings that they do need to breathe. Though they could have been engineered without that need. More so the Protodeviln inhabiting the bodies may have changed them and what they can do.

I watched the episode on Saturday, but I couldn't post my review until now for obvious reasons. So onto that. Ah... Sivil. We begin a long arc that to this day makes my raise an eyebrow (so many things do that though). She sure is hungry for Spiritia. We get a lot in this episode. We just lost a member of Diamond Force and now the leader is hurt. Gamlin is left as the only protector for City 7 until Battle 7 can arrive to assist. Basara is ever more encourages to finish his latest song to help out the prisoner who turns out to be a human from Earth and once served in UN Spacey. Also the tragic moment I mentioned last time. Gamlin makes it to Physica's wife to tell the news, only to find she has moved on. So much so that the kid thinks the new man is his father. It is likely this affair has been going on and the separation from the fleet made it easier on the wife, who probably planned to end things with Physica anyway. Makes one wonder if she even cares, or if she'll ever tell her son who his father really is. On another note though, Physica was most worried about his family being safe. As tragic as the result is, Gamlin is right as he posthumously comforts Physica's worries. His family is safe. This is all Gamlin can give to Physica, as it is both alleviating, and yet terribly saddening. I have a science note for this one. Macross has always been good about sound in space. Sure they display sound in space for drama but they make it obvious they know there is none. Hence Basara needing to fire speaker pods at enemy ships so they can hear him, whereas he can use large speakers in an atmosphere. So one might wonder, how can Sivil hear his song? For that matter how can she survive in a vacuum at all? I have theories. First it should be noted we don't know everything the Evil series is capable of doing. Perhaps the bodies are designed to be able to survive in a vacuum, Protodeviln or not. Aside from that though, I would hypothesize that the glowing sphere around Sivil was her projecting some type of shield in which she held a volume of atmosphere. Naturally this would run out after a while but let's ignore that for the moment and assume she did this. The energy sphere seems to also be able to allow here to travel superluminally after all. So I believe we shewas focused on Basara's cockpit section, she was close enough that the sound waves from his singing could traverse into her bubble, and so she could hear his song. In the past I've heard many theories and jokes about what the effect of Basara's music on actual protodeviln (not ones just mind controlling a human that is) is. It seemed to cause pain to Sivil here. Maybe because the spiritia is so strong she couldn't handle it. In later episodes we will see it have a slightly different effect, to the point it would she she enjoyed it... perhaps a bit more than usual (people who have seen it will get what I am saying probably). However it had an effect. This will resonate with the story more and more as we go along.

It was Gigil who shot Physica because he was using the prototype mini laser. You can see when Gamlin is chasing after Gigil later that Gigil is firing the same weapon but then runs out of energy for it. That is also why Gamlin went after Gigil in a rage, for it was he who shot Physica.

This is exactly why I chose not to discuss theories on the Macross cannon and such. The show decided to cinch it as firing super dimension energy, so it couldn't be explained away so easily, and they wouldn't have to do anything. There really isn't much more you can get from it. I should know better than this, but I'll risk it and note that there isn't much of a need to accelerate tachyons... they already travel faster than the speed of light... but whatever suits your needs I guess. They're just theoretical after all.

And I just watched 16. I'll do my bit now. I must say this is one of my favorite episodes of the show. Mostly for the Battle 7 side of the story, even if the other side is important. Even though it was obvious that Physica was going to die (minor character suddenly gets a lot of back story, it was inevitable) I do find it saddening, and even then very dramatic. Obviousness aside, if you knew the guy who had been separated from his wife and child then with no idea if they were ok, and you were so close to seeing them again. Then one seemingly random shot, just one shot, and everything is gone. A minor character maybe, but still a story in itself. It is even more depressing given what we learn next episode but I will save that for then. Part of the reason I like this episode is that Max gets back into the game. No he isn't piloting a fighter but we are seeing his amazing battle skills in action. Such things like recognizing the opening volley as a scare tactic. Also when aiming the cannon, aiming just offset because that is where the enemy would move to avoid the shot. Brilliant. Although given almost any direction the enemy ships could have moved I wonder how he knew which way there were going to go. Also, first time seeing the Battle 7 transformation and Macross cannon firing. Won't be the last though, no it certainly won't... That is one thing I will give Frontier credit for, they kept that macguffin on a leash, that had a Macross class ship with a cannon, and used it only once. It made more sense really, that cannon and the transformation must be very energy consuming. Some may wonder, when will I tackle the science of the Macross cannon? Well I won't. I don't know exactly what it is doing or what it is firing, just some large beam. Can't get much out of that. I'll tackle the age old problem of acceleration though. Max notes to continue having the fleet move forward at 75% thrust. This command is ambiguous as it could mean just keep moving forward at a slower velocity. Taking it literal though, that means the engines would be firing constantly. So the fleet would actually be accelerating faster, just not as much as they could. In space there is no air resistance, or gravity in this case (a fallacy though as there is always gravity, so really there is a lack of much gravity) so you have your initial thrust to accelerate to a certain velocity and then you can shut the engines off and continue to move at that velocity. Reaction control thrusters can adjust your movement until you need to move in a new vector. Most shows ignore this though, so it is not something to make a big deal about. In reality moving in space is difficult and it is easier to lose control than flying in an atmosphere. Although the ships on this show no doubt use a lot of computer control to help with flying. I always have to wonder how many reaction thrusts it takes to offset the recoil of that gun though, or more truthfully the moment imparted by it. Since the cannon's fire wasn't working through Battle 7's center of mass, without proper reaction control the recoil could send the robot-ship into a spin (one of the reasons a battleship robot isn't very feasible in truth, awesomeness aside). It is certainly possible to work it out, just difficult. I also sometimes wonder about the strength of the arms, if they used servos to act like muscles or something to keep the arms from failing due to the massive recoil the cannon must give. The recoil is visible in the scene even. That cannon is a monster, definitely makes the UN Spacey a force to be reckoned with, even if they got all that technology second hand. Looks like we are getting into the Sivil chapter next week. That will open up a lot of interesting things to talk about. Until next time, BOMBAA!!

Ok, I dropped the ball on that one, I didn't post again with a more detailed review. As for that though, I find the idea of staging a fair to find usable fighter pilots for the short term to be deliciously circuitous. I would have doubted it working all that well. Guess though in the end of the day valk piloting is in the blood. I loved when that aid mentioned Mylene must have gotten her skill from her father right in front of Millia's face. Mylene doesn't seem bothered by shooting down enemy fighters. She either isn't mature enough to think of the ramifications of that or she really has a handle on the morality issues of battle. Hard to say, it is clear what Basara thinks. I don't disagree with him, but it is true that he wasn't succeeding at the time with his song (much to his chagrin I'm sure). Again nothing overtly science worthy in this episode. I keep on waiting for another one, but there just wasn't a lot there to critique or mention. Well it is Friday again, so I'm going to watch ep. 16. Whether I actually get to posting the review for that in this week is up in the air, lol.

I consider it food for thought. I pretty much agree with March on this one but that doesn't make it a bad discussion topic. It gets people thinking about science and engineering and I love that stuff (I am studying it after all). I am trying to design futuristic machines for my own sci-fi novels, and I want to do it realistically and within realms of science. Considering even options like this helps me to understand what works and what doesn't. I once thought, it would be cool to have a Valkyrie like thing for space battles and such, but the more I looked at it and thought about what is needed there are what is hard to do or unnecessary, I changed a lot. No more mecha really in my plans, but it was a fun idea to play with for a while. The trade off was that I designed a really cool space fighter based on realistic physics.

My answer was a basic idea more or less. I didn't know that method was official, though I did consider it a possibility originally. Very fascinating indeed.

That is pretty much it actually. In atmosphere they collect air and then use the heat from the reaction engines to expand the air into plasma state (although it really is just superheated gas without an electrical charge) which is the propellant coming out the back. In space they have some propellant on board with them. It has never been explained exactly what the propellant is though. Because the air from the atmosphere is the propellant there, they can cruise almost indefinitely in atmosphere, or at least until the nuclear engines run out of fusible material. However the OTEC reaction engines have the ability to fuse pretty much anything somehow, not just nuclear materials. So it could run a pretty long time it seems.

Just watched episode 15. Will post with review stuff later as it is late for me right now and I am very tired. Fun episode though, to say the least.

I'm not thinking of weight, trust me, I'm an engineering student, I don't make those mistakes. I am not sure I am explaining the idea of the wing very well. For one, changes in temperature is another variable in this that has nothing to do with the system to which I am referring. The wings I am referring to are in truth not all one material, so that has something to do with the confusion I bet. I think it best we end this subject now though, as I am not to interested really. Basically though it is like the wing is made of rigid bars with a skin over it (not unlike what someone else said earlier really actually, just a bit different) and the bars are on joints that can move to change the wings shape. Perhaps relating this to mass was a poor choice of words as I didn't even need to say that. I was also rather tired when I wrote that originally, been doing a lot of work so the terms and stuff probably were all jumbled in my head. Either way, the conversation is an end to itself. Get me on the weekend, I am more conscious then, lol.

Mass = Density * Volume. If the volume changes but the density remains the same, the mass will not be the same. Example, random object has density of 30 kg/m^3 and a volume of 5 m^3. The mass is 150 kg. If you change the volume but the density remains the same, lets say volume is now 7 m^3, the new mass is 210 kg. Remember mass isn't the same as matter. I am not saying any matter in the wing is disappearing or reappearing, just the observed mass. The matter is being reorganized, but the amount of matter in the wing is always the same. If the matter isn't altered, the density has no reason to change, especially since this is a solid with which we are dealing. Fluids can change density easily, but anyone designing a wing out of gas or liquids are going to find larger troubles than what the mass is, lol.

This is a subject of study that has been going on for some time. True invisibility cloaking technology will be possible within decades (though not commercially I imagine.. not sure why most people would need it). This is thanks to metamaterials. Last I heard they were able to make metamaterials that could become invisible to x-rays and doing so for visible light was a matter of further development and time. If what you say is accurate, then we are simply another step closer.

The T-1000 (as it was) didn't have mysteriously disappearing blades actually. Really all that machine was was a large grouping on nanomachines which were reforming their structure to form those blades and changing their form again to reshape back. This makes the T-1000 truly the most advanced type of Terminator we've seen (despite that T-X in that abomination of a third movie) because it would require hugely incredible amounts of processing power between each nanomachine to send these commands of where to go and how to be formed together and to do all that as fast as it was shown. In fact in the novelization of T2 it is said Skynet was afraid of the thing it was creating because it couldn't completely control it and if the T-1000 decided it wanted to fight against Skynet, it had the capabilities such that it could have taken down Skynet on its own. Skynet created it as a last ditch effort since it was about to loose the war (this is all based on information from the first two movies and not related to how history was changed resulting in the events of the Third and Fourth movies). As for Macross, the wings of the YF-21 are nothing like this. The reshaping wing concept I mentioned meant that the wings could change their shape but only to a certain degree. They would still maintain the same density, but the volume of the wings would be altered. So while the wings mass would change, nothing is really disappearing or magically appearing out of nowhere. It is just a clever reorganizing of the surface of the wing to meet different air conditions depending on speed and such. However it is never explicitly stated the YF-21 is doing this, but it looks possible. This technology wouldn't really explain away the retracting wings of the Galaxy star liner in my opinion because the wings don't look to be changing shape, just sliding into some space in the middle of the craft. Provided the space is there, I can see that being very possible. Some of the most inconceivable technologies seen in many science fiction genres are not always as unlikely as they seem. It is often said in the world of physics that when someone labels some technology or idea as impossible but cannot prove the impossibility through math or science, someone else will inevitably find a way to show that idea might actually be possible. There are some impossible things according to physics, but there are more things that are possible according to those laws than most might think. Science is truly an amazing thing. Considering Galaxy's level of technology, you can assume a lot of things from them, but I think the wings of the star liner aren't as mysterious as they seem, as I've mentioned before.

It looks to me they slide into place like you say, although the mechanism itself makes me wonder. Without being properly rooting like modern wing designs I wonder how it can handle the shear stress put on the wings. I'm sure some OTEC can account for that though (like the mysterious space metal). Now the idea of some type of shape memory alloy like what we see with the YF-21 is certainly possible as well, just not what it looks like to me. There is a lot of real life research into materials that can make wings capable of changing shape to fit different flying conditions much like that of the YF-21.

And so I have watched episode 14. Fun episode. City 7 still separated from the fleet, and everyone basically trying to get along like normal despite. Gamlin really needs to relax some more, lol. He only doesn't like Fire Bomber music because he has a problem with Basara and is conflicted about Mylene. Also Fire Bomber seems to hit all demographics for their concerts, I have to say though, Basara is a great sport about it. More amazing Valk action from Milia again. Too bad we have to wait so long to see Max back in the cockpit again. I don't really have much to say for this episode there is pretty much not much to say but what you see with this one. Can't even think about anything to do for the science bit this week. I guess it is for next week.

I would say so yes, I'll get around to looking at that later tonight hopefully.

Neither Max or Milia would be the type to do that though. They'd apprehend and hold the vampires in a secure place, but they wouldn't coldly flush them. Like said before, this isn't Battlestar Galactica. They aren't the last surviving remnant of humanity, and therefore aren't that desperate. Even if the Protodeviln didn't learn about the spirita regeneration ability and didn't set up the farm project, they'd still attack the fleet to drain spirita like normal. So just by events playing out the fleet may have learned of Fire Bomber's music working to 'revive' people who had been drained. In other words, you are right that had they taken more initiative to deal with the Vamps then they might have had less troubles, but not necessarily derail the plot as it was, it would have been altered quite a bit, but it still could have played out in some way.

As long as the science is valid enough for a high explosion count I guess Michael Bay feels no wrong can be done, lol. It wasn't too difficult to include the picture really, but I felt it would help make the things I was saying seem a bit more real and give a truer sense of scale. The technology humanity has at their disposal in Macross is almost unfathomable. In Frontier a fold over 20 light years is referred to as short range, and the 12 to 16 range isn't considered very far 19 years earlier. Humanities technology level in Macross is impossible in that time frame for natural progression. Of course natural progression is not how they achieved that in the shows, it is all intervention based progression, primarily the ASS-1 crashing and Space War I. Despite the results of the two situations the future they've built is an amazing dream. To do these things if we never get any help from some other higher intelligence (like alien races we somehow meet), it could easily take us hundreds to thousands of years. This is one of the reasons I like Macross, it is truly fantastical, but at the same time it is fantastic. I would give a lot to see some of the things people in Macross probably take for granted given their advancement.

I didn't necessarily say it was brand new in 2040, just that that was 5 years earlier. I also noted the likelihood that experimental referred to a new version or something to that effect.

All right! I am caught up now, awesomeness. The show is heading into one of the more interesting parts now. City 7 has been stolen by the enemy who are trying to relocate it to their own fleet. Max is pretty resourceful as ever. The trans-location dropping a small rock from the exit coordinates is cool. I have to give props to the writers there for using such a small detail in how the fold drive works in the show for a vital plot point. Also Milia has rather dark humor, joking about dumping the entire population into space if they riot. I wouldn't be shocked though if there was an emergency contingency plan that called for that though. You can never be too careful really... The Fold boosters, first time we see them in a show (Macross Plus being an OVA/movie). I have an interesting observation, and I can use my well versed astronomy knowledge for this one. Apparently in 2045 the fold boosters are experimental and can't handle a long range fold as such (as noted they had a 50% chance of success, which despite Gamlin's emotional response, is in fact really good odds from a scientific angle). However only 5 years earlier in Plus we see fold boosters being used with no problems. I have two potential explanations for this: A, the show writers made a goof, or B, the distance City 7 was folded out was quite far indeed. B is more likely, allow me to explain. Macross Plus takes place mostly on Eden. In continuity Eden is a planet in the fictional Groombridge 1816 star system (also known as Helios apparently). This star system is in fact not real. I don't know why they chose to do this because there is however an actual star called Groombridge 1618 (there are other Groombridge stars, but that matches the numbers closest, and is unlikely a coincidence). Groombridge 1618 is a class K7V star, which to non Astronomy folk is a star a bit smaller than our sun (when I say bit I mean in cosmic terms). As it happens though it is theorized K class stars can be good for supporting life if a planet was in the right location, just as much as G class (our Sun is a class G2V star). This has little to do with the show, just some extra information for those that find it interesting. Anyway, We can assume that Groombridge 1816 from M+ is supposed to be around the same area as Groombridge 1618 for the simple similarity in the name. 1618 is about 15.8 light years away from Earth (which is pretty close to us in cosmic terms). Eden in the 1816 system is supposed to be about 11.7 light years from Earth. Closer, but not by much. I don't know why they didn't use the real one instead, the distance is almost the same to a space faring civilization with fold technology. Ok, it sounds like I am ranting on Macross Plus, but I do have a point. Max said the fold boosters can't handle trips "over such a long distance." The fact that the trip from Eden to Earth (11.7 ly distance or 15.8 if you like to use the real universe alternative) can be made with the fold boosters with no problems indicates a general idea for what a short range fold is, and for what the early fold boosters are rated. This means the distance City 7 was from Battle 7 was at least more than 20 light years, probably more. Given the rather good 50% odds (despite that the boosters burned out on fold out), it probably wasn't too much more of a distance given that City 7's mass seems to have a limit to how far it can go. It is rather interesting I think that while at first glance it seems an oversight of the writer's part that the fold boosters seem to be a bit unreliable 5 years after they are shown to work fine and yet are still experimental. However with some critical thinking and some extra information it all fits very well in canon. Though it is weird that after 5 years the boosters are still experimental. Perhaps a newer version that hadn't been bench marked yet. In which case while Diamond Force failed to reach City 7 in time, they did help in testing out the latest system. As crass as it may sound the Engineers designing those things will love them for that unintended bench mark test, and it might help explain why fold boosters later on seem to have less trouble. Worked out the kinks they did. As for the rest of the episode, always fun to see Milia in the cockpit again. I was chuckling as the enemies were trying to shoot at her but missing, they'll never hit her. She is way too good for them, lol. Also props for Basara saving the day just like how they would on Russian Space Station, lol (I laugh because it is a fun reference, but that movie has terrible science). To close out my post, here is a fun picture related to my Groombridge 1618 talk earlier taken using a handy program I have called Celestia: Click for spacey goodyness. This is me hovering just near Groombridge 1618, as you can see it doesn't look all that different from our sun, but it is actually a tad bit more orangish than ours, and it is smaller. Also for fun, if you notice the red markers nearby, that is where we are in relation to 1618. The markers are sitting directly on Earth 15.8 light years away. Small in terms of cosmic scale, but still very far away. The universe is vast indeed.

I have been extremely busy with school work and only just watched ep.11. By my count we should be getting to 14 this week? I'm not sure anymore. I'll watch some to catch up, if 14 is this weeks (someone let me know if I'm wrong) then I'll try to get a review in. I'll have to skip reviews for the episodes I wasn't around for, but I plan to be back again, hopefully continuing my either much loved or much annoying science segment, lol.

It would have to be a very sensitive radar. Spent casings would scatter quite a bit even coming from a moving battroid, let alone a movie aircraft. The tiny cross sections of the casings would make for barely a ping on a radar. They are more designed to pick up the reflection of larger cross sections such as aircraft. They never go into detail on the stealth systems in Macross though. While some valkyries have what appears to be similar plan form alignment like the F-22 (you see this mostly with the VF-22) others do not seem to have this but still are regarded as stealth. While there are certain materials that could do this I have my doubts that space metal is both highly durable and stealthy at the same time. I really wish we had more info on this surreptitious material from which all valkyries are made.