Final Vegeta

The OP of Aquarion is really popular in Japan (in a poll it was second only to Zankoku na tenshi no these). I saw a lot of videos with it in jp.youtube. This video doesn't have it but it is fun nonetheless. FV

I think the VF-25 in Fighter mode is more similar to the VF-3000 than the VF-1. FV

When she arrived at the restaurant there were two Zentradi girls with her. They should be supposed to be part of her squadron. FV

I think 25 was just a number chosen because it is the 25th anniversary of Macross. The VF-19 and VF-22 may or not may appear simply because they must be redesigned in 3D. Yamato's toys show that some modifications must be made for the original models to work. FV

Remember that the movie of Macross 7 was shown together with the Movie of Macross Plus. Also, even the movies of Pokemon were shown together with comedic shorts. It may be a Japanese format. I think Ippatsu Gyakuten-Hen is just a short, a special if you wanna call it, but the proper movie is still the 2 OVAs merged. By the way, the OVAs rocked and so did Ippatsu Gyakuten-Hen. FV

Maybe you meant "Sleipnir", which is actually my pick. Sleipnir was the 8-legged horse of Odin. The name means "smooth" or "slippery". Other than this something related to elf (like "Alfr") may be good, due to VF-25's Battroid slim figure and pointy head lasers. Gundam 00 has some angelic motives in names (the Thrones), so I think it would be better not to choose "Seraph". FV

Sporadic numbering was simply meant to allow autors to insert a VF inbetween established timelines. FV

Here's the offical url to these shorts of Ani*kuri (anime creator). It seems it's some kind of promotional manouver of NHK. Kawamori is in the third season of shorts, so he will be available in the official site only after a while. Anyway, the NHK's transformable building was very "Macrossish" There was even the sliding wall Too bad the short last only a minute About Genius party, the short done by Kawamori is called "Shanghai Dragon". I am very eager to see it FV

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv8HP8_OUi4 What is this clip? It indeed looks like it was done by Kawamori&Satelight. FV

We can see there was an error in coloring: the top of VF-25 head is red and black and can be seen in Fighter mode. FV

I don't remember where I read it, but there was an official source that stated that her surname was "Norm". FV

Although this editing of the first episode of Macross Frontier has some problems with clipping, in no scene the VF-171 is ever shown with an external gunpod AND The VF-171 in Fighter mode fires from the chest guns. My conclusion is that in standard configuration the VF-171 is not armed with a gunpod (and the relative beam adaptor). Maybe with FAST packs (or the armored pack) there will be something for the arms to use, but for now there is nothing. Even the arm lasers seem missing. I think the VF-171 has gone the opposite of VF-11 in cannonfodderization: the VF-11 has a gunpod but no underwing missiles, and the VF-171 has underwing missiles but no gunpod. FV

At least most of armor has been removed. It's not a "nightmare" anymore, more like a "goblin" Depowered doesn't mean inoffensive Even the VF-0, though lacking the thermonuclear engines of the VF-1, has more missiles in its raid configuration than a super VF-1. From what is seen in the first episode sometimes the whole Vajra has a red glow, sometimes only the tail glows. I think it stands for Vajra, it meens lightning. FV

Thank you Graham! The VF-171 appears to have been seriously depowered, no more heavy battroid. Other than this it looks good. It must be noted that in earlier sketches the VF-17 was supposed to have a longer nose. On the contrary, the Queadlunn Rau has gained new weapons. It seems the Frontier Fleet will be involved in heavy troubles. FV

I think some screencaps of Kawamori's Lego VF-25 would be appreciated FV

Actually, Gilliam screamed loudly before being killed, so he shouldn't have been confused with Ozma. FV

By the way, I don't remember which thread it was, but there was a question about VF-25's missiles. I think I spotted a place where they could be: it's the thing that was thought to be a hip laser; maybe it's a hip missile launcher. The piece does have exit ports for the exhaust gas. Besides, while in Battroid's front picture it seems it is just a stick, judging from the FAST Pack / Armored Pack piece that covers it it's bigger than that, it includes even a hexagonal piece that complete side's outline of the Fighter (a missile magazine). FV

The Seiyan version is the worst. Several lines were wrong. The Shinsen seems faithful enough, just some names were misunderstood (Norme instead of Nome, Canaya instead of Kamelia, Reamer-8 instead of Lima-8, etc). FV

I too watched this episode many times. It's really great. On one hand it's a standard premise, the enemy comes and the protagonist hops aboard the mecha, on the other hand it's stuffed with many Macross references, we got the waitress singer-to-be, the concert, the color motifs on the Valkyries, so it's kind of familiar and yet new. I liked how they matched the sense of wonder of the viewer about this city travelling in the space with the emotion felt by the protagonist, Sheryl, in the first scene. As secretly disagreeable as she may be, there would be no point if she started the first episode with a bored mood. I also liked how the arrival of Sheryl provoked reactions in real time to the other protagonists. Even before the concert, they kind of interacted. I read on this thread negatives reactions which were mostly pointless, especially if you watched other Macross series. I won't argue about how Super Robot and Real Robot shows are done, but I wish to clear something about the protagonist. Maybe it's because Macross Zero and Macross Frontier were spaced by Aquarion, which has a more "solar" type of character, that these two series have a protagonist that could arguably be seen as similar (in the beginning of the show verging on the schizoid personality disorder). Tridimensional characters have to deal with many different kinds of emotions, so angst is among them, yet obviously despite their innate character they can't have a fixed mood, otherwise they wouldn't be tridimensional. In the first episode of Macross Frontier the protagonist is even seen smiling and being enthusiastic, something angsty characters don't do. The key here is called "polarity". It's perfectly normal that a scene which goes bad for a character will seen him angsty. If the scene is good for a character, the character instead should be happy. This is polarity. A good show works alternating polarity between good and bad, each swing growing wider in polarity until the end. Maybe the fault of Macross Frontier was simply that it started with a negative polarity for the protagonist (him being bored and insulted by Michael) instead of a positive polarity (I think in Macross Plus Isamu skydiving or fighting enemies could be counted as positive, while in Macross Zero Shin thinking about war could be counted as negative). Personally, I liked the cockyness of the character. It's funny how, when I first watched the design, I thought that he looked manly compared to other mecha shows, and he ended up being a descendant of a family specialized in female roles in kabuki theatre. Other things I think nobody said: -on the official site, in the mechanics section, the red enemy is called "bajura" (katakana), which should be translated as "Vajra", which means "lightning". Maybe the yellow enemy will be called "makara", an Hindu mythical monster (wikipedia is your friendfor further info). -we already saw Bobby Margo and Kamelia Vershtein (they are in the staff of SMS, Bobby as a bridge bunny, Kamelia in the bar). -in the trailer of the next episode, we are clarified about Michael role in the SMS (by the way, I think it's "Luca" and not "Luka". He appears to have an Italian name). FV

I can't post regularly at the moment, but I lurk the thread of Macross Frontier. I discovered Graham has posted two more pics at these links http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?act=...st&id=47629 http://macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?act=...st&id=47627 but I can't access the pics. Is it because the thread was moved? Aside from this, has someone discovered where the piece of the Fighter over the intakes disappear when the shoulders come out in Battroid? FV

This definition is so loose it becomes an irrilevant term. Even the episode "Rainy Night" within Macross series itself should be classified as inside retcon (as authors were supposed to close the series with a final battle. Similarly, in Gundam SEED a character died but was "resurrected" by fan demand). It is obvious that a prequel will be always a retcon, in the sense of what in Wikipedia is called "addition", which is the sense in which retcon was conceived (sequels too have to be retcon if they try to build things on existing series), and I don't deny that there isn't even negative retcon in Macross Zero, like the absence of Dragon II and Karyobin fighters (and the existence of the VF-0 and SV-51). It's no mystery the continuity of Macross was rewritten more than one time. What I am reasoning about is whether or not the energy converting armor was an already existing concept, as mentioned by Egan Loo: Macross co-creator and mecha designer Shoji Kawamori said that variable fighters in general employ surplus energy to strengthen armor in Battroid mode. The designation SWAG was specified for Macross Zero's VF-0, although Mr. Kawamori publicly described the general technology of energy converting armor before Macross Zero and actually conceived it longer before. Only the name appears to be a true retcon. And by the way, Egan also teach us there are channels of information that just don't reach us. It's no retcon only if it was always meant to be like that. I use dubitative forms just out of intellectual honesty. Whether he smashed or not in GERWALK mode (which was just a transitory mode to Battroid, possibly due to automatic instead of manual transformation), that was not the mode he was ordered to turn into. The fact that he survived more or less intact can be explained in several ways, but we may be doing fanwanking. I just want to note that it is not said specifically when this energy converting armor kicks in, whether the Battroid is fully transformed or even mid-way (possibly aiding in transforming the mecha. It is also not said whether GERWALK mode has some armor surplus, too, although Hikaru pulled the lever for Battroid mode and not GERWALK mode). The Fighter mode could have even been tough enough alone to withstand the impact, yet Misa told Hikaru to turn into Battroid, and this suggests Battroid mode is tougher. DYRL?, even when it came out, was a retelling, and as such a retcon You are meaning passive stealth, which in real world is the main, if not the only, mean of stealth yet. Scientists are currently working on active stealth, like plasma stealth. For a sci-fi writers this is obviously a yummy concept to exploit, although kinds of active stealth weren't unknown to anime, like Gundam which was an inspiration for Macross. Offensive ECM often takes the form of jamming. Defensive ECM includes using blip enhancement and jamming of missile terminal homers. This thing Kamjin talked about made mecha invisibile to radar, and as such it should be properly classified as stealth, even if at the time it wasn't called like that. Indeed, stealth planes like the F-117 and the B-2 were unveiled only starting from the 1988. The name is a retcon, the concept isn't. Nor there is an implied statement to the contrary. The Cyclops radar arguably works on sci-fi principles that aren't bound by the current knowledge of the laws of physics. If it works like a radar, it must mean it can send and detect even radio waves, but it is not stated if PCS signals are part of the radio waves spectrum, and frankly I doubt it. By the way, I don't remember if I already said it in another thread, but your site is great and I am waiting for the next update FV

Maybe they did mention the concept in Japanese magazines at the time but it just didn't become popular knowledge, especially in the US. Whether or not it was mentioned, it doesn't mean it's automatically retcon, especially since it doesn't contradict anything seen in SDF Macross. On the contrary, in the original series, when Hikaru was about to crash into a building in the first episode, Misa told him to turn into Battroid, thus implying the Battroid was more resistant than the Fighter. This is because English fans asked about it only after they've heard the term in Macross Zero. I could reply that is important to note that no Japanese fan made that question to the Compendium It is not said that. If it can detect something more than a radar can, it must be something more than a radar. Actually, I doubt all the authors know that radar is an English acronym of radio detection and ranging, and sonar, lidar and the like are all derivative forms of acronym. The Quel-Quallie for istance has a "gravity wave passive radar", which however should be called a "gradar" to be consistent; using that term you have to explain what it means though, so just using "radar" makes it simpler to understand. While the word "stealth" wasn't spoken, you already noted the concept was indeed used. I don't recall the specifical episode, but it should have been the one when Kamjin feigned a drill and then attacked. Misa noticed the radar was silent in a direction, not detecting usual asteroids. If we are going to debate on words, Wikipedia says: Stealth technology is a sub-discipline of electronic countermeasures which covers a range of techniques used with aircraft, ships and missiles, in order to make them less visible (ideally invisible) to radar, infrared and other detection methods. We have a technology used to make mecha less visible to radar detection, so it is a stealth. M0 was more centered around the love story. If you see M+ for example you will notice that there is emphasis on Isamu wanting to be a pilot, the pioneer theme and the like. In M0, we have the love letter spears, the use of words like love and heart in seemingly unrelated situations ("your piloting lacks love" "you can't see your opponent's heart), the romance between Roy and Aries, and ultimately even the climax of the series centers more closely around the two protagonists' feelings. Sorry, the conflict of cultures in M0 is that of Western society and tribal islands. The brainwashing he was concerned about was how in Japanese society it was just easy to find an enemy and that was the solution of all. It was something related to Macross Plus. (You can find the interview about Macross Plus here) FV

I read that Kawamori intended M0 as a conflict of cultures. Obviously, there are other themes involved. In M+ there was also the theme of the sky as viewed from below, and also at the time he was concerned with the brainwashing of Japanese society. From a general point, it could be said that M+ was centered around Valkyries, M7 was centered around songs and M0 was centered about the love story. A new series of Macross maybe should be more balanced. FV

Energy converting armor is not a retcon. It was already there. The Compendium says: Macross co-creator and mecha designer Shoji Kawamori said that variable fighters in general employ surplus energy to strengthen armor in Battroid mode. The designation SWAG was specified for Macross Zero's VF-0, although Mr. Kawamori publicly described the general technology of energy converting armor before Macross Zero and actually conceived it longer before. It is something that has to do with Gundam. Valkyries have tank-like armor too, besides being built in space facilities. Also active stealth was already in Macross, it was used by Kamjin a couple of times. What's new in Macross Zero is the cyclops radar, which however appears to detect only things more protoculture related. FV

Seen it yesterday. The cons: Like all summer blockbusters, low body count. It doesn't mean that a main character has to die, but Prime can't walk in a garden without stomping things and yet when he falls he somehow misses people on the ground. Overall that can be kinda forgiven, though (everyone is subjected to these limitations. For istance in Lara Croft Angelina Jolie had to portray a tough attitude, and yet when there was a fight her weapons were inaccessible and she had to shoot screwdrivers). Sometimes this turns down a bit the awe: when Brawl/Devastator arrives he should have punched bigger holes with his cannon. As a story, there are three separated human points of view: the protagonist Sam, Cpt Lennox and Maggie. Their relationships with each other is that at a certain point Lennox helps Sam and then he and Maggie seems to fall in love; as such they are actually unrelated. It would have been a lot better if Lennox and Sam were brothers (after all it was an ancestor of Sam to discover Megatron, so it would make sense if destiny kept putting the Witwickies and Transformers together), so when Lennox helped Sam the scene would have had more basic emotions. This would have even echoed Prime and Megatron relationship, and deep themes like envy and proudness between brothers could have been placed. Transformers were never intended to substitute human characters as protagonists because people would connect to humans more, so you need to have human characters relate to Transformers a lot, not just being on the same side. The issue of how could puny humans damage huge robots of hell was not resolved in a way that felt good. On one side, it is obvious tiniest robots like Frenzy shouldn't be much a match even for normal weapons (by the way, why not some kind of stungun?), on the other hand they shouldn't be totally invulnerable. I feel that Sector Seven should have at least retro-engineered from Megatron some powerful weapons with which fight an eventual alien invasion. The theme of a secret society having futuristic technology kept hidden from public knowledge is common after all (they are Men in Black, and this is what MIB do). As it stands, Sector Seven fails to be impressive because represented primarily by a zany dork. Frenzy being reconstructed by the Allspark contradicts the law of mass conservation, and also there is no point in bringing him back since he has a stupid death anyway. At this point, it would have been better seen him creeping in and fight like a facehugger, and be crushed like an insect. He is kinda a boastful character, so he deserved this kind of ridicule death. Modifications I would have liked: I would have liked as a scene that Barricade arrived when Sam phoned the polive for the theft of his car, kinda like Terminator (I don't remember exactly if there was a scene like that in T2, but the T1000 listened to police radio). There should have being some "tuning" made on why Prime is so totally pro-humans. He is made even sacrifice a friend, after all. When he explains the Transformers were once like humans, it should have been edited together with the scene of the animated phone, which would have shown how much his peaceful efforts were due to a long way in evolution. The pros: The Transformers had personality. Even the Decepticons who don't speak a lot at least look menacing. The action was good (my favourite scene is when Ironhide fires on the ground to get some lift). The general appliance of the law of mass conservation and the ability to reframe the external appearance were good ideas. The only thing remained to do was to explain why they had english names It was good how Transformers were introduced gradually. When suddenly many more Decepticons appear you definitively feel there is gonna be troubles. Overall I liked it, and even my friends did. There is something which could have been improved, but I am not disappointed. I feel there is a strong possibility sequels can be even better. FV