2030s Era Valkyries and Beyond...

[SchizophrenicMC]

I mean, if something jams during transformation, it comes down to whether the ECA and Space Metal frame are stronger or if it's the actuators. If the latter is stronger, the plane gets ripped up. If the former is, it could stick, mid-transformation. In the VF-1, if it sticks in any stage besides the body fold, it's possible to recover. If the VF-25 does, it could maybe be recovered during a jam of legs, wings, or arms. The fuselage hinges too many times. In either case, a fuselage jam would spell disaster.

It's the reason the F-14 didn't have hardpoints on the wings. The F-111's sometimes jammed, rendering the weapons useless, sometimes damaging the F-111. Besides, there is also the weight issue.

[Mr March]

I fail to see how a transformation jam on a VF-25 Messiah is somehow more severe than a transformation jam on VF-1 Valkyrie. The end result is the same. And more mechanisms means more complexity which means more things can go wrong.

Digressing to the point I was making, the VF-25 Messiah (and most of the later valkyrie transformations) are actually less complex than the VF-1. Yet the VF-1 is still held by some as the model of transformation simplicity when it just isn't true. By far, the YF-21 is the simplest transforming valkyrie Kawamori has ever made. The VF-9 Cutlass is the most complex.

[edwin3060]

Hmm actually people have noticed parts of the VF-25 CGI model impinging on each other, even during the show. If someone would care to do a frame by frame of the transformation, we'd probably see some parts going through each other as well. It's all part of anime magic, I guess.

[VF5SS]

That's just modeling error. All the models and toys show it works fine.

[edwin3060]

That's just modeling error. All the models and toys show it works fine.

Well... yes and no. I think everybody agrees that the DX toy is not representative of what is shown in the movie, but even the 1/72 model kit is not entirely accurate-- for example, the shoulder hinge that rotates the five dot block out is noticeably absent in the lineart, as is the hinge that positions the legs properly in battroid mode-- the role of all these hinges presumably taken up by the electromagnetic linear actuator. The chest shield is also supposed to slide into position only after the front fuselage has rotated up. I think we should just accept that some form of anime magic will always be in the show, it is just that with CGI there are probably less changes in the proportions of limbs and stuff ala Macross plus.

Note: I understand what you are saying, that the models/toys show one possible way for the transformation to be physically possible. I'm just saying that while that is true, that is also not what happens in the show, which is my point. The models/toys are the best representations possible, but they are not 100%-- for example the 1/60 VF-1 and VF-0 toys have a swing bar to bring the legs down, which is entirely inaccurate when compared to the lineart.

[VF5SS]

Using the phrase "anime magic" makes you automatically wrong.

[edwin3060]

Using the phrase "anime magic" makes you automatically wrong.

Well you might not want to accept that term, but that is effectively what happens when the animators take CGI shortcuts in order to reduce their workload

In fact, I think akt_m's transformation, where the wings/wing gloves flip up to make space for the arms to move out from the body, are already more detailed/realistic than what is shown in the show.