About the Macross Chronicle

[Gubaba]

Likewise... but if they do go back and cover the stuff they didn't get to in Chronicle's initial run and add stuff from the Macross Frontier movies, I'd also want them to go back and fix the sheets that had obvious errors in the data blocks (VF-19F/S, VA-1SS, Renegade Armor, etc.), left things as "Under investigation", or left out important info that could've made for much more informative articles.

Well, that's partially what the errata sheet was for in thew final issue.

[Renato]

Well, that's partially what the errata sheet was for in thew final issue.

The problem is that it's not a "sheet" in the technical/practical sense -- it's printed on the inside of the back cover, meaning that you cannot file it together with the rest of the content.

[Gubaba]

The problem is that it's not a "sheet" in the technical/practical sense -- it's printed on the inside of the back cover, meaning that you cannot file it together with the rest of the content.

That's why I stuck the cover into the final binder...

But yeah, it should've been a pull-out sheet. Luckily, most of the listed errors are rather minor, like the wrong kanji in Misa's name on the VF-1J sheet.

[Seto Kaiba]

Well, that's partially what the errata sheet was for in thew final issue.

True... but from what I've heard, it doesn't really address the majority of the issues I'm talking about here...

(I've yet to see for myself, since my final order only cleared customs yesterday)

[nexxstrait]

Still waiting on my copies of issues 45-50 to be delivered, but from what I've heard from those few folks who've already acquired it, it's a decidedly lackluster sheet, like their coverage of the Metal Siren. No data, and no mention of the alternate white-and-red color scheme from the manga that made its way into a fair few calendars and such.

As I only purchased Chronicle for the art, the VF2JA sheet is fine by me, but I can understand your frustration. As for the red and white 2JA (is it the one pictured on MrMarch's Mecha Manual?) it comes from a comic book that, from what I understand, is not to be considered canonical. By the way, I have it in the Viz english edition. I always thought it was simply an american rip-off, but it's been ages since I last read it. It was in b&w and I don't remember the red and white 2JA on the covers: any image to share? (maybe we can move this last one in the MII thread)

[Seto Kaiba]

As for the red and white 2JA (is it the one pictured on MrMarch's Mecha Manual?) it comes from a comic book that, from what I understand, is not to be considered canonical.

It's... complicated. Yes, I am talking about the red & white set of alternate colors for the VF-2JA on the Macross Mecha Manual. The odd part is that while its first and, as far as I can tell, only actual appearance is a piece of cover art done for the second issue of Viz Media's Macross II: the Micron Conspiracy, a non-canon sequel to Sukehiro Tomita's official Macross II manga adaptation. Bizarrely enough, while Micron Conspiracy was "100% Made-in-America", the red and white color scheme it put on the VF-2JA seems to have gained some approval from Japanese artists, as it's cropped up in several later pieces of art like this one, which I'm told came from a Japanese-market Macross calendar:

By the way, I have it in the Viz english edition. I always thought it was simply an american rip-off, but it's been ages since I last read it. It was in b&w and I don't remember the red and white 2JA on the covers: any image to share? (maybe we can move this last one in the MII thread)

Depends which of the Macross II manga titles you're talking about. The original Macross II: Lovers Again manga, which was translated and released as a ten issue comic series in the US, is the official manga adaptation of the OVA. It was written by Sukehiro Tomita and illustrated by Tsuguo Okazaki. Viz's five-issue Macross II: the Micron Conspiracy miniseries is licensed stuff, but produced by American authors in the employ of Viz Media and not really intended to be official.

Edited June 15, 2010 by Seto Kaiba

[nexxstrait]

Depends which of the Macross II manga titles you're talking about. The original Macross II: Lovers Again manga, which was translated and released as a ten issue comic series in the US, is the official manga adaptation of the OVA. It was written by Sukehiro Tomita and illustrated by Tsuguo Okazaki. Viz's five-issue Macross II: the Micron Conspiracy miniseries is licensed stuff, but produced by American authors in the employ of Viz Media and not really intended to be official.

I meant The Micron Conspiracy, yes (I did remember correctly, then. It was all american).

Thanks for the image, by the way. Yes, I think it was on a Macross calendar.

This image also makes me wonder how many Gallery Sheets were left out from Chronicle after the "change of plans". We are left with no Macross Plus illustrations, for example (and the Macross Frontier ones are quite bland).

Edited June 22, 2010 by nexxstrait

[nexxstrait]

Thinking back at the missing Civilian 03 Macross II sheet, I think there are no B&W lineart of Wendy Rider. I remember that there are some gorgeous watercolours character sketches of her by Mikimoto on TIA Macross II but nothing more. Maybe I'm wrong, since I don't have the book at hand right now, but I'll check as soon as I get home. This would make her "disappearance" a bit more logical.

How about Marduke's Zentran soldiers? Were they ever depicted in chronicles (I'm still waiting for issues #41-50)?

[Graham]

Did we ever get the teal color VF-17D from Macross Dynamite 7?

Graham

[Seto Kaiba]

Thinking back at the missing Civilian 03 Macross II sheet, I think there are no B&W lineart of Wendy Rider. [...] Maybe I'm wrong, since I don't have the book at hand right now, but I'll check as soon as I get home. This would make her "disappearance" a bit more logical.

Y'know, I'm fairly certain that there was some B&W line art of Wendy out there, but most of her reprinted line art is the colored-in line art in This is Animation Special #5: Macross II. There was a fair bit of art for her, so I can't imagine that they made a decision to omit her based on art availability. IMO, they probably just ran out of space and had to prioritize what they'd fit into the last few issues.

How about Marduke's Zentran soldiers? Were they ever depicted in chronicles (I'm still waiting for issues #41-50)?

I know they're covered, albeit briefly, on the Mardook worldguide sheet. I think they might've also shown up on the "People of the Mardook" sheet in brief too.

[nexxstrait]

IMO, they probably just ran out of space and had to prioritize what they'd fit into the last few issues.

This is what doesn't really sound right to me. I'm sure a character sheet could certainly be fitted (like the errataed MTv sheet) in the last issue. But my rants aren't going to change history. The mistery remains!

[Mr March]

Did we ever get the teal color VF-17D from Macross Dynamite 7?

Graham

I haven't got my last issues yet, but from what I've got so far (up to issue 45) it's not been covered. Overall, the coverage of minor color variants in the Macross Chronicle has been somewhat schizophrenic. They've covered some variants that I expected but excluded others which featured equal or more prominence in the animation than those the Chronicle chose to include. Perhaps they chose to include minor color variants only where they had room to include them in the publication, which could explain why the coverage is a little inconsistent.

[nexxstrait]

Did we ever get the teal color VF-17D from Macross Dynamite 7?

Graham

Not that I know, but I'll get my hands on #41-50 saturday and I'll be able to tell you more after that date. Someone with the complete collection can answer: maybe it's on Liza's character sheet as an extra report?

[Seto Kaiba]

Did we ever get the teal color VF-17D from Macross Dynamite 7?

Nope, it doesn't look like they ever did... it's not covered on Liza Hoyly's character sheet, and there's no mechanic sheet for it under Macross Dynamite 7 either.

[nexxstrait]

Nope, it doesn't look like they ever did... it's not covered on Liza Hoyly's character sheet, and there's no mechanic sheet for it under Macross Dynamite 7 either.

Pity. The teal is one of the notable missing color variant along with the VF25 cannon fodder unit.

[nexxstrait]

Y'know, I'm fairly certain that there was some B&W line art of Wendy out there, but most of her reprinted line art is the colored-in line art in This is Animation Special #5: Macross II. There was a fair bit of art for her, so I can't imagine that they made a decision to omit her based on art availability. IMO, they probably just ran out of space and had to prioritize what they'd fit into the last few issues.

I've checked TIA Macross II and entertainment bible 52: the only B&W lineart available for wendy rider is her in the "metal siren replica" suit, wich appears in colour as an extra report on Silvie's chronicle sheet B. All other Wendy pictures are (in TIA) watercolours by Mikimoto and (in Ent. Bible) the very same watercolours - some of them - reprinted in b&w.

So, technically, Wendy is there

A missing character,however,appears to be the Dynamite black market dealer (he is featured broadly in the laser discs lineart but not in the sheet dedicated to the bad guys in chronicle.

[nexxstrait]

I finally completed chronicle with the last batch of issues (41-50). It was a great ride, I'll miss it (even if my wallet was beginning to scream).

Time to draw some conclusions (I'll update some considerations and facts made a while back).

Macross Chronicle run its course giving us approximately 1600 pages worth of content making it the best comprehensive source for the entire Macross universe.

- While full of text, for those of you (like me) who can't read or have a very limited understanding of Japanese, there are over 800 pages of lineart of characters and mecha (not counting the background lineart that appears in the Worldguide section) that will surely make you happy. Even if you own a lot of Macross books, many of the reprinted lineart comes in color and you will find many never before published or very rare lineart: Macross 7 The Movie, Macross 7 Dynamite (previously only available on the laser discs jacket), Macross 0, Macross Flashback and Macross Frontier being the most interesting ones. But You'll find that also Macross Plus and Macross 7 lineart is "updated" with many drawings I have not seen before in other publications.

- The mecha section contains almost all color variations that appeared in the various series (the most notable missing "customs" being the teal VF17 from Dynamite and VF25 Cannon Fodder from Frontier). There are some coloring errors here and there (the VF17 being the most notable).

- Chronicle also contains characters and mecha lineart from various Macross games (M3, VF-X and VF-X 2), even if in this case it's not a "complete" collection (still, it's well worth it if you don't own any game manual).

- Chronicle has also approximately 184 exclusive new illustrations (50 being made by the beloved Hidetaka Tenjin), many of which are simply gorgeous

- Apart form Characters and Mecha sections, you will also find:

History section for almost any series (Dynamite, II and M7 movie excluded)

Worldguide section (with many lineart about backgrounds, cities, etc.)

Technology section (with many new drawings about mecha details - from gunpods to missiles)

Merchandise section (incomplete but interesting. It probably got cut due to space contraints)

Songs section (texts of almost all macross songs - probably the least interesting section of Chronicle)

Gallery section (gorgeous illustrations - some printed here for the first time. No Macross Plus!)

Extra section (includes the games and MF movie lineart along with live concert articles and series data)

All in all, this is the rough pagecount devoted to characters, history and mecha of each Macross series:

228 pages: Macross TV

196 pages: Macross 7

138 pages: Macross Frontier

88 pages: Macross DYRL

68 pages: Macross 0

66 pages: Macross Plus

54 pages: Macross II (no History section)

48 pages: Macross 7 Dynamite (no History section)

12 pages: Macross Flashback

10 pages: Macross 7 The Movie (no History section)

Extra

2 pages: Macross Frontier The Movie I

14 pages: Macross games.

Long live Macross Chronicle!

Edited July 7, 2010 by nexxstrait

[Seto Kaiba]

Macross Chronicle run its course giving us approximately 1600 pages worth of content making it the best comprehensive source for the entire Macross universe.

Of course... though as one would expect from a publication undertaken on such a large scale and relatively small timeframe, Macross Chronicle is not without its fair share of errors of both the typographical and omission varieties. Some, but nowhere near all, of the errors got an errata page slapped onto the inside of the back cover of issue #50, which unhelpfully was not a pull-out page intended to fit in the binders.

While some of the more obnoxious typos, like the hotly contended VF-19 engine thrust error, are only slightly frustrating, the real achilles heel of the publication is what got left out. Some sheets had preexisting information from other sources simply omitted, and the gaps filled in by wildly inaccurate guesswork that often contradicts the official data. In a few cases, there was ample evidence that they had access to the publications containing the missing information and, for whatever reason, simply didn't reference it like they had done on other sheets. Nowhere is this more crippling to the completeness and accuracy of the magazine's coverage than the pages devoted to Macross II, which are all but useless due to the aforementioned predilection for substituting guesswork for proper research and some genuinely sloppy editing.

- Chronicle has also approximately 184 exclusive new illustrations (50 being made by the beloved Hidetaka Tenjin), many of which are simply gorgeous

In this, Macross II was done some justice in the form of an absolutely beautiful painting of the Mardook fleet for their worldguide sheet.

[DarcSyde]

Anyone know where I can find the Chronicle Binder's? Their sold out at HMV Japan and HLJ.

I've got all the issues I just need 2 more binders to complete the set.

DarcSyde

Edited July 10, 2010 by DarcSyde

[Seto Kaiba]

Anyone know where I can find the Chronicle Binder's? Their sold out at HMV Japan and HLJ.

I've got all the issues I just need 2 more binders to complete the set.

Unfortunately, it looks like you're probably not going to have a lot of luck finding Macross Chronicle binders for your collection unless you're honestly willing to pay through the nose. As you said, it doesn't look like HobbyLink Japan or HMV have any. Nor, for that matter, does eBay. You can find some on Amazon.co.jp under "used" and "collectible", though you'd better be prepared to shell out as much as $80-$110 USD + shipping per binder.

If you're unwilling to shell out for them at that absurd price, the official binders aren't your only option. I know someone here on the MW forums found an alternative to the Macross Chronicle binders with the right ring spacing for Chronicle pages. I think it might've been sketchley who found it, but don't quote me on that.

[DarcSyde]

Unfortunately, it looks like you're probably not going to have a lot of luck finding Macross Chronicle binders for your collection unless you're honestly willing to pay through the nose. As you said, it doesn't look like HobbyLink Japan or HMV have any. Nor, for that matter, does eBay. You can find some on Amazon.co.jp under "used" and "collectible", though you'd better be prepared to shell out as much as $80-$110 USD + shipping per binder.

If you're unwilling to shell out for them at that absurd price, the official binders aren't your only option. I know someone here on the MW forums found an alternative to the Macross Chronicle binders with the right ring spacing for Chronicle pages. I think it might've been sketchley who found it, but don't quote me on that.

Anyone have any spare official binders that their willing to sell?

Edited July 10, 2010 by DarcSyde

[Seto Kaiba]

Anyone have any spare official binders that their willing to sell?

Regrettably, I don't... I only purchased the five I needed for my own collection, though I've got a friend who might. He owns a hobby shop, and was importing Chronicle for a few customers of his. I can't say for sure that he has any, but I'll be happy to ring him up for you when his store opens in a few hours and check. If he does, I'll shoot you a PM.

(Incidentally, I found a few more binders floating around on Yahoo Auctions Japan, which were in a bundle with five binders and a few issues of the magazine for ¥15000, or about $170 USD)

[sketchley]

Postcard sets #4 (green envelope) and #5 (pink envelope) attached.

[Tochiro]

Postcard sets #4 (green envelope) and #5 (pink envelope) attached.

Yeah mine came earlier this week too! Such a nifty little bonus! The real question now is whether Ill get all 60 issues of Yamato Fact File for the freebie Yamato model, lol.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

I'm a bit late to the party but is there a searchable index of the Chronicle somewhere?

I'm looking for some reference for the Frontier G-suit, the stuff that hides under the EX-Gear. I know there's a 38 page thread before this one but I can't figure out how to search individual topics.

Any help would be appreciated.

[azrael]

I'm a bit late to the party but is there a searchable index of the Chronicle somewhere?

In a digital format? Not that I know of.

I'm looking for some reference for the Frontier G-suit, the stuff that hides under the EX-Gear.

It's just a flight suit, or what they call, inner-wear. They don't really need it to use an EX-Gear.

I know there's a 38 page thread before this one but I can't figure out how to search individual topics.

The Search-box is in the upper right corner of each page. Type in the word you wanna search for, then where, i.e. This topic, this section, this forum, etc..., then press Enter.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

The Search-box is in the upper right corner of each page. Type in the word you wanna search for, then where, i.e. This topic, this section, this forum, etc..., then press Enter.

Didn't notice that you could do This Topic in the box. I just went straight for advanced search from forum front page

It's just a flight suit, or what they call, inner-wear. They don't really need it to use an EX-Gear.

Well I'm looking for what they seem to call the SMS Pilot Suit.Or at least Luca's chracter profile calls it that and has a sketch or two. I was hoping there'd be more. Seems issue #43 is what I should be trying to hunt down since that apperently covers space suits for all the eras. Maybe issues #19 and #9 since those have Ozma and Michael's profiles. Alto's didn't have any pilot suit pics.

Thanks!

[sketchley]

There's a table of contents of all the individual sheets published here: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=28072

My TOC with links to the articles that other MW and myself have translated in full or in part: http://www.macrossroleplay.org/Sketchley/portal/Chronicles.htm

That said, there's really not that much about the flight suits per se. "Variable Fighter Master File VF-25 Messiah" goes into more depth on the "SMS" flight suit's themselves.

The only other thing I can add are some scans of the flight suits: http://www.macrossroleplay.org/Sketchley/Statistics/Flightsuits/Flightsuits.htm#MF

Ignore any statistical text, as it's a best guess, and doesn't incorporate neither MC nor VFMF info [as the page was made before either were published].

[TMBounty_Hunter]

Thanks for the info

[MacrossCN]

■「マクロスクロニクル」CM 01、デアゴスティーニ版

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/WeAqT3uuPdk/

[nexxstrait]

■「マクロスクロニクル」CM 01、デアゴスティーニ版

Arghhh! Here we go again...

Edited January 21, 2012 by nexxstrait

[sketchley]

well... the big change from yesterday is that there are blogs and twitter postings about it.

But... as yet, the publisher's homepage, book sellers, etc., have yet to mention it.

This one goes so far as to say that it's only available in Hiroshima Prefecture...

http://blog.livedoor.jp/strike_w/archives/1638672.html

[nexxstrait]

It seems it will run weekly for 80 issues. That's 30 issues more than the old one. That means 60% more material (if they keep the old page count per issue)

Looking at the commercial, in the first issue we get YF29, there is a new Episode guide category, Character summary at the beginning of each series (I guess), new illustration sheets (ranka & Sheryl), new toys sheet (Yamato Vf19 Kay 1/60), some new Tanjin illustrations (from the inside cover of the binder, look carefully: YF19 in battroid).

Sad news is previously published mechanical, world and character sheets haven't changed a bit, so we'll get doubles.

Let's hope they have corrected some minor errors (VF17 coloring, wrong sheets numbers, etc.)

Edited January 21, 2012 by nexxstrait

[azrael]

Sad news is previously published mechanical, world and character sheets haven't changed a bit, so we'll get doubles.

Let's hope they have corrected some minor errors (VF17 coloring, wrong sheets numbers, etc.)

Considering most of it looks like a reprint, don't think I'll be spending that much money on this volume. Maybe they're learning something from the current Gundam Perfect Files.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

So when exactly is this reprint starting?

Seems like a good time to start getting it for those that missed the original run.