Cyborgs and Valkyries

[Product9]

Hey fellas. I don't post much on this forum, but I needed a break from homework and I was for some reason thinking of Frontier era cyborgs.

I was thinking about how awesome it would be to be a cyborg (I was pretty interested in the features shown in the movie, as well as the stuff in the series, such as linking with the VF-27 from afar). It crossed my mind that a drawback might be susceptibility to EM fields and pulses, but I imagine by then solid-state technology will have proliferated and progressed so it wouldn't be an issue for Frontier era technology. However, there was the D-Pulse thingy from ep 12-13. At the beginning of 13 you notice Brera observing Alto and Ranka crashing from the jungle (presumable because his VF-27 was also affected by the burst). However, I was thinking... wouldn't the D-Pulse affect Brera's systems, too? I mean, the technology in him and the Valkyries is probably pretty similar, right? Frontier seems to have a theme of integration of technology into humanity.

At the same time, Alto's Ex-Gear seemed to work okay, too. That could also be due to the sporadic nature of the burst, but, like so many things in Macross, this is never really clarified.

I was just wondering what you guys think. Discuss!

[frothymug]

Yeah, I'm thinking that this is one of those "Let's not get too literal and just enjoy the show" moments. There's no official explanation and it's all left up to the imagination of the viewer.

[Seto Kaiba]

However, there was the D-Pulse thingy from ep 12-13. At the beginning of 13 you notice Brera observing Alto and Ranka crashing from the jungle (presumable because his VF-27 was also affected by the burst). However, I was thinking... wouldn't the D-Pulse affect Brera's systems, too?

Interesting observation... here are my thoughts on it.

It's been a while since I last watched those episodes, but I can think of two possible explanations. Alto's VF-25 lost engine power as a result of the d-pulse burst. This might mean that the loss of the other controls was just collateral damage as their powerplant went offline. If the d-pulse burst is targeted to disable a thermonuclear reaction powerplant, then that would explain why Brera's cybernetics and Alto's EX-Gear weren't affected. One would assume Brera isn't carrying a tiny fusion powerplant in his gut, which means his cybernetics are probably battery operated. We know for certain that Alto's EX-Gear is powered by fuel cells and uses chemical rockets to achieve flight, which would explain why he wasn't affected. It's doubtful that the burst was intermittent enough for them to do what they did without realizing their fighters still worked, but it is reasonably likely that the VF-27 was hardened against such things as part of its design process since they knew they were going to be encountering Vajra.

[twich]

Interesting observation... here are my thoughts on it.

It's been a while since I last watched those episodes, but I can think of two possible explanations. Alto's VF-25 lost engine power as a result of the d-pulse burst. This might mean that the loss of the other controls was just collateral damage as their powerplant went offline. If the d-pulse burst is targeted to disable a thermonuclear reaction powerplant, then that would explain why Brera's cybernetics and Alto's EX-Gear weren't affected. One would assume Brera isn't carrying a tiny fusion powerplant in his gut, which means his cybernetics are probably battery operated. We know for certain that Alto's EX-Gear is powered by fuel cells and uses chemical rockets to achieve flight, which would explain why he wasn't affected. It's doubtful that the burst was intermittent enough for them to do what they did without realizing their fighters still worked, but it is reasonably likely that the VF-27 was hardened against such things as part of its design process since they knew they were going to be encountering Vajra.

On the subtitled version that I saw/read, it said that the reason why his VF-25F went offline was that the pulse was jamming the navigation system, but was not causing damage to the valkyrie. Maybe I remember it wrong.

Twich

[frothymug]

Yeah, but just losing navigation wouldn't cause the engines and hydraulics (if they still use em in MacF) to go out. Something was disrupting the computer system, most likely.