The Newbie and Short Questions thread

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, Bolt said:

Do we know if Mega Road 01 was a unique design ? Or were the following first generation emigration main ships all the same?

She was the first Megaroad-class emigrant ship... the New UN Government made at least twenty-five of them, given that the highest sequentially numbered one mentioned was the Megaroad-25.

[NightmarePlus]

2 hours ago, Bolt said:

Do we know if Mega Road 01 was a unique design ? Or were the following first generation emigration main ships all the same?

IIRC all the Megaroads were similar to one another. For example when we saw the flashback of Megaroad-04 it the same hull as Megaroad-01.
 

[Bolt]

2 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

She was the first Megaroad-class emigrant ship... the New UN Government made at least twenty-five of them, given that the highest sequentially numbered one mentioned was the Megaroad-25.

2 minutes ago, NightmarePlus said:

IIRC all the Megaroads were similar to one another. For example when we saw the flashback of Megaroad-04 it the same hull as Megaroad-01.
 

Was that from Frontier or Delta?

[Seto Kaiba]

1 minute ago, Bolt said:

Was that from Frontier or Delta?

Delta.

Windermere IV was discovered by Megaroad-04 in 2027.

[aurance]

In honor of YF-21 Bandai being announced, a question:

Was it conclusively stated that the arm/leg ejection functionality of the YF-21 are part of the "delimiter mode"? It seems odd to eject huge amounts of control surfaces and fuel to get higher performance. I always figured the ejection was to rid the fighter of severely damaged dead weight which would no doubt unbalance the fighter, and the delimiter mode was a separate software control that let the pilot override safety standards.

[sketchley]

22 minutes ago, aurance said:

In honor of YF-21 Bandai being announced, a question:

Was it conclusively stated that the arm/leg ejection functionality of the YF-21 are part of the "delimiter mode"? It seems odd to eject huge amounts of control surfaces and fuel to get higher performance. I always figured the ejection was to rid the fighter of severely damaged dead weight which would no doubt unbalance the fighter, and the delimiter mode was a separate software control that let the pilot override safety standards.

If memory serves, the "delimiter mode" merely removes all performance limits on the airframe (in short, what was preventing the plane from moving so fast that the pilot turns into goo).

The purging of the arms and legs was nothing more than that: purging dead weight.

Edited October 25, 2019 by sketchley

[Dressykamila1]

do you think there is a Macross Grasion colony ship in the Macross universe?

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, Dressykamila1 said:

do you think there is a Macross Grasion colony ship in the Macross universe?

No, the Macross Grasion was another Macross Two-Thirds-class¹ ship owned and operated by Xaos like the Macross Elysion.  

Macross Grasion and Macross Megasion were both presumably used the same way Macross Elysion was, serving as the headquarters and mothership for a regional branch of Xaos's PMC division.

Emigrant fleets were initially escorted by regular warships and Macross-class mass production ships (SDFNs), and later fleets used the larger Battle-class.

1. The class has no official name thus far, leaving Variable Fighter Master File's name for it as the only one yet offered.  Similarly, the Aether and Hemera have only been given a class name in that same Master File, as the Enterprise-class.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Seto Kaiba

[Bolt]

Emigrant fleet Frontier eventually settled on the Vajra home world , "rich in Fold quartz". So a relatively rich immigrant fleet is now even richer?  What are the chances N.U.N.S. is now more heavily involved? Especially , considering the whole Vajra incident. And Galaxy is still out there, presumably.

[Seto Kaiba]

16 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Emigrant fleet Frontier eventually settled on the Vajra home world , "rich in Fold quartz". So a relatively rich immigrant fleet is now even richer?  What are the chances N.U.N.S. is now more heavily involved?

Well, yes... but not, in all likelihood, by very much.  It's not clear precisely when the New UN Government decided to enact regulations on the collection and trading of fold quartz, but I would expect the Frontier fleet may have raised some eyebrows in the New UN Government by landing on and occupying a planet that was home to an intelligent alien species.  THAT was technically a violation of interstellar law, though I'm sure their defense was something along the lines of the Vajra willingly vacating the planet before they actually landed on it (in the TV series anyway).

My guess would be that, like Windermere IV, there's probably some N.U.N.G. regulatory presence there to oversee the Frontier government's fold quartz business... and likely an even bigger contingent of government-sponsored researchers there to examine what appears to have been a former Protoculture planet inhabited by a major Vajra hive that also had that artificial low orbital ring of unknown origin.

 

16 minutes ago, Bolt said:

Especially , considering the whole Vajra incident. And Galaxy is still out there, presumably.

I'd imagine the New UN Government's probably very interested to find out where the Galaxy fleet's Mainland is... unless, as in the movie version, the Vajra blew it up.

[Bolt]

The differences from the Frontier tv show and movies are quite contrary..Granted this is nothing new for Macross. But Frontier really is striking.

[C-Rod42]

Hey, this may sound like a strange question, but is there anyone who's a fan of the Macross series, especially Frontier that can help me with a fanfic idea concerning Klan Klang please? Here's the pitch...

"A year prior to the events of the series, a patrol unit stumbles across a derelict ship with only one survivor: a fifteen year old boy in a cryogenic chamber. The Frontier thaws him out, but they discover this boy was frozen during the time of the war between the humans and the Zentraedi. Now, this boy must deal with a whole new world while under the care of the enemy he grew to fear: the Meltran Klan Klang."

Can anyone help me please?

[Seto Kaiba]

5 minutes ago, C-Rod42 said:

Hey, this may sound like a strange question, but is there anyone who's a fan of the Macross series, especially Frontier that can help me with a fanfic idea concerning Klan Klang please? [...]

Can anyone help me please?

Well, that'd rather depend on what kind of assistance you require.

If it's questions about the setting, timeline, etc. there are many knowledgeable fans here who would be only too happy to help.  Fellow writers could probably also be found via the Fanworks section of the forums.  

[C-Rod42]

10 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Well, that'd rather depend on what kind of assistance you require.

If it's questions about the setting, timeline, etc. there are many knowledgeable fans here who would be only too happy to help.  Fellow writers could probably also be found via the Fanworks section of the forums.  

Well, I wanted to try over here because the Fan Works section hasn't been active much. What I need is someone who know Macross Frontier, and someone who likes the character of Klan Klang? Essentially, a smart Klan Klang fan. Do you know any fans that could help me?

[Bolt]

I realize this is fanfic. And where you're going with it. But why would this boy end up under the care the leader of Pixie squadron ? Does he have some piloting talent?  I guess that's the part where some very creative writing takes place

And also, when Klan is micronized, her younger girl self may come to like the boy..and that version of her would be very easy for  him to like and relate to.. But, i think, the full size } version of her would be utterly annoyed to have to deal with him. Undoubtedly it would have to be a direct order.. That is assuming the plot doesn't involve her being the only one around and having to save him and get him to the proper ship or base to be handed off..

You should have this conversation on your separate thread for this..

Edited December 7, 2019 by Bolt

[Seto Kaiba]

49 minutes ago, C-Rod42 said:

"A year prior to the events of the series, a patrol unit stumbles across a derelict ship with only one survivor: a fifteen year old boy in a cryogenic chamber. The Frontier thaws him out, but they discover this boy was frozen during the time of the war between the humans and the Zentraedi. Now, this boy must deal with a whole new world while under the care of the enemy he grew to fear: the Meltran Klan Klang."

It's an interesting idea... but, from a timeline/continuity perspective, there are some problems with the premise.

The biggest problem would be the question of how that kid managed to leave our solar system.  Rudimentary cold sleep technology was available to the military before the start of the First Space War, but the SDF-1 Macross was the only ship Earth had with a working space fold system (for as long as that lasted) until after the First Space War had ended and post-war production of ships for emigrant fleets had begun.

The 55th Large-Scale Long-Distance Emigrant Fleet headed up by the titular emigrant ship Macross Frontier is something on the order of 25,000 light years from Earth in 2058, and had been underway for approximately 17 years at that point.  Space fold systems weren't available when that kid's ship would've had to launch, and getting out that far without one would take hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of years at sublight speeds.  

[C-Rod42]

15 minutes ago, Bolt said:

I realize this is fanfic. And where you're going with it. But why would this boy end up under the care the leader of Pixie squadron ? Does he have some piloting talent?  I guess that's the part where some very creative writing takes place

And also, when Klan is micronized, her younger girl self may come to like the boy..and that version of her would be very easy for  him to like and relate to.. But, i think, the full size } version of her would be utterly annoyed to have to deal with him. Undoubtedly it would have to be a direct order.. That is assuming the plot doesn't involve her being the only one around and having to save him and get him to the proper ship or base to be handed off..

You should have this conversation on your separate thread for this..

How do I set up the separate thread? And when I do, can you two continue talking to me over there?

[C-Rod42]

19 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

It's an interesting idea... but, from a timeline/continuity perspective, there are some problems with the premise.

The biggest problem would be the question of how that kid managed to leave our solar system.  Rudimentary cold sleep technology was available to the military before the start of the First Space War, but the SDF-1 Macross was the only ship Earth had with a working space fold system (for as long as that lasted) until after the First Space War had ended and post-war production of ships for emigrant fleets had begun.

The 55th Large-Scale Long-Distance Emigrant Fleet headed up by the titular emigrant ship Macross Frontier is something on the order of 25,000 light years from Earth in 2058, and had been underway for approximately 17 years at that point.  Space fold systems weren't available when that kid's ship would've had to launch, and getting out that far without one would take hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of years at sublight speeds.  

I managed to set up a separate thread in fan works. Can we continue this conversation over there?

[Brofessor]

Hi there. Is there an up to date thread or post here listing the entire Macross franchise by production order? Rearranged by continuity order? Is it still true only Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Macross II: Lovers Again, and Macross Plus have been released with English subs or dubs outside of Japan? I found an excellent post about this from 2003 over at RT dot com. It is titled "DYRL Question." Do the terms of use here forbid discussing fan subs of the media not available outside Japan? Thanks. Enjoy the holidays everyone!

[Bolt]

If the criteria is "outside of Japan" then maybe so. I know English subs have been added to newer Macross blu ray releases from Japan..

[jeniusornome]

Official english subtitle/dub releases in the US:

SDF Macross: US DVD release by AnimEigo in early 2000s. English subtitles, no dub. Out of print.

also a DVD release by ADV films with subs and an English dub track. Out of print.

Macross II: US DVD release by US Renditions (later by Manga Entertainment). English dub and subs. Out of print.

Macross Plus: US DVD release by Manga entertainment of both series and movie versions. English dub, english subtitles. Out of print.

fwiw this is an excellent dub so if subtitles are not your thing, it’s still worth checking out. Fairly cheap on eBay.

-----------------

Official releases qwith English content In Japan, and available for international shipping on Amazon Japan or through ebay or whatever other second-hand market:

(all of this applies to blu-ray releases only; far as I know none of the official Macross dvd  releases have English anything)

(also to note: Japanese blu-rays will play in US players just fine as they are in the same region code, but DVDs require a region-free player since they are not the same region).

Macross Frontier "shooting star" ("shudisuta") movie Blu-ray box set: English subtiles only for the movie; english dub but no subtitles for the series. Includes gorgeous art books. Usually available for about $80.

Macross Plus special edition blu-ray: English subtitles, although they're... pretty bad. I mean they're passable enough to understand what's going on but they're pretty rough. This box set is out of print and usually commands a hefty premium on the secondary market.

Macross Delta series and movie Blu-ray: english subtitles.

--------------

Important to note: the standard Japanese releases of the Macross Plus movie edition and the Macross Frontier movies do not contain english subtitles. It's only the special editions that have them.

--------------

 

Just for completion's sake, stuff that hasn't gotten an official english subtitle or dub release:

Macross 7 (all of it)

Macross Zero

Macross Frontier (series)

DYRL (unless you count the heavily edited, poorly dubbed US release in the 80s, “Clash of the Bionoids”)

Flashback 2012 (though worth pointing out, it’s just music and video footage without dialogue, so you don’t really need subtitles).

Edited December 12, 2019 by jeniusornome

[Bub]

Don’t forget the SDF Macross ADV dub (around 2007).  Dual audio with subtitle option.

[jeniusornome]

Thanks @Bub I actually didn’t know about that one. Updated the post for completeness. 

[camk4evr]

10 hours ago, jeniusornome said:

Official english subtitle/dub releases in the US:

SDF Macross: US DVD release by AnimEigo in early 2000s. English subtitles, no dub. Out of print.

also a DVD release by ADV films with subs and an English dub track. Out of print.

Macross II: US DVD release by US Renditions (later by US Manga Corps I think). English dub... I don't think we ever got the Japanese audio track here. Out of print.

Macross Plus: US DVD release by US Manga of both series and movie versions. English dub, english subtitles. Out of print.

 

Macross II was released in both english dubbed and  subtitled versions on VHS then rereleased as a 'movie' version. DVD has both english dub and subtitle tracks.

 

It was Manga Ent., not US Manga Corps, that released them  (originally US Renditions for Macross II)

[jeniusornome]

Thanks @camk4evr! Updated. 

[Brofessor]

Thanks for the info.

[Brofessor]

So to summarize, only SDF Macross, Macross II, and Macross Plus had official US releases which obviously had English subs or dubs.

Macross Frontier "shooting star", Macross Plus special edition, and Macross Delta were not released in the US but were released in Japan with either English subs or dubs. These are compatible with USA DVD players as region 1.

Macross 7 (all of it), Macross Zero, and Macross Frontier (series) have never had official releases with English subs or dubs.

What about DYRL? I own the 2 disc Perfect Edition of DYRL and it has English subs. It has English language on the DVD box. It is made and distributed by Crescent Media.

 

 

[JB0]

There were a couple of english DYRL releases on VHS, but none on DVD. You've got a bootleg.

[jeniusornome]

All Macross DVD releases in Japan don’t have English subs or subs. It is only the blu-rays far as I know.

Japan and USA are different regions for DVD so you need a player that can do region 2 DVDs to watch official releases. 

USA and Japan are in the same region for Blu-Ray so you don’t need a special player for those.

(the only Macross official DVD release I can think of that wasn’t region coded was flashback 2012).

 

DYRL has never had an official release with English subtitles or dub. The release you have is a bootleg “grey market” thing.

 

Neither has flashback 2012 but that’s just 30 minutes of music video and scenes without dialogue, so it doesn’t really need it. 
 

(I suppose if you wanted to count the poorly dubbed, heavily edited “Clash of the Bionoids” release of DYRL that came out in the US in the 80s as “official” you could, but it’s a really big stretch of the term.)

 

updated my post again. 

Edited December 12, 2019 by jeniusornome

[Brofessor]

I know this is infuriating but does RT have the larger number of worldwide fans and overall viewership since 1985 due to all the licensing issues? Granted the Macross franchise has more media and material, but it seems the majority of the Macross content is confined to Japan? Would it be wiser to make a live action Macross film or RT film based on worldwide audience? The numbers would be interesting for comparison. How many humans worldwide have been exposed to RT versus Macross? Could it be like 500 million to 50 million in favor of RT? Does anyone have any educated guesses on this? Regretfully, I assume RT has the larger audience. Thanks. Just curious about this. I apologize for raising a RT related question.

[Seto Kaiba]

24 minutes ago, Brofessor said:

I know this is infuriating but does RT have the larger number of worldwide fans and overall viewership since 1985 due to all the licensing issues?

Almost certainly not.  When Robotech was new and at the apex of its popularity, it never achieved more than unremarkable middle-of-the-pack ratings as a serialized kids show and its merchandise line was largely a flop.  Its fanbase has been shrinking ever since thanks to Harmony Gold's repeated failures to get an animated continuation to the series produced, the initially poor and consistently declining quality of its licensed merchandise, and the infighting in the fandom itself.  With no signs of any future developments of any appreciable merit, that steady downward trend is unlikely to ever reverse itself.  It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that much of what remains of Robotech's brand awareness is because of the legal problems its existence causes for more successful properties like Transformers, Macross, and MechWarrior, not because anything it does "creatively" attracts attention.

There are, in all likelihood, more Macross fans in Japan alone than there are Robotech fans worldwide.

(Really, that Robotech is now double-branding most of its merchandise with the Macross title and logo should tell you all you need to know on that score.)

 

24 minutes ago, Brofessor said:

Granted the Macross franchise has more media and material, but it seems the majority of the Macross content is confined to Japan?

Well, perhaps if you're looking exclusively at strictly legitimate channels.

Macross shows have done a roaring trade on the internet via fansubs and bootleg DVDs and Blu-rays with subtitles.  Macross Zero did a lot to build awareness thanks to how damn pretty it was, and interest in the franchise really exploded when Macross Frontier hit fansubs in '08.  We're talking millions of downloads of individual English subtitled releases on a weekly basis, and that's not counting other languages.

Macross's shows do account for only a fraction of its total output though, so even if the shows were ALL licensed we'd still be able to say the majority of Macross content was still for Japanese audiences only.

 

24 minutes ago, Brofessor said:

Would it be wiser to make a live action Macross film or RT film based on worldwide audience?

Considering that a Robotech live action movie would be unable to use the vast majority of the content of the Robotech TV show... isn't that a self-answering silly question? 

It'd have to be Robotech in name only to avoid copyright infringement lawsuits.

[Bolt]

Also bear in mind, licensing issues aside, Macross fandom has steadily grown worldwide over the decades.

[DewPoint]

5 hours ago, Brofessor said:

I know this is infuriating but does RT have the larger number of worldwide fans and overall viewership since 1985 due to all the licensing issues? Granted the Macross franchise has more media and material, but it seems the majority of the Macross content is confined to Japan? Would it be wiser to make a live action Macross film or RT film based on worldwide audience? The numbers would be interesting for comparison. How many humans worldwide have been exposed to RT versus Macross? Could it be like 500 million to 50 million in favor of RT? Does anyone have any educated guesses on this? Regretfully, I assume RT has the larger audience. Thanks. Just curious about this. I apologize for raising a RT related question.

So for me personally, as a kid, I loved Robotech back when it first aired in the US.  In Middle school we played the RPG games.  Around this time, one of my Brother's friend got a copy of Clash of the Bionoids.  We all watched it and loved it much better than Robotech.  In High School I read all the Sentinel books and liked them.  I even mail-ordered the VHS tape.  The music was horrible!  Even then, I was disappointed when the video series was cancelled.

When I started college, I bought the official US DVD releases of the original Japanese shows that were used to create Robotech.  To me, Macross, Southern Cross and MOSPEADA were far better shows in their original form then Robotech.  They made far more sense in their original stories and the characters were exponentially more likeable.  Following the release of Macross II and Macross Plus, I no longer had any interest in Robotech other then toy nostalgia.

As the internet became more accessible, I had no problems acquiring and viewing fan sub of Macross 7, Macross Zero, Macross Frontier and Macross Delta.  Again, I liked these shows far more than Robotech.

Recently, I watched Shadow Chronicles to see what all the fuss was about.  I honestly think that it was marginally better then Sentinels.  It didn't surprise me that it was cancelled.  It was bad.

At this point in my life, I would not pay to watch a Robotech Movie or anything Robotech.  I would watch a Robotech Movie free on TV for discussion sake, but again, I would pay to see it.

[Brofessor]

Thanks for all the insights. I'm still undecided about all this. I am trying to wrap my head around 1985 television technology and RT being broadcast to China, Russia, France, South America, etc. There were no other real alternatives for distribution or viewing creating a captive audience. This audience would be pretty big but confined to the late 80's and now aged about 30 years older. This audience would have a lot of nostalgia and possibly passion and enthusiasm for RT. However, the active audience of 2019 with disposable income would be much younger, mostly Japanese, and focused on Macross... but today's Macross is just one franchise in an ocean of content compared to 1982. It seems difficult to judge.

[jeniusornome]

I don’t think you’ll ever find an answer about which fandom is larger, but I think it’s pretty sensible to say that a franchise that consists of a single 35 year old show, hacked together from three unrelated shows, where there have been no actual follow ups, is not going to have a very large fan base at this point. 
 

anyone who was a Robotech fan in the 80s likely lost interest when sentinels was made, poorly received and canned because HG didn’t want to put any real effort into it. Any who stuck around after that probably forgot about it when the same thing happened with Robotech 3000. And anyone left after that probably stopped caring when the same thing happened with Shadow Chronicles.

 

They’ve done nothing to maintain their fan base over the years, so I doubt there’s many left at all. 
 

this is getting way off topic for this thread though. You may want to continue the discussion in one of the Robotech threads.

Edited December 14, 2019 by jeniusornome