The Newbie and Short Questions thread

[JB0]

22 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Varauta 3198XE's fourth planet, well, that's not a natural phenomena.  That's a direct product of the ancient Protoculture setting up an entropy control field to make the planet an uninhabitable iceball so that nobody would try to live there and accidentally dig the Protodeviln up.

Protoculture: "Let's make this planet into an artificial iceball so it is useless and future generations know to stay away and not mess with it!"

 

Future generations: "Dude, this planet's an artificial iceball! Let's go there and mess with it to find out why!"

[pengbuzz]

Well, guess there's no point to that field now...

[TG Remix]

On 8/6/2022 at 12:23 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

Well, I guess that depends how you want to define "garrison".

Well in the context of Delta they were closer to a more populous area iirc. I can assume city defense is a more higher status then those dead end postings, if Diamond Force's transfer to defend City 7 is to be believed.

 

On 8/6/2022 at 12:23 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

Since the New UN Forces are implied (by Isamu's service record) to have inter-branch mobility more akin to the JSDF, it's possible such postings could come with a transfer to a different branch of service if necessary for logistical purposes. 

Now that I didn't catch on! That's a bit interesting, and explains a lot on my pondering's about the military's flexibility.

 

On 8/6/2022 at 12:23 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

Macross-5 is the only fleet of that type to be depicted or properly described to date.  One would assume that it's a reaction to the New UN Government's crackdown on having full size Zentradi on Earth after the major rebellion at the end of the 2020s that ended in yet another attack on Macross City and the destruction of several emigrant ships being built over at the factory satellite.

I'd imagine they'd be a result of the 2030 attack, considering the Macross 5 fleet was grouped up with the malcontent Zentradi Emigrants in Macross Chronicle (And confusing me in the process...) Though, are you referring to the Megaroad-24 and Megaroad-25's destructions? I assume those were from accidents as opposed to deliberate malicious intent.

Edited August 7, 2022 by TG Remix

[Seto Kaiba]

6 hours ago, TG Remix said:

Well in the context of Delta they were closer to a more populous area iirc. I can assume city defense is a more higher status then those dead end postings, if Diamond Force's transfer to defend City 7 is to be believed.

I was talking more in terms of whether you consider a planet or emigrant fleet's New UN Forces defense forces to be a garrison force as well, since they are nominally answerable to both the local government and the central New UN Government and its New UN Forces.

 

6 hours ago, TG Remix said:

Now that I didn't catch on! That's a bit interesting, and explains a lot on my pondering's about the military's flexibility.

It's an easy detail to miss, since Isamu's service history is only onscreen for a few seconds and mainly touched on in the liner notes.

 

6 hours ago, TG Remix said:

I'd imagine they'd be a result of the 2030 attack, considering the Macross 5 fleet was grouped up with the malcontent Zentradi Emigrants in Macross Chronicle (And confusing me in the process...) Though, are you referring to the Megaroad-24 and Megaroad-25's destructions? I assume those were from accidents as opposed to deliberate malicious intent.

The 2030 Zentradi rebellion was a major uprising and, well, things don't just explode for no reason... 

[RedWolf]

On 8/6/2022 at 6:15 AM, TG Remix said:

Speaking of Zentradi-only affairs, I wonder when and why mostly/only Zentrad colony fleets and planets came to be.

From my perspective the NUN encourages the formation of nations to spread culture. Like Macross 7 is Florida with the Space War 1 retirees and their descendants. Macross 11 are English speakers. Macross Frontier has its diversity. So why not a all Zentradi fleet aligned with the NUNG? 

Al Shahal is an Arab culture planet. An Arab planet with Zentradi... It won't be just the Cat People that Windermere have problems with.

Edited August 8, 2022 by RedWolf

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, RedWolf said:

From my perspective the NUN encourages the formation of nations to spread culture.

I'm not sure that was necessarily their motive... especially since the casus belli of the Second Unification War was the dominant political faction in the New UN Government at the time wanting to maintain the emigrant governments as states subordinate to the central government rather than autonomous nations.

Also, given that in several cases the aesthetic choices surrounding how various emigrant fleets are "themed" are indicated to be deliberate choices with economic motives... such as Macross Galaxy's corporate government being obsessed with efficiency and not caring about the comfort of their citizen-employees, or the Macross Frontier fleet deciding the upper levels of Island-1 and other areas should deliberately imitate parts of pre-Space War 1 Earth for the sake of tourism.

 

1 hour ago, RedWolf said:

Like Macross 7 is Florida with the Space War 1 retirees and their descendants.

Not really... most any fleet with senior citizens would have veterans of the First Space War among its population.  Most of the New UN Forces top brass in the 2040s were soldiers who had been new inductees or junior officers in the First Space War like Col. Millard Johnson, Col. Maximilian Jenius, Gen. Gomez, etc.  They're never indicated to be a significant portion of the population though, and we only ever really see five that they bang on about: Max, Milia, and the three-man Monster crew.

 

1 hour ago, RedWolf said:

Macross 11 are English speakers.

Evidence from pretty much every Macross series suggests nearly everyone is actually speaking English most of the time (esp. the soldiers) and that most of the Japanese is just a translation convention for the benefit of the Japanese audience.  Virtually all of the on-screen text is in English, and there is a fair amount of conspicuous actual English in DYRL?'s opening and Frontier.

Fire Bomber is one of the very few exceptions, as they are specifically noted to be a j-rock band whose work was appropriated by an "American" cover band.

Macross 11 is not noted for being English speakers, they're noted for being an American-themed emigrant fleet similar to how Frontier themed its habitat areas after San Francisco, Shibuya, and a few other areas.  It's "American" in a vaguely exaggerated, caricature-ish, theme park-y sense.

 

1 hour ago, RedWolf said:

Al Shahal is an Arab culture planet. An Arab planet with Zentradi... It won't be just the Cat People that Windermere have problems with.

Al Shahal is "Arabic" the same way Macross 11 is American.  Meaning "superficially".  

The only thing vaguely Arabic about it is that the locals - well, most of the locals - dress like they live in the desert.  Because they live in the desert.

For these "themed" locales, it's important to remember these are superficial reconstructions conceived and built by people who have had little or no actual contact with that now-extinct culture.  It's as authentic as the Epcot World Showcase at Disney... which is to say, "Not very".

[pengbuzz]

8 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

For these "themed" locales, it's important to remember these are superficial reconstructions conceived and built by people who have had little or no actual contact with that now-extinct culture.  It's as authentic as the Epcot World Showcase at Disney... which is to say, "Not very".

I just hope none of the fleet pipe through their sound systems It's A Small Fleet After All...

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, pengbuzz said:

I just hope none of the fleet pipe through their sound systems It's A Small Fleet After All...

The role of gigantic evil corporation that treats their employees like trash has been filled by Macross Galaxy... so fortunately we'll never see the Macross Orlando fleet.

[pengbuzz]

47 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The role of gigantic evil corporation that treats their employees like trash has been filled by Macross Galaxy... so fortunately we'll never see the Macross Orlando fleet.

[TG Remix]

14 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I was talking more in terms of whether you consider a planet or emigrant fleet's New UN Forces defense forces to be a garrison force as well, since they are nominally answerable to both the local government and the central New UN Government and its New UN Forces.

Oh, I see. The generalization does make sense overall, being stationed on a planet with a well established population would make you protectors of said planet by default.

 

14 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The 2030 Zentradi rebellion was a major uprising and, well, things don't just explode for no reason... 

The best date I had for their destruction was in 2029, one year before all hell broke loose. I'm assuming that uprising had a lot more rise in tensions even more so compared to Kamujin's. I probably answered my own curiosity when I remembered it was so bad giant Zentradi were banned outright from being on Earth...

 

On 8/6/2022 at 10:40 PM, JB0 said:

Protoculture: "Let's make this planet into an artificial iceball so it is useless and future generations know to stay away and not mess with it!"

 

Future generations: "Dude, this planet's an artificial iceball! Let's go there and mess with it to find out why!"

Look, how would they know that messing around and finding out would result in awakening space vampire eldritch abominations? Not even Sharon and the Varja was that out there! 😆

 

11 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Also, given that in several cases the aesthetic choices surrounding how various emigrant fleets are "themed" are indicated to be deliberate choices with economic motives... such as Macross Galaxy's corporate government being obsessed with efficiency and not caring about the comfort of their citizen-employees, or the Macross Frontier fleet deciding the upper levels of Island-1 and other areas should deliberately imitate parts of pre-Space War 1 Earth for the sake of tourism.

Yeah, and with Macross 5's case, it seems that having a fleet full with pure Zentradi based technology would work best with an all Zentradi population. Though I would assume a human probably wouldn't have too much issue piloting a VA-14 or Variable/Neo Glaug if necessary. Though, now I'm wondering what kind of "themed" culture Zentradi would have to make an entire city have that aesthetic? 

 

11 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

For these "themed" locales, it's important to remember these are superficial reconstructions conceived and built by people who have had little or no actual contact with that now-extinct culture.  It's as authentic as the Epcot World Showcase at Disney... which is to say, "Not very".

They're trying to preserve culture as best as they can, it's not their fault the majority of Gundam Unicorn and the new Star Wars trilogy never existed. 🤣 Though depending on who you ask that might be a good thing.

 

And  in case those jokes didn't land, this is what I was referencing:  

 

 

8 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

I don't know what's possessing you to making these kinds of memes, don't don't exorcise it please. 

[Seto Kaiba]

5 minutes ago, TG Remix said:

Oh, I see. The generalization does make sense overall, being stationed on a planet with a well established population would make you protectors of said planet by default.

Yup... and then there's the sticky question of whether units stationed on the planet from the regional command or central command answer to the local government partly or at all.

 

5 minutes ago, TG Remix said:

The best date I had for their destruction was in 2029, one year before all hell broke loose. I'm assuming that uprising had a lot more rise in tensions even more so compared to Kamujin's. I probably answered my own curiosity when I remembered it was so bad giant Zentradi were banned outright from being on Earth...

Yeah, the factory satellite dock and the two Megaroad-class ships being built there blew up in 2029.

But giant revolts like the one that blew up in Macross City in 2030 don't come out of nowhere.  That was the single biggest battle Earth had seen in decades, to the point that there were multiple pilots who scored enough to become aces in a single afternoon (or in Timothy Daldhanton, could've qualified as an Ace of Aces in a single afternoon if he wasn't one already.)

 

5 minutes ago, TG Remix said:

Look, how would they know that messing around and finding out would result in awakening space vampire eldritch abominations? Not even Sharon and the Varja was that out there! 😆

At the very least, the New UN Government took this as a fair indication that Protoculture ruins contain some stupidly dangerous stuff and adopted more appropriate stances when later examples turned up, like the ones on Uroboros or Windermere IV.  The ruins on Uroboros were heavily restricted and eventually guarded by the 815th Independent Squadron from the VF-X Special Forces (though they had an ulterior motive) and they decided to straight up destroy the ones on Uroboros with a dimensional warhead rather than risk them being activated.

 

5 minutes ago, TG Remix said:

Yeah, and with Macross 5's case, it seems that having a fleet full with pure Zentradi based technology would work best with an all Zentradi population. Though I would assume a human probably wouldn't have too much issue piloting a VA-14 or Variable/Neo Glaug if necessary. Though, now I'm wondering what kind of "themed" culture Zentradi would have to make an entire city have that aesthetic? 

Considering that most VFs at that point incorporated some Zentradi overtechnology it likely wouldn't have been anything strange for a New UN Forces pilot.  General Galaxy's VF designs just incorporated more of it, and more unconventional designs, than the more conservative models by Shinsei Industry that the New UN Forces favored.

As to what the Zentradi would do culturally... that would probably be an eclectic mix of whatever aspects of Earth's cultures they absorbed while living on Earth.  Several prominent Zentradi leaders, but most notoriously Naresuan in Macross R, were such unapologetic Earth culture otaku that they even adopted human names for themselves.  (In a way, it's like that over-the-top patriotism you sometimes see from recent immigrants to the US or the recently-naturalized.)

 

5 minutes ago, TG Remix said:

They're trying to preserve culture as best as they can, it's not their fault the majority of Gundam Unicorn and the new Star Wars trilogy never existed. 🤣 Though depending on who you ask that might be a good thing.

Having seen both, I'm prepared to lump them under "acceptable losses".

Though some supplementary materia like Master File has alleged that there was a massive cultural recovery program instituted after the First Space War with dedicated teams of researchers and preservationists scouring the ruins of military bases, cities, and so on for any surviving cultural artifacts.  (This was, in the VF-0 Master File, how they recovered a number of damaged but mostly-intact VF-0 airframes that would be painstakingly restored in the in-book story about the Phoenix's reconstruction.)

 

5 minutes ago, TG Remix said:

And  in case those jokes didn't land, this is what I was referencing:  

Engineers being naturally inclined to nerdery, it's only natural that engineers armed with spacefuture technology would start replicating gadgets from their favorite sci-fi.

(Robots being an easy one, with population centers using robots for things as mundane as vending machines, litter-picking, and public phones even during the First Space War...)

[Shawn]

Dug out this book out of an old box I had in the corner

 

I know its not necessarily 'official' but it has some great insights...like the step being the 'toe' on the nozzle

 

And those bar things inside the feet...they flip down to offer more surface contact are on soft ground
just thought they were pretty cool ideas

 

 

[Skull Leader]

On 8/8/2022 at 9:15 PM, Shawn said:

Dug out this book out of an old box I had in the corner

 

I know its not necessarily 'official' but it has some great insights...like the step being the 'toe' on the nozzle

 

And those bar things inside the feet...they flip down to offer more surface contact are on soft ground
just thought they were pretty cool ideas

 

 

how did I never know this???

[RaisingCane]

Just how many fully-automated armory planets, factories and other production facilities did the Zentradi have?  For example, the Nupetiet-Vergnitsz's manufacturer is listed as the "Worquli-Quatafilla 755,819th Zentradi Fully-Automated Armoury Planet."  So are we to assume that there are/were at least 755,818 other fully-automated armory planets?

[sketchley]

2 hours ago, RaisingCane said:

Just how many fully-automated armory planets, factories and other production facilities did the Zentradi have?  For example, the Nupetiet-Vergnitsz's manufacturer is listed as the "Worquli-Quatafilla 755,819th Zentradi Fully-Automated Armoury Planet."  So are we to assume that there are/were at least 755,818 other fully-automated armory planets?

Yes.

In short, each fleet had a set of Factory Satellites, each one dedicated to producing one type of equipment—Mobile Weapon, warship, and so on.

The sizes also varied, with the ones for Rigado, etc. being small (if 5–10 km can be considered small ), up to 100's of km for the warships.  Macross Chronicle also stated that there are Factory Satellites producing things like the Mobile Fortresses, and they are mind-boggling huge.  However, there's only one of those in the galaxy.

So, yeah, each Boldoza-scale fleet has dozens, if not hundreds of Factory Satellites.  And we know roughly how many of those large fleets there are. 😵

[pengbuzz]

44 minutes ago, sketchley said:

Yes.

In short, each fleet had a set of Factory Satellites, each one dedicated to producing one type of equipment—Mobile Weapon, warship, and so on.

The sizes also varied, with the ones for Rigado, etc. being small (if 5–10 km can be considered small ), up to 100's of km for the warships.  Macross Chronicle also stated that there are Factory Satellites producing things like the Mobile Fortresses, and they are mind-boggling huge.  However, there's only one of those in the galaxy.

So, yeah, each Boldoza-scale fleet has dozens, if not hundreds of Factory Satellites.  And we know roughly how many of those large fleets there are. 😵

Now we just need one for 1/60 VF-1 replicas so they can be priced at $9.95 (plus shipping and handling)...

[RedWolf]

On 8/22/2022 at 1:57 PM, RaisingCane said:

Just how many fully-automated armory planets, factories and other production facilities did the Zentradi have?  For example, the Nupetiet-Vergnitsz's manufacturer is listed as the "Worquli-Quatafilla 755,819th Zentradi Fully-Automated Armoury Planet."  So are we to assume that there are/were at least 755,818 other fully-automated armory planets?

Typically 20 to 50 Factory Satellites per fleet. Ranging from a diameter of 5 km to 500 km. What the UNG did was rob the 118th Main Fleet remnants of these assets.

However there are millions of Factory Satellites out there.

 

[the_importer]

Hey there,

So I finished watching Macross Delta, my very 1st Macross series and no, never saw even the Robotech western adaptation. I loved the mix of mecha and J-Pop, but the ending was rushed. I really hate it when an anime doesn't give the protagonists time enjoy their victory before rolling the final credits.

I also fast watched that frankensteinian movie version and yeah, would not recommend this over binge watching 26 episodes. That being said, the 2nd movie will get released sometime this month. I've read that it's supposed to be a sequel to the 1st movie, but to those who've seen it, could it actually be a sequel to the series as well or would there be too many inconsistencies and missing story plots?

Off-topic, any words of the Macross series (including Delta) coming to physical media in the west now the decade long rights issue has been solved?

Cheers

[JB0]

6 minutes ago, the_importer said:

Off-topic, any words of the Macross series (including Delta) coming to physical media in the west now the decade long rights issue has been solved?

It seems quite likely that the recent mega-licensing announcement train will see new disk releases of most of the franchise, though I don't think anything's set in stone yet.

I personally, am looking forward to adding a few BluRays to my shelves once it happens. 

 

It is worth noting, however, that several Macross shows have already had home video releases in the west. SDF Macross, Macross II, and western fan-favorite Macross Plus have all seen release on DVD in the past. These disks, though all out of print, should be fairly easy to find today.

And though it never made the leap to digital video, the golden child DYRL saw multiple releases in the days of video tape.

 

 

Most of these were licensed before Harmony Gold "realized" they "owned rights" to the entire franchise in the early 2000s anime boom. SDF Macross(the only show they ever had legitimate rights to, and everybody knew it) was actually sublicensed by Harmony Gold to two other companies.

[the_importer]

6 minutes ago, JB0 said:

....It is worth noting, however, that several Macross shows have already had home video releases in the west. SDF Macross, Macross II, and western fan-favorite Macross Plus have all seen release on DVD in the past. These disks, though all out of print, should be fairly easy to find today....

Easy but pricey, this is what happens to popular franchises when the media is no longer published, prices tend to go very high on ebay. This is why I would like to see these re-published from scratch and just buy them for a decent price on Amazon.

[azrael]

12 hours ago, the_importer said:

Off-topic, any words of the Macross series (including Delta) coming to physical media in the west now the decade long rights issue has been solved?

Macross 7, Macross Frontier, and Macross Delta are currently slated for release in North America as Blu-ray boxsets. No release dates have been given. Macross II and Macross Plus will also be getting Blu-ray re-releases but no release dates have been given.

[Seto Kaiba]

12 hours ago, the_importer said:

So I finished watching Macross Delta, my very 1st Macross series and no, never saw even the Robotech western adaptation. I loved the mix of mecha and J-Pop, but the ending was rushed. I really hate it when an anime doesn't give the protagonists time enjoy their victory before rolling the final credits.

In general, Macross series tend to end that way... immediately after the conclusion of the story's central conflict and without an epilogue of any significant length.

 

12 hours ago, the_importer said:

I also fast watched that frankensteinian movie version and yeah, would not recommend this over binge watching 26 episodes. That being said, the 2nd movie will get released sometime this month. I've read that it's supposed to be a sequel to the 1st movie, but to those who've seen it, could it actually be a sequel to the series as well or would there be too many inconsistencies and missing story plots?

Macross Delta: Absolute Live!!!!!! is something of a unique case, as Macross has never done an all-original feature film before.

Normally, Macross's feature-length films are treated as separate from their respective TV series because their format has always been an alternate version of part or all of the TV series (or OVA) story.  Macross Delta's first movie, Passionate Walkure, was much closer to the industry's standard compilation movie format and didn't really change much in the actual story.  It didn't really introduce any new mechanical designs to speak of and the narrative changes were mainly just a few minor details like the circumstances of Messer's death.  For that reason, there really shouldn't be much in the way of obstacles to seeing it as a sequel to the series if you really wanted.

The few distinctive touches movie 1 had are things that could/would reasonably exist anyway, like the VF-31's Armored Pack or its ability to dock to the drones.

[the_importer]

7 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

.....Normally, Macross's feature-length films are treated as separate from their respective TV series because their format has always been an alternate version of part or all of the TV series (or OVA) story.  Macross Delta's first movie, Passionate Walkure, was much closer to the industry's standard compilation movie format and didn't really change much in the actual story.  It didn't really introduce any new mechanical designs to speak of and the narrative changes were mainly just a few minor details like the circumstances of Messer's death.  For that reason, there really shouldn't be much in the way of obstacles to seeing it as a sequel to the series if you really wanted.

The few distinctive touches movie 1 had are things that could/would reasonably exist anyway, like the VF-31's Armored Pack or its ability to dock to the drones.

I don't know if it's because the series is not fresh in your mind, but the 1st episode of Delta is what got me hooked. Having the initial meeting of our duo leading up to them entering their 1st battle together, having Freyja signing and Hayate dancing in that mech all while Ikenai Borderline is being sang by the group made me fall in love with our main 2 protagonists. We get none of that in the 1st movie, Hayate is already a rookies pilot, making their meeting less of a destiny thing. That alone makes me dislike the 1st movie.

[Seto Kaiba]

6 minutes ago, the_importer said:

I don't know if it's because the series is not fresh in your mind, but the 1st episode of Delta is what got me hooked. Having the initial meeting of our duo leading up to them entering their 1st battle together, having Freyja signing and Hayate dancing in that mech all while Ikenai Borderline is being sang by the group made me fall in love with our main 2 protagonists. We get none of that in the 1st movie, Hayate is already a rookies pilot, making their meeting less of a destiny thing. That alone makes me dislike the 1st movie.

Like I said, Macross Delta: Passionate Walkure is much closer to the industry's standard format for a compilation movie.

It's a cut-down, streamlined version of the story from the TV series that dispenses with a lot of the story's tedious exposition, breathers, and filler in order to proceed to the main plot as expeditiously as possible.  The basic assumption behind a compilation movie is that they can skip a lot of the tedious expositing because you're already familiar with the story of the series and they can get down to brass tacks without having to explain it all to you again.  A few new bits get thrown in, a lot of unnecessary side trips and divergences get cut, so the main plot can flow with a minimum of distraction in order to tell a story that was spread across ten and a half hours into just two. 

It's for that reason, along with the fact that Macross Delta: Absolute Live!!!!!! is telling an original story, that you can probably view the second film as a sequel to the TV series or the first movie.  Instead of a wildly divergent alternate version of the story that radically changes the significance of characters, plot points, etc. that leaves the movies a self-contained and separate story, the first film was a straight compilation movie and the second is an original story.

[RaisingCane]

Something I just now noticed: the bridge module doesn't separate in cruiser mode on the DYRL version of the Macross like it does on the TV version.  Any particular reason for that?

Edited September 18, 2022 by RaisingCane

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, RaisingCane said:

Something I just now noticed: the bridge module doesn't separate in cruiser mode on the DYRL version of the Macross like it does on the TV version.  Any particular reason for that?

Probably just to simplify the transformation.

I've noticed that point isn't even discussed in Miyatake's own comments on the design changes they made for the movie (which mostly focus on increasing the total amount of surface detail).

[RaisingCane]

Why did it separate before?  Is that supposed to be a big helipad between the two structures?

[Seto Kaiba]

22 minutes ago, RaisingCane said:

Why did it separate before?  Is that supposed to be a big helipad between the two structures?

Y'know... that is a very good question.  I have never seen an explanation for it that I can recall.  The creator commentary about that design almost exclusively revolves around the different permutations of designs for the Macross's "head" that had actual faces and were judged unsatisfactory.  (As in Miyatake's Design Works book or Document of Macross.)

That said, I doubt that space was intended to be anything like a helipad given that the Macross was constructed and reconstructed to be a deep space warship. 

Maybe that's why it was abolished on the movie version... they couldn't think up an explanation for it.

[RaisingCane]

20 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

That said, I doubt that space was intended to be anything like a helipad given that the Macross was constructed and reconstructed to be a deep space warship.

There must have been some reason for it, or it wouldn't have kept going to back to its original configuration whenever it reverted to cruiser mode.  I always thought that the stripes on the "shoulders" may have been intended as runways as well.

[Seto Kaiba]

1 minute ago, RaisingCane said:

There must have been some reason for it, or it wouldn't have kept going to back to its original configuration whenever it reverted to cruiser mode.  I always thought that the stripes on the "shoulders" may have been intended as runways as well.

If there is an in-universe rationale for it, it may be one that has not been "revealed" to the audience.

For whatever reason, separating the main bridge tower from the ship's deep space radar system seems to have been abandoned in the ship's postwar refit and mass production of new Macross-class ships.

The painted stripes on the Macross's docking arms seem to be purely cosmetic.  They run diagonally, directly under the barrels of the ship's railguns, which seems like a very bad place to try to fly an aircraft.  The UN Forces original intent for the Macross was for her to dock to two ARMD-class space carriers that would support carrier-based aircraft for her (ARMD-01 Harlan J. Niven* and ARMD-02 Invincible), but when those two ships were sunk by the Vrlitwhai Branch Fleet the crew made do by attaching and retrofitting the surface-based Daedalus and Prometheus after they were unintentionally dragged into space.  The few times the Macross is shown recovering fighters without them, the runways used are shown to be inside the arm/docking port.

(The oldest supplemental lore from the Sky Angels tech manual makes mention of another, never-completed class of space carrier that was 50% larger than the ARMD-class and might have been intended for a similar role had it not lagged so far behind the ARMD-class and been scrapped.)

 

* Named for the first Prime Minister of the Earth Unification Government, who assumed the post in 2001 and was assassinated in 2005.  The UN Forces and later New UN Forces both seem to have inherited the modern naval tradition of naming some large warships after heads of state or famous military leaders.  ARMD-14 was named for his successor, Robert A. Rhysling.  Other examples of this practice include the Uraga-class CV-339 Bruno J. Global and the twelve ships of the mass produced Macross-class being named for noteworthy Generals of the (New) UN Forces like Takashi Hayase, Bruno J. Global, and Vrlitwhai Kridanik.

[RaisingCane]

Was any reason ever given for why the Valkyries needed atmospheric-escape boosters to get into space in Episode 30 "Viva Maria" when Episode 3 "Space Fold" showed they were quite capable of doing so under their own power (and after a battle, no less)?

Edited September 19, 2022 by RaisingCane

[Seto Kaiba]

1 minute ago, RaisingCane said:

Was any reason ever given for why the Valkyries needed boosters to get into space in Episode 30 "Viva Maria" when Episode 3 "Space Fold" showed they were capable of doing so under their own power (and after a battle, no less)?

Yes.  The VF-1's service ceiling, transit time, and preservation of the VF-1's onboard fuel supply.

In atmospheric service, the VF-1 Valkyrie's FF-2001 thermonuclear reaction turbine engines are extremely fuel-efficient because they can use intake are as a propellant and heat it using waste heat and plasma from the compact thermonuclear reactor.  That efficiency is lost once the Valkyrie ascends past the atmospheric service limitation where a planet's atmosphere is too thin to sustain conventional jet/ramjet propulsion and it has to switch to operating its engines as thermonuclear rockets.  The exponentially greater rate of fuel consumption at extremely high suborbital altitudes and low orbit leaves the VF-1 with only a few minutes of maximum thrust before its tanks are dry.  Because its Battroid mode's size was constrained to approximately what the UN Forces expected the Zentradi to be, it is a small aircraft with relatively little room for internal fuel storage that prevents it from being able to do things like operate in space for extended periods without additional tanks or launch into satellite orbit independently.  With internal fuel only, the VF-1 can launch itself to the edge of space (over 100km altitude) but that consumes most of its onboard fuel, leaving it needing recovery and refueling, and takes a fair bit of time.

The atmospheric escape booster system has its own engines and fuel supply.  Using one enables the VF-1 to reach higher altitudes than it ordinarily could, faster, and without the use of its internally-carried fuel supply so it will still have fuel to maneuver once it reaches space.  Macross Chronicle also asserts that the boosters are reusable SSTO units that are able to return to base autonomously after being detached from the Valkyrie.

[sketchley]

2 hours ago, RaisingCane said:

Why did it separate before?  Is that supposed to be a big helipad between the two structures?

I think "why did it separate?" isn't the right way of looking at it, as the ship was originally in 'Cruiser' form when it crash landed, not 'Storming Attacker' (or giant robot) mode.

In the TV series, they rebuilt the Supervision Forces' ship as-is: as the bridge sections were originally separate, they stayed seperate.  When the ship transformed mid-series, part of the rearrangement of the ship's sections included putting the separate bridge sections together—when it came to the bridge section, it's arguably so the antenna don't get mulched when the main gun boom arms rotate.

The DYRL version follows the same process: because the original ASS-1 was that way, the rebuilt SDF-1 is the same way.  (Unlike the TV version, an image of the pre-rebuilt SDF-1 is readily available here: http://www.macross2.net/m3/macrossdyrl/alienstarshipone-dyrl/alienstarshipone-dyrl.gif )

 

Production wise, I suspect that it was added as just another greeble on the TV version that looked cool when they transformed it (like how extra thrusters appear on the sides of the torso when the VF-1 transforms).  Perhaps to make the animation easier to hand draw, it was removed from the movie version.

 

 

[DewPoint]

Off center bridges can aid in things such as navigating tight passages and in docking operations.  As the SDF-1's bridge isn't off center enough, I'm guessing that there is no real functional reason.  So it's the rule of cool! 

[RaisingCane]

I always thought Miyatake put more thought than that into his ship designs.  I mean, the top-down view of that area certainly looks like the bridge module was separated to make room for whatever that helipad-looking circle is.

Misa's shuttle didn't take off from the Prometheus in Episode 24 "Good-bye Girl," so maybe the ship's command staff has a launch bay (and landing area) of their own that's situated close to the bridge?

Edited September 19, 2022 by RaisingCane