Macross Galaxy (the emigration fleet)

[jenius]

It's been a long time but long time but just in case people haven't bothered to watch Frontier or its movies, there are spoilers ahead...

I finally just finished watching the Macross Frontier movies and overall I thought they were pretty poorly done (but thanks just the same to the member that hooked me up with them!). One of the many things that kind of rubbed me the wrong way with the movies was the story of Macross Galaxy. I think I've kind of put it together but do we have a thread already someone can point me to (my search came up empty) that lays out the story of Macross Galaxy? Here's what I've surmised (it's only based on one viewing of the TV show a long while ago and the one viewing of the movies recently so there's lots of room for error here):

0) Macross Galaxy bucks tradition with most emigration fleets in that it's very cyborg/implant friendly. So there's a culture of enhancement on the ship up to the point where very few of the passengers aren't enhanced in some way and all of the leadership now has completely foregone flesh and blood form and dumped their consciousness into a network of some sort.
1) This fleet picks up the survivors of the long range research mission Mao Nome was a part of. Dr. Grace joins the leadership of Galaxy in abandoning her corporeal form. She continues Mao's research with Mao's granddaughter Sheryl. Ranka's brother Brera is heavily 'enhanced' although I don't think we know if this was so he could survive wounds from the attack or just because that's what happens on Galaxy. If just about everyone from the research vessel ends up on Galaxy, how does Ozma end up with Ranka?

2) Through Grace Galaxy learns of the ultra powerful Vajra. I think Sheryl is infected with the V-type virus from her days with Mao. So Galaxy uses Sheryl and her singing to draw the Vajra to Galaxy so they can study them some more. They quickly realize that having Vajra around is bad so...

3) Galaxy sends Sheryl to Frontier. This is where things feel really forced in the movie-verse because there's talk about the Vajra home world and 'untold resources' or something like that. The idea though is that Galaxy needs to see some more interactions with mankind in order to hopefully break the Vajra communications network (essentially, they need to learn to speak Vajra). So the plan is that Sheryl will sing on Frontier and the Vajra will come to Frontier and Galaxy can then observe and crack the code.
4) In the movie-verse it seems that Battle Galaxy and the core components of Galaxy have been lost to the Vajra but that the core bio-data unit the Galaxy leadership now resides in has been smuggled aboard Frontier in the vessel Sheryl, Grace, and Brera have arrived in (or in one of the many other ships that must have smuggled a couple hundred Galaxy soldiers in). Without Battle Galaxy the emigration fleet is undefended so Sheryl hires SMS to help (SMS is moderately successful in helping some of the ships elude the Vajra).

5) Without a fleet of their own any more, Galaxy must take over Frontier. Somehow though, Frontier has figured out this plan and ambushes the would-be aggressors.
6) Galaxy ultimately succeeds because Brera is a cyborg ninja who can't be stopped. Why aren't all the other soldiers that Galaxy brings over to Frontier nearly as bad-ass as Brera?

7) So at this point it seems that Galaxy has completely given up on their own emigration fleet with the leadership of Galaxy instead intent on universal domination using the Vajra as their weapon. Unfortunately they don't have a physical form any more so it seems like they wouldn't really have much in the way of motivation but I guess that's beyond the point.

So, are there some key parts I'm missing with regard to our knowledge of Galaxy? Did I screw some stuff up? For the main bad guy I feel like the story was tucked into the background most the time.

[VF-15 Banshee]

I don't know if I'm in the right area of the forum, I've never really been on one before... But, can anyone tell me anything about the live action Robotech movie I've heard about recently?

Yes, you are in the wrong area. I recommend the Anime and Sci-Fi sub forum.

[Roy Focker]

Macross Frontier plot (or lack there of) isn't suppose to make sense.

You're just suppose to listen to the music while gawking at images of mecha and cosplay ideas.

[skullmilitia]

Ozma rescues Ranka from the research fleet that the Vajara destroy.

I thought the main difference between the two is Ranka's mother was given the virus by Grace, Ranka was born with the fold bacteria

Already inside her, which put them in the correct spot (gut). Sheryl was infected as a child by Grace, and that's why it's killing her, because the bacteria is not in the right location.

Also Ranka's memory only shows a small ship being destroyed, not the Research groups SDF class ship which is shown in the series.

[TehPW]

in terms of political story, Macross Frontier is lacking (because as Roy Fokker mentions, its all about mecha pr0n and cosplay pedo-pr0n). Now if you could get an actual author with skills in writing political and social thrillers, you could have a really good book (potentially. Macross being what is it, you would never get a writer to waste his or her time on this), without even mentioned all those meddling teenagers. imagine Red October written from the setting of a macross emmigration fleet?

Edited November 23, 2013 by TehPW

[jenius]

Ozma rescues Ranka from the research fleet that the Vajara destroy.

I thought the main difference between the two is Ranka's mother was given the virus by Grace, Ranka was born with the fold bacteria

Already inside her, which put them in the correct spot (gut). Sheryl was infected as a child by Grace, and that's why it's killing her, because the bacteria is not in the right location.

Also Ranka's memory only shows a small ship being destroyed, not the Research groups SDF class ship which is shown in the series.

That's confusing to me though. Sheryl would be with Mao right? And Mao would be with Ranka right? So how were things split up so Ranka goes with Ozma and Sheryl goes with Mao/Grace? I guess one idea might be that Sheryl/Mao/Grace/Ranka were all part of a group of ships and that Sheryl/Mao/Grace were on a ship that pressed further into Vajra territory while Ranka was on a different ship. One would think Ranka would be with her brother though...

I'm also a little foggy on the V-type infection. It seems like it's a disease that can be contracted by humans and if it's contracted outside of the womb it will end up in somewhere other than the gut and eventually kill the host. Was Mao infecting people or was she treating people that were infected environmentally? I suppose the nicest way to think of it was that Mao was a doctor and a pregnant lady came to see her who then gave birth to Ranka before succumbing to the disease. The question then is why didn't Brera have the disease? Eh, maybe he did and maybe that's why he's a cyborg now.

[s001]

Stick with the TV series man. And watch youtube videos of your favorite mecha action scenes in the movies. That's the best you can do IMO.

[sketchley]

The V-Type Infectious Disease is easier to explain: Ranka got it while her mother was pregnant. Because of that, she was born with an innate resistance to the infection (read: no symptoms). The location of the infection doesn't matter.

Brera not having it is simply because their mother was infected after he was born.

Re: the Galaxy Fleet

The main differences between the TV series and the movie versions are:

- in the movie version, the fleet's executive are so into Grace's plan, that they forsake their physical bodies and become a kind of collective mind inside of some kind of MacGuffin (in the TV series, it's left vague who is supporting Grace, and by appearances they still exist as individuals in separate bodies)

- in the movie version, the executives of the fleet deliberately induce a Vajra attack on their fleet in a sacrifice to move their plan forward (in the TV series, the loss of the fleet is portrayed as an accident).

In other words: the fleet's leadership is much more involved AND take much more extreme actions (not saying that blowing up half a planet isn't extreme, just a different kind of extreme as Grace wasn't killing civilian allies).

There are other differences that change the Galaxy Fleet, such as the Vajra (when humans first encountered them), and technology (DE Weapons don't seem to have been pursued. On the other hand, means to put the Vajra under direct control are).

I'm not sure how the changes affect the development of the YF-24 (in the TV series it was developed directly because humans encountered the Vajra - which doesn't occur until 10 years later in the movie version), and the development of the VF-27 and VF-25 Tornado Pack/VF-29 are more closely intertwined (if memory serves, there's the implication that Frontier took the VF-27's beam gun technology for use in the VF-25/29). So, there's a bit more rivalry, competition and espionage between the fleets in the movie version.

Edited November 25, 2013 by sketchley

[Thom]

Stick with the TV series man. And watch youtube videos of your favorite mecha action scenes in the movies. That's the best you can do IMO.

I'd go with this.

One of the major problems of not continuing the story but deciding to retell it, is that they are going to make changes that will open plot holes.

It was perfectly fine the first way they did it. Why waste time simply rebooting the same story rather than continue it afterward?

That's almost like Roboteching...

Such as when Alto swoops down after saluting goodbye to his plane and picks up Ranka and they fly off to explore the new world...

Edited November 25, 2013 by Thom

[frothymug]

I've tried to indirectly address the Galaxy situation in my writing. The way I see it is:

• The Galaxy fleet still exists and its leadership continues to work towards dominating the galaxy.
• The people of the Galaxy fleet are so heavily modified by cybernetics, it's easy to draw the conclusion that they must be under some kind of control exerted by the leadership. The way I put it was that at some point in their past, they passed legislation that practically required all citizens to undergo "enhancement". The ulterior motive was to slowly gain control of the citizens' everyday lives. Sheryl somehow escaped this fate.
• The political view is that Galaxy was slowly transformed from a corporation-influenced meritocracy into a despotic oligarchy. All colony operations are directly controlled by the government and the citizens are nothing but drone workers with little to no autonomy nor freedom. This social structure falls into line with their planned assimilation into the Vajra hive-mind.
• Although the Vajra are seen leaving the galaxy with their queen, there are still pockets of Vajra hives left behind. Those independent hives are in danger of being manipulated by the Galaxy fleet to further their own ambitions. There is a chance that the Galaxy scientists may be working on a way to create their own version of a hive queen.
• The remaining Galaxy fleet still remains a threat to the well-being of the Frontier emigration fleet. Frontier, whether they like it or not, stands in the way of Galaxy's ambitions of conquest.

[TehPW]

there's also a bigger issue at play. With MG actively at war with a fellow Colony fleet, we have our first makings of civil war in the new NUNS era? It's been implied in various readings (Sketchley can explain better i hope) that low intensity war has already occured between colonies already but this the first big one. If any more Macross properties are made, i hope they keep going along this line to make comparisions with the violence that colonies and Colony Fleets may wage to guessed at violence that plagued the end of the Protoculture civlization. perhaps we are seeing another Endless Waltz, in the making?

[Keith]

It's also never said Sheryl was under tge care of Mao, or that they had ever met for that matter. There was a letter Sheryl's mother sent to Mao, I believe thanking her for the earrings, and or announcing Sheryl's birth.

[Zinjo]

• We saw frigates and destroyers of the Galaxy fleet destroyed and the Galaxy herself under attack, but no definitive proof she was lost. Later in the series we get the impression that she is still out there, just running silent.

I see no reason to believe the Galaxy citizenry are under mind control, just look at modern society. Give a population enough distractions and they'll allow all sorts of policies that are against their own interests.

The idea of colonial wars, be they cold or hot is a natural progression of a civilization. Humanity "survived" the Great Space War, they may not have learned much wisdom from it. It also reinforces Kawamori's idea that federal tech is not fully shared among the colony worlds. Each colony can develop their own versions of VF's, but they will be limited compared to the fully developed federal fighters.

The Allied Network is separated by vast distances and each world or colony ship is considered a nation state unto itself. Thus many could be a potential threat to federal authority or installations. So it is important for the Federal Government to maintain a technological edge over the colonies to protect itself and it's interests. Such a political environment could fuel many very interesting stories in the Macross universe.

The Galaxy's conspiracy against a fellow colony ship is an example of the current political climate in the 2060's. I doubt is uncommon. Neighbor worlds likely fight all the time and perhaps the feds have to send a fleet or two to break up the wars from time to time.

I don't see any civil war on the horizon as humanity has decentralized the government into more of a federation of member states. They are inter-dependent but not subject to the central government as much or at all possibly. A logical change as the resources to maintain such a government would be immense and it is perhaps humanity trying to avoid the mistakes of the Protoculture.

The biggest danger the Galaxy posed was trying to "control" the Vajra. I liked the idea that many had altruistic intentions while other individuals were more malevolent in their plans (very much like the effort to split the atom.) I like to believe this type of effort is what sparked the civil war in the Protoculture Stellar Republic. One faction wanted to control what appears to be the most powerful naturally occurring force in the galaxy and the other was working to stop them. It would also logically explain why the EVIL series were being developed. They were meant to be a counter to any Vajra army the other side could conjure.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Zinjo

[jenius]

While I like the concepts Zinjo is referring to, I can't help but feel they were handled horribly in Macross Frontier, particularly Frontier's movie-verse. It's like "We'll throw bits of these concepts into the plot, we won't flesh them out, they won't fit, but we have concert scenes to focus on!"

I really wish the movies had gone more the DYRL route. Start us off with a Sheryl concert on Galaxy, not Frontier. Have Alto already be in the SMS. Then have SMS arrive at Galaxy after a distress signal and save some of the frigates, including Sheryl and Grace. Then you'd have a reason to have lots of Galaxy people on board Frontier for a later coup. Then don't have the coup fail, have it succeed but have SMS pull things off in the end. It seems like things could have been condensed more but the story actually improved upon fairly easily.

[Save]

It's like "We'll throw bits of these concepts into the plot, we won't flesh them out, they won't fit, but we have concert scenes to focus on!"

Sounds like you're talking about Do You Remember Love. Obviously they can't stick all the details in a movie version. Also fan subs are not the best source for technical lingo for anime they are just quick turnarounds so viewers can get the gist of the story.

Maybe the new official subs will flush the story out more.