Macross Master File

[Seto Kaiba]

9 minutes ago, ivorysniper said:

Although unofficial, I always wondered why only four pylons on the VF-11 when the VF-1 has six.

Officially, the VF-1 only has four.  The six pylon configuration seen on a few toys and model kits was shortcut to getting six RMS-1s on the wings without having to mold and cast the two missile pylon configuration used in DYRL?.  Master File presented that as a variant wing design pretty much solely for RMS-1s.  (It also, even more bizarrely, offered a variant wing with five pylon stations but failed to come up with a configuration where all five could be used at once.)

The VF-4 had, depending on which art you consult, either six or eight.

The cover art looks nice, though I'm more in the Master File books for the tech trivia and the VF-11 is both a personal favorite and a sorely neglected VF.

[Mommar]

Well it's no surprise but CDJapan just informed me the book has been pushed back a month.

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, Mommar said:

Well it's no surprise but CDJapan just informed me the book has been pushed back a month.

It was inevitable after the book ahead of it in the queue (the M9 Gernsback Master File) got pushed back a month.

[no3Ljm]

18 hours ago, Mommar said:

Well it's no surprise but CDJapan just informed me the book has been pushed back a month.

Just want to confirm. Is it the VF-11 that got pushed back next month?

If so, then I'll not going to wait for it in my PW.  

 

[jvmacross]

6 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Just want to confirm. Is it the VF-11 that got pushed back next month?

If so, then I'll not going to wait for it in my PW.  

 

Not sure....my order still shows 3/9 release date.....that was announced back around February 5th....and I posted that here:

On 2/5/2019 at 7:13 AM, jvmacross said:

MF VF-11 pushed to 3/9/2019

Unless some are getting alerts that it will not show up until sometime in April?  

Wouldn't surprise me.

 

This is what Amazon.jp says:

Product details

単行本: 128 pages

Publisher: SBクリエイティブ (March 9, 2019)

Language: 日本語

ISBN-10: 4815600309

ISBN-13: 978-4815600303

Release Date: March 9, 2019

[sketchley]

40 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

This is what Amazon.jp says:

Publisher: SBクリエイティブ (March 9, 2019)

 

Seconded.  Release date is unchanged in Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.jp/ヴァリアブルファイター-マスターファイル-VF-11サンダーボルト-マスターファイルシリーズ-Graphic/dp/4815600309/ref=pd_ybh_a_9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=G68PMJHDY2C7DYWWT8BV

 

Edit:

The SB Creative (publisher) HP also has the 2019/03/09 release date: https://www.sbcr.jp/products/4815600303.html

 

 

Edited February 24, 2019 by sketchley

[ivorysniper]

On 2/22/2019 at 8:56 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

(It also, even more bizarrely, offered a variant wing with five pylon stations but failed to come up with a configuration where all five could be used at once.)

The cover art looks nice, though I'm more in the Master File books for the tech trivia and the VF-11 is both a personal favorite and a sorely neglected VF.

3

Interesting. Always found the three RMS-1-loaded pylons per wing sort of 'tight'. The dual RMS-1 pylon made more sense, especially for 0-G operations. Same thoughts on the five-pylon Su-25ish config for the VF-1.

Likewise, I also found the VF-11 sleek and well designed, but ill-fated by the presence of the -19 and -22 in M+ and with a deep lack of love in M7. It was a taste of unfairness for it not to be given with a main role (except on Macross M3 ??), probably due to the huge time gap between the airing of SDFM and M+. Anyways, I'm also glad to finally see something fully dedicated to the Thunderbolt and can't wait to take a look at the weapons loadout, variants, and super pack sections of the upcoming book.

[sketchley]

1 hour ago, ivorysniper said:

(...)  can't wait to take a look at the weapons loadout, variants, and super pack sections of the upcoming book.

Speaking of that... I wonder if they'll pick up on the stealthy medium-range missile launcher pods that appeared in one of Kawamori-san's rough designs (an idea he later recycled into the HAIM-95A Missile Launcher Pods on the VF-0).

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, ivorysniper said:

Likewise, I also found the VF-11 sleek and well designed, but ill-fated by the presence of the -19 and -22 in M+ and with a deep lack of love in M7. It was a taste of unfairness for it not to be given with a main role (except on Macross M3 ??), probably due to the huge time gap between the airing of SDFM and M+. Anyways, I'm also glad to finally see something fully dedicated to the Thunderbolt and can't wait to take a look at the weapons loadout, variants, and super pack sections of the upcoming book.

I'm hoping we'll see some references to Macross the Ride in this one... not just because Master File tends to throw in nods to model kits and that light novel used custom model kits to represent all the fighters in the story, but because that was the single greatest concentration of VF-11 action in the last decade-plus if you don't count Mina Forte's VF-11C in Macross 30: Voices Across the Galaxy.  It was a nice touch to not only have the VF-11 more or less be the standard for Vanquish racing, but that it has its own dedicating racing class... being the equivalent of a VF stock car.

[ivorysniper]

On 2/24/2019 at 11:59 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

I'm hoping we'll see some references to Macross the Ride in this one... not just because Master File tends to throw in nods to model kits and that light novel used custom model kits to represent all the fighters in the story, but because that was the single greatest concentration of VF-11 action in the last decade-plus if you don't count Mina Forte's VF-11C in Macross 30: Voices Across the Galaxy.  It was a nice touch to not only have the VF-11 more or less be the standard for Vanquish racing, but that it has its own dedicating racing class... being the equivalent of a VF stock car.

Yes, MtR was something worthy of an OVA. I hope they cover the topic on this new book, as well as the competition between the VF-11 and the VF-14 for the main variable fighter. Based on SBC trend to briefly depict the antagonist VF on each VFMF issue (well... on some of them), we might get in contact with a 3D-modeled VF/VA-14 for the first time (I might have missed it before).... just daydreaming a little bit. Additionally, some coverage of the Jenius family role on the testing phase would be greatly appreciated. There's a lot of thread related to the VF-11 to cut for this book. Hopefully, SBC won't 'drop the ball' this time.

 

Edited February 26, 2019 by ivorysniper

[no3Ljm]

As much as I would love to see that to be part of the Master File content, they need to pay/need permission of Dengeki Hobby Magazine. Or just buy Dengeki’s MtR photo novel for the whole scope of the story.

 

[Seto Kaiba]

22 minutes ago, no3Ljm said:

As much as I would love to see that to be part of the Master File content, they need to pay/need permission of Dengeki Hobby Magazine. Or just buy Dengeki’s MtR photo novel for the whole scope of the story.

Hasegawa's already supporting the Master File line and they had their fingers in Macross the Ride, so it might not be a bridge too far... 

[jvmacross]

I think of any possible collaborations....one between Hasegawa and Arcadia would be epic.  Sadly that bridge will probably never materialize.

Incidentally, the Masterfiles books seem to be a fertile ground for the "borrowing" of design ideas...

[Seto Kaiba]

SoftBank's definitely going to be feeling the temptation to pad Variable Fighter Master File: VF-11 Thunderbolt since the fighter's official animated appearances are pretty sparse if you don't count the CF ones in 7... it'd be nice if the padding was from various other official materials instead of the pants-on-head stupidity of some of the stuff in the VF-4, VF-22, and VF-31 books.

[jvmacross]

LOL...."Padding" is the VF Master Files spe-ci-a-li-ty!  

And to be honest, without the "padding" they wouldn't be as interesting! 

[Seto Kaiba]

22 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

And to be honest, without the "padding" they wouldn't be as interesting! 

Speak for yourself, I am ALL about that sweet sweet techncial detail.  

[jvmacross]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Speak for yourself, I am ALL about that sweet sweet techncial detail.  

Yep....so crank out those translations so it can be more than just about the pics for the rest of us...

[sketchley]

7 hours ago, jvmacross said:

Yep....so crank out those translations so it can be more than just about the pics for the rest of us...

Learn Japanese? 

[jvmacross]

7 minutes ago, sketchley said:

Learn Japanese? 

On the perpetual to-do list...

[Seto Kaiba]

10 hours ago, jvmacross said:

Yep....so crank out those translations so it can be more than just about the pics for the rest of us...

Workin' it.  I'm trying to get the website that'll host them put together.  My web design-fu is a bit weak after years spent out of the game.

(If you know anybody who's really good as CSS, we'd love the help.)

 

2 hours ago, sketchley said:

Learn Japanese? 

Or Chinese.  Some enterprising soul has already translated VF-0, VF-1 Vol.1, Vol.2, Squadrons, VF-4, VF-19, VF-22, and VF-25 into Chinese.

[jvmacross]

3 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Or Chinese.  Some enterprising soul has already translated VF-0, VF-1 Vol.1, Vol.2, Squadrons, VF-4, VF-19, VF-22, and VF-25 into Chinese.

So what's worse?....

A Chinese Google translation or a Japanese one? 

[Seto Kaiba]

28 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

So what's worse?....

A Chinese Google translation or a Japanese one? 

All I can tell you is that your hovercraft is full of eels either way.

[ivorysniper]

20 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Workin' it.  I'm trying to get the website that'll host them put together.  My web design-fu is a bit weak after years spent out of the game.

(If you know anybody who's really good as CSS, we'd love the help.)

1

These are awesome news !.

[sketchley]

Amazon Japan has some picts of the book's interior: https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4815600309?pf_rd_p=ce2eab38-4495-4b24-90fc-38dbaedf3574&pf_rd_r=KHSC6233NC6G7BNYAR45

I'm really digging all the stealthy 'sawblade' panel lines they've added to the hi-res colour picts.

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, ivorysniper said:

These are awesome news !.

Don't get too excited... I've rounded up four other translators to help, but we're still estimating it's going to take something on the order of six months to a year per volume. 
(Srsly tho, any CSS gurus out there wanna throw me a bone and help unf*ck this stylesheet nightmare I've invited myself into?  The O'Reilly book for it is so big I could use it to crush rats.)

 

1 hour ago, sketchley said:

Amazon Japan has some picts of the book's interior: https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4815600309?pf_rd_p=ce2eab38-4495-4b24-90fc-38dbaedf3574&pf_rd_r=KHSC6233NC6G7BNYAR45

I'm really digging all the stealthy 'sawblade' panel lines they've added to the hi-res colour picts.

... cautious optimism for this book is increasing.  

Several of those pics are downright gorgeous.

[Bolt]

Looks niiice!

[jvmacross]

Always enjoy the pics on the VFMF book series....I'm sure this one will not let down either

 

[hachi]

9 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Don't get too excited... I've rounded up four other translators to help, but we're still estimating it's going to take something on the order of six months to a year per volume. 
(Srsly tho, any CSS gurus out there wanna throw me a bone and help unf*ck this stylesheet nightmare I've invited myself into?  The O'Reilly book for it is so big I could use it to crush rats.)

 

... cautious optimism for this book is increasing.  

Several of those pics are downright gorgeous.

Wouldn't it be easier to use some theme? Personally I care more about the content and don't mind a simple web site. A lot of sites are too fancy they are so slow to load it's a hassle (especially with 3rd world internet connection speeds). I think web development has a lot of this unneeded complexity that's why I don't want to do it myself if I can help it and just rely on themes :P

 

[sketchley]

13 hours ago, hachi said:

Wouldn't it be easier to use some theme? Personally I care more about the content and don't mind a simple web site. A lot of sites are too fancy they are so slow to load it's a hassle (especially with 3rd world internet connection speeds). I think web development has a lot of this unneeded complexity that's why I don't want to do it myself if I can help it and just rely on themes :P

 

I agree with him.  I use as minimal a write-up on my translations site as possible.  Sure it's old and crusty, but it gets the job done (just copy/paste the content into a self-made template, add html markup [spaces, bold, etc.], check that all the links work, and publish).

As far as CSS goes... it's not that hard.  Do what I did, examine the CSS (and other HTML programming) from your favourite sites, and adapt what works for you for your needs.  The only real trick with CSS is figuring what stuff you need before producing a bunch of pages (otherwise you have to waste time going back and making changes and other fixes).

Anyhow, here's the CSS for my stats site.  In this case, the main actions are getting interactive buttons (on mouseover), so visitors don't have 'mystery meat' buttons (spoilered):

Spoiler

img
{border-style: none;}

.link ul
{list-style-type:none;
margin:0;
padding:0;
overflow:hidden;}
.link li
{float:left;}
.link a:link,.link a:visited
{display:block;
width:160px;
color:#FFFFFF;
background-color:#3366cc;
text-align:center;
padding:4px;
text-decoration:none;
text-transform:uppercase;}
.link a:hover,.link a:active
{background-color:#336666;}

.linkB ul
{list-style-type:none;
margin:0;
padding:0;
overflow:hidden;}
.linkB a:link,.linkB a:visited
{display:block;
width:200px;
color:#FFFFFF;
background-color:#3366cc;
text-align:center;
padding:4px;
text-decoration:none;
text-transform:uppercase;}
.linkB a:hover,.linkB a:active
{background-color:#666633;}

.linkc a:hover { color: green; background: #F9EDED }

.linkD ul
{list-style-type:none;
margin:0;
padding:0;
overflow:hidden;}
.linkD a:link,.linkD a:visited
{display:block;
width:120px;
color:#FFFFFF;
background-color:#3366cc;
text-align:center;
padding:4px;
text-decoration:none;
text-transform:uppercase;}
.linkD a:hover,.linkD a:active
{background-color:#666633;}

a.cssmouseoverTITLE {display:block;
width:550px;
height:89px;
background-position:0px 0px;}
a.cssmouseoverTITLE:hover {background-position:0px -89px;}

a.cssmouseoverLOGO {display:block;
width:101px;
height:85px;
background-position:0px 0px;}
a.cssmouseoverLOGO:hover {background-position:0px -85px;}

.displace {position: absolute; left: -5000px;}

The net effect can be viewed here (specifically the changes when you mouseover the buttons and links): http://sdfyodogawa.mywebcommunity.org/OTvfmf/OTvfmf.php

The only trick I can tell you is figure out the code on one page.  Once it's working, only then cut and paste it into your CSS.  And keep in mind the KISS principle (or less is more).

 

As for the links at the top and bottom of my site - that's why I use PHP: server side includes!

They're a bit tricky to get working, but the effort spent setting them up really pays off when you only have to modify a couple of bits of code on 2 or 3 pages to change the entire site (just like CSS).

Edited March 1, 2019 by sketchley

[ivorysniper]

On 2/28/2019 at 11:09 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

Don't get too excited... I've rounded up four other translators to help, but we're still estimating it's going to take something on the order of six months to a year per volume. 
(Srsly tho, any CSS gurus out there wanna throw me a bone and help unf*ck this stylesheet nightmare I've invited myself into?  The O'Reilly book for it is so big I could use it to crush rats.)

 

Actually, even with the forecasted delays, it would greatly surpass the frequency we get new Macross series, so it's still great news. Just an audient's point of view. 

On 2/28/2019 at 11:09 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

... cautious optimism for this book is increasing.  

Several of those pics are downright gorgeous.

 

Drooling time for me until release !!.... and look who is making an appearance !?!?!?

Spoiler

 

Edited March 1, 2019 by ivorysniper

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, ivorysniper said:

Actually, even with the forecasted delays, it would greatly surpass the frequency we get new Macross series, so it's still great news. Just an audient's point of view. 

... that's one way to look at it, yeah.  Though with one or more books coming out a year, we won't gain much ground!

 

2 hours ago, ivorysniper said:

Drooling time for me until release !!.... and look who is making an appearance !?!?!?

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Oh, it was all but inevitable Max and Milia would feature in the book.  They are, after all, the first ones to take a VF-11 into live combat and the reason the VF-11's production spec includes the canards.  (Plus Milia also had a VF-11C in Macross 7 Plus episode "TOP GAMRIN" (sic)).

If they give us a good cutaway of the gunpod like they did for the GU-11 and GU-15, I'll be THRILLED.  

 

18 hours ago, hachi said:

Wouldn't it be easier to use some theme?

You mean themes like the ones here?  That's what those are... cascading stylesheets (CSS). 

 

4 hours ago, sketchley said:

I agree with him.  I use as minimal a write-up on my translations site as possible.  Sure it's old and crusty, but it gets the job done (just copy/paste the content into a self-made template, add html markup [spaces, bold, etc.], check that all the links work, and publish).

We're looking to do a more modern CSS1&2 page design that displaces most, if not all, of the layout information into the CSS so the impact on the individual pages will be zero or close to it if we decide to start tweaking the appearance of the site later.  The learning curve is nasty, but it'll save us loads of work down the road by turning page-building into a glorified fill-in-the-blanks exercise.

[Mommar]

On 2/28/2019 at 9:09 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

Don't get too excited... I've rounded up four other translators to help, but we're still estimating it's going to take something on the order of six months to a year per volume. 

I’m too excited.  Your translations have been hands-down the best I’ve ever read.  Applying that to the Master Files is Christmas all year round.

I’m digging that all white 11C-style livery with the bits of blue for highlights.

[sketchley]

14 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

We're looking to do a more modern CSS1&2 page design that displaces most, if not all, of the layout information into the CSS so the impact on the individual pages will be zero or close to it if we decide to start tweaking the appearance of the site later.  The learning curve is nasty, but it'll save us loads of work down the road by turning page-building into a glorified fill-in-the-blanks exercise.

One workaround that might work is the aforementioned server side includes.  That way, you can use those (and the CSS) to easily add future modifications (obviously you're limited to headers/footers, and only changing [in this case redefining] the appearance of the HTML mark-up you've added to each page (e.g. links now look like this, H2 headlines look like that while H3 looks like this, etc.).

Mind you, you don't really need to be changing how the translations look (it's just text after all).

[wm cheng]

HLJ have this on pre-order yet?  I always get dinged by customs on Amazon.jp packages

[Seto Kaiba]

26 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

HLJ have this on pre-order yet?  I always get dinged by customs on Amazon.jp packages

Yeah, they've had it up for ages... CDJapan were the ones who were late to the party.

They have it marked as Order Stop though, which means they won't take any more preorders until after it comes out.

https://hlj.com/variable-fighter-master-file-vf-11-thunderbolt-sof60030