A minor GERWALK propulson nitpick

[SayuriUliana]

So Shoji Kawamori is known to be a mecha designer with meticulous attention to detail, and indeed that's one of the reasons his Variable Fighters are so alluring as they are. Nonetheless, with Kawamori's more recent designs I think he may have forgotten an important aspect of the transformation sequence: how GERWALK mode propels itself. 

From the VF-1, VF-11 up to machines like the VF-19, variable fighters are shown to have a second set of engines that appear during GERWALK mode, which handily explains where they get the forward thrust to move while their actual engines are pointed straight down to the floor, or in the case of the YF-21/VF-22 their engines simply don't change orientation at all. 

On the other hand, designs like the VF-25 and the VF-31 are most definitely lacking in visible secondary engines for GERWALK propulsion. While Macross Frontier TV Episode 2 does have a scene where we see the VF-25's GERWALK mode come out of the rear of the hull centerline (just in front of the place where the Shield would normally be stored in fighter form), this location in many of the VF-25's physical manifestations like the DX figures do not show any such engines at that location. The VF-31 supposedly place their secondary engines at a similar spot (at least according to the VF-31AX Master File), though again neither the figures nor the show reflect this. The issue of GERWALK propulsion goes away when you equip them with SUPER Packs, though that seems quite the unfortunate kind of solution to this issue. For further inconsistency, designs like the VF-27 and the YF-29 don't have this issue due to having very large wing-mounted secondary engines. 

Where am I going with this? Dunno. Just felt the need to point them out. 

Edited April 5, 2023 by SayuriUliana

[kajnrig]

4 hours ago, SayuriUliana said:

this location in many of the VF-25's physical manifestations like the DX figures do not show any such engines at that location.

They're present on the 1/72 model kits by Bandai. Engineering them onto figures, to be easily assembled/painted/etc. by humans, is probably more costly than it's worth.

[Seto Kaiba]

5 hours ago, SayuriUliana said:

On the other hand, designs like the VF-25 and the VF-31 are most definitely lacking in visible secondary engines for GERWALK propulsion. While Macross Frontier TV Episode 2 does have a scene where we see the VF-25's GERWALK mode come out of the rear of the hull centerline (just in front of the place where the Shield would normally be stored in fighter form), this location in many of the VF-25's physical manifestations like the DX figures do not show any such engines at that location.

It's been a while since I examined my DX VF-25s up close, but I'm fairly certain the two sets of six nozzles seen in the line art are actually present in the toy.  They're hard to see due to being small, but those nozzles on the underside of the backplate are very much there.

[SayuriUliana]

11 hours ago, kajnrig said:

They're present on the 1/72 model kits by Bandai. Engineering them onto figures, to be easily assembled/painted/etc. by humans, is probably more costly than it's worth.

 

11 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

It's been a while since I examined my DX VF-25s up close, but I'm fairly certain the two sets of six nozzles seen in the line art are actually present in the toy.  They're hard to see due to being small, but those nozzles on the underside of the backplate are very much there.

 

Hmm, checking out images of the 1/72 VF-25F kit, and I think I see them now. They're very, very small, more like RCS than engines, but they're there. 

Just leaves the 31 as a mystery here I guess. Might just take the Master File's word for it and just think there's engines on the place they say there is. 

Edited April 6, 2023 by SayuriUliana

[snakerbot]

8 hours ago, SayuriUliana said:

Just leaves the 31 as a mystery here I guess.

I don't know what Master File says about that one, but the DX has a couple openings in the wings near the roots that could be engine exhausts I guess.

Edited April 6, 2023 by snakerbot

[Seto Kaiba]

3 hours ago, snakerbot said:

I don't know what Master File says about that one, but the DX has a couple openings in the wings near the roots that could be engine exhausts I guess.

I know the ones you mean... those have a Beware of Blast markings as if they were engine nozzles.

[Mommar]

DX 25 definitely has the little thrusters at the back where the shield formerly sits.  31 doesn't appear to have anything that resembles that unless the jets are the two slots at the back of the wing root just outside where the feet/legs stick out in fighter mode.

[Sildani]

I really think the two slots are it. Hazard markings, pointed the right direction, have the grey paint patches to represent natural metal.