Macross Plus FAQ Since the release of this show, we have quite a few people asking what the show is all about, including the question "...but where does that leave Macross II? And what about Macross 7?" Usually, this happens about a few days right after I post a response, forcing me to post again. ^_^; Well, not anymore. I got tired of typing up a response each time someone asks for info, so I compiled the info available so far and wrote this FAQ. Thanks to Egan Loo and others for providing the background info on the various Macross installments. -- 8< cut here -- 1. Where does Macross Plus fit in? Where does that leave the movie and Macross II? Title Release Date ----- ------------ Chou Jikuu Yousai Macross Oct 3, 1982 - Jun 26, 1983 Chou Jikuu Yousai Macross Ai - Oboete Imasuka Jul 7, 1984 (Jul 25 wide release) The Super Dimension Fortress Macross [the Movie]: Love, Do You Remember Chou Jikuu Yousai Macross Flash Back 2012 Jun 27, 1987 The Super Dimension Fortress Macross Flashback 2012 Chou Jikuu Yousai Macross II: Lovers, Again May 21, 1992 - Nov 21, 1992 The Super Dimension Fortress Macross II Lovers, Again Macross II [Gekijouhan] 1993* Macross Plus Aug 25, 1994 - Spr 1995 (rescheduled) Macross 7 Oct 16, 1994 - Macross Plus [Gekijouhan] 1995 (scheduled) Macross [Jissha Eiga] Summer 1996 (scheduled) * never released in Japan Macross Chronology Continuity A - TV timeline -------------------------- 1999-2012 The Super Dimension Fortress Macross 2012 The Super Dimension Fortress Macross Flash Back 2012 (music video of farewell concert) 2031 Theatrical Release of Macross - Ai, Oboete Imasuka (based on events in 1999-2012) 2040 Macross Plus 2045- Macross 7 2046- Macross 7 Trash Parallel World The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Lovers, Again Continuity B - Movie Timeline ----------------------------- 2009 Macross - Ai, Oboete Imasuka (Love, Do You Remember?) (movie based on the TV war) 2012 Flash Back 2012 (music video of farewell concert) 80yrs later Super Dimensional Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again (OVA) As you can see, the movie and Macross II have been bumped to form a so-called parallel world. Let's put it this way. We Real Lifers (tm) look at Macross TV and say "Wow, a SF anime." Macross TV people look at Macross the movie and say, "Cool, a movie based on our experiences during the war (the tv war, that is)." But actually, both timelines are more or less "valid." Confusing? You bet. Just enjoy the show. ^_^ 2. Ok, so now I know how Macross Plus fits in with the other Macross stories. What's it about? Story thus far (in a nutshell): Two new Valkyrie test fighters, the YF-19 and the YF-21, are being bid to the UN Spacy. The two test pilots are former friends, and now rivals/enemies. They share a love interest in Myung, a manager for the virtual singer, Sharon Apple. Years back, something happened that got between the threesome; the trio's relationship now is awkward at best. Isam is very much the Top Gun fighter jock type - cocky and confident, he's an excellent pilot, and his dogfighting skills are top notch. He's also very reckless and has a very casual attitude towards his wingmen, which is what gets him reassigned to test pilot duty. Isam doesn't seem to mind at all; he loves to fly. Guld has a micronized Zentradi father and a Human mother. He's the test pilot for the civilian enterprise, General Galaxy, and flies the YF-21. Usually much more calmer than Isam, he tries too hard to be the cold, detached type, but is prone to bursts of anger (especially around Isam). His duties in the YF-21 seems to further compound this (more about this later). Myung is the manager for the popular virtual singer, Sharon Apple, who made her debut in 2039 (the actual story takes place in 2040). Virtual as in, Sharon's not human. She's basically a robot/AI. Myung has had a tragic experience (won't go into what - go watch the video!), and now both Isam and Guld blame each other for what happened to her. Tech info: VF-11C "Thunderbolt" Fighter with canard and variable-sweep wings (White with orange/black trim) Standard-issue fighter mecha of the UN Spacy (2040s) - Directly descended from the VF-1 Valkyrie. Length Overall: 15.51 m (Fighter mode) Height Overall: 12.96 m (Battroid mode w/o Super Booster Pack attachment) Standard T-O Weight: 9 MT Engine Output: 28.5 MT x 2 Armament and Options: Rear anti-aircraft pulse laser cannon x 1, anti-projectile shield x 1, multi-purpose gunpod x 1, space Super Booster Pack attachment, atmospheric single-use rocket attachment, others The VF-11 Thunderbolt is the standard-issue fighter of the 2040s. The Thunderbolt can accomodate either a Super booster system or an atmospheric single-use twin rocket-booster system. YF-19 Prototype fighter with swept-forward wings (White with red/black trim) Test pilot: Dyson, Isam Length Overall: 18.62 m (Fighter mode) Wingspan: 14.87 m (Fighter mode) Height Overall: 3.94 m (Fighter mode) Standard T-O Weight: 8.759 MT Engine Output: 64.7 MT x 2 (Space) 42.7 MT x 2 (Atmosphere) Maximum Speed: Mach 5.1+ (Level flight at 10,000 m above sea level) Mach 24+ (Above 30,000 m) Armament and Options: Rear anti-aircraft laser cannon x 1, anti-projectile shield x 1, gunpod x 1, others Not too much is known about the YF-19 at this point; wait till OVA episode 2, I suppose. =P YF-21 Prototype fighter with trapezoidal combined stabilizers (Blue w/ yellow trim) Company: General Galaxy Test Pilot: Bowmann, Guld Goa Engines: New Chuushuu Industries/P&W/Royce FF2450B x 2 Auxiliary Engines: P&W HMM-6J high-maneuverability vernier thrusters Length Overall: 19.62 m (Fighter mode) Wingspan: 15.36 m (Fighter mode) Height Overall: 4.04 m (Fighter mode) Standard T-O Weight: 9.55 MT Maximum T-O Weight: 48.305 MT (in space with fold booster attachment) 39.207 MT (in atmosphere) Engine Output: 65.2 MT x 2 (Space) 41.2 MT x 2 (Atmosphere) Maximum Speed: Mach 5.06+ (Level flight at 10,000 m above sea level) Mach 25+ (Above 30,000 m for 8.1 km) Maximum Rate of Climb at Sea Level: 61500 m/min. Minimum T-O Distance: 0 m (VTOL capable) Maximum G Tolerance: +32.5, -17.2 Maximum Attainable Height From Sea Level: 21500 m Armament and Options: (Fixed) Elicon AAB-7.5 super-minature atmospheric anti-aircraft laser gun placement x 1, Mauler REB-22 semi-fixed beam cannon x 2, Howard PBS-03F pin-point barrier system (for fighter mecha use) x 1 (Internal) Biforce BML-02 YF-21 exclusive rapid-fire micro-missile launcher x 2 (External) Howard/General new standard cartridge-less gatling gunpod x 1, hard point x 4, special attachment hard point x 1 Fold Booster: New Chuushuu Industries/Ortech FBF-1000A fold booster (for fighter mecha use) [Note: MT, in this case, means metric tons, while T-O means takeoff. Specifications assume Earth-like testing conditions such as those that exist on Planet Eden. Before anyone jumps to any conclusions and assumes that the YF-21 overwhelms the YF-19 in terms of firepower and raw capabilities, remember that the full stats on the YF-19 have not been reported yet. Opinions: Mr. Iyadomi wasn't kidding when he said this is an international animation. Isam's Japanese-Caucasian, Guld's Zentradi-Human, and Myung's Chinese-Caucasian. Heck, even the YF-21's engines are made by Japanese, American, and British aerospace giants. Well, former ones. =P] The YF-21 is the other top contender, sporting a slew of radical improvements over the previous Valkyrie fighters. It has a tremendous thruster output -- the YF-21 regularly outruns a VF-11, even with additional booster attachments on the latter. The usual complement of missiles are there, and the guns are mounted on its fore- arms, although the YF-21 is still slated for a gunpod attachment. We still haven't seen the pin-point barrier system in action yet. More notable is the thought control system, which basically integrates the pilot and the Valkyrie into one. The wings have no flaps, instead being shape-adaptive, and respond to the pilot's "imagination." All Guld has to do is imagine spreading his fingers out on his hands, and the wings increase in width. By twisting his "feet" around (in his mind, that is), the pilot can control the nozzles on the thrusters as well. The cameras mounted on the plane become his "eyes;" Guld keeps his eyes closed during flight, seeing everything thru the camera feedback, which is fed directly into his optical nerve system. This also allows for arbitrary choice of the spectrum - visible light, infrared, thermo- graph, x-ray vision, etc. The thought control system goes so far as to allow the pilot to imagine a scenario/situation, which the control system picks up and interprets into suitable commands. This is made evident when Guld imagines himself soaring straight into the sky -- the place just goes ahead and _does_ it, going from 0 to breaking the sound barrier in a vertical (speak: 90 degrees) climb -- in 4 seconds flat. Unfortunately, it also seems to pick up ramdom thoughts of the pilot and interprets those as well. After being rescued by Isam after a plunge, Guld imagines how nice it would be if his plane were to force Isam's VF-11 into the ground, eliminating Isam as a pilot and contender. Lo and behold, the plane picks up the imagination of the scene, and forces Isam's Valkyrie into the ground, trashing it badly. Even Guld is surprised that the plane picked it up; as far as he's concerned it was a thought, not a direct order. The thought control system also puts a sizeable strain on the pilot, apparently, as Guld sometimes has trouble using his hands and takes medication to control his nervous spasms. 3. Ok, I'll go watch the video. Tell me something about Macross 7. [quoted verbatim from Egan's post] The Macross 7 Fleet's flagship is made of two "blocks," Battle 7 and City 7. Battle 7 is front-end battleship which can separate from the City block (a la Star Trek's Enterprise-D). It has at least 6 catapult launches on its forward deck and massive thrusters in the stern. However, the City 7 block dwarves Battle 7 with its multiple-layer bulbous form. It looks like a daikon radish after it's been in a microwave a few milliseconds too long. It is one of 7 such city ships in the fleet whose total population is approximately 1 million people. Characters: Some magazines say Milene is the Fire Bomber's lead singer, and others say Basara is. The band hasn't had a major debut, but through live house performances, its popularity has grown. Besides playing the keyboards, Ray Lovelock is the band leader, music arranger, and a "nice guy." The members of the Fire Bomber band (except Milene, presumably) live in a literally bad part of town called Akujo. Max's hairstyle has subtly changed; I won't spoil the surprise. =P Out Magazine suggests that Milene may be only child that Max and Miria brought on board the Mac 7 Fleet. Some mags say Milene is the 7th daughter and others say that the parents had 7 kids, but none specifically say that 7 kids are all daughters. Milene joined the Fire Bomber band against her parents' wishes. By the way, Miria happens to be mayor of City 7. Mecha: The common designation for the "stealth" VF-17D mecha is Nightmare. I don't know about you, but that brings to my mind a certain fantasy novel and certain present-day fighter plane unofficially nicknamed Nighthawk. Kawamori says in a B-Club interview that the recent public disclosures of stealth technology have influenced his current designs (IMHO, a little too much, but that's okay). The Varauta Fleet (and one of its pilots, Gigil) uses a gargantuan, top-heavy purple mecha that doesn't look too different from the original movie's Meltrandi female power suit or some of Mac II's Marduk designs. But hey, for the first time in Macross, the enemy mecha transform! It apparently has only a human form (term used loosely) and flying form. It is designated Elgarzoln [Erugaazorun] FZ-109F. -- end of file -- -- Keith Rhee A boss says "Go." -- A leader says "Let's go." quattro@netcom.com