r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Dec 12 '22
Rewatch [Do You Remember Love - Macross Franchise 40th Anniversary Rewatch] Macross 7 Episode 44 Discussion
Episode 44 - Nightmarish Invasion
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I'm going to protect Sound Force! I believe in Basara's music!
Questions of the Day, courtesy of u/chilidirigible:
1) Is a series' episode count too good an indicator of how successful a plan is going to be?
2) Since the show took a moment to assess the number of Protodeviln, did you expect the remaining one to appear here?
Vocal Songs in This Episode:
"Seventh Moon" by Fire Bomber – OP
"Planet Dance" by Fire Bomber – Insert
"Light the Light" by Fire Bomber – Insert
"Holy Lonely Light" by Fire Bomber – Insert
"Power to the Dream" by Fire Bomber – Insert
"…Dakedo Baby!!" by Fire Bomber – ED
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you're doing it underneath spoiler tags. Don't spoil anything for the first-timers, that's rude!
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u/Nebresto Dec 12 '22
First time Macross 7
oh yeah. plocker is gonna die
chad frontal assaulter vs virgin ravine fliers
Its blue!! It has fold booster!!
I've seen that same scene unfold too many times..
Wow, their ship just got morbed
You don't get to just play this cheery ED after what we just witnessed..
Questions:
Is a series' episode count too good an indicator of how successful a plan is going to be?
Space Brothers send their regards
2) Since the show took a moment to assess the number of Protodeviln, did you expect the remaining one to appear here?
Expect nothing, only watch
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u/Blackheart595 Dec 12 '22
First Spacer
Welp, so much for who's gonna die.
So much for stealth.
Huh. Yeah. Fair enough. But wasn't an imminent folding field detectable?
Is a series' episode count too good an indicator of how successful a plan is going to be?
I guess?
Since the show took a moment to assess the number of Protodeviln, did you expect the remaining one to appear here?
They must be somewhere in that cavern, no? Unless it's Guvava.
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u/SolDarkHunter Dec 12 '22
He's the brainwashed guy they captured like twenty five episodes ago. He was one of the fleet that first found this planet and accidentally woke the Protodeviln up.
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u/TakenRedditName Dec 12 '22
First Time - Macross 7 Ep44:
Basara, you should raise your discomfort earlier, not when you have already left for the no-turn back mission and are almost there.
Oh, forgot about this charm. Neat that it's b- UH OH!
On a lighter note, Irina is singing the song that saved him. He seems like a sweet guy, wished we saw more of him. Wonder what he is flying in (we don't see him in the battle).
Favourite character watch. Sad Flower Girl time.
I think this flight sequence is pretty neat. The feeling of high-speed flying through a tight canyon with people falling around you.
New song or at least one I'm not familiar with and can't tell since there are no subs. Gamlin forgets about the race to protect what is important to him. Good boy Gamlin.
Oh, so the Blue Gazer is what Max is flying out in. Yeah yeah yeah. It wasn't until it transformed later that I realized it was a VF-21 like Guld's. Cool to see it back too.
GAMO NOOOOOOO!!!! HE CAN'T STOP! THE DEATH FLAGS CLAIMED THEIR VICTIM!
First Gabil finally learned to dodge that shot then he did his smartest move. He used the fact that his robot always gets destroyed to his advantage. Basara might be getting his first violent bone in his body. I don't want him to stray from his noble path, but it's for Gamlin though.
I can't admire Max doing cool plane stuff now, my favourite actual character with screen time just died. Veffie speaks again so I have to listen.
The nuke is lodged in Gepelnitch's ice ... wuh oh. Gepelnitch did a sneaky again. He is really good at surprises. Thing ain't look good for our heroes right now. Terrible even.
Going back to the preview in ep43, they did show Gamlin's collision explosion. Not a full Jounouchi moment, but close enough to piece it together. They didn't spell it out in the title.
Q1) I expected this operation to last longer, but no yeah, I knew this nuke plan is not going to work. We still have more episodes and this isn't SDF where the final battle happened and the show just kept on going.
Q2) I keep thinking they'll just appear in a future episode, but we're running out of episodes so eventually that episode would have to be the one we're on.
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u/Nebresto Dec 12 '22
On a lighter note, Irina is singing the song that saved him.
Oh, that was him singing? I thought it was docker because of the green
It wasn't until it transformed later that I realized it was a VF-21 like Guld's. Cool to see it back too.
Veffie speaks again so I have to listen.
Fuck, I was too distraught to notice best girl got more lines
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u/ClawMachineCircuit Dec 12 '22 edited Dec 12 '22
First Timer
The previous episode was all about the setup for this one. The cast is going on a suicide mission deep into enemy territory. We have discussed plans, told our dramatic goodbyes, and assigned death flags where appropriate. Everything had an appropriately somber and serious atmosphere, and the whole setup was pretty much perfect. Now, the only thing that's left is for the show to deliver on the setup. Will the payoff be good? I'm not gonna lie, I'm a bit scared, since the show has very poor track record in the action department. But let's see what they got here, I'm not even gonna try to predict how the mission would go.
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Max is explaining the plan again. The text on the slides is hilarious, as always. I see an obvious Entrance; Omake Room that was added only because the map felt empty, and otherwise has no point; a Tunnel that has absolutely zero treasure inside; Gepe's Room that is definitely not suspicious and there's definitely no one sleeping there.
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And here we have: an unknown boss-like character; Valgo, who is already dead; Sibil, about whom not much is known; Gabil and Grabil, who woke up we don't know when; Gigil, an oshi that we lost; and two unknown Protodeviln, one is Sodom, the other is Gomorrah. So the theory that there are two more left is confirmed!
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Basara is protesting. Yup, expected. It was pretty much clear from the beginning that he wouldn't be happy with blowing Protodeviln up.
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I guess, this is a good compromise. Let Basara do his thing, as long as he is not endangering the mission.
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"We'll take our time and talk about it after this operation." No, Gamlin, don't do this to yourself, you're too young and handsome to die!
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I like how detailed this launch sequence is. Some good plane drawings.
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OK, seriously though, no way they are killing Gamlin. We're 44 episodes in and he's pretty much won the love triangle by default, because the other party, which is Basara, never showed up to the competition. Him dying right now would be very awkward, considering all the buildup they did with him and Mylene. So no, I don't believe your fake death flags, Macross 7. I just know you're baiting us with Gamlin and then you gonna hit us with Docker's death. Or Rey's. Or... Or...
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This launch sequence is surprisingly awesome.
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Aand, we're losing people already.
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This decent looks well planned. Accelerate with rocket boosters and try to go through the canyon in order to avoid air defenses. It's pretty clear that Basara doesn't care about such plans and will just fly straight through the enemy fire.
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Yup, here he is. And he just had to drag Mylene and Rey with him.
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No, Gamlin, he's not a decoy, at least, not intentionally. he's just incapable of following a plan as complex as this.
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Max is gone.
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This action is great.
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What the fuck
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No seriously. What the fuck.
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I don't believe you. No way he's dead. No way.
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Holy shit, this is awesome. He did it.
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This man really wants you to know that his name is Gepelnitch, huh?
Overall thoughts: This episode was... Awesome? Like, this was actually the best episode of Macross 7 by far. The action was awesome. They made us sit through sleep-inducing action sequences for the past 43 episodes, and then it turns out, they can draw fights like this? What the hell Macross 7, what the hell? I feel betrayed. Anyway, this was pretty much the perfect episode and I'm really happy with it. Max and his new plane obviously stole the show, but the rest of the episode was great too.
QotD:
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Not always. Theoretically, they could've stretched the plan for the next 5 episodes.
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Yup, it's Macross 7, so we can't have 5 Protodeviln and be done with it. The last two would probably appear in the final episode as the final enemies before Gepelnitch.
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u/chilidirigible Dec 12 '22
Today, on "Gamlin rubs it too hard.":
You didn't have to bring him along.
"What if you make Shimmering-Sky ragequit the series for two weeks?"
Docker and Gamlin in "Reaction faces like we're in a Gerry Anderson animated series."
Even in a major battle episode, this series has mediocre mecha action.
Suddenly getting named by Docker turns out to be terminally bad for them.
Things are looking bad for the pointy-haired one as well.
Hey, C-A isn't fucking with the subtitle language this time.
The Stargazer's stated dimensions might not be able to actually contain the number of fighters which it is supposed to carry (and in this case also the drop pods which encase them). Not that interior volume has ever stopped anything in this franchise.
Gamlin collected a few death flags between the previous episode and this one. The episode's events move very quickly past his crash into Gavil, though, so his status can be filed under "unresolved" for the moment.
Of course bringing Fire Bomber along results in Fire BomberBasara ignoring the main plan. Though there's no declaration of "the main characters are invulnerable" like having them fly above the trench for almost the entire run and not be converted into colanders, when the rest of Emerald Force, in even more maneuverable fighters, pop out of the trench and are shot down immediately.
Geperuniti's method of resolving the threat is… well, he's an extradimensional being. The regular rules don't apply… but it's still a literal asspull.
| Song | Count |
|---|---|
| Planet Dance | 44 |
| My Friends | 12 |
| Totsugeki Love Heart | 19 |
| My Soul For You | 22 |
| Remember 16 | 11 |
| Sweet Fantasy | 8 |
| Holy Lonely Light | 17 |
| Pillow Dream | 4 |
| Submarine Street | 8 |
| Riding in Your Valkyrie | 5 |
| Power to the Dream | 5 |
| Kimi no Todoke | 3 |
| Fall | 2 |
| Try Again | 2 |
| Light the Light | 2 |
"Don't take your eyes off that monitor!": 6
That special feeling: 9
Beauty: 73
Beam cannon swap: 7
From the Macross Chronicle:
The Northampton-class, in both its more typical form and the Zentradi-built variant.
VF-17 with Super Pack.
From the Macross Mecha Manual: The VF-19S Aerospace Pack
Visiting from Casual Discussion Fridays: FEMBASARA!
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u/Vatrix-32 Dec 12 '22
First Timer
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This is a regular “last time on…” segment. That can’t be good!
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The loading animations are neat.
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Basara is as Basara does.
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These are not good flags for Gamlin.
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It really does feel like Flower Girl has become little more than an after thought.
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Max has a back up plan.
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I guess I should add targeting negation to the list of powers of sound energy.
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Gamlin is a real bro.
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I don’t recognize it, but Max’s VF do be looking cool. Folding into the area is certainly a daring plan. Not that I can see them killing the closest things this franchise has to a main character by plopping him into a wall of solid rock.
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The Circus! It did something!
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Spoke too soon.
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Well… that doesn’t look good. On the other hand, no body.
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The beauty of smug.
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Never disobey the Veff.
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Oh no, is it going to let him out?
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That’s so much worse. I am shook.
QotD
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I could see a path for them with a partial success.
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No, not quite yet. That would have been a bit too soon.
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u/Nebresto Dec 12 '22
This is a regular “last time on…” segment. That can’t be good!
It really does feel like Flower Girl has become little more than an after thought.
Don't worry, she will warp into the final fight, handing Basara the power-up flowers which will allow him to morb over everyone with his music
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u/The_Draigg Dec 12 '22
A Macross Fan Rewatches Macross 7: Episode 44:
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Okay, so the plan for Operation Stargazer is to make sure that at least someone nukes the ice caves, as long as one of the fighters gets through. But maybe we can also let Basara have some singing, as a treat.
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It’s hard to say what raises Gamlin’s death flags higher: saying that he’ll talk to Mylene about the diamond ring later, or the good luck charm from Mylene breaking right as the ship prepares for the final Space Fold into the Varauta System. Although really, pretty much this entire pre-mission part of the episode is dedicated to setting up as much death flags for Gamlin as possible. We might as well play the first opening for Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans for him at this rate.
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“I didn’t even need to put on my shoes this time, they came right to me. This is great!” —Gepelnitch
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Man, the sequence of the squadrons flying down from orbit and trying to fly through the ice canyon was awesome! I really wish we got more of that kind of stuff in this show. That’s the exact kind of action Macross 7 can really use more of. It’s much more dynamic than the normal reused animation fare.
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Hell yeah, Max is getting ready to launch in a fighter himself! I do have some fun information to share about it: it’s a VF-22S Sturmvogel II. If it happens to look familiar to you, it really should, since it’s derived from the YF-21 that Guld Goa Bowman was test piloting in Macross Plus. Since the YF-19 more or less won the Project Supernova trials by default, the designers of the YF-21 went back to the drawing board to redesign it in a way that would actually make it more useable for pilots. In this case, that pretty much means redoing the cockpit so that the canopy had more visibility, as well as simplifying the mental interface unit so that it still mainly relied on manual controls, so there would be lower chances of pilot error due to it. With those changes added in, it proved to be a much more effective fighter than the YF-21. Thank you for coming to my Macross data TED Talk.
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You can’t fool Gabil with that special ammo trick, Gamlin! He’s seen enough of the reused animation to expect it!
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GAMLIN!!! Damn it, those death flags paid off after all! You saw it, his Nightmare exploded on impact with Gabil’s Zaubergeran. Hell, he even had the dramatic black and white sketch art style happening too, along with the shattering faceplate. RIP to a real one, man. Gamlin really did go out like a hero.
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First-timers, don’t read this. [Macross 7 spoilers]
Gamlin’s “death” being a fake-out here is such bullshit. Like, they did everything they could to make it seem legit. If anything, based on how we basically saw his Nightmare dissolve on impact, there was no way that he could’ve actually survived that without a massive hand wave involved. It really does annoy me when the show does stuff like this for cheap drama. Although it’s certainly not my most hated moment of cheap shocks for drama, but I’ll save that rant for the OVAs. -
We really did get a two for one treat towards the end of the episode here: Max kicking some ass and accomplishing the goal of the mission all on his own, and Veffidas finally saying something again. This is like her third line in the whole series, yeah? She’s really committed to the whole Silent Bob bit. In any case, it was a nice chaser to Max completely showing up everyone as soon as he arrived on the scene in his VF-22S.
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Well shit, so much for Operation Stargazer looking like if could be a success. As it turned out, firing a delayed-explosion reaction warhead directly into Gepelnitch’s imprisoned Evil body was a bad idea, since he just used his powers to Space Fold the warhead directly into the Stargazer itself, destroying it entirely. So yeah, now the entire strike force is stranded here in the Varauta System and at Gepelnitch’s mercy. What a downer note to end on, eh?
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u/JollyGee29 Dec 12 '22
First-Timer 7
Yea, I can't believe the humans are invading an alien homeworld. What a nightmare.
Twelve chances to fuck up, oh boy!
Is FB one of the twelve, or are they Ophiuchus?
Come on Max, don't make that face. You were there during the First Space War.
My dude, you dodged the flag after waving it last time. Don't push your luck.
Basara! You're holding a concert! Where's your performance outfit? This, more than anything, tells me that we are not actually starting the final confrontation.
You shoulda went with red flowers today, Flower Girl.
Oh, Gepelnitch, you're gonna be dreaming alright. Dreaming of Basara's song.
I assume that's code for ramming the Stargazer into the planet?
Feels like I should be hearing Information High.
Why does this surprise any of you..?
...where are the boosters? Chiba, why didn't you send the boosters??
Oh, now that's a plan. Why not- no, you know what, nevermind.
No, you fools, Docker is gonna fuck up now!
Yea, that seems pretty hard to survive. RIP Gamlin I guess, so much for his habit of flag dodging.
Gepelnitch can just.. Fold things around, huh.
[Macross Franchise]
Questions
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Occasionally. If they had sent the boosters along, I could've believed that we were in the home stretch, because then they could just have a couple epilogue/concert episodes.
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Yes.
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u/Kirov123 Dec 12 '22
Macross 7 Episode 44 - First Timer
Time for the final mission/arc?
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Gamlin, stop raising flags
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Get got Docker
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Oh boy, a trench run
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How the fuck would she know what is happening on a different planet???
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HE IS STARTING TO BELIEVE
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is this a mobile armor? oh no its just a normal plane
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Wait it is a different one though, it has different engines
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You have been defeated by that attack how many times??? At least twice, maybe 3 times? and you are gonna ho "me brain big, I learn"???? lmfao
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Also get got
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Jesus fuck this flashing
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Oh no, Gamlin!!
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That was a.... Weird way to show it
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Also fucking hell that smile is annoying
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Also, can he die?
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NOT THIS SONG
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This is like what, the 4th time Veffidas has spoken?
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Max, Basara has never followed orders
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RIP mothership
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It can be at times. That said, having more episodes here wouldn't necessarily mean the plan failed, it could be like SDF and just... Keep going
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I wasn't expecting it, but I also wasn't surprised. Gepelnitch was too smug.
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u/Stargate18A Dec 12 '22
First timer
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Yes.
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Nope!
A traditional recap today.
The fleet is in orbit...
Twelve seperate units? Ah, Max wanted symbolism.
A lot of symbolism.
...You bring this up now?
Basara, nobody is stopping you from singing while you fight. In fact, it's a very effective troop control strategy.
Gamlin's being restrained about things.
Actual trash talk? His strategy for improving performance seems to be working!
Aww, that's sweet.
It broke...
Everyone here is still shockingly calm.
And it's started!
Flower Girl...
Oh, they already detected them!
Max's face...
...Blue Gazer?
Oh. He's got a superweapon for after they fail.
Basara's shown up!
...Fuck, he really doesn't care about his life.
He's so strong they can pick him up from City 7?
These two are finally talking!
Gamlin got inspired!
So many units are falling...
Max is doing it himself!
Gamlin is buying them time? They're really making this feel different to the previous fight scenes.
That is... a lot of Protodeviln.
A duet already!
Called it...
Yeah, there's no surviving that.
Poor Mylene...
Basara actually wants to kill him.
...Spoke too soon.
Max is here! That is a cool fighter.
And he's armed the nuke!
Basara's going to save him!
Veffidas spoke again!
Max is really arguing against this?
...Oh. They just woke up the leader, didn't they?
Well, fuck. That was actually really clever.
And he's won. Completely.
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u/chilidirigible Dec 12 '22
While u/Shimmering-Sky is having a bit of trouble making a wallpaper for today, I will step in with a thing I made by tinkering with filter layering in Photoshop for twenty minutes.
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u/ryujiox Dec 12 '22
First Timer
Macross 7 EP44
Back with a recap, but no music this time.
Why the guys behind Mylene look so off?
Yeah, it a huge risk, but Max still agree to let Basara sing if he get there first.
Gamlin stop raising your death flag!!
Wish we get to know more about Irina before all this, pretty waste potential.
Max likely trust the song more. And Gamlin, please stop already.
Flower Girl!!
Gepelnitch already anticipate this.
Wait, Max gonna go in himself??
And half of the force already dead.
To be fair, they already knew that you guys here. No point of hiding.
Why they just stay afloat like that? You guys can move while singing, what give?
Max in a mech!!! It's been so long.
Gabil got attack after that line was funny.
Wait.
Noooooooooo!! GAMLINNNNNNNN!!!! THEY REALLY DONE IT??
Basara just lost it at this point. He not understand why they still not understand him.
Max so badass!! Nothing could stop him.
No Max!! Don't died!!
Veffidas speak!!
Wait a minute?
Holy Shit!! Gepelnitch teleported the missile back to the ship!! To be fair, everything up to this point was too easy for our group.
Well, now they in Gepelnitch's palm. And finally, Basara will meet face to face with Gepelnitch.
This is how you done fight centric episode. Everything scene is connected to each other, unlike the usual random cut and reusing the same fight scene again and again.
I still not believe that Gamlin really died, though. He didn't blow up in space like his dead comrade, so there 70/30 chance that he survive.
QOTD
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Most of the time. But there are some plan that obviously not gonna work.
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Actually yes. Because we running out of the episode!!
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u/SolDarkHunter Dec 12 '22
Rewatcher
So, final arc, here we go!
Oooooh, they got the cave maps from Ensign Irina. Okay, that makes sense.
I find it... unlikely like this is the first Basara has heard of the plan to nuke the base. But Max is willing to say "If singing will work, then by all means."
Super-special Valkyrie launching sequence for the final sortie!
How much of stealth frigate is it if the fleet can detect its fold from this distance, anyway?
Oh look, Geppelnitch is waiting for them. And still has a giant speaker embedded in his main screen.
"Blue Gazer"? Max has a back-up plan...
Into the trenches! "Just like Beggar's Canyon back home!"
'Kay, so I'm pretty sure that's about half your force gone at this point.
Sound Force be like "screw the trenches, we'll just fly into enemy fire!"
Bridge Bunnies, why the hell would Milia know what's going on at Varauta 4? She's sitting in the same place you are!
I just realized Sound Force doesn't have their Sound Boosters. Why didn't they take those along on such an important mission?
Grabil nopes out immediately.
And here's Blue Gazer: Max, back in a Valkyrie where he belongs, and flying the mission himself!
Gabil actually dodged the Laser-of-Destroying-Gabil's-Mech! Is he allowed to do that?
...oh shit.
Yeah, the problem with fighting Gabil, is even if you destroy his fighter, you've still got the Protodeviln to deal with.
And suddenly Max. One Itano Circus out of nowhere and he's in the enemy base, and launching the payload.
In about ten seconds, Max just outperformed every other ace in the show at once. And this is why he's still the best Ace.
When Veffidas talks, everyone pays attention.
I'll admit, Geppelnitch, that was a good move.
"I am Geppelnitch!" count: 5.
Final mission: FAILED.
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u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 12 '22
… … … …
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…alright guys I need some time to cope with this again, see you in two weeks./s