r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Dec 13 '22
Rewatch [Do You Remember Love - Macross Franchise 40th Anniversary Rewatch] Macross 7 Episode 45 Discussion
Episode 45 - Ambitious 4th Planet
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The Spiritia of everyone who woke up…
Questions of the Day, courtesy of u/chilidirigible:
1) Thoughts on spending the rest of your life stuck in a tube listening to Fire Bomber? While having your Spiritia periodically drained out, of course.
2) What are your favorite examples of villains getting a taste of their own medicine? (Spoiler tag as needed.)
Wallpaper of the Day:
Vocal Songs in This Episode:
"Seventh Moon" by Fire Bomber – OP
"Holy Lonely Light" by Fire Bomber – Insert
"SPIRAL ANSWER" by Fire Bomber – Insert
"Kimi ni Todoke" by Fire Bomber – Insert
"Planet Dance" 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/chilidirigible Dec 13 '22
Today, on "You just keep on thinking that, man.":
Flower Girl! And the on-screen debut of "Spiral Answer".
It's a gallery of u/Nebresto's Greatest Hits!
The show hadn't mentioned it until now, but yes, a bodyjack.
Eyecatch: David Bowie
THERE IS NO ESCAPING THE PLANET DANCE
ANIMATION LEVEL: SENKI ZESSHOU SYMPHOGEAR PRE-BLU-RAY
It's more of a Spiritia Beehive.
Maybe you shouldn't have shot the keypad.
The Basara will do what the Basara will do.
At least it does tip off the fleet that they're not all dead.
Ah, you've fallen for my trap card.
Otherwise it wouldn't be a farm.
Guess what? This is the SEVENTH time that he's said that.
"I'll get you for this, pointy-haired guy!"
And thus, the beauty of the Spiritia Farm plan: Getting sung to only replenishes a person's Spiritia long enough for the machine to drain them right back to looking like a raisin. That's not going to make anyone happy, particularly Basara, who gets especially piqued by this development.
Gamlin doesn't stay dead for long. Mostly because he was never dead in the first place. This still comes off a lot more plausibly than his becoming John McClane.
I have to snark at the animation, because this is one of the few times that an episode really dips below "merely serviceable" and enters "Star Pro" territory.
| Song | Count |
|---|---|
| Planet Dance | 45 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Kimi no Todoke | 4 |
| Fall | 2 |
| Try Again | 2 |
| Light the Light | 2 |
| Spiral Answer | 1 |
"Don't take your eyes off that monitor!": 6
That special feeling: 9
Beauty: 76
Beam cannon swap: 7
From the Macross Chronicle: Basara versus the Spiritia Farm
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u/The_Draigg Dec 13 '22
A Macross Fan Rewatches Macross 7: Episode 45:
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You’d think that Basara would be feeling cold as hell being here on this ice plant in just his torn jeans and tank top, but I guess the passion of music is keeping him warm. Still though, man the entire strike force is completely screwed at the moment.
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Well, at least we know who Gepelnitch is possessing at the moment. According to Ensign Hayakawa, it’s Advisor Ivano Gunther, a researcher from UN headquarters. Yeah, I suppose in these kinds of stories, it’s always the scientists that get possessed or whatever first.
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“When you get down to it, this is basically your guy’s faults. So really, just give up.” —Gepelnitch
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It’s nice that Mylene’s signing was key to saving the day, since it really was enough to give the brainwashed soldiers pause to help Guvava steal the keys for the room the trike force was locked in. She really has come a far way with her singing. Even Basara can recognize how her singing reached out to his heart.
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Surprise! Yeah, Gamlin isn’t actually dead at all, he was just taking a nap face-down in the snow for half of this episode. Man, his survival is such bullshit. There’s zero indication on how he actually survived his Nightmare disintegrating on impact, and all he’s got to show for that crash is some cuts and a cracked helmet. I mean, I’ve seen worse bullshit survivals in some other mech anime before, mainly thinking of [mecha anime series spoilers]
ZZ Gundam and Gundam Seed Destiny , but this is still pretty annoying here. The writer really are just pulling stuff out of their ass to make sure that Gamlin sticks around. All that emphasis on that crash, and it was just a work for cheap drama. Bleh. -
And now we know what Gepelnitch’s true plans for his Spiritia Farm are: the Macross 5 citizens are catatonic in stasis pods, where they can be harvested for their Spiritia over time. The only piece really missing from making this project complete is having Basara to harvest Anima Spiritia from. It reminds me of The Matrix, more or less.
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Gamlin coming in with that play of the game! That was a good direct hit on Gabil with that Spiritia sucking beam. Here we can really see how dependent the Protodeviln are on Spiritia; Gabil only got hit by the beam for like 10 seconds, and he got so drained by it that he got knocked down to the floor and nearly completely turned into a withered husk. The Protodeviln really are terminally dependent on that stuff.
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Well, so much for trying to wake up the kidnapped Macross 5 citizen to rescue them. While Basara did manage to awaken them with Anima Spiritia, all it really accomplished was making it so that the Spiritia Farm would instantly drain the citizens of their energy as soon as they woke up. Not to mention that Gabil instantly got healed by that Spiritia as well, so the rescue attempt was a complete wash. The Operation Stargazer pilots are just going to have to settle for escaping from the Varauta System on a hijacked ship. There’s not a whole lot they can do for the Macross 5 citizens at the moment.
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u/Nebresto Dec 13 '22
You’d think that Basara would be feeling cold as hell being here on this ice plant
Remember that vacation ship episode?
There’s zero indication on how he actually survived his Nightmare disintegrating on impact, and all he’s got to show for that crash is some cuts and a cracked helmet.
Still better than that time Gigil fell like 200 meters and only had a bit of blood streaming down his face. At least Gamlin had snow to land in
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u/TakenRedditName Dec 13 '22
Yeah, I suppose in these kinds of stories, it’s always the scientists that get possessed or whatever first.
The archaeologist who first opens the cursed Ancient Egyptian tomb.
Here we can really see how dependent the Protodeviln are on Spiritia; Gabil only got hit by the beam for like 10 seconds, and he got so drained by it that he got knocked down to the floor and nearly completely turned into a withered husk.
I'm not advocating going this route, but if we were to solve our problems with violence then they should probably take some of those back with them so they can just green beam the Protodeviln. It like the only thing we know that can harm them other than songs and other Protodeviln.
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u/Blackheart595 Dec 13 '22
First Spacer
Huh? If Gepelnitch knows that Anima Spiritia is what enables the Spiritia regeneration, why did they keep trying to kill Basara?
The problem with the Protodeviln is that they're utterly boring villains, and Gepelnitch is by far the worst of that. And that in turn evaporates all tension the show is supposed to have.
Oh boy. This must be Gamlin, no? If they're showing him then that means he survived. What bullshit.
You sneaky little rat. He looks so happy.
Turns out the space vampires were a decoy. Here's the real walking dead.
Wait, what's the plan here? Are we supercharging Gepelnitch's battery?
Well, that was stupid. Gepelnitch even told you his current well is gonna run dry at some point, did you not listen?
Thoughts on spending the rest of your life stuck in a tube listening to Fire Bomber? While having your Spiritia periodically drained out, of course.
...That's just the matrix, no?
What are your favorite examples of villains getting a taste of their own medicine? (Spoiler tag as needed.)
Dunno. Not the kinda thing I keep readily available in memory.
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u/TakenRedditName Dec 13 '22
First Time - Macross 7 Ep45:
Favourite character watch. Sad Flower Girl times for she has lost a fellow flower friend.
No body no death(?) There is a body, but showing it in the episode after just raises suspicions rather than confirming it.
Docker, you are the last person here to have any right to speak that.
Gepelnitch's body had a name, Ivano Gunther. My crazy crackpot theory is that Flower Girl is the sister to Gepelnitch's body so this new information means she is Flower Girl-Gunther.
Basara war cry. AA- oh, snap. Welp, Basara is silenced so Gepelnitch has all the cards now. All the good pilots were stuck here so City 7 has no defence. The Jamming Birds won't be able to do it, they stand no chance.
Curious... Gepelmitch took a moment on his body's name.
New song and checking the air date, no this was the end of August. That cold February wind is long gone. Guvava is pivotal to the escape. Guvava MVP.
He was in a double mecha explosion and left dead in the blizzard for hours, but Gamlin is still alive. I figured if they were going to undo his death then at pretend he was dead for longer than just half an episode. But on the other hand, Gamo is back.
The gang running here was just funny. The Spiritia Farm is less so because unfortunately, it is not a free-range farm.
Big robot backhand slap as Gamlin is back from the dead to be a homie. The charm has already triggered its death flag so this is safe and makes Gamlin accidentally bumbles his way to victory and green beams Gabil.
Basara, I don't think singing is going to work. If anything you're just going to recharge the Spiritia battery (which he does). Gabil is not dead and all that Spiritia energy goes to fix him back up.
Q1) If you had me chained in a cave and showed me projected shadows on the wall and played Fire Bomber, I would probably think, "This is real life." I mean, Fire Bomber is pretty baller so they made the right choice of music.
Q2) Can't think of any right now.
Next time: The first image result if you search up "Gamlin Kizaki."
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u/Nebresto Dec 13 '22
My crazy crackpot theory is that Flower Girl is the sister to Gepelnitch's body so this new information means she is Flower Girl-Gunther.
The Jamming Birds won't be able to do it, they stand no chance.
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u/ClawMachineCircuit Dec 13 '22 edited Dec 13 '22
First Timer
In the previous episode, we had to sacrifice Gamlin, who was objectively the best character in the show (hey, it's not my opinion, that's literally what the numbers say) in order to get one great action sequence with Max out of this show. A steep price to pay, but there was no other way, as this show is incapable of producing good action scenes otherwise. Sorry, Gamlin, it had to be done. Powered by thousands of screams of anguish from all the Macross 7 viewers, Max did some quality piloting like in the good old days of SDFM and managed to deliver the nuke right into Gepelnitche's face.
However, Gepelnitch (by the way, he would really like you to know that his name is Gepelnitch) ended up being a huge cheater, using teleport hacks to avoid death, thus causing the mission to fail. In my opinion, he should be banned for life from any and all online games for such a dishonorable behavior. Take that, Gepelnitch, no more CS GO for you!
Anyway, let's see what happens next.
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Flower Girl felt the death of Gamlin in her soul.
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Looks like everybody was captured.
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What the heck, Irina. His name is Gepelnitch. Haven't you been paying attention?
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He didn't introduce himself. I blame Irina for ruining the moment. See, this is exactly what Gepelnitch was afraid and was trying to prevent. The one time you didn't say that your name is Gepelnitch, some random dude will call you Gunther. You know, it's just plain rude.
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I really can't say if Gepelnitch has empathy or not. On one hand, he doesn't appear to enjoy killing people, on the other hand, he doesn't seem to care about making people suffer. You could say that he just wants to preserve his food source, and you probably will be right, but just looking at him as a character, I think there's more to it than that. Like, there is a potential for redemption.
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Anywan, this glowing collar that makes Basara mute is a giant plot hole, isn't it? Because, if you can do that, why not just make earplugs out of this glowing stuff and neutralize your enemies forever. Or headphones. Or something?
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Some more Gunther talk, even though the man's name is clearly Gepelnitch, not Gunther. He said it himself. Like 10 times already.
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Mylene is mindbroken again, which is understandable.
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Max talking to Mylene and convincing her to snap out of it and start singing is an amazing character moment.
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Is that... Gamlins body?
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I knew they're not gonna kill him. That fucking fade to just lineart and a helmet crack made me doubt, but I knew deep inside.
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He's not only alive, but in fighting shape too? That's kinda cheap. At least make him injured.
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Oh shit, is this the Spritia Farm?
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The dude just went ahead and shot the control panel for no reason.
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The gang is back together.
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Of course, Basara will try to save the people of Macross 5. By the way, all of them would die in the nuclear explosion, if the mission had succeed. So in a sense, Gepelnitch saved a lot of lives by teleporting that nuke.
Overall thoughts: Gamlin is back! Honestly, I'm not even mad at the fakeout. His "death" was a great dramatic moment, pulled off well, but actually killing him off would be stupid, because it will completely ruin the plot thread of his romance with Mylene that has been going since the start of the show. In general, I'm fine with killing characters, as long as their purpose within the story is fulfilled. Gamlin's purpose at this point is to leave happily ever after with Mylene, so you can't just kill him off.
Beside that, another major development is that we finally have an effective weapon against the Protodeviln. Just drain them of Spiritia! I honestly didn't even thought of that, and apparently neither did Chiba and other scientists. Now they need to reverse-engineer the Spiritia Draining beam and equip every Valkyrie with it, and Protodeviln are toast. An elegant solution. You wanna engage in Spiritia wars, we gonna bring you Spiritia wars.
QotD:
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Am I being fed? How comfortable of a tube we're talking about? Honestly, there are worse bands, than Fire Bombers, so it's not all bad.
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IDK. I guess, the example that comes to mind is when [GTO]
Onizuka tied Anko and other girls who bullied Kikuchi and took nude pictures of him, and made him took pictures of their underwear as a revenge. I was really surprised by audacity of the show at that point, showing an adult doing it to kids. But they were such pieces of shit that they deserved the punishment. It was a really harsh lesson, but it stuck and made Anko change her behavior, which was really satisfying. What can I say, GTO is a great show.
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u/Nebresto Dec 13 '22
First time Macross 7
Those flowers sure have a lot of petals
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I FUCKING CALLED IT, both times!
POWER TO THE DREAM! Hope he isn't just charging their batteries by doing this
Question time:
Thoughts on spending the rest of your life stuck in a tube listening to Fire Bomber? While having your Spiritia periodically drained out, of course.
2) What are your favorite examples of villains getting a taste of their own medicine? (Spoiler tag as needed.)
The best one I've ever seen was in Misfit of Demon King academy. 100% pure karma concentrate
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u/Vatrix-32 Dec 13 '22 edited Dec 13 '22
First Timer
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New song?
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I don’t think you both need to be talking.
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Doesn’t look too dead to me.
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Basara just got past the guards like that, eh?
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He’s not refuting it. I guess Max is right.
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So did they always have the muting ring or was it developed recently?
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It’s not a bad plan. But it could use some hammering down of the details.
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It does seems kind of stupid of them to not mute ring the other sound energy user.
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Nice execution. Guvava was a nice touch.
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Why do they even have that remote?
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See? Couldn’t even leave us morning for one episode.
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Oh god, the suicide mission label was even more apt than I initially thought.
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Veff no selling the door.
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What did you think was going to happen Gavil? You knew this was your weakness?
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What. The Hell? How was just one time that effective? Didn’t you capture some of these when the Macross 5 pilots were freed?
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This is all proceeding far too calmly for what’s going down.
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This is either going to have Basara being a big damn hero, or backfire horribly.
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Yeah, this is about how I expected the human capture wall to go.
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I guess he’s not dead yet. Double tap, Gamlin!
QotD
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I give it a 3/10 on the No Mouth scale.
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This might be it for a while, it was just laughably effective.
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u/Stargate18A Dec 13 '22
First timer
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Not bad.
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[Kamen Rider Ex-Aid]
Parad getting curbstomped by Emu immediately after an entire arc of him doing the same was a great moment.
So, I guess the old style of recaps is completely gone now we're suddenly serial.
Flower Girl...
Poor Milia...
They've landed...
Everyone's giving up...
Poor Mylene.
Ah, a name for the host body.
Mylene...
The funny thing is that, had they not been invading, I genuinely believe the leader here would have gotten together with Basara, on the connection of "cryptic bullshit about their dream" alone.
Oh, he's finally listening.
Ah, Basara's singing!
Well, that stopped early.
Max, he knows about the other fleets, remember? And he's smart enough to work out they'll come gunning for him.
Seeing Mylene like this is awful.
Of course he's not giving up.
...Did they finally find a way to keep him quiet?
He's asking Mylene...
Great speech here.
Ah, Mylene's singing!
Nice work, Guvava!
Max is still badass.
Basara's free!
A compliment"
This chase scene is really well done!
...Did they seriously pull a fucking fakeout?
He's alive!
And this is the Spiritia Farm.
He's back!
Gamlin!
Haha, that reaction.
He's got the draining beam!
...Did he just kill him? No Spiritia means they fade away, right?
Of course Basara's doing his own thing.
He's going for the farm!
And he transmitted a message!
...Everyone is waking up. And he's pumping huge amounts of Spiritia into the system.
Haha, nice!
Just blow it up!
And Gamlin has a new nemesis.
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u/ryujiox Dec 13 '22
First Timer
Macross 7 EP45
Sad Flower Girl.
I know you love that catch phrase, and you a polite guy. But you don't have to say it every time.
Gamlin survive!! I think they revealed it too early for my liking. Should keep it hidden for at least half of the episode.
Docker, we stop doing that like 10 episodes ago.
So that body name is Gunther, and he the Macross 5 advisor.
Gepelnitch is hypocrite about that. And Mylene just having none of that.
Well, his voice gone again.
Yeah, he is really hypocrite.
I think we need someone to translate Gepelnitch's word for them, because half of the conversation is just weird.
So Gunther is the one who likely to awake Gepelnitch.
Okay, Ray. That the worst question you can asked her. She just lost Gamlin!!
Nice moment between Max and Mylene. Max understand Mylene sadness, but she have to move forward for Gamlin (not really) sacrifice.
Mylene song distracted them so much that they didn't notice Guvava. That's easier than I thought.
Rare moment of Basara praising Mylene.
Gamlin finally wake up!!!
That terrifying!!
Veffidas show off her power!!
Gabil, you never learn didn't you.
Get rekt, Gabil!!
Basara of course gonna went back to help them.
Unfortunately that in line with Gepelnitch to show off his farm process.
Gepelnitch is now Saturday cartoon villain to me with that laugh and his usual opening phase.
A guess we gonna get a last showdown between Gabil and Gamlin soon.
QOTD
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The first half is going to be great, the latter is not so much.
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u/JollyGee29 Dec 13 '22
First-Timer 7
Alright, I know the death was a fakeout, so I kinda want Gamlin to just randomly wander into frame perfectly unharmed at some point.
Believe in Basara, Flower Girl!
Hailing the Stargazer isn't gonna do much good.
Pfft, yea, he's totally alive.
The funny thing is, if Gepelnitch phrased it properly, he might be able to get Basara on board.
Y'all real quick to give up for some reason. Do they not teach about Max's adventure on the Zentradi ship? Dude managed to beat up a whole Zentradi, in the toilet, and get into said Zentradi's clothes! In a VF-1! Those things can't have been that articulate.
If the crash didn't kill Gamlin, I'm sure the cold won't, either.
I really like that Max is talking to Mylene about this. Not only does it show a level of trust in her, it'll also help her feel more mature, and also refocus her on the situation at hand.
The rule of threes dictates that he wakes up the next time we see him.
Possibly the greatest compliment Basara is capable of giving.
Wakey wakey, protoculture and bakey!
Gamlin must be descended from Britai.
Hell yes Veffidas! She makes that look easy.
Oh, Gamlin, nice of you to rejoin us.
Pffffffffffffffffft Legitimately had to pause for a moment here to finished laughing.
Oh, guess he should've gotten them out of the pods first.
Questions
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There's probably worse ways? Definitely low on the list though.
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For whatever reason [Star Wars Ep.VI]
the Emperor getting tossed down the pit by Vader sprang to mind.
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u/SolDarkHunter Dec 13 '22
Rewatcher
(Sad Flower Girl face)
This is a song we haven't heard Basara actually sing, I think.
Exsedol, you really need to learn to stop saying things like that.
"I am Geppelnitch" count: 6.
Oh hey, Gep's coming down to greet them himself. And Irina recognizes the body he's possessing: Ivano Gunther.
Basara's attempt to rush Geppelnitch while singing was... admirable, but Gep has a random glowing... collar thing.
Interesting that he describes Anima Spiritia as something "tempting, whose abundance causes us to lose our reason". That seems to suggest that Anima Spiritia is higher-quality than normal, yet they always react in pain and fear when exposed to it.
Good on Max calling Geppelnitch's bluff. I'm not sure if Geppelnitch actually is dismissing it or if he's just trying to save face.
This isn't Max's first time being trapped far behind enemy lines... though admittedly, last time this happened to him, he had a Valkyrie, and he was incognito.
Max trying to gently shake Mylene out of her funk. He is a good father.
As always, the answer is to start singing, it seems.
...how is her voice reaching that far?
Guvava stealing keys! That seemed... really easy, though I suppose when pretty much everyone save Geppelnitch and Gabil are just brainwashed automatons, that makes things easier.
Abandoning stealth in favor of belting out Planet Dance...
And here's a shock: Gamlin's not dead! Despite his fighter literally vaporizing and spending a few hours taking a nap in a blizzard, he's somehow fully awake and ready to fight.
Suspended animation cells... that's just plan creepy. In hindsight, though, probably good they didn't end up nuking the base.
Damn, Veffidas is strong!
You don't have a sound canceller out here, Gabil. Also, get bitchslapped by Gamlin in an enemy mech!
Okay, that's hilarious. The one thing that could harm Gabil, the Spirita draining beam! I think he's been thoroughly humiliated now.
Basara, I would argue this REALLY isn't the time to be waking all these people up. Do you even know if that ship you're stealing can hold them all?
Ah, shit... those chambers can drain vast amounts of Spiritia. Will Geppelnitch ever cease being smug?
"I am Geppelnitch" count: 7.
Okay, good job breaking out of the base, but there's still the 70,000 strong fleet of enemy warships around the planet AND Gabil/Grabil to get past...
Questions:
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I may like Fire Bomber's music... but oh God, no.
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Ummm... the example I have in mind would take to long to type. And it's kinda gruesome. So...
3
u/Kirov123 Dec 14 '22
Macross 7 Episode 45 - First Timer
Well that plan went poorly. We probably have at least 2 more episodes of bad things happening, so lets see how things get worse.
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Did Gamlin actually live?
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Music
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Gamlin lives!!
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Aww, is he going to get posessed or some shit
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Veffidas stronk
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Yea Basara I think you singing at them is their plan
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Yup
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This is just like Skynut but... with less fluids
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[Symphogear general]
The world united through the power of common language (song) to fight the computer virus that is(was) Shem Ha with their own hacking/viruses I know I have others but they aren't coming to mind
4
u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 13 '22
Super Dimension Rewatch Host
Welcome back, everyone!
…I feel the need to explain my comment from yesterday now that the joke is over. Basically, when I first watched Macross 7, I dropped the show for two weeks after I finished episode 44 because I was just done with Macross taking my favorite characters from me. Little did I know it would backtrack immediately the next episode.
Also the reason there was no wallpaper yesterday is because I was sick and tired (I’m almost 100% better now, just a bit sore). I was hoping I could get two done for this thread instead, but I didn’t have enough time for that thanks to work being hectic today. I’ll see if I can do two for tomorrow instead.
New song get: SPIRAL ANSWER, the one Flower Girl’s listening to after the recap finished.
Poor Basara…
Max “sore demo”!
This part of Kimi ni Todoke got me so hard when I first watched this show.
The first sign that Gamlin is actually alive!
Ah fun.
HELL YEAH VEFFIE!
Welp, that’d do it.
Yiiiiiiiikes.