Super Dimension Fortress Macross
Super Dimension Fortress Macross (超時空要塞マクロス Chōjikū Yōsai Makurosu)[1] is a 1982 multimedia project created by Shoji Kawamori (河森 正治) which has spawned decades of anime television episodes, mecha toys, and music songs. Relevant to this wiki, Macross is the source of the original, much-beloved Jetfire toy design.
Macross has continued with new entries every few years, notably with Macross 7 in 1994, Macross Frontier in 2008, and Macross Delta in 2016.
Story
In the year 1999, a massive derelict spaceship crash-lands on Earth in the south Pacific Ocean, confirming to humankind that they are not alone in the universe. Over the next decade, a United Nations Government is formed to deal with the threat of the ship's creators, reverse-engineering the technology found aboard the alien ship to create the U.N. Spacy, humankind's first spaceworthy military service. From the baseline of the F-14 Tomcat comes the VF-1 Valkyrie, and the alien warship itself is remodeled and refurbished to become SDF-1 Macross. Finally, in 2009, the giant Zentradi (ゼントラーディ人) arrive to take possession of the lost warship and to investigate if this strange world may be home to their long-lost creators, the Protoculture (プロトカルチャー). At this point, an accident strands the human crew of the SDF-1 at the edge of the solar system and ignites war with the Zentradi, and humanity will never be the same again.
Mecha
The VF-1 Valkyrie features three different modes: battroid (robot mode), GERWALK (in-between mode), and fighter (vehicle mode).
Macross in Transformers
Takatoku collapsed as a company, and their assets would soon be bought out by Bandai, who then subsequently loaned the large VF-1S Super Valkyrie (and the four Beetras molds) to Hasbro, who was desperately needing molds to fill out the 1985 product line of the unexpectedly popular Transformers.
As Bandai at the time was only concerned about business in Japan, Hasbro was free to sell the large VF-1 mold as a Transformers figure in non-Japan markets.
Jetfire's enduring popularity has seen many new incarnations of the trademark over the decades, culminating in the 2019 Siege Commander Class figure, a highly-accurate recreation of his 1985 animation model, free of any legal complications with other companies.
Notes
- In the '80s, the VF-1 molds underwent a variety of licensed uses by a variety of companies.
References
- ↑ Official translations vary on whether there should be a "The" at the beginning in the English title.
External links
- Official website (Japanese)
- Macross Mecha Manual fan database (English)
