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Support traditional marriage: two women, one man, and one alien insect creature.
The latest entry in the popular Super Dimension Fortress Macross franchise, which concluded Japanese airing on September 24, 2008. A movie of some sort (expected to be a Do You Remember Love-style retelling) is scheduled for summer fall 2009, with a second, all-new film due sometime after that. The series began airing during Macross' 25th anniversary and has proven immensely popular (its Blu-Ray release was the single best selling HD release in the entire Japanese marketplace in 2008, and one of its soundtracks sold as many in its first week as an Evangelion soundtrack - a decade-old record). (1) (2)
The story is set in 2059 aboard (and in the space surrounding) the titular Macross Frontier, one of many colonization fleets heading from Earth towards the centre of the galaxy in search of a new home to settle. Frontier's mission is suddenly disrupted when it comes under attack from a bug-like alien race known as the "Vajra".
There are three main characters: Alto Saotome, an ex-kabuki actor turned sky-pilot who feels oppressed by the domed skies of Macross Frontier but also an obligation to protect it; Ranka Lee, a spunky young girl with a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder and a dream of becoming an Idol Singer; and Sheryl Nome, a popular and headstrong Idol Singer from the neighbouring Macross Galaxy fleet who is known as "The Galactic Nymph".
The stories of these three intertwine amist the Vajra attacks on the Macross Frontier, slowly revealing dark conspiracies and secrets that seem destined to determine which direction mankind will move forward into the stars.
This clip features a great many visual examples of several of the tropes listed below. Note that this is merely part of one of the less intense battles of the series..
Note: Refrain from calling Wordof God in this article unless you can provide confirmation, as a number of "interviews" were actually fakes orchestrated by a then respected person in the Macross Community. More information can be found here and here
This show provides examples of:
- Ace Pilot (Nearly all the SMS crew are a cut well above the typical UN Spacy grunt; Ozma, Mikhail and Klein stand out above everyone else at the start of the show.)
- All Thereinthe Manual (Following normal Macross procedure most of the extra information can be found in the supplemental materials, like novels, manga and Drama C Ds which include extra information such as what happened to Sheryl's parents, and when Alto started to taking flying lessons, also everything about Grace.
- Animation Bump (the beginning and the end)
- Arc Number (25)
- Armor Piercing Slap (Klan Klein to Mikhail... while he's in his fighter and she's macronized.)
- At Arms Length (Mikhail does this to Klan Klein in episode 4.)
- Attack Drone (Both Luca's Ghost fighters, the Vajra, and the unmanned fighters used by NUNS (New UN Spacy))
- "Attack" Of The 50 Foot Whatever (Subverted with glee in episode 5 as we find out that sections of the Frontier are designed so that the Zentradi population can live as normal people... while macronized. Highlights include Zentradi-run farms and macronized Klein hanging out with Alto and Sheryl... and in order to be at eye level with Klein, the other two have to sit on a third-story balcony.)
- It has to be granted that the trope is also played absolutely straight to type in episode 1 and 2, when Ranka (and a good part of Island One) is threatened by the first of the series' signature Big Creepy Crawlies.
- It's played straight in Episode 21, when a macronized Klan dons a VF's FAST packs like an oversized EX-Gear and starts fighting Vajra.
- Back To Back Badasses (Done by Alto and Brera in the Grand Finale.)
- Badass Crew (The SMS crew)
- Bedsheet Ladder Alto uses the one in episode 12 to escape rogue Zentradi custody.
- Bee People - The Vajra fit this very well. However, while they do have a queen, it oversees the operation of their collective continuousness shared by each, as opposed to controlling them like mindless drones. When Grace hijacks the Queen at the climax of the story, she opts for the "control like mindless drones" option.
- Berserk Button (commenting on Alto's feminine appearance, mistaking him for a girl, or calling him "Princess", played for laughs in the series.)
- Beyond The Impossible (The last episode has what boils down to a singing contest between the two female leads which determined whether the series' evil aliens up to this point are allied with the good guys or not, turning into an extended space battle set to music, and Alto sniping the Big Bad of the series who has now become a super-dimensional galactic being. Oh, and the Love Triangle omnipresent in the series is never resolved. And it's Awesome.)
- Big Bad ( Grace)
- Big Damn Heroes (Everyone, at some point. Most notably and awesomely SMS' arrival at the battle over the Vajra homeworld.)
- Big Fancy House (The Saotome mansion).
- Bishonen (Alto and Mikhail, but especially Alto, lampshaded by Alto's nickname "Princess".)
- Bishie Sparkle: Mikhail gets one of these during his introduction in Macross Frontier while flirting with some girls. Alto uses them a few minutes later when meeting Ranka.
- Big Ol Eyebrows (Possibly a subversion, as this occurs on Klein of all people, and only when she's micronized and four and a half feet tall.)
- Bizarre Alien Biology (The Vajra don't have brains and have a Hive Mind. What's bizarre about this is that the thing that connects them to the Hive Mind are bacteria that live in their intestines.)
- BFG (Both Macross Quarter's macross cannon and the Koenig Monster's massive artillery cannons. See above link)
- Body Horror ( there are Vajra bits in Ranka's stomach. In a gigantic fake-out, they turn out to be quite nice. They even heal Sheryl's more traditional version.)
- Boobs Of Steel (At full size, Klan is significantly better endowed than the other Zentradi members of SMS, guess who's the ace?)
- Break The Cutie (Sheryl, Ranka, Klan.)
- Bridge Bunnies (Of course. Monica, Mina, and Ram fill this role for SMS.)
- Bug War (Elements of this are Deconstructed as the Vajra, too, are sentient; they're just in a different way than humans due to Hive Mind.
- Camp Gay (Bobby)
- Macross Frontier does enjoy playing with its tropes, however, so of course it's the Camp Gay who has a tendency to go from fruity to BURNING RIGHTEOUS FURY at the drop of a hat, to the shock of anyone not familiar with him (and the terror of the object of his ire).
- Canon Immigrant (The VB-6 König Monster first appeared in the Playstation game Macross Digital Mision VF-X. Macross Frontier is the first animated Macross series in which it has appeared - see above link for it in action. Fan theory holds that it got in due to its awesome, gigantic toy.)
- Macross VF-X2 PS 1 Game protagonist Aegis Focker appears in the Macross Frontier Light Novel as a Colonel.
- Also Macross 13 Earth defense fleet commanded by Lt. Gen. Kim Kabirov in the Macross Frontier novelization's depiction of the battle over Earth.
- Macross 11 only mentioned in Macross Dynamite 7 and Macross English Anticipation manga also appears.
- Cargo Ship: some fans joke that Alto's 'One Twu Wuv' is his VF-25, which can lead to an amusing Take A Third Option in regards to the Love Triangle
- Catch A Falling Star (a visual quote of a famous scene from Super Dimension Fortress Macross)
- Chekhovs Gun: Hung aroung the walls in bunches. And still counting.
- Chekhovs Gunman: Grace O'Connor VERY much so.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Michael
- Cold Sniper (Partial, Mikhail can be pretty dispassionate while sniping)
- Continuity Nod: (a lot of them, actually)
- Maj. Ohgotwai, the Zentradi commander in ep. 12, looks nearly identical to Breetai Kridanik and stands on a bridge with the same design with a shorter, slightly deformed advisor. Tehmzin, the rebel leader, is also suspiciously similar to Kwamzin Kravshera. This might be justified by the free use of cloning among Zentradi, who could just use the same genetic pattern, though.
- Frontier also continues the running gag of all Zentraedi being raging otaku, most notably the owner of the SMS, an otaku obsessed with model trains and lost pop star Lynn Minmei
- Ozma is a devoted fan of the ''Fire Bomber''. Also, Sheryl likes to quote Basara's Catch Phrase "Listen to my song!" when she gets into serious Idol Singer mode.
- She modifies it using the more appropriate "atashi" than Basara's "ore," though.
- That just scratches the surface. To name some more: Alto does the same hand-airplane sign that Isamu does in Macross Plus, the apperance of Ghost V-9's in the final battle, The "Legend of Zero" episode, episode 17 being one long refrence and subversion of the old Macross episode "Pineapple Salad", the ironic twist on "Do You Remember Love". Heck, we could just say the entire show crosses the line into Continuity Porn (although in this case, damn few people would argue that it hurts the series... so far).
- It doesn't end there in the manga it is explained that Alto's father knew Isamu in the past
- When Luca unleashes his Ghost AIF-7S's against Grace's Ghost V-9's, he calls them something along the lines of "the terror of Macross City."
- The series aired on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross. Let's see now... Frontier is the 25th colonization fleet Earth sent out, Ranka is one-quarter Zentradi (1/4 = 25%), we have Macross Quarter (same as before), the series has 25 episodes, it aired at 1:25 AM on Friday (25:25 Thursday, according to how the Japanese write their TV guides), the main Mecha in the series is the VF-25 Messiah... the writers really went to town with the anniversary Shout Outs.
- The Macross Attack is the Daedalus Attack/Maneuver with less dakka.
- Covert Pervert: (Luca. When Sheryl teases that Alto is her "slave," his first thought? Alto Bound And Gagged with a Dog collar being stepped on by a Stripperiffic Sheryl Dominatrix!)
- Because his girlfriend being one of the biggest-boobest characters didn't tip you off?
- Crowning Music Of Awesome: Considering how important music is to the overall plot, this comes as no surprise.
- Cute Little Fangs (Ranka)
- Cute Shotaro Boy (Luca. Very much so.)
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Averted and played straight.
- Deconstruction (Most Macross shows contain at least one time-relevant deconstruction, and for MacF that was Klan Klein, who is, on the whole, an absolutely vicious taking-apart of the Moe Moe archetype, at times almost to the point of being mean-spirited. Episode 17 also blasts apart overly foreshadowed character deaths that especially use cooking metaphors, which ironically SDF Macross had made popular two decades prior. Of course, in episode 20 it then applies the other half of this trope with the absolutely shocking and heartbreaking death of Micheal Blanc.)
- Die For Our Ship (Ranka, in the eyes of Sheryl/Alto shippers. Sheryl, in the eyes of Ranka/Alto shippers. Both sides are equally pretty bad though.)
- Dracoin Leather Pants (subverted, though Grace is really popular amongst fans, they don't make her out to be an victim)
- Drill Sergeant Nasty (Mikhail's training regimen in episode 4; a mild subversion in that Alto and Mikhail are friends otherwise, and it isn't so much that Alto needs training as it is that he needs a bit of a humility lesson.)
- Dude Looks Like A Lady (Alto, so much that just about any intimate scene between either Sheryl or Ranka ends up feeling like Les Yay)
- At least he sounds like a dude. If he didn't, he'd turn into a trap.
- Dude Shes Like In A Coma (Luca to Nanase in episode 24.)
- Ending spoilers: Earn Your Happy Ending: With prejudice.
- Earth Shattering Kaboom (The Dimension Eater)
- (Final episode spoilers!) Everybody Lives (Considering the tone set in early episodes, the number of main characters killed in the final episode — one, and that one is the villain — is simply mind-blowing. Even Sheryl gets cured of her Incurable Cough Of Death.)
- Not True, sadly... Michel...dies, which broke my heart in a million pieces.
- Everythings Better With Princesses (What's that? No women of royal blood in Macross Frontier? Like that'll stop us. Now get Alto-hime into a kimono and some kabuki makeup, stat!)
- Evilutionary Biologist ( Grace again. At least partially.)
- Expressive Hair (Ranka, Word Of God has it that this is a rare Zentradi trait.)
- Heel Face Turn (Brera in episode 25. Justified the little device on his head that allows remote control of him breaks.)
- Falling Into The Cockpit (Granted, here it's a bit more like a willing leap, but Alto just so happens to be near a VF-25 that lost its pilot so that he can save Ranka in episode 1 and set the main plot in motion.)
- Also, he's hardly inexperienced; he's been training to fly for a couple of years and is second in his class after Michel, so he did have a pretty good idea of what he was doing; Ozma and Michel even note that he's pretty good for somebody who just jumped into the cockpit.
- Fan Nickname:
- As a result of Memetic Mutation, Ranka is sometimes referred to as "Nyan Nyan";
- Part of the fandom has started calling Brera "Evil Jesus" due to his resembling Kira Yamato (and having the same voice actor), whose Fan Nickname is "Jesus Yamato".
- To differentiate between her two forms, some referred to macronized (Zentradi size) Klan Klein as Klein-sama.
- Bobby Margot, SMS helmsman of the macross quarter, is often called GARby by fans when he has his Hot Blooded moments (those moments being referred to as entering GARby mode).
- towards the end of the series, the three bridge bunnies (Monica, Mina and Ram) were referred to as "Bobby's Daughters".
- Alto has several of these, there's Alto-hime (that was used in the show by mikhail) Pilot-hime (after he finally got designated a pilot) Kabuki-hime (reference to his past as a kabuki performer) & Sakura-hime (again referencing his past in kabuki theater, but more specifically the name of the last kabuki play he performed in.).
- Sheryl' boobs have the nickname of hopes and dreams after she grabbed her chest.
- Grace's boobs are known as Despairs and Nightmares
- Fan Preferred Couple (Sheryl/Ranka)
- Fanservice (Sheryl especially, though the other characters get their moments)
- Fetish Fuel Station Attendant (Klan Klan is a deconstruction of this.)
- Funny Afro - Averted, because nobody talks about Bobby's hair.
- Future Slang (At the time of first contact, "Deculture" was a Zentradi expletive used to express shock and awe, but is now being used as a slang term with more positive attributes.)
- Gainaxing (Ranka's classmate Nanase, Sheryl, various Miss Macross contestants, and Klan Klein. Oh my GOD Klan Klein.)
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man (Sheryl to Ranka in episode 20. She gets it back from Ranka in episode 25.)
- Genre Savvy: Michel/Mikhail Blanc certainly seems to be - his comments to Cathy in Episode 17 about how tragic it would've been if Ozma had really died point to this. Perhaps that's why he avoided confessing to Klan Klein until Episode 20: it resulted in Going Down With The Ship and he invoked four or five death tropes as he expired.
- Alto also shows some of this, telling a fellow pilot about the "Valkyrie pilot's curse" that teasing a pilot about his girlfriend will result in getting shot down, a reference to Kakizaki's death in the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross.
- Glowing Eyes Of Doom: The Vajra get this in the first episode to show they mean business, and other Vajra ended up getting these too in Episode 20, as the Frontier-born green Vajra go on a murderous rampage through the ship. Even Ai-kun gets them in Episode 23, and kidnaps Ranka shortly thereafter despite her asking him to tell the Vajra they mean no harm.
- Godiva Hair (Sheryl, in her fanservice scenes.)
- Gory Discretion Shot (Often used when the Vajra squish/vivisect/otherwise end human lives. Mildly subverted when the Vajra run amok in Island 1, where you get the usual blood-only scene: the next is of the man's blood dripping onto an innocent bystander below, who looks up just to see the man's torso hurled over the edge, as seen here◊.)
- Half Human Hybrids (Ranka is one-quarter Zentradi, and Mikhail's ears are more than a bit suspicious; also, thinking about how humanity was almost wiped out in the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross, about sixty years before the start of the series, and at how many people there are currently in the series' universe — two planets and 25+ colonization fleets — it's likely that most of Frontier's population has at least a small part of Zentradi blood.)
- Debatable: mass human cloning was used just after the first war to help restock the population, so most of the population likely descends from these cloned but still biologically human people.
- Aside from the ability to be shrunk or grown, Zentraedi have been stated to be genetically human, as well.
- Heroic Sacrifice (Go with God in all the dark places you may walk, Michael Blanc. Klein will not forget your sacrifice.)
- Hey Its That Voice:
- Yuichi Nakamura, who voices Alto, is also the voice of Tomoya from Clannad and Graham from Gundam00, and there's some places where you half expect Alto to sprout blond hair.
- Since this Troper had just watched Clannad before he started watching this, Alto really did feel like Tomoya in a mecha setting, specially since one of his love interests shared some similarities with Tomoya's main love interest in Clannad (Both adorably shy, and end up coming out of their shell almost entirely thanks to Tomoya/Alto; both are trying to get onto a stage; both have trouble remembering the past...).
- Also, as this show ran between seasons of Gundam 00, fans of that show also noticed how visually Alto resembled Graham's best bud and mecha designer, Billy Katagiri. This troper recalls seeing fanart the depicted Billy and Graham doing a fusion dance, and thus becoming Alto.
- Sheryl's Seiyu Aya Endo voiced Miyuki in Lucky Star and Kinue in Gundam00. Not quite as recognizable due to the range of roles (and talent of the actress) but there are moments of similarity between Kinue and Sheryl.
- Naturally, during the release of figures where the Lucky Star cast cosplayed as Macross Frontier cast, Miyuki ended up becoming Sheryl.
- Mikhail's VA, Hiroshi Kamiya, is Tieria from the same, and generally sounds like what Tieria would sound like if he actually had a sense of humor.
- You guys missed Kikuko Inoue as Grace? the "Goddess" of all Voice Actresses. (For those who don't get the pun, Belldandy-Ah My Goddess) Though as of how things goes on for her, she's more like I-No reborn
- Katsuyuki Konishi, who voices Ozma Lee here, has voiced several prominent robot-show roles, including Kamina and Volfogg. The latter is particularly notable in context of Mac F as a few times when Ozma has had to sound formal, he ends up sounding almost exactly like Volfogg.
- Jun Fukuyama voices Luca who is nearly a shota-type character....he hasn't played one in a long time.
- When Leon Mishima starts getting into his rousing speech: hey, isn't that Kyon?
- High Speed Missile Dodge (Both attempted and successful, pretty much any time one of the ace pilots are present)
- Hime Cut (Alto-hime.)
- Hive Mind (Each Vajra hive is effectively a single being composed of uncounted thousands or millions of drones and a Hive Queen. Grace O'Connor's eventual plan is to turn humanity into one of these, by taking them over using the Vajra as soldiers, then instituting mandatory cybernetics implantation, with herself at the top. The Galaxy conspiracy she is a member of appears to one already.)
- HSQ (Over Nine Thousand. This is the Macross series' answer to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.)
- Human Aliens (the Zentradi would look almost human, if they weren't twenty meters tall. They do look human, and genetically are the same species, in their micronized state).
- At the same time, though, it seems that the artists have increasingly decided to make the Zentradi gigantic space elves.
- Humongous Mecha
- I Didn't Mean To Turn You On (If being stuffed in a cramped locker with Sheryl weren't already enough, Alto's cellphone has the
misfortune of going off while his hip is wedged right between her thighs...and it's on vibrate.)
- Idol Singer (Sheryl and Ranka.)
- I Got You Covered (Duing the series's final battle.)
- Improbable Age (Alto's schoolmates Mikhail and Luca and, after episode 4, Alto himself , are Hired Guns, despite being at best 17 years old.)
- Improbable Piloting Skills (Naturally)
- Immortality (Type VII: Grace, who was killed by the dimension eater in ep. 13, and gunned down by Leon's troops in ep. 21 - she showed up alive, well, and fondling her own boobs by the end of the episode. Of course, she's transhuman, backed up all over the place, can download into multiple bodies, and is shown onscreen to be just the front consciousness for an entire conspiracy riding along in her body.)
- Im Taking Her Home With Me! (Ranka does this to Ai-kun. And then Ai-kun does it to Ranka.)
- Impossibly Low Neckline - Sheryl has an outfit like this in the opening credits for episodes 18-24. Yay Fanservice!
- Incurable Cough Of Death (Sheryl.)
- Infinite Supplies (Averted and explained - the Frontier fleet seems to reside near substantial asteroid belts for raw building material, multiple Islands are devoted largely to agriculture, the closed biosystems of the Islands assists in air reclamation, and we are even shown that the dead are broken down and recycled for various purposes. Later on, major hull breaches on the islands that can't be patched immediately are shown to have fairly dire consequences in terms of water supply and air quality.)
- The one possible exception is that, even though SMS has a contract to test the VF-25 in combat and so presumably has some spare parts and anticipates damage or even lost planes, both Alto and Michael lose planes and get replacements in the next episode without any questions apparently asked, and aside from one incident in episode 4 damage, no matter how severe, never seems to be an issue. It leads the viewer to wonder just how many spares SMS has to throw around.
- Watching Episode 7, just before the Macross Quarter transforms, you can see that there are several VF-25s under construction in an automated factory.
- Not surprising, given that SMS is a military arm of one of the largest defence contractors in the Macross universe — it stands for Shinsei Military Services. And Shinsei Industries is rivaled only by General Galaxy cartel — a sponsor behind Macross Galaxy fleet. So, the plot basically boils down to competition between two Mega Corps — ''again''.
- Jossed, SMS stands for Strategic Military Services. There are no hints of corporate rivalry within the universe, nor is it a focus either. though it is tempting to say that VF-25 looks like a typical Shinsei design (cf. VF-19), even if VF-27 looks more like SV-51 spliced with something else...
- A reverse-engineered Varautan Fz-109 Elgerzorene, in my opinion, which itself was based on a reverse-engineered General Galaxy VF-14 Vampire. Yikes.
- In real life, since pilots take so long to train, pilot shortages are more common than aircraft shortages. In MF this rule seems to apply since even a main character (Sheryl) can't fly well enough to even move a valkyrie after being in pilot school for a few episodes. Not to mention up until the actual war started at least, SMS main goal was more focused on production than training pilots.
- Indeed and it's mostly us looking at it from a modern peace time perspective back in say World War II losing a plane in battle was more or less shrugged off. If the pilot survived he was quickly given a new one and sent on his way, some top aces lost over a dozen during their careers. The last Episode also shows dozens of VF-25s which shows that unlike your average Gundam there are quite a few VF-25s around so the loss of one or two is not a big deal.
- Instrumentality: The final goal of Big Bad Grace O'Connor
- Internet Backdraft: Do not and I repeat do not bring up Ranka's character development, or her behavior, actions or lack thereof over the course of the series in any Macross Forum. You will start a war.
- Its All My Fault (Ozma isn't related to Ranka, but takes care of her since he blames himself for not being able to protect her family.)
- Mikhail also seems to suffer from this to some degree; he's extremely hard on himself for what happened to his sister when he was younger and may blame himself for not preventing her suicide.
- Killed Off For Real (Michael.)
- Lampshade Hanging (Noted above but there's a lot of shades in this show. There's Alto and his "Princess" callsign/nickname, and there's also a conversation between Klein and Mikhail in which Mikhail points out "If we ever became romantically involved, I'd probably be arrested for pedophilia.", which netted him a very literal Armor Piercing Slap, as Klan slapped the head of his Battroid so hard he got bashed around in the cockpit. Even later on, Ozma nearly gets killed in the exact same way as Roy Focker once did, and the camera then cuts to the hospital with Michael mentioning that it'd be tragic if Ozma had actually died.)
- Les Yay (Sheryl and Ranka)
- Living Ship (The Vajra battleship in Episode 7)
- Locked In A Freezer (Alto, Sheryl and Ranka in episode 3.)
- Love Triangle (a staple of the series.)
- Macross Missile Massacre (Of course. See above link, at around 1:55)
- Mad Scientist ( Grace, naturally. She has at least two papers in the (Cosmo) Nature, which already sets her higher than most (if the Nature would keep its reputation in the next half century, as it does so for at least last century and half), and certainly fits other requirements, at least about proper megalomania.)
- Magnificent Bastard (Grace O'Conner. She turns the entirety of Macross Galaxy into a Hive Mind with herself as the Queen, infiltrates Macross Frontier without even bothering to use an alias or hide her cybernetic implants, killed a little girl's parents for revenge on her family, then had said little girl live on the streets as a beggar for her pure enjoyment, then infects her with the V-type virus which would slowly kill her, then turned little girl into the into a pop idol, purely to use her fame and fold-wave-producing voice for her own benefit (then dumped her the second that a superior replacement was found), manipulated Brera into kidnapping and brainwashing his own sister against his will, completely out-manoeuvred co-conspirator Leon Mishimina, died twice without casting suspicion on herself, and finally achieves her goal of becoming a Super Dimensional Being: The Verse's equivalent of a god.)
- Meaningful Name (sort of: "Klein" is actually German for "small".)
- Meganekko (Nanase.)
- Memetic Mutation:
- Nyan Nyan, Nyan Nyan, ni-hao Nyan! Gorgeous, Delicious, Deculture!
- Ninjin loves you, Yeah!
- The "Kira~" gesture.
- Mind Control or maybe More Than Mind Control (Ranka in episode 24. She gets better. Subverted somewhat, in that her freshly regained memories about her childhood were used to manipulate her.
- Mid Season Upgrade (Subverted by Alto and Luca DOWNGRADING from the VF-25 to a VF-171 variant, the VF-171EX. Which actually still ends up being a badass plane objectively, but even Alto complains that it's a jalopy.)
- But from the perspective of the grunts...played straight. (As the basic 171 had become useless against the Vajra.)
- Moe Moe (Ranka is this to some degree. Klein also appears at first to be a moe-blob otaku fetish object of a character, but she ends up being an absolutely brutal deconstruction of the type.)
- Music For Courage: Probably the Most Triumphant Example. See the trope entry for details.
- Nightmare Fuel: Almost every shot of Grace in the last 2 episodes.
- No Export For You (Despite how incredible the show ended up being, so far it looks like the show will fall victim to the infamous legal snarls surrounding the Macross franchise; nobody has said a word about even considering bringing it over, even with the show DVDs, soundtracks, and related paraphernalia matching or even shattering decade-old sales records in Japan. There's still a chance that intense industry-wide pressure from everyone else (looking to strengthen the overall market with another prominent release) will once again make the various combatants in the Macross legal snarl play nice ala Macross Plus but as time grinds on this begins to look less and less likely.)
- No Transhumanism Allowed (aboard Frontier; averted big time on the Galaxy colony)
- Oblivious Adoption (maybe: Ozma isn't Ranka's real brother, but it's unknown if Ranka knows this.)
- Given Ranka's past, which includes her real family being wiped out with the rest of the 117th Deep Exploration fleet, and the resulting Trauma Induced Amnesia that has taken all memories of her childhood, this appears to be a given.
- By Episode 23, she's getting a clue that Brera may really be her brother, as she's remembered that Ozma wasn't her 'real' big brother as she's recovering memories from her childhood.
- Of Corsets Sexy: Sheryl's Impossibly Low Neckline outfit that she wears in the last episode.
- Oh Crap ( Grace O'Connor gets to stare down the barrel of a VF-25's sniper pod long enough to realise what's coming next, and show us all how that feels.)
- After watching the episode again, looks more like a "All right fine, you win!" look instead.
- The Omniscient Council Of Vagueness (The voices that appear during Grace's inner discussions, actually the population of Macross Galaxy.)
- Phlebotinum Rebel ( Brera and Ranka)
- Playing Against Type (Kikuko Inoue playing... Grace!)
- Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation (The photo of Ranka and her older brother that Alto finds inside the SDF-4)
- Post Episode Trailer
- Power Perversion Potential (60-foot-tall women! At least one of which looks like a child in her micronized state! You can almost hear the fan artists scribbling furiously.)
- Private Military Contractors (SMS, among the type that have improbable access to the latest toys, justified as the manufacturer of the VF-25 uses their "services" to perform field testing in live combat.)
- Proud Warrior Race Girl (Klein, sort of. She's not always a raging berserker (although she does have her moments, especially after Michael dies), but she is very proud of her Zentraedi heritage and does seem to enjoy pointing out Zentraedi combat superiority whenever possible.)
- Really Dead Montage (a short one, for Michael.)
- Real Robot (The various VF-series and others)
- Red Oni Blue Oni (Klan/Michael, right down to color-coded mecha)
- These two may also be a Shout Out to Max and Milia. Human guy in a blue jet and Zentran girl in a red mech.
- Also Brera and Alto as blue and red, respectively, in the second opening.
- Red Shirt (poor Gilliam... also done to a member of the Pixie Squadron in episode 14, who's shirt was so deeply red the producers never bothered to even give her a voice actress.)
- Her name was Ramaria, damnit! At least some of the fandom remembers her...
- Red Shirt Army (The UN Spacy forces are invariably hilariously ineffective against the Vajra, and their ineffectiveness is even used as a plot point to explain the existence and necessity of SMS.)
- Subverted slightly in Episode 14: The NUNS can actually be effective, once they break out the reaction weaponry. Or maybe it's the fact that this was Diamond Force, an elite squadron first mentioned in Macross 7.
- Then played straight by Episode 17, as the NUNS becomes ineffective again. By Episode 23, as now Alto's leading a pack of them and they've got new anti-Vajra VF's and weapons, they're a bit better than they were, but...
- Repeat Cut (sometimes used in high-impact situations like the firing of a Wave Motion Gun; see here◊)
- Ridiculously Cute Critter (The green, long-tailed, utterly adorable Panty Thief who, according to fan speculation, is a young Vajra.)
- In episode 19 it's confirmed that Ai-kun is actually a Vajra larva.
- Roboteching (Do we really need to explain?)
- Separated At Birth (It is strongly implied that Brera Sterne is actually Ranka's real brother. As of 23, this is confirmed..)
- Sexy Discretion Shot (Episode 22. Sheryl gets deeply kissed by Alto, and she asks "Give me courage, please". Camera pans up as they begin their courage-sharing session.
- Ship To Ship Combat (Alto/Ranka vs Alto/Sheryl.)
- Shout Out (several, chiefly to the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Macross 7; some of these also fall under the Mythology Gag banner.)
- Done hilariously as a movie of the adventures of Shin Kudo during the events shown in Macross Zero, with Ranka playing Mao Nome and scenes basically ripped straight out of Macross Zero.
- Done doubly so, by episode 24 and the Blu-Ray re-release of Macross Zero it's confirmed that Sheryl is Mao Nome's grand-daughter, somehow abandoned on Macross Galaxy... and the earrings in Macross Frontier were edited into a shot of Mao Nome's mementoes of her family in the Blu-Ray release of Macross Zero.
- The final episode contains several shout-outs to the climactic battle scene of Do You Remember Love? It also has a shoutout (or three) to episode 27 of the original series, Love Drifts Away, whose events were chronicled in said movie, when Alto has to cut a human-size entrance through a bulkhead to rescue the girl, just as Hikaru had to.
- The whole concept of the villain being an immortal transhuman with a robotic body is lifted directly from Macross Plus.
- Meta Shout Out: to Ranma 1/2s Ranma Saotome (too numerous and specific to ignore,) as well as real-life kabuki actor Taichi Saotome, whom Alto might very well be an Expy of.
- Two references to Aquarion here too: first is a cargo vessel which Alto and Brera fight over, it resembles the segments of Aquarion Sol's Mugen Punch folded straight. The second is the 'Dimension Eater', which resembles shielding units for the cities. Not surprising seeing as how Kawamori designed the mechs for both series (which in turn has a Macross references, as one Aquarion combination resembles a Valkyrie Gerwalk).
- There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Shout Out to Neon Genesis Evangelion towards the end of the first episode. One shot of tanks firing on a Vajra is an almost exact replica of a shot of tanks firing on Asuka in The End of Evangelion.
- And there's a little matter of Giant Ranka during the finale too. If she was singing Komm Susser Tod it would be a bit more obvious.
- Movie Within A Show ("Bird Human" is an in-universe film about the events of Macross Zero)
- It's also the name of the last episode of the Macross Zero series.
- Single Stroke Battle (Alto and Ozma do this in their space plane-robots.)
- It's a draw.
- No, Ozma wins. Ozma loses his starboard elevator, which really doesn't matter much for an environment without an atmosphere. Alto, on the other hand, takes a hit to the port side of his fuselage that may very well have disabled his Valkyrie's left arm. Not to mention Ozma gets the last word in before he runs off with the Quarter.
- This part of the fuselage is a shoulder in the battroid mode, housing the micro-missile launcher, so Alto at most lost some of his ammunition. Ozma wins morally, because Alto was really confused about what he wants. But technically it's still a draw.
- Not a draw- Ozma's hit, aside from being far more damaging, was intentional- he put his round where he wanted to, (plus, he wasn't even sweating the fight- he just owned it). Alto, on the other hand, was treating it far more like a duel to the death, and got in a glancing blow when Ozma gave him a nice "joust" pass. Ozma takes the win for simply being in control and accomplishing his goal, (disabling, not destroying, Alto).
- Slap Slap Kiss ( Michael and Klein do this in episode 20.)
- Sleep Mode Size (Klan Klein, an... extremely mature woman as a thirty-foot-tall Zentradi, becomes a physical and (slightly) mental preteen when she's micronized. She isn't completely immature when micronized, though, and some of her finest scenes are while "human-size".)
- Smug Snake (Leon Mishima is this, especially as of episode 20. Also kind of played for comedy in that episode as it shows that Leon does not react to sudden changes very well and isn't nearly the Chessmaster he thinks he is. this makes his receiving of his comeuppance in the last episode even more delicious.)
- Spell My Name With An S (Klan Klein? Klein Klan? Klan Klan, Klein Klein? Kuran Kuran, DURAN DURAN? While official sources do help some now (coming down with Klan Klan,) it remains a spot of contention with quite a few fans.)
- As does Mikhail, whose name has been spelled at least three different ways on this page alone.
- A magazine scan rendered it Clan Clang.
- Starfish Aliens (The Hive Mind known as the Vajra, though they turn out to be quite nice and understandable after two-way communication is established.)
- Stripperific (Sheryl, when performing on stage, alto calls her out on it after she slaps him for unexpectedly seeing her topless.)
- Stupid Statement Dance Mix (Nyan-nyan nyan-nyan ni hao nyan...)
- Subspace Ansible (Instantaneous galaxy-wide communication is made possible by fold quartz.
- Sucking In Lines (An integral part◊ of the Wave Motion Gun spam)
- Tear Jerker ( Michael. Episode 20. Killed Off For Real.)
- Subverted with a Lampshade Hanging and a big middle finger to the audience with Ozma, which the writers decided to play as many parallels to Roy Fokker's death as possible.
- The Ojou (Sheryl)
- Theiss Titillation Theory (Sheryl's stage wear◊. Though, unlike other examples, Sheryl's physics-defying wardrobe has an excuse — it's entirely digital. She's really wearing a full-boy hologram suit.)
- Theme Music Power Up (Omnipresent. Whenever someone starts singing, expect Awesomeness. Works for both sides by the end, thanks to Ranka's link to the Vajra hive network. Then she joins up with Sheryl to power Alto BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE by singing a medly of pretty much every major song sung by either Rankan or Sheryl in the series called, amusingly enough, Nyan-Nyan Service Medly. Deculture indeed!)
- Don't do the rest of the soundtrack, both vocal and orchestral, a disservice like that - the final battle music, though awesome and empowering, is far from all of the music in the series.
- Mercilessly subverted in episode 14: Sheryl tries to fight the Vajra in a Variable Fighter, and her theme music (Sagittarius 9 PM) kicks in... only to fade out as Sheryl is hit and forced to eject literally five seconds later.
- The Power Of Friendship: Alto seems to power-up his piloting skills when a friend's in danger. This also helps Sheryl get better at the end of the series.
- The Thing That Goes Doink (In the courtyard of Alto's Big Fancy House.)
- The War Sequence (See above link)
- The Worf Effect (Unsurprisingly, Klein tends to get kicked around a bit by both the Vajra and by Brera when he's more a Dragon to Grace's Big Bad than a hero.)
- Transforming Mecha
- Translation Convention (Given all the English documents and text in the series, it's assumed that despite being produced in Japanese English is the lingue franca for the setting of the show.)
- Trauma Induced Amnesia (Ranka)
- Triang Relations (Starts out as a Type 9, with Alto in A, Ranka in B, and Sheryl in C; Ranka and Sheryl deeply care for each other, and both of course chase after Altoh.
- Ugly Cute ( Ai-kun in his second form.)
- Unstoppable Rage (Ozma in episode 17, and especially Klan in episode 21.)
- Vapor Trail (Both inside the air-filled domes, and In Space.)
- Villain Decay (The Ghost V-9 drones, the mass-production model of the deadly Ghost X-9 of Macross Plus, which could singlehandedly dogfight two Ace Pilots in Super Prototypes to a standstill,) are reduced to being mere Elite Mooks in the final battle of Frontier.)
- To be fair, that's the whole point of doing military tests on prototypes you want to mass-produce, and it has been almost 20 years since the events of Macross Plus, with requisite advantages in technology. Besides, you still never see one get taken out by a human pilot - the only thing that is shown actually standing up to Galaxy's V-9s are Luca's own AIF-7S's once released to full AI control. The only thing logically keeping humans in cockpits is their hot blood and vulnerability/affectability to all the near-psychic powers being flung about in the end. That, and Burnside's Zeroth Law of Space Combat.
- Also, as soon as all of the non-hero pilots see them, they instantly crap their pants and are shown getting blown up rather quickly.
- Viva La Evolution (The Vajra)
- Wagon Train To The Stars (the visual of the rounded air shields of the Islands making the idea nearly literal).
- In episode 16, The Owner's ( President Richard Bilrer) room, has a half-human-sized train tracks with toy trains running around. Then he activates the hologram depicting the galaxy, with the trains still running about.
- Wave Motion Gun (Superdimensonal Converging Beam Weapons, aka Macross Cannons, used by both the Macross Quarter and Vajra motherships.)
- Wham Episode (Episode 13, HSQ went off the scale)
- Episode 20 broke the needle because the HSQ hasn't invented numbers for that kind of episode yet. Sweet loving Jesus Christ. Episode 20 could also count as Mood Whiplash given how incredibly grim the situation is now. Practically everyone is bereaved of a loved one at this point and it seems impossible for the show to have any of its old lighthearted, optimistic tone anymore.
- WHAM doesn't even begin to describe the ending of episode 24.
- And episode 25 takes the cake.
- White Haired Pretty Boy (Brera looks more blondish in normal light, but in the cockpit he looks most assuredly white-haired and certainly fits the other parts of the trope to a T.)
- Zettai Ryouiki (Nanase with her school uniform, Ranka with one of her stage costumes. Sheryl wears the traditional and hotpants versions)
- Klan, with pigtails and Tsundere, is Grade S.
- You Fail Physics Forever: Any geologically active planet would hardly behave like Gallia-4 after that giant BFG sucked part of it (up to keeping that bitten-donut shape for several episodes).
- The geological activity is inferred from its inhabitability. Otherwise, some way should have invoked for the ausence of life-hostile cosmic radiation.
- A valid complaint, but not quite for the right reason. It has nothing to do with being "geologically active" it's a simple question of gravity any object over perhaps a few hundred miles across will be compacted into a sphere by gravity. This is why all planets and moons are very nearly perfect spheres. The planet could be a lifeless ball of rock, but given it's size and mass if a large chunk of it was removed it would quickly collapse inward to fill the gap under the force of gravity.
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