VR-052 MOSPEADA Unnamed Unit 2nd Squadron

[Tim Wing]

Found a good scan of the book: VR-052 MOSPEADA Unnamed Unit 2nd Squadron.

Added captions to the photos, and posted the original book in its entirety. Enjoy.

http://www.robotechillustrated.com/refu ... -squadron/

[ZINO]

this is soooo bad ass
http://www.robotechillustrated.com/wp-c ... age33B.jpg
but where the Outriggers at in the picture?

[Seto Kaiba]

VR-052 MOSPEADA Unnamed Unit 2nd Squadron was a Japanese source book for Geneses Climber MOSPEADA.

Eh... No.

The "book" Unnamed Unit Second Squadron: VR-052 MOSPEADA is NOT a Japanese sourcebook for the original Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. It is a dōjinshi. In this case, an unauthorized work self-published by a circle named Mechanized Unit about four and a half years after the original Genesis Climber MOSPEADA's original run ended. (The date of publication is given as Showa 63 August 14, or 1988.) This isn't like the old MAT Macross Journal Extra: VF-1 Valkyrie book, which was overseen and written by staff from the show... this is just fanworks.

I have not done anything like a full translation of the book, but the sections I've skimmed suggest to me that they probably didn't pay a lot of heed to the rather basic official chronology of the MOSPEADA backstory either.

The group Mechanized Unit did several publications in this series that I'm aware of... each one numbered in the same fashion with the squadron number being the volume number, and each dedicated to a design from a different series. There's an advertisement for the next volume, Unnamed Unit Third Squadron: Mortar Headd, which is apparently dedicated to Mamoru Nagano's Five Star Stories setting, and, from the art, the Trio de Colus' Engage series of Mortar Headds... though it looks like somebody screwed up when drawing the Engage SR-2 Junchoon "First Sally" type and accidentally combined its features with the L-Gaim Mk.II from Nagano's earlier work Heavy Metal L-Gaim. IINM, they also did ones for the Lovely Angel from Dirty Pair and the Scopedog from Armored Trooper Votoms.

[Tim Wing]

but where the Outriggers at in the picture?

That's the one that broke Spain's foot. lol.

[Tim Wing]

Eh... No.

The "book" Unnamed Unit Second Squadron: VR-052 MOSPEADA is NOT a Japanese sourcebook for the original Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. It is a dōjinshi. In this case, an unauthorized work self-published by a circle named Mechanized Unit about four and a half years after the original Genesis Climber MOSPEADA's original run ended.

Ah, that would make allot more sense.

I had the feeling that this smelled somewhat of a "non-cannon" work. Regardless, the artwork contained in the work is really fun.

Thanks Seto!

[taalismn]

Regardless of its parentage, it's damn good fan art.

[Arnie100]

And gives ideas for more cyclones.

[taalismn]

And gives ideas for more cyclones.

Well, there's clearly 'Bubblegum Crisis' influence in there.

[Seto Kaiba]

I had the feeling that this smelled somewhat of a "non-cannon" work. Regardless, the artwork contained in the work is really fun.

Yep... it's got a lot of non-canon material and mistakes, though some of the hard data is in fact based on official GCM/OSM spec for the VR-038 Bartley, VR-041 Blowsperior, and VR-052 MOSPEADA. The book is padded pretty heavily tho, and it has a few major continuity errors.

And gives ideas for more cyclones.

Well, there's clearly 'Bubblegum Crisis' influence in there.

There is that one in there that looks a bit like a Motoslave... and a few that are just recycled concept art pieces from the show's development.

[taalismn]

[
There is that one in there that looks a bit like a Motoslave... and a few that are just recycled concept art pieces from the show's development.

There's an amusing illo in a Ken-ichi Sonoda B-Club special of an auto-show pastiche of both Sonoda's character work and other Youmex/Studio-Nue shows; Annie Labelle is clearly visible in the crowd, and Gallforce's Lufy is checking out a Blowsperior(nested behind a Stingry Hurricane and sitting next to a just-visible MODAT).

[Seto Kaiba]

There's an amusing illo in a Ken-ichi Sonoda B-Club special of an auto-show pastiche of both Sonoda's character work and other Youmex/Studio-Nue shows; Annie Labelle is clearly visible in the crowd, and Gallforce's Lufy is checking out a Blowsperior(nested behind a Stingry Hurricane and sitting next to a just-visible MODAT).

's a pretty common thing for magazines to do that with character art... and, it must be admitted, there's a good deal of that going on in manga and anime as well. They're not shy about crossing genre lines either, though doing that for fanservice and for yuks is a bit different than what they're doing in Unnamed Unit Second Squadron. They're basically trying to make up a backstory for the Ride Armors to fill the very large gap left by them having no established development history prior to the VR-038.

Mind you, homages like that are actually pretty damn common in the Japanese manga and anime industry thanks to Japan's somewhat more laid-back attitude on copyright... and are usually perpetrated by official productions more than fan works. (You'll find older Macross tech specs make occasional references to Gundam terms, for instance.)

[taalismn]

[

Mind you, homages like that are actually pretty damn common in the Japanese manga and anime industry thanks to Japan's somewhat more laid-back attitude on copyright... and are usually perpetrated by official productions more than fan works. (You'll find older Macross tech specs make occasional references to Gundam terms, for instance.)

And 'Blowsperior' actually showed up as an early name for a concept hoverbike in 'Gallforce' back when it was a Sonoda-designed psuedo-story for the modeller crowd. Then again that's both limited vocabulary(like how many aircraft are named 'Falcon' or 'Eagle') plus bad translation at work.

[Seto Kaiba]

And 'Blowsperior' actually showed up as an early name for a concept hoverbike in 'Gallforce' back when it was a Sonoda-designed psuedo-story for the modeller crowd. Then again that's both limited vocabulary(like how many aircraft are named 'Falcon' or 'Eagle') plus bad translation at work.

's more a case of Studio Artmic throwing in a reference to their own previous (but unrelated) work... they didn't stop at just one either. The "Blowsperior" might not have made the cut a second time, but they had one normal bike called a "MOSPEAD".

You don't often see designs from other series snuck into the technical setting of unrelated shows though... that's usually only done as in-jokes or homages, like how Macross Ep27 contains homages to Studio Nue's work on Arcadia of my Youth and Orguss via cameos of the Arcadia and an Orguss-like mecha, or how Mamoru Nagano took his unused/rejected designs for Zeta Gundam and refined them to make Heavy Metal L-Gaim and Five Star Stories... often keeping the same names and shapes, while only changing aesthetic details.

[Tim Wing]

cameos of the Arcadia and an Orguss-like mecha

I've seen the Juton/Orguss mecha... but I'm going to have to go back and watch again for the Arcadia. Funny!

[Seto Kaiba]

cameos of the Arcadia and an Orguss-like mecha

I've seen the Juton/Orguss mecha... but I'm going to have to go back and watch again for the Arcadia. Funny!

It's in one of the scenes where groups of Zentradi ships are advancing together and firing, about halfway into the episode... look for one near the back of the group with a great big skull and crossbones on the prow... it's a homage to Studio Nue's version of the Arcadia. In one of the earlier episodes (IINM it's noted in one of the Animeigo liner notes) there's a Haro from Gundam visible in space.

There's one in the Unnamed Unit book that I'd swear is a homage to the Studio Nue adaptation of Starship Troopers...