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Well,

its nice to hear confirmation of something I've suspected for a long time. Apparently Studio Ammonite had planned for the Sylphide to be a transformable fighter somewhere along the preproduction path (post-Sengoku Jidaii in Space), probably when it was still known as Super Dimension City: Regulus. Artifacts of this iteration of the story still exist in the animation, btw, like the Agro-Dome seen in Eps. #60 Catastrophe. The idea, as I understand it, changed when it was decided to focus on the ground units (Spartas) as the main hero mecha. The Sylphide then never made it past the Fighter mode stage, but (as I noticed) there are way too many parts on its frame (and in just the right locations) to allow it to assume a Battloid Mode (Aero Sniper Mode?).

Since the design was already completed to that point, it was retained. But it is curious that the Sylphide gets at least as much screen time, as a non-hero mecha, as the Logan. Now what is even more curious is how the Robotech scripts clued into this unless it was a note dropped to them (which seems unlikely) by Tatsunoko staff. Or maybe it was one of the few places where it was translated from the scripts (again, unlikely but who knows). And unlike the Falcon or Chimera, its never called anything but a Robotech fighter or a Veritech fighter (basically, signifying its not a conventional vehicle IMO).

Rabid Southern Cross Fan wrote:Since the design was already completed to that point, it was retained. But it is curious that the Sylphide gets at least as much screen time, as a non-hero mecha, as the Logan. Now what is even more curious is how the Robotech scripts clued into this unless it was a note dropped to them (which seems unlikely) by Tatsunoko staff. Or maybe it was one of the few places where it was translated from the scripts (again, unlikely but who knows). And unlike the Falcon or Chimera, its never called anything but a Robotech fighter or a Veritech fighter (basically, signifying its not a conventional vehicle IMO).

I regarded the reference to it as a 'veritech' from the beginning as bad scripting....It just sounds neater calling it something already introduced in the franchise because it's 'high-tech', and the focus is going to be on the REAL transformable mecha soon anyway...after the spear-carrier mook-fighters start getting blown away in droves.
I also figured its extended screen time is also for that purpose; the neat-looking attack jets get zeked to emphasize how thoroughly outclassed they are by the Big Bads' mecha(something similar happens in Vehicle Force Voltron where the Galaxy Garrison fleets always deploy squadron after squadron of really neat-looking high performance space fighters that, at least IMHO, look better than the Voltron Team's, ...and they get rolled up by the numbers by the Druuls/Dreeks/Fuzzy-Wuzzies, before Big V shows up and curb stomps the xenos).

Still, that's an interesting artifact of the original story concept...like the giant hover-city/barge, back when the intention was to have various city-states with their own unique culture and equipment settled across what was to be Glorie.

What's the source for this... claim?

Rabid Southern Cross Fan wrote: But it is curious that the Sylphide gets at least as much screen time, as a non-hero mecha, as the Logan.

In terms of actual screen run time it's harder to say off hand, but by episode count the Slyphide has 6 episodes vs the Logan's 5 in terms of appearances (and 2 of them are blink and you might miss it). That's neither here nor there.

Seto wrote:What's the source for this... claim?

+1

Agreed.. we need a source for this claim, with citations/transcripts if possible.

Further I would point out (again) that your claim that it "contains all the needed parts" is based on your own highly subjective analysis of a handful of line art and image captures, and many other artworks and screencaps from the same sources fail to show the features you claim. So even if the original development included the possibility, the nature of the final product may or may not actually reflect that origin.

After a brief investigation, it looks like this claim is false.

It looks like Rabid may have seen this claim in an unsourced remark on the Japanese Wikipedia page... a page which has been repeatedly and thoroughly vandalized with by a Robotech fan known to be an extremely unreliable source of information, who frequently attempts to substitute non-canon Robotech information and their fan fiction for actual official material from the Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross series. After that unsourced remark is a statement saying to see the Spanish language Wikipedia page "Addendum: Vehicles of Robotech" for more information. I looked into it, and that Spanish Wikipedia page also incorrectly lists the Sylphid as a "veritech", citing only - wait for it - the aforementioned Wiki vandal's own DeviantArt fanart of a "Sylphid Veritech" in lieu of proper source citations.

For bonus points, would you care to guess who made the page edits to incorrectly add the Sylphid as a Veritech on that Spanish Wikipedia page?



(To give an idea of how unreliable this Wiki vandal is, the last time some of their questionable material was posted here Rabid asked me to examine it for accuracy and presented me with a copy of the original document they were allegedly sourcing their claims from. Their accuracy rating was nearly 0%.)

The whole story strikes me as rather implausible, given that Southern Cross's own creative staff were very clear that the series was made in a frightful hurry and that Ammonite had very little time to develop and polish the mechanical designs for it. They reused everything they could get away with from earlier development - such as the flying castle and o-yoroi armor created for Science Fiction Sengoku Saga being repurposed as the Arming Doublet and Zor Lords mothership - and used thinly-disguised knockoffs of designs from other shows for almost everything else. That it was all developed late and in a hurry is known to be a major factor in why the series launched with very little merchandise, much of which later ended up cancelled before ever seeing store shelves.

taalismn wrote:I regarded the reference to it as a 'veritech' from the beginning as bad scripting...

It's Harmony Gold's official position on the matter as well. It's well documented and attested-to by those who worked on Robotech that the writing process was done on an extremely tight schedule that left virtually no room for writers to check each other's work for consistency. They had neither the time nor the inclination to put in in-jokes referencing alleged intentions by the creators of the three shows they were adapting.

So.....wishful thinking....as usual.

Its not wishful thinking. The source is Yui Yuasa, who actually has quite a bit of information on the series (including a good deal which she used to help the folks at Udon with the Southern Cross Visual Archive).

Yui Yuasa? THAT'S your source?

Yeah that's about as reliable as using a fishing net as a poncho in a rainstorm....I've seen their "work" and "sources" on Robotech et al. Them helping udon is equivalent to Peter Walker and that gang helping Harmony Gold.

Unless you have verifiable documented proof from the creators it is literally nothing more than wishful thinking...and the sad thing is I'd actually like the Sylphid to BE a veritech. I myself have it is a possible veritech.

But dude really, you need credible sources.

RSCF wrote:Its not wishful thinking. The source is Yui Yuasa, who actually has quite a bit of information on the series (including a good deal which she used to help the folks at Udon with the Southern Cross Visual Archive).

Great, but what is the actual source for it that this is based on? Yui Ysasa is just the person who found it, but the question is where did they find this (actual documents, staff interview)?

I'm not opposed to the idea of the Sylphid being a Veritech either.