#macross theory

[vldunchartedregions]

Voltron Season 8 Meta Introduction

Hi! Welcome to "Uncharted Regions."

Now that it's been several years since Voltron Season 8 came out, the news of Netflix's removal of the series on December 14th, 2024 shook the fandom and pop culture as a whole.

You may be wondering... 1) Huh?! 2) Why?! It's a Netflix Original! 3) I loved this show, I don't understand! I was the same, too. We were all a little confused. However, licensing rights were ending to Netflix and Netflix doesn't want to renew. Fair play.

As someone who worked in a corporate company who also provides live streaming services + has a degree in television production, I have a better understanding of the executive decisions at play that comes down to it. It was not too hard to decipher why when you know what went on in the trenches of the Voltron fandom from 2016-2018.

The bottom line is that Netflix marketing did not match the source material provided, and there was intensive discourse across multiple facets of the fandom. You can imagine Netflix were not fans of the outcome of the series, and may not have even been told by Dreamworks the outcome of the series when Season 8 dropped; especially when Netflix's global social media accounts openly admitted to shipping Klance on Twitter.

Regardless, we're not looking at who's to blame, but you do have to wonder how such a large international miscommunication between Netflix, Dreamworks, and Voltron's IP holders went down the corporate funnel.

...I digress, let's move on.

As many people did from the news of it's removal (which also surprised the official Voltron accounts), I got back into the Voltron fandom really quickly and tried to rewatch as much as I could before it's inevitable removal from Netflix.

I haven't touched this show in years, friends. Not since 2020. The rewatch showed me one thing: that this show is breathtaking, stunning, and at it's core - it represented change. It's truly one of it's kind. To have the crew from Avatar: the Last Airbender, and Legend of Korra working on it on such a high level? Hell, there was an MFE pilot spin off in the works.

There was a lot of promising stories to tell with new outcomes and twists with a classic IP such as Voltron. It was promising a new future and fresh takes with comics, games, and so much more.

Now, alike to most viewers, I was there when Season 8 dropped. Hell, I was at the NYCC 2018 panel where they gave out these posters (which will be VERY relevant to this meta, I assure you):

The hype of Voltron Season 8 lead to a FULL panel that got closed off mid-way in the line. Many fans flew from across the globe (including myself) to get a glimpse of the showrunners, cast & crew, and a unique slice of the pie into Voltron Season 8's trailer.

The excitement was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before in a fandom. It was extremely thrilling, the trailer was outstanding, and Season 8 wasn't too far away.

First shown at New York City Comic Con 2018, get a look at the #Voltron production team's take on the upcoming final season of Voltron Legendary Defender, streaming on @Netflix tomorrow!

Then Season 8 dropped on Netflix... December 14th, 2018.

It was jarring. There were plot points that made no sense, obvious edits to scenes, censorships like a One Piece 4Kids dub, characters cut and pasted into scenes, and storylines were slapped together like a messy sandwich. And it was incredibly obvious too.

The fandom noticed and reacted accordingly - asking questions and demanding answers left, right, and centre. The showrunners responded through podcasts and statements on various levels.

The answer was clear... their vision wasn't the only vision going into the show:

"You know, as we sort of got through the process of premise, script, it went all the way down the line. It got storyboarded. And then at some point, you know, we received pushback from the studio and you know, we were sort of a little confused, like, “hey, how did it go, like, so far down the line before we received pushback?” And you know, this is not like a, like, a vilifying of DreamWorks or anything, like, every exec that we ever interacted with was, it was like, “hey, we understand why you want to tell this story. We understand where you’re coming from. It’s a little bit bigger than that. You know, there’s-there’s other, sort of, controlling parties with Voltron which makes it unique. It’s not just a DreamWorks-owned property.” And it just–I think logistically it just got really, really weird."

Joaquim Dos Santos - Afterbuzz TV interview. Source: https://dragonofyang.tumblr.com/post/183820127648/abtv-mar-4-transcript

---

Fans promptly started a petition two days later to release the original Season 8. THAT'S how obvious the editing was and how obvious the deterred, original vision had become.

As a disappointed fan and someone who studied media analysis intrinsically for university, I did try to rewatch back then, and it was painful to watch. What happened? There were layers of context on the cutting room floor and scenes didn't make sense. Hell, each episode title always has a double layered meaning, and even those layers were stripped from the core of the episodes for the most part. This left fans to say, "Whaaaaat is going ON?" The entire fandom was hurt by what had occurred.

The cast & crew that were also unaware of these story changes were also quite hurt, too. To make it more apparent, the showrunners were pretty open on speaking about leaving the project as well on the Buzzfeed Aftershow Podcast, but they simply couldn't:

LM: It’s not-it’s not just like, “Oh I can’t afford my mortgage!” You know, we have a crew that we care about we brought onto this show. If we abandoned them, we-we don’t know what’s in store for them. We don’t know, do they get to stay on? Do they get to keep their jobs? Does someone else come on and then they’re working under someone else that they didn’t sign up for? Or–

JDS: Or they’re working under someone else that’s just gonna be like, “Alright, we’re just gonna finish the show and not really do right by the rest of it.”

Lauren Montgomery & Joaquim Dos Santos - Afterbuzz TV interview. Source: https://dragonofyang.tumblr.com/post/183820127648/abtv-mar-4-transcript

---

We all wanted answers, and sure, some members of the team did speak up - but it didn't provide clear answers on what was the go with Season 8 being edited so far into post-production.

Now, this blog isn't dedicated to restoring Season 8 to it's original format (that would be lovely, but we have to be realistic - it has been 7 years and no google drives of the original season 8 have dropped so far). No, no.

That might happen (I've got a positive mindset on it - someone has to have a back up copy on some hard drive somewhere), or maybe it will be released... in a green sock reality.

Rather, this blog is dedicated to all the fans (new & old) whom want a sense of closure to as to why their favourite show on Netflix from 2016-2018 dropped the ball so hard for Season 8.

Not thinking much of it, I had posted a twitter thread detailing how the ending with all the lions flying off looked a little odd.

...And so, I received an anonymous inbox on New Years Day, 2025

This DM... was the start to an unravelling of webs and a rewatch that crumbled immediately. The cracks were all there.

I rewatched Season 8 with this information at hand with a few of my closest online friends, and we were shocked at how much there was to uncover. We were absolutely FLOORED by what was found, including incredible pieces of evidence from the fandom itself.

Now... Why does this matter? It's been YEARS and I'm sure we're not the first to uncover some pieces of information (See the #FreeVLDS8 movement - so, so many good finds there as a foundational point of reference).

Some of what we've uncovered in these Uncharted Regions has NOT been covered by the fandom before, nor does it scratch the surface of what's been found as of yet.

Welcome to the Uncharted Regions of Voltron Season 8.

Our aim for this meta is to acknowledge the following with detailed evidentiary support: 1. The editing of multiple episodes & scenes.

From there, we will look at the alleged changes: 2. Plot points & scenes that may or may not have had cuts. 3. Providing official-style edited shots comparisons to portray how some scenes should've looked in the original Season 8. 4. Piecing each episode / episode orders together (as best as we can) 5. The original ending.

Cheers to the beginning of a new meta, a new hope, and a new perspective on what truly happened to Voltron Season 8.

(Allegedly; for entertainment purposes only)

The one thing I humbly request is PLEASE... No hate towards the showrunners, cast, crew, or the official Voltron IP holders. There's a lot that has changed culturally and intrinsically within the industry over the years and this outcome was not something they could simply control. Let's be adults, look at this open conversation with empathy and love, and respectfully, let's indulge in this topic with grace - your feelings, however, are incredibly valid when it comes to this meta and what we uncover, as there's many alleged finds that may shock the fandom.

Let the journey commence.

Check out my Twitter page for any and all updates in regards to this insanely detailed meta; including teasers and screenshots! Please and thank you.

[vldunchartedregions]

Jesus. CHRIST.

theory that Keith really was in love with Lance makes season 7 and 8 almost comedic at times. Keith letting Lance get away with shit because “anything you say gorgeous.” only early season 7 but him letting Lance pick the lion arrangements and trusting him to lead the team the next episode. moral of Voltron (2016): gay people will be your boss and make that everyone else’s problem

I love this ask because it's so funny, and at first I was only going to respond with my agreement that Keith is really just outing himself as in love with Lance any time he has to interact with him, but then I started wondering... does he out himself?? is it visible through his actions after season 6? Which led to the question,

Does Keith have a soft spot for Lance after his return?

We know thanks to this analysis that Keith definitely has a soft spot for Lance in the first three seasons, before he leaves. But when he comes back, the first thing he does is yell at Lance. This is very out of character for Keith, given what we've seen from his reactions to Lance since season 1. Keith is very rarely actually angry at Lance, like he seems here in Season 6, Episode 4. And here I discuss why he reacts that way. So it seems like, after season 6, something changed, and Keith hates Lance now. But... Is that true? What does Keith's actions tell us?

Let's have a look together, shall we?

Their first interaction, despite popular belief, is not Keith yelling at Lance, but actually here:

[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 05:05]

Lance commenting on Keith's appearance. Which we know Keith hears, because he reacts:

[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 05:10]

His expression changes, turning more serious. Okay... that's interesting... Why was it necessary to cut to Keith while Lance is still speaking? Usually, this type of shot is used to indicate that the receiver heard the person speaking, and to show us the receivers reaction to what is being said. This is evidenced when Keith reacts to Hunk saying that Lotor is in the Quintessence field and we see Keith's expression change again and him saying "Oh, no". So, we know that Keith heard what Lance said, not just by the shot, but also because his expression changes. Keith reacts to Lance commenting on his appearance by changing the subject and asking where Lotor is. And it seems his impatience reaches a head when Keith lands and they have their second interaction here:

[Season 6, Episode 4: The Colony, 06:05]

Wanna know something interesting about this?? Keith's expression changes again when Lance says this and walks towards him, because THIS is his expression while Lance talks:

Keith is not frowning nearly as much as when he yells at Lance. That means he reacts again to Lance commenting on his looks. Again, I examined here what lies behind Keith's reaction, but as far as we've seen, this pretty much sets up the "Keith dismisses Lance because he doesn't take him seriously," impression that the casual viewer gets (and many fans when the season was released...)

In fact, Lance talks to Keith multiple times in this episode, but Keith never answers him.

Read More

[anthurak]

One very funny thing about doing a lot of theorizing about how Super Robot Wars Y is going to handle G-Witch, is that if you know anything about how SRW handles their secret unlockable characters,

Then you KNOW that one of, if not THE main requirement for getting playable Guel as a pilot is DEFINITELY going to be...

Keeping Guel's utter shitbag of a father from dying.

Yeah, we're gonna have to save THIS asshole XD

It's actually fun to theorize how this might play out in terms of game mechanics. Like it's easy to imagine that Guel and Vim both show up on the relevant stage as enemy/npc units and you probably have a certain number of turns to do something to stop one or both of them before an event triggers where Guel kills Vim as per canon. With one rather fun wrinkle potentially being that because Guel was piloting one of DotF's stolen MS's, he may very well show up on the map as an ENEMY unit.

Now assuming this doesn't involve the use of the 'Persuade/Convince' command (and it's a little hard to see how it would), I imagine this is probably going to involve the use of the 'Mercy' spirit command, ie; the 'Leave an enemy with 10 HP' ability that SRW often uses as a means of 'disabling' story-relevant mechs in a 'let's NOT actually kill off this character' events. In this case, I imagine the requirements would be something like 'Reduce Guel and/or Vim to 10 HP before a certain number of turns pass'.

Where this gets more interesting is when considering what Vim's status in all this is going to be. Like is he going to show up as an actual enemy or neutral NPC and thus be able to be attacked normally?

Or is he going to show up as an ALLIED NPC and thus NOT be targetable for attacks? Meaning that the only way to fulfill the requirements is to get creative with MAP Attacks.

Honestly, I think it would be very appropriate and VERY funny if recruiting Guel, and by extension preventing him from generally getting smacked around by the universe turned out to be one of the HARDEST things in the game and one of those secrets that most players just end up skipping XD

[thehydromancer]

Colonial Espatier Task Force Lan, assigned to protect the space colony of Umbral Keep. Umbral Keep, despite its vast potential to enrich the megacorp Krewstara and provide highly valuable resources to Sol, only rates the minimal Colonial Espatier investment given its isolated location and the competing need to protect the Aeralyn terraformer project in the same system. If it wasn't for the nearby transit gate and the previous Ijad invasion of the system, its possible The Powers That Be wouldn't have bothered at all. The PCL-01 Rookery class light carrier (inspired by the ARMD carrier from Robotech/Macross). The Fisher King is assigned to Taske Force Lan and the sister ship to the Angraal assigned to Task Force Kay tasked with guarding the Aeralyn terraformer colony. The Rookery class is a converted orbital platform popular with salvage and maintenance operations. Using the Fisher King as an example, the primary upgrades to the base craft are an integrated hangar with an elevator to the catapult, upgraded sensors and communications, and additional engines both for primary thrust and rapid maneuvering. The ships ability to rapidly change velocity is its primary defense as it is lightly armed and armored, completely dependent on its mobile frame company to defend it from aggressors. Multiple locations were reinforced for PDG installation, but the Fisher King has yet to receive this upgrade. In theory the Rookery class can transport a standard mobile frame company's entire 14 frame compliment, but it is only designed to launch and support up to a single augmented squad of 6 frames at a time during combat operations. The Angraal however is rumored to be undergoing upgrades to support an additional mobile frame squad during combat as well as additional defenses despite concerns on impacts to the ships overall speed.

Kobold frigates, based on the general purpose tug of the same name, are a slapdash, minimal cost answer to Colonial Espatier needs throughout the transit gate network. Kobolds are often present en masse around gates and space colonies, and are relatively cheap and easy enough to acquire that the local megacorp losing a few to stand up the local espatier chapter is of neglectable impact in exchange for the security provided. The two kobold examples provided are the Sylph, a missile boat, and the Salameid, a gun boat. Almost completely unarmored the kobold frigates rely on speed and distance, much like the Fisher King, to avoid enemy fire, although at least the Salameid is equipped with 4x PDGs for anti-frame defense.

[canmom]

I’m wondering if you’ve ever read that scrapped antisemitic Zeta draft by Tomino? It reads like an alt-right shitpost.

This is news to me - though I'll admit my Tomino knowledge kind of begins and ends with the declaration of the 'New Anime Century' and the 'kill em all' reputation from Ideon. my impression was that he had a kind of generally newagey attitude with the newtypes and everything. which is not incompatible with swallowing some antisemitic conspiracy shit.

Though as far as bizarre inexplicable antisemitism in anime, the case I do know about is Ichirō Itano's Angel Cop OVA, which apparently goes all in on some protocols of the elders of zion conspiracy shit. Itano is not otherwise like a nazi or anything, none of his other work has anything like that, he's mostly known for reckless antics like strapping fireworks to his motorbike or blacking out in a fighter jet while researching for Macross. so the only explanation I have for that is that in Japan, it must have just looked like a wacky foreign conspiracy theory that they could play around with, rather than something incredibly charged with modern day prejudice that gets people killed? I don't even know, though. The Diary of Anne Frank was a bestseller in Japan, it's not like people aren't aware of the Holocaust having happened. just strange

[duckpasta-kamonabe]

Nuking my twitter account like bashtarle

Serious question. I'm not well versed in computer stuff even as a zoomer. But, say...

If I use "add images from web" from twitter to tumblr, and I deleted/deactivated said twitter. Would the image from twt will be gone here?

I plan to deactivate my twitter due to unwanted follower building up like dental plaque. Hatedoms, drama baits, grifters, weeb incels...

It sucks because as much I love to post edgy jokes, self deprecating my inborn traits, and liking certain problematic shows like berserk/80s edgy OVAs DOESN'T MEAN I TOLERATE THAT SHIT IN REAL FUCKING LIFE

PLEASE,

PLEASE FUCKING SEPARATE 2D/FICTION FROM REAL LIFE

on the other hand, maybe it's my fault for not taking the hint especially when they flat out have "lolis and -cel" on their username. I always thought some guys could make fun of their status. Like some aesthetic bloggers I know would joke about being "femcel"/"toxic lesbian/yaoi fan" and still had prog views despite their edgelord jokes online.

but really maybe they ain't beating their allegations at all

I just hate how they crowd SMT fandom these days because of the whole antiDEI debacle, their "anti consumerism"-consumerism (how ironic)

(*and boi oh boi if their idea of good ol' days in gaming are.... grand theft auto san andreas LOL)

It just sucks too because as much I'm neutral/indifferent to lolis/certain henties genre because of their history with anime (project A-ko being originally a part of cream lemon, or macross+old mecha culture+gainax in general) . They always attract certain conservative wackos, sadly. (I accidentally followed 3x conservaturds because they happen to make pretty retro anime artwork, I cringe at myself X_X)

And it's fucking funny too because even if they say "I hate politics in my game/anime" THEY ALWAYS, BY NO FAIL, FORM A CERTAIN POLITICS FROM CERTAIN HENTAI GENRE.

---

ok enough yapping. I plan to nuke my twitter account : kamo_pasta and rebuild it in its nuclear wasteland. I plan to be more stricter with DNIs so people know what they get from it. I know it's petty. But since my work revolves around online. It kinda sucks

in real life finding work is a fucking pain. I don't have any college diploma due to family poverty, making foreign work impossible. I'm 90% self taught (not including the 1-hour weekly hobbyist art course I attended during my school times). I live in indonesia and it's hard to find jobs with abysmal wages, partly thanks to crap boomer government.

It's absolutely dogshit when it comes to autistic people who need public commute (which doesn't fucking exist in indonesia because even the cities are divided like islands)

Doesn't help that indonesians fanbase tends to gravitate on modern anime art styles. I guess I have to adapt or die, like darwin's theory. But since art is an expression and I prefer to express it as myself instead of a "mask", I'm doomed.

I simply have no market in my home country

that's why I decided to nuke my old account. It's been like from 2017. I have dumb opinions back then, and yapped way too much. I gained new friends and good time. But sadly everything had to end somewhere, someday. There's so many painful memories. Stupid ass online attachment and terminally-online™ moment.

If I want to go a bit more professional, I should've curated my own appearance. I wanna learn from my friend's mistake during their SMT Imagine server times.

So it circles back to my question above. If I use twitter images on "add image from web", and deactivated the twitter source of these image, will the image here will disappear as well?

if it does, welp

welp. I'll just turn it into ghost private account

but if it doesn't, I'll nuke the account instantly and move to greener pastures

[futa69]

Even though it has never really been directly mentioned or referenced, elements of the ancient astronaut theory have influenced our popular culture for a hundred years. Practically, everything from books, movies, television shows and video games. Since we will never be able to definitely prove it here on Earth and we're also on the verge of going back to the moon, establishing colonies on Mars, mining the asteroid belt and exploring deep space, we might actually find physical evidence of advanced civilizations that existed for over thousands of years ago out there in the galaxy. Whether we like it or not, all of this is going to happen eventually. So, we should definitely have this conversation right now. The future of the human race may very well depend on this discovery.

▪︎Edison's Conquest of Mars (1898)

▪︎The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

▪︎Analog Science Fiction and Fact (1930)

▪︎At the Mountains of Madness (1931)

▪︎Childhood's End (1953)

▪︎Forbidden Planet (1956)

▪︎Quartermass and the Pit (1958)

▪︎The Twilight Zone (1959)

▪︎The Sirens of Titan (1959)

▪︎The Flintstones (1960)

▪︎Doctor Who (1963)

▪︎Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964)

▪︎Known Space (1964)

▪︎Star Trek (1966)

▪︎2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

▪︎Chariots of the Gods (1968)

▪︎The Bible & Flying Saucers (1968)

▪︎Passport to Magonia (1969)

▪︎Horror Express (1972)

▪︎Rendezvous with Rama (1973)

▪︎Land of the Lost (1974)

▪︎The Spaceships of Ezekiel (1974)

▪︎The Outer Space Connection (1975)

▪︎Space: 1999 (1975)

▪︎The Sirius Mystery (1976)

▪︎The Earth Chronicles (1976)

▪︎Star Wars (1977)

▪︎Mysteries of the Gods (1977)

▪︎Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

▪︎The Manna Machine (1978)

▪︎Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

▪︎Battlestar Galactica (1978)

▪︎Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978)

▪︎Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

▪︎Alien (1979)

▪︎Hangar 18 (1980)

▪︎Valis (1981)

▪︎The Thing (1982)

▪︎Xevious (1982)

▪︎Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982)

▪︎The Transformers (1984)

▪︎Cocoon (1985)

▪︎Bio Booster Armor Guyver (1985)

▪︎The Legend of Zelda (1986)

▪︎Predator (1987)

▪︎Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

▪︎Red Dwarf (1988)

▪︎The Gods of Eden (1989)

▪︎Moontrap (1989)

▪︎Spriggan (1989)

▪︎Total Recall (1990)

▪︎Babylon 5 (1993)

▪︎The X-Files (1993)

▪︎Stargate (1994)

▪︎Neon Genesis Evangelion (1994)

▪︎Fingerprints of the Gods (1995)

▪︎Encounter with Tiber (1996)

▪︎Final Fantasy (1997)

▪︎Earth: Final Conflict (1997)

▪︎The Fifth Element (1997)

▪︎Space Island One (1998)

▪︎Naked Pictures of Famous People (1998)

▪︎The Giza Power Plant (1998)

▪︎Heritage Trilogy (1998)

▪︎Dilbert (1999)

▪︎Futurama (1999)

▪︎Star Ancestors (2000)

▪︎Mission to Mars (2000)

▪︎Halo (2001)

▪︎Ice Age (2002)

▪︎Alien vs. Predator (2004)

▪︎The Cygnus Mystery (2006)

▪︎The Orion Zone (2007)

▪︎Mass Effect (2007)

▪︎Assassin's Creed (2007)

▪︎Outlander (2008)

▪︎Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

▪︎Marvel Cinematic Universe (2008)

▪︎Spore (2008)

▪︎Knowing (2009)

▪︎The Fourth Kind (2009)

▪︎Ancient Aliens (2009)

▪︎Borderlands (2009)

▪︎The Great Airship of 1897 (2010)

▪︎Dark Void (2010)

▪︎The Ancient Alien Question (2011)

▪︎Life And Death On Mars (2011)

▪︎Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

▪︎Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

▪︎Paul (2011)

▪︎John Carter (2012)

▪︎Prometheus (2012)

▪︎Iron Sky (2012)

▪︎Man of Steel (2013)

▪︎Jupiter Ascending (2015)

▪︎The Great Wall (2016)

▪︎Life (2017)

▪︎Beyond the Sky (2018)

▪︎Resident Alien (2021)

▪︎Moonfall (2022)

▪︎Prey (2022)

▪︎65 (2023)

[mintytealfox]

I would love to get a run-down of all your nortalice AUs, if you don't mind 👀

OOOOO~ Yes of COURSE 👀🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Lets seeeee, I've got:

THAT au//Zentradi AU- this one is highly sci-fi and inspired by Macross kinda sorta (the only similarities are one is a large humanoid species, and humans fight them with mechs, and then they 'try' to live together) . Two species of humanoid now inhabit the same planet. One from another dead planet and seeking refuge and a new place to live (the humans). This was met with hostility from the original habitants (the larger one). A war broke out for 10 years, for the humans to come on top in the end. The larger species are now used as a sort of work horse in most cases. Some manual labor, others protecting the area and hunting, etc. there are still Nobels and high ups in politics but the less well-off tend to be put to difficult work and conditions. Even though the humans have the tech to make it easier, just don’t want to waste resources.  It’s a political way to keep them down, busy and obedient basically. 🙃 This is a Da Capo Au so Norton, Melly, and Frederick are all natives of this planet, while Alice and Orpheus are human. (all of them were too young to remember much of the initial war and have lived and grown up in the aftermath).

Expedition AU- was an AU idea proposed by an Anon~ 👀🙏Quote: "A strange meteor falls to earth, and not only turn the surrounding area into an eldritch location but also transforming both the minds and bodies of the people in that area." But the FIRST expedition team compiled of the DA CAPO members are sent in there to collect data etc. -Norton: The group survivalist and guide -Alice: The data collector -Melly: There to protect the wildlife, and document behaviors, etc -Frederick: is the sniper and there to shoot stuff and protect the team -Orpheus: is the NERD of the group who knows the most about this place and what is going on. There is a PART 2 to this AU that includes a Second Team that is sent in to 'find the remains of the first Team' only to find them transformed and very much alive and EXTREMELY unhinged! The second expedition team is compiled of, -Naib: the leader of the group -Emily: the medic of the group and needs to collect blood samples of any wildlife that is found and is tasked with gathering the bones from the last expedition -Luca: He is the only one familiar with this place from his studies and fascination with the theories of what happened to the first crew that entered this place, and is there to find any electromagnetic readings and see if there is a way to start reversing the effects or just keep the barrier from spreading -Martha: Is playing the part that Frederick did. The sharp shooter that keeps the group safe

There was a ying Dragon AU and a yang Dragon AU- One is cutesy and fun with Alice being a lady knight and Norton a dragon who has learned that humans suck after being used as a gem sniffer, for Benny and his 'friends' in the deep underground, and hides as a human when Alice comes into town to 'slay him', after he ran from Benny and started 'terrorizing' the town pff. The OTHER version is more of a progressing curse. Where Norton gets infected and loosing himself and Frederick had the same thing but was able to cure himself before it got too late. But Frederick thinks it is too late for Norton and saying Norton needs to be gotten rid of before it becomes a problem beyond the group, but Alice keeps fighting Frederick on this claim there is still time and surely there is a cure out there.

There is the AU where Infernal Sin and Eternity create a partnership, which sets Infernal free from his volcano, and Alice now has an enforcer of her judgment. Wins all around for the both of them pff

There was the Mythology AU- Norton is Hades, Melly is Persephone and more like a roommate who brings her bugs from spring and summer, much to Norton's annoyance -WHEEZE- then Alice as Eurydice and Orpheus as Orpheus. So Orpheus is trying to get Alice out of the underworld, but she has become fond of the place, and well, Norton pff, so when the time comes she has to make a choice to follow Orpheus or look back and Norton can break the deal and take her back heh~

Anastasia AU popped off for a while at first 👀 with Alice as 'Anya', Norton as Dimitri, Frederick as Sophie, Melly as Vladimir, and Orpheus as The Dowager Empress Marie (only not gonna be please about Alice leaving again with Norton and gonna make that extremely difficult lol)

and THEN the BIG ol Eternal Mansion AU, where Orpheus dragged Da Capo back to the mansion to re-live that time but the way it was SUPPOSED to go, and so many other players as well. This ends up with Norton stuck as Fool's Gold and Alice stuck as Miss Nightingale, loosing their memories but when they have their flashes of clarity they continue trying to figure out how to free themselves. A lot of '1 step forward, 5 steps back' sort of story ;;

(I am sure there are others but I am drawing a blank LOL 7 is my favorite number so this works out XD)

[fallloverfic]

Thoughts on To Be Hero X Episode 9: Loss and Gain

That was a fun episode!

The good news is that Luo's not dead (yet)! He did nearly die, but Dean didn't kill him. Just, you know, traumatized him a lot. So... yeah.

Luo and Cyan's relationship is really sweet. They just care about each other so much. And they try to protect each other T-T

It's interesting to learn that Dean was a hero before all this went down, which again, especially based on his whole using the orphanage to raise heroes thing, makes me still think he caused the plane crash somehow, sort of like Mr. Glass in Unbreakable, maybe hoping to cause the creation of a hero from a disaster. A guy with wind powers like that causing a plane to crash is, well...

Conversely, Luo's parents were on the plane, and Dean needed to kill them for some reason, and got lucky that Cyan came out of it and fell into his clutches. It'd be interesting if the first time Luo got the name "Calamity" was after his parents died in a plane crash. Or at least that's related to my theory about what the Dean whispered to him: that Cyan is the only survivor of the crash where Luo's parents/guardian(s) died, and/or she's responsible for the crash somehow. Could be something entirely different (based on what I've seen in comments on official vids on YouTube already, other folks are also having an idea like that).

The song she sings while she busks is up: Wishing by DAIKI (AWSM.):

Apparently folks are saying X was the guy who gave her the first coin? It's a funny idea anyway XD

The full My Color song:

Some of this making me think of Ranka Lee performing in Macross Frontier. Sad greenish-haired girls singing for their tragic artistic guy friends, with the hope of the world on their shoulders, with haunting songs.

The blonde guy at I assume DOS looks like the secretary(?) for Old E-Soul (and hey, he doesn't wear pink all the time, maybe!). Liu Zhen having a second boyfriend? Good for him. Dean kind of sucks, so he could use more options. Maybe more shitty options, given most everything we know of the hero system, but it's not like Liu Zhen is a saint anyway (after he, you know, contracted his underage child out for something).

Ken still reminds me of Athena Cykes from Ace Attorney mixed with Sonia from Pokemon lol Did DOS actually try to find Luo? Are they just leading Cyan along that they're doing it to make her work with them? Did Dean lie that Luo is dead to make them stop looking? Lot of questions. I'm also curious what heroing exactly Cyan is doing. Is her concert money getting donated to charity? Or is it just more religious luck raising with a more corporate twist?

Poor Luo, trapped in that tiny room (though it's nice they bandaged his injuries and gave him a window, I guess; small blessings). And dealing with whatever dreck Dean told him. Now the question is if he caused the zombie(?) infection thing or if Dean did it. Is he controlling Dean or is Dean controlling him?

I hope Cyan helps save him and they're just free.

Great episode! Looking forward to Episode 10!

Looks like Liu Zhen and blonde guy are flirting some more, Luo(?) uses his power more, and Cyan gets some transformation archery skills. Hope she doesn't kill Luo. Though rewatching her character PV, I am not confident. If nothing else, doesn't seem like he survives this.

More thoughts:

Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9 (You are here), Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16

[thebiscuiteternal]

itunes has started doing this thing where when you sync your ipod to your computer, if you don't already have an album image uploaded, it will try to find it for you.

in theory, this isn't a bad idea.

the issue is that it works entirely off artist name, and is especially inept at it when it comes to soundtrack composers.

so far in my library, I've found:

Danny Elfman : Nacho Libre (actual soundtrack: Nightmare Before Christmas, Meet the Robinsons, Wanted (yes it put the same album cover on multiple))

Bear McCreary : Outlander (actual soundtrack: Battlestar Galactica)

Yoko Kanno : Cowboy Bebop (actual soundtrack: Macross Plus)

Jeremy Soule: Skyrim (actual soundtrack: Guild Wars 2)

Alan Silvestri: Lilo and Stitch (actual soundtrack: Cosmos)

[x0401x]

Hello....Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

I've been asked my top 10 before, but never from all of the media I love and I've never been asked to elaborate on why I love them. Not to mention that the list changes as I watch/read new stuff, so it's good to update it. Then again, I don't watch live action that much, so I'm afraid it's gonna be all animanga/books, if you don't mind.

I must say, though, that it was impossible to decide on 10 this time around. So I resorted to listing my top 5. The list is in no particular order, by the way.

1. Kuchiki Rukia

So this one was an instant fave and I don't even think I need to explain much. Badass, kindhearted, A+ sense of humor. Just checks all the boxes. Also love her unique character design.

2. Gilbert Bougainvillea

I strictly mean the book version of him. Gil was one of the very few fictional characters to ever surprise me. I love how unapologetically emotional he is and how he's always making sure the people he holds dear get to live a happy life. The way he's such a "family and friends first" kinda guy and yet nobody seems to realize it simply because he looks like the aloof type is bitterly relatable for me. Also the way he acknowledges how unfair life is for him despite being brough up in an environment that, in theory, had everything to meet all his needs, and yet tries to make the best of it all. And my God, the amount of Respect Women Juice that this guy drinks. Goals as a human being, tbh. (Yes, the books are that different from the anime.)

3. Oikawa Tsurara

I normally don't vibe all that much with characters like Tsurara, but she quite literally opened new horizons for me in fandom. Imagine the dumb, clingy servant girl stereotype turned upside down. You start out fearing that she'll fit into the Mold TM, and before you realize it, she's risen to become an upper officer in command of two clans and is endgame with the protagonist (with three more guys pinning after her). Except this isn't a Cinderella kind of journey; she was always treated by her love interest as an equal and was always portrayed as having immense potential. Her jealousy of her rivals seems comical but is actually valid, as her suspicions always hit home. She's smart and strong and not at all delusional, and the story makes sure to give her a steady growth. She never becomes overpowered, but the protagonist only gets to that level because of her.

4. Takigawa Masaki

Again, book version. Motherfucker just be casually defying every god in existence because y'all can't just try to kill my disciple like that, what the actual fuck. The "Catch These Hands" priest, because he'll punch the shit outta whoever gets between him and the little bitch who tried to harm his students. And then he'll fuck into his shrine in the middle of the woods like nothing happened. His main occupation, however, is to be hot as hell. Truly an icon.

5. Sheryl Nome

Same as with Tsurara, I normally don't vibe much with characters like Sheryl, but holy fuck, the amount of respect I have for this woman. Macross is a franchise that specializes in taking archetypes and tropes and subverting them completely, and Frontier is my favorite because the character handling in this thing is good fucking food.

Sheryl has such an attitude but she can back it up. And she does it in ways that are charismatic, rather than annoying or bitchy. She absolutely never puts herself down and is never portrayed as actually fragile and inoffensive on the inside. The narrative gets points too for never going "she's amazing but she won't ever be as good as the protagonist". And she's cute, sure, but she's also dangerous and is out there to get what she wants. Yet there's so much heart to her. So much passion and admiration for all things alive and for connecting with them through music. She usually only does what she wants but is so ridiculously selfish with the people she cherishes. Easily one of the most extremely complex and absurdly cool femme fatales in animanga.

[vldunchartedregions]

I see all these comments and notes about changes with Allura and Lotor and Keith and Lance, but where's Shiro in all this? One of my biggest grievances about s7-8 was how they seemed to strip him of his personality and turn him into a bland leader, and it was thought that they might've cut some of his more personal interactions with the team. Does this have any basis in reality?

Hello! Thank you for the question.

This question... is a loaded one and more complicated than one realises.

If you're unaware, Shiro has an complicated history in the corporate realm of developing Voltron: Legendary Defender.

He was meant to die after Season 2.

He was the mentor character; a vehicle to progress a leadership narrative for Keith. That's why he talks about dying in various moments throughout VLD.

Very Gurren Lagann (Simon & Kamina, anyone?)

It didn't happen due to him being the most popular character and they needed to sell more toys.

They even made a joke about it in S4E4: The Voltron Show.

Coran freaks out and tells him they're never letting him go. He's the most popular character.

So TL;DR: They tried to kill him again post Season 6. He truly had no purpose originally past Season 7. The many arcs he had (including the Kuron arc) were resolved already.

He was literally in a coffin in S7E1: A Little Adventure, while the gang tried to find a way to get him to wake up after his Clone body starts to disagree with him.

In one of the drafts apparently as spoken to on the Afterbuzz TV Podcast, the Showrunners wanted to see Allura progress into his commandeering position once Earth and the Atlas came into play. Shiro's current role from S7-8.

Nope. Not allowed.

So, they were able to integrate him in a very impactful way into Season 7 in the final battle, were able to give him a greater purpose in order to save Earth, and we did have some sweet moments in Season 8; Clear Day being one of them.

He played a quintessential role in Season 8 at the commander of the ATLAS, but he did have another core purpose, and of course, this was a mentor role.

Someone to guide the way for others.

Boom.

He was a vehicle for another subplot: The Love Triangle™

Claudia is a character from Macross / Robotech, who lost their Fiancé; a fighter pilot.

Claudia comforts Hikaru, who was just broken up with by Macross Idol, Lynn Minmay, and is currently stuck in a love triangle between her and her childhood friend now supervisor, Misa?

Time to blow your mind.

Both photos were taken by a Beezer equivalent robot, same beep and boop sounds.

Don't believe me? Watch here from 10:20

Sound familiar?

The VAs even mentioned there was a scene between Lance and Shiro that made everyone in the booth cry. We don't ever see this scene as far as we're aware.

The love triangle subplot was cut for the most part, so the mentorship scenes he was meant to have purpose and intent for? The sole reason they instilled the Adam storyline and his death in the first place?

All cut.

TL;DR: He did have a greater purpose to the plot of Season 8, however it was for the most part cut. Boo.

Thank you for the question.

[honeyspeeches]

Man fan theories are so crazy they can make you rewatch a show you renounced 7 years ago because it rekindled your love for its potential.

[anthurak]

Alright! To answer these in order:

Yeah, I think it’s actually very plausible that we see something like this. Admittedly I’m not sure how plausible it is that we see all of Asticassia relocated to the Delta Colony (though it is possible lol). However I think it is very easy to imagine our heroes (Suletta, Miorine, Earth House and the later GUND-Arm Inc) setting up shop there (Miorine definitely brings her greenhouse lol) and the Delta Colony becoming a kind of overall home-base for the game’s cast.

Okay, I’ve never heard of this before and on the surface it does feel like a bit of a stretch. Buuuttt this kind of obscure, deep-cut reference is EXACTLY the sort of thing SRW games do all the time (particularly with a returning, veteran series like G-Gundam), so I can certainly call it plausible :D I imagine it likely wouldn’t be something the game adapts directly, but rather uses as a reason to (as you put it) have Allenby at Asticassia, befriend Suletta and generally more tie those plotlines together.

Alright, so the funny thing is; we get these kinds of ‘Character A has to shoot down Enemy B’ objectives ALL THE TIME in SRW games XD. Like I have no doubt that the stages involving Suletta’s duel with Guel and later Elan will include a ‘Suletta must shoot down Guel/Elan’ as a victory condition. Though one interesting thing is that these sorts of objectives also show up as Bonus Objectives on stages (they’re called SR Points) or even as hidden requirements for unlocking secrets. Like I imagine Chuchu getting the kill on Shaddiq probably won’t be a victory condition, but will VERY likely be the ‘SR Point Requirement’ for that stage. And if Chuchu’s Demi Barding is a secret-unlock, then her getting that kill will likewise probably be one of the requirements.

Maybe? Like I said, I can definitely imagine the Macross Delta Colony becoming the collective Home Base for the game’s cast. And from what I’ve heard, it sounds like Majestic Prince’s school isn’t nearly as large as Asticassia, so them relocating wholesale feels more plausible. Or heck, maybe that school is already part of the Delta Colony in this version? As for Team Rabbits joining forces with Earth House, that’s one of those things I think we could see, but also can’t think of anything that would specifically point to that. The crossover interactions can go any number of ways in these games.

So I’d thought I’d do a bit more theorizing/speculation on how we might be seeing Super Robot Wars Y handle/adapt Gundam Witch From Mercury. Particularly for anyone unfamiliar with SRW games but might be curious to see Suletta and co. pal around and kick ass with various other giant robot pilots.

To begin with what is actually a pretty major change for G-Witch’s story; there is almost certainly NO way that Suletta and co. will actually be hanging around Astecaccia for any extended length of time. For those unfamiliar with SRW games, the general thru-line of the story has the various casts of character traveling around on a spaceship or three to various locations to adapt various parts of their individual stories. Which can often mean massively changing the locations of many events. Which means that nobody really every stays put in one place for too long.

If I had to guess how we might see this play out; I imagine our Original Generation Main Characters visit Astacaccia along with their initial cross-series allies (given that G-Witch is THE big debuting series for Y, this will definitely be happening very early in the game) right around the time Suletta starts attending. Heck, Suletta might even be hitching a ride with the MCs and get a chance to help them out in an unrelated battle or two even before the proper start of her series. Either way, this gives the player the chance to play out Suletta’s first duel against Guel and ensuing engagement with her future wife, with the rest of the cast as audience.

Following this, I imagine our MCs and their allies get involved in the ensuing fracas of Suletta getting arrested, as well as likely getting involved with whatever shenanigans go down in Suletta’s second duel with Guel.

And following that, I imagine we’ll see Suletta properly join/be inducted into the growing ‘save the world’ team of mecha pilots quickly forming around our MCs. Probably at the ‘suggestion’ of Prospera. Suletta is also at first worried about what Miorine might think of all this, but Miorine takes one look at an excuse to leave Astacaccia and maybe even go to Earth and basically goes ‘FUCK YEAH! When can we leave?’ They also somehow rope Earth House in to go with them as Suletta’s support team.

Now this raises the interesting question of how exactly the subsequent duels will be played out?

Well I imagine we are going to see the other duels against Elan and later Team Shaddiq happen ‘on the road’, with any prospective Holders having to essentially track Suletta down wherever she might be with her new team in order to challenge her. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see either or even both of Suletta’s duels against Piel and Grassely get folded into other ongoing plotlines, such as G-Gundam’s Gundam Fight. In particular, I have to imagine Shaddiq’s Team-Duel is going have at least a few additional twists, given how unlike in canon, Suletta is going to have several, VERY capable friends and allies to bring into that fight.

Heck, we could even see additional challengers and duels for Suletta. Like maybe we see some of those nameless jobbers from the opening slaughter-montage of Season 2 make some early appearances? Whereas Elan and Shaddiq get dedicated stages for their duels, maybe these guys just show up as elite mooks in some other random stage to challenge Suletta? Which in turn could lead to fun interactions like these challengers getting taken out by your other pilots because Suletta really doesn’t have time for a duel at the moment.

By a similar token, I imagine the events of G-Witch’s Season 1 finale will likely be tweaked and retooled a fair bit. Now don’t get me wrong, the broad strokes of the season finale will almost certainly remain the same: Suletta and Miorine having their big love affirmation moment before getting separated by an attack, Suletta debuting Aerial Rebuild and battling it out with Sophie and Norea, Miorine being reunited with her father only to see him get gravely injured, ‘The Slap’, I think we’re definitely going to be seeing all of those in one form or another.

Rather, I imagine the backdrop and framing of all those events are likely going to be changed up a fair bit. As in, folded into a few other major story events from both the OG plotline and probably one or two of the other mech series’. Basically, Witch from Mercury is pretty assuredly going to be one of the main, central plotlines of SRW Y, so I’d say it’s a very safe bet that Suletta getting her big mid-season upgrade is likewise going to be a major event tying into multiple other plotlines.

Like I mentioned that we’ll still probably see Suletta battle Sophie and Norea, but honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if Aerial Rebuild’s debut has her and Suletta throwing down with the main OG Rival and/or Big Bad. Or at the very least, said OG villain gets to be the demonstration dummy for Aerial’s new GUND-BIT Cannon.

Finally, given that SRW Y seems to only be including Season 1 of G-Witch, I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up seeing some story and character elements actually get expanded on in ways that didn’t happen in the show. Just the fact that we will certainly be seeing traveling and seeing Earth in detail, particularly considering the overlap with G-Gundam, gives a LOT of potential. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a Super Robot Wars game has done something like that.

[futa69]

You're already a fan of the ancient astronaut theory.

Here's a list of books, movies, TV shows, and video games featuring ancient astronauts. (revised)

▪︎Edison's Conquest of Mars (1898)

▪︎The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

▪︎Analog Science Fiction and Fact (1930)

▪︎At the Mountains of Madness (1931)

▪︎Childhood's End (1953)

▪︎Forbidden Planet (1956)

▪︎Quartermass and the Pit (1958)

▪︎The Twilight Zone (1959)

▪︎The Sirens of Titan (1959)

▪︎The Flintstones (1960)

▪︎Doctor Who (1963)

▪︎Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964)

▪︎Known Space (1964)

▪︎Star Trek (1966)

▪︎2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

▪︎Chariots of the Gods (1968)

▪︎The Bible & Flying Saucers (1968)

▪︎Horror Express (1972)

▪︎Rendezvous with Rama (1973)

▪︎Land of the Lost (1974)

▪︎The Spaceships of Ezekiel (1974)

▪︎The Outer Space Connection (1975)

▪︎Space: 1999 (1975)

▪︎The Sirius Mystery (1976)

▪︎The Earth Chronicles (1976)

▪︎Star Wars (1977)

▪︎Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

▪︎The Manna Machine (1978)

▪︎Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

▪︎Battlestar Galactica (1978)

▪︎Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978)

▪︎Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

▪︎Alien (1979)

▪︎Hangar 18 (1980)

▪︎Valis (1981)

▪︎The Thing (1982)

▪︎Xevious (1982)

▪︎Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982)

▪︎The Transformers (1984)

▪︎Cocoon (1985)

▪︎Bio Booster Armor Guyver (1985)

▪︎The Legend of Zelda (1986)

▪︎Predator (1987)

▪︎Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

▪︎Red Dwarf (1988)

▪︎The Gods of Eden (1989)

▪︎Moontrap (1989)

▪︎Spriggan (1989)

▪︎Total Recall (1990)

▪︎Babylon 5 (1993)

▪︎The X-Files (1993)

▪︎Stargate (1994)

▪︎Neon Genesis Evangelion (1994)

▪︎Fingerprints of the Gods (1995)

▪︎Encounter with Tiber (1996)

▪︎Final Fantasy (1997)

▪︎Earth: Final Conflict (1997)

▪︎The Fifth Element (1997)

▪︎Space Island One (1998)

▪︎Naked Pictures of Famous People (1998)

▪︎Dilbert (1999)

▪︎Futurama (1999)

▪︎Star Ancestors (2000)

▪︎Mission to Mars (2000)

▪︎Halo (2001)

▪︎Ice Age (2002)

▪︎Alien vs. Predator (2004)

▪︎The Orion Zone (2007)

▪︎Mass Effect (2007)

▪︎Assassin's Creed (2007)

▪︎Outlander (2008)

▪︎Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

▪︎Marvel Cinematic Universe (2008)

▪︎Spore (2008)

▪︎Knowing (2009)

▪︎The Fourth Kind (2009)

▪︎Ancient Aliens (2009)

▪︎Borderlands (2009)

▪︎The Great Airship of 1897 (2010)

▪︎Dark Void (2010)

▪︎The Ancient Alien Question (2011)

▪︎Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

▪︎Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

▪︎Paul (2011)

▪︎John Carter (2012)

▪︎Prometheus (2012)

▪︎Iron Sky (2012)

▪︎Man of Steel (2013)

▪︎Beyond the Sky (2018)

▪︎Resident Alien (2021)

▪︎Moonfall (2022)

▪︎Prey (2022)

▪︎65 (2023)

[velvetvexations]

I've never understood how battlesuits are supposed to resemble anime mecha aside from drones being similar to bits. Having said that, I think you're missing that while anime was very niche back then, wargaming was as well, and sci-fi wargaming geeks were likely to be some of the geekiest people ever. It was entirely possible for there to be overlap.

The real question isn't if anime was popular enough with the general public, it's if mecha anime was popular enough within those niche circles. If there was a large gap between design and release, that would seem to rule out Gundam, which did not arrive in the West until 2000.

Gunbuster and Neon Genesis Evangelion were out in the 90s, but they're super robots and I don't think there's much trace of them in the Tau, although either of those still could have given them the idea to go for giant robots just as Tomino was influenced by super robot shows when he made Gundam. Patlabor was released in America in 1998, but I don't think it set the world on fire or anything.

I actually think a really good theory for anime influence on the Taus is Bubblegum Crisis:

It was released in the West in the early 90s and the aesthetic of the "hardsuits" are definitely evocative of Tau "battlesuits," or at least more so than anything in Gundam.

But there is at least one real robot series that made it to the US way before anything else: Macross, or rather, Robotech.

RoboTech was hugely popular in the West, or at least it was by the standards of anime at the time, and had several comic book adaptions and sequels throughout the 90s. And just look at that monoeye!

I'm always fascinated when someone at the club rants about "how they just invented T'au to cash on them anime weebs", completly oblivious to the time and culture of their creation. So T'au came out first in 2001, and were obviously conceptualized some years prior, which puts them into the late 90s in their original design. This is slowly hitting "the majority of the populance has no relevant internet access whatsoever" levels of "barbaric analog ages".

So imagine where GW sits in the late 90s - its a small studio somewhere in England barely coming to touch with the first elements of the internet, with the most dominant medium being television which... is not really about "exotic" shows from the other end of the world? Those get ported over when they have proven to be a hit in their own country mostly.

And without the internet as we know it today, the anime community just... did not exist. You have to understand that the whole concept of online anime culture centred around piracy, fansubs, fanart, and the creation of the term "weeabo" was a mid-to-late 00s thing, and it took almost another decade before "weeb" was somewhat reclaimed and no longer an online-slur.

There was a whole generation that grew up with (often horribly localized) japanese shows on TV (Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon) which came over with some delay to their release in Japan. By the time this generation came to congregate into online spaces and form any sort of fan-identity and culture, the T'au and their battlesuits had already been a design over a decade old.

"But wait isn't Gundam from the 70s"? Yes, that is totally correct. However, this is the one glaring mistake people make: you cannot compare modern day media content circulation around the globe to the analog ages. Those of us who remember these barbaric analog times know how it was: you just did not know stuff existed. If it was not in the newspaper or on the telly, it might as well not exist unless you knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy.

Sure, the Internet was slowly becoming a thing that found widespread use, but it would still take a while - not to mention the technical limitations. No streaming episodes. You start the download (if you can find someone who hosted the file of a series you had to know even existed first) somewhere around lunch, to hopefully get something to watch in the afternoon. Oh and also that blocked the household's phone-line and if the download cancelled for whatever reason then it was back to square one. Under such conditions, the online community we know today could simply not exist, as the alternative was importing stuff from the other end of the world for quite the money, or hoping a really shoddy localized VCR-tape ended up at your Blockbuster-equivalent.

Of course there was anime before that time, even those regarded absolute classics in the west, but those mostly achieved that rank over here in retrospective. When in the late 00s people wanted to watch stuff and had the ability to do so they shared what was considered "the classics" first (shared to the best of their ability with one episode cut into 5 parts on youtube with sometimes very questionable subtitles).

So even if we assume there was someone at GW in the 90s who was a total "proto-weeb" and Gudam-fan, there was literally no reason to "make knock-off Gundams" because the miniscule western wargaming audience SIMPLY DID NOT KNOW THE STUFF.

You can't make a marketing ploy to reference something your average consumers have never heard off. If anything, the creation of the T'au as a robotic-centred faction was inevitable: they needed a design that could hold their own in the setting, but Necrons hogged the full-robot niche, Imperials were weird cyborgs, Orks the "madman-scrap-tech", and Nids the "biotech". The only thing left here was "not full robot but also very clean and efficient" - and just like that, the Battlesuits and Drones were born.

It was only in later years when the Internet had come into full swing where they decided to go full-suit with releases such as the Riptide, but if we talk about the OG design of T'au and the first decade? Nothing to do with anime or "fishing for weebs". The fish would not be coming to that spot for almost a decade, and it would take a bit more before their numbers were plentyful enough to make it worth casting a line out.