Not necessarily... Macross Delta Gaiden: Macross E presents Var syndrome as something that wasn't completely unfamiliar, but didn't have a known countermeasure when the first Tactical Sound Unit was formed in 2062. It may not have been a galaxy-wide pandemic before that, but we know from the last few episodes that the apples that cause the syndrome were commercially available in the galaxy for decades.Areku wrote:I see. That's about when I'd expect them to start the TSU, as it's a countermeasure against the Var that we now know couldn't have been a problem before the end of Frontier.
Apart from an apparent hint that they may either be working with, or cribbing the notes of, the Critical Path Corporation from Macross VF-X2, we've had pretty much nothing about their backstory so far beyond that they've worked with Roid and company to restore the Sigur Valens and enhance the song shrine's abilities and provided the Draken III fighters the Aerial Knights use.Areku wrote:It occurs to me that the more relevant question for me to ask is: What do we about the Epsilon Foundation and their activities? I'm particularly concerned with their activities through the past decade, especially in the year between the end of Frontier and the Windermerian war of independence. Also, do we know of any involvement between their companies and either SMS or Kaos (beyond what Ep.19 mentions)?
(The hint is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing, one of the technicians working to repair Heinz's song shrine mentions one of its components is a Zauberflote system... a fold quartz-based fold wave communication and amplification system that was developed by Critical Path and used as the basis for the Sound Jamming System that gave the VF-X Ravens a LOT of grief by disabling missile guidance across whole battlefields.)
It seems highly probable that Windermere and the Epsilon Foundation had a pre-established working relationship when the War of Independence started... otherwise Windermere would never have had the resources to give the NUNS a hard time. The previous Windermerean main fighter, the Sv-154 Svard, is likely one of theirs as well.
Sort of. You might say it's more a spiritual connection than a direct and literal one, given that the Sv-51's developers would be easily pushing 80 at the time the Draken III was completed.yazi88 wrote:So I guess this newest ep kind of told us that the Draken's engineers/designers were leftovers from the re-unification war's SV-51? That might explain the model number then, unless I read that the wrong way.
The Anti-Unification Alliance formally dissolved in 2008 at the end of the Unification Wars, and its former constituency was wiped out in the explosive conclusion to the First Space War. Some of the development engineers who'd worked for the alliance on the sly were able to quietly reintegrate themselves into the pro-UN Government manufacturers and survive, nurturing resentment against the UN (and later New UN) Government. Those malcontents, and various other unscrupulous individuals, sometimes collaborated with (or defected to join) the anti-government groups that made a stand against the (New) UN Forces, helping develop new variable fighters for those rebel groups.
You could say it's that "school" of designers that supported the development of the Sv-262 Draken III and in so doing made it a nominal successor to the original Sv-51 and Sv-52. It seems like the Sv designation may no longer refer to Sukhoi as a manufacturer, but rather any anti-government faction's VF design.
Curiously, until now the distinctive hallmark of their design process was capturing the latest UN Forces fighter, reverse engineering it, and using its technology as the basis for a new VF with greater proportions of Zentradi overtechnology. One has to wonder if that's actually changed... other than the visual aesthetic. Their Variable Glaug was based off of a stolen VF-4 Lightning III and the resulting aircraft was a 3rd Generation-equivalent. The Feios Valkyrie was based off a stolen VF-11 Thunderbolt III, and was a 4th Generation-equivalent. Given its proportions and GERWALK-mode shape, I have this nagging suspicion the Draken III is based off a captured Nightmare Plus.