Macross Frontier



"Gorgeous, delicious, deculture!"

The latest entry in the popular Super Dimension Fortress Macross franchise, which concluded Japanese airing on September 24, 2008. 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) It even spawned two movies (see below).

The story is set in 2059 aboard (and in the space surrounding) the titular Macross Frontier, one of the many colonization fleets heading from Earth towards the centre of the galaxy in search of a new home to settle. However, 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 them; 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 Fairy".

The stories of these three intertwine amist the Vajra attacks on the Macross Frontier, slowly revealing dark conspiracies 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...

A movie version was announced at the airing of the last episode of the series. It was initially expected that it would largely be a clip show of the series with some new scenes, similar to Macross Plus, but as the project developed it eventually became more of an Alternate Continuity retelling that was split into two movies. The first, The False Songstress, was released in November 2009 and covers the range of episodes 1-7 in the series, including numerous new and altered scenes as well as several new songs. Some scenes were altered quite drastically. For instance,. The second movie, The Wings of Goodbye, was released on February 26, 2011. .

Oh, and they also made the battles even more awesome.

Please contribute to the Character Sheet!

Note: Refrain from calling Word of 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 For a general overview of the fake interviews go on the Trivia page.

This show provides examples of:
 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Brera's relatively small combat knife-sized Blade Below the Shoulder cuts a hydra roughly the size of a tiger in half. Lengthwise.
 * Ace Pilot: Nearly all the SMS crew are a cut well above the typical UN Spacy jock; Ozma, Mikhail and Klan stand out above everyone else at the start of the show.
 * A Cup Angst: Ranka at the Miss Macross contest.
 * Adaptive Ability: The Vajra.
 * All There in the Manual: Following normal Macross procedure most of the extra information can be found in the supplemental materials, like novels, manga and Drama CDs which include extra information such as what happened to Sheryl's parents, and when Alto started to taking flying lessons, also everything about Grace.
 * Alternate Continuity: Happened when the series made the jump to theatrical movies and retold the story of the series.
 * Animation Bump: The beginning and the end.
 * Another Centurys Episode: R and Portable
 * Arc Number: 25. The series celebrates the 25th anniversary of the franchise. Therefore, there are 25 episodes, the setting is the 25th Migration Fleet, the heroes pilot the VF-25, Ranka is one-fourth alien (25 percent) and the Macross-class ship is called the Quarter (also 25 percent); it also aired at 1:25 AM (or 25:25 as it appeared on Japanese TV clocks).
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Klan Klan to Mikhail... while he's in his fighter and she's macronized.
 * Also Sheryl to Ranka, to calm her down.
 * Later on.
 * At Arms Length: Mikhail does this to Klan Klan 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:
 * Played straight 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.
 * 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 Klan hanging out with Alto and Sheryl... and in order to be at eye level with Klan, the other two have to sit on a third-story balcony.
 * 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.
 * Attractive Bent Gender: Funnily enough Sheryl  in the second movie.
 * Autobots Rock Out: You know it. As a Macross there is plentiful battle set to J-Pop sung live by Idol Singers.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses: Done by Alto and, followed by Alto and  , and lastly Alto and , all in the Grand Finale.
 * Badass Adorable: Clan Clang. Alas, she has to go through a lengthy transformation process.
 * Badass Crew: The SMS crew.
 * Badass Longcoat: Brera Sterne gets one in The Movie. Yes, he was always Badass, but now he's Badass with a longcoat.
 * Beach Episode: Some elements were vaguely squeezed into Episode 10 of the series, but there's a much more traditional beach part early on in the second movie with every element except the part of it being an episode. Since it's, you know, the movie. Nevertheless, several amusing scenes with Bridge Bunnies in swim suits and Captain Wilder surfing, and even Ranka gets in on the Fan Service action (though she might have been trying to impress someone, so she had an excuse).
 * Beam Spam: The Vajra in the Grand Finale.
 * And The Movie upstages this in it's Grand Finale with no less than EIGHT Macross Quaters, a fleet of NUNS battle cruisers, and who knows how many Koneig Monsters all firing on the Vajra Queen.
 * 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 consciousness shared by each, as opposed to controlling them like mindless drones..
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: Sheryl and Alto in an odd way, their personalities are such that they seem to swap roles from time to time, but they typically default to Alto as the Jerk With a Heart of Gold and Sheryl as the Tsundere.
 * Up to Eleven with Mikhail and Clan.
 * Berserk Button: Commenting on Alto's feminine appearance, mistaking him for a girl, or calling him "Princess", played for laughs in the series.
 * Also: Do. Not. Steal. Sheryl's. Panties.
 * Big Bad:.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Everyone, at some point. Most notably and awesomely
 * The second movie
 * 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.
 * Actually, what appears to be a Bishie Sparkle for Alto is just him shaking water out of his hair. The effect remains the same, however.
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows: Possibly a subversion, as this occurs on Klan of all people, and only when she's micronized and four and a half feet tall.
 * Bilingual Bonus: Nearly everything written down in the show is written in English (despite the fact that the franchise is eternally locked in No Export for You past Macross Plus), though it's, of course, Japanese in dialog. Sheryl's mirror message to Grace in Episode 2 is written in French. One or two lines are actually in English.
 * Bittersweet Ending: Movie-verse only..
 * It's less bittersweet if you read Kawamori's latest interview in Animedia..
 * Confirmed Earn Your Happy Ending: This pic.
 * 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.
 * even more bizarre is the fact that the Vajra grow guided missiles inside their bodies as well as a small Wave Motion Gun.
 * BFG: Both Macross Quarter's Macross Cannon and the Koenig Monster's massive artillery cannons. See above link.
 * Battle Frontier and also sport impressive BF Gs.
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: Brera has a relatively small deployable knife.
 * Body Horror:
 * Boobs of Steel: At full size, Klan is significantly better endowed than the other Zentradi members of SMS. Guess who the ace is?
 * Boom Headshot: Inverted. Headshots don't kill Vajra, center of mass shots do.
 * Break the Cutie:
 * Bridge Bunnies: Of course. Monica, Mina, and Ram fill this role for SMS.
 * Bug War: Elements of this are Deconstructed as
 * 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.
 * Catch a Falling Star: A visual quote of a famous scene from Super Dimension Fortress Macross in episode 2.
 * Alto catches another falling star in a more traditional manner in episodes 1 and 8.
 * The Non Serial Movie does this a lot..
 * Chekhov's Gun: Hung aroung the walls in bunches. And still counting.
 * With Chekhov's BFG being.
 * Chekhov's Gunman:  VERY much so.
 * Chivalrous Pervert: Michael.
 * Chromatic Arrangement: Alto is blue, Sheryl is red, Ranka is green. Goes even for their hair mostly. Although Sheryl's strawberry-blond somewhat deviates, some of it still shows as pink, which is an acceptable substitute for red.
 * Clean Cut: A Hydra meets its end like this. Ew.
 * Cold Sniper: Partial, Mikhail can be pretty dispassionate while sniping.
 * Continuity Cameo: Wings of Goodbye has
 * 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
 * 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. Bobby refers to Basara as "Basara-sama."
 * She modifies it using the more appropriate "atashi" than Basara's "ore," though.
 * It doesn't end there in the manga it is explained that Alto's father knew Isamu in the past
 * When Luca unleashes, 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.
 * Blink and you'll miss this one: when Leon is talking to an unknown informant in the Macross Zero movie shooting episode, the Hydra is said to have come from a certain planet called Eden.
 * Speaking of Macross Zero, Sheryl Nome.
 * According to Kawamori, the VF-25's reporting name, "Messiah", comes from Minmei's song "Little White Dragon".
 * In the Movie, Klan and Mikhail use the "MM Jenius" formation.
 * In the Wings of Goodbye film, there is a brief cameo of a VF-19 joining the final battle, with its pilot heavily implied to be none other than the infamous Isamu Dyson himself.
 * Cool Car: Sheryl Nome's Ferrari California in Nyan Cli. It's a stick. As well as Ozma's Lancia Delta.
 * Couldn't Find a Pen: In the TV series, Sheryl is struck by inspiration while perusing a Zentraedi mall with Alto, and uses a tent-sized pair of panties as paper.
 * In Wings of Goodbye,.
 * 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!
 * Creator Cameo: The director of the Macross Zero movie looks a lot like Shoji Kawamori.
 * Cute Little Fangs: Ranka.
 * Cute Shotaro Boy: Luca. Very much so.
 * Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Averted and played straight.
 * It's painfully played straight in one of the drama CDs.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Ranka,
 * Alto also has a bit of one with his father and his former Kabuki career. Its more apparent in the movies when he talks about it with Ranka, where its a borderline Nightmare Fuel story of a Loss of Identity that verged on Critical Existence Failure.
 * Dark Reprise: Aimo O.C. and Ai Oboete Imasuka ~bless the little queen~. The former changes the lyrics to absolutely gut-wrenching effect. In the latter, the lyrics are hardly changed at all; the impact is all in how and where it's used.
 * A Death in The Limelight:
 * Deconstruction: Most Macross shows contain at least one time-relevant deconstruction, and for MacF that was Klan Klan, 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 . Of course, in episode 20.
 * Arguably, Ranka herself is a pretty fierce deconstruction of Moe, this may or may not come from the fact that even though Ranka was created to appeal to certain crowd,said crowd ended up being the fans that disliked her the most.
 * Did They or Didn't They? After episode 22 many shippers practically ripped their hair out trying to figure out
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: VF-25 Messiah and VF-27 Lucifer. Yeah...
 * Do Not Go Gentle: The opportunity to help save the fleet comes to.
 * 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.
 * It's also a plot point that Alto.
 * Dude, She's Like, in A Coma: in episode 24.
 * Ending spoilers (Movies): :.
 * Ending spoilers:
 * Earthshattering Kaboom: The Dimension Eater.
 * Ending Spoilers (Movies): :
 * Even the Guys Want Him: Ozma Lee
 * Ending Spoilers:.
 * Everything's 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: . At least partially.
 * Expressive Hair: Ranka, Word of God has it that this is a rare Zentradi trait.
 * Expy: Bobby Margot both looks and acts eerily similar to Bob from Speed Grapher.
 * Heck, they even share the same first name.
 * Falling Into the Cockpit: Deconstructed; here it's a bit more like a willing leap, and it's because Alto was in the area that the VF-25's pilot got killed in the first place. 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. Afterwards, when he was brought to the SMS base to explain what happened that led to Gilliam's death and he demanded to be given a Valkyrie when a scramble order was issued, Ozma socked him in the face and had him thrown out; it's only afterwards that Ozma offers him a chance to prove himself, and that involves Training From Hell and having to go toe-to-toe with one of SMS' best pilots before he is considered for pilot duty.
 * Utterly mocked when
 * Fan Service: Sheryl especially, though the other characters get their moments
 * The Movie gives Alto a Shower Scene, which probably earned a Squee from many a fangirl. It also has quite a Fan Service shot of Grace O'Connor of all people. The ante was certainly upped, but Sheryl's title as Ms. Fanservice remains quite secure.
 * Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Klan Klan is a deconstruction of this.
 * Fighter Launching Sequence: Numerous scramble sequences throughout the entire series, but to be fair, it's a series that's half about cool Humongous Mecha SpaceFighters, which probably makes every one of these fighter launch sequences a form of Fan Service.
 * First Girl After All: In the movies,.
 * First Girl Wins: Both Sheryl and Ranka count. Sheryl was introduced, Ranka was the first that Alto met. So whoever wins, it still the figurative "first girl."
 * In the Movies
 * Fluffy the Terrible: A mechanical exemple in the codename of the SMS' own Konig Monster (a mecha that whose basic ordnance is nuclear warheads, and is otherwise so powerful to be considered a weapon of mass destruction), Rabbit-1.
 * Freudian Slip: Alto makes one in Episode 22.
 * 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 Klan. Oh my GOD Klan Klan.
 * There is a unique version of this early in Episode 1 with a close up of Sheryl's cleavage as artificial gravity gradually changes from zero-G to 0.75-G.
 * Gambit Pileup:
 * Interestingly, the trope is just as present in the Non Serial Movie, but who Out Gambits whom is completely different.
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: in episode 20.  in episode 25.
 * Genre Savvy: Michel/Mikhail Blanc certainly seems to be - his comments to Cathy in Episode 17  point to this.
 * 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.
 * Giant Robot Hands Save Lives {Deconstructed. Awesomely.)
 * Glamorous Wartime Singer: Sheryl does some war recruitment advertisements/propaganda and dedicates some of her songs at concerts to the troops. . Sheryl goes to do this more traditionally to a Marine Regiment, but when she faints from illness, Ranka has to come in to sing instead, successfully causing Nosebleed.
 * 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
 * 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, 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.
 * Graceful Loser: after having thrown everything including the kitchen sink at the heroes, she gets to stare down the barrel of a VF-25's sniper pod long enough to realize what's coming next, and simply gives a resigned sigh of defeat.
 * Gratuitous English: Everywhere, usually on printed documents and signs, most of which are printed in English. Some spoken English as well.
 * A hilarious example is when Leon looks over some background papers, one of a random nobody, and one of Ranka Lee. Ranka's is brutally engrished as if someone had written it in Japanese and then used Google Translate for expediency and cost, while the other guy's is a copy and pasted perfect English Shout Out to jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie.
 * Groupie Brigade: Sheryl has one, and she often conceals her identity in public early on.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: 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.
 * Heel Face Turn: in episode 25. Justified
 * Hello Boys: Sheryl Nome in the first ten seconds of Deculture Edition, which was basically the test pilot episode for the series. I have two tropes for you: Barbie Doll Anatomy and Ms. Fanservice.
 * Heroic Resolve: Shown by multiple characters in the series, best exemplified.
 * Sheryl get's another on earlier in the movie.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * This particular one had a whole bunch of subtropes attached:
 * The second movie has
 * 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.
 * Hot Scientist:.
 * 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 Am Who?: A recurring internal conflict between Alto, Sheryl and Ranka.
 * 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 mis fortune 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: During 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:
 * I'm Taking Her Home With Me!: Ranka does this to Ai-kun.
 * Impossibly Low Neckline: Sheryl has an outfit like this in the opening credits for episodes 18-24. Yay Fan Service!
 * Incurable Cough of Death:
 * 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.
 * Instrumentality: The final goal of Big Bad.
 * It's 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.
 * Ending Spoilers (Movies).
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Alto and Michel/Mikhail/Michael/how-the-hell-EVER you want to spell his name both play this trope fairly straight, respectively demonstrating the Angsty Pretty Boy and Too-Cool Ladies' Man variants.
 * Killed Off for Real:
 * The Lady's Favour: Sheryl does this twice to Alto, the first when he and the SMS soldiers were sent to aid the attacked Macross Galaxy Fleet and the second before the Final Battle.
 * 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 Klan 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,
 * Les Yay: Sheryl and Ranka seem at least as into each other as they are into Alto. There is a reason that the Tenchi Solution seems viable to many fans.
 * Like You Were Dying:.
 * Limited Wardrobe: Many of the characters are never seen out of their school uniforms unless they're meant to suit up for battle (or the beach/pool).
 * Averted with Sheryl who seems to have an Unlimited Wardrode.
 * Living Ship: Vajra ships in general, since they're basically just bigger members of their race who can carry other, smaller members inside them.
 * Locked in A Freezer: Alto, Sheryl and Ranka in episode 3.
 * Loss Of Self: This is Alto's whole backstory. His coping with who he is is his personal plot line,.
 * Love Hurts: When Ranka sees Alto and Sheryl holding each other somewhat intimately, it absolutely breaks her heart (made more painful by the fact that she was about to confess her love to him). These emotions inadvertently end up calling the Vajra.
 * Love Triangle: A staple of the franchise, lampshaded by frequent triangle imagery throughout the series.
 * Lyrical Dissonance: The first opening, Triangular. Sounds upbeat and happy, but in reality it's about a girl who's being tortured by her lover's indecisiveness and throws herself at him in an attempt to not feel desperately lonely.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: Of course. The mecha in this series take this to the extreme. The full armored version of the VF-25 is armed with a whopping 210 micro missiles, with the option to carry four nuclear warheads.
 * Mad Scientist:, 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.
 * Mauve Shirt: Alto gets a couple new wingmen in Episode 23, one a Fan Boy of Sheryl Nome complete with Nose Art of her on his plane..
 * Meganekko: Nanase.
 * Meaningful Name: Alto Saotome. Alto means high and the deepest female classical singing voice. Saotome is also an important name in Kabuki.
 * Memetic Hand Gesture:
 * The "Kira~" gesture, coupled with memetic mutation.
 * The Nyan Nyan dance goes along with the Nyan Nyan song.
 * Sheryl's pose in the Diamond Crevasse single cover is something of a lesser meme, with an Affectionate Parody on a Lucky Star album. Also popular with Sheryl cosplay.
 * Memetic Badass: Machida, the only NUNS pilot that knows what "Transformation!" means. He's on screen for maybe 30 seconds in a single episode (in which he is Badass), and we never see his face (though he does get a Badass Boast), but his memorable moment transcends space and time like Chuck Norris such that any Red Shirt extra piloting a vehicle who does something Badass was clearly Machida.
 * Mind Control or maybe More Than Mind Control: Subverted somewhat, in that
 * Mid-Season Upgrade: Subverted by
 * But from the perspective of the NUNS pilots...played straight, as the basic 171 had become useless against the Vajra.
 * Moe Moe: Ranka is this to some degree. Klan also appears at first to be a moeblob otaku fetish object of a character, but she ends up being an absolutely brutal deconstruction of the type.
 * Ranka is also a bit of a deconstruction with the Moe points she has, though not to the extent of Klan. Namely, despite her cuteness, it does not stop her from making decisions that are less than impressive to some viewers.
 * Music for Courage: See the trope entry for details.
 * Non Serial Movie: Two of them, in fact. Unable to fit everything into a single movie, we get The False Songstress and The Wings of Goodbye set in an Alternate Continuity where things happen very differently.
 * Nose Art: A fair bit, and if you count the extra merchandise or the VF air show clip you get a fair dose of Type 3. Notable examples:
 * The Koenig Monster gets pinup girls, namely the show's Idol Singers. Ranka in the series, and Sheryl in the movies.
 * Ozma's VF-25 has the traditional skull of Skull Squadron painted on his Valkyrie (and his car).
 * Alto's Mauve Shirt wingman he acquires in Episode 23 is a huge Sheryl Nome Fan Boy, and has her painted on his VF-171EX.
 * The VF Air Show has a full dose of Type 3, with two Valkyries featuring full body paint jobs, one of Ranka and one of Sheryl (merchandising does this in several other versions as well for the inevitable scale model Vakyries).
 * No Transhumanism Allowed: Aboard Frontier; averted big time on the Galaxy colony).
 * It probably has something to do with this being set after the events of a certain OVA in the same universe.
 * Jossed, eh, Graced. In episode 15 she comments that Frontier is quite alone with such restrictions, and.
 * Nuke'Em: As the series progresses, nukes are the only thing able to hurt the Vajra.
 * Oblivious Adoption: Maybe-- Ozma isn't Ranka's real brother, but it's unknown if Ranka knows this.
 * Given Ranka's past,, this appears to be a given.
 * Of Corsets Sexy: Sheryl's Impossibly Low Neckline outfit that she wears in the last episode.
 * Old School Dogfighting: While clearly very aware of space and its properties in a lot of the technical specifications (such as Super Packs, designed for space and generally useless in an atmosphere due to all the drag it adds), visually it still looks like this as they're Doing It for The Art.
 * The only fighters that ever behave as if they're really in space are the and occasionally Brera's VF-27 Lucifer, both of which generally kicks everyone else's ass. The increased maneuvering is explained as being able to tolerate higher G-Forces.
 * Weirdly enough, Episode 13 appears to actually invert the trope. Brera's VF-27 dodges Alto's gun burst sideways in an atmosphere.
 * The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The voices that appear during.
 * One-Winged Angel: We were all thinking it when we saw in the last episode.
 * Opening Narration
 * Pastel-Chalked Freeze-Frame: Sheryl at the end of episode 24.
 * Phlebotinum Rebel:.
 * Pistol Pose: Sheryl gives one in her war propaganda commercial after she shoots you.
 * Playing Against Type: Kikuko Inoue playing... Grace!
 * Playing to The Fetishes: Oh God, Sheryl Nome in her Universal Bunny concert in The Movie. She french kisses HERSELF.
 * Her opening number in the second movie, "Forbidden Elixir" is loaded with enough suggestive lyrics and imagery to more than give Universal Bunny some stiff competition. Not least of which includes Sheryl practically being ravished by a gender-swapped version of herself.
 * Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: The photo of Ranka and her older brother that Alto finds inside the SDF-4.
 * Point Defenseless: Sometimes played straight, at other times averted. In Episode 7, a Vajra Carrier unleashes HUGE amounts of More Dakka, to the point where everyone says making a fighter run on it is suicide. Alto attempts it anyway . Later played pretty well straight as.
 * Subverted and played straight, with the Macross fleet. Ordinary escort ships can be seen shooting down the smaller yellow Vajra drones, but are completely ineffective against the red leader types. Macross Quarter downs a few reds but still needs Ozma to save the bridge from a point blank attack.
 * Post Episode Trailer: See you next deculture!
 * Power Armor: EX-Gears. While they don't exactly completely cover the wearer in armor, it does offer some protection, as well as amenities like Super Strength, Jet Pack with wings, Space Suit, Slave Interface to your Cool Plane, and even Roller Blades! Also your fist can break concrete. Come on, you know you want one.
 * Queadlunns also count.
 * Power Fist: More like a weaponized Power Aircraft Carrier, but later played semi-straight when . Don't you just love Point Barrier Systems? Especially fitting as . Presumably the fist of an EX-Gear is no joke either, as even Sheryl can do some serious damage to a wall (and eggs) with one.
 * 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.
 * Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Be scattered to the ends of the galaxy." Delivered by.
 * Private Military Contractors: SMS, among the type that have improbable access to the latest toys, justified.
 * Proud Warrior Race Girl: Klan, sort of. She's not always a raging berserker (although she does have her moments, especially after ), but she is very proud of her Zentradi heritage and does seem to enjoy pointing out Zentradi combat superiority whenever possible.
 * Rags to Riches: Part of Sheryl's backstory and can be taken quite literally.
 * Really Dead Montage: A short one,
 * Of course,
 * Real Robot: The various VF-series and others.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Klan/Michael, right down to color-coded mecha.
 * These two are also 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, whose shirt was so deeply red the producers never bothered to even give her a voice actress.
 * Redshirt 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,
 * Then played straight by Episode 17, as the NUNS becomes ineffective again. By Episode 23,, 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
 * Reprise Medley: In the final episode.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: The green, long-tailed, utterly adorable Panty Thief
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: . This is why humans needed Battroid mode.
 * Roboteching: Do we really need to explain?
 * Rule of Cool: The last episode has what boils down to  And it's Awesome.
 * Either that, or
 * Serial Escalation: The Movies. Oh Sweet Buddha, the movies take every thing from the series, which was Up to Eleven to begin with, and take that Up to Eleven.
 * Rule of Three: Averted and played straight. The New UN Spacy forces follow the mecha version of this trope to a tee, with fighters flying in three-man vics. The SMS forces however fly in four man flights similar to how modern air forces fly (making sure that each pilot has a wingman).
 * Sheryl Nome Is About To Shoot You: The Galactic Fairy takes up arms for her homeland!
 * Sensor Suspense: When unmanned probes are first launched to examine the Vajra threat, all that is visible is a 3D display of their progress, followed by their symbols suddenly stopping and changing to say "LOST."
 * Separated At Birth: Brera Sterne is Ranka's real brother.
 * Serenade Your Lover: Sheryl and Ranka both singing love song for Alto... at the same time. Provides the Love Triangle pic.
 * Sexy Discretion Shot: Episode 22.
 * Maybe.
 * Short Anime Movie: Mercilessly subverted. The movie became so long they split it into two movies, and they are at least two hours long a piece.
 * Shout Out: Several, to every series from the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross to Macross Zero; 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  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.
 * 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,
 * The whole concept of the villain being  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).
 * The ring that appeared over the bride and groom in Sheryl's concert in the second movie is the same ring that appear whenever the Shadow Angel attack the humans.
 * 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  in The End of Evangelion.
 * And there's a little matter of during the finale too, a shoutout to Sharon Apple manifesting as a gigantic hologram in place of the SDF-1 Macross itself.
 * Episode 17, amusingly enough, contains a Shout Out to Robotech:
 * Show, Don't Tell: The source of headaches for fans. Both the movie and series needed explaining.
 * Show Some Leg: Sheryl sneaks onto the bridge of the Macross Quarter. When asked how she got past security, cut to a shot of a very happy security guard with a Lipstick Mark on his cheek.
 * 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.
 * Shrug of God: Subverted if you have the blue ray version of the Macross Frontier, in the commentaries, Kawamori actually gives you plenty of hints on how the love triangle will end.
 * Shut Up Kiss:
 * Single Stroke Battle: Alto and Ozma do this in their space plane-robots.
 * Sinister Surveillance
 * Slap Slap Kiss:  do this in episode 20.
 * Sleep Mode Size: Klan Klan, 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.
 * Snow Means Love: Snow starts to fall on Alto, Sheryl, and Ranka at the end of the first movie.
 * Soap Opera Disease V-Type Infection:
 * So Happy Together:
 * Space Marine: Giant Zentraedi space marines at that.
 * Space Opera: Epic space battles? Check. Oversized heroes and villains? Check. Awe-inspiring places? Check. Insanely gorgeous women? Definitely check. Big love stories? BIG CHECK.
 * 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 (and pronounced in-series) at least three different ways on this page alone: Mikhail (Russian), Michel (French), Michael (English spelling in-universe).
 * A magazine scan rendered it Clan Clang.
 * Sheryl Nome suffers a different version of this. While the fandom knows what her name is, official sources are known for misspelling it. The Lion opening title erroneously writes her name as "Sheryl Noam". Some early artwork also had a habit of writing her first name as Cheryl, taking the trope to its direct equivalent. Her last name in the Lion opening title was eventually fixed in the Blu-Ray release, although the album art shown very briefly in episode 18 is still misspelled.
 * Spotlight Stealing Star: Sheryl accidentally does this in episode 8. Ranka has just changed school, Mikhail has just called her the star of the school and declared he, Luca, Alto and Nanase would show her the school... And Sheryl appears to take a look around and make poor Luca have less than pure dreams about her relationship with Alto.
 * She does it again at the end of the episode. After all, Sheryl was there just for a day, right? Wrong: she was looking around because she was about to.
 * Starfish Aliens: The Hive Mind known as the Vajra, though
 * Stock Footage: Some.
 * 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.
 * Super Prototype: The YF-29 from the second movie.
 * Super Robot Wars: Makes its debut in Super Robot Wars L. It also appears in Super Robot Wars Z 2, with the first movie making its debut (albeit only for the mecha) in Hakai-hen which is then replaced by the second movie's debut (again, only for the mecha) in Saisei-hen. On that note, Saisei-hen also has Macross 7, meaning we get to see Ozma actually meeting Basara.
 * Sure Why Not:
 * Ten Minute Retirement:
 * The Ojou: Sheryl.
 * Thematic Theme Tune: Triangular. There's a reason Macross Frontier has the trope pic for Love Triangle.
 * Theme Music Power-Up: Omnipresent. Whenever someone starts singing, expect Awesomeness.
 * Mercilessly subverted in episode 14:
 * Basically this is a sort of expected Deconstruction: since here music really can power up your side, a an off-show power-up just won't cut it.
 * The Power of Friendship: Alto seems to power-up his piloting skills when a friend's in danger.
 * The Show Must Go On: Alto's hotdogging during Sheryl's show causes Sheryl to fall into his arms. Sheryl promptly orders him to get flying, and works it into the show.
 * The Tease: Sheryl, especially with Alto.
 * The Thing That Goes Doink: In the courtyard of Alto's Big Fancy House.
 * The War Sequence: See above link.
 * The Worf Effect: Unsurprisingly, Klan tends to get kicked around a bit by both the Vajra and by Brera when he's
 * Thrown Out the Airlock: . And in the Movies
 * Together in Death: A variation on this in The Wings of Goodbye. The next line reveals who, broken up in case you just don't want to know because it's the resolution to the Love Triangle:
 * Ending Spoilers (Up to Eleven):.
 * To re-affirm that the triangle is fully concluded and over, the soundtrack for the movie is called "Wings of Goodbye - the END OF TRIANGLE".
 * This might have been Jossed. . This might make it qualify as an Esoteric Happy Ending.
 * Transforming Mecha: It's Macross. This is a given.
 * Translation Convention: Given all the English documents and text in the series, it's assumed that despite being produced in Japanese, English is the official language for the setting of the show.
 * Translator Microbes:.
 * 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 Alto.
 * Triumphant Reprise: Nyan-Nyan Service Medly during The Grand Finale. Tragic songs become much less tragic in this version and upbeat songs become basically Pure Awesome.
 * Trojan Horse:
 * Tsundere: Both Alto Saotome (Type A) and Sheryl Nome (Type B). Leads to interesting situations.
 * Klan counts as well.
 * Unlimited Wardrobe: Sheryl has this.
 * Unstoppable Rage: Ozma in episode 17, and especially Klan in episode 21.
 * Vapor Trail: Both inside the air-filled domes, and In Space.
 * Victoria's Secret Compartment: Sheryl drops Alto's talisman down her shirt in the 5th episode as "insurance" that he'll keep his word to find a missing earring of hers.
 * Also used to carry her cell phone in the movies, which possesses the ability to simply SWIM OUT when it goes off.
 * Villain With Good Publicity: In the movie, Sharon Apple is still considered to be in the same class as Minmei and Fire Bomber.
 * Voice of the Legion:
 * 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 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. Some are in the style of a...
 * Wave Motion Tuning Fork: Classic versions on the VF-27 and later the battle cannons on Macross Quarter in the movies, and finally the YF-29 in the second movie. Macross Quarter's BFG is something of a triple-pronged version.
 * Wham Episode: In episode 13, HSQ went off the scale.
 * Episode 13 is perhaps the first major wham of the series, being mostly notable because it definitively reveals the Big Bad. In addition,
 * Episode 18 represents a more personal wham episode for . The character is never quite the same afterward,.
 * 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
 * WHAM doesn't even begin to describe the ending of episode 24.
 * And episode 25 takes the cake.
 * Where I Was Born and Razed:
 * 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.
 * X Meets Y: It's Ender's Game meets... Macross (duh!).
 * You Are Not Alone: This is practically the mantra of The False Songstress,.
 * Your Days Are Numbered:
 * You Fail Biology Forever: is infected by an alien desease caused by bacteria, but what is shown is clearly a microscope shot portraying muscle tissue and viruses.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Attempted several times... and always failing
 * 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.
 * And episode 25 takes the cake.
 * Where I Was Born and Razed:
 * 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.
 * X Meets Y: It's Ender's Game meets... Macross (duh!).
 * You Are Not Alone: This is practically the mantra of The False Songstress,.
 * Your Days Are Numbered:
 * You Fail Biology Forever: is infected by an alien desease caused by bacteria, but what is shown is clearly a microscope shot portraying muscle tissue and viruses.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Attempted several times... and always failing
 * 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.