Variable Fighter

• Various Variable Fighters from the Macross Timeline.
• Various Variable Fighters from the Macross Timeline.

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Variable Fighters (可変戦闘機, Kahen Sentōki, ヴァリアブル・ファイター Vuariaburu Faitā) are a type of mecha introduced in the Super Dimension Fortress Macross television series and feature in all works of the Macross Timeline. They are transforming mecha that were originally developed by humans using OverTechnology obtained from ASS-1.

History

The discovery of the Zentradi race —giant, humanoid aliens genetically engineered for military conquest— prompted the development of the variable fighters' Battroid mode by the U.N. Spacy. Although humanity hadn't yet met any Zentradi, the discovery of the SDF-1 Macross and its accommodations for humanoid giants justified the development of a weapon that could enable mankind to fight the aliens on their own environment (Battroid mode) on the ground (Gerwalk mode) and the air (Fighter mode). Thus, research into alien OverTechnology culminated in the development of the variable fighters for the U.N. Spacy.

They are capable of transforming from aircraft (Fighter mode) into humanoid robots (Battroid mode). Most (but not all) can also transform into an intermediate mode called GERWALK (ガウォーク, Gauōku, Ground Effective Reinforcement of Winged Armament with Locomotive Knee-Joint), similar to the Fighter mode, but with the legs and arms of Battroid mode, making it capable of flight, walking and using hand-held weapons that are accessible in the Battroid mode, GERWALK mode can also allow Variable Fighters to hover in low altitudes and land on unstable terrain. A lot of Variable Fighters are capable of spaceflight but not all of them are. Battroid mode is also known as "B-mode". (SDFM: "Countdown")

Variable Fighters are also commonly called valkyries, to honor the legendary mecha series used extensively during Space War I, the VF-1 Valkyrie.

Notes

Since the first TV anime series, each and every variable fighter for all the Macross productions has been designed by Shōji Kawamori (with contributions from Kazutaka Miyatake in some models). Only the variable fighter designs for Macross II were created by the creative team of Junichi Akutsu, Jun Okuda and Koichi Ohata, with no involvement from Kawamori.

External Links

• Master List of Macross Mecha

For the Robotech equivalent, visit Veritech.