Shura oversees the construction of new Teshita soldiers while the captured civilians are set to work building a large circular structure. Satsuda, Yoshiko and Momoko rush to the aid of a collapsed woman, but the Teshitas force them away at gunpoint. Shura and Zol inform Draias that everything is set and the latter muses that once they complete the Devil’s Tower, all the negative energy in space will converge here and allow him to rule the universe. At the Amano Peace Labs, Kenta is helping repair the Space Police vehicles and asks what they will do next. The Space Police cheer him up and say that it’s their mission to defend Earth in its time of need. Katori decides to call for help and fires a distress signal into space. Hiroshi works well into the morning trying to figure out how to take out the Teshita’s main circuit and ends up discovering that he can do it with concentrated solar beams. With repairs done, the Guard team wants to head off and rescue the hostages, but Ace Baron insists that they need a plan of attack. Kenta checks on Hiroshi and the latter reveals that his Teshita Laser Exterminator will be ready in two hours, but he’ll need help from Katori’s incoming ally to launch it into space while the rest of the Space Police head to the US and buy time. Kenta plans to head out but Hiroshi tells him to stay and help with the launch. A mechanical monster brings Jango and the president to the tower construction site. Satsuda and several other men loudly proclaim that they’d rather die than serve Draias, so Shura orders the Teshitas to shoot them. However, Jango steps in and says they should make an example of them in front of everyone. The president demands that they kill him instead, so Jango has them along with Momoko brought up against a firing squad in front of all the civilians. Yoshiko demands to know why Jango is siding with demons, and the latter asks her if she wants to die along with the rest. As Draias revels in everyone’s suffering, the Space Police arrive and blasts the firing squad.
Satsuda has the president and the rest escape in the distraction as Draias combines into robot mode. Fighbird demands to know what Draias is building, but gets attacked by Shura and Zol’s mechanical monsters. Jango has the Teshitas round up the hostages and tells the Space Police that their resistance is futile. Fighbird offers up the Space Police in place of the hostages, and Draias has them all bound with energy rings as an offering to the Devil Tower. Hiroshi finishes his invention just as Kenta informs him that the Space Police were captured. They’re interrupted by the arrival of the fourth Guard team member: Guard Wing. Guard Wing isn’t terribly enthusiastic about helping but takes Kenta and the Teshita Laser Exterminator up into space anyway. Hiroshi quickly fires it up and bombards the US with solar beams, disabling all the Teshitas and destroying one of the factories. The hostages escape in the confusion just as Guard Wing arrives. He ejects Kenta and transforms into robot mode. Guard Wing quickly frees the Space Police, allowing Fighbird to take on Draias while the rest face Shura and Zol. Guardion and Guard Wing wreck the Devil Tower by knocking Zol into it and destroying his monster. Draias lashes out in anger but Shura tells him to retreat while he provides cover fire. Draias grabs Jango and escapes, but not before Fighbird finishes off Shura’s monster and forces him to eject. Guard Wing tries to chase after Draias, but Ace Baron tells him to stop. The president thanks the Space Police on behalf of the US as the freed hostages cheer, and Fighbird assures him that they will continue to fight for peace. Thunder Baron wonders what Draias was going to do with the tower, but Fighbird is just glad they were able to destroy it with Guard Wing’s help. Guard Wing retorts that he doesn’t need their help to defeat Draias before flying off.
This episode marks the introduction of a long running tradition in the Brave series: The addition of a fourth member to the combiner trio team. Guard Wing’s arrival was instrumental in the liberation of the US, even if he had to knock everyone over with his enormous ego and callous nature, which will surely cause some friction between him and the rest of the Space Police. I have to wonder though, why is he a skinny jet with a bulky undercarriage while the rest of the Guard team are sleek futuristic rescue vehicles? And where did he get that form in the first place? On the humor side, I like how Momoko keeps talking like she’s staring at a news camera and how she socks it to Jango the first chance she gets. This episode also introduces the mystery of the Devil Tower, which adds a bit of a supernatural element to Draias’ technological alien invader angle that we’ll be seeing again in the future.
Fighbird Info
Director:
Katsuyoshi Yatabe
Writer:
Yasushi Hirano
Mechanical Designer:
Kunio Okawara
Character Designer:
Hitoshi Ueda
Musical Composer:
Toshiyuki Watanabe
Format:
48 episodes
Airdates:
Japan 02.02.1991 – 02.01.1992
MAHQ is now officially on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mahqdotnet.bsky.social.
Our future on this cursed app is unclear, but expect more posts over there.
Cutaway diagram of the VF-1J Valkyrie Fighter Mode from “This is Animation Special: Macross Plus”(1995). Larger versions on my DA profile:
https://www.deviantart.com/marchly/art/Macross-VF-1J-Valkyrie-Cutaway-Diagram-detailed-973372931
https://www.deviantart.com/marchly/art/Macross-VF-1J-Valkyrie-Cutaway-Diagram-clean-973371729
Art by Kiyomi Tanaka. Original concept by unknown Macross fan. Image built by me
#Gundamn278; Next Episode! With our special guest, Sophia, we finally tackle the second half of the latest chapter of the #Gundam Franchise; #WitchFromMercury! Join us live on 07/20/2023 @ 10:15 p EDT! #MAHQ #Mecha #Anime #Podcast #G_Witch
Live Stream: https://youtube.com/live/fqw4pnuOYF4?feature=share
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