Macross Delta Episode 2 : Hayate Immelman, Performance Autist

I try to do this on request and "My Buddy Cray" has requested further reviews of Macross Delta. So further reviews will be done! Episode by episode until requests cease or I do. I am shamelessly spoiling these, not that there is that much to spoil.

In Episode One you may recall a working class shlub was fired for having no particular interest in working and spent his last day with a big ol' bridge-burning-bonfire rescuing a stowaway manic pixie dreamgirl until a green man's brain turned red due to a mysterious song and thus a squad of green men went berserk with roidrage with their embarrassingly-slow-in-context chicken mechs only to be stopped by MUSICAL GIRL SQUAD who soothed the afflicted with mech fondling, holographic dancers, skimpy dresses and also some singing- only to be stopped briefly themselves by the Blowhard Knights of the Great Wind who attack for reasons presently unknown putting Musical Girl Squad into a tight spot requiring the judicious use of jet-panties.

Do you ever get a strange burning sensation in embarrassing places...

...and then you're flying? You may be wearing jet-panties.

This continues until Freyja, the Manic Pixie Dreamgirl, starts singing to help out Musical Girl Squad and drawing fire prompting a rescue by Schlub with the Mech-ex-machina, who promptly hallucinates and gets shot down.

Thus we rejoin the story as it is.

Manic Pixie and Shlub are in the process of falling to their death. Fortunately, a competent pilot has mistaken them for a military unit on their side and saves them- it's a member of Delta Squad they met before. What a coincidence. Said member cannot remember Schlub's name and asks but Schlub fails to reply as they have recently shit themselves and don't want to admit it.

"Hah, not the guy who stained this seat! That was the guy who abandoned a perfectly functional piece of military hardware for my convenience! Hah Hah!"

Anyhow, their rescuer sets them down and the Blowhard Knights having 'gotten the data they required' depart leaving Musical Girl Squad to finish deroidraging the Green People and flash gang signs while invoking their heathen Goddess.

Thug Life, PEACE.

After the battle the rescuer of Shlub tracks him down and he thanks her, Purple Haired Elf-Lady of Delta Squad responds by decking him and saying all of the boring rather sensible things one might of someone like Shlub. Things like 'You hijacked military equipment.' 'You could have gotten a lot of people killed.' blah blah blah.

This is the important part, and makes Mirage the Purple Elf instantly the most sympathetic character in the series thus far.
SHLUB DOWN!

Shlub's response is to criticize her flying as being off-beat during Musical Girl Squad's intro.

This counter is somehow effective.

Mirage seethes, states complaints should be directed to her superiors and leaves with her commander.

Meanwhile Pixie meets up with Musical Girl Squad who compliment her singing and say they look forward to seeing her on their base planet of Ragna. This of course utterly engorges Pixie's glittering head tentacle.

So, Musical Girl Squad blasts off to notice in reviewing the details of the conflict that Pixie's singing is especially roidrage-reducing. A full percentages more biofoldy. They also notice she's got that thing on her head, which marks her as Windermeerian, the same race as the Blowhard Knights.

Also the commander receives a file he requested on one Hayate 'Shlub' Immelman.

They cut away to the Blowhard Knights who are mad they were recalled from the last battle. They say things at each other and we learn one of them is named Roid which is rather unfortunate for them I think.

Shlub and Pixie are now on Ragna! How they got there is never explained, but Pixie is apparently the first to arrive and expresses surprise that Shlub is there as well. So... They wished themselves there?

Anyhow banter ensues and they wander the planet taking in such sights as the superultramegazord Musical Girl Squad is based in along with mer-cats and aggressive merchant children they steal a phone from.

Pixie gets special permission to audition for Musical Girl Squad and Shlub gets a request to meet the Commander. So naturally he slips away to casually explore a military facility that has precious little in the way of security. The leadership is very trusting. Indeed, perhaps too trusting...

I find fault in this 'Honor System' security of his, but he's intrinsically likable.

So, while Pixie fails the audition Commander Arad finally finds Shlub wishing he was an albatross. He's accompanied by one of his ace pilots who is reasonably unimpressed with Shlub. Nevertheless, Arad makes the offer.

My people tell me you are an aimless drifter- YOU'RE HIRED!

Arad babbles about tasting the wind a bit and risking one's life, prompting Shlub to show off how edgy he is by attempting suicide, intentionally falling backwards off of the UltraMechaZord. The Plot will not allow him to die, sadly, so a powerful gust of wind sets him gently back on top of the deck, impressing Arad even more than hearing about Schlub's past experience as a migrant worker.

Meanwhile Musical Girl squad holds a special audition for Pixie in which they simulate a Roidrage outbreak, trapping her in the equivalent of a subway car with a hulked out citizen who at least appears to kill a woman before... Patiently waiting for Pixie to start singing from her tactical fetal position on the floor.

Her singing works, or one of the other people babbles about numbers anyway and it turns out this was in fact the final audition and Pixie has Passed.

Yer a Musical Girl, Pixie.

Holograpic nanowozzles fuzzmicate her attire into the vital-for-singing impractical cocktail dress to Musical Girl Squad's accolades.

Meanwhile Shlub, who cannot die, recieves further high honors from Arad. Seems he's willing to fly for the super-elite Delta Squadron, but only if he doesn't have to follow orders and can play by his own rules. Which Arad allows.

I would like you to try picturing this with any air-force in a real-world nation.

"Hello I would like to join the U.S. Airforce's Thunderbirds, Commander."

"Get out." "Why of course Sir, do you have previous experience?"

"I drove a forklift and piloted an abandoned plane for a bit. It was fun."

"I'm going to have you escorted out."  "Flying IS fun. Wonderful, wonderful. You can start immediately."

"I hate the military though, won't take orders and expect to play by my own rules."

"Oh fuck off you hippy-dippy crackhead! How the hell did you even get IN- You know what, that's it, you're going to the lockup until you sober the fuck up or come down off of whatever the fuck you're on. I should fucking ship you off to goddamned Gauntanamo for wasting my time with this shit. You think we just hand out million-dollar war machines to wandering shitbags who ask- and to join THIS unit, with people who have spent their entire lives thus far mastering skills learned in the course of INTENSIVE traini-"

"Feel free."

And so Shlub pats one of the free-for-the-asking war machines while Arad silences his ace pilot who is reasonably baffled about why the hell his Commander not only lowered the bar, he dropped it on the ground and kicked it.

It then turns out this particular war machine is assigned to my favorite, Mirage the Purple Elf who sadly does not punch Shlub again, sufficing to growl at Shlub to get away from her plane.

So in summary, everything about this episode further makes it clear that Pixie and Shlub the Performance Autist are the Chosen Ones from whom Death Himself will flee.

On the bright side, he can be punched. Maybe it will happen again!

I would say this episode is best complimented with a good ten percent more alcohol and a viewing companion with even a fleeting exposure to any given military.

NEXT TIME