Sounds interesting; you've got some good ways to involve Sophie, Fine and Izetta to link your own stories onto the powerful engine of the main plot. You'll need to present characters with motives and personality, but character development needn't take away from the weapons development. I imagine you could make a mental sketch of each character before writing starts, then have them act in a corresponding way during the story? That was probably your idea already.

Tankettes seem a funny concept now, so these are very creative ideas.

Some an idea for potential Izetta fics- or really a set of one-shots rather than one coherent story in the works:

Admittedly this will probably be a set of scenes more focused more on a new Eylstadtian weapon battles and tactics than characterization, but here is an outline:

The main character is an officer (could make him anything from lieutenant to major) in the Eystadt Army's small armored division orders that the 37mm Puteaux cannons recovered from the destroyed FT-17s, as well as a few 20mm anti-tank rifles (i.e. the "standard issue" version of the rifle Izetta rides) be be fitted to a few Carden Loyd tankettes- a vehicle not seen in the anime, but was widely used by the pre-war Allies, so Elystadt having a few is plausible. As for the effectiveness of the Carden on mountain roads, I've heard conflicting stories- one Wikipedia article says it wasn't useful in mountainous terrain, another said it was used by Belgian mountain units. I'm just going to assume that it would work OK in Eylstadt/ the irl Tyrol given that the area is criss-crossed by narrow (some as little as two meters wide) mountain roads, both paved and gravel, that a narrow vehicle would be able to negotiate.

Essentially, the idea being that the area Eylstadt is based on is dotted by narrow mountain roads, both paved and gravel, so the idea being that the narrower Carden-Loyd would be able to drive on roads the Germanian Panzers couldn't. Essentially, the higher ups catch wind of the idea and decide to support it and contract the Einberger corporation to start converting Leichter Panzerjager Luchs ("Lynx" Light Tank Destroyer if I didn't murder the German language).

The Luchs itself would be a version with a better anti-tank gun than the Puteaux- perhaps either making the 20mm "Izetta special" standard, or a copy of the 47mm French... err Thermidorian... anti-tank gun as was used for the T-13 tank destroyer. Also, fitting with it's name, the Einberger-upgraded Luchs would be better equipped to move on snow, with broader treads (as seen in the M29 Weasel).

On another note, I am considering the designer of the Luchs to be related to- perhaps a second or third son of the Einberger Corporation owner who joined the military- plausible enough if he were either of noble ancestry or possibly simply in some sort of wave of Eylstadtian patriotism in response to the rise of the Germanians in the 1930s.

In either case, the scenes I was planning on writing involved an introduction scene of the Luchs, with at least Muller, and possibly, much to the designer's surprise, Fine and Izetta, making an appearance. With a possible photo opp idea from Elvera- i.e. Izetta hovering a few meters over a formation of them. Also some quote from Izetta herself, about how she can't win this alone, possibly leading to Fine speech about standing together etc.

The second scene would after Ep. 9, with a small unit of Luchs traversing mountain roads to attack German Panzers in the valley, then retreating into the cover of forested areas- concealing them from air attack, as part of a coordinated campaign with infantry and hidden artillery and mortar positions scattered throughout the mountains- the Germanians would rule the valley around Landsbruck and the Sellun corridor, but would not be able to dislodge the Eylstadtians- at least a fair number keep fighting after the fall of the capital- I'm assuming Fine escapes to somewhere in the mountains. Even if she doesn't and the anime shits all over this, this could be some sort of scene featuring a final pocket of resistance.

Yeah, I thought this one out a lot.

I also have an idea involving some of the last surviving Elystadtian fighter pilots making a final stand against the Luftwaffe as the paratroopers invade Landsbruck, possibly complete with one of them almost getting in a hit on Sophie, but her moving just as the pilot fires, meaning the bullets only graze her- but still having something similar to that "You bleed, therefore you are not a god" scene in 300 if you get what I'm talking about.

Also, the sort of mountainous guerrilla campaign would be also feature infantry using Molotov cocktails as per the Finns in the Winter War, as well as perhaps the improvised sticky bomb from Saving Private Ryan- explosives, a short time delay fuse, grease, and a sock.

I didn't want to hijack the Izetta thread with too much Macross discussion, but wanted to say a few further things on characterization in Frontier.



I actually feel that the "love triangle" aspect of Frontier's is sometimes overemphasized. Music, mecha, and love triangles are the traditional core elements of Macross. However, there's more to the relationships between the three leads in Frontier than just a love triangle.

One other thing I wanted to note about Macross -Shoji Kawamori (the main creative force behind the franchise) has stated that he considers the various Macross series in universe historical fiction. He's compared them to WWII movies and period dramas featuring interpretations of real life historical figures.

OK, if I get a lull in my schedule, I might discuss my Izetta idea. I also have some ideas for smaller "one-shot" Izetta fics. One idea involves Finé trying to convince Bianca to teach her how to use a gun, perhaps even having her appear at some sort of "Home Guard" type training program as another chance for a speech and photo op to cement her image as the strong leader.

Also, some ideas featuring normal Eylstadt soldiers. The one I have the best image of is a member of Eylstadt's small armored units, who comes up with the idea of arming Carden-Loyd tankettes (not shown in the anime, but widely exported in the pre-war, so plausible Eylstadt might have a few) with anti-tank rifles and light cannons (mostly the Puteaux 37mm- scavenged from the FT-17s destroyed at Coenenberg). The idea being to use the small tankettes on narrow mountain roads and in forests to ambush Germanian Panzers where they can't easily maneuver.