Reaction Weapon

System which diverts the enormous energy produced by Overtechnology-based thermonuclear reaction for use as a weapon. Protoculture had also formerly used similar systems, but because Protoculture stopped their use and production in the distant past, they are known as the "long-lost weaponry" among the Zentradi. By 2045, the term reaction weapon is used to refer to weapons employing pair-annihilation reaction by Overtechnology. Like the strict controls exerted on twentieth-century nuclear weaponry, permission by the highest authorities is neccessary for their use.

Production Notes: The intentionally vague "reaction" concept was used as an euphemism to avoid mentioning the words "nuclear weaponry" on-screen. According to Shoji Kawamori, the use of nuclear weaponry by the "good guys" was considered taboo by Japanese television stations. When it was noted to him that pair-annihilation reaction ("currently" being used in the Macross universe) is even more destructive than thermonuclear reaction, Kawamori observed that since pair-annihilation weapons don't exist (yet), there are no protestors.

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