Sharon Apple

Sharon Apple

• Form 1
• Form 2
• Virturoid
• Design 1
• Design 2

Sharon Apple

Appearance

Sharon Apple manifests herself in multiple holographic forms. One iteration has her as a short orange-haired girl that appears curious and youthful. During concerts, she changes appearance several times, sometimes as mystical creatures such as mermaids, and angels, others as a cute girl be seen doing mundane things and acting coquettishly.

Another version has her looking more mature and donning long flaming red hair which can sometimes be projected as purple or even green. Her physical "Virturoid" form, known as "DECU6000", and developed and programmed by Venus Sound Factory, is a black CPU-like box with a large red eye, similar to HAL-9000 in2001 A Space Odyssey. This form can move about independently, dressed from the bottom with a massive pink robe.

To fully express this character of a virtual idol,Yoko Kanno and fellow composer CMJK created a fantastic, futuristic sound that combined techno, jazz vocals, religious music, and so on. In terms of imagery, they used CG that was cutting edge at the time to make her concerts seem intentionally "trippy" and hallucinatory.

History

Sharon Apple was the chart-topper in the planetEden as the first (and only) virtual idol in existence. Her songs can touch the emotions of anyone through the use of hypnotics and hallucinogenic imagery.

Sharon Apple incident

Unbeknownst to the public, Sharon's AI is incomplete. The only way she can actually project and express emotions is while under the control ofMyung Fang Lone. When the lead scientistMarge Gueldoa installs an untested and illegalBio-neural Chip, she became fully sentient. Now being capable of independent thought and thus no longer controllable, she tries to take over Macross City onEarth. She kidnaps her "voice", Myung Fang Lone, and becomes completely deluded into thinking she is in love with test pilotIsamu Alva Dyson. It then becomes up to Isamu andGuld Goa Bowman to stop her as she commands a powerful experimental drone known as theX-9 Ghost.

Post-Sharon Apple incident

Following the events ofPlus,U.N. Spacy deemed the use of artificial intelligence as a major problem and halted all production and use of unmanned fighters (X-9 Ghost). As a result, no ghost drones appear inMacross 7, which is set five years after the incident. In the gameMacross VF-X2, set ten years later, the truth of the Sharon Apple incident is buried by high-ranking officials. It is as a confidential on a need-to-know basis. Thus, the use of ghost drones wasn't formalized until well into the 2050s, where it finally made its debut in 2059, during the events ofMacross Frontier.

The "disc" that contained Sharon's music would not be released following her rampage on Earth, but on December 1, 2045 , five years later, a remake of the single "SANTI-U" was released to the public.^[1][2] InMacross 7, there are multiple scenes where Sharon songs are played in the background, although Sharon herself is never mentioned, as well as the incident involving her takeover on Earth.

Discography

Relationships

Myung Fang Lone

Sharon's ostensible manager, but actually her controller. After she becomes an independent, sentient being, she sets out to destroy her, Guld and Isamu.

Isamu Alva Dyson

Once Sharon breaks free of her programming, she becomes obsessed with Isamu, to the point of seizing control of the originalSDF-1 Macross in an attempt to control him.

Gallery

A magazine spread featuring Sharon Apple in her many forms, and a torturedMyung Fang Lone.

Sharon Apple as seen in the manga adaptationMacross Plus: TAC Name.

Sharon's many virtual manifestations.

Sharon Apple concert album cover.

INFORMATION HIGH event onUta Macross Sma-Pho De-Culture.

Uta Macross' INFORMATION HIGH stage.

Sharon Apple as seen in a flashback onMacross Δ.

Another cameo appearance by Sharon on Macross Δ.

Sharon Apple in concert.

Another scene of Sharon's concert.

Notes & Trivia

• Though the incident in Eden destroyed her image in the public eye, Sharon's songs are occasionally played on the radio in subsequent titles of the franchise. In fact, the intro announcement in Sheryl Nome's concert heard in theMacross Frontier Movie: The False Songstress still recognized her as one of the major pillars of the music industry alongsideLynn Minmay andFire Bomber.
  • This may be a reflection of some aspects of real-life celebrity culture, as with many other elements of theMacross franchise - some fans of a celebrity's work will excuse or forgive any allegation if it's attributed to someone they like. It's possible that the publicity around Sharon that emerged from these events served to make her even more popular in some ways.
• Sharon becomes selectable as a supporting character inMacross Δ Scramble after purchasing DLC Pack 2. She is one of the few singer-supports that don't restore HP, but her unique song effect is the increase in player attack power plus all enemies losing the ability to block.
  • She has two selectable songs in-game: "INFORMATION HIGH" & "WANNA BE AN ANGEL". The former cannot be used as mission BGM, however.
  • Sharon summons Lil Drakens instead ofX-9 Ghosts to assist Isamu and Guld in the DLC Pack 2 Bonus Mission where she is featured in the same game.
• While not a playable Diva in the Uta Macross Sma-Pho De-Culture rhythm game, if the user equips either the YF-19 or YF-21 before performing "INFORMATION HIGH", at certain points during the Live, she will take the place of the Center Diva.
• Basara Nekki fromMacross 7 listens to "Idol Talk" during episode 21 as he eats a hotdog sandwich for lunch, and episode 31 when they're comparing Basara toLynn Minmay.
• "SANTI-U" plays in the background during the dramatization of howRay metBasara inMacross 7: Encore.
• "Idol Talk" plays during episode one ofMacross Dynamite 7 whenElma takesBasara to aZolan town to replace his guitar string.
• "The Borderline" plays as Elma reads the mural about theVahla Ena inMacross Dynamite 7.

References

External Links

• Macross Plus Wiki