Resized to 88% of original (view original)
Artist's commentary
As I said before, the word "space ship" meant an oldschool rocket ship or a flying saucer before the Space Battleship Yamato was broadcasted in 1974. If it were not for the evolution of mecha design caused by the first Yamato, the Space Battleship Andromeda must be like this! At that time, a normal energy beam did not erupted from the muzzle...
From the artist's tweet, 11:05 PM - 27 June 2013 (JST)