Robotech consumed our childhood . In a lot of ways , it make the American anime diligence as we know it . But some multitude get hold the show ’s complex origins baffling , as well as what makes it so unique and important . So here ’s everything you should recognize about Robotech — and why .
It ’s made up of three dissimilar boob tube anime series which have nothing to do with each other .
A Isle of Man named Carl Macek have a go at it that if he could bring and adapt an anime series titled Super Dimensional Fortress Macross to America , he ’d have a cartoon striking — one he would n’t even have to animate . But Macross was only 36 installment long , and there was a minimum of 65 episodes need to syndicate TV shows back in the ‘ 80s . His solution was to certify the completely unrelated anime series Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada and then edit and rewrite them into three “ saga , ” turn them into one long serial . Shockingly , this worked out far , far well than it should .
It ’s about the ends of the cosmos .
Macek base this new series around an alien mogul generator call Protoculture , which powered a massive alien combat ship that crashed on Earth in 1999 . Humanity , realizing it was n’t alone in the universe , joined force play to rebuild the ship and utilize the alien technology at bottom to create Robotechnology , resulting in power armor and transmute jet such as Veritechs . The extraterrestrial , called the Zentraedi , finally did arrive and thus start out the first Robotech War , which resulted in the death of most of the people on Earth . When the Zentraedi and humans realize they were actually part of the same race , the Zentraedi having been altered by a race of outlander called the Masters , they formed an unsteady truce and began to rebuild Earth together . In the “ Southern Cross ” saga , the Masters themselves go far and attempt to inhibit the planet , which stop with the Flower of Life — an exotic plant that bring about Protoculture — extend the major planet . And when “ New Generation ” begin ( a.k.a . Mospeada ) the Earth had already been conquered by another alien raceway called the Invid , and the remain humans were slaves . Humans do not have an easy time of it in Robotech .
Its main founding was aeroplane with arms and legs .
Robotech was originally a name that the model manufacturing business Revell called their spell Japanese poser kits from anime series that American kids neither knew nor cared about . Revell partnered with Macek ’s company Harmony Gold to bring Japan ’s Macross toys to America , and Macek took the name Robotech for the serial . The major vehicle of the Macross saga , and the whole of Robotech , was the Veritech , which could metamorphose from a super acid into a robot , or into Guardian mode , which was a strange half - jet with arms and legs . It was eldritch , but it was singular , and is one of the most famous elephantine robots in pop civilization — not least because Hasbro had originally licensed the Japanese Veritech ( called the Valkyrie ) for its Transformers toyline , name it Jetfire .
It was unequaled from every other American sketch .
When Robotech first aired in 1985 , nipper could tell it was massively different from He - Man , G.I. Joe , and even the Transformers toon . First of all , it looked unlike — it was many tiddler ’ first exposure to anime ( Joe and TF were animise in Japan , but for Western audiences — Macross was made for a Nipponese consultation , and thus its spiky melodic line , large center , and other tropes were in full force ) . Second of all , unlike the other animated cartoon of the time , it tell a single , ongoing story . There was n’t an indivudal patch each instalment , but the saga of Rick Hunter , who gets drawn into the Robotech warfare , oppose against the Zentraedi , falls in sexual love , alongside countless fictional character who had their own conflicts and struggles , day by day — you had to keep watching to know what was going on , and many youngster loved watch a show that trusted them to remember what was bump the next day . And there were no obvious , hackneyed lessons learned at the ending , either .
It was revolutionary in other ways , too .
Besides the maturity of an ongoing narrative , Robotech was phenomenally ripe in other ways . It was the first sketch — often the first story , full point — that showed kids a scenario where a Hero of Alexandria could give-up the ghost , as Rick ’s near friend Roy Fokker gets shot during a skirmish and loses his life . That Revelation of Saint John the Divine empowered child as much as it devastated them , and we love Robotech even more for not treat us like children pretending all the good guys always won . And then there was the completely uncommented - on interracial - subspecies human relationship between Roy and his girlfriend Claudia . And then there was the heavy centering on romance , which was unheard of in boy cartoons , as Rick was in a love trigon with unseasoned would - be pop lead Lynn Minmei and Lisa Hayes , the captain of the rebuilt exotic spaceship — but while Rick chased after Minmei , who was oblivious to how she constantly broke Rick ’s heart , Lisa — on the face of it the most powerful human woman in the universe — would wash away Rick ’s underwear . unfeignedly , no other animated cartoon has ever been so brutally honest as Robotech , and we enjoy it for it .
It ’s the with child sexual love write up of the 20th hundred .
Seriously . I’ve commented on this before at length , so I ’ll employ the money quote :
https://gizmodo.com/why-robotech-is-the-greatest-love-story-of-the-20th-cen-5971053
The most powerful woman in the galaxy is so in sexual love she moisten the underwear of a untried pilot film who is in erotic love with a 15 - year - old Chinese dad wizard who is in love with her cousin , who throws cotton gin bottle at her .
It was made by the hero anime needed right then .
Carl Macek in effect create Robotech by license all three appearance , and rewrite them to 1 ) make sense for American audiences , 2 ) be acceptable for young American hearing , and 3 ) make some kind of coherent sense together . For a foresightful prison term , hardcore gum anime rooter derided Macek for hold these change , for altering three classical anime serial publication and misrepresenting them in America . He ’s ensure as some sort of butcher of anime . This is the dumbest matter ever . This is the dumbest matter ever because this presupposes that somehow Super Dimensional Fortress Macross , Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada had any chance of coming to America , unedited , before Robotech , and they did n’t . I promise you . Even with Robotech ’s existence , a series that was nationally broadcast five days a workweek during the ’ eighty , the original , unedited Macross serial was n’t release in America until 2001 . How much longer do you suppose it would have film if Robotech had n’t existed ?
The entire American gum anime industry exists because of Robotech .
Robotech was the first anime serial publication in America that hoi polloi actually get laid was anime , that it was a style of animation created in Japan , and thus it ended up create more Zanzibar copal buff than any other imported serial before it . The ascension of the ‘ 90 anime and manga diligence owes almost everything to Robotech and its massive popularity . It created fans that want more , than wanted to happen out about Japanese animation , and wanted more it , permit company to spell thing like Dragonball Z , Ranma ½ , Evangelion , and others . If Robotech had n’t exist — if for example Starblazers had been the last “ big ” anime serial in America — we might still be waiting on license version of countless Zanzibar copal masterpieces .
It ’s a effectual incubus .
There is one undeniable problem Robotech has caused , and that ’s that it has turned the Macross constituent of the serial publication into a effectual clusterfuck . Harmony Gold originally licensed the Macross anime from Studio Tatsunoko , which had serve produce it . However , Studio Nue in reality make the show , and won the right to Macross years later on . This has left Harmony Gold with the Robotech license , which admit its story and the character , but not the graphic symbol designs , the Veritechs , or the look of anything that seem in the original show . This is why when creating the sequel moving picture Shadow Chronicles , the name of the character stayed the same , but the part no longer take care like their original versions , and all the mecha were different . This also means Nue and Harmony Gold often action each other whenever one tries to convey out Robotech or Macross product for various rights infringements .
So I would n’t throw your breath for a alive - activity movie .
Since Hollywood turn thing like G.I. Joe and Transformers into big - budget picture based a neat mickle on nostalgia , the idea of making a Robotech movie that looks dead nothing like what people remember and liked is n’t that appeal . While you ’d think Tobey Maquire and his production company — who have licensed Robotech for a likely alive - action mechanism movie — could resolve this with a massive chit to Studio Nue , the Japanese remain so acerbic about the whole mess that they in all probability would n’t grant these rights unless Harmony Gold was wholly cut out of the deal — but Harmony Gold has the rights to the name Robotech . Could it be resolve ? Sure , but not easy and not quickly , and there are plenty of other old cartoon and TV shows to become into movies that would be far less aggravating , no matter what Tobey Maguire says .
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