What attracted you to macross

[Shinguuji]

For me is the romance, followed by songs, followed by valks, followed by the retro theme, too bad I only voted for romance....

[djmagvinyl]

Well, I don't think I can deicide for any of those points.... In the first was, of course, the valks when I saw it in RoboCrap, back in '85. I was very young then. As I growed, and nowdays, is the story itself. The love triangle, the horror of war and how every character move through it. It's what I have in my mind right now...

[Just Gundam]

War against aliens attracted me the most, followed by the complement of impressive mechanics, and then the rest.

[Dat Pinche Haro!]

the valks and the story is what attracted me to Macross but i think i was influenced more by the valks than anything else

[ewilen]

Null vote from me. I was first attracted to Macross because Robotech came on before Voltron and suddenly there was this sci-fi cartoon with an actual, interesting plot and characters who seemed to have lives of their own.

If I'd seen some other good-quality, semi-mature anime before that, I probably would have had the same reaction, but my only previous exposure to Japanese TV culture had been Astroboy, Speed Racer, Voltron, and Ultraman--all of which have things to recommend them, to be sure, but at least in their American incarnations, they were pretty juvenile. Macross managed to break through that even in the Robotech version.

[RichterX]

Minmey butt! that should have been an option,

The actual thing that caught me first time I saw it in Robotech was the Variable Fighter, I was also in the Transformers groove at the moment so anything with robots was cool!

[KingNor]

the valks continue to be (imho) on of the most well thought out transformable anything i've ever seen.

they ALMOST work perfectly in the real world (given the technology and anime physics)

however i think had the original show SDF macross been weaker story wise, the designs woudln't have the staying power that they have.

when i think of macross, i think of hikaru, misa and minmay. but its the valks i'm lusting after.

[valk1j]

Got to go with the valks. When watching RT, I always wanted the toys. I didn't see SDF Macross until much later, now I would say the whole story captivates me.

[Kamineko]

Retro theme? Maybe, but it wasn't retro when I first saw it back in the early 80's. I think it was the fact that people died (which I thought was hella cool), instead of parachuting out like in the old GI-Joe shows that attracted me. That and watching Strawberry Shortcake and poorly dubbed Voltron episodes really got tiring.

[striderhiryu]

i voted for the valks, the first series i watched was mac + (wo hoo¡, i´m pure from that robocrap), and i was just mesmerized by seeing such well executed action secuences, then next comes the story since it tries to seek the origin of humankind and also explains the interaction between the living beings in this universe and other life forms in a sub-universe and how they affect the first ones (this is something i figured out after watching M0 ep.5 that cpuld explain all the strange things i sawed in the whole series).

[zeo-mare]

i voted for the Valks when i was younger i used to buy a lot of model kits from the local hobby store , i happened to find some nice import Macross kits before robotech came out in the usa (or about the same time). i thought they were awesome, about the same time i also started grabbing up gundam kits.

[Seto Kaiba]

Meh... I've always been a fan of war stories, and this one was too good to pass up.

[kenboy]

i was a big fan of planes and the mecha really hit a chord with me. but i think the main reason was max. he was a character that had glasses who wasn't a nerd and i wore glasses too when i was small so i thought he was a cool character.

[Greyryder]

The Valks. The VF1 is still my favorite mecha. I finally got to see Mac+ and Mac 2, they didn't have the valks I liked, but they were still interesting shows, and held me over untill I could finally see DYRL. Now, I just need to get the DVDs of the original series...

[Agent ONE]

The Pro-Reagan message.

The humans represented the west, but more specifically the quick adapting ability of capitalism in the 'freest of market' form.

The Zjentohlauedy represented Socialism/Communism... Mindless drones behaving in programmed in paterns and angry all the time (they aren't sure what is wrong or why, but they sure are pissed off... Just like the modern day liberal). The loss of individual rights, personalities, opportunities, and possibilities.

[RichterX]

The Pro-Reagan message.

The humans represented the west, but more specifically the quick adapting ability of capitalism in the 'freest of market' form.

The Zjentohlauedy represented Socialism/Communism... Mindless drones behaving in programmed in paterns and angry all the time (they aren't sure what is wrong or why, but they sure are pissed off... Just like the modern day liberal). The loss of individual rights, personalities, opportunities, and possibilities.

That is an interesting aproach

Probably that is why the Macross had such patriotic colours of red, blue and white

[Tekkaman Blade]

I was always into sci-fi and giant robots, but I don't think that's what got me into it.

One day, I was stuck at my cousin's house years back while he was at work so I started watching his Robotech tapes.

For some reason, I kept watching. I really liked it. I think I was mainly interested in the characters. I wanted to know what happened with all of them and watched until the end.

Maybe this is why I really like Macross 7? I'm more into the characters than anything else.

[Keith]

Came for the cool airplanes that transformed into robots, stayed for what was left of the Macross story when it was crammed into robotech.

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

The combination of valks and the epic struggle of humans against superior alien force. Like starwars, I love space war epics and the sci fi themes so long as it had enough cool stuff to keep my attention.

Of course as a little kid you don't care about romance, but I thought at the time the character design was real and that the kid's piloting those machines were not the usual hero archtype like you usually see in cartoons. The fact that major characters do die and are wiped out and the fact that the story continues (as opposed to having 1 episode wrap everything up in a half hour) over a long period of time were other factors. Even when you are little kid you can sense there is a deep story underneath it all, even if you don't quite pay full attention to it at the time.

Actually it wasn't just valks but also the design of the enemy mechas and the destroids. All the mecha design was very cool and the fact that they use the transformations for functional reasons (and not just as a disguise like the transformers) was appealing because many of the ideas showed off the practicality of the mech's to justify why they had been designed the way they were. Eg gerwalks being used to rescue people, battroid to fight in close, fighter for dogfighting.

As a kid I had known about other robot shows but I still thought macross stood out, and even the robotech version wasn't that bad in comparison to what was out at the time. I'm sure the vf1 has burnt it's image into all kids minds who had known it as robotech in the us back then and to newer generations.

I will never forget the action sequence where hikaru does the barrel roll in gerwalk mode to mow down a swarm of micromissiles or the max and miriya mech duels. Roy's first demonstration of each function in the early episodes made a big impact and helped hook me in permanently, as did the first appearance of the regults which I thought were cool. The bad guys seemed to pilot just as cool machines as the good guys.

The war theme as series as it was, was just icing on the cake to me as a kid. Looking back, you don't really care why they are blasting the crap out of each other when you are small. But it does help to set a good realistic backdrop for the mechas to fight in.

[MechASsemble]

Fresh after Transformers, Robotech came on. I caught the 2nd episode where the Zentraedi pops out of the downed battlepod and menaces Rick and Minmay stuck in Guardian/Gerwalk

Then Roy comes in and pops a cap!! Zentraedi falls down bullet holes and all.

Welcome to unamerican cartoon violence..... sigh

[Bub]

Valks!

Then comes the romance.

[Gaijin]

Deja vu...

[Shinguuji]

Deja vu...

yeah, i think i was the one who created a topic like this 4mths ago, except w/o the polls...

i wanted to find out why so many more people are talking about the valks than the story....

[Final Vegeta]

The Pro-Reagan message.

The humans represented the west, but more specifically the quick adapting ability of capitalism in the 'freest of market' form. 

The Zjentohlauedy represented Socialism/Communism... Mindless drones behaving in programmed in paterns and angry all the time (they aren't sure what is wrong or why, but they sure are pissed off... Just like the modern day liberal).  The loss of individual rights, personalities, opportunities, and possibilities.

Macross is poor in both lies (like propaganda and doublespeak) and money (which paid the lies and the war), so it doesn't really rapresent reality of war.

"Government is not the solution, it's the problem." Ronald Reagan

"Communism, as a social system, involves the abolition of the state" Wikipedia

Are you sure you aren't experiencing right now loss of individual rights or a brainwashing message flow about conformism, obeying to authority or anger against an enemy?

Different faces, same coin. That is a good lesson you can learn from Macross, that peoples have a lot more in common than you could foresee.

There is little difference between Communism and Nazism. The situation rapresented in SDF Macross obviously cames through Japan's hystory, but that means it is related to a Fascism, not to a Communism. Japan was never attacked by a Communist party-ruled state, and as far as imagination can goes I don't think Japaneses ever thought of themselves as the West despite the influence of US in its economy. Besides, Arjuna tells you what Kawamori thinks of free market.

This was a thought about Macross' inner values. The cultural frame which you saw Macross through was interesting though even if naive.

Personally I saw Macross because I saw Escaflowne. I am a Kawamori cultist.

FV

[ewilen]

Yes, besides, how many science fiction shows before and after Macross have portrayed aliens as cruel, unthinking, warlike beings lacking a sense of individuality or emotion? Practically all of them! The Zentradi are about totalitarianism, not about economic systems.

I suppose, though, that if Japan had somehow won the war, or if Macross had been made before 1945, people might have regarded the Zentradi as Communists (Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936) or as China. But I doubt the final victory would have been achieved through singing...

[edit: I previously wrote "absolutism" for "totalitarianism"]

Edited November 9, 2004 by ewilen

[JB0]

I don't see the option for "the hot chick with green hair".

[Jemstone]

I was about 5 in Okinawa when I saw the show and the mecha got my immediate attention. That did it for me.

[Agent ONE]

...The Zentradi are about totalitarianism, not about economic systems.

...

Not necessarily. The Zjentohlauedy are not unwillingly goverened. It is the distruction of the individual that I draw the parallel from.

[ewilen]

Hrm? Their government is never spelled out clearly but all the evidence points to a military structure--and that's it. If you want to quibble, the Zentradi aren't totalitarian because even totalitarianism needs a society to rule over; the Zents are an army without a State. In this sense the other political issues fade further into the background and we're really talking about Militarism, which can be a characteristic of many different kinds of societies, including non-totalitarian regimes such as Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm. However, militarism tends toward proto-totalitarianism since a state based on military organization has no room for dissent or disobedience and assigns little value to individuals.

[Zentrandude]

i vote valks. my friend has tons of 1/55 when I was living in guam, eventually I was able to get up earily enough to see an episode and I was totaly amazed.

[Renato]

The valks. I voted null vote by mistake, though. But the only "valk I had in the 80s was Jetfire.

Then during the 90s (after finally getting my hands on a real 1/55 in the form of the Super VF-1S) I really started collecting the music of Macross -- Hane-Ken, Fukuyama and Yoko Kanno -- and I have most of the CDs now.

So it was the Valks, then the show's music, for me.

[eugimon]

for me it was the war story... then the valks and the rest is just kinda a giant jumble.

more recently, when I got back into macross, it was with macross plus, and it was the story again, the music and then the valks. yoko kano rules.

[AlphaHX]

this bastard with his dashing good looks.

[Solscud007]

Im not ashamed to say it is the Toys. For the longest time during my teenage years I thought Robotech/Macross was the dumbest sh!t ever. Songs used to stop wars WTF? Compared to Gundam 0083, Macross was another wacky anime that didnt make sense. Of course I was drawn in and brainwashed by the Persian Gulf war and anything militaristic. I liked how realistic the plot of Gundam 0083 could be. No stupid kids, no singing. Just one side fighting a war with another. One guy who has been festering like a long lost Japanese WWII soldier stranded on an island for 40 years and thinks the war is still on. Anyway the plot was plausible and I liked that, But I matured and grew to love Macross. I think it was the love of the movie, cause of the strike, that I gave the TV show a try and I loved it. Also combined with my disgust of Robotech after learning of its poor mutilated form.

Oh yeah and you cant forget about the Joke Machines!!!!

Edited November 10, 2004 by Solscud007

[Renato]

this bastard with his dashing good looks.

I see they have Thigh-Masters for Valkyries now.