Question for Macrossworld Dads

[Hurin]

Sorry if this has been mentioned before. This thread is long and I stopped reading about 2/3 down.

I'd go with subtitles. But I'd also look on this as an opportunity to possibly interest my child in another language! One of the greatest gifts you could give a child is the ability to speak two languages fluently from an early age. Children have the ability to grasp the subtleties of linguistic nuance almost through osmosis in a way that adults can't seem to replicate.

So, maybe use this as an opportunity to introduce your child to Japanese. . . and perhaps start learning Japanese as a family?

I could also see turning off subtitles altogether at first, and then adding them later as an incentive to learn how to read (english) as a possibility too!

H

[Jasonc]

As I don't have kids, I've never wondered much about the now. However, here are two scenarios.

1) Myself... I was 10 when Robotech first aired on tv, and was hooked on the mecha, the realism, and the "violence". Sorry if that bothers some, but hey, kids are just like that. Ever since that day, I became a RT fan. As I got older, I began to see the roots of RT, and as a conclusion, I'm also a huge Macross fan. Yes, I'm a fan of both. To me, Robotech would be nothing without Macross, and most of us wouldn't know or be fans of Macross without Robotech. For me, they go hand in hand.

2)My sister. As she is 15 now, she used to watch the SDF Macross and Macross Plus with me at my house when she was like 10. As well as dare I say it M7. She couldn't keep up with the fast subtitles, but loved the cartoons, all of them. Honestly, Mylene and Minmay are her favorite characters. She got used to the Japanese subtitles, and with that, became a huge fan of Macross. About a year and a half ago, she was watching an episode of RT in which I popped in for some work I was doing, and she wanted to know what happened before and after the episode. Over the next few weeks, we watched all the RT episodes and I educated her on how it came to be that RT was created out of 3 different series. Now she's a fan of that as well.

My only suggestion, as I don't have kids, but deal with them all the time (mom runs a day care) is to put it out there, and let your kids grab onto it. Kids love cartoons, and they'll like it regardless unless crammed down them. As far as Macross or RT., Robotech was what I had, and it helped me appreciate Macross like I do. I wouldn't "ban" Robotech at all. It's easier to understand for kids, and not a bad story. They could watch that earlier in years, rather than wait till they can read a little on subtitles to understand. Also, there's the "violence" factor. Robotech had a lot taken out because of violence. That may be a consideration for those fathers. Would be for me. I'd start my child the way I started.

[RicePiece]

Graham, this in an interesting question. Before we had kids, i always envisioned passing all my Macross stuff down to them eventually. And of course part of that involved viewing all the macross related goodness, SDF, robotech (ducks for cover), and M+.

But then along the way, we had twin girls! So the question becomes do I still get to do all this stuff, i mean, are they going to really be interested in space soap opera with giant transforming mecha? Most girls i know aren't - and my wife is about as girlie-girl as they get, so I have nightmares about Roy's 1S being dressing in Barbie clothes if the girls ever got their hands on my 1/48's!

On the other hand, i always thought that the macross mecha (and G1 transformers) were great because they were so creative - i wonder how many engineers were inspired by each of these toy lines to go into that field, so because of this i would give the girls at least a bandai to play with - who knows what it will inspire them to do!

Another issue that i have is that exposing them to anime will get them into cosplay. Last thing i need is for the girls to start dressing in skimpy sailer whatever outfits and have the anime boys ogling them.

And another point that gets me quite worried about exposing the girls to anime is the way girls are represented in anime. In Robotech, at least the women (Lisa, claudia, Millia) were strong women. In other anime, i.e. Ninja Scroll, women tend to be portrayed as weak and needing help - that's not the message i need conveyed to my girls - they need to kick ass, not wait for some boy to do it for them. Even M+ had this problem, with both Lucy and Myung being useless and being little more than objects to Isamu and Guld. And don't even get me started on hentai - now THAT crap gives me nightmares.

Any other folks out there with girls have an opinion on this?

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

In other anime, i.e. Ninja Scroll, women tend to be portrayed as weak and needing help - that's not the message i need conveyed to my girls - they need to kick ass, not wait for some boy to do it for them. Even M+ had this problem, with both Lucy and Myung being useless and being little more than objects to Isamu and Guld. And don't even get me started on hentai - now THAT crap gives me nightmares.

I think stuff like that was purposely marketed to boys though. Similar to how wrestling or arnie movies are very boyish. The tough guy needs a princess or object of desire to save as an excuse to go around kicking ass so that he can ride off into the sunset with the babe. (don't let them watch any bond movies! jk )

IN NS you see detailed rape, violence and horror. Not family entertainment. At least in macross you can say that realism was used to convey how horrific deaths can be in a war (whether in space or today) and that the poor guy who was beheaded or the poor guy who was shot at point blank range by max were part of the imagery you might see in real life when people are fighting, so it isn't for 'entertainment' and to be taken lightly.

I'm from a different generation and in general girls tend not to like violent movies as much. I thought ninja scroll was violent and would not want kids to watch it. Also I think giant robots in general is still a very guy thing as much as fast cars, drinking, and pron might be. Yeah there might be the usual exception to the rule but this was how I was raised and in my experience I don't think many women want to be forced to except the 'xena warrior princess' role just as much as the typical 'damsel in distress' role you see in action movies. (let them be themselves whoever that might be, by letting them do what they want and making thier own choice as opposed to having PC ideas crammed into them so they don't scare off the boys. ) I would be scared of your daughter if she turned out to be just like milia and had no remorse for the dead by unnecessarily crushing people's head in with her mech foot.

About macross plus women being weak I have to agree, the characters needed the men to preach down to them or protect them which even I thought was pretty rich coming from people whose sole interest and motivation for even fighting the ghost was to prove how manly and superior they were to the AI, as oposed to having this noble ideal of wanting to protect people. (in fact they were dangerous in episode 4 where they drew the mech fight into the city (instead of from away) which probably resulted in civilian deaths because of thier fighting. Reckless bastards! Imagine two guys with tanks having a fight in a city and blowing stuff up and innocent people were run over, shot at, or inside one of the buildings while it was happening?)

Edited March 9, 2005 by 1/1 LowViz Lurker

[connor99]

I have a feeling that my boy will be exposed to the anime of MACROSS first. I mean it only makes sense, I love watching SDF-1 and DYRL. So one of these days, he's bound to catch me checking out my dvd's and that will be his first exposure to the phenomenon that we all so love and adore. As for the MAC toys I've acquired for him, they will have to wait until he's a little older, maybe when he turns 7 or 8.

[Guest Bromgrev]

Go for sensory overload - TV and toys. The little blighters have more than enough energy and short enough attention span for both.

[terry the lone wolf]

When did people stop reading to their kids? Kids are smart they'll figure what they like and don't like. When I was a kid I watched alot of PBS like The Electric Company(every friday Spiderman,yay), Reading Rainbow, and 3-2-1 Contact. Then I'll flip it to Super Friends, G.I.Joe, and He-Man. Don't stress it, if kids have questions about anime they'll come to you.

[Guest Bromgrev]

Books. I forgot to mention books. And manga, but not b&w, I hated b&w when I was 8 months old.

Oh, and get some giant robot tabletop and roleplaying games (tippex out the robo*%$!!! and write Macross on everything).

They're never too young to start ...

[MGREXX]

I vote for Robotech....for the new millenia.

Robotech: Shadow chronicles will once again bring Rootech into the lead.

[JB0]

I vote for Robotech....for the new millenia.

Robotech: Shadow chronicles will once again bring Rootech into the lead.

Riiiight...

Unless you meant lead as in "a hail of bullets" instead of lead as in "the front of the pack".