Macross, You & Days Before the Internet

[Roy Focker]

Oh how blessed art thou computer who has given thy self Macross

Remember the old days? Before high speed connections, before YouTube, before the Internet? I think we take these tools for granted. If you want to know or obtain something go online and you're quickly on the way to finding it. This wasn't always been the case. In days past there was no Internet or it's use wasn't common. I have bunch Macross books and toys (Macross & Others) thanks to it. I have seen Macross that would never reach my shores thanks to it. I already knew that Robotech was made up of three other animated programs. I learned was left out & the original stories thanks to the Internet.

Before you went Online how big was your Macross Universe?

My first exposure like many was through Robotech. During the first airings (1985 & 1986) I was living in Orange county. Grandparents lived in Hollywood. Every visit to Grandma house we go included a trip to the Golden Apple. There I could obtain Robotech books, toys & comics plus a few Macross imports. The stuff from Japan looked nice but I didn't understand it. This wasn't just from a lack of understanding Japanese but from things like owning a DYRL book without seeing DYRL? Is this for a new Robotech Movie or something?

After a family move to the rest of America I was cut off nearly entirely from Macross. Go a speciality store and you could find a few Robotech items. Extremely rare occasions you stumble upon Macross items. My first contact with a non Robotech version of Macross was a copy of the CLASH OF THE BIONOIDS. Rented it from a 7-11 on a country road in the late eighties. That's how it was back then. You really had to depend on your local Asian community. If you didn't have that it was the comic books stores. Things improved in the 1990's. National chain Video stores & Rentals started including anime. I learned about Macross II through the RPG books. I learned of Books Nippon. Got their catalog and catalogs from other mail order places. Paid for over priced products. Then waited 6 to 8 weeks. Saw all of Macross Plus by renting Episode 2 & 3 at one store, mail ordering the 4th Episode and buying the 1st Episode at an other store. Now you can just go online and purchase the entire OVA for the price of one VHS back in the day. Hardly knew anything of Macross 7 before the Internet. Once I got online it open a whole new world of Macross knowledge and product to waste money on. You kids have so easy being to young to remember the dark ages.

[Chief Guld Goa Bowman]

Lets pray we never have to go back to those days again.

[Cobalto]

Before the internet, it was Me, my memory of the SDFM ("Guerra das Galáxias" on Tv, pfffff...) and a lonely PS1 game in japanese...

It was sooo sad...

Edited October 1, 2008 by Cobalto

[Valkyrie addict]

like many, my first contact with Macross was through Robotech when I was around 10 years old, I didn't know it was made up of 3 different animes, but the mixture of them never made good sense to me and the "Macross saga" was always my favorite, after a while I learned trough word of mouth that Robotech was made from an anime and that certain parts were edited to make viewable for kids

and this lead to my search of original macross, the internet was still taking baby steps so that wasn't much help, and sadly I forgot about it until I was reintroduced by a friend to Macross II and Macross Plus and was awed at the awesomeness (of Plus of course), then a local tv station reaired Robotech and well I had to watch it, the internet was already big but I keep searching info on Robotech and kept finding all this stupid ridiculous fanfics and sh!t, I bumper to Macrossworld but I didn't understand how the website worked and didn't know about the forums...

it was not until I found and bought by chance a Yamato 1/60 VF-1S focker and was told by that same friend about the currently being released Macross Zero OVA and started downloading them and then I got totally hooked on this, found MW and my wallet is no longer my friend

[Duke Togo]

I watched Robotech like alot of us here growing up, but I didn't become a Macross fan until I saw Clash of the Bionoids around '90 or '91. That led me to Books Nippon in NYC, and later ordering from them in California when the NYC store closed. I remember when Macross II came out. My friends and I at school were all over it, and I don't think any of us were really happy with it after watching. I first learned of Macross Plus at a comic con at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC in, well, I guess 1994. Manga was there promoting it, but it seemed like a year went by before it actually released. Sometime in 1996 I ran into a friend from highschool in a store, and we chatted briefly. He had actually seen a bootleg of a few episodes of Macross 7 on VHS, and he hated it. Man, was he right, LOL. It wasn't too long after that that I had my first exposure to Macross online, which was the old Macross Mecha Design website.

While I wasn't into Macross that much growing up, I was a big MOSPEADA fan. I lived in Pennsylvania for 5 years, and we had a store nearby us (part of a chain, I believe) called Children's Palace. I got ALOT of MOSPEADA toys there, along with a few Macross and Orguss goodies (I had NO idea what Orguss was at the time, but it transformed, so it was cool). I have no idea what an American toystore chain in the middle of Pennsylvania was doing with these toys, but they had them. And I'm not talking Robotech toys, I mean MOSPEADA, Macross, and Orguss.

Edited October 1, 2008 by Duke Togo

[DHX]

back when i was a kid living in the uk my access to anime was limited but i was first introduced to robotech/macross through learning about the jetfire toy's origin then one day my mom rented what amounted to a clip video from Ritz video(the video rental franchise before blockbuster video hit the uk)

i was sold on the idea but i was and always wll be a transformers boy and so the effort to invest in robotech/macross was relugated to a passing fancy.

funny thing was back then i thought macross and robotech were the same thing.

even then i never actually watched the robotech series my only other exposure in my pre teens being the robotech movie which i didnt realy get.

it was my late teens when i then purchased two VHS videos from a second hand shop

they were DYRL and macross II.

the two movies re-afirmed my love of macross but to my chargin purchasing further media or the toys was impossble so i gave up once again,

by the time i discovered ebay and specialist shops i found i had to make a choice 100 pound valk or ten deluxe transformer or money on supplies for college and university.

Edited October 1, 2008 by DHX

[DJ_Convoy]

Almost exactly like Roy's story above- Grew up loving Robotech (particularly the novels, strangely)... my first hint of "Macross" was getting a copy of Clash of the Bionoids from my local library... learned about Macross II from the RPG books (oy)- watched Macross II saying "uh, how does this tie into Robotech?" and eventually got somewhat smartened up by going to a video store in our local Chinatown that rented anime. Rented Macross Plus there (watched the first ep in Japanese)... bought it as soon as I could.

I also remember going on to a Robotech/Macross message board back in the mid 90's and being horrified by the rudeness (you were an idiot if you liked Robotech- people arguing excuriating minutae about how one timeline was more correct than another- how far we've come! )... but I did learn some stuff. I didn't really have true internet access until the late 90's and I was blown away by all of the Macross junk I learned.

[Mr March]

Sadly, my Macross universe was small before the internet. I did own a few things like magazines, a book or CD and some original Macross anime, but it was very hard to purchase new stuff. Or to be more accurate, it was difficult to know what was out there to be purchased. I fell out of Macross fandom for many years. I was introduced to Macross via Robotech but I never owned the series and when I went to watch Robotech for the first time as an adult, it had not aged well at all. The dub was awful and there was something seriously wrong with the editing. I didn't know why at the time, but it felt fractured and paceless. In the mid 90's Macross Plus rekindled my Macross fandom. From there, information about the real Macross started to trickle in and I began understanding what Robotech had done.

With the internet came anime communities, eBay and online merchants, importing, Macross World, Macross Compendium, Animeigo and all the rest. I did frequent some RPG sites but I was eager to leave behind all Robotech terminology and trappings to embrace the real Macross. I had begun importing merchandise and grabbing art books from the franchise. By the time Animeigo's DVD set began build up and pre-order release came around, I was so thoroughly hooked it was probably a little embarrassing.

Watching SDF Macross unedited for the first time was a revelation. It was still what it had always been (an anime made for a young audience), but instead of a diluted experience which spoke down it's audience like Robotech, the original Macross series was surprisingly mature and engaging. I found I could appreciate SDF Macross as an adult, which was all the more impressive. The drama in particular was amazing and best of all, watching the original began to put Macross Plus into perspective. When that happened, I adored Macross Plus all the more! DYRL came next, which was even more Macross goodness with some of the best animation Japan has ever produced. Flashback 2012 followed and was a great swan song (pun appreciated). Merchandise became more frequent and along with more books, soundtracks and DVDs came Yamato's line of transformable toys

The rest is recent history which you all know; participation here on MW, the birth of the Macross Mecha Manual, Macross Frontier and that's it.

Edited October 1, 2008 by Mr March

[DHX]

damn! i cant believe i forgot to mention what made sure macross will always be my second favorite franchise(after transformers)

Macross Plus.

damn did i want a YF-19 so badly after watching that movie.

[yellowlightman]

I don't remember the exact chronology, but I definitely discovered Robotech and anime in general back around 5th/6th grade back in the mid 90's. Started renting Robotech tapes and then my neighbors showed me Bubblegum Crisis which blew my mind. I became aware of Macross (and the other original series) through an article in the back of a Robotech comic discussing the roots of Robotech and an article in an issue of Anime UK.

Watched Macross Plus for the first time on a projector at a local anime club and it blew me away. Managed to get copies of Macross 7 unsubbed from a shady video store in San Francisco's Japantown and found a copy of Kiseki's UK release of DYRL in a comic book shop. Before I had internet access at home I remember spending afternoons surfing the web at my Mom's office looking for stuff about Macross. Particularly remember liking the Macross Mecha Designs site.

Looking back makes me nostalgic, to be so young and so amazed by all this new anime I was discovering. Being a fan back then before the internet was like having this huge world in front of you, but not being able to see all of it. Every little thing you bought or new discovery made was important and significant. Now I'm older and bitter and can walk into any store in Bumf*ck Nowhere, USA and buy more anime than I could ever want.

[VFTF1]

I grew up on the East Coast, so thank God - NO ROBOTECH ON TV

My first exposure to Macross was through the Paladium Robotech Role Playing games, which me and my friends used to play in elementary school.

Next up came Robotech: Art III which I guess I purchased in some comic store or something. That is where I read about MACROSS as opposed to just Robotech - but I never actually saw any footage.

Also - the Palladium book was TOTALLY void of Lyn Minmey and singing - at least that's how I remember it. The power of song, the Zendradi, the thing which is so foundational to Macross... just kind of didn't register. Rather; I figured Robotech was about piloting transforming mecha and lots of "important" statistics...

I vaguely remember a friend owning Transformers Jetfire and how impressed I was with this toy - and how...un-Transformer like it seemed compared to what I now know to be the Diaclone line...

Fast Forward to me in College.

Living in Michigan, I saw Macross Plus at a video store and rented it. Watched it expecting Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes and being very VERY "huh" at seeing the SDF-1 just kind of sitting there and wondering why Guld dyed his hair green and what a Zendradi was...

Also - I didn't really like Macross: Plus that much because I didn't understand it very well - it was not what I was expecting... truth be told, to this day I don't much like it (Zero/M7 is more my cup of tea).

Then comes the internet.

I procrastinated for a long time.

Mainly got involved in online TF fandom.

Then came youtube.

Ok - I said to myself - now that I have this "YouTube" I might as well check out Macross.

Oh - wait - rewind.

MACROSS ZERO...

I remember the year Macross Zero came out I saw some info about it - and the awesome fanstastic designs.

But anyways...back to the future.... I started watching SDF M TV series... and fell utterly in love.

I watched ONE episode of Robotech - and just couldn't believe it... I watched the episode in which the difference between Macross and Robotech was stark:

Macross:

Misa (having lost the camera): Leave me! My life is worthless now!

Hikaru: What are you talking about?!

Misa: Without the data on that camera, I have no value! Save yourself!

Hikaru: I'm not going to turn my back on a girl!

Robotech:

Lisa Oh Prick I looove you! I really always have loved you!

Prick; I love you too lovey love love.

Lisa: But I love you more. Oh so much more! I neeeeed you!

Prick: I need youo too!!

Then I got tired of watching such fantastic stuff on a small box and started downloading.

My first Yamato mecha was the 1/72 YF-21, 1/60 Elint and VF-11B (leg fell off).

I liked them.

Then came the 1/60 YF-19 and I was like OH MY FRICKIN GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (looks at ugly Transformer collection and proceeds to toss 75% out the window)

Been hooked on high end stuff ever since.

Needless to say - and I am sure EVERYONE can say the same thing - when I later got around to discovering and then watching Macross 7; despite initially being aghast, the Tostugeki Love Heart of Nekki Bassara cemented my love of this franchise.

And then they bring out Macross Frontier - like a big "Thank you for FINALLY finding us" to me

yay!

Pete

[Skullsixx]

Back in that day I lived in So-Cal. This was when I was a teen. I am 37 now. We did everything from making 3rd to 4th generation VHS copies among friends that collected anime. Every now and then a comic shop would get something, but most of it was RT stuff which I never really liked. I'm more of a Macross Purist like most people here. I would also make trips to Little Tokyo/Books Nippon, which was over-priced and it was an ordeal to make the trip there. I was living in Ventura County and barely had a license much less cash to spend on wanted Macross items. We would really live for the San Diego Comic-Con every year for a huge volume. Once in a while we'd hit up small conventions finding whatever we could. It's amazing that with the internet how much we can get our hands on. I just watched the majority of Frontier on You Tube. I plan on buying it on Blu-Ray soon. I look back and laugh at what I used to do to feed my Macross appetite. Now I'm in the Pacific Northwest and miss Little Tokyo and Comic-Con. I definitely plan on being there next year. I haven't attended since the early 90's. If it works out I'd love to go to Macross World Con as well.

[evirus]

i just watched macross, as robotech on toonami(cartoon network) when it first aired on said channel(probable early to middle 90s, not sure).

[NSJ23]

Before the internet my Macross universe was robotech and the robotech comics, and a G1 jetfire sitting in for the takatoku Valkyries i could not afford in the 80's. then came macross 2 when my best friend and I were getting into anime, then macross plus on VHS and i slowly learned about Macross as opposed to Robotech. then came the internet, robotech.com and a link to this place.

[azrael]

Let's see...

Watched Robotech back in the day when it was still on TV. Discovered the RT RPG about 5+ years later and learned about Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada. Since I couldn't see the original Macross, I moved on to MII. That lasted a while with the RPG books. Then I found M+ and found that to be bleh. Obtained a copy of DYRL? raw shortly thereafter. Then I heard about M7 through friends and various people. After that, I slowly started watching M7 raw and became hooked. About that time, I discovered the Compendium back when Egan was at UC Berkeley. So I think I was well versed in Macross before I the 'Net came along. There was also a Jetfire and a few other toy knockoffs but I really don't remember when those came into my life.

[miriya]

1985:

watched Robotech religiously on TV, collected robotech toys and played with them.

...

...

...

1999:

got toys out of storage.

Friend gave me DYRL? VHS.

Re watched Robotech (could not get through masters, never made it to New gen).

Looked up Robotech on the internet and discovered Valkyrie exchange, robotech toys.com, started obessively collecting robotech toys again via ebay.

...

...

...

2004:

sold my entire toy and comic collection including robotech and starwars thinking I would never have a child and that I would spend the rest of my life meditating on a mountain.

Two weeks later found out my GF was pregnant.

...

...

...

2005:

my beautiful son was born.

Started looking up macross on internet again.

Discovered Yamato toys.

Started obessing a bit.

...

...

...

2006:

Discovered Macrossworld and started lurking.

More yamato obession.

Started up a new toy collection.

...

...

...

2007:

January joined macrossworld.

developed a very unhealthy macross collectables habbit.

obession increased.

Bought first Yamato Valk. Then second. then third, etc...

Bought macross plus (both versions)

Bought macross zero.

Bougut SDFM......

the rest is all on this site.

I suppose I could blame the internet for rekindling and enabling my macross obsession and especially this evil seductive forum.

(Edit for gestation period)

Edited October 1, 2008 by miriya

[Fortress_Maximus]

My Macross universe was fairly large even before the net back in the 80s. In NorCal at least we had a few good dealers (for cels, books, LDs, cds, toys) back in the early 80s to 90s. Never really had a problem obtaining stuff, it was just harder when I sold the older toys and cels; I rarely found the same cel or sequence ever again. What the net really helped with was connecting to fellow fans internationally and sellers internationally.

[AcroRay]

I lived in a tiny, rural town in south-western Pennsylvania back in high school, pretty far from any real Japanese products. There was no 'asian community' whatsoever. Everything was via snail mail or on rare trips to big city malls around the holidays. My first exposure to Macross was via an import hobby catalog from a company called COSMIC CONNECTION purchased through Star Log magazine (yes, you had to BUY a mail order catalog for $1) in search of Star Blazers (Yamato) model kits back about 1983. In addition to a lot of GUNDAM stuff, they also had kits the catalog writer was raving about from a new show called MACROSS as well, so I asked if I could have this neat looking one called DESTROID DEFENDER in 1/72 scale as an X-mas present. I eagerly built it, and was completely amazed! The pack-in sheet had other incredible looking kits as well!

At about the same time, I saw a book or two on the show - in Japanese - in the catalog of BUD PLANT - a company that dealt in comic books and comic art books. So myself and my single - and best - other similarly interested friend ordered them and some others via another mail-order catalog from a company called BOOKS NIPPAN which we'd discovered in looking for the source of the animated material in the CLIFF HANGER laserdisk arcade game (Lupin the III, of course!). At about that time, some indie comic shops we'd newly began to be able to visit (on family trips to more civilized areas) started selling anime-related small press fan publications, import kits and books. Macross toys also started showing up as knockoffs (MACRES!) or repacks (CONVERTORS!) and Revell's ROBOTECH kits in local stores as part of the TRANSFORMERS wave and were eagerly absorbed into my collection. Finally, the Comico early MACROSS comic was released and was very enlightening, and adverts for the all-too-expensive VHS dub were everywhere. I also joined the CARTOON/FANTASY ORGANIZATION, which happily served my other budding anime fan interests, as well as expanding on the anime I loved as grade-schooler in other forms. [battle of the Planets, Star Blazers, Speed Racer, etc]. A travelling comic-book convention operation called JUBILEE CONVENTIONS also held a small convention 2 or 3 times a year in my area, attracting dealers with occasional Macross & other Japanese stuff from nearby states' larger cities. I also regularly ordered and bought things from other mail-order kit and toy sellers like GALACTIC TRADE COMMISSION - GTC & ALPHA SECTOR.

Then Robotech came out, and was - even if obviously edited - completely enthralling and added another show to my anime interests (Mospeada. Didn't like Southern Cross). It provided a wellspring of new Macross products and attracted even more anime & Macross stuff via importers energized by the interest in the fan community seen in local comic shops and conventions. Macross was always my strongest interest, though. My loving grandma let me spend $75 on anime kits through GTC one Christmas! I got nearly 2 dozen various Macross, Mospeada & Orguss kits, since they ranged in price at that time from $3 for Nichimo kits to as little as $10 for larger kits. (Believe it or not, I still have most of my 1980s mail order catalogs!!!)

Here's my anime stuff shelf from those days (minus most model kits, which were on another shelf). There's even a home-made Macross poster on the wall, made from a photocopied enlargement from one of the Seiko Note Company coloring books! Can you spot it?

I spent my high school graduation gift money on a $100 original VHS of DYRL from BOOKS NIPPAN (Which didn't show up until I came home for Thanksgiving my college freshman year!) Then I went off to college in '87 (My move in day was the same weekend as the first ever ROBOTECH convention in nearby PITTSBURGH PENNSYLVANIA - arrgh!!!!!), where I found huge numbers of other people with anime interests, people to trade tapes with, etc etc. Macross was almost always there at the core of those interests, which included playing Macross mecha in BATTLETECH as well.

Interest sort of waned in the early 90s when I'd finished college, started freelancing (aka - going hungry a lot) & then working, and later in the decade got married. Early internet access actually prompted me to SELL OFF a lot of my Macross stuff ( stuff I hadn't already had to sell years earlier to pay rent) when I saw that THIS IS ANIMATION volumes were selling for over $100 each in some newsgroups at the time, and channeled those funds into other hobbies.

But now, nostalgia, experience and improved internet - and video! - access brought about my own Macross revival not long after. I've been here at Macrossworld since '03. Its a blast, and in some cases I've re-acquired what I'd sold - but now for pennies on the dollar.

Not many people here as old-school as me. I'm still shocked to hear people say "I wasn't old-enough/born-yet to watch ROBOTECH." That amazes me!

Edited October 1, 2008 by AcroRay

[Sergorn]

Before you went Online how big was your Macross Universe?

Well... not very big.

Like most of us I guess... I discovered Macross through Robotech when it was aired over here in the late '80. Let us be honest I was a HUGE fan of Robotech... It was one of my favorite anime ever... particularily the Macross Part. I remember not caring much for Robotech Masters... though I greatly enjoyed New Generation (Hey ! It has Varitech ! And they mention Rick Hunter !). The series didn't get much rerun though, so my pasion for it gradually diminished... until another rerun in the mid/early '90. The rerun didn't got to the end much to my dissapointed, and they only showed Macross... cutting it a few episodes before the ending.

It's around that time I became actually aware of "Macross" and the fact that Robotech was just like the Frankenstein's monter of anime, mixing three different series together. I was rather bafled actually... in '94 I bought an issue of a magazine Animland which had a Minmay on the cover... with a hige article on Macross... they talked of the original Macross; but also Macross II, Macross Plus.. even Macross 7. It was nice because while I had somewhat heard of Macross II, I didn't know about these lastest series. And that was just the time when we started getting a lot of Macross in France

The same year we got DYRL released here... it was dubbed with a lot of translation mistakes (and with the title "Robotech : Macross The Movie" Duh), but boy did I love it ! The years after that Manga Video started releasing Macross Plus.... I certainly loved that stuff as well. Another editor started releasing Macross II a few month later... I was skeptical at first because it had a poor reputation... but I actually enjoyed it very much at the time....

So Macross 7 was remaining but it was hard to see that at the time... I actually had a first glance of Macross 7 when my brother inadvertently bought a Fire Bomber CD, thinking it was orchestral Macross music like Macross Plus... at first I was like "what the fart is that music ?" but it actually grew on me.

I got the Internet in 98... a couple years later I stump upon the Macross 7 opening on a webstie and I loved it... so I knew I just HAD to see it... and eventuelly I managed to got the entire series fansubbed in small .rm format... it was a pain in the ass to get, I rememebr using some webbased file sharing acount where you could resquest file and all... but in the end I got it all... and loved it, much to my surprise. I think it was around this time that I began lurking on Macross World, and also Robotech.com (indeed I'm pretty sure I heard of MW from RT.com ^^')

I actually saw the original Macross... later than any other series and was stuck with Robotech for a long time. I heard of the Macross being released by Animeigo but it was so expensive I couldn't even being to contemplate buying. So I first so Macross in 2003 actually, when I eventually managed to find DVD Rips on irc chans. Ironically the french release was annouced pretty much at the same time

Seriously god bless the Internet though... if it wasn't for it I'd never have seen Seven, Zero or Frontier... this is just crazy because they really are amonsgt my favorites anime ever. I was quite fan of Macross before the Net... but it's really thanks to the internet and being able to see all theses series that I trully became a Fanatic

-Sergorn

Edited October 1, 2008 by Sergorn

[Duke Togo]

I wonder how many of us here got alot of our anime and various anime and manga related publications back in the day through Books Nippon, either in NY or CA.

[Roy Focker]

Thanks to the release of Macross II & Macross Plus one the first things I search when I went online was Macross.

I only got about 5-6 items from Books Nippon. Stuff was expensive back then. Translation = as minor I couldn't get a real job and allowance/birthday money only went so far. You can beg family for money but only to a certain degree. I still have one of their old catalogs somewhere.

[Mr March]

Right Stuf International and purchases from various stores in Chinatown made up the majority of my pre-internet access to Japanese anime and merchandise. Expensive as all hell and not exactly convenient

[AcroRay]

An old Books Nippan Animation Fan Club newsletter in my collection, from probably about 1983...

One of my original Cosmic Connection anime kit catalogs, postmarked 1984....

Leafing through these brings back memories.

[Duke Togo]

Wow, there ya go! I still think I have my membership cards around here someplace.

[AcroRay]

My last one!

I was chatting with Matt Greenfield when he & Tiff Grant visited the Pittsburgh Comicon. He's still got his, too - but the earlier paper version, with a 2-digit number!

Edited October 1, 2008 by AcroRay

[David Hingtgen]

Pre-net Macross fandom? None. I never saw Robotech until just a few years ago.

"In the early days of the net" I was looking for Transformers----and remembered that my brother's Jetfire was one of the best ever. That lead to finding out it was one of the most expensive G1 toys to "re-acquire" and that it actually came from a series known as Macross. Soon thereafter I discovered Plus, Alt.Fan.Macross, and then there came news of the Toycom valks.

[Funkenstein]

I vaguely knew about Robotech back in the 90's. My parents (rightly or wrongly) canceled our cable package when I entered middle school, so I had limited exposure to that show. Only when I ordered DSL about 5 years ago did I really have a chance to watch Robotech. My impression of it was that it had great action, but awful awful music. I couldnt stand Minmei's singing. Then I found about Macross through IMDB, oddly enough on the RT:Shadow Chronicles page. The Japanese vocals were much better. They werent as annoying as the music from Robotech. So far Ive watched MacZero (Hated most of it, save the battle scenes),MAC+(Loved it!), Mac7(Oh man, Basara was so annoying),DYRL (disjointed story, but great action and music!) and Macross Frontier (Average pacing, great music,great action, and good story).

Truthfully, I dont consider Macross the best space drama out there, that title is reserved for Re-BSG. Macross is still pretty good, especially the mecha designs and fusion of music and drama.

[rubi]

The music and the mecha fights make Macross a special serie. Nothing to do with Gundam...

But for the tactic side combined with the political one, LOGH fits better, even if there aren't mecha in there.

Anyway: Remember the old days? Before high speed connections, before YouTube, before the Internet?

Too young for this thread.

[macross_fan99]

I guess I'll consider myself lucky that I only got into Macross with Macross Plus. By that time the internet was already around, although it was still small compared to today and things were hard to come by. I remember using my 14.4 baud modem to search for Macross Plus images and wallpapers. And at that speed, you have no idea it took to download the song Information High.

I only saw the original Macross 2 years ago so there no problems there. As for Robotech, I had heard of it but never seen it. And after hearing it was a butchered version of Macross decided it wasn't worth it.

[valkyriepilot]

I live here in the Philippines, and probably due to proximity to the anime sources, me and my buds have a good exposure to anime and tokusatsu. Back in the mid-80's 2 local channels were showing Macross in it's original series form, and it was in the same timeslot as GI Joe, Thundersub, Transformers. Another channel, which also carried super robot shows (Getta Robo, Grendizer, Gaiking, Voltes V, Daimos, Mazinger Z, etc...) showed DYRL (or was it Clash of the Bionoids?) in its entirety, and being a kid just about to enter primary school, my attention was only on the show during the mecha fights, then I'd change channels on the dial (yep, few people had remote controlled TV's back then, technology is slow to catch up here ), then back again. Another channel showed Robotech also, but I can't recall if they ever finished airing the whole series... I see re-runs on local TV now and my nephews tell me they just air it until the end of the Macross saga though

I had a transforming VF-1 that doubled as a sharpener also, and after school I'd pass buy the many vendors that line the school walls outside selling toys and pick up a pack or two of those mini-Macross mecha figs - made of low quality plastic, but seems like they were quick recasts from those ARII or Nichimo factory figs. I wasn't into any plamodel yet...

I was introduced to Robotech novels during the late 90's, and really strived to complete the whole collection, well into the mid-90's. I'm proud to say I have the whole Jack McKinney series, and for what it's worth, the novels' story is much more enjoyable than watching the chop chop animation I have a classmate's elder bro explained to me the difference between Macross and Robotech, and even after that, I guess I didn't really suffer from the Robophobia at all (even to this day )....

Also during the early 90's there was a huge influx of anime imports here (in Manila at least) and my high school friends introduced me to 2 anime importers who also rent the series for a good enough price. I was able to re-watch DYRL, then I saw Macross II, even a few episodes of the original SDFM. When I got to college in the mid-90's I have access to the library internet, and was searching the various BBSes for bits and pieces of info on Macross and other anime series I like. Also looked for the translated script of DYRL since the one i rented was in Japanese Still, anime titles are far and few in between, and I made do with what I can find that fit my interest...

But when a friend got a hold of Macross Plus, it was a whole different ballgame!

During my later college years, I was unable to get anymore Macross stuff, except for the occasional ARII model kit (thankfully I saved them up, hard to find nowadays ). Was able to surf on dialup though, and more or less kept updated with developments on Macross. When I graduated, it was around that time that Macross Zero was just starting, and broadband connections were just starting to sprout here. I had a friend with DSL connection download the first episode for me, and I thought it was unlike any Macross I've ever seen!! Furious dogfight rendered in CG, Roy is still alive (!), and a new Valkyrie! Was I hooked again! And, along with my addiction to GunPla and other mecha related anime and plamo, the rest is history

Edited October 1, 2008 by valkyriepilot

[Gubaba]

I feel very, very lucky to have grown up in Los Angeles, where even stores in Pasadena had Japanese imports coming in. As such, I had some Macross stuff even before Robotech aired, and thus I always knew there was something a little fishy about RT ("This says 'Valkyrie,' not 'Veritech.' And who the hell is 'Hikaru Ichijo'?)

Like everyone else, I would go to Books Nippan Ripoff when I could (and yes, I joined the "Japanimation" Fanvclub as well), and sometimes to Pony Toy-Go-Round in Little Tokyo, but even Karl's Toys in the Pasadena Mall once got a HUGE shipment of Macross, Dorvack, and Orguss models that they were selling for $2.99 each. Likewise, there was a place called The Model Works across from Pasadena City College that had (for a while) a huge selection of Macross, Southern Cross, and Mosepada models. And getting an Arii 1/100 Hikaru Type Strike Battroid in 1985 was where I first heard about DYRL. In a few months, I had a bootleg copy of it. Thanks to a network of friends with connections to Japan, after DYRL I pretty much was a Macross fan in real time. I got a copy of FB2012 a couple of weeks after it came out in Japan.

In the early '90s, as I entered college, I kind of dropped out of the anime scene. I rented the first two volumes of Macross II, but didn't bother with the third one (it was only available dubbed, anyway, which kind of turned me off). A couple of years later, I got into Plus, and read about 7 in Animerica.

Finally, in '96, I went to a Little Tokyo video store armed with a credit card, and rented all the volumes of Macross 7 (and copied them, since I had two VCRs). I ended up missing out on Dynamite when it came out, though, since the video store got volumes 1, 2, and 4, but not 3. I did finally end up seeing the end of Macross II, however. I also collected M7 Trash as it came out.

In 2000, I got the Animeigo SDFM set, and right before Zero started, I got DYRL, FB2012, and M7 on horrible HK DVDs (that was also the first time I saw the "extended ending" to DYRL...didn't like it. Still don't) and collected Zero as soon as the bootlegs were released.

I had dabbled in the internet in '98 or '99, and had printed out the timeline from the Macross Compendium. But it wasn't until Zero that I joined Macrossworld...

Edited October 2, 2008 by Gubaba

[Morpheus]

Before I was introduced to the subtle narcotics known as Internets, I watched original SDF:M on my local TV station, then few years later they begin airing ****tech, I wasn't pleased with the continuity so the first word I entered into MSN search function (the first time I use internet) is "Macross Robotech".

The search led me to the Robotech technical sites and Dave Deitrich Macross RPG stat, and from there I know about Mac:Plus and Mac:7. Luckily I joined a Japenese Culture club in my campus and managed to get some Mac:7 VCD (pirated) from a friend of mine. Few years later, I found this forum and instantly applied for membership

Ok, who else here who was playing with cucumber during dinner and pretending it as a Zentrandi battleship

[Alex5]

first of all let me introduce myself, my name is alex. this is actually my first post on the forum. i just felt inspired as it brought some memories back reading everyone's post. i recently started through a friend i've known for years and he began showing me all the stuff that he's collected.

but back to my first exposure was with robotech, back in the mid eighties i watched it on channel 11 in socal. and yes i did like the series. back then shows like tranzor z/ mazinger z, transfomers, etc. where on either before or after school and i was an avid viewer. i had one of the 1g jetfire transformers and i thought it was strange that it was similar to the robotech/macross mecha. visited the comic book store, but never bought much since i didn't have much money to begin with and no car so it makes things extra difficult. and i never had much information beyond the robotech. though i would see japanese toys at the local swap meet, but never researched why the aircraft markings say un spacy instead of rdf.

during the college days i actually watched more anime, a friend who's family business was a video store i was able to watched macross dyrl, gunbuster, guyver, etc. though never original macross. so i always thought macross dyrl was the first. after that i haven't really watched much anime unless it was on t.v.

which brings up the present, since i've recently been laid off. above friend begin dropping off some macross videos and Im simply in awe on how big the macross world is. i've recently watched macross 7, zero,frontier, and just completed the original. i've doing alot of reading on many websites, wikipedia helped alot, just to get myself up to speed.

but during my 'vacation' i hope to watch as much of the macross legacy as i can take in.

[Sumdumgai]

Introduced to Macross through Macross Plus, as I had avoided Robotech for years, thinking that the name sounded too lame for the show to be any good. Rented Macross Plus episode 1, manga video dub, and was completely blown away by it. Watched the rest of it, then started reading the Jack Mckinney Robotech novels, to try to get an idea of what happened in the original SDF Macross series (somehow found out that Robotech was the butchered release of Macross). Was only able to watch a bit of the Macross portion of Robotech, as the local rental place only had a few videos.

Macross Plus got me into the Macross series.

Oh yeah, and my first Macross toy was a Joon's VF-1J Hikaru-ish scheme, as there were no such thing as Macross Plus toys, and there wasn't the option of finding re-issued Bandai VF-1s.

Edited October 3, 2008 by Sumdumgai

[farmer_yohei]

I grew up watching Robotech. Loved it. Forgot about it until they started reshowing it on Toonami. Read the novels. An interesting aside is that I never really watched any of robotech after the macross saga. I remember renting both Macross Plus and Macross II from the local blockbuster on VHS. Both dubbed ofcourse. I remember being thrown off by hearing the Zentradi language the first time.

Never cared much about Macross until Animeigo was talking up their remastered version. That for some reason blew my mind and made me have to watch the japanese Macross. Went from watching Macross to DYRL to trying to watch Macross 7 (it never really clicked with me, but that might have just been my bootleg copy with Japanese to Chinese to English translated subtitles). Though now that I have finished Macross Frontier, I am very much gonna go back and see a properly subtitled version.

God I love this series. I just wish I could go to the local Best Buy and buy it. It really is a shame we must be pirates.