Discovery of Macross?

[mrhillz]

Please forgive me if this has been posted before. How old were you when you first discovered Macross? It doesn't matter if it was Robotech or not, since it 'tech uses the same animation for the first third of their saga.

I was about 14, just getting into anime, back when it was still rare and underground. I had heard of Robotech from when I was younger, from commericals and all, but it was never on here. So, I discovered that a video store here had anime for rent. I clearly remember renting Project A-KO, but saw both Robotech II the Sentinels and Macross II (this was the VHS days) on the shelf as well. I later rented Robotech II, but honestly didn't understand any bit of it. A few weeks later I rented Macross II vol 1, and I was amazed by the space combat and storyline. I then subequently rented the later volumes when the store got them in. An anime all about transforming jets? Yeah I was definitely pleased. I later rented Clash of the Bionoids from another rental store, by this time I knew it was Macross, but still didn't know how it was related to Robotech at all. A few years later I found out the "awful" truth about the differences between Robotech and Macross, By that time, I had all 4 vhs OVA episodes of Macross Plus (still my favorite macross story to date), had purchased the "Uncut" version of Clash of the Bionoids, aka "SDF Macross: Do You Remember Love?" as everyone else in the world knows it as. Then Robotech came on Toonami (RIP) , and I was able to enjoy it knowing it as an alternate universe to a greater storyline.

Years later I was finally able to watch the original Macross series the way it was originally intended to, and enjoy it that much more

So, what's your Macross story?

[Reïvaj]

To me it happened in 1986, when Robotech was aired twice in a row in Mendoza, Argentina, the city where I spent part of my childhood. I was 11 years old and loved it. After that I never saw it again, nor anything Macross/Robotech related. It wasn’t until 2001 that I knew the truth about Robotech’s origins and two years later a friend of mine lend me his SDF:M CD collection and that’s when my Macross love story commenced.

[Beltane70]

I learned about Macross through Robotech when it aired on US TV in 1985. It wasn't until a year later, though, that I discovered Macross in Japanese when I saw DYRL being shown at a table in the dealer's room at a science-fiction convention in NYC.

[frothymug]

I'd heard of Robotech, but never actually saw it when it was on TV. My first exposure to Macross was Macross Plus, when the Action Channel would have their Saturday Night Anime feature and showed it on there a couple of times. I really enjoyed it and also Macross II when it was shown on there, as well. I didn't really think much of it at the time, but my brothers and I then bought Robotech: Battlecry for the Gamecube and I remember remarking how much it was like Macross II and Plus, how you could transform and shoot down the missiles. At that point, I knew they were somewhat related, but didn't know the extent of their relation. My brothers later bought a Toynami Ben Dixon VF-1A, which I didn't think much of then, either.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago and my brother started asking about Robotech. I tried to explain with what little I knew about it, but I was not very good at it. I told him about Macross Plus and how awesome it was and he later bought the Manga DVD of Volume 1 (eps 1 and 2) for my birthday. It reminded me of when I'd seen it on the Action Channel.

Several weeks later, I watched the DVD again and looked up the other two episodes on the internet. After watching it, I had to find out what the hell Robotech was all about. I ended up watching all 36 episodes in a few days (I had just lost my job about that time) and then read some Wikipedia articles. Feeling like I'd watched the bastardized version of SDFM, I decided to re-watch the whole series with English subs. Then started searching out other Macross series. I found Zero and was immediately hooked... The rest is just history.

[JB0]

I watched Robotech on TV. I was something like three at the time.

To say the least, the finer details of the plot went right over my head. I thought it was related to Transformers, I'm pretty sure.

As for why I'm here now....

Many years later, I am starting to get old enough to realize I'm not too old for cartoons. There is a Robotech book at the library, which surprises and intrigues me.

As an early venture into childhood nostalgia I was not yet jaded and embarassed by my childhood lack of taste and thought this was a good idea.

This book was End of the Circle.

I was left confused, upset, and nursing a headache.

Not JUST because it's End of the Circle, mind you. My exposure to the franchise in the intervening years had consisted of two VHS cassettes holding a handful of taped-off-the air episodes of Robotech(late Macross episodes, probably three or 4 to either side of the final battle), and a third tape holding an off-the-air Robotech II: The Sentinels. So I really lack appropriate context to make what sense there is to make of this book.

Finding the OTHER Robotech novels leaves me able to COMPREHEND End of the Circle, but it's still awful. Some things just don't change.

But I loved those other Robotech books.

Browsing THE INTERNET for some information, I discovered the DARK TRUTH behind Robotech's creation. And thus I became a Macross fan as well.

This is also around the time Toonami happens. I can both see AND COMPREHND the whole show... except I can't because they never run not-MOSPEADA. I suffered through not-Southern Cross SOLELY because of the promise of transforming motorcycles, you a-holes!

Experience since then, combined with HG's mix of questionable, incompetent, and overtly fan-hostile moves, has divorced me from Robotech almost entirely.

[scannerfish]

I got a crazy story for ya'll.

I saw the original broadcast of Macross in Japan. I turned around and saw Robotech in the U.S only a few years later. Ignoring the shenanigans related to franchise that, I enjoyed the RPG and novels more than anything it spawned.

[ALEXD]

Easy. I found out about macross because I wanted a g1 jetfire. I watched it all on hulu and loved it. Now i got a bunch of yammies!

[bob joe mac]

90s toonami aired robotech until the end of southern cross arc then...never aired the mospeada stuff I watched it nearly everyday because a) I loved the crap out of it and b) I really wanted to see if they would ever air the invid stuff never happened so I turned to the good old internet still in its dial up days discovered "Macross" got a little confused rented Macross plus, II and Clash of the bionoids. Half figured out macross then tried my damndest to download crappy real player files of macross 7 then found some site that would sell fansubbed VHS tapes of macross 7, ah the memories after that I had everything figured out imported macross VFX-2, Macross plus and Macross DYRL for the PS1. Now I sit here with no new macross to discover except some manga that no one wants to translate but 100 groups will do Naruto and Bleach.

[pfunk]

Robotech in 1985, remember me and a freind watching the episodes. I had a jetfire and he had a green gakken alpha. Then years later came across this site and never looked back

[big F]

I really came across it at the same time that Transformers hit the U.K in 1984, I was 12 and the anime style cartoons were my favourite so Robotech was an obvious choice to me to watch. Transforming mecha was and still is to me the finest thing from anime, so even though in 1984 I had never heard the word Anime, I knew that all these cartoons I liked were from Japan. Japan also happened to be a country that fascinated me as a kid. So When I found Arii kits in my local toyshop It was all good. Happy days when the U.K T.V networks showed Robotech and I had more to watch than the single video tape of the compressed story Global tells after the return of the SDF1 to earth. It all kinda stagnated for me in the U.K for a while but towards the end of the 90's while working at IBM I got talking to a collegue about Japanese cartoons and we got onto Robotech and then as we were working nights and had little to do we just Yahoo searched it, and then several Yahoo auctions later, eBay didn't exist back then. I was re hooked. Mac Plus came out and I had DVD's shipped from the U.S. I funded trips to the Land of the Rising Sun and came back with cases full of Macross and posted several shipments back to my self each visit. Some time later after getting banned from Robotech.com for talking about "propper Macross" I found Macross World, done deal now as far as I am concerned.

Edited December 11, 2011 by big F

[Radd]

1985 or so, when it first aired on American television as the first part of Robotech.

I was a weird kid. I hated most television, including the cartoons I watched. I hated most Transformers episodes, aside from a few gems here and there, but watched the show religiously because I loved the characters and the toys.. Most other shows I just watched because that is what you did as a kid in 1985.

Robotech was different, tho. I enjoyed it. I loved the characters, I loved what I understood of the story, I loved pretty much everything about it, except for when it got past the Macross part into the less enjoyable (to my 6-7 year old tastes) Southern Cross and Next Generation. I do remember being confused when a friend of mine had what was clearly a Super Veritech but it was the wrong colours and had an Autobot symbol slapped on the front.

Anyways, I rediscovered it later when playing Mechwarrior for the first time in Boy Scouts. I recognized those designs! Running home afterwards I dug out an old Robotech colouring book from the attic. From there, a friend and I tracked down novels, RPG books, VHS tapes and we all fell right back in love with Robotech.

Fast forward another couple of years to 1992 and we found Macross II. We knew about the whole Macross/Robotech re-write thing by then, but were still confused as to how Macross II fit into SDF:Macross. Digging into that mystery is how we discovered DYRL ahead of the release of Macross Plus. I still remember first hearing about Plus and being amazed at the YF-19 images were were able to find on the internet. By YF-19 I mean a mislabled image of the VF-11.

I didn't find Macrossworld until much later, around 2000-2001 or so.

[Jasonc]

Around 1984, I had a friend who's father used to go to Japan on business a lot. He would always bring back video tapes of cartoons, and he brought over SDF Macross. I couldn't understand anything, but my friend would do the translations for me. We were Macross fans, at the same time, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Voltron, etc. Then in 85, when Robotech aired, I thought it was Macross dubbed in english. Then, when Dana's story aired, I was very confused. That's when I found out that Robotech wasn't the same as Macross. By then, I was hooked on Robotech as well, but basically because it had Macross. My second introduction into Macross came in 89 as a freshman in high school, when that same friend let me borrow a VHS tape of DYRL. I had never heard of it, but after watching a 2nd gen. copy of it with no subs, It brought me back to the first time I had seen SDF Macross. Once the internet came around, and people could buy stuff online, and search for stuff, I bought Macross and Robotech merchandise.

It wasn't till early 2000s, that I came into Macross Plus, Macross 7, and Macross II. Once those came into my possession, while still a Robotech fan, I was sold on Macross. Following years would prove that my enjoyment would continue to this day, and now, it's where it's at now.

[Dynaman]

A fellow I knew back in the late eighties (before RT2, not sure when though) told me that there was a good Animation show on TV. Now he liked Transformers so I was skeptical to say the least, but I gave RT a shot since he said it was just as good as Star Blazers was. First ep of RT I saw was Globals report (Lucky to hit that episode first - if one is going to start in the middle of a show that is the one to watch), after a couple more eps I decided that there WAS other decent animation out there (for adults that is). Later that summer (late eighties still) I went to an anime group and saw DYRL (bunch of other shows too) and was hooked.

Dropped out after a bit (distribution to US had not really kicked in yet, too much trouble to go 6+ hours to the animation group, other interests...). Flash forward to a few years back when I decided to look up Macross again to see if anything new was out (last I heard the creator was happy leaving it and doing other projects). MF was just out in English (fansubs of course) and I was hooked once again.

[scannerfish]

Around 1984, I had a friend who's father used to go to Japan on business a lot. He would always bring back video tapes of cartoons, and he brought over SDF Macross. I couldn't understand anything, but my friend would do the translations for me. We were Macross fans, at the same time, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Voltron, etc. Then in 85, when Robotech aired, I thought it was Macross dubbed in english. Then, when Dana's story aired, I was very confused. That's when I found out that Robotech wasn't the same as Macross. By then, I was hooked on Robotech as well, but basically because it had Macross. My second introduction into Macross came in 89 as a freshman in high school, when that same friend let me borrow a VHS tape of DYRL. I had never heard of it, but after watching a 2nd gen. copy of it with no subs, It brought me back to the first time I had seen SDF Macross. Once the internet came around, and people could buy stuff online, and search for stuff, I bought Macross and Robotech merchandise.

It wasn't till early 2000s, that I came into Macross Plus, Macross 7, and Macross II. Once those came into my possession, while still a Robotech fan, I was sold on Macross. Following years would prove that my enjoyment would continue to this day, and now, it's where it's at now.

We should become the founding members of the old as hell base.

[Jasonc]

We should become the founding members of the old as hell base.

Yeah, there's a couple here that saw Macross air back in the day. I happened to see it a year after in my hometown. What was also cool, is that my friend had toy magazines and old manga magazines that had pictures of Macross, and all I knew then, was that it was the coolest cartoon ever. Strange how Robotech was my outlet for lack of Macross to begin with. I think I was in 3rd grade at the time I was watching Macross in 83.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

To me it happened in 1986, when Robotech was aired twice in a row in Mendoza, Argentina, the city where I spent part of my childhood. I was 11 years old and loved it. After that I never saw it again, nor anything Macross/Robotech related. It wasn’t until 2001 that I knew the truth about Robotech’s origins and two years later a friend of mine lend me his SDF:M CD collection and that’s when my Macross love story commenced.

Same as Reïvaj, in 1986 through Robotech in Argentina, but different city: Mar del Plata

[vf27-PILOT]

^{HI all,}

^{MY old name is e_jacob77..}

^{The first Macross I ever watched was M+ actually... I had heard of Robotech and Macross being 35 next Feb, never actually watched either back then, never even had an interest really.. I was about 18-19 one of those, and I was in a Movie selling store, saw they were selling some VHS copies.. I looked at the cover for M+, remembered they were transforming Airplanes and decided to buy it, check it out.. LUVVVVED IT!!! Still though today, I can't sit through the scenes of any of the animes after the first time viewing, rewatching the concert parts....}

^{**Flame suit on, (hope it's thick enough)**}

^{After finding this site after watching M+, I started collecting other Macross animes... I feel the need to be honest here, I actually don't care for the story of Hikaru.. Not even the VF-1's do I have an interest in... Still have yet to see M7 though I am thinking of buying the stories on ebay.... It's funny though, the very first Macross story, having watched first how their worlds tech had evolved into the M+ valks n such, and going back I found the whole idea to be less interesting. I can tell you this, I do like DYRL.... And until Frontier came out, M+ was my fav. And even with the flame suit on, I actually will say this outloud, I am actually looking forward to M7, the overall story and a species that can rob energy from a person sounds intriguing, so I am hoping for a good show actually.}

^{Course, I would suppose that is how all Macross purisits are. Even when watching a show from yesteryear they hope the mythos n such will still be there, like the first anime that hooked em.... That is why I have to watch M7.. Read countless times how most people don't care for it, and the very few who do.. That doesn't faze me atall... It was made, it is in the timeline, it is therefore, a must watch.}

^{**With the flame suit still on**}

^{Macross 2, I like it, and I don't like it.. No different then even other films, wether live action or animated.....}

^{Thanx all...}

[Gian]

I watched robotech here, in Chile, around 1987, I really liked the show, until a couple years ago it was aired every year, I watched the series everytime, and I even recorded it in VHS.

It was in 1998 when a new friend (he was like 5 years older than me, and we met when I asked him about his awesome macross shirt) explained me all about the merge of the three series (where I found why the second generation "southern cross" was so boring).

My friend showed me his valkyrie models and mangas, and lend me some of the music and movies, and when I bought my PSX (playstation one) the first thing I did was buying Macross VF-X and later VF-X2, Plus and DYRL, with this, me and my brothers started to like the valkyries even more (whenever I let them play a macross game they always say "OK, were's the excalibur").

Since then I love Macross with all my heart.

Now my wife watches the series with me and 2 year old little daughter loves to "play" macross triangle frontier with my PSP.

[derex3592]

I watched and loved Robotech when it initially aired in TX back in 85 or so...loved it...because unlike G. I, Joe and Transformers, which I also loved, ppl died, the show seemed more "real" somehow. I had my poor parents searching high and low for Robotech toys and models, which at that time were fairly hard to come by..and never really questioning why some of the toys said "Valkyrie" or Legoiss" or whatever on them. Later on, I guess I found out somehow that Robotech was cobbled together from other anime, but didn't really give it much thought unitl about 2001 or so when I got my first apt with a computer and high speed internet and discovered this website! Which led to me finding Mac Plus, Macross 7 and DYRL, a bunch of great guys who are SO much more nerdy than I am, and a VERY UNHEALTHY Yamato toy habit.... . I have owned and watched the "Mah-Cross" original series for a couple of yrs now, and just recently purchased the original Southern Cross and Mospeada series which I am looking forward to watching over the holidays!

Edited December 12, 2011 by derex3592

[Old_Nash]

In early 1990, Brazil's main station, began displaying Robotech in the afternoon.

Through an informative magazine (at the time intervals were rare and inconsistent), I know what was actually Macross.

[moncikoma]

In early 1990s' i watched the original macross, using laser disc

I was around 6years old i guess..

I dont really inderstand the story...but i loved the opening song, and the robot ...

The enemy is also uniqe...a giant...(kids love that kind of stuff)

After that, when i was 12-13 years old

I played the game macross + ....for the 1st time i was in loved with macross in terms of musics...! Visual, robot design, and gameplay

Yoko kanno really had me back then,,,

And then i watched macross frontier...

And because of yoko kanno again...and sheryl nome i become a loyal SLAVE of this franchise

Edited December 13, 2011 by moncikoma

[Marzan]

Around 1984, I had a friend who's father used to go to Japan on business a lot. He would always bring back video tapes of cartoons, and he brought over SDF Macross. I couldn't understand anything, but my friend would do the translations for me. We were Macross fans, at the same time, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Voltron, etc. Then in 85, when Robotech aired, I thought it was Macross dubbed in english. Then, when Dana's story aired, I was very confused. That's when I found out that Robotech wasn't the same as Macross. By then, I was hooked on Robotech as well, but basically because it had Macross. My second introduction into Macross came in 89 as a freshman in high school, when that same friend let me borrow a VHS tape of DYRL. I had never heard of it, but after watching a 2nd gen. copy of it with no subs, It brought me back to the first time I had seen SDF Macross. Once the internet came around, and people could buy stuff online, and search for stuff, I bought Macross and Robotech merchandise.

Wow. There can't be that many in the West who saw SDFM before Robotech. You must have been a bit confused when you first saw Robotech thinking it was just Macross but dubbed. "Protoculture is a fuel source??"

[Mommar]

I guess we all have our strange path here. I remember I first saw Robotech on American Television in '84/'85. I was a year away from starting Kindergarten and my brother was in first grade. My Dad was really excited/interested in seeing the show so my Mom and I would rush down to the school to pick up my brother and race home so we could watch/record the show for my Dad while he was coming home from work. I didn't have a clue what was going on other then giant transforming Robot/Jets were awesome and that Ben died and it made me sad. LOL I was a big fan of all of the designs and badly wanted a VF-1 toy but we could never find one. I had a few various transforming Alphas... but those aren't Macross. We have to get some shots before starting school so a few months before I started (in '86) my Mom bribed me into getting my shots by promising to give me a present if I cooperated. I wound up with a non-transforming Diecast SDF-1 which still sits on my self today.

The 80's and half of the 90's passed by, I was friends with a guy who had just moved in Albuquerque who liked Anime too and we would watch lots of different stuff. We were pretty secluded in New Mexico and didn't know about the other Macross productions for some time. At one point we ran across a copy of Macross plus for rent at a video store and my older brother pointed out there was a divergent story in Japan because the US shows had to be adapted with other shows to fit an American format so the Japanese stories weren't tied to the two other series like in the US. We watched Mac Plus... to be honest I hated it. My buddy and I had watched so much Anime that involved rogue AI's, menaces without bodies, etc... that I was tired of the concept by the time I saw Mac Plus. We had internet by the mid 90's and would do occasional searches for Robotech jpgs (downloading pictures was all the rage for a time when AOL and those other providers sprang up.) We would get occasional pics of Yf-19's/11's mixed in with our searches but curiously I never saw anything Mac 7 related at all. I didn't know it existed until I found this place in 2008. My buddy bought a dubbed copy of DYRL and I didn't like it. The animation was way better but I didn't like how compressed the story felt. I also did not like the redone SDF-1. I was a huge fan of the TV series version and to this day believe it's superior (get on that TV series version so i can buy one Yamato... and no filthy DYRL hybrids!)

Anyway, I got to college in '99 and by that time I was sick of Anime, never wanted to see it again. I still don't really. I became tired of the same stories, styles, tropes and really haven't gone back. This isn't a knock on anybody who likes it, you can make the same argument over American/Western stories and I couldn't argue with you. It just isn't my taste anymore. The same buddy I used to watch Anime with sent me a link to Robotech.com, I joined but didn't bother with anything except parsing what toys were being released. I was waiting for a transformable VF-1. Luckily (so I thought) Toynami was making them but being a poor college student I couldn't afford a ridiculous $80 dollar toy (the other weekend I just got a $300 19S... LOL.) So I skipped it, and waited and waited. Finally in 2006 I was graduated from college, had a job, had money and though why not go back and buy that VF-1 I wanted? I tracked down a lightly used Toynami VF-1J Max (because he was always my favorite) and bought it on ebay. I opened it and did not like Fighter mode. Transformed it to Gerwalk and... it was okay, if bulky. Did not like Battroid at all. Put it back in Gerwalk because that was always my favorite mode and was semi-okay with it being very tank-ish looking. I was still itching for a new toy but had trouble finding info on things that weren't model kits. Several years passed and I heard someone mention a 1/48 Yamato being superior to all other Macross toys. I went searching around, found out there was a 1/60 version and found one for sale at hlj. A VF-1A Hikaru with the Fast Packs, version 2. It wasn't a Max like I'd hoped but I was okay with "Rickaru." I bought it. Battroid annoyed the hell out of me. The bar that fits into the crotch was so loose. The Fast Packs weighed the back down so much that Battroid always had a permanent slouch and it was difficult to pose. I vowed to never buy one of these again (I own twelve V2's now.)

I kept looking for more toys and ran across this website, I saw a lot of the customized 1/48's. I also saw there was news of more 1/60 releases coming. I was hesitant to buy ay more after the 1A didn't quite hold up but there it was, three different versions of Max's Valks were coming out, VF-1A and S DYRL and VF-1A SDFM. I ordered the 1S and 1A SDFM. Luckily the crotch/bar in the 1S Max held much better (though it is more loose now) even though it was the old crotch system so I took the Hikaru Packs and stuck them on the 1S where they remain to this day.

Anyway, it's not a story about the toys (sort of), after finding out about these other shows I checked out Flashback, Mac 7, and Mac F. I'm still not interested in Anime so the shows don't hold too much appeal for me still. I'm just a big fan of Kawamori's design aesthetic and keep collecting the toys. One could argue i never really made it to Macross and just stopped at the Valks.

[VF-15 Banshee]

Well, my story is that I wanted to expand my mecha horizons. Bck in about March or so, I had just watched Mobile Fighter G Gundam for the first time (and loved it) and got into about 11 episodes of Victory Gundam before it uber-depressed me. I wanted something new and different. I remembered that I had seen an episode, or rather 5 minutes of an episode of Robotech once on Cartoon Network. I believe it was episode 2, when Rick/Hikaru slammed his Valk into Minmay's restaurant/apartment? From there I made the leap to the fact that the boys on my favorite podcast, Gundamn!@MAHQ, had said that Robotech was really three different shows in one. I did a little searching and found out that Macross was the part with the transforming fighter planes. Now, I'm an old-school Star Wars fan (which is kind of funny considering I'm only 25) so starfighters are really attractive to me. So I watched SDF on Hulu... and pretty much fell in love. Yeah, it doesn't have the greatest animation at times but it was still awesome. I then gobbled up DYRL and Frontier. Frontier was a little off-putting because I was a brand new fan but then I saw Plus, Flashback, M7, 7 Encore, Dynamite 7, Galaxy is Calling Me, Zero and just finished up with the two MFrontier movies. At this point in time I would say that my most favorite entry in the whole franchise would have to be a tie between First Macross and Plus, with my least favorite being Zero.

So here's hoping we get some kind of OVA for Macross' 30th Anniversary!! DECULCHA!!!

[David Hingtgen]

1998 or so. Discovered Ebay, bought a few old treasured G1 Transformers. Remembered Jetfire. Looked it up (and saw how much they went for!). Found the Macross connection, and bought Macross Plus (subbed) at Best Buy on VHS.

[myk]

Robotech, just like most of you. I have to say that the story ended for me at Plus and Zero-I never bothered with '7 or anything else...

[YajimaTakashi]

I would have to say the early 80's. I remember watching Robotech and wasn't too big into it. Then 11 years later, when I went to High School, one of my friends introduced me to Macross Plus and that was interesting but I wanted to see more. Eventually another friend let me borrow Clash of the Bionoids and then I bought Robotech on VHS and that was when yet another friend told me the difference between the two series.

I started looking into more about the series and when I first worked in LA I went to Little Tokyo and bought as much Macross merchandise that I could, mainly the soundtracks (The SDF:M OST is what made me fall in love more with the series I thought the music was fantastic, even for an anime). In 98 I met Shoji Kawamori and shortly after got to see DYRL for the first time and a couple of years later watched the original series. I used to RP with some friends online and play out a Macross Story set in 2019.

Even after the RP stopped I still wrote fanfics, listened to music from the various series. Bought the AnimEigo and the ADV sets of the series, the latter is autographed by Mari Iijima. Who I got to meet in '08 and see her perform whenever she plays in L.A. I am now reading the Macross the First Manga and been downloading Macross models for Miku Miku and Vocaloid and working on some models myself in the hopes to some day bring to life my own short Macross story.

[akt_m]

In early 1990, Brazil's main station, began displaying Robotech in the afternoon.

Through an informative magazine (at the time intervals were rare and inconsistent), I know what was actually Macross.

Actually one of the smaller channels (CNT) also aired the original Macross, dubbed in portuguese, all the names and the BGM remained intact.

[nanoplasm]

When I was little I lived in Taiwan, and back then because of the fallout of WW2, Japanese anime and toys cannot be imported though normal trade. Any Japanese anime that aired during the children hours on TV at 6pm were heavily censored/dubbed and monitored by the government for content.

The local toy and video stores still had access to the material through back-channels, with the former being super expensive, and latter being all bootlegged subs. Plus I didn't have a VHS player at home.

Sometime during the mid-80's, a toy distributor was able to get around the trade restriction, and offered a Takatoku Chogokin bundle during the Chinese New Year season (it's like our x-mas shopping season). They even bought air time to broadcast commercial on TV.

The bundle included the VF-1J 1/55 (which I kept) and some green locomotive robot (which I didn't care for, and talked my brother into taking that), as well as an audio tape that basically narrated the prelude of the Macross series (with the locomotive thing shoe-horned into the story). The tape ended with the invasion of the Zentradi on launch day, and followed by 5 minutes of 'battle music' and sound effects of laser, jet swoosh and explosions.

About the same time, in one of her rare 'generous' mood, my mom bought me a copy of This is Animation "Macross Vol 1", that was translated into T. Chinese (probably was bootlegged too) and sold at a stationary supply store (it's a hybrid of book/general store that focused on tailoring to elementary school students.)

Little did she know, she just bought me a copy of porn (or what I thought was porn at the time). =p

Both the manga adaptation section and the TV screen section of the magazine offering gratuitous amount of detail on Minmay's rear end during her shower scene. And I pretty much have that image forever etched in my mind. XD

In 1985, the government in Taiwan finally approved SDF:Macross to be aired on TV, and that's pretty much when I watched a "relatively" intact version of SDF:macross for the first time. But of course the shower scene was skipped entirely.

Shortly after, I moved to the US, around the LA area. Back then the only source of Japan anime was Pony-go-around. Then there was book nippon, US Rendition, Anime EXPO (east coast version), Anime Club UC chapters. Pretty much follow the same story as anyone who's in SoCal during those time.

Edited December 22, 2011 by nanoplasm

[EXO]

1998 or so. Discovered Ebay, bought a few old treasured G1 Transformers. Remembered Jetfire. Looked it up (and saw how much they went for!). Found the Macross connection, and bought Macross Plus (subbed) at Best Buy on VHS.

Wow, that wins as the weirdest story I've heard on this thread.

I actually started playing with the toys first. My friend bought me my first valks when he worked at the San Fernando valley Swap meet with his parents. We were in grade school. I made up stories about how some kids found these f-14s in a junk yard and their old man scientist made them into transformable robots. They even had a submarine mode... lol... no Gerwalk. I just flipped the backpack over and closed the wings.

Then I saw the Macross debut with Rick Yamato before Robotech, and then Robotech... I thought... OMG, the story is even better than mine! lol.

I was obsessed with Clash of the Bionods, Macross Movie and Flashback after that. I kept going to the Shrine Auditorium Comic Book convention to drool over the 1/55 Ostrich, the Gold Book and anything Macross related that wasn't Jetfire or Matchbox.

[Graham]

I discovered Macross through the old Arai and Imai Macross model kits which were selling in UK toy and model shops in 1982 or maybe it was 1983. So I was 12 or 13 then. I bought a whole bunch of the kits then, well at least as much as my meagre pocket money would allow. I fell in love with the kit designs and the Yoshiyuki Takani box art and promised myself I would one day track down and watched the anime they were from.

I didn't actually get to see any Macross anime until catching a few episodes of the TV series on Hong Kong TV in 1986 and then I was lucky enough to get to see a summer rerun of DYRL at the Cinema in Hong Kong in IIRC 1988, which I watched several times. That's really what really got me hooked for life on Macross. Nothing beats DYRL on the big screen!

As far as TV series go, I actually identity and prefer Macross 7 more, as unlike the original SDF Macross TV series, I was able to watch Macross 7 from start to finish as it was airing in 1994-5 with only minimum delay, via bootleg VHS tapes, which arrived in HK only a few days after the episodes aired in Japan.

However, I love all Macross and there's not a Macross TV series, OVA or movie that I dislike.

I've never actually watched much Robotech, as I don't think it ever aired in either UK or HK (at least not while I was there/here). But from what I have seen, the dubbing and songs really make me cringe.

Graham

[myk]

I was obsessed with Clash of the Bionods, Macross Movie and Flashback after that. I kept going to the Shrine Auditorium Comic Book convention to drool over the 1/55 Ostrich, the Gold Book and anything Macross related that wasn't Jetfire or Matchbox.

Lol I still obsess over 'Clash. I was so stoked that I found a decent quality 'boot with the 'Clash language track as an audio option on DVD; now I can retire my VHS...

[Graham]

I love Clash too. Looking for a DVD copy, as although I still have 2 VHS tapes, I no longer have a VHS player

Graham

[Kicker773]

hmm....base of my vague memory... I remember seeing Macross as robotech in the Philippines in 84-85 it think. I only saw a few episodes. If I remember correctly I liked it but it never stuck with me.

Three years later as a key latch kid while I was waiting for my mom to get off work in Zurich, Switzerland in 86-87 I came upon a airplane/robot toy which was the Scott Bernard Blue Gakken/valk (god knows I didn't know what series or where it was from). I do remember the back of the box where it had a image of a strike 1/55 valkyrie getting ready in line with other valks. That I remember. Without knowing what series it was from I went home that day and broke my piggy bank and took all the swiss franks i had in there and went back the following day to purchase it. (My dad didn't support me having robots/guns/action figures, he was more of a lego, technics, train sets, and building block toys kinda guy, so I knew asking for it from my mom would be a no go answer). Went home and started putting the stickers on it precisely. I remember my mom was like worried that i spent days on that one toy putting stickers on it on my desk. Little to say when i moved back to the Philippines in 89 and had my toys shipped there the freaking arm broke, but still i loved to play with it.

In 95-96 when I was already living in the states, my neighbor/classmate let me borrow this VHS that had macross on it. It was Macross II!! Loved it, but couldn't piece together how it was related to the previous anime I saw in the Philippines, I just knew that the similarities of robot to plane was very close. Started digging around, not much really since the internet back in the day wasn't that great and AOL days didn't start until 97 for me. So it was a dead end for me after watching the one Macross II VHS tape. Breakthrough was 97 when I was coming home from school and decided to stop by a comic store where it had the 1/65 Gamlin valk. All I saw was macross 7, I had to get it! So I basically only it was my first toy and I still have him until now =).

In 99 a buddy of mine took me to a comic convention and I found the VCD's of Macross7. When I started working for Gamestop in 2003 Suncoast videos started carrying the Robotech dvd sets and got those. I did kick myself now that I didn't pick up the book ends when I was working at gamestop. Got stuck on Rurouni Kenshin and other animes before I came back full circle in 2006-2007 when I found this site. Oh god how I remember I had so much problem registering. It took almost a year for me to be able to register and post anything. Bought my first set of 1//48 valks from someone on here in the forum, then bought some more here and there... found HLJ... bought some more.. and here I am today a room full of just Macross toys. Wife hates my best friend from grammar school who lent me that Macross II VHS because she thinks it all stemmed from that day on, which is a reason we no longer have a guest room... ahahahahahaha

[Shaorin]

i'd say ROBOTECH was pretty much my Gateway, as i recall memories of seeing an ep or two,

and getting at least one of the BGMs stuck in my head, sometime in my early preteen years,

probably around '86, when i was around five years old or so.

then, in the late 80's, probably 1989ish, one of my nephews gave me the ROBOTECH CHANGERS "VEXAR" (IMAI 1/72 VF-1S Focker VARIABLE TYPE)

that he had built up VERY badly some years beforehand. it being a fragile model, and me, being a young preteen, it didn't last me very long at all.

still, it left an impression on me.

some years later, around 1993/94 i was first introduced to MACROSS proper, with a copy of the old ARII 1/100 VF-1J Hikaru GERWALK model kit.

that model sparked my interest, and led me to discovering ROBOTECH via the PALLADIUM RPG BOOK ONE.

that book in turn led me to the 1990's edition, double-episode per volume ROBOTECH VHS editions at my local SUNCOAST VIDEO.

not long after, i was steered back to MACROSS, by way of MANGA VIDEO's editions of MACROSS II and MACROSS PLUS; THE MOVIE.

from then on, i became a MACROSS fan first and foremost, putting up with ROBOTECH only because it was the only way i had

to experience MACROSS, and to a lesser important degree, MOSPEADA.

today, i am complete and total MACROSS fan, with nothing more than the mildest interest in ROBOTECH, as nothing more than a sentimental curiosity...

Edited December 23, 2011 by Shaorin