Please come reply? about Macross & Robotech

[APU]

I know very little about Macross, I know Robotech but I love both. My question is why is it that collectors from the US act like Robotech never happened? Forget all the leagle stuff and explain the hate for Robotech. I dont think because you expanded your views as you learned more about Macross you should totally forget and disreguard your love as a kid for Robotech. As a 9 year old in the US we as kids knew nothing about Macross or imported toys,(some say they did but I finde it very hard to belive) we knew Robotech and loved it. I hardly ever see anybody saying that they like Robotech. Iv been colecting Transformers for 20 years, Mcfarlane toys for 10 years and toys in general for ever and the Macross fanbase is the most intalectual(sp) of any fan groupe. No b1tching about everything like Mcfarlane fans,and no b1tching about short smokestacks and wrong color eyes like Transfans. I just dont understand the US collectors hate for Robotech.

[Angel's Fury]

I'm from Canada and RT is simply just not my ideal cup of tea. Macross is more of my taste. That's why I collect Macross toys as much I can, as long as I can financially sustain it.

Edited March 1, 2004 by Angel's Fury

[Eternal_D]

Never liked or watched robotech as a kid. my first memory of anything macross is just a toy my dad brought for me from japan when I was a kid. I knew close to nothing about macross up until a few years ago.

[the white drew carey]

I saw Robotech first when it originally aired, and I liked the animation and the mecha a lot, but the story felt like a bad American chop-job. When I was young I read very adult stories at an early age (Hobbit and LotR, Asimov, Clark, Ludlum and Heinlein all before I was 10), so the kiddie-fare that was RT bored me. I sat there for a long time wondering how a show that looked so cool could also be so lame. Less than a year later I found out the truth about Macross, SC and MOSPEADA and took a much greater liking to them and their original stories then what happened in Robotech.

Sadly, even though Macross is the most popular, SC and MOSPEADA definitely took the greater beating in order to make the square peg fit into a round hole.

Secondly, it is a moral issue. I think that editing, chopping and otherwise maiming Japanese anime in order to make it more Ameri-friendly, or even worse, a completely new story, is lame.

[EXO]

From my experience Robotech never merchandised the Macross part properly, meaning mostly the Takatoku/Bandai VFs, which made me seek out Macross toys and led me to the movies, and OVAs and ultimately the original series. But i think Macross fans are the minority in the U.S. and for the most part, the world. I don't remember being miserable watching Robotech, but I'm a lot happier watching Macross.

$.02

[Nightbat]

Macross always had a steady and good supply of toys, while RT...

The only good Valks available were the Taka/Bandais, they were all Macross-related, not RT

anyways for the rest... to see the entire picture would go way off topic

Damn, Exo beat me to it

[UN Spacy]

Like many of the MW'ers I also grew up watching Robotech. It wasn't until 1989 that I found out about Macross: DYRL and I've been a Macross fan ever since. Don't get me wrong.....there's a nostalgic feeling that comes over me when I watch Robotech: The Macross Saga. Something that I didn't get when I was watching my ADV Boxset of Genesis Climber Mospeada.

It's all apples and oranges (Robotech being the chemically altered apple ).

[Göönk]

I like Robotech, because I watched that as a kid, 18 years ago. I discovered Macross a few years ago, with internet. I have a few toys from Yamato because they are good quality.

Actually, I love the macross TV series toys because indeed they are the same looking toys than the Robotech series but with Yamato quality.

I like Robotech also because they speak english and I don't have to read subs.

I didn't like DYRL really. I don't even understand the story very well while the Robotech history is clear. I have the Robotech DVDs and not the macross ones. I believe they released remastered ones but they're damned expensive and still in japanese with english subs.

I liked Macross Zero, Macross 7 (also a little too "Magical" with Spiritia if u see what I mean), I also liked Macross + and Macross II. But the one I prefered were Robotech Macross Saga, Robotech New Generation (Mospeada). I don't know why, probably because of the english language.

[ewilen]

No doubt about it, Robotech brought me into anime and comics. (Yes, I collected the Comico adaptations for a while.)

But there's virtually nothing new that HG has done with Robotech which matches the quality of the original source material. I do think some of the Matchbox toys are better than they're given credit for--but some of them are horrible. And the Robotech stuff does worse and worse in comparison to the Japanese Macross stuff as times goes by. That includes toys, art books, and of course animated cartoons.

Also, even if we limited the comparison to original material and compare the Japanese version to the Robotech version of Macross, the Robotech scripts are clearly inferior (the excessive use of voiceover narration is particularly grating) and most of the RT vocal music is horribly written and performed. I would also give the edge to the original Japanese voice actors, background music, and sound effects. In my case, much of this is unsurprising--I always prefer subtitled anime to dubs, so even if RT were a faithful dub, I'd still prefer Macross.

Finally, the treatment Macross technology in Robotech is simply not as sophisticated as the original. Many dislike the way that Protoculture was turned into a fuel source. But actually, that's understandable given the need to link the three TV series. What I dislike is the handwaving/technobabble approach to technology instead of attempting to actually understand how the stuff works. Thus the infamous inflation of an animation error into official stats for "nose lasers".

Nowadays, the only thing I can say I like about Robotech is the original grand arc of the series--the ideas centering on Zor/The Masters/The Invid and the way that the Earth is drawn into the struggle. Arguably, it's a more satisfying epic, with an opening, middle, and closure--albeit very uneven because of the way three unrelated anime were spliced together. But HG's efforts to fill in the gaps and extend the story are of absolutely no interest to me. Meanwhile, Studio Nue/Big West have produced several excellent anime set in the Macross universe.

[Sumdumgai]

I started on Robotech, but came to learn abut Macross. Along the way I came to realize that Robotech was hack-job trash and I stopped liking it. I hate hack-jobs and I hate low quality.

Besides, this topic belongs in the "Other Anime or Science Fiction" section if I'm not mistaken. This doesn't even belong in the toy forums!

[Solscud007]

This almost seems to belong in another part of the forums. But anyway, Robotech lit the fire of admiration for transforming robotic planes. When i learned about the truth behind Robotech I wasn not so keen to teh perversion of one man's creation, Shoji Kawamori. I guess as a fan I try to get as close as possible to the true essence. the original source as i can. Almost all fans try that in one way or another. Take trekkie fans. Some love it so much they live it in that secret society of theirs and speak Kingon.

Anyway what im saying is I liked robotech to the point I wanted to learn more. You took a different approach when you discovered the truth. I went the other way and embraced the pure macross rather than the Robotech version. While I myself have qualms with Robotech and HG in particular, it doesnt matter does it? You like RB and I like Macross leave it at that.

I am glad to hear that you did give the real macross a try before formulating opinions.

Edited March 1, 2004 by Solscud007

[Hoptimus]

read this

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=228