Well, I figured it'd be a good idea to create a topic for Robotech, since it was making the new Thundercats a wee-bit off-topic.

Anyways, for a refresher; Robotech was an adaption(or bowwww bow bow bow bowww, depending on who you ask) of three different Anime series, Super Dimensonal Fortress Macross, Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mosepeda. It later added Megazone 23 to the storyline, by way of a limited theatrical run known as Robotech The Movie, it bombed and was forever forgotten, it seems.

It also tried to produce a number of it's own "original" series; Robotech Sentinals to be the first of many, but due to conversion of the American Dollar to Japanese Yen at the time, and the money from licensing from the Matchbox toys drying up; it was never finished.

Next up was Robotech 3000; taking place some thousand years after the original Macross series, it was planned to be a 3DCG series, but the models and animation that was produced was in poor quality and again, never finished. (Footage was shown at '05 Akon, much of the room was thankful the series was never produced.)

Finally, we have the latest addition to the original series: Robotech The Shadow Chronicles.
This brand new series actually picks up at the end of the Invid storyline, with Scott Bernard going off to find Rick Hunter and his crew. Most of the original cast will be returning, with an addition of Mark Hamill, Kari Wahlgreen and Chase Masterson. Will be released by FUNimation, both theaterically on Oct. 20th, then released to DVD November 21st. (A large Quicktime Trailer can be seen Here and a smaller trailer can be seen here. ) A little bit was shown at a few anime conventions. I saw the bit from Akon 05, and I'm really looking forward to it.

There's also rumors of a live action series...but since there hasn't been much news on that, take it with a bucket of salt.

Aoi

There is a Macross thread already if you didn't know. Just saying.

Yes but Macross =/= Robotech.

I knew about the toys topic, besides the New Thundercats topic was going a bit off-topic...I figure the Macross folks wouldn't want to talk about Robotech in their topic. Anyways, I figure the discussion would be more aimed towards the Shadow Chronicles, but I guess not.

Aoi

I've heard that Shadow Chronicles is hard to follow if you don't know the complete Sentinel series story and haven't read the comics leading up to it.

Good show, man. I've been looking forward to this being an avid Robotech/Macross fan myself.

Me too! Robotech was one of the titles that I first watched before I even knew what anime was. Then rewatching it on Toonami, (at least Macross and Southern Cross portions. They never did air the Mosepeda one, save for the last episode, didn't they?) I got back into it, and even tracked down a place to rent the Sentinels from locally.

Between seeing the Transformers Galaxy Force 2nd opening(first opening song, second opening footage) on something like a 50 inch screen at the Gonzo panel, and seeing some of the in-work footage at the Robotech panel..those two things pretty made AKon05 for me...but then again, those were the only panels I went to.


Aoi

I like Robotech, except for the middle series. Southern Cross is the weakest part of the series.
It gets good again with Genesis Climber Mosepeda.

That's because they had to completely rewrite it to fit inbetween the two and still manage to use the original footage. Although the original creators of Southern Cross considered what Robotech did to their series to be superior.

But both Macross and Mosepeda only had minor changes in comparison. Mainly censoring, name changes, concept shoehorning and such.

To get a better understanding of the Senteniels series, read the novels all the way to End of the Circle... it will give you a better understanding of what happened...

as far as minor changes, my ass. it was big changes... in Robotech Hunter was assigned the VF001... but in the original he had a red and black version before he got Fokkers varitech. plus Robotech never showed the strike valkyries either, just the super and the armoured versions.

and Fokkers death... that was pathetic, bleeding to death at claudias... his death in clash of the bionoids was far better and heroric.

Not sure if that'll really have any impact on Shadow Chronicles. If I remember correctly from that Robotech panel I went to, they said you didn't have to read or even have knowledge of the Sentinels novels to get into Shadow Chronicles.

As for Southern Cross, the creators thought the Robotech version was better? Wow. That's the first I've heard of that happening.

Aoi

Not expecting anything from the SC, besides it is late as hell (except even MORE delays) and the SF toy stinks.

If you like the Macross storyline consider revisiting:
Macross Zero,
Macross tv,
Macross DYRL,
Macross Plus OVA and movie

Southern Cross has little to next to anything to do w/the original series. Mospeada is closer but touchs slightly on the spritia aspects involved in Zero. Sentinals was a complete flop and to be honest while I did read the comics I wasn't impressed with them. Funding and popularity was always an issue with Sentinals and to be honest this is precisely why I doubt SC will do well. Robotech was much more popular when Sentinals was produced. Trying to bank on SC breaking into the market of a 20 year old franchise is not easy, especially when the domestic toys stink and the Japanese counterpart by Yamato are vastly superior.

Overall while Robotech did bring expose MACROSS to a different group of fans, most of the series associated with it are not canon. I appreciate Robotech for what it did but so much is different in the two series that I look at them differently and prefer to stick with the original unedited Japanese version.



Well that's b/c for the older fans on the board Macross > Robotech. The fans of the domestic version of RT are mainly on that board.

I meant minor in comparison to Southern Cross. The Robotech versions Macross and Mosepeda still had the same basic story in the end, Southern Cross did not.

SCross wasn't even planned as a part of Macross totally separate. Mospeada is the closest, but even then a weak connection. The best direct connection remains Macross Zero.

I know that, and it has nothing to do with my statement. I was talking about Robotech, not Macross.

You do know that most of that was from the Macross movie and was never in the original anime to begin with?

aka Do You Remember Love....

I'm so glad you didn't mention Macross 7. It made my ears bleed

You certainly called that one. Was reading on AnimeNewsNetwork earlier today, that the DVD was scheduled for November, but it's been delayed till early 2007. Oy.

Aoi

Yup, not surprised whatsoever by this. Even the dwindling RT fanbase is getting impatient. The Macross fans are laughing at how the animation pales in comparison and well, grab some marshmellows for the fire b/c the well deserved roast is just beginning.

Well, I've picked up this DVD, watched it twice, and overall I enjoyed it. The story, writing and animation was good, and the CG was okay (I would have preferred hand animated sequences) but the one thing irked me was...the, erm, absurd proportions of cleavage. Okay, I understand that the character designs needed some updating, but this just feels wayyy too stylized and feels like it's pandering to the current trends of anime, something that Robotech shouldn't have to do given it's status. That and the fact that some of the characters never had these ridiculous bust lines in the first place (I fear what will happen to Rook Bartley and Lisa Hayes if the series continues lol).

I grew up with the show, the novels, the comics and the RPG...so I was a little thrown off when the first time I watched it, as I had not read the PttSC series or been aware of the changes that HG had made because of issues with the original production companies. So with that being said...

I liked the new story, and actually the new look for Rick Hunter doesn't really irk me that much - he would be in his early to late 50's by now, so it makes sense. I found the change to the Haydonite characters suprising, but cool. And the introduction of Maia Sterling is pretty cool too - seeing as HG is rewriting the Sentinels history, Aurora and Maia could very well be one in the same.

As far as Janice goes, since this is a new/rebuilt Janice (possibly with the memories of the old Janice thrown in for good measure)I can go with this - I just hope that if this series continues, she gets more character development rather than physical development

I was also happy to see that all of the establised characters retained their original characterizations, as that can sometimes be one of the shakiest points when returning to a 20 year old story. Honestly though, I need to go back to Southern Cross to truly remember what Louie Nichols' character was originally like.

As far as other continuity issues go - ones that seem to contradict the animated canon - I can live with them as long as they tie those up (to fit w/the established continuity)in a future installment. I've also been reading about some issues with contradictions in characters bios (such as Vince Grant's age), and all I can say is - ZOMG Spacefolding makes my head hurt.

It's a shame that


Mark Hamill's character was killed so early on - I was hoping to have more of him in the series.
It also distresses me to find out that Exedore was killed off - seems like a cop out to take him out offscreen



Overall, I enjoyed it and all of the new characters were enjoyable - none of them were grating and I look forward to seeing where they'll go in the saga.

Well Hamill does play one of the Haydonites. As for Exedore, maybe we'll see his death in a future release?

I fully enjoyed it, and I've gotten to the point that the absurd cleavage doesn't bother me much anymore after see so much anime at this point.

After watching it a couple more times, I really think I'm over it now. It just jarred me a bit at first.

So is the Shadow Chonicles based off the actually search for Admiral Hunter, because the never really did find him in the novel..

No, it doesn't really follow the novels, its set right at the end of the original series, but Hunter does go missing during it.