ROBOTECH!!!

Remember Robotech? It was one of my favorites! It also was what got me into anime. I had a few of the kits from Revell when I was a kid, and now have over a dozen kits from all three "generations" of the series. I guess it's part of my "Peter Pan syndrome" ( which most of us in this forum probably have a touch of ).

You may not have heard, but the entire series is out on DVD now along with 2 of the original Japanese series that were merged into Robotech. The Japanese versions of Macross and Mospeada ( the Invid war ) are subtitled, so you'll have to deal with "reading your shows" if you get them. I got the Robotech versions partly for the nostalgia, but also so that there would be something my son could have on without driving me nuts ( anyone else here with kids had thoughts of torching the collections of Blue's Clues, Elmo, etc? ). I gotta admit, it's also fun to see the wife's reaction to our son asking to watch the Invid or trying to sing the theme from Star Blazers !


I couldn't even find my way back to "normal" with the Hubble!

I remember watching the TV show. I worked for Budget Rent a Car in college and the waiting room only got one channel on the old TV.

I did buy just about all of the Revell kits and noticed the scale and manufacturer differed on many kits. I still have a bunch of the kits, although I did not keep any of the "robot-body" kits, only the kits that were futuristic vehicles like some four-legged camel and spider looking vehicles, one of the jet transformers, a helicopter that carried a robot (lost the robot) and still have a tractor trailer truck made to recover a damaged robot.

Really neat models though.

I liked it too. I still collect kits from the show (boxed in Japan under it's orignal name 'Macross').

Two places to check out:

www.robotech.com

and

www.macrossworld.com


The stuff about the 'Robotech Masters' and the 'Invid' were two other series that had no relation in Japan but dubbed in English to appear to be from the same storyline.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Aurora-7 The stuff about the 'Robotech Masters' and the 'Invid' were two other series that had no relation in Japan but dubbed in English to appear to be from the same storyline.

That's what happens when the you combine "innovative marketing" with a producer who mostly "translated" the show by watching the Japanese tapes with the sound off and putting in lines he thought would fit!

I have just recently started watching the Robotech DVDs and I'm not very far into the series. I have noticed that many of the old Robotech Revell kits (nearly all of them) were also made by a Japanese firm called Takara and sold under the Dougram: Fang of the Sun brand. Is the Dougram storyline one of these that was "included" with the Robotech storyline?

QUOTE: Originally posted by memeau I have just recently started watching the Robotech DVDs and I'm not very far into the series. I have noticed that many of the old Robotech Revell kits (nearly all of them) were also made by a Japanese firm called Takara and sold under the Dougram: Fang of the Sun brand. Is the Dougram storyline one of these that was "included" with the Robotech storyline?

No, Dougram was not used in the Robotech TV series. Revell just had an agreement with Harmony Gold to use the Robotech name but did not attempt to make a direct tie in to the TV series with the kits. Look at what their suggested paint jobs for the variable fighters were!

3 seperate anime stories were English dubbed to be part of the Robotech story line. The first was 'Macross' which had the variable fighters, Lynn Minmae and the SDF-1.

The second was 'Armies of the Southern Cross'. The Robotech version had the 'Robotech Masters' and 'Dana Sterling'

The third was 'Genesis Climber Mospeda' and dealt with Scott Bernard and the Invid.

Models were made from 'Armies' and 'Mospeda' but were never part of Revell's Robotech series. 'Armies' only had figure kits plus one 'hover-bike' made -no mecha. Two models from the 'Mospeda' series found there way to Monogram and were packaged as models from 'The GO-Bots' cartoon series in the early 80's. A variable fighter (Mospeda had their own version) was 'Leader-1' and a specialized motorcycle armor was 'Cy-Kill' in 'GO-Bot' packaging.

Hasegawa makes the best Macross models... they have wonderful detail. I have built a couple. Check out macrossworld.com (their server is undergoing repair for a couple days) and/or starshipmodeler.com for more models. There are some awesome kits from Yellow Submarine/Club-M, but they are very expensive resin kits.

I grew up with Robotech! SDF-1, Veritech fighters, the game( I beat it ),sweeeet!!!

Yep definitely remember the show. www,robotech.com is a site that you may want to visit as it is the official site and has some cool stuff

I just purchased the set of DVD's for the entire Robotech series including the extra DVD's. They're great. I am also starting a kit of the VE-1 Elintseeker from the original macross attack of the bionoids. It's a Hasgawa kit and the detail looks amazing. Hope to do a good job. :-)

The DVDs are out. I couldn't bring myself to spend the money on it so I found them online in real video format.

I have the Robotech DVDs. Watching them brings me right back to my childhood. Robotech, Transformers, Voltron, the Go-Bots. Where all the quality cartoons these days?!

QUOTE: Originally posted by thevinman Where all the quality cartoons these days?!

They are still out there, but no longer being renamed and shown under their true classification. "Anime".

Undoubtedly. I'm a huge Anime fan. I just got the Neon Genesis Evangelion box set. HIGHLY RECOMMNDED WATCH!!! btw

But I was referring to the Saturday morning cartoon genre. You can’t have kids watching most unedited anime as its intended audience is truly adults. I just can’t stand any more Yu-gi-oh and Pokemon marketing orgy type cartoons!

QUOTE: Originally posted by thevinman Undoubtedly. I'm a huge Anime fan. I just got the Neon Genesis Evangelion box set. HIGHLY RECOMMNDED WATCH!!!

Get hold of Gasaraki and than cry because bandai is no longer producing the Robot kits.

QUOTE: But I was referring to the Saturday morning cartoon genre. You can’t have kids watching most unedited anime as its intended audience is truly adults. I just can’t stand any more Yu-gi-oh and Pokemon marketing orgy type cartoons!

For that you have to blame the people overseas who import the wrong stuff.
My Son watches a lot of quality Anime on TV & Cable here, designed for the kids.
They got Anime over here rated from age-group 2 to 97 and any flavour/genre you could want.

Problem is that most people overseas only know the Porn or the Enthusiasts stuff like Cowboy Bepop and so on. And of course the stuff that is used to sell goods thanks to Bandai who now has a marketing tie-up with Mattel.

One series I love to watch with my Son is "Aka-chan to Boku" (Baby and me), it is about a young teen whose Mother died and he now has to learn to look after his little 3yr old brother while his father is at work. Very true to life and we all enjoy it, of course no goods will be sold by stuff like that, hence no showing overseas.
http://www.geocities.com/SamNuni/Wisdom/AnimeBaby.html

But there are many series like this out there.

Also if you want some good Anime have a look at Studio Gibhli, some great stuff including the series in which the founders of the company were involved.

Sux to be an Anime fan in the US. I gotta move to Japan of these days! (My wife spent 6 months on a business assignment in Yokohama.) She loved it and wants to go back.

Thanks for the Gasaraki tip. I'll check it out!

QUOTE: Originally posted by thevinman Sux to be an Anime fan in the US. I gotta move to Japan of these days! (My wife spent 6 months on a business assignment in Yokohama.) She loved it and wants to go back.

Sure, come over. Great place, I also love it here as long as I can avoid the centre of Tokyo(Shinjuku, Shibuya, Roppongi, etc.)


Some great touring to be done here too, and the Bikes are cheap especially 2nd-hand.

Cowboy Bebop is fine anime, that finally got some attention it deserved.
Patlabor is fine anime, but gets little attention.
Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket is fine anime. It gets overshadowed by other Gundam shows.
Macross Plus is fine anime. The whole Robotech vs. Macross thing drowns it out.
There's more good anime than people might think. Better than most sci-fi there is really.


There's the Saturady morning type shows still, Pokemon, Yugi-o, and Zoids are the new "80's" style anime toy commercials. The way Transformers, Thundercats, Voltron, and GI-Joe were.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Gundamhead There's the Saturady morning type shows still, Pokemon, Yugi-o, and Zoids are the new "80's" style anime toy commercials. The way Transformers, Thundercats, Voltron, and GI-Joe were.

I agree, but it’s a matter of degree. Yu-gi-oh and Pokemon are designed to promote huge lines products to an extreme. We’re not talking about a few dozen action figures or robots here, but a never ending universe of collectibles! It’s crazy. It’s the type of thing that scares me out of having kids!

thevinman.

I must have done something right with my 3yr old son, he hardly asks for character toys.

Granted the occasional McDonald Happy Meal with Pichu or similar, but everytime we go to the toy and hobby shop all he wants to look at is Tomica andPla-Rail.

He has seen all the series, he knows the toys but is not interested in them.
OTOH, he loves to inspect the pile of my models, open the boxes pull the instructions out and tell me all about the kit.

As a kid Robotec was my equivalent of my mother's soap operas!LOL
Right now at home I have The Captain Harlock Saga sitting in my DVD player. It's like Star Blazers but with space pirates!

I attend an anime convention every year in Atlanta, Georgia. In fact my Marvin the Martian Gundam won me an award!LOL [Hence my name!]
I love anime and what I really like is that Japan treat it as a true art form and creat all sorts of serious shows in anime like the one with the teenager raising the kid mentioned above. Has anyone ever seen Graveyard of the Fire Flies [ I think thats the title], it's a tear jerker!
Yes, much anime sci fi is better that most US live action sci-fi. A per fect example is Gun Buster! Giant oraganic aliens the size of star ships act as the galaxies "anti-bodies" and come form the center of the galaxy to destroy the earth because space travel was allowing us to spread like an infection. The humans compress jupitor into a moon sized bomb and detonate it in the center of the galaxy!
Neon Genisis, is also awsome sci-fi as well.

Yeah, I have seen "Tombstone for Fireflies", great movie.

What brings the story even close is that the movie is based on a book whose author wrote it based on his own childhood experiences.

It is pretty much his own story with a few things(his own behaviour towards his sister) being made nicer than they actually happened.

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/grave/interview.html

Highly recommended viewing.

Dang dude! it brings tears to my eyes just reading that. [Yeah, I'm a softie!]That's deep. I saw the movie and I am a father of three small girls. To picture them starving or worse pains me to no end. i also have a step-son who is the oldest. To imagine him having to fend for himself and his youngest sister alone...I shudder to think of it. Man, I thank god that I have never had to suffer like that and i pray that my children never will...

I have the Macross: Do you remember Love? VF-1S strike valkyre by Hesegawa, very good kit.


I despise macross' english version aka Robotech...

hehe, I just got the game, Robotech Battlecry today. It's funny how, when I got to the main screen of the game and it played the intro music from the series, all sorts of memories came flooding back.

That reminds me, where would I be able to find some valkyrie kits?

QUOTE: Originally posted by dans1120 That reminds me, where would I be able to find some valkyrie kits?

Check Hobby Link Japan or Rainbow 10.

My favorite has always been Nausicaa. I love their air battles, the animation is just amazing, and the story is epic.

QUOTE: Originally posted by dans1120 hehe, I just got the game, Robotech Battlecry today. It's funny how, when I got to the main screen of the game and it played the intro music from the series, all sorts of memories came flooding back. That reminds me, where would I be able to find some Valkyrie kits?

I was the one of the first in line to get Battlecry when it came out for the Playstation 2. I felt like I was a kid again when the intro music started. What did you think of the game? I wished it was more “flight sim” than “arcade”. I wish that someone would make a Valkyrie combat sim.

I’ve been looking for a YF-19 kit for a while with limited success. ebay seems to have a lot of Hasegawa Valkyrie kits (except the YF-19) of course.

I too, loved Macross (Robotech). A bit of a revellation that the American distributors dubbed other shows to fit in with the series, how could they get away with that? Must have peaved the makers of 'Armies of the Southern Cross' and 'Genesis Climber Mospeda'.
Still, it's not entirely a surprise, even as a kid I never really felt that whole series with Dana riding around with her hover bike come battle armour quite fit in with the rest of it.
Don't think we ever got the Mospeda/Robotech one in Australia. What did that look like?

As for the new anime shows. I agree with you Thevinman, I don't like 'em either. But I know that when I sat down to watch Robotech every morning, my dad was thinking, "Yeh but it just ain't Leave it to Beaver"
I think that the biggest difference between Robotech and Dragon Ball is my age. And if Robotech premiered today, I'm sure it would be marketed just as heavily as Dragon Ball and Yu-Gi-Oh. Corporate enterprise is the way of the world now more than ever.
Anyway, I'm gonna do a search for sites on these two extra "Robotech" shows. This is tearing apart the foundations of my childhood. I'm feeling very fragile and in need of answers at the moment (LOL)
"Ignorance is bliss" (Cypher)