Paul V.
Paul V. and Humza K have me thinking about the first time I encountered Robotech mech designs before either Battletech or watching the anime, which I didn't see until college. I can think of three things.
1. Robotech Defenders comic book by DC. Nothing to do with the anime at all. 1985ish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotech_(comics)
2. Jetfire Transformer. Also 1985ish.
3. Robotech novel series. I had all these. Loved them. 1987.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotech_(novels)
I became aware of Robotech first through the Revell model kits (which were a jumble of mecha from multiple Japanese TV shows), then the American show that borrowed the model kit line's name (which was itself stitched together from three different series). I only ever found one of the novels (Metamorphosis) but I remember it being awesome. No idea if it would hold up now.
ReplyDeleteCasey G. Don't think I didn't notice that you used "Robotech" and "mech" right next to each other, either. Pretty subtle, I like it.
ReplyDeleteI read the novels first and they just wouldn't settle down to make sense. When I approached them later, I realized it was because the novels tried to Westernize some very anime storytelling techniques that did not hold up when moved out of their frame of reference.
ReplyDeleteI ended up with a version of Rick Hunter's Veritech when I lived in Korea 83-84 (USAF Brat perk: CHEAP TRANSFORMERS). Then Robotech came out when I lived in Ft. Meade. Then I found Battletech when my dad got out and we moved back to PA in 1987.
ReplyDeleteI read the first two Sentinels novels, but none of the others. Maybe in four years when I am allowed to read books that aren't psychology related I'll pick them up.
Oh, I still have the original Jetfire with all the armor and other stuff. He's a little creaky and yellowed but he still looks good.
ReplyDeleteSentinels is weird. I used to have the VHS tape of the few episodes that were finished before it got canned. Despite having a Japanese studio doing the designs, it has a very not-anime feel to it in many ways (the new alien races are pretty Western space opera-ish, for example). It's also not an "official" part of the Robotech canon (such as it is) anymore, which puts some elements of our Rifts campaign in a weird spot.
True story. I was running an Avengers game and in that game it turned out much of the technology or energy wielded by the Avengers were derived from Transformers technology (called mechnar in this setting.)
ReplyDeleteThe Stark-esque armor guy worked on adapting a power armor based on their tech, and made a Veritech. I called it an Origamitech, because it folded. Several characters got neural jacks so they could pilot them.
I thought it was cool.
So I'm the only one that read the Robotech Defenders comic? I'm pretty sure my mom bought it for me because I was sick.
ReplyDeleteAnd I remember the books being really good. I would count it as the first "military SF" I ever read.
ReplyDeleteCasey G. I didn't know the Robotech Defenders comic existed until today, but knowing a little about toy tie-ins and the Revell model kits, it makes sense that it did. I did read a few issues of the Comico series that I found at a public library in the early 90s, but that's it.
ReplyDeleteI am having VAGUE memories of the Robotech Defenders line. And I totally forgot about the Comico comics, but I used to get those at the PX when I was in Fort Meade. I remember my parents giving me a little sideeye on the New Generation issue where Marlene comes out of her egg all naked and shiny.
ReplyDeleteDennis Higgins That's one of the issues I read!
ReplyDeleteI also clearly remember that scene in the novels. The sequence where Rand finds a goo-covered, naked Marlene is more or less played for laughs in the show. McKinney tries to make Rook's "you pervert"-style slap to Rand's face in the cartoon more dramatic by having her accuse Rand of trying to rape Marlene. Even as a teenager, I was like "whoa whoa whoa let's slow down there for a minute" when I read that.
Between that and having a boner for Lancer as Yellow Dancer, poor Rand never catches a break.
Gotta love me some Robotech. It's goofy as shit in places (okay, lots of places). But I dug it big time in high school (during its Cartoon Network rerun). It was the first fannish thing where I went looking online for "my people" -- and man, did I find 'em. Ended up playing the Palladium tabletop game via chat and dicebots after that, and made a crazy-solid group of friends that way. Eventually even got married to one of them...so I can forgive a whole hell of a lot of its goofiness.
ReplyDeleteWasn't McKinney a pen name for a stable of writers? Hold on, let me check the internet.
ReplyDeleteOkay, two writers... Interestingly enough, one was Brian Daley, author of the Han Solo books from the olden days of Star Wars EU. And the other, James Luceno, also wrote in the post-Zahn EU.
Also: Still got all my Palladium books, all my novels, and a whole crapload of the Comico, Eternity, Malibu Academy, and Antarctic Press comics. In the process of getting the comics bound.
ReplyDeleteDennis Higgins Yeah, I was using "McKinney" loosely. I actually thought "he" was more than two people.
ReplyDeletePaul V. His wackadoo bio in the back of the books is what clued me in... Even at the age of 13.
ReplyDeleteOH NEAT. They also collaborated on Galaxy Rangers. I watched the hell out of that cartoon as a kid.
ReplyDeleteOh hey, a cartoon I have literally never even heard of before! Neat. That doesn't happen very often.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome, The Warlord.
ReplyDeleteI'm in much the same boat as Daniel Swensen, but in my case, I read all the way to Sentinels before running into any of the other media for Robotech.
ReplyDelete(The only Anime I was aware as a kid was My Neighbor Totoro, which I had on effectively permanent rental from the only video store in my little town)
Just bought the complete DVD set on Amazon. It arrives tomorrow. I will be "busy" the remainder of the weekend.
ReplyDeleteMy first encounter with Robotech was the Defenders comic. I flipped though it in a grocery store, but wasn't sure what to make of it.
ReplyDeleteThe cartoon blew me away when I was a kid.
Looking back, many the most amazing animated shows I watched as a kid were anime (Battle of the Planets, both Voltron series, Mighty Orbots, TranZor Z, Robotech). However, cartoons that had openings done with a free hand by Japanese animation studios blew me away. (Transformers, Bionic Six, Thundercats, Silverhawks)
"Jack McKinney" taught me everything I knew about love, war, space robots, space giants, and protoculture, up until about 8th grade.
ReplyDeleteI should mention that now I have more interest in the original series that contributed to Robootech, and have DVD box sets of Southern Cross and Mospeada, which are different than the Robotech versions (Southern Cross took place on another planet that had 2 moons)
ReplyDeleteYeah, the source series, I think, hold up better narratively if for no other reason than they weren't edited and re-scripted into one big mega-arc. Southern Cross especially fares poorly in the Robotech adaptation, IMO. It was cut short even in Japan (which explains why the story wraps so quickly and awkwardly), but overall it has more internal consistency in the original.
ReplyDeleteStill, if I'm looking for nostalgia feels, I tend to prefer the Robotech version.
I thought it was Mospeada that was cut short due to terrible ratings.
ReplyDeleteEvan Lindsey I liked the original MOSPEADA as much or more than the Robotech version. Southern Cross is a mess any way you slice it.
ReplyDeleteTo my knowledge it was Southern Cross. Wikipedia's entry on it seems to back this up, but unfortunately it does not supply a supporting link. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Dimension_Cavalry_Southern_Cross)
ReplyDeleteBased on the narrative structure of both shows in comparison, though, my money would be on Southern Cross over Mospeada, simply because of the relatively slow buildup and then sudden breakneck resolution of the various plot points. Mospeada's progression is, IMO, more in accordance with a typical example pacing for its length.
Pacing-wise, I think Southern Cross would have been a good 36-episode or so arc, but cut short at 23 episodes in the original, it simply doesn't have time to resolve all the various subplots and issues it introduces.
ReplyDeleteMospeada did well enough to get those Live Love Alive OVAs.
ReplyDelete