History YMMV / MacrossZero

* DontShootTheMessage: The Monster being deployed is supposed to be seen as horrific because its nuclear weapons will poison the island's people with radiation which Sara only manages to avoid by sacrificing herself, so either way it's showing the tragic nature of the situation. But at the same time, the Monster looks so damn cool and has some of the best animation in the OVA.

* DontShootTheMessage: The Monster being deployed is supposed to be seen as horrific because its nuclear weapons will poison the island's people with radiation which Sara only manages to avoid by sacrificing herself, so either way it's showing the tragic nature of the situation. But at the same time, the Monster looks so damn cool and has some of the best animation in the OVA.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: The series' example, the Destroid Monster, appears in the last episode as its mk. I version to [[TheNuclearOption shoot the Bird Human with reaction weapons]] when [[GodzillaThreshold there's no other apparent way to stop it]].

* TheWoobie: Sara Nome. She fails to convince her people to continue following their customs and blames herself for the bad things that befall her home because [[spoiler:she was tricked into giving a blood sample by Dr. Hadsford when she was younger]].

* TheWoobie: Sara Nome. She fails to convince her people to continue following their customs and blames herself for the bad things that befall her home because[[spoiler:she was tricked into giving a blood sample by a scientist when she was younger]].

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** Clues are scattered throughout the franchise; the Bird Human's mysterious symbol shows up in DYRL, Macross Frontier ep 22, and amazingly, during the All-That-VF airshow (MF version) over the same desert mountains near New Edwards Air Force Base from Macross Plus. Oh, and one of the relics in Zero shows up in Brera's last scene in ''MacrossFrontier''
** What the Bird Human is [[AllThereInTheManual is explained]] in ''MacrossFrontier'': [[spoiler:it's a lifeform created by the [[{{Precursors}} Protoculture]] in an attempt to mimic the [[StarfishAliens Vajra]] and their SubspaceAnsible capabilities.]]

* EpilepticTrees (What the heck was the Bird Human anyway, and what did it actually have to do with the rest of the series?)

* {{Narm}} (The designation for the space ship that would be Macross is ASS-1, or Alien Space Ship 1. Unfortunate, but justified.)

* YourMileageMayVary (While many enjoyed the then-revolutionary and still pretty good looking CG effects for the planes and what the digital inking brought to the table, a lot of people were intensely disappointed with the ending.)