Line #10 YMMV/Robotech


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** Is Rick Hunter really a genuinely NiceGuy who just needed to grow up a little, or is he a completely selfish, manipulative {{Jerkass}} who strings not one but two different women along with no regard for their feelings (and possibly a gold digger, given that one was a pop star and the other was his boss, both women of higher status than himself)? Or is he a JerkWithAHeartOfGold with his heart in the right place but his brains somehere else?
3	** Is Lisa Hayes really a strong authority figure with a tragic and unfulfilled love life, or someone who let the death of their first love in their teens impact their interpersonal relationships as an adult too hard?
4	** Hell, is Minmei really the horrible brat that the fanbase makes her out to be, or was she just a goofy but essentially good hearted girl who had trouble coping with the insane situation she found herself in?
5	** Max's wedding to Miriya: true love from across the stars, or Max taking advantage of Miriya's unfamiliarity with human culture and proper courtship?
6	** Dana Sterling, daughter of Max and Miriya - just how the Hell did she end up so different from them? Was it simply because they had to leave her early in life, or does she act out the way she does to cope with off screen discrimination for being half-alien (as the expanded universe hints at)? Having to care for [[TheGhost the little brother she once mentioned]] while studying to become an officer certainly didn't help.
7	** Humans happen to resemble the Robotech Masters and the Zentradi, the race responsible for the Invid home world being devastated... You have to wonder if some of the more 'senseless' acts of destruction on human habitation were their personal revenge fantasy.
8	* AngstWhatAngst
9	** While other Tirolians show horror and shock at their clone siblings dying, the Robotech Elders don't even bat an eyelash.
10	** When Scott kills the Invid Prince Corg in combat, none of the other human type Invid seem to mourn him. Might be justified for at least the Regess since she is busy telepathically sensing the deaths of many of her children in the battle at the time (including other human type Invid).
11	* ArcFatigue: The Minmei/Rick/Lisa triangle.
12	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://youtu.be/hUZaI7Twtqc Way to Love]], from the final scene, which carries the feeling of EarnYourHappyEnding.
13	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: When discovering the left over goo of Ariel's cocoon, Rand takes a look at it and says he feels like he's been through all this before. This isn't explained or elborated on later. The only possible hand wave might be that it was alluding to Ariel's goo being like after birth, but no such explanation is given.
14	* BrokenBase: ''Robotech'' has one of the mothers of all broken bases. To count all the different ways the base is broken practically calls for a family tree-style diagram, given that there have been so many different adaptations of the ''Robotech'' story or expanded universe materials (TV show, novels, role-playing game, comics, etc.) and many of them disagree with each other. There were even breaks between several different efforts to reconcile the differences among the adaptations. And that's not even taking into account the new sequel material, which itself contradicts the original in a number of ways. The many years without new ''Robotech'' content (while ''Macross'' got more and more interesting content in Japan, with ever-greater visibility) and nothing to do on the mailing lists, message boards and whatnot except hash and rehash old arguments didn't exactly help matters, either. And ''then'' there's the friction between Harmony Gold and the various owners/licensors of ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''...
15	** And that's before you even get into the various arguments about the quality of Robotech vs. the three anime it was made from, whether Robotech was a good adaptation, improved on them in some way, or was just an outright bastardization, or whether it was an improvement for one show but a shot in the foot for the others...
16	* DesignatedHero:
17	** Rick Hunter comes dangerously close to this at times as he's prone to being quite the {{Jerkass}} (his original Japanese ''Macross'' counterpart Hikaru was an even bigger jerk), especially after regressing from some of his initial character development, and gets upstaged in the heroics department by other characters.
18	** Dana Sterling also borders on this as well, since she seems to care more about goofing off and having a good time than doing her job.
19	* DesignatedLoveInterest: That darned Rick Hunter comes dangerously close to this one too in regards to Lisa Hayes during the ''Reconstruction Blues'' episodes. His behavior towards Lisa in these episodes - specifically ''A Rainy Night'' and ''Private Time'' - is so atrocious (he degraded and humiliated her in front of her subordinates for crying out loud) that after a while you have to wonder what it is exactly she sees in him. And then you start to feel that there's really no good reason for Lisa to even like Rick other than the plot says so (and the original Japanese writers were even worse).
20	* FanMyopia: A large number of fans are still hung up on the misconception that the ''Macross Saga'' characters (Rick, Lisa, Max, etc.) are the central main characters of the entire saga. Many want ''Anime/RobotechIITheSentinels'' to be finally animated in its entirety. Because the original series ended with the unknown fate of Admiral Rick Hunter, they also demand closure for those characters. There is heavy debate over whether Admiral Hunter should return to lead one last great battle and die heroically, or lead one last great battle and retire to live with Lisa and his new family happily ever after. Seeing as how the ''Macross Saga'' characters were the original cast that fans fell in love with, it's not entirely unreasonable for fans to want to see some closure for them. After all, what's the point of investing in a character just to toss them away? Harmony Gold on the other hand, is distancing ''Robotech'' from ''Macross'', at least in terms of new animation, but this is because they are required to do so by license restriction. Also, other fans simply feel that, regardless of their final fate, Rick Hunter and the rest of the ''Macross'' characters have already told their story and would prefer ''Robotech'' to move forward. Meanwhile, in the base ''Macross'' franchise, the majority of the original characters were last used in 1987 and disappeared on an even more ambiguous note than their ''Robotech'' counterparts.
21	* FandomEnragingMisconception: Putting aside the whole ''Macross'' adaptation/licensing issue, do not treat the Jack [=McKinney=] novelizations as canon unless you itch for a flamewar. Especially ''The Shapings'' or ''Thinking Caps''. On the other side of the coin, the people who ''do'' treat the [=McKinney=] as canon are PO'd about the [=McKinney=] content being jettisoned in favor of ''The Shadow Chronicles'' in the same way that some ''Franchise/StarWars'' fans are PO'd about [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends the original Expanded Universe]] being decanonized in favor of ''Film/StarWarsTheForceAwakens'' and [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse newer content]].
22	* FandomRivalry: ''Robotech'''s relationship with ''{{Franchise/{{Macross}}'' has evolved significantly over the years, at times being FriendlyFandoms and at times being a FandomRivalry. The greatest period of FandomRivalry between the two was when they were seen more as competitors circa the anime boom of the TurnOfTheMillenium, with ''Macross'' fans scoffing at ''Robotech'' fans for daring to like a {{macekre}} or enjoying the CanonWelding and new lore brought by having multiple series.
23	* FanonDiscontinuity: Some of the Robotech fandom to refuses to acknowledge the Expanded Universe material. And now, officially, [[CanonDiscontinuity Harmony Gold does, too]].
24	* FirstInstallmentWins: There's a reason the ''Macross Saga'' is usually the most popular out of all three.
25	* FriendlyFandoms: ''Robotech'''s relationship with ''{{Franchise/{{Macross}}'' has evolved significantly over the years, at times being FriendlyFandoms and at times being a FandomRivalry. Once the audience at large started uniting under a distaste for Creator/HarmonyGold for interfering with both ''Macross'' and ''Robotech'' seeing wide western releases, the fandoms' vitriol towards each other calmed and entered a period of coexistence (and in many case comingling, with significant overlap in ''Robotech'' and ''Macross'' fans).
26	* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: During the Battle of Reflex Point, Scott and his group arrives in the Regess' chamber... And they immediately find out [[LargeHam how much of a show-off she is]]:
27	--->"The Hive has been contaminated. Foolish humans... You have come here to look upon the face of the Invid... So be it. You ''shall'' see."\
28	''Light goes out''\
29	''[[IncomingHam Regess starts materializing in a light]]''\
30	"Behold! '''I''' am the Invid! I am the Soul and the Spirit!"\
31	''An holografic galaxy appears to accompany her narration.''\
32	"I have guided my people across the magnitude of cosmos, from a world that is lost to a world that is found. I have led my people in flight from the dark tide of Shadows that engulfed our forefathers. That threatens to engulf ''us'' even now. I am the power, and the light. I am the Embodiment of the Life Force, that creates and protects."\
33	''The light returns, and the Regess appears in all her glory, in the form of [[UncannyValley a giant woman with alien dress and looks]]''\
34	"In the primitive terminology of your people, I am... ''[[{{Beat}} dramatic pause]]'' The Mother."\
35	''[[StunnedSilence Everyone looks at her in shock]]''\
36	"[[{{Understatement}} You are surprised.]]"\
37	''Continues her speech, [[MrExposition hammily explaining why the Invid are on Earth]]''
38	* GatewaySeries:
39	** An early ''wave'' of anime fans came from the show who learned that anime can provide a powerful drama that no WesternAnimation production of its time could match.
40	** To a lesser extent, many viewers got their first appreciation for good SoapOpera-like drama with the ''Macross'' generation's LoveTriangle.
41	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
42	** ''Robotech'' was really popular in China, where it's known as ''Taikong Baolei (Space Fortress)'' along with the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}''.
43	** Also, ''Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross'' and ''Genesis Climber Mospeada'' are much better known in America (due to ''Robotech'') than in Japan (where they are very obscure). The Japanese dub for ''Robotech'' led to ''The Masters'' saga being better received in Japan than ''Southern Cross'' was when it was first aired.
44	* HarsherInHindsight:
45	** Dana's brief mention of having a younger brother hits much harsher when she meets her other sibling Maia in "Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles" and their relationship is plainly horrible.
46	** The death of Marlene Rush, fiance of Scott Bernard at the start of ''New Generation'', becomes a lot harder to watch knowing that in real life Scott's voice actor, Greg Snegoff, suffered the exact same tragedy when his first wife, voice actress Lisa Michelson, died in a car accident a few years after this series ended.
47	** Scott calls the Invid "you slugs" in one episode. While this was likely meant to be a simple insult, given what we learn of the Invid's native forms, this becomes more of a FantasticSlur.
48	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
49	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7LTRUKPRDc The UN 60th Anniversary PSA]].
50	** When the rebels reveal they've put together a birthday party for her, Anne runs out in tears of joy, and thinks, "Starlight, star bright, thank you!"
51	* HoYay: Some of Lancer's interactions with the guys in ''New Generation'' come off being a little flirty. Not surprising given that he's the show's WholesomeCrossdresser.
52	* LesYay: Some of Dana Sterling's interactions with Marie Crystal and Nova Satori come very close to looking BelligerentSexualTension.
53	* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: Part of what make the series stand out so much in the 1980s. For instance, you see Roy Fokker seriously wounded and you'd think they pull some crude last minute save, but they [[KilledOffForReal kill him off for real]]. In the very next episode, you'd think that they would never do that again, they suddenly kill off Ben Dixon too. Finally, when the Zentraedi fleet are charging up their main guns to bombard Earth, you'll have been still convinced that the producers would ''never'' show them actually destroying the planet, ''they do!'' ([[LampShadeHanging with Lisa shouting "They can't be doing this, they can't!" in shock as it happens]]), reducing the planetary human population from billions to a few millions in seconds. For a 1980s kid accustomed to the indigenous content limits watching this, this series was as shocking as it was ''unpredictable''!
54	* {{Macekre}}: Though effectively the TropeNamer, it was probably one of the ''better'' {{Frankenslation}}s of its time (contrast, say, ''Anime/{{Voltron}}''), being unafraid to cut out things like character death, remaining relatively faithful to the ''Macross'' part of the storyline and even, allegedly, ''improving'' upon the original ''Anime/SuperDimensionCavalrySouthernCross''. Nevertheless, stuff like the adaptation introducing more [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole plot holes]] than a piece of Swiss cheese towards the end of the ''Macross'' saga onwards, the awkward narration and Minmay's ''terrible'' singing voice compared to the original do still give this impression to people.
55	* {{Misblamed}}: Some of the more infamous lines ("We know they have-" "Reflex weaponry!" "Yes." or "Don't shake your fist at me, young man!") are more or less direct quotes from the original anime. The original creators at Tatsunoko actually thought Harmony Gold's audio mix was better done than the original anime's.
56	* MoralEventHorizon: The Robotech Masters are anything but saints, and have already done some very horrid acts: but once their backs are to the wall and informed they have only four days worth of power left (and that over 60% of their people can no longer function physically or mentally at optimal performance), they decide to dispose of the "excess baggage" to lighten their load: giving their "invalids" painkillers, putting a laser rifle in their hands, and sending them down to Earth as canon fodder either shows how bastardly they are, or how desperate they are. A degenerated clone who resembles an old woman tells Musica's sisters in light of this, "War is their sacrificial altar, it is the Robotech way." (Cut to badass space battle, doesn't feel so badass now does it?).
57	* {{Narm}}:
58	** Rick Hunter's long awaited hook up with Lisa Hayes in the final ''Macross Saga'' episode "To the Stars" is supposed to be one big SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment\|s}} for both the regular fans and the shippers, but after all the angst Rick put Lisa through it comes off looking more unintentionally funny than anything else. Remember, this is a guy who jerked his love interest around while he pined for someone else, verbally degraded her in front of her subordinates, stood her up on a date, and in general was just very unpleasant to her, so even with an entire city blowing up around them (due to the Zentradi invasion) as Rick finally tells Lisa he loves her the scene just doesn't resonate the way it should. The scene where they're finally together at the end just before the credits fade out is also hard to take seriously.
59	* NarmCharm: A lot of the voice acting is pretty hammy and some of the dialogue is clunky and overwritten, but hey, that's all part of the cheesy awesome charm.
60	* NewerThanTheyThink: With regards to the BrokenBase: When the show first debuted, it was actually quite popular with the Science Fiction crowd as well as the fledgling American Anime community at the time.
61	* OneSceneWonder:
62	** Pop Hunter, oddly enough, in the novelizations. There is an epigraph at the beginning of a chapter which describes a trip Rick and his dad took to EPCOT when he was a kid. Pop Hunter fell in love with the Mexico exhibit and went through it multiple times. One day he was allowed to ride it before the official start of day, while the imagineers were still getting it ready for the day, and the illusion was broken; he realized he was riding a boat through a shallow trench inside of a building. Rick then notes that the people of Macross City felt that way after Khyron's forces snuck aboard and caused all kinds of destruction, which included the artificial sky projector shutting down. It's easily the most moving piece of prose in any of the novelizations.
63	** The 'deviant' Tirolian from "Dana in Wonderland", who despite only appearing there and never being mentioned again or even having a name, manages to be a very tragic and sympathetic character who gets a couple epic moments and a DyingMomentOfAwesome.
64	* OvershadowedByTheControversy: Creator/HarmonyGold's stranglehold on the license absolutely dominates any discourse of ''Robotech'' in the west, with the discussion of the legal snarl inevitably sucking up all the oxygen in the room whenever ''Robotech'' gets mentioned in most scenarios. There's a reason so much of ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'s page description has to be devoted to simply spelling out the rights issues.
65	* PeripheryDemographic: While the franchise was ostensibly a "boy's show", ''Robotech'' proved to be very popular with girls, who were drawn to the romantic subplots, the presence of women as authority figures and soldiers, along with the complex plotline and action the series is known for.
66	** The series was also popular with teens and 20 something sci-fi fans.
67	* RomanticPlotTumor: The Minmei/Rick/Lisa triangle is this for some fans, owing largely to the fact that the WillTheyOrWontThey subplot Rick and Lisa go through ''simply would not end''.
68	* TheScrappy:
69	** Minmei. Childish attitude, somewhat ditzy, complaints about her dub actress and the quality of the songs written for her. Minmei is hated so much that any of the episodes focused on her are often skipped by fans of the series.
70	** Dana Sterling: childish attitude, thoughtless, only gets a slap on the wrist for mistakes.
71	** The Narrator... not because of his voice or even what he is saying. He has quite a pleasant speaking voice and the voice actor is fairly well-known. It's the fact that when the show was originally released, it was intended for children ages 7 to 14, and many things needed explaining. Now that most of the audience is primarily adults, the voice comes in and explains ''everything'' to the point that at times it can actually kill the emotion of a scene. Fans have commonly complained and many wonder how the series would be without a narrator.
72	* ShockingMoments: With all the surprises Western audiences experienced with this series ignoring the typical TV WesternAnimation story limits of the UsefulNotes/TheEighties, the moment when Dolza has the Grand Fleet bombard Earth has to top them all. Most viewers were expecting some last minute save, perhaps through some clumsy edit, to have them stop; then the Zentraedi ''open fire'' and the typical viewer of the time is left shocked as they mutter, "Oh my God, they did it!"
73	* StrangledByTheRedString:
74	** Max and Miriya get hit with this hard.
75	** Rick and Lisa are an interesting reverse example: their problem was that their subplot got dragged out so long that after a while audiences might have no choice but to feel apathetic towards them if not outrightly turned off to them.
76	* SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing: The original Latin American dub was considered to be superior to the English dub (most notably the Macross Saga) with the late-Creator/JesusBarrero's Rick Hunter and Creator/PatriciaAcevedo's Lisa Hayes sounding both youthfull but mature at the same time unlike their English voices who many felt sounded too adult and stilted. The same can be said for most of the cast with a few exceptions.
77	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: With a little TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter thrown in for good measure, Miriya's relationship with Max and her overall assimilation to Earth culture and eventual motherhood are sadly lost in the big shuffle of plots, in particular the obnoxious Lisa/Rick/Minmei triangle.
78	* UglyCute: Exedore and Rico.
79	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Rick can be quite the pain in the ass at times, which makes it hard to feel bad for him when things don't go his way. [[spoiler:In addition to all his other {{Jerkass}} actions already listed above, it's hard to sympathize with him in "To the Stars" when he finally realizes that he can't relate to Minmei any more and then runs through the city freaking out because he thinks Lisa might be dead - which of course she isn't.]] And don't get started on Minmei...
80	* ValuesDissonance:
81	** At best "Bye Bye Mars" feels clunky, forced and rushed by today's standards; at worst it looks downright sexist and degrading towards its treatment of Lisa Hayes.
82	** In general, a lot of the crap Rick would ultimately put Lisa through today looks like verbal and emotional abuse.
83	* VindicatedByHistory: This arguably [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap has happened to Minmei as time passed]]. It seems that according to many forum replies and opinions posted in the recent years, the Minmei hate has died down to an extent, with many people who formerly hated her have grown to understand or sympathize with her, with many making well-thought arguments on why they don't hate her anymore. Making this a possible case of VindicatedByHistory or nostalgia. It helps that she received CharacterDevelopment and [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap actually matured]] following the destruction of Earth in "Force of Arms". Also worth noting is that while Minmei may have had slight character rerailment during the "Reconstruction Blues" episode, so were Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes.
84	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Believe it or not, according to Carl Macek, ''Robotech'' was never intended on being a children's program. It was originally intended on being a way for him to get localized Japanese animation on television, and the resulting show was the only way to do it at the time. It explains why the series didn't shy away from complex plot points or mature writing, despite all the alterations from the original Japanese shows. Also the localization did ''not'' make use of NeverSayDie like most localizations at the time. Not only did it fully acknowledge character deaths, it actually added ''more'' deaths when [[spoiler:it had Captain Gloval, Claudia, Sammy, Kim, and Vanessa perish off-screen]]. Macek didn't envision a specific target audience, but he assumed it would mostly be watched by science fiction fans into their teens and twenties. This was all made all the more obvious when Cannon Films pulled ''Robotech: The Movie'' before release. They had assumed the film would be targeted towards children, and had bought-up advertising slots during children's shows. When the test screenings in Texas attracted a 90% adult audience (and the film itself was perceived as far too violent for kids), it was pulled from release.

Context YMMV / Robotech