History Anime / SuperDimensionFortressMacross

* PhotoMontage: The ending sequence, a live-action segment which shows a hand turning the pages of an album of Minmay pictures. [[spoiler:Uniquely, it turns out the hand belongs to Misa and the same thing happens in episode 28]]

* ForWantOfANail: Zentradi plans to capture the SDF-1 ''Macross'' would have succeeded without a hitch were it not for the unpredictable fighting methods of the defenders, as well as the singer Lynn Minmay.

* RammingAlwaysWorks: The Daedalus Maneuver; ARMD ("[[IncrediblyLamePun Armed]]") Attack in TheMovie. It works because they use the DeflectorShields [[DeadlyForcefield to reinforce the arm when they use the attack]], otherwise the bow of the ship would crumple just as much as the enemy.

* HumongousMecha: ''Macross'' itself after jump problems has to reconfigure itself into a humanoid shape to use the WaveMotionGun. This is also something of a SeinfeldIsUnfunny; back then, the idea of a ship over 1000 meters long transforming, compared to the 120 meter tall ''Anime/{{Daitarn 3}}'', was incredible.

* ShoutOut: To the original ''Anime/{{Mobile Suit Gundam}}'', Space Battleship Yamato, Captain Harlock, Franchise/{{Lupin III}}, and others.
** Roy's (later Hikaru's) Valkyrie fighter and Skull Squadron, with the black tails and skull and crossbones as well as the very shape, honor the real life F-14A Tomcats (Bonus points for being carrier-based fighters) and the VF-84 "Jolly Roger" squadron.
** The Zentradi often speak with a slight echo, mirroring Gamilons from Space Battleship Yamato.
** The main ship has a [[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato massive, ship-mounted Wave Motion Gun]].
*** The transformation of Macross is inspired by a reader question in a magazine asking Gundam's director Tomino whether Whitebase can transform into a giant robot or not.(in which he answered "You watched too much anime, you should watch more Gundam".)
** The whole concept of the "Pinpoint Barrier" system (the ''Macross'' first shield system) is remarkably similar to the 1980 arcade game [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_Command Missile Command]]. That game played with a trackball and three buttons.
** In some scenes one can see the Orguss Valkyrie, an [[Anime/SuperDimensionCenturyOrguss Orguss Ogroid]] in Macross colors.
** One of the Franchise/LupinIII shout-outs was a video game in episode 24. It was intended to be similar to the game "Cliff Hanger", which uses footage of the car-chase scene from ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro''. The character playing the game seems to be in Lupin cosplay, complete with smoking cigarette.
** Episode 35 features a toy shop window that shows the [[Series/KagakuSentaiDynaman Dynarobo]] in somewhat different colors sitting next to a rather awful toy version of the VF-1.
*** In the same episode, one of the decorative flags strung up around town has VideoGame/PacMan on it.
** On the ADV dub side of things, in the final episode, [[spoiler:when Kamjin's about to ram the ''Macross'' in the final battle, he says, "ramming speed!!", obviously a reference to ''[[Film/BenHur1959 Ben-Hur.]]'']]
** Also, when Hikaru is injured in battle, Roy Focker and his subordinates visit him to cheer him up in episode 18 ("Pineapple Salad"). It doesn't go too well. Roy muses that Hikaru's [[Film/OfficeSpace "got a case of the Mondays"]].
* ShowWithinAShow: ''Shao Pai Lon'' (or ''Xiao Pai Long'' of you [[SpellMyNameWithAnS want to follow the current pinyin]]), starring Lynn Minmay.
** Which has its own TitleThemeTune sung by Minmay, which is used in-show (but not in-in-show) against the Zentradi, bringing everything full-circle.
** Later ''Macross'' series reveal that ''Do You Remember Love?'' is itself a movie in-universe (thus explaining its plot differences from the canon story).

* {{Bishonen}}: Max, Lynn Kaifun, and Conda Blomco.

* {{Deconstruction}}: The show was originally intended as a parody of Space Battleship Yamato & ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', a plan which was abandoned early in production. Still, the show was radically different from the typical militaristic children's anime of the time and showed a conflict that is largely settled with ''[[ThePowerOfLove culture]]'': proving to the enemy that you're no diferrent and that both sides deserve to live is what really leads to proper conflict resolution as opposed to the total annihilation of the enemy that was so prevalent in the show's day. The message resonated deeply with the Japanese public and the industry and the show's effects are felt to this very day. For that matter, the show deconstructs ''itself'' in its final arc, showing that despite one's best intentions you still can't solve all problems between two warring peoples just by saying they're the same.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Most of the Zentradi and Meltrandi leaders are more skilled at combat than the rank and file. However it's blatantly played up with Breetai, who was able to survive getting spaced, come back and beat down two Valkyries piloted by main characters with a metal club and his bare hands, and then survive one of those mechs exploding right in his face. That last instance is interestingly contrasted with a regular Zentradi soldier, who was further away from another exploding Valkyrie and wearing armor, that was killed instantly.

* [[BattleInterruptingShout Battle Interrupting Song]]: The pop-music strategem has this effect.

* OffModel: Due to outsourcing for budgetary reasons[[note]]and is likely up there with ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' and ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' with the amount of errors per episode[[/note]], some episodes are wildly, wildly off model and look absolutely terrible. Most infamous is the knife fight between Max and Millia.

* TransformationIsAFreeAction: Because of how fast the VFs transform, very seldom is one ever struck by enemy fire in mid-transformation.

* DarkSkinnedRedhead: Exsedol's original design, though his personality is very much not the usual kind.

In North America, it was prevented from being released properly for a very long time because the series was dubbed in the 80s by Harmony Gold as the [[{{{Frankenslation}} first season of]] ''{{Anime/Robotech}}''. For some time, Harmony Gold continued to block efforts to bring anything ''Macross''-related to North America and was happy to file lawsuits against anything that even looked like it such as ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', directly contradicting decisions made in Japanese legal courts. However Creator/StreamlinePictures and Creator/AnimEigo were able to release subtitled editions of the series to VHS and DVD in North America, as well as Madman in Australia, and Creator/ADVFilms produced an uncut English dub in the early 2000s. These releases are now out-of-print though. In 2014, Harmony Gold themselves (alongside partners A&E and Lionsgate) released Vol. 1 of a new DVD series featuring unedited Macross episodes (in Japanese and English) alongside the ''Robotech'' versions. However, this was a manufacture-on-demand release and Vol. 2 has yet to be solicited. In 2016, the series, in subbed form, was released on Amazon Prime Video.

In North America, it was prevented from being released properly for a very long time because the series was dubbed in the 80s by Harmony Gold as the [[CutAndPasteTranslation first season of]] ''{{Anime/Robotech}}''. For some time, Harmony Gold continued to block efforts to bring anything ''Macross''-related to North America and was happy to file lawsuits against anything that even looked like it such as ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', directly contradicting decisions made in Japanese legal courts. However Creator/StreamlinePictures and Creator/AnimEigo were able to release subtitled editions of the series to VHS and DVD in North America, as well as Madman in Australia, and Creator/ADVFilms produced an uncut English dub in the early 2000s. These releases are now out-of-print though. In 2014, Harmony Gold themselves (alongside partners A&E and Lionsgate) released Vol. 1 of a new DVD series featuring unedited Macross episodes (in Japanese and English) alongside the ''Robotech'' versions. However, this was a manufacture-on-demand release and Vol. 2 has yet to be solicited. In 2016, the series, in subbed form, was released on Amazon Prime Video.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Spoken about in the first episode. After the Macross automatically fires upon the Zentradei when they arrive in the Solar System, Captain Global immediately realizes the ship was booby trapped to do so. He laments humanity overlooked this fail safe and the Earth was doomed to an inevitable war. Unbeknownst to humanity at the time, the Zentradei didn't arrive to attack or invade Earth. They were just looking for the Supervision Army warship that was rebuilt into the Macross, and wanted to avoid fighting an "inferior species" unrelated to them. That all changed after the two Zentradei scout ships were destroyed by the Macross. Though Britai and Exsedol eventually figured out the Supervision Army warship was rebuilt by humans several minutes later, they couldn't let Earth get away with attacking them first. Thus the first Earth-Zentradei War began.

* BridgeBunnies: [[TropeNamer The original ones!]] Shammy, Kim, Vanessa, Claudia, and at first Misa.

** On the ADV dub side of things, in the final episode, [[spoiler:when Kamjin's about to ram the ''Macross'' in the final battle, he says, "ramming speed!!", obviously a reference to ''[[Film/BenHur1959 the 1959 version of Ben-Hur.]]'']]

** On the ADV dub side of things, in the final episode, [[spoiler:when Kamjin's about to ram the ''Macross'' in the final battle, he says, "ramming speed!!", obviously a reference to ''[[Film/BenHur1959 the 1959 version of Ben-Hur''.]]]]

** On the ADV dub side of things, in the final episode, [[spoiler:when Kamjin's about to ram the ''Macross'' in the final battle, he says, "ramming speed!!", obviously a reference to ''[[Film/BenHur1959 the 1959 version of Ben-Hur''.]]

** On the ADV dub side of things, in the final episode, [[spoiler:when Kamjin's about to ram the ''Macross'' in the final battle, he says, "ramming speed!!", obviously a reference to ''Film/BenHur''.]]

** On the ADV dub side of things, in the final episode, [[spoiler:when Kamjin's about to ram the ''Macross'' in the final battle, he says, "ramming speed!!", obviously reference ''Film/BenHur''.]]

* CaptainCrash: Hikaru gets his Valkyrie trashed a lot. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] and taken UpToEleven in Hikaru's coma dream in the [[ClipShow episode "Phantasm"]] as he even manages to crash a bicycle in midair -- accompanied by an announcement over the Macross' PA [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall to the audience]] reminding them [[DoNotAttempt to not try this at home]].

* LoudOfWar: The singing of Lynn Minmei was a psychological weapon of mass destruction to the Zentradi. In a meta-subversion, the voicework for Minmei's singing in the English adaptation Robotech, however, is considered by some to be so god-awfully grating that they accept the Zentradi view.