History Anime / SuperDimensionFortressMacross

** 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 ''{{Daitarn 3}}'', was BeyondTheImpossible.

** TheSmartGuy: Max Sterling

* TheRedSonja: Milia

* PunnyName: Aside from the aforementioned Zentraedi spies, you have Captain Bruno Global, whose nationality is so ambiguous that it is completely impossible to tell where the hell he's from.
** [[AllThereInTheManual Reference materials state he's Italian.]]

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milia_Fallyna_Jenius Milia Fallyna Jenius]], re-named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriya_Parina_Sterling Miriya Parina Sterling]], embraces the emotion and uses the concept of mercy to provoke a Zentradi mutiny.

* {{Deconstruction}}: The early episodes were basically [[DeconstructiveParody Deconstructive Parodies]] of shows like MobileSuitGundam (in fact that was originally the point of the entire show) but later on once the show got somewhat serious it delivered an absolutely massive deconstruction of not just mecha anime but war stories in general by showing that ''[[ThePowerOfLove culture]]'' - proving to the enemy that you're NotSoDifferent 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.

* CultureClash: The Zentradi have no culture to speak of, being a race whose express purpose is for military combat, and are often baffled by some of the stunts the Crew of the Macross pull in order to protect the civilians on board. A good example comes from episode 7 when the humans ''blow up'' an abandoned base on mars in order to escape from a trap. The Zentradi are stuned by this, as they could not understand why the humans would resort to such desperate measures.

* DogFighting: Lots of planes zooming around and blasting each other was a major point of the action scenes.

* DeflectorShields: Two kinds: the trackball-controlled pinpoint shields that were controlled by the BridgeBunnies, and the full-on shield that blew up a canadian city.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Roy Fokker is an open pervert and an alcoholist, and by far the best Human pilot before Max joins the Spacy, and it's mentioned he once shot down five enemy aircrafts with a raging hangover. Kamjin, in spite of his ''many'' quirks, is a capable commander, and the ''Macross'' barely escaped the first encounter with him due one of his underlings ruining the surprise effect and an improvised DeusExNukina.

* FridgeBrilliance: Bodolza attacks Earth when Zentraedi start defecting. Macross 7 makes it much clearer why: what was happening in the Sol system had every indication of a Protodevlin infestation.

The show was originally scheduled to run for 48 episodes, but budget cuts due to a sponsor dropping out then forced a projected cut to 26. However, with a last-second infusion of money from TatsunokoProductions (which inadvertently spawned a never-ending legal headache for all involved) and the realizaton that the show had become a huge hit, nine more episodes were produced.

* ThrowAwayCountry: The province of Ontario, Canada.

Spawned a number of sequels and spinoffs: ''Macross: Flashback 2012'' (an extended music video for Minmay, which also acts as an epilogue for the series) ''MacrossPlus'', ''{{Macross 7}}'', ''Macross Dynamite 7'' (OAV), ''MacrossZero'' (OAV) and ''MacrossFrontier''. There's also an OVA and manga series named ''MacrossII'' that was made without the original creators' authorization, and has since been placed as an AlternateContinuity. In 2009, a manga adaptation of the original series was started, drawn and written by [[AndTheFandomRejoiced Haruhiko Mikimoto]], that kept the original designs (though often favoring those used in the movie) while jettisoning some of the more {{Zeerust}} aspects (everyone ''finally'' has cellphones in that far-off year of 2009, for instance) One trope that is seen across all of the Macross series is the LoveTriangle. In fact, it has been described by Shoji Kawamori, mechanical designer and co-creator of the series as a "love story set amongst the backdrop of great battles."

Spawned a number of sequels and spinoffs: ''Macross: Flashback 2012'' (an extended music video for Minmay, which also acts as an epliogue for the series) ''MacrossPlus'', ''{{Macross 7}}'', ''Macross Dynamite 7'' (OAV), ''MacrossZero'' (OAV) and ''MacrossFrontier''. There's also an OVA and manga series named ''MacrossII'' that was made without the original creators' authorization, and has since been placed as an AlternateContinuity. In 2009, a manga adaptation of the original series was started, drawn and written by [[AndTheFandomRejoiced Haruhiko Mikimoto]], that kept the original designs (though often favoring those used in the movie) while jettisoning some of the more {{Zeerust}} aspects (everyone ''finally'' has cellphones in that far-off year of 2009, for instance) One trope that is seen across all of the Macross series is the LoveTriangle. In fact, it has been described by Shoji Kawamori, mechanical designer and co-creator of the series as a "love story set amongst the backdrop of great battles."

* IncrediblyLamePun: A visual version: In 'Romanesque' the three Zentradi spies are shown manning a toy booth that isn't exactly successful. Just before one of them [[LampshadeHanging explicitly points this out]], he is shown holding a box featuring a Valkyrie in fighter mode on the front. Except it isn't called "Valkyrie" on the box, but "''[spoiler:[[{{Seppuku}} Harakiry]]]''".

* IncrediblyLamePun: A visual version: In 'Romanesque' the three Zentradi spies are shown manning a toy booth that isn't exactly successful. Just before one of them [[LampshadeHanging explicitly points this out]], he is shown holding a box featuring a Valkyrie in fighter mode on the front. Except it isn't called "Valkyrie", but "'''[[{{Seppuku}} Harakiry]]'''"...

* ImprovisedWeapon: Hikaru using his Valkyrie's gatling gun as a club after expending all the ammo

In North America, it was prevented from being released properly for a very long time due to Harmony Gold [[CombiningMecha combining]] the series with [[CutAndPasteTranslation with two other series]] to form ''{{Robotech}}'', finally allowed on DVD only. To this day, Harmony Gold continues to block efforts to bring anything ''Macross''-related to North America and is happy to file lawsuits against anything that even looks like it such as BattleTech.

In North America, it was [[CombiningMecha combined]] [[CutAndPasteTranslation with two other series]] to form ''{{Robotech}}''.