My story

I remember back in the early 80's when the Transformers series first aired. It showed just before elementary school started. Fortunately for me, I lived just a few minutes from the school, so I stayed to see the entire episode before walking (fast) to school. The toys were also awesome, but as a kid, I didn't have much money, and my parents weren't the kind to just buy me whatever I whined for (which was good for me, as it turns out). However, now all I can think about is how I missed the opportunity to buy Jetfire for a mere $20 U.S.

About 2 or 3 years later, I started seeing some show called Robotech airing in the afternoons. At first, I didn't pay much attention to this, thinking it was a show about some mutant humans (which later I realized was Man-tech, not Robotech). Anyway, I don't even remember what made me look at it the first time, but before I knew it, I was hooked. By this time, I was going to junior high school, which was just a bit further away. But I still stayed to watch the entire episode (even on re-runs) and then I'd jog to school. Then my brother and I traveled to the local comics store, which used to have lots of good anime items before anime was hot, but then when anime was hot, it had lots of poor-quality items (go figure). There we bought some model kit which was labeled as Macross: VF-1J Variable Millia Type. My brother said, "Come on, look at it, it's the same thing as the robots on Robotech. You can tell by the feet. It had feet like this." So he convinced me to chip in to buy this kit. Time passed by, the model was finished, and by this time we realized, "Hey, wait a minute, the first generation of Robotech was based on Macross. So if we buy Macross kits, we'd also be getting Robotech kits." So my brother found out some addresses to mail-order companies, we bought many kits and books, and the rest is history.

My favorite generation is the Macross Saga. Maybe because it had more character development, maybe because it was longer than the other two, maybe because it was the first in the series. The second place goes to the Next Generation, with Southern Cross coming in third (I really didn't like this generation, but there's only three of them, so it has to place somewhere.)

My favorite characters include Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayse, Max Sterling and Miriya Parino (they always seem to be referred to together), and Scott Bernard. My favorite mechas include the Veritechs (I prefer calling them by their original Japanese names, the Valkyries), the Alphas (Legioss sounds cool, too), and the cyclones (now those are awesome).

I used to be a Robotech guru. I could answer any question about Robotech on the spot, including even the voice actors and actresses for each character, what happened in each episode. It's not that I just sat down one day and memorized these things, but my life was so full of Robotech that it was just natural to know these things like the back of my hand.

Therefore, when the first Robotech movie on TV aired, I knew exactly how much it differed from the series. It was just a long version of Global's Report. I still watched it all the way through. Then later when the theatrical Robotech movie was announced, I was really excited. I had seen the original show MegaZone 23 on which the movie would be based, and I was curious to see how it would be incorporated into the Robotech story. I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the show both times that I went to see it. I still have the original promotional poster for the movie that was given out free at the first showing. Wonder how much that is worth now?

I got the first release of the Robotech soundtrack. It was very good, but not as good as the French soundtrack. When the first CD version came out (just the first soundtrack on CD), I also wanted to buy that. But good thing I held back, because now there is a 2-CD collection that supposedly includes all the songs and bgm of the series. I still remember some die-hard fans spending over $100 at conventions on the original CD version. Wow. I think because of poor marketing strategies and the new 2-CD collection, the original CD is not even worth that much anymore.

Now I hear a lot that Robotech is being re-run in some parts of the United States, though the order of the episodes seems to be a low priority to those tv stations. But who cares, as long as we get to see something about Robotech and hear the theme song.

1997 June 12: I just saw the Antarctic Press Robotech comics a few days ago. I like some of the art they use, since it is original Japanese art. The issue I saw was #2, which really confused me because there wasn't any explanation of what story this comic was following, yet every character looked as if they were still in the original series. So, can anyone enlighten me on what this comic series is about? Thanks.

Like you I am a Robotech fan. I have been online for almost two years, but I never even thought of looking for Robotech stuff! I first started watching the cartoon when I was in 6th grade. I was too yong to fully understand the story. What got me hooked was the cool mechs. After years of drawing them my sister had a friend that had all the Robotech novels (well most of them). He was moving out of state and just gave them to me. I started looking at the pictures agin. Then I thought that I would read just the first one. Well....that did it! I was reading at least six chapters a day! I thought that I missed out on realy enjoying the cartoons (which at the time were over my head) and that I would never see them agin. I will send you some pictures that I have done on Paint Brush. You know...they arn't that bad! I'm sorry, I tried to keep this short, but this thing is addictive!! Well it's been fun!

Robert...

As for how I got involved with Robotech? Well when the cartoon series aired, I was about six. I loved that show with a passion, the only other cartoons that came close to Robotech was either the Transformer cartoon or the Voltron cartoon series. I watched every single robotech show. I started a small collection of Robotech toys, but they disappeared in a yard sale, courtesy of my Grandmother. After it was taken off the air I was kind disappointed, I thought how could they take off the best cartoon ever? In any event as time went I slowly started to forget Robotech. Scary thought huh? I had little bits of images of the cartoon in my head, like a space scene or like when the SDF-1 was destroyed. I remember that well. But then about a little over four years ago, I was in a book store and I found a Robotech book written by Jack Mckinney. I bought the book and the good memories started coming back and my desire to find more about Robotech became a hobby. Actually more like a quest. At any rate I bought all but two Robotech books written by Jack Mckinney. Just recently I began my search for toys and more RPG books and trying to find the cartoons on video. And that's pretty much my story about my involvement with Robotech.