terry the lone wolf

I don't think he was referring to the Houston screening but I did read a animation magazine about another screening that had the Untold Story on a double bill with Laputa. I always thought it was at convention. I can't remember the name of the mag (maybe Cartoon or Comic Scene?) but the article covered some top Streamline titles like Fist of the North Star, Lupin III, and Wicked City.

This is coming from a RT fan: Doug Bendo is CRAZY!!!!

My introduction to DYRL was my exposure to Clash of the Bionoids. When I moved from Baltimore City to the county I met some dudes that was into comics and anime like me. I let them know how heavy I was into Robotech and they introduced me to the RT RPG. They also showed me COTB because they used to rent it from the local video store. Man, that video blew me away and I thought was this that Robotech movie that never came out. Later, when I read the notes in the back of the RPG it explained that COTB wasn't RT:TM and it wasn't the "Japanese" version of Macross (opposed to Robotech) but a condensed version of events of the original story.

Loved it! Loved it! Loved it! Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man. That's it & no one else. The movie franchise should end with RDJR and I don't want to see any re-casts like what Sony is doing to Tobey. The movie is excellent; some of the fights are little too quick but the pacing of the movie is great. Great dialogue. They kinda adapted a few storlines from the comic but tweeked them for the movie. Loved it.

I heard Marvel payed a s***load of money to use his like-ness and then they paid more to be in later IM sequels and the Avengers. That's bad a** MoFo!

KUNG FU TREACHERY!!!!!!!!! I love Black Dynamite; they have to make a sequel.

Y'know that's probably the truth. Of all the anime I did see RT was the one that really got me deep into it. So sought out as much Robotech that I could find. Though in Maryland (where I'm from) Anime mechandise might have been a little tougher to get than in L.A. A lot of imported toys were relegated to pawn shops but you could find models at Geppi's Comic World and Toys-R-Us.

I do. Do you?

Robotech, Voltron, Saber Rider, & TRANZOR Z had nothing to do with it? Late 80's early 90's Anime was virtually dead on free tv. If you want to get technical Dragon Warrior was the 1st modern day anime back on free television. When I say modern Anime I mean from the 90's till now. I never said Carl was the first; I said guys LIKE Carl Macek. You mentioned Force 5; yes those shows started in limited markets on FREE television but didn't they end up on Showtime? I mean my only recollection of Force 5 was trailers on Captain Harlock tapes..

First of all I never said RT was before any of those shows; I just used them as an example of Anime being available while therewas no official Anime market. Now for the toys, I've seen them too and bought them. I even bought bootlegged Macross toys and even owned Jetfire before Robotech aired. RT helped because it explained where these toys came from. Imported or bootlegged toys were always available but I never knew there were animated series too. From my own experience, it wasn't till after Robotech that I saw a huge boom in anime inspired toys (especially giant robots) and other materials. I know Shogun Warriors, Transformers, and even Voltron was around but that time (1985-87) it felt like such an explosion that I have to give credit to Robotech. Robotech wasn't the 1st but it was the one that popularized the genre.

I was THERE TOO! I remember those over price VHS tapes ($25-30). For all of his faults Carl Macek did help usher in free anime on FREE television. At least he had the vision to release this mateial to a medium where most people would see it and not just hardcore fans. Today's anime market is a joke. Yes you get whole collections but nobody's buying and companies are folding. In Japan most of this stuff is shown on TV first why not here? Now, when I collected VHS I did want to see something different so sub-titled or non-edited would've been fine but I hey I can say I finished the entire series without having to pay for it. You're right, very little anime was around and there was no real anime market. That's why guys like Carl Macek help usher it in. Erol's video store carried Robotech, Ultraman, Thunderbirds 2086, Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, & Warriors of the Wind (Nausicaa of the Wind) so I was able to get my anime fix.

Dude, read between the lines. If Macross went the way 90's anime did it would never been broadcasted on American television. The only way to see it would be through retail. Then it would be no guarantee that the series would even be finished. On TV, I saw all 36 episodes and the two add on series then later I collected the eps on video tape.

Well besides Claster (who distributed Starblazers), HG stayed pretty close to the source material and didn't totally dumb it down. You had World Events or Sandy Frank but we all saw the results of that handling of anime. Let's leap frog to the 90's. What if Robotech never aired in the 80's and company like US Renditions/LA Hero distributed Macross. You would get a decent translation but would have to pay $25 for two episode tapes and never be able to see it free on television.

Sounds to me that you're saying anime fans would've discovered Macross around the mid to late 90s if not for Robotech. Would Macross had gotten world wide exposure if not for Robotech? Maybe so but not on the same degree. Back in the 80s I heard about animes like Gundam or Orguss but I never saw those shows until the 90s or 2000s. By I time I watched the original versions the anime quality was dated and I watched them with no subtitles. My first exposure to Macross was through RT and I'm grateful it was in the 80s about 2 years after it aired on Japanese television. I don't know if RT made Macross a big hit but I do know it gave it more exposure than it would have had if left in Japan. I watched every episode on free UHF television an I didn't have to shell out dollars for VHS tapes until much later.

I'm not touching that memorial with a 12ft pole. Shameless plug = Epic Fail...

What about Toho? I went to a Toho site and DYRL was still in their movie catalogue. It also seems that Celebrity's Just For Kids distributed Clash of the Bionoids through Toho. Can't HG distribute through Toho too?

RIP Carl Macek. You intoduced me to the world of anime. Like what to call it, where it came from, and most importantly to respect it. I feel like I lost a favorite uncle.

*Think* Whew, I think I've been sniped by the Duke.... Well I count myself lucky that I lived in those *few* markets that broadcasted RT but also played it in the after school hours. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. to watch RT would just bite...

I agree most of the cartoons of the 80s were simplistic 1/2 hour toy commercials but Robotech and Starblazers stood out. The shows had depth and maybe a little soap opera like. These cartoons wern't appealing to kids who just wanted a quick thrill. The toys came later for RT. I don't think it was a lack of toys they were just horrible.

When I was a kid it came on at 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. weekdays as part of animeish hour with Voltron on WBFF 45. Later when the show was in repeats it found itself on weekend mornings. At my elementary school RT was the talk of the cafeteria especially the Macross Saga. Then Geppi's comic world began selling RT comics and the toy commercials began popping up on TV. I had a friend who told me where to buy imported Robotech toys (the ones made in Taiwan). Robotech's spotlight was brief but it had the benifit of syndication and wasn't trapped on basic cable. Back in the mid-80's in Baltimore cable wasn't available you had to move to the surrounding counties for that. I used those other shows as examples of rarely seen anime that poped up on the home video market. Also for the people who didn't have RT on regular tv didn't they watch episodes on video? I feel the main reason why kids didn't flock to RT like Voltron or G.I.Joe because it wasn't one dimensional and for a kid's cartoon very mature. Those other shows their heroes had either one name or code names. No back story and a lot of explosions. Robotech retained a lot if not all plot elements from it's original source. Carl Macek admitted he was aiming at High School or College age students not necessarily elementary children. I was into Star Trek & Buck Rodgers and most Sci-Fi shows. I liked the childrens' shows too but RT was different.

You forgot to mention Project Robotech with their new fan film http://www.projectrobotech.com/ and even the Robotech Shadow Chronicle Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Robotech_ShadowChronicles I didn't want to debate on how many fan projects are still around because they're not too many left but I'm always surprised that with a shrinking fan base new fan projects always seem to pop up.

Debating numbers is pointless because we'll never reach a concensus. The point is though Robotech might not be on the Transformers level but it's certainly not like Captain Harlock and the Queen of a 1000 Years.

If you are going to quote me please do so correctly....