I saw it as Robotech as a little kid. My cousin got me hooked on it and made me copies of his tape recordings.
I loved the series when I got older, I found out about Macross.
It was funny when i first started realizing it. I was at Suncoast videos and looking in their anime section.
I saw Robotech the Movie: Clash of the Bionoids, but then another tape called Macross the Movie with a picture of the SDF-1 on the top! I was so confused!
I didn't realize it until I saw the movie Macross Plus (at random).
Later I saw the entire original Macross TV series and loved it! Mainly because they had all the cut out stuff that Robotech didn't, like the dates with Minmay. In Robotech, I couldn't understand why he was torn between Minmay and Lisa because Minmay was a total, self-centered bitch, but when I saw Macross TV with all the times they shared, I could see why he liked them both.
Ever since, Macross has been my Favorite anime.