Well, Im pretty sure at least here in Chile that was the case. If I not mistaken the first translated VHS came around at time of the Macross Plus release, and if you wanted to get something more specific, you had to resort on a LD rip with english subtitles, wich means the kids were put out of the picture by a language barrier (thank goodness my parents sent my to a british school)
Now on the macross case, putting aside macross plus there were nothing available so no wonder people doesn't care about it
And I still enjoy saying "HERETIC" to my friends when I show them macross stuff and the say "oh, that's robotech"