Seto Kaiba Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I don't understand this "Rick Hunter" thing. Why in the blue blazes are RT fans so hung up on the guy? (in Robotech) He never did anything particularly noteworthy, he was kind of a dumb whiny kid & his girlfriend (Lisa) was as dull as a brick. Did being mentioned as "Admiral" Rick hunter suddenly make him special? I don't get it. Well... I can only speculate as to the initial motivations which prompted fans to obsess over the fate of Rick Hunter back in the 1980s, as the show started airing before I was born. As to why the fans STILL obsess over Rick Hunter, that's partly due to Macross being far and away the most popular of the three sagas, and as such its characters tend to be automatically regarded better, and that every major attempt to continue the Robotech story has centered on him or one of his relatives. The protagonist of Robotech: the Untold Story was originally going to be a relative of his. He was made into the visionary leader of the Robotech Expeditionary Forces in Robotech II: the Sentinels, the aborted plans for RT3-5 mention him or one of his descendants as being integral to the story, and Shadow Chronicles renewed the depiction of Rick Hunter as the visionary commander of the United Earth Forces, who singlehandedly orchestrated the formation of the present state of affairs. Basically, he is to Robotech's universe what Han, Luke, and Leia are to the Star Wars expanded universe... he was present or otherwise involved in every major event in the entire story... the occasionally-unseen glue that holds it all together and keeps people interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protoculture Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE is probably gonna have some kind of party or marathon or something for it, though. I'm glad I don't know that person. Actually, I'll be that someone. Gonna popped RT: Codename on my DVD for my little nephews & nieces, so that they can learn English from some cool anime-in-Western-animation-clothing like I did in 1990. Then, well, Macross initiation can truly begin. Get 'em pumped up by Macross 7 series. Getting little kids get jiggy with Basara's J-Pop thingies, and then followed by Macross II. I'll not bothered airing Macross Plus / Zero / Frontier just yet, too much for 6-8 years old kiddies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gubaba Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Actually, I'll be that someone. Gonna popped RT: Codename on my DVD for my little nephews & nieces, so that they can learn English from some cool anime-in-Western-animation-clothing like I did in 1990. Then, well, Macross initiation can truly begin. Get 'em pumped up by Macross 7 series. Getting little kids get jiggy with Basara's J-Pop thingies, and then followed by Macross II. I'll not bothered airing Macross Plus / Zero / Frontier just yet, too much for 6-8 years old kiddies. I was actually talking about a Partridge Family marathon, but whatever... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protoculture Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I was actually talking about a Partridge Family marathon, but whatever... Ahhh, well, given English is not my mother tongue & I'm not familiar with any Mat Saleh's / gaijin's / gwailoh's / farang's expression, pardon my misunderstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyPenguins Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I don't understand this "Rick Hunter" thing. Why in the blue blazes are RT fans so hung up on the guy? (in Robotech) He never did anything particularly noteworthy, he was kind of a dumb whiny kid & his girlfriend (Lisa) was as dull as a brick. Did being mentioned as "Admiral" Rick hunter suddenly make him special? I don't get it. I don't understand it either.. you'd think they would be more hung up on Max & Miriya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonc Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I don't understand it either.. you'd think they would be more hung up on Max & Miriya I gotta agree on all the why Rick Hunter. He wasn't really the type to move to admiral on his own merits, more like they were short handed on population and high ranks, and Marrying Lisa was just kinda the default role they gave him. Robotech's problem is that they made him so important, that there's really only one focus for their story, and if they deviate from that, everything else is just minor, happenstance of finding Rick Hunter and the SDF-3. The story has become really flat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UN_MARINE Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 That's the kind of bait and switch that can stick with kids for a long, long time... I suppose that's true for kids. But 25 years later? That's just ridiculous. Basically, he is to Robotech's universe what Han, Luke, and Leia are to the Star Wars expanded universe... he was present or otherwise involved in every major event in the entire story... the occasionally-unseen glue that holds it all together and keeps people interested. Well that's lame... "I was there for 5 minutes. I'm the most important person ever!" I find it stupid that the mere mention of the name is enough for fans to go nuts. He never does anything! It's not like he redefined the Phlebotinum for the show. Even his promotion to Admiral has no merit. He doesn't even come close to "the guy that saved the Protoculture Matrix and the Universe from (insert plot device here)". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aladdin Sane Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I celebrated Robotech's 25th anniversary by finally ordering Macross II on DVD from Amazon (to go with my local SDF: Macross and Macross Plus releases) and starting to download subtitled Southern Cross and Mospeada torrents. I was tempted to buy DVD sets for the aforementioned series, possibly selling my Protoculture Collection in an attempt to subsidise some of the cost, but I decided I'd already payed $60 of my Ausland Funbux for that footage, I wasn't paying another $75-ish just for an extra audio track and subtitles. It's kind of funny. Power Rangers celebrated its fifteenth anniversary a few years ago with a special two-parter that featured the return of five past Rangers (the second Ranger to hold the original Black Ranger powers, along with Rangers that had appeared in the four series before the current one), all featuring their original designs without having to be reworked. Of course, a toku series like the Super Sentai franchise is significantly more niche than a mecha anime like Macross, but Power Rangers ultimately represents the owners of an American series based on footage from a Japanese show working with the owner of the original source material to ensure that the resulting product is mutually beneficial. Tony Oliver is, really, the only link between them (though he was "only" a voice actor for Robotech (though said voice was Rick Hunter, possibly the most important man in the Robotech universe), compared to his role as executive producer on Power Rangers). As far as the future of Robotech is concerned, I only hope the LAME is a success, simply because it should lead to something original in terms of design and overall story. I don't hate the basic concept of Robotech ("a generational story of the human race and it's interaction and wars with alien races"), but lifting so directly from the source materials bothers me. Legal pressures and the involvement of a larger force may finally lead to the depature of such things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funkenstein Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Why wasn't Lisa/Misa promoted to Admiral instead? She was a command officer , and Rickaru was just squadron leader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hulagu Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Why wasn't Lisa/Misa promoted to Admiral instead? She was a command officer , and Rickaru was just squadron leader. She was one long before Rick, I think. Don't remember where in Sentinels they start referring to Rick as admiral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_wong00 Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Why wasn't Lisa/Misa promoted to Admiral instead? She was a command officer , and Rickaru was just squadron leader. I chalk that up to "Men must be in charge" attitude of the late 80s that was in NA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyPenguins Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I chalk that up to "Men must be in charge" attitude of the late 80s that was in NA. Definitely this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funkenstein Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Yeah, thats a stark contrast to Flashback 2012 where she gets command of her own ship and Hikaru was still a rocket jockey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hulagu Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) Yeah, thats a stark contrast to Flashback 2012 where she gets command of her own ship and Hikaru was still a rocket jockey. Well, to be fair, Sentinels begins 8 years from 2012 and takes place over 22 years, so I don't think he could be feasibly still be a flyboy by the end. Even Max in Macross 7 has moved on to a command position, and Milia has retired by then. Edited March 5, 2010 by hulagu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anime52k8 Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) I suppose that's true for kids. But 25 years later? That's just ridiculous. Well that's lame... "I was there for 5 minutes. I'm the most important person ever!" I find it stupid that the mere mention of the name is enough for fans to go nuts. He never does anything! It's not like he redefined the Phlebotinum for the show. Even his promotion to Admiral has no merit. He doesn't even come close to "the guy that saved the Protoculture Matrix and the Universe from (insert plot device here)". Rick Hunter didn't save the Protoculture Matrix, he IS the Protoculture Matrix, and Protoculture is actually his splooge that is why Rick Hunter matters. Edited March 5, 2010 by anime52k8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einherjar Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I think in making Rick Hunter go up in rank to become an admiral and being all too important to the Robotech universe, they missed a point Claudia was trying to make with Roy near the end of the show; don't devote your entire life to the military, live a little or try to start a family while you can. Of course, they tried to lighten the mood by getting Rick and Lisa married in the Sentinels, but afterward it was business as usual leading what would probably be called a suicide mission. They also ended up with a kid, but talk about priorities for the greater good of humanity. By the way, with the stressful situation Earth was in at the time, did anyone else think the wedding shown during the Sentinels was too extravagant? But the Shadow Saga completely missed that point, especially by making both their lives potentially miserable up to their elder years. HG couldn't even throw them a bone with a kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MastaEgg Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Why did it take Rick and Lisa 8 years to get married? What where they doing that whole time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonc Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 What makes the story unclear is that after such devastation, instead of decided to help preserve humanity culturally, through procreation, and military-wise, they really only do it by military, and the other two as a distant after thought. In Macross, it makes more sense to build up your military and send out colonies to preserve human cultures, and even expand culture based on whatever M-class planet gets inhabited. As a kid, watching Robotech, then hearing about the Sentinels, the idea of "hey, why don't they occupy other worlds for resources and to avoid utter destruction by another alien race" was pretty apparent to me. Even in Shadow Chronicles, they're still fighting over the one planet. Now, that's all fine and dandy, but it would make sense to also have other occupied worlds, in case Ricky poo did destroy the earth with his neutron-s missiles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seto Kaiba Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) I don't understand it either.. you'd think they would be more hung up on Max & Miriya Oh, you'd think that... but you gotta account for the fact that Robotech II: the Sentinels and Prelude both made Rick Hunter out to be the visionary commander of the Robotech Expeditionary Force. I gotta agree on all the why Rick Hunter. He wasn't really the type to move to admiral on his own merits, more like they were short handed on population and high ranks, and Marrying Lisa was just kinda the default role they gave him. Actually, you're probably on to something there... most all of the surviving Macross Saga cast were given ridiculously high ranks by the time the SDF-3 launched. Originally, he wasn't even an admiral, Sentinels made Lisa the admiral, as she had already been handpicked for by Gloval, and made Rick the major general in charge of the fleet's fighter contingent. In Prelude, Tommy makes a laughable attempt to correct the disparity between Sentinels and the New Generation by having Admiral Lisa Hayes get seriously injured in a surprise attack and spend a year in a wheelchair so Rick could take over as Admiral, and she eventually retires at the end of Prelude to join the Sentinels council. What makes the story unclear is that after such devastation, instead of decided to help preserve humanity culturally, through procreation, and military-wise, they really only do it by military, and the other two as a distant after thought. In Macross, it makes more sense to build up your military and send out colonies to preserve human cultures, and even expand culture based on whatever M-class planet gets inhabited. On a fun side note... Tommy seems to have given the colony idea the shaft, since he retconned the neutron-s missiles into unused Angel-class colony ships that were repurposed as delivery systems for the neutron-s warheads, and had their replacements, the Ark Angel-class (yes, "Ark Angel", not "Archangel") destroyed in mid-construction when Vince Grant detonated the neutron-s warhead stockpiles on Space Station Liberty, leaving the sole example of the class to be repurposed as a warship because its shadow-tech systems weren't hooked up yet. Edited March 5, 2010 by Seto Kaiba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_wong00 Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Well, to be fair, Sentinels begins 8 years from 2012 and takes place over 22 years, so I don't think he could be feasibly still be a flyboy by the end. Even Max in Macross 7 has moved on to a command position, and Milia has retired by then. Here's the conundrum: Why would Rick be in command of the entire mission, when Lisa outranks him from beginning to end before? I can see Rick stop being a pilot, and maybe be CAG, but definitely not outranking Lisa. Overall, I find it a bit ironic that the Japanese (which culturally is still more male orientated) was more willing to accept a female in-charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seto Kaiba Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Here's the conundrum: No conundrum at all... I answered this very question in my previous post. Why would Rick be in command of the entire mission, when Lisa outranks him from beginning to end before? I can see Rick stop being a pilot, and maybe be CAG, but definitely not outranking Lisa. He wasn't. As of the Robotech II: the Sentinels series, it was Lisa Hayes who was in command of the entire mission, albeit under some kind of civilian oversight/advisement by Dr. Lang and others. Rick Hunter was in charge of the ground and air forces attached to the fleet and held the rank of Major General. Tommy Yune made an attempt to explain the screwball dialogue which refers to an "Admiral Rick Hunter" by having Lisa get incapacitated during a surprise attack and having Rick fill in for her for a year, after which she decides to retire. The dialogue which refers to "Admiral Rick Hunter" was probably just yet another harebrained goof caused by the writers working on multiple episodes and not bothering to compare notes, as they are said to have done by the voice actors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonc Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 On a fun side note... Tommy seems to have given the colony idea the shaft, since he retconned the neutron-s missiles into unused Angel-class colony ships that were repurposed as delivery systems for the neutron-s warheads, and had their replacements, the Ark Angel-class (yes, "Ark Angel", not "Archangel") destroyed in mid-construction when Vince Grant detonated the neutron-s warhead stockpiles on Space Station Liberty, leaving the sole example of the class to be repurposed as a warship because its shadow-tech systems weren't hooked up yet. This was always one of the things that in the debates of wars between Macross fleets vs. Robotech fleets, pro RT fans couldn't get. While in RT universe everyone is still fighting just to survive, while in Macross, the human race is growing, developing, and moving forward. They colonize new worlds, have their allies, and have massive amounts of resources that RT universe just wouldn't have. The simple fact of Macross having a flourishing population would make the growth and strength of their military far more powerful than in Robotech. I did kinda laugh when Grant jumps to a "colony" vessel, that's quite small. I guess it really reflects the population size of the RT universe. They spend from ep.1 through Shadow Chronicles fighting for survival, not expanding and growing. It kinda takes any logic out of the whole grand story that Robotech has generated after the Macross saga, and SC reinforces that illogical decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einherjar Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Define human civilization in the Next Generation and Shadow Saga eras. Only the novels and comic books gave a hint that there was anything beyond the military when it came to a future society. Earth's is devastated thanks to Mospeada footage and Mars' is vaguely defined except for having a big enough population to wastefully sacrifice lives in taking back Earth, again, thanks to Mospeada. As for the "colony ship," it brings back memories of the unfortunate consequences of Rick Hunter willing to nuke the Earth if they couldn't get it back. Despite some sort of Mars society, they were prepared to abandon Earth to start all over if the last attempt failed as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anime52k8 Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Why did it take Rick and Lisa 8 years to get married? What where they doing that whole time? well Rick was busy f*cking Minmei Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonc Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 If the neutron-S missiles were a success, the remaining fleet would've been exactly like Battlestar Galactica, trying to find a new world to colonize, and having some Robotic race after them. Robostar Galactica Chronicles. At least in Battlestar, they had 12 colonies. The Robotech fleets seem to think that only one planet is good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seto Kaiba Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 (edited) This was always one of the things that in the debates of wars between Macross fleets vs. Robotech fleets, pro RT fans couldn't get. While in RT universe everyone is still fighting just to survive, while in Macross, the human race is growing, developing, and moving forward. They colonize new worlds, have their allies, and have massive amounts of resources that RT universe just wouldn't have. The simple fact of Macross having a flourishing population would make the growth and strength of their military far more powerful than in Robotech. Interestingly enough, in some depictions of Robotech II: the Sentinels the Pioneer mission fleet had scouting planets for future colonization as one of its secondary objectives. Just like their plans to stop the Robotech Masters from attacking Earth, colony-scouting seems to have gone by the wayside after the SDF-3 blundered directly into the Invid Regent's army on Tirol and got wrapped up in liberating half the bloody galaxy from his ridiculous legions. Presumably this is why all the old Angel-class colony ships spent their days gathering dust in a Space Station Liberty hangar bay before being repurposed as a delivery system for the massive neutron-s warheads. The Ark Angel-class ships that Tommy Yune created for the Shadow Chronicles story, which picks up right where Sentinels Book IV left off, seem to be pale-yet-ludicrous imitations of the Megaroad-class colony ships in Macross. On a completely unrelated side note, the character of the Invid Regent is my favorite in the entire Robotech II: the Sentinels story arc, and possibly in Robotech as a whole. He alone seemed to realize that Robotech had dumbed-down the source material immeasurably, reducing complex and well-written characters to dull, homogenized stereotypes, and resolved to stand out by acting every bit as arbitrarily evil as the villains in Captain Planet. But what really makes him shine is his reason for invading and oppressing the various other alien worlds in the novels and comics... he's doing it because he's sick of being henpecked and doesn't want to put up with his wife's shrilling about how she knows better while he cleans up the mess she made. In short, the Invid Regent is a man's man. He might be a giant talking lobster from outer space, but he doesn't take crap from his wife and he does things his own way. I did kinda laugh when Grant jumps to a "colony" vessel, that's quite small. I guess it really reflects the population size of the RT universe. They spend from ep.1 through Shadow Chronicles fighting for survival, not expanding and growing. It kinda takes any logic out of the whole grand story that Robotech has generated after the Macross saga, and SC reinforces that illogical decision. No, what's REALLY ridiculous in Robotech's half-assed colonization effort is the colony vessels themselves. The United Earth Expeditionary Force's new Ark Angel-class colony ships are 2.14km long not counting the fins and misc. antennae, but the specs for them in The Art of Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles says they have a crew of 8,500 people and a carrying capacity of up to 750,000 colonists! That's cramming a three-quarters of a million people into less than a single square kilometer of space along with the ship's systems, weapons, supplies, and fuel. What're they doing, stacking the colonists in the corridors like cordwood? If we're conservative, that's a population density of a million people per square kilometer, 171 times the population density of metropolitan Tokyo. Fortunately, all but one of these badly-designed ships were destroyed by Vince Grant when he detonated the entire neutron-s stockpile at Space Station Liberty. To put that ridiculous number in perspective for you, that'd be like squeezing the population of two New Macross-class city sections AND two Megaroad-class colony ships into a single Thuverl Salan-class battleship. well Rick was busy f*cking Minmei Which is actually a major plot point in Sentinels Book I... Brigadier General Edwards tries to destroy the public's confidence in the Hunters so he can assume command by leaking pictures of Rick and Minmei hugging in the corridor and claiming it was evidence they were having an affair (and bumping uglies) the night before his wedding to Lisa. Edited March 5, 2010 by Seto Kaiba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sh002 Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 does anyone think the 1/100 armored parts will eventually come out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funkenstein Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 For the Robotech figures ? Probably not. That would require retooling the manufacturing lines, and thats something Toynami can't afford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taksraven Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 I think that the whole "Destroy Earth with the Neutron-S missiles" that was seen at the end of Robotech was just the writers trying to make the series seem more "hardcore", especially with the mention of "Scorched Earth tactics" etc. Since they knew that "Admiral Hunter" was never going to appear in Mospeada, they just made the decision to have him apparently giving the orders. It was a botch-up anyway. Taksraven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeyondTheGrave Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 well Rick was busy f*cking Minmei Which is actually a major plot point in Sentinels Book I... Brigadier General Edwards tries to destroy the public's confidence in the Hunters so he can assume command by leaking pictures of Rick and Minmei hugging in the corridor and claiming it was evidence they were having an affair (and bumping uglies) the night before his wedding to Lisa. Can we not go down this road again. It was painful to read the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 (edited) Here's my question, does the omission of all but 3 main Mospeada characters in shadow chronicles depiction of the Mospeada ending retcon them out of robotech canon? Or was Tommy Yune too afraid to tackle redesigning Yellow, just imagine the agonizing over whether to give him huge tits, or a six pack. Plus reminding robotech fans that Jim was a lolicon would automatically void their fandom! Ah Love, Live Alive, thank you for your epilogue. Edited March 6, 2010 by Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seto Kaiba Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 (edited) I think that the whole "Destroy Earth with the Neutron-S missiles" that was seen at the end of Robotech was just the writers trying to make the series seem more "hardcore", especially with the mention of "Scorched Earth tactics" etc. Since they knew that "Admiral Hunter" was never going to appear in Mospeada, they just made the decision to have him apparently giving the orders. Well, the whole thing goes back to Genesis Climber Mospeada, where the 3rd Earth Recapture Force plans to use the electrically-charged particle warheads to wipe Reflex Point and a decent-sized chunk of the surrounding continent right off the map if they couldn't oust the Inbit by conventional means with their latest and largest assault. I guess the "writers" working on the New Generation didn't think this was dramatic enough, and decided to turn Mospeada's charged particle warheads into planet-killers, and tie Rick Hunter into the whole thing to add interest and hopefully tie Mospeada into Macross a bit more securely. I guess they were inspired by the science fiction version of the neutron bomb, since I can't imagine how they could think neutrons were charged particles. The whole business of the "Neutron-S" meaning "Neutron Star matter" and them being technology given to the REF by evil aliens was, of course, a retcon almost as blatant as turning the "shadow fighter" stealth system from passive to active stealth. Of course, one of the first things Tommy did with Shadow Chronicles was try to exonerate Rick Hunter of the guilt of ordering the destruction of Earth and its population by turning him into the unwitting stooge of the Haydonites. Can we not go down this road again. It was painful to read the first time. Damn, and here I was hoping to (further) scar you for life. Here's my question, does the omission of all but 3 main Mospeada characters in shadow chronicles depiction of the Mospeada ending retcon them out of robotech canon? Or was Tommy Yune too afraid to tackle redesigning Yellow, just imagine the agonizing over whether to give him huge tits, or a six pack. Plus reminding robotech fans that Jim was a lolicon would automatically void their fandom! Ah Love, Live Alive, thank you for your epilogue. Well, presumably they're not retconned out of the Robotech canon, their role in the ending has just been changed significantly. Tommy tried a comic series starring "Lance Belmont", and it didn't go over terribly well, and sold mainly because of the "Mars Base One" mini-comic printed as an extra. Edited March 6, 2010 by Seto Kaiba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanzerfan Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Interestingly enough, in some depictions of Robotech II: the Sentinels the Pioneer mission fleet had scouting planets for future colonization as one of its secondary objectives. Just like their plans to stop the Robotech Masters from attacking Earth, colony-scouting seems to have gone by the wayside after the SDF-3 blundered directly into the Invid Regent's army on Tirol and got wrapped up in liberating half the bloody galaxy from his ridiculous legions. Presumably this is why all the old Angel-class colony ships spent their days gathering dust in a Space Station Liberty hangar bay before being repurposed as a delivery system for the massive neutron-s warheads. The Ark Angel-class ships that Tommy Yune created for the Shadow Chronicles story, which picks up right where Sentinels Book IV left off, seem to be pale-yet-ludicrous imitations of the Megaroad-class colony ships in Macross. On a completely unrelated side note, the character of the Invid Regent is my favorite in the entire Robotech II: the Sentinels story arc, and possibly in Robotech as a whole. He alone seemed to realize that Robotech had dumbed-down the source material immeasurably, reducing complex and well-written characters to dull, homogenized stereotypes, and resolved to stand out by acting every bit as arbitrarily evil as the villains in Captain Planet. But what really makes him shine is his reason for invading and oppressing the various other alien worlds in the novels and comics... he's doing it because he's sick of being henpecked and doesn't want to put up with his wife's shrilling about how she knows better while he cleans up the mess she made. In short, the Invid Regent is a man's man. He might be a giant talking lobster from outer space, but he doesn't take crap from his wife and he does things his own way. No, what's REALLY ridiculous in Robotech's half-assed colonization effort is the colony vessels themselves. The United Earth Expeditionary Force's new Ark Angel-class colony ships are 2.14km long not counting the fins and misc. antennae, but the specs for them in The Art of Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles says they have a crew of 8,500 people and a carrying capacity of up to 750,000 colonists! That's cramming a three-quarters of a million people into less than a single square kilometer of space along with the ship's systems, weapons, supplies, and fuel. What're they doing, stacking the colonists in the corridors like cordwood? If we're conservative, that's a population density of a million people per square kilometer, 171 times the population density of metropolitan Tokyo. Fortunately, all but one of these badly-designed ships were destroyed by Vince Grant when he detonated the entire neutron-s stockpile at Space Station Liberty. To put that ridiculous number in perspective for you, that'd be like squeezing the population of two New Macross-class city sections AND two Megaroad-class colony ships into a single Thuverl Salan-class battleship. Which is actually a major plot point in Sentinels Book I... Brigadier General Edwards tries to destroy the public's confidence in the Hunters so he can assume command by leaking pictures of Rick and Minmei hugging in the corridor and claiming it was evidence they were having an affair (and bumping uglies) the night before his wedding to Lisa. Taht only happened in Book 1, issue 5 of the Eternity comic series. That never happened in the novel The Devil's Hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UN_MARINE Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 To put that ridiculous number in perspective for you, that'd be like squeezing the population of two New Macross-class city sections AND two Megaroad-class colony ships into a single Thuverl Salan-class battleship. And here we have people saying the SDF-1 can't possibly be 1200 meters long. Or was Tommy Yune too afraid to tackle redesigning Yellow, just imagine the agonizing over whether to give him huge tits, or a six pack. But Tommy's so talented, why couldn't he have both? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanzerfan Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Tommy's so damned talented I bailed when I found out what that dickhead did with one of my favorite Malcontent Uprisings characters. Having Johnathan Wolff on board the SDF-1 instead of the RDF New Alburquerque base absolutely killed the WildStorm comic franchise for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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