I've loved these for years, so earlier this year I decided to pick up the ones I was missing (resulting in a few duplicates) and reread the entire collection.
I grew up with the cartoon, which the novels are not only faithful to, but also expand quite a bit. Unfortunately, it made me semi-hate Shadow Chronicles when it released. The series slowed down a bit from 19 to 21, and I wasn't sure if I liked the ending (in End of the Circle) or not, but is otherwise awesome.
Anyone else read these, and if so, what did you think?
End of the Circle <bleh>
It tied it all together, but it wasn't my favorite by far.
And there were some other novels published after End of the Circle that were set in the years after Macross but before the REF left. I seem to recall that they starred the Stirlings (Max & Miriya, Dana was too young) and Wolfe... but I could be wrong.
I liked the original adapations, and the Sentinels novels were good as well.
I had the RPG books as well, and between the Sentinels sourcebook and the novels, I really wish they would have continued the series.
And I liked Shadow Chronicles. I felt it was true to the original series, and it had almost all the people I expected. And while it did change the event in End of the Circle to set up this new direction, I'm not sure End of the Circle was really canon anyways... IMHO, nothing is really canon after the Invid Invasion ended, since Sentinels never got more than a few half-produced episodes and sketches/storyboards.
The Sentinels cartoon included on one of the extras disks of Robotech's Macross component was pretty cool, too.
Holy crap. I thought I was the only one who kept up with those. I have a handful of the novels, and I liked some of their touches, but once I discovered the Macross/Robotech dichotomy, I was somewhat disenchanted. I stll enjoyed a lot of the fanfiction and comics, especially the minimalist stuff put out by academy comics limited about a decade back. I still read their Destroid limited series regularly- it's interesting to see something from the perspective of someone other than a fighter jock- and I picked up the wildstorm stuff despite the Robotech name. I also have the RPG's and I am eagerly looking forward to picking up the Shadow Chronicles for Christmas, although I still lack a boxed set for the original macross series.
I've got the entire series on DVD from when they were released back in the mid-90s. It was a treasured piece of my childhood, all those hours spent watching the show afterschool, then finding an ad for the RPG in a Dragon magazine.*
Now the question is: At what age is too young for my daughter to start watching them with me? Gotta start them young to grow up gamers ;-)
*Hey, I just thought of something. If we aren't getting ads in the new online Dragon/Dungeon, is that a subtle attempt to block out out exposure to third-party OGL products and other systems? I discovered Shadowrun through a Dragon Ad as well...
Now the question is: At what age is too young for my daughter to start watching them with me? Gotta start them young to grow up gamers ;-)
I can’t remember what age it was I started watching them, but I had to be pretty young. I distinctly remember getting up early to watch them while preparing to catch the bus to school, and my father screaming at me because, “You can get up early to watch this crap but you can’t get to school on time…blah…blah..” (I can’t imagine why we don’t hug or barely talk now….)
I would think because you are going to watch them together (which is awesome), that you would be able to do it earlier than you normally would. There is a lot of complex relationship stuff going on, and a few poignant moments like Ray’s death you might choose to talk to her about, and I think she’d appreciate having you there in the long run. Good memories of childhood type stuff.
Now the question is: At what age is too young for my daughter to start watching them with me? Gotta start them young to grow up gamers ;-)I can’t remember what age it was I started watching them, but I had to be pretty young. I distinctly remember getting up early to watch them while preparing to catch the bus to school, and my father screaming at me because, “You can get up early to watch this crap but you can’t get to school on time…blah…blah..” (I can’t imagine why we don’t hug or barely talk now….)
YOU TOO?!? !I thought I was the only one who was subjected to that harangue. My mom never allowed me to watch TV during the week, I remember once sneaking out of the apartment at 5:30 in the morning to go next door to a friend's house to watch robotech. I couldn't sit for a week and a half after I was caught and disciplined, but it was worth it.
And that's Roy, btw...
And that's Roy, btw...
Gah! My fault. That'll teach me to post in the middle of a hardware failover test, lol.
I couldn't sit for a week and a half after I was caught and disciplined, but it was worth it.
My rear end broke many a wooden spoon back in the day. Much feared in our household was the polenta stick (basically a plank used to stir Italian cornmeal).
Now the question is: At what age is too young for my daughter to start watching them with me? Gotta start them young to grow up gamers ;-)I can’t remember what age it was I started watching them, but I had to be pretty young. I distinctly remember getting up early to watch them while preparing to catch the bus to school, and my father screaming at me because, “You can get up early to watch this crap but you can’t get to school on time…blah…blah..” (I can’t imagine why we don’t hug or barely talk now….)
I would think because you are going to watch them together (which is awesome), that you would be able to do it earlier than you normally would. There is a lot of complex relationship stuff going on, and a few poignant moments like Ray’s death you might choose to talk to her about, and I think she’d appreciate having you there in the long run. Good memories of childhood type stuff.
I think the complex part of the relationships just flew right over my head when I was a kid watching them ;-)
Same thing with another favorite from my childhood, the Batman Animated Series. Lots of innuendo, nuances and jokes that would go right over a kids head. And if my wife complains about me watching that with our daughter, I'll just have to retort that it won an Emmy, and in a real category, not an animation category, no less. (It was for the origin story of Mr Freeze, something like best 30 minute Drama or Comedy)
Besides, no matter what cartoons I watch with my daughter, its gotta be better than Laguna Beach or the Hills... yes, my wife is an MTV reality TV addict :-( (And she complains about my habits, lol)
My 2 year old has been chanting his garbled version of robotech since i stuck the first DVD in.
I figured he, and his 4 year old brother, would like the veritechs and space ships and stuff.
Lol... my daughter perks up at the intro music to the Justice League Cartoon. (I got some boxed sets recently, so I've been watching them while she is playing in the room, etc. Nothing like getting them hooked on comics AND cartoons at a young age.)