Legacy Reviews: ROBOTECH Novelization

[desrocfc]

In addition to reviewinf the Palladium Books ROBOTECH RPG products, I'll also be releasing a new series of reviews of the classic Jack McKinney Novelization of the hit 1980s anime, ROBOTECH.

These novels provided readers a new way to immerse themselves in the stories in a way the anime could not. Arguably one of the best ways to experience the ROBOTECH saga, they delved deeper into some of the more adult themes. With a general synopsis, I'll likely engage more in the major themese presented by the episodes that formed the basis for each novel.

Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE! Individual reviews to follow.

https://www.scholarlyadventures.com/pos ... velization

When did you first read these novels? Have you picked up the newly released anthology editions?

[Warshield73]

I look forward to these. I never liked the Robotech animated for some reason (Mimei) but I really enjoyed the McKinely series. I tried rereading it 10 or so years ago and it hasn't aged too well but the Macross and Invid arcs were still enjoyable.

[desrocfc]

I look forward to these. I never liked the Robotech animated for some reason (Mimei) but I really enjoyed the McKinely series. I tried rereading it 10 or so years ago and it hasn't aged too well but the Macross and Invid arcs were still enjoyable.

I actually found they aged MUCH better than I expected. Certainly much more so than the anime! LOL.

Sure, there are some aspects of the prose that wouldn't work today, but it provides a much better spin on the series that doesn't suffer from the eye-roll inducing "Oh, Rick!" from Lisa and Minmei, the very much too mature voice for Dana Sterling and the inane exclamations from the Bridge Bunnies and others to 'break tension,' which remains a frustrating staple in anime today.

I've got about 20 RPG and novels queued up, so pretty much a year of Robotech and Macross II (mixed in with Rifts and other articles)!

[thorr-kan]

And the novels are still the only version of the franchise that has been given a complete run.

[Warshield73]

And the novels are still the only version of the franchise that has been given a complete run.

Have they done any novels that follow the story after Shadow Chronicles. I am not in to Robotech as much as I was when PB required the license and my TNR pile is almost Everest like in it's height but that might be interesting.

[thorr-kan]

And the novels are still the only version of the franchise that has been given a complete run.

Have they done any novels that follow the story after Shadow Chronicles. I am not in to Robotech as much as I was when PB required the license and my TNR pile is almost Everest like in it's height but that might be interesting.

No. "The End of the Circle" was published, providing an ending to the novels' saga, before TSC were ever conceived.

[Warshield73]

No I've read it. Just thought that since they never made the follow up movies they might have done a comic of novel to finish it.

[glitterboy2098]

while they were some of my earliest exposure to the franchise (due to the similarity in title and mecha cover art to the Battletech series of novels coming out at the same time), as i got exposed to the show proper (the macross part was actually still being aired in reruns back then, plus i got lucky and lived somewhere you could rent VHS tapes of the non-macross parts) i've found that i actually don't really like the novels. even just limiting it to the main storyline, and not getting into the various side story stuff (the sentinels arc, Zentreadi revbellion, masters gambit, before the invid storm) which i'll get into in a moment, the novels changed a lot of stuff compared to the show. from the thinking caps to the mystical nature of protoculture, to changes in backstories and dialog. and the stuff not based directly on the show (and thus why i dub the 'side story' parts) tended to get even deeper into the weeds on the weirdness, mysticism, and questionable characterizations. frankly i just stopped finding it appealing. and i don't even want to get into the utterly bizarre narrative in the 'end of the circle". but that one was always a bit of a divisive work even with the people who prefer the novels.

and to be honest, the fact that far too many robotech fans have elevated the novels above the show proper, often while forgetting that the two even have differences, is very aggravating. i still see way too many people bring up thinking caps, the shapings, and other concepts and plotlines which originated whole cloth from the novels during discussions of the show proper not realizing they are doing it, often to the utter confusion of new people. and i often see said new people being recommended that they read the novels to learn more about robotech.. even when they have never seen the show yet. which just perpetuates the problem. for a long time it would have been easy to mistake robotech for a novel series franchise, rather than a TV show one. harmony Gold's lack of any official continuity policy prior to shadow chronicles didn't help either, resulting in a fandom that created its own takes on what was and wasn't part of the main universe.. and often the TV show wound up losing out to the spin off products like novels and comics in those determinations.

the advent of shadow chronicles, and HG finally making at least a loose policy about what is and isn't part of the official material, helped a bit in that regard. though now we just have an analog of the star wars "legends/oldEU vs canon" split in the fandom, where depending on what part of the internet you go it can get rather dangerous to express a liking of the post-shadow chronicles comics and continuity..

[Library Ogre]

They were my first concentrated exposure, back in the late 80s. We knew about it; I think we picked up Valkyries when we went to a museum (for some reason), but the show came on Sunday mornings, so we didn't get to watch it. But, when we got to Korea, my brother and I started buying the novels, and read them through a few times.

I've since watched the series a few times, but it's been 30+ years since I read one of the books.

[Warshield73]

while they were some of my earliest exposure to the franchise (due to the similarity in title and mecha cover art to the Battletech series of novels coming out at the same time), as i got exposed to the show proper (the macross part was actually still being aired in reruns back then, plus i got lucky and lived somewhere you could rent VHS tapes of the non-macross parts) i've found that i actually don't really like the novels. even just limiting it to the main storyline, and not getting into the various side story stuff (the sentinels arc, Zentreadi revbellion, masters gambit, before the invid storm) which i'll get into in a moment, the novels changed a lot of stuff compared to the show. from the thinking caps to the mystical nature of protoculture, to changes in backstories and dialog. and the stuff not based directly on the show (and thus why i dub the 'side story' parts) tended to get even deeper into the weeds on the weirdness, mysticism, and questionable characterizations. frankly i just stopped finding it appealing. and i don't even want to get into the utterly bizarre narrative in the 'end of the circle". but that one was always a bit of a divisive work even with the people who prefer the novels.

and to be honest, the fact that far too many robotech fans have elevated the novels above the show proper, often while forgetting that the two even have differences, is very aggravating. i still see way too many people bring up thinking caps, the shapings, and other concepts and plotlines which originated whole cloth from the novels during discussions of the show proper not realizing they are doing it, often to the utter confusion of new people. and i often see said new people being recommended that they read the novels to learn more about robotech.. even when they have never seen the show yet. which just perpetuates the problem. for a long time it would have been easy to mistake robotech for a novel series franchise, rather than a TV show one. harmony Gold's lack of any official continuity policy prior to shadow chronicles didn't help either, resulting in a fandom that created its own takes on what was and wasn't part of the main universe.. and often the TV show wound up losing out to the spin off products like novels and comics in those determinations.

the advent of shadow chronicles, and HG finally making at least a loose policy about what is and isn't part of the official material, helped a bit in that regard. though now we just have an analog of the star wars "legends/oldEU vs canon" split in the fandom, where depending on what part of the internet you go it can get rather dangerous to express a liking of the post-shadow chronicles comics and continuity..

I think you really nailed why I preferred the novels over the series. The dialogue in the series is SOOOOOO bad and the story so one dimensional that I could not take it seriously. Also, while I had seen some of the Macross episodes of Robotech on TV my real entry point for Robotech was the RPG and for me reading the novels helped me to flesh the world out as I was trying to run these games at 15 years old.

I will end on a point of agreement though as End of the Circle is total trash.

[taalismn]

I always liked the McKinney chapter headings that had some background info/ sideline world-building that added to the Robotech world-line.
Plus it shed new light on some of the characters(Rand of the New Generation we get to see as a road-scholar of sorts).

Hey, I LIKED thinking caps(despite the fact that we see Rick quite ably fly his VF without one....but it was already in gerwalk mode and they very likely practiced flying manual in fixed configurations) and some of the FoL/Protoculture side stuff, but didn't buy into the whole Shapings stuff.

And yeah, End of the Circle was forgettable, but the writing team of McKInney may have been wanting to Burn the Franchise(or at least their part in it), as they'd already moved on other projects like the Black Hole Travel Agency.

[Warshield73]

I always liked the McKinney chapter headings that had some background info/ sideline world-building that added to the Robotech world-line.
Plus it shed new light on some of the characters(Rand of the New Generation we get to see as a road-scholar of sorts).

Agreed. I love this as a writing device and I almost always like to see it in a book.

Hey, I LIKED thinking caps(despite the fact that we see Rick quite ably fly his VF without one....but it was already in gerwalk mode and they very likely practiced flying manual in fixed configurations) and some of the FoL/Protoculture side stuff, but didn't buy into the whole Shapings stuff.

I also liked all the FoL / protoculture stuff, I mean it's better than defeating them with music.

And yeah, End of the Circle was forgettable, but the writing team of McKInney may have been wanting to Burn the Franchise(or at least their part in it), as they'd already moved on other projects like the Black Hole Travel Agency.

I don't think you have think that hard about it. End of the Circle is very much an artifact of the '80's sci-fi. Plus I always go back to Robotech isn't actually a story. It is three different robot vs alien stories atacked together with a thin layer plot to pull them together. Finding an ending in that mess had to be tough.

[thorr-kan]

The Robotech novels are awesome. It's too bad the animated adaptation they keep talking about never got off the ground.

Joking aside, I've always preferred the novels to the series. Though I prefer the 1E RPG to the novels; it's the bassackwards way I came into the fandom. Read about the RPG in the BTS 1E book. Bought some of the RPG books. Found, bought, and devoured the novels for more material. The series never aired where I lived, so I never saw it. Each time I tried, I got the "Genesis Pit" episode, regardless of what episode was actually supposed to be playing. After like 3 times, I just have quit trying. Some sort of curse, I expect.

[taalismn]

The Robotech novels are awesome. It's too bad the animated adaptation they keep talking about never got off the ground.

The comics tried to follow the Sentinels novel course, then went off the deep end after Haydon IV and they tried expanding the storylines with mixed success. Then...Aftermath and Mordecai(shudder) polished off the runs on deplorable notes.

[Library Ogre]

You know, I don't think I ever had the Second Generation/Masters novels? Completely avoided it. No idea why.

[Warshield73]

You know, I don't think I ever had the Second Generation/Masters novels? Completely avoided it. No idea why.

Good Judgement, that's why.
The other 3 series (Macross, Invid, Sentinels) very in quality from really good to perfectly acceptable but Southern Cross
So yeah good call. You miss nothing by skipping them.

[desrocfc]

The other 3 series (Macross, Invid, Sentinels) very in quality from really good to perfectly acceptable but Southern Cross
So yeah good call. You miss nothing by skipping them.

The Second Generation books certainly have a different feel to them. As a serving senior officer in the military, I can tell you the amount of disciplinary action Dana would have faced would have been ludicrous; war or not.

I'm currently finishing off the 9th book and about to start the writing up its individual review, add it to 7 and 8, and do a holistic Generation Overview like I did for books 1-6. It's, different..... from what I recall, not having looked at these in over 20 years. But then so is my opinion of the anime it's based on.