So its been more than a passing thought for quite a long time now that Robotech and Macross, despite their separate roads to glory (Glorie?), seem to copy each other on occasion--more than one occasion! And while I make no work to accuse writers on either side of a lack of creativity in their work, the question must be asked if Robotech and Macross teams alike enjoy viewing the other side's work...
So finally, I'm starting to make a list of the more apparent mirrorings between Robotech and Macross serieses, with the hope that everybpdy will entertain the thoughts presented above.
Macross: The U.N. Spacy's Megaroad-Class Colonisation Fleet (Flashback 2012)
Robotech: Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes have a son who loves to fly (as in planes, people)
Macross: Hikaru Ichijo and Misa Hayase have a daughter who loves to fly in her father's Valkyrie
Robotech: Lisa Hayes-Hunter is promoted to the rank of Admiral and given command of the SDF-3
Macross: Misa Hayase (Ichijo) is promoted to the rank of Admiral and given command of a Megaroad-class dimensional fortress
Macross: The development of the first variable fighter, the VF-0 (Macross Zero)
Robotech: The development of the first variable fighter (From The Stars comic series)
Robotech: The United Earth Government becomes a source of public disdain following the first space war (McKinney novels)
Macross: The U.N. Government becomes a source of public disdain following the first space war (Macross II)
Robotech: The Robotech Masters, creators of the Zentraedi, come to Earth (Robotech TV)
Macross: The Marduk, creators of the Zentraedi, come to Earth (Macross II)
Robotech: Max and Miriya Sterling have a blonde-haired daughter who pilots a Veritech hovertank (Robotech TV)
Macross: Milia Jenius has a blonde-haired grand-daughter who pilots a Valkyrie-II variable fighter (Macross II)
Robotech: Roy Fokker has a rival pilot, whom he has bested on several occasions, with blonde hair.
Macross: Roy Focker has a rival pilot, whom he has bested on several occasions, with blonde hair.
Robotech: Following the first space war, malcontent Zentraedi take over the Southlands (McKinney novels, The Malcontent Uprisings comic series)
Robotech: Following the first space war, malcontent Zentraedi ravage the planet Earth (Battlecry video game)
Miku Ichijo is born on the SDF-2 within the Colonisation Fleet. Roy Hunter is born on the SDF-3 within the Expeditionary Fleet. They both have brown hair, just like their father. *sigh* Any questions?
Well, well, well! Our little girl is all grown-up and gets to wear a fancy uniform now! (I like the Macross uniform better!)...Too bad that Hikaru is stuck as a lowly Captain in the Spacy while Rick gets to wear the Admiral's stripes like his wife...
Well, the story prior to Space War I had to be told sometime, and its probably been done a million times before in Robotech comics, but its odd that, now that Macross comes out with an official explanation of the first variable fighters, Robotech quickly follows suit.
I think that the "Epilogue" episodes of the original Macross and Gloval/Global's dislike for politicians started this, but Robotech certainly began the phrase "Leave here now!" with the McKinney novels, and Macross II gives us a Spacy Government that humans and Zentraedi alike can hate. =)
Where did the Zentraedi come from?--Perhaps the Japanese wanted to know, because the rest of the world knew that the Masters created them as a fighting race for their wartime pleasure excursions. But if Commander Feff ever duked in out with a Master, well, that would be Marduk violence (a la "Fist of the North Star") at its finest (with exploding heads and stuff!) *cough*
This is, of course, highly debateable, but in my view, the pilot known as Sylvie Gena does have some relation to the (ever growing) Jenius clan. The only reason that her name is not "Jenius" is that the designers of Macross II purposely made references that both distanced and connected them to the original series.
Well, I didn't recognise this one at first, but, even though he's regarded as an ace pilot, why does Roy have to have blonde-haired rivals who sneer at him?--Both D.D. Ivanoff of Macross Zero and T.R. Edward of The Sentinels fit this description, and frankly, its a very similar case of Unification-versus-Anti-Unification rivals in the skies.
This is an interesting case that seems to be becoming more occurent in Robotech nowadays, where RT copies RT with a "more acceptable" story: The McKinney novels and all comic book serieses have fairly recently been de-canonised by the officials at Harmony Gold, meaning that their stories never actually occurred. So what does Harmony Gold do, only months later?--Retell the same story that others wrote and call it their own, and tell everybody that this did happen!
