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[ooo-baby]

I’m intrigued by the Robotech novels. I haven’t read them but I do remember seeing them in the bookstores as a kid and hearing people talking about them in school. They sounded like bestsellers.

I think there are 21 novels in all; that’s a lot. I heard they are on par with Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. However, the person I watched on YouTube saying this, though he owns all 21 Robotech novels on his bookshelf, has only read some of them. I guess because there’s so many of them and it would take a long time to read them all. Is it worth the time investment?

I remember watching the Macross Saga and really liking the love story with Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes. When it ended I was really sad. I wanted more. I wanted to see a continuation of the love story, the further adventures of Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes. They had just professed their love for each other.

I tried watching Southern Cross but I was jarred by the fact that Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, and Max and Mireya Sterling were nowhere to be seen or found, so I fell out of interest and love with Robotech.

I wanted Rick Hunter/Lisa Hayes and Max/Mireya Sterling centric stories.

Harmony Gold has since rejected the Robotech novels as non-canon, and James Luceno has said he had issues and problems with the way his writing partner Brian Daly wrote the ending of the last Robotech novel “The End of the Circle.”

Will reading the Robotech novels further ruin my love and memories of the Macross Saga, being already let down and traumatized by seeing Southern Cross?

Wasn’t Brian Daly a premiere Star Wars novel writer and James Luceno’s mentor in writing the Robotech novels. I think Brian Daly was the #1 writer of the two, comprising Jack McKinney.

So was the ending of the End of the Circle as bad as James Luceno made it seem in interviews, ruining the entire novel series and making them not worth reading?

 

[Steevy Maximus]

They were…pretty decent. Especially in an era where anime was on an upswing, but much of the Robotech content was out of print or off air. I’ve read better sci-fi, but I don’t think ANY of them are outright terrible reading.
But I think it is important to conceptualize them as an ADAPTION of the series. Kind of like how a novelization of a film may stray from the details of the film, but the major A to B to C plot points remain. It’s also REALLY important to remember that the show itself was a hacked together edit of 3 totally unrelated anime series to begin with. They did a decent job for 1985, but even in the series, there were continuity issues.

If you like Robotech, I’d argue the novels are easiest way to get the (nearly) complete story. Especially The Sentinels set, which are the continuation of the adventures of the Macross crew. I’m not sure there really is any easier means of experiencing the Sentinels arc these days, given the age and relative rarity of the comics and incomplete nature of the animation itself. In that context, “canon” is a pretty loose term.

I thought “End of the Circle” was…fine. It got a bit metaphysical, which is what I think turned a lot of people off. I mean, I AM someone who actually likes Beast Machines, but I think the pushback with Beast Machines is evocative of the pushback people have over End of the Circle.
Then again, it IS the ONLY conclusion ever made for the Robotech story. And probably will remain so since Harmony Gold appears incapable of actually doing anything besides sue people over the franchise.

 

[ooo-baby]

They were…pretty decent. Especially in an era where anime was on an upswing, but much of the Robotech content was out of print or off air. I’ve read better sci-fi, but I don’t think ANY of them are outright terrible reading.
But I think it is important to conceptualize them as an ADAPTION of the series. Kind of like how a novelization of a film may stray from the details of the film, but the major A to B to C plot points remain. It’s also REALLY important to remember that the show itself was a hacked together edit of 3 totally unrelated anime series to begin with. They did a decent job for 1985, but even in the series, there were continuity issues.

If you like Robotech, I’d argue the novels are easiest way to get the (nearly) complete story. Especially The Sentinels set, which are the continuation of the adventures of the Macross crew. I’m not sure there really is any easier means of experiencing the Sentinels arc these days, given the age and relative rarity of the comics and incomplete nature of the animation itself. In that context, “canon” is a pretty loose term.

I thought “End of the Circle” was…fine. It got a bit metaphysical, which is what I think turned a lot of people off. I mean, I AM someone who actually likes Beast Machines, but I think the pushback with Beast Machines is evocative of the pushback people have over End of the Circle.
Then again, it IS the ONLY conclusion ever made for the Robotech story. And probably will remain so since Harmony Gold appears incapable of actually doing anything besides sue people over the franchise.

Yes, I think I actually heard a poll that said that over 90% of the fans who read all the Robotech novels had an over 90% favorable rating of those books. I think that is a higher favorable rating than any other Robotech media, even the Robotech cartoons which were an incomplete, fragmented mess from my point of view. They just took issue with small things like the “thinking cap” which to me makes sense if the Robotechnology is that far advanced. What’s the point of writing the novels if they’re only going to give you exactly what you see in the cartoon, no less and no more. I want more. Even as a kid because I was very visual I sensed something seemed off among all the three series. It just seemed all disconnected visually. I wasn’t buying it. It was only a couple of years ago someone told me that they took three unrelated Japanese cartoons and rewrote the crap out of them. As a kid, I remember while “trying” to watch Southern Cross one of the characters referred to the Macross crew as ancestors and these new characters were their descendants, so it made it seem like the Macross team was almost all dead or very long gone. I just could not get into it because I guess visually I knew there was something wrong, a disconnect. I didn’t even try to watch the New Generation. I figured all the Macross characters I loved would definitely be dead or close to it by then.

I think Beast Wars already took the Transformers metaphysical by making the Transformers organic, instead of keeping them sentient metallic robots (ie. evolving through "naturally-occurring gears, levers, and pulleys"). I did not like that at all. It just wasn’t as cool as G1 for that reason, though I can see why it’s rated the #1 Transformers cartoon hands-down, even over G1.

Is there any time travel in the Robotech novels. I’ve seen Rick Hunter with gray hair in the Shadow Chronicles and in the prelude comic looking like an old man. But at the conclusion of the End of the Circle I remember reading he was only a little over 40 and Lisa Hayes was still in her early 40’s, maybe a little older. I jumped to the the end the novel because I was curious. I like time travel; it’s one of my favorite topics and tropes used in sci-fi.

I’m guessing more time elapsed on earth than it did for the Robotech Expeditionary Force because when they Space Fold they are essentially warping space and time to achieve faster than light-speed, which means they are basically traveling into the future.

The host of the Robotech podcast that “tried” to cover the Robotech novels said the “End of the Circle” gave Robotech an ending “of sorts”. Is this where you mean it was “nearly” a complete story? Did it fall short?

Also, I’m hoping the Robotech novels favor the Macross Saga. James Luceno said in an interview he did not agree with Brian Daly killing off Lancer in End of the Circle, among other things that he had problems and issues with but kept quiet about because it was not worth ruining his friendship with Brian Daly over, This makes me hopeful that Brian Daly gave more weight to the Macross storyline since it seems he pretty much ended it with an emphasis on the Macross Robotech Expeditonary Force. Am I right?

 

[Dekafox]

All I'll say on time travel is it tied into the ending of the series... "End of the Circle" from what I recall did feature it a couple ways, but my memory is fuzzy wiht how many years it has been, AND I don't really want to spoil.

And to be fair, Macross (and to a lesser extend Mospeada) really formed the backbone of how things were tied together. So of course there was heavy emphasis on the Macross elements in the ending. Again, it's been years, but from what I recall I enjoyed those books, and re-read End of the Circle(and the book before it) at least a few times. I don't know why people had problems with the thinking cap either, as no one complains about Battletech's neurohelmets, and that's basically the same thing.

 

[ooo-baby]

All I'll say on time travel is it tied into the ending of the series... "End of the Circle" from what I recall did feature it a couple ways, but my memory is fuzzy wiht how many years it has been, AND I don't really want to spoil.

And to be fair, Macross (and to a lesser extend Mospeada) really formed the backbone of how things were tied together. So of course there was heavy emphasis on the Macross elements in the ending. Again, it's been years, but from what I recall I enjoyed those books, and re-read End of the Circle(and the book before it) at least a few times. I don't know why people had problems with the thinking cap either, as no one complains about Battletech's neurohelmets, and that's basically the same thing.

The guy who “tried” to go through the Robotech novels on his podcast which lasted less than 10 episodes (ie. I don’t think he could get through the first novel and then he jumped to End of the Circle on his last podcast episode, maybe around 7 episodes over 5-10 years) said he could summarize the Robotech novels like this:

“Zor did it. It’s all about Zor. “

I don’t blame him for not being able to make a dent in the Robotech novel series; it’s way too much content to cover.

 

[Cybersnark]

*runs in*
ARE WE TALKING ROBOTECH NOVELS?!?!!

Robotech never aired where I was (remember, this was the mid-80s, before the internet and full-season home video. I think I saw one episode when visiting relatives in the US, and the local video rental place had one three-episode cassette), so the "Jack McKinney" novels were my main introduction to the franchise.

Robotech was one of my first fandoms, before Star Wars and Star Trek, surpassed only by Transformers. If I was ever put in charge of a Robotech reboot, I'd mine material from the books, the Palladium RPG, the video games, and the comics --there's enough expanded lore out there to put a new spin on the whole saga just by changing where the "camera" is; like including Drs. Lang and Zand (who weren't even characters in either Japanese show; "Lang" was just an unnamed extra who didn't even have a finished character model [thus his freaky eyes]).

And yes, they're far better than the series (which is. . . dated at best; Minmay remains a deeply annoying character, but at least this way we don't have to hear her sing). The novel format allows the story to go where the show couldn't (because some things weren't part of the original Japanese series, so no footage exists) or wouldn't (admitting that homosexuality exists would've been unthinkable in an 80s cartoon).

One of the most interesting aspects (for me, at least) is that you can really see the distinction between the Japanese-influenced and American-influenced styles of sci-fi; one is anthropocentric, conservative, and based on hot-blooded young Men of Destiny, the other is more comfortable with aliens and "officer-level" military strategy. The thinking caps are a part of this; American media at the time didn't really have anything resembling the Japanese super-robot genre, so someone clearly thought American audiences needed something to explain the fluid and human-like movements of the veritechs (remember that the point of the novels was to sell the franchise as something more sophisticated and adult than yet another Saturday morning toy commercial --absurdly-human robots were fine for kids, but grownups need some hand-holding).

I tried watching Southern Cross but I was jarred by the fact that Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, and Max and Mireya Sterling were nowhere to be seen or found, so I fell out of interest and love with Robotech.

I wanted Rick Hunter/Lisa Hayes and Max/Mireya Sterling centric stories.

The numbered books (from 1 to 12) adapt the series, then the Sentinels saga (originally conceived as a whole other "season" that would have included original animation), then the conclusion in "The End of the Circle," and then the writers went back and started filling in the interstitials ("The Zentraedi Rebellion," set between the First and Second generations, and "Before the Invid Storm" set between the Second and Third).

If you're a fan of the Macross Generation, you'll definitely want to check out "The Zentraedi Rebellion" and the Sentinels saga; they're all about what Rick, Lisa, Max, Miriya, Breetai, and Minmay were up to while the Masters and the Invid were attacking Earth. Also numbered books 1 through 6 (they should be available in a couple of omnibuses, "Battlecry" (books 1-3) and "Doomsday" (books 4-6), as they feature some elements not seen in the show (again, Dr. Lang).

But I think it is important to conceptualize them as an ADAPTION of the series. Kind of like how a novelization of a film may stray from the details of the film, but the major A to B to C plot points remain. It’s also REALLY important to remember that the show itself was a hacked together edit of 3 totally unrelated anime series to begin with. They did a decent job for 1985, but even in the series, there were continuity issues.

Much like Transformers, Robotech does span multiple different continuities (the cartoon, the novels, the RPG, the original comics, the recent "reboot" comics [that explicitly mention alternate universes]).

For that matter, there's enough common DNA that I tend to think of Robotech itself as an alternate timeline from the Macross franchise (later Macross works have included Robotech-inspired Easter Eggs). They're really no more different than any two Transformers continuity families.

“Zor did it. It’s all about Zor. “

Ah, but which Zor? There's three of him.

Spoiler

Original Zor, student of Cabell and mentor of Breetai, who created the Protoculture matrix and (inadvertently) set this whole mess in motion, then tried to redeem himself by sabotaging the Battlefortress?

Zor Prime, the clone created by the Masters but deemed a failure and consigned to leading their Bioroid forces in the invasion of Earth?

Or Rem, the other clone rescued by Cabell and raised as Cabell's own son, eventual leader of the Tirolian resistance?

Honestly, the generational, Shakespearean sense of tragic destiny is one of my favourite parts of the franchise, and it mainly exists in the novels.

 

[Haywire]

If you like Robotech, the novels are a decent adaptation and expansion of the storyline. A lot of explanations of what happened to different characters, and The Sentinels would be a must if you like Rick and Lisa. The writing is not bad, and there is enough new material to make it feel at least somewhat fresh. I had them all at one time, loaned them out and never saw them again. Been slowly rebuilding the collection, but dont have as many used paperback stores around these days.

 

[ooo-baby]

I do miss the original Macross Bridge crew:

 

[ooo-baby]

*runs in*
ARE WE TALKING ROBOTECH NOVELS?!?!!

Robotech was one of my first fandoms, before Star Wars and Star Trek, surpassed only by Transformers. If I was ever put in charge of a Robotech reboot, I'd mine material from the books, the Palladium RPG, the video games, and the comics --there's enough expanded lore out there to put a new spin on the whole saga just by changing where the "camera" is; like including Drs. Lang and Zand (who weren't even characters in either Japanese show; "Lang" was just an unnamed extra who didn't even have a finished character model [thus his freaky eyes]).

And yes, they're far better than the series (which is. . . dated at best; Minmay remains a deeply annoying character, but at least this way we don't have to hear her sing). The novel format allows the story to go where the show couldn't (because some things weren't part of the original Japanese series, so no footage exists) or wouldn't (admitting that homosexuality exists would've been unthinkable in an 80s cartoon).

The numbered books (from 1 to 12) adapt the series, then the Sentinels saga (originally conceived as a whole other "season" that would have included original animation), then the conclusion in "The End of the Circle," and then the writers went back and started filling in the interstitials ("The Zentraedi Rebellion," set between the First and Second generations, and "Before the Invid Storm" set between the Second and Third).
Much like Transformers, Robotech does span multiple different continuities (the cartoon, the novels, the RPG, the original comics, the recent "reboot" comics [that explicitly mention alternate universes]).

For that matter, there's enough common DNA that I tend to think of Robotech itself as an alternate timeline from the Macross franchise (later Macross works have included Robotech-inspired Easter Eggs). They're really no more different than any two Transformers continuity families.

Ah, but which Zor? There's three of him.

Spoiler

Original Zor, student of Cabell and mentor of Breetai, who created the Protoculture matrix and (inadvertently) set this whole mess in motion, then tried to redeem himself by sabotaging the Battlefortress?

Zor Prime, the clone created by the Masters but deemed a failure and consigned to leading their Bioroid forces in the invasion of Earth?

Or Rem, the other clone rescued by Cabell and raised as Cabell's own son, eventual leader of the Tirolian resistance?

Honestly, the generational, Shakespearean sense of tragic destiny is one of my favourite parts of the franchise, and it mainly exists in the novels.

Where was the homosexuality in the Robotech novels? I know there was incest between Minmey and her cousin, but cousins seem to be okay in societies if they are far enough removed. I heard Kevin Bacon married his cousin, but he may have just said that as a joke.

Carl Macek said that he made Minmei into Zor’s mother. Did that make it into the novels?

I like the part of tragic destiny stories before everything goes to hell, when everything and everyone is still happy and normal, like during the Macross saga or during the Star Wars prequel period when you had all the Jedi still around. After that, all you have are constant cycles of holocaust, destruction, and rebuilding. Even Carl Macek used that as a way to justify Rick Hunter possibly being a mass murderer by ordering the firing of all those neutron-s missiles on the earth to wipe out the Invid but also everyone else. It’s depressing and tiring.

I wish they’d stop with the multiverse and alternate universes. It’s kind of ridiculous and it’s used to explain almost everything. I’m surprised it was used in the 80’s that much. I remember the 60’s Star Trek show did one episode on it (ie.. Evil Spock) but that was it. That’s the perfect amount. But now it’s all over the place. Is this what they used to bring back Picard after the first season of Star Trek: Picard. I heard two things. First I heard they put his mind in a computer and transferred his mind to an android or clone body to save him from dying of a disease, Then I heard it was time travel that was used to bring Picard back to life, possibly by ‘Q’. Which was it? I guess cloning yourself and transferring your mind into a new body from a computer could be considered a form of time travel.

Was the Palladium RPG any good? I’m guessing it was a board game like Dungeons and Dragons in the 80’s which to this day I do not know how to play. I would go over to my neighbor’s house and they would always talk about playing this “role playing” game call “Dungeons and Dragons” but no one seemed to have a clear idea about how it’s supposed to be played. It was almost as if they were making things up. There were no coherent sets of rules I could see that were being followed. I don’t even remember if I saw a game board or just someone (ie. the so-called “Dungeon Master”) writing things down on a piece of paper. It was kind of like the Ouija board that you saw in a box but that no one really knew how to play.

Robotech seems to have a lot of fan fiction as well. I’d like to think of Robotech as an alternate timeline too from the Macross Saga. The definition of “protoculture” was different in the Macross series and sounded much cooler, sexier. I’d like to see the Macross timeline as where the Macross crew actually succeed (ie. they accomplish what they set out to do) in going to the Robotech Masters’ homeworld and stopping them and the Invid before they got to earth, or maybe not going at all and just staying on earth and being ready to fight the Masters and the Invid. It just seemed like the Macross team wasted all their time by leaving the planet. What ended up happening was the very thing they were trying to prevent (ie. the destruction of the earth and future generations). The whole Robotech Expeditonary Force seems like it was a big waste of time since they should have just stayed at home. Their mission of saving future generations from the horrors of war was lost from the very start. They could not have made a worse move than leaving the earth, so could you call the Macross crew losers? The whole point of the Robotech Expedition Force ended up being pointless.

So does that mean the Sentinels saga could be named, “What not to do? “ Or, “This is what not to do. “ How about, “ The worst decision in the history of military decisions. “

 

[Cybersnark]

Where was the homosexuality in the Robotech novels?

In "The Zentraedi Rebellion," Miriya notes that some of the men in Skull Squadron have boyfriends/husbands waiting back home. She also notes that Zentraedi were quicker to accept homosexuality than heterosexuality, because Zentraedi society was completely segregated (most people never even met anyone of the opposite sex).

Carl Macek said that he made Minmei into Zor’s mother. Did that make it into the novels?

No, Minmei finally ends up with Rem, and they end up as the "Adam and Eve" of their own little pocket-universe.

I understand that the original plan was for this to be a closed time-loop, with Minmei (and her baby-daddy to-be-determined) fully going back in time to give birth to Zor, but the novels wisely avoided this (the point of ending the circle was to break the cycle, not to restart it).

Was the Palladium RPG any good?

It's really "crunchy" in RPG terms; it's a dice-heavy system with tables and rules for everything (I prefer more free-form player-friendly systems that leave stuff up to the DM and players).

The definition of “protoculture” was different in the Macross series and sounded much cooler, sexier.

Interestingly, the Protoculture/Protodeviln in Macross are like a cross between Haydon (an ancient extradimensional Precursor-Entity) and the Robotech Masters (creating the Zentraedi as their army). One could easily interpret Haydon as a sort of benevolent Protodeviln. The main difference in Macross is that the Zentraedi are rogue, having been abandoned by the Protoculture (so once they defeat Bodolza, there's no "bigger fish" to worry about).

The Marduk in Macross II (another alt-universe, not canon to the Macross timeline) are very similar to the Masters (to the point that a lot of pre-internet fandom assumed that Macrooss II was inspired by Robotech), and the Vajra from Macross Frontier aren't too different from the Invid (maybe what the Invid might have evolved into without Zor's meddling).

 

[ooo-baby]

What was the point of the Sentinels if all the action was all on Earth.

I know Carl Macek really wished he could have gotten the Sentinels made. From what I heard it fell apart largely because the Macross creators would not follow his direction with continuing the Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes story and instead kept making animation focused on the newer characters like Jack Baker and Karen Penn. I also heard it was because Carl Macek offended them by bringing in his flow charts of how he wanted the story to go.

James Luceno said the Sentinels storyline in the Robotech novels was pretty much from the scripts of the Sentinels series Carl Macek handed over to them.

So why was Carl Macek so excited about what he could have done with the Sentinels when the main Robotech story arcs were all happening and taking place on Earth?

 

[Steevy Maximus]

From what I recall, Macek wanted to make a trilogy. Part 1 was set around Earth, Part 2 set in the far side of the galaxy with the Macross crew dealing with Robotech War on that front, and Part 3 would have wrapped up the plot.

Sentinels fell apart due to several factors: economic changes resulted in an increase in price for animation from Japanese studios (part of the reason GI Joe season 3 and Transformers season 4 didn’t occur because Hasbro put their resources into new lines like Visionaries and Inhumanoids) and Matchbox (the toy licensee) backed out due to sales of Robotech product. Matchbox was initially helping to finance the show for the sake of toys, but ended up backing out just as production started. The Sentinels film was dumped to video as a means of recouping what investment and production that was done on the project.
There were rumors that Tatsunoku was intentionally putting lesser work into the sequences with the Macross characters compared to the “New Generation” derived content because they might have been eyeing on reusing/repurposing the animation into a Mospeda sequel.

 

[Cybersnark]

What was the point of the Sentinels if all the action was all on Earth.

As you note, one way or another, Rick, Lisa, Max, Miriya, Breetai, and all the rest have to be gone within 15 years (for the Second Generation to happen as-animated), so the alternative is that all our fan-favourites die horribly and meaninglessly. Similarly, it allows for the same trick to play out between the Second and Third generations; Dana and her surviving friends can escape before the Invid kill them all.

It also feels more realistic; knowing (from the Zentraedi) that the Masters and the Invid are still out there, the saviors of Earth are not satisfied with sitting on their asses waiting for the next hammer to fall. They're proactive, building the SDF-3 and trying to prevent the next war (hoping for peace, but prepared to fight).

The Sentinels campaign also broadens the setting; it's not just the Masters and the Invid, there are other races and powers out there, and more nuance to the fairly straightforward view of the war we get from Earth (where the Invid are just another hostile alien race). When I talk about the difference between Japanese and American sci-fi, that's where it's most visible; in Macross/Southern Cross/Mospeada, humans are the central and most important race in the universe (the most "highly-evolved" according to Mospeada, the only race with music and art according to Southern Cross, and in the wider Macross franchise, the Protoculture are humanity's ancestors, and most other humanoid races are genetic cousins), while in Robotech (influenced by Star Wars and Star Trek), we're just one among many, who happened to get particularly (un)lucky.

Finally, it's a necessary set-up for the Third Generation, where the action is based around the fact that there's an entire population of humans out there trying to reclaim Invid-occupied Earth.

Finally, from a creative perspective, Sentinels would've been his, not just stitched together from pre-existing footage.

 

[ooo-baby]

A question that a podcast host always asks his guests is:

“Are you in the camp of the early return or late return? “

I’m guessing he’s referring to the SDF-3 Robotech Expeditionary Force, or maybe the SDF-1’s return from Pluto. I’m wondering why this matters. Is this question referring to whether the SDF-3 time traveled such that more time elapsed on earth than what was experienced by the SDF-3 crew?

I did like the Robotech feature-length movie. I think it took place during the time the SDF-1 was returning from Pluto.

It was strange though. All I could make out from it was something to do with a shadow government, men in black, and a guy being chased because he found a Robotech motorcycle.

I really don’t know how this movie tied into the main Robotech storylines, if at all. I doubt it made it into the Robotech novels because it does nothing to move the story forward. It just seemed like they adapted another unrelated Japanese cartoon (I think it was called mega zone ), called it Robotech, and put it in theaters to make a profit.

Was the Robotech movie supposed to be the beginning of the Sentinels but they just did not have enough animation to make a feuture-length film, so they went with this?

Believe it or not I don’t think I ever really watched Top Gun but could it possibly be better than this:

 

[Dekafox]

The movie was actually a FOURTH seperate production trying to be woven into the story(I believe Megazone 23?), which is why it doesn't fit very well. Frankly, it's a bit surprising they didn't try to adapt Orguss in at all. Heck, that might have made a good source to pull form for Sentinels if he'd wanted to do more adaptation instead of original content, or maybe as an epilogue.

 

[ooo-baby]

Who are the Haydonites, are they the ultimate evil in the Robotech saga. First were the Zentraedi, then we find out that they were victims of their breeding. Then it was the Robotech Masters and we find out that Zor was actually a pretty good guy, Next it was the Invid, and we saw they were just trying to survive. Finally the Haydonites were introduced in the Shadow Chronicles as the root of it all.

Will the Haydonites also end up being a misunderstood race?

 

[Cybersnark]

The Haydonites were actually the good guys in the Sentinels novels and comics; two of them were in the main cast, and the rest of the species were. . . well, obstructive, but not malevolently so. Their homeworld, Haydon IV, was the only planet in the local group to avoid conquest by the Masters, and they tried (unsuccessfully) to remain neutral during the Invid war (though a couple of them had broken away and joined the resistance, believing that neutrality is not an option in the face of a genocidal threat).

That's Veidt hovering in front of his friends.

Haydon IV is actually at the centre of a lot of the supernatural/cosmic stuff that happens in "End of the Circle," and is actually a lot like Cybertron (a techno-world governed by an AI [the Awareness/Vector Sigma], with a slumbering god [Haydon/Primus] hidden at its core).

 

[ooo-baby]

The Robotech novels came out as canon. They were being written as canon. Brian Daly and James Luceno wrote these novels as canon. They collaborated with Carl Macek, who handed over all his scripts to them. Harmony Gold hired Jack McKinney to write the novelizations as canon. Brian Daly and James Luceno went through all three Robotech anime series as well as the Sentinel scripts with a fine tooth comb. The Robotech novels ended up being bestsellers which cemented their legacy as canon.

At some point, maybe just before the Shadow Chronicles, Harmony Gold came out officially saying that the Robotech novels are NOT canon. What happened? What is wrong with Harmony Gold?

 

[ooo-baby]

Max and Miriya’s love transcends all:

no matter the language.

 

[Cybersnark]

The Robotech novels came out as canon. They were being written as canon. Brian Daly and James Luceno wrote these novels as canon. They collaborated with Carl Macek, who handed over all his scripts to them. Harmony Gold hired Jack McKinney to write the novelizations as canon. Brian Daly and James Luceno went through all three Robotech anime series as well as the Sentinel scripts with a fine tooth comb. The Robotech novels ended up being bestsellers which cemented their legacy as canon.

"Canon" doesn't mean what 21st-century fans think it means. It doesn't mean "this is the One True Continuity," it just means that these were officially-licensed Robotech media and that all characters and events therein were the intellectual property of Harmony Gold. The books could never have been and were never intended to be "canon-as-21st-century-fans-understand-it," they were product intended to make money, just like the comics and any story media that might have been packaged with the toys --these were all secondary to the cartoon (which is the "core" of the Robotech IP).

As soon as the novels were out of print (and therefor not making them any money), they became irrelevant and could be overwritten by future media.

Just like how, as far as Hasbro is concerned, the G1 cartoon, the G1 Marvel comics, the Ladybird storybooks, and the toy bios are all part of "Generation One." The only people who care that those media describe mutually-incompatible continuities are the fans.

For another example, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will continue only so long as MCU-branded movies/series are profitable. When that stops, Marvel Studios will simply reboot or just drop the shared-universe idea altogether.

What is wrong with Harmony Gold?

We don't have time for the whole list.