Reflections on Macrophilia Part 3: Ambivalence and the Robotech EM

[incisivis]

You would think, if my focus were primarily on a Macross element, I would have nothing to do with Robotech after my initial probing. Instead, many strange things happened, and matters instead branched off into two basic forks: the Robotech expanded multiverse (most of it currently deemed unofficial) and the mainstream Macross continuity

Comments

[krpalmer]

Your comment that the Sentinels novels introduced "some interesting ideas that challenged Robotech’s previous boundaries" did leave me thinking a bit of when I last reread them (not that long after starting with the first Robotech novels inspired me to search for other comments on them and I first happened on your journal), when I had the thought that the Sentinels novels were more or less an attempt to subsume "the grand plan of Zor" in the first twelve novels within "the grand plan of Haydon" so as to allow for a conclusion that isn't just a matter of picking up the SDF-3 loose end... although I can see that not being your idea at all

[incisivis]

Well, actually, the convergence of Haydon and Zor was one of those moments I was thinking about: where the novels did try to add some grand and overreaching connection to the story, in a way that would come off as shocking to readers only familiar with the TV series. The end result is still an SF cliche onto itself, but I felt the novels at least deserved some compliment, because I can remember being on the edge of my seat for most of EotC, there being something compelling about its narrative

[krpalmer]

Thinking back and being honest, I can remember being impressed with "End of the Circle" when it came out all those years ago. (That despite the fact that I'd already made my own attempt to resolve the cliffhanger at the end of "Rubicon," although that amounted to "the SDF-3 made it back safe and sound. Twenty years later, a new generation...")

I had been thinking you were waiting for the right moment to get a used copy of "The Masters' Gambit" and "complete the set"... although I know what you mean about expecting your reaction. As a whole, the last Robotech novel seemed sort of an unfortunate last note even when it came out...

[incisivis]

I did find EotC impressive when I first read it. Later I could more easily see the holes, but at the time it was a grand, epic, bizarre adventure. The book was a joy.

And I actually was waiting to get a used copy of "The Master's Gambit", but with this part of the essay coming up, I decided that it would be best to not rely on vague memories and see what the other Lost Gen novel had to say about the Zentraedi disappearance from Earth.

I largely skimmed the text rather than giving it a decent read-through, and I was still appalled by the story of the Factory Satellite. It's a plot as confusing as it is cruel, and perhaps the Lost Gen novels do suffer from an attempt to make things "darker and edgier"; I tried to embrace such aspects with "The Zentraedi Rebellion" but here it's too much. In addition to the treatment of the Zentraedi, there's Terry Weston and Dana... : (