Chuck Does Robotech; Boobytrap

[amigocabal]

http://sfdebris.com/videos/anime/robotech01.php

Basically, he summarizes iof how three independent anime series were fused together to get syndication. (Syndication requires 65 episodes).

What is interesting that, behind the scenes, the name Robotech came from a line of model-kit released by Revell, a toy company. DC Comics even published a two-issue comic miniseries called Robotech Defenders.

As for the episode in question, basically a united world government was formed after a spaceship crashed on Earth. Ten years later, the spaceship is restored, ready to fly. But some aliens found the ship and attacked. Caught up in this battle is some kid who flew in for the launch festivities, and later ended up flying one of the fighters assigned to the ship.
Spoiler

He is shot down, and finds out that the fighter can transform into a robot, sort of like Starscream from Transformers.

[Sidewinder]

I just watched the review. It's surprisingly refreshing to see someone NOT buy into the anime cliches that 'Mobile Suit Gundam' made famous, i.e., the adolescent pilot who stumbles into a war machine's cockpit, and who not only makes an @$$ of himself, but who, with the arrogance of youth, denounce professional soldiers are "murderers," even as the adolescent's own recklessness endangers hundreds of lives.

[Grumman]

Spoiler

He is shot down, and finds out that the fighter can transform into a robot, sort of like Starscream from Transformers.

Like Skyfire, surely.

[TheFeniX]

Ha! He actually tried to look into the whole Robotech fiasco. Man, that was just..... kudos for trying.

I just watched the review. It's surprisingly refreshing to see someone NOT buy into the anime cliches that 'Mobile Suit Gundam' made famous, i.e., the adolescent pilot who stumbles into a war machine's cockpit, and who not only makes an @$$ of himself, but who, with the arrogance of youth, denounce professional soldiers are "murderers," even as the adolescent's own recklessness endangers hundreds of lives.

Rick Hunter was infinitely punchable throughout the entire series. He "got better" for a while, but after getting back to Earth, he was right back to full jackass mode. I can't believe people find that archetype attractive. Must be mostly 12-year-old boys. Much bigger fan of Focker.

[Vendetta]

Hikaru is much less annoying in the original.

Now, Nekki Basara. There's a protagonist who needs a smack in the gabber.

[Parallax]

Let us not speak of Macross 7, for it is unclean and unholy in our sight.

But yes, Basara is possibly the most annoying protaginist in any story anywhere. He acts like a fucking jerk to every. single. character.
He flies into the middle of a military combat operation just so he has an audience to sing to. And is proud of this.
The less said about the poor flower girl, the better.
etc etc.

[Q99]

Ha! He actually tried to look into the whole Robotech fiasco. Man, that was just..... kudos for trying.

I am disappointed we didn't get his take, because it'd be fascinating, but it'd be a project of very impressive scope so I understand why.

[Sidewinder]

Just watched his coverage of Episode Two. It's refreshing to see that Rick is portrayed as a REALISTIC teenager, not some Goddamn "Gundam Jesus!!!" Mary Sue who magically masters an EXTREMELY sophisticated war machine with no need for prior training (I'm looking at you, 'Mobile Suit Gundam' and all its sequels and self-plagiarizing "re-imaginings").

[TheFeniX]

Nice, something to watch during lunch tomorrow.

Just watched his coverage of Episode Two. It's refreshing to see that Rick is portrayed as a REALISTIC teenager, not some Goddamn "Gundam Jesus!!!" Mary Sue who magically masters an EXTREMELY sophisticated war machine with no need for prior training (I'm looking at you, 'Mobile Suit Gundam' and all its sequels and self-plagiarizing "re-imaginings").

I probably would have put the show down right there had that happened. Years later, I would watch Lodoss War. 5 seconds after picking up a sword, the main character is chastized by the dorf for not being able to kill a lone Orc (or whatever) even after GASP, the mage enchants the blade. Sorry, fancy enchantments don't also magically teach you how to use a weapon and that wasn't a 40-foot tall walking war machine with 60 foot-pedals (if memory serves, which.... doesn't make much sense unless the average Veritech pilot wears a sized 2 shoe). That Rick could even keep the thing standing is a miracle and is mostly explained in the books with the "Neurohelmet" what'sitcalled.

Even though Rick turns out to be a golden boy, he is almost instantly overshadowed by Max. But at least Max wasn't a total douche and is content to be his own person. Rick just has so many codependency issues. You'd think the military would have stamped a lot of that out, but it damn sure doesn't help that he loses expensive prototypes because he's an ass and only gets a chewing for it. Though the scene of him wrecking the armored Veritech was hilarious.

[Vendetta]

Just watched his coverage of Episode Two. It's refreshing to see that Rick is portrayed as a REALISTIC teenager, not some Goddamn "Gundam Jesus!!!" Mary Sue who magically masters an EXTREMELY sophisticated war machine with no need for prior training (I'm looking at you, 'Mobile Suit Gundam' and all its sequels and self-plagiarizing "re-imaginings").

To be fair, Amuro isn't instantly brilliant. Hell he actually stops to read the manual in the middle of trying to drive the robit at one point.

He's not Gundam Jesus until a good half to two thirds of the way through the series

[Zor]

Just watched his coverage of Episode Two. It's refreshing to see that Rick is portrayed as a REALISTIC teenager, not some Goddamn "Gundam Jesus!!!" Mary Sue who magically masters an EXTREMELY sophisticated war machine with no need for prior training (I'm looking at you, 'Mobile Suit Gundam' and all its sequels and self-plagiarizing "re-imaginings").

To be fair, Amuro isn't instantly brilliant. Hell he actually stops to read the manual in the middle of trying to drive the robit at one point.

He's not Gundam Jesus until a good half to two thirds of the way through the series

I believe people get Amuro confused with Kira Yamato who is Gundam Jesus.

Zor

[Lord Revan]

Just watched his coverage of Episode Two. It's refreshing to see that Rick is portrayed as a REALISTIC teenager, not some Goddamn "Gundam Jesus!!!" Mary Sue who magically masters an EXTREMELY sophisticated war machine with no need for prior training (I'm looking at you, 'Mobile Suit Gundam' and all its sequels and self-plagiarizing "re-imaginings").

To be fair, Amuro isn't instantly brilliant. Hell he actually stops to read the manual in the middle of trying to drive the robit at one point.

He's not Gundam Jesus until a good half to two thirds of the way through the series

I believe peopl get Amuro confused with Kira Yamato.

Zor

Possibly because Amuro is the more famous of those? I don't even know who that other guy is.

[Q99]

Even though Rick turns out to be a golden boy, he is almost instantly overshadowed by Max. But at least Max wasn't a total douche and is content to be his own person. Rick just has so many codependency issues. You'd think the military would have stamped a lot of that out, but it damn sure doesn't help that he loses expensive prototypes because he's an ass and only gets a chewing for it. Though the scene of him wrecking the armored Veritech was hilarious.

A lot of it was the Macross being isolated- Rick's one of the few available pilots, and they don't have time to train him up and put him through boot camp, nor do I think they necessarily even have any of the military's veritech training personal available.

[TheFeniX]

A lot of it was the Macross being isolated- Rick's one of the few available pilots, and they don't have time to train him up and put him through boot camp, nor do I think they necessarily even have any of the military's veritech training personal available.

I'd have to rewatch, but the wife shot the idea down real quick. She'd rather watch Fringe. Pretty sure a rather sizable percentage of the available Veritech vets were stationed at Macross. Some others were spread out, but they couldn't stray to far from the source of Protoculture they had around the SDF-1 and the Alaska base. Still, they had enough people on hand to train guys like Ben Dixon and Max.

You'd just think at some point, the gravity of the situation would have hit Rick. Spoiler

Even before Roy dies, then later Ben.

But it never truly does. Everyone else grew the fuck up, but Rick just gets lead around by the nose.

And I think this is what always irked me about Rick: he's never his own man. He's almost wholly defined by other people and his experiences with him. Maybe he was meant to be an insert for the viewer, I don't know. But, there's numerous other secondary characters that are content to move on with their lives via their own volition. This plays in a show like.... whatever, it's all I got off-hand: Scrubs with a character like J.D.

In a show about humanity fighting against alien genocide, it's grating.