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My Corner Of Macross
(Nathan Stout's Bottomless Blog)

The Rediscovery!

I re-discovered Robotech through a friend during my sophomore year in high school. One day he brought to me a book, Robotech the Role Playing Game. He was very enthusiastic about it and wanted me to take a look. It was 1990 and Robotech and anime items in general were hard to come by. Soon after getting reacquainted with it, (When I say reacquainted I am referring to the fact that I had seen a little of it when it was on TV the first time through) my friend and I began to search everywhere for Robotech stuff. We were thrilled one day when we visited one of our weekend stops - MacFrugals closeout discount store. They had a Peter Pan book and tape featuring Robotech. Other than the role playing books this was the first Robotech item we had found. It was crap! But hey, it was great! That's the Robotech theme! Wow, that's the cartoon's soundtrack! We were beyond words. The product was a piece of crap. It was the first episode of Robotech that had been sliced to ribbons and pasted together with a narrator inaccurately describing the characters and the worst soundtrack editing ever done. But hey, it was great! And only a buck! From then on I bought almost everything I could get my hands on.

Robotech might be an old animated classic but I believe it is a PERFECT mix of Japanese anime and American storytelling. Both are missing something on their own, but together they are an unforgettable story.

My Favorite Bit of Robotech

In my opinion the funniest bit of Robotech happens in the episode when Exedore gets micronized for the first time and goes to the SDF-1 as emissary. The bit happens when while during the meeting between Exedore and the heads of the RDF he stands up and starts singing Stage Fright! I laughed so hard I nearly puked! In the whole series that is the funniest part. It wasn't until I got the laserdiscs that I even saw this, the F.H.E. versions had it cut out for time. (see below for more on F.H.E.)

Robotech Books

Many people I have listened to seem to hate the McKinney books as an official adaptation. I cannot see what they have against those guys. I happen to really like the Robotech books. I feel that they keep true to the theme and feel of the show. Come on guys, it's a cartoon! So to those of you who don't like the books ... that's your opinion :)

Robotech Comics

I have recently gotten a lot of Robotech comics. I have read most of them. Some of it I like, some of it I can't stand. I really like Return to Macross. I especially liked the first several issues. The artist did a great job! Invid War was very good too. Invid War: Aftermath on the other hand stunk. It was interesting seeing the artists renditions of the third war characters, but it ended there. The artist replied to a angry fan that accused the writer of having and pushing a very liberal leftist storyline. The artist replied in so many words that he was proud to be liberal and he admitted that he writes the stories to push his liberal views. I stopped reading the comic at that point. I believe that by writing the story to push his views was wrong. He should not have taken someone else's work and alter it for his own purposes leftist or otherwise.

Robotech Soundtrack

I know, if you're surfin' the net you see a section on every Robotech page that talks about the Robotech Perfect Collection Soundtrack. Well here it is again. I have to put this in. I love it. Its one of the best Robotech items that's been offered. I was surfing' one day in late 95 when I stumbled across someone's page that mentioned that there would be a soundtrack. I was soooooooo thrilled! I went searching and searching for more info about it. I finally found a link to streamline pics. and ordered one. It arrived the first week of 96. I can't stand Minnmie, but I'll listen to her over and over again on the Prefect Collection Soundtrack. Its called the perfect collection but its not. There a few tracks that aren't here. The beginning Robotech theme from the Sentinels isn't there. I really like that. Its nice to have another version of that great theme. The Flower of Life vocal and Lifeline vocal are M.I.A. as well and I had to find the MP3s of those online (as well as the goofy French version of the main theme) oh well, I'm thankful anyway. Below is the track listing for the Perfect Collection. The first pressing of the CD was incorrect. CD 1 was labeled CD 2, so some people might have the vocal CD labeled as the soundtrack CD.

Disc 1 - The Complete Background Music Collection
Total Time - 72:29 - (click here to find it at the Robotech.com Store)

01 Main Title 1:33
03 The Mysterious Ship 1:25
05 Confrontation 1:08
07 The Way To Love 1:55
09 Biomechanical Theme 0:39
11 Love Themes 2:11
13 Stepping Out 2:04
15 SDF-1 Theme 1:13
17 The 15th Squadron 2:03
19 The Robotech Masters 2:43
21 Private Time 2:03
23 Eyecatch 0:08
25 Sweet Sixteen 1:23
27 Rick Hunter's Theme 1:37
29 Earth Gov. Debriefing 1:40
31 Roy Fokker's Theme 2:16
33 Reconstruction Blues 0:45
35 A New Dawn 0:47
37 Cyclone 1:03
39 We Will Win 2:08
41 Mission Accomplished 1:09

02 Macross City 1:32
04 Zentraedi Theme 1:37
06 Musica's Theme 2:44
08 Boobytrap 2:58
10 Ineptitude 1:17
12 Miss Macross 1:04
14 Victory 1:34
16 Battle Stations 2:28
18 Desolation 2:45
20 Broken Heart 1:58
22 Earth Government Theme 0:48
24 Minmei's Theme 2:02
26 Lifeline 3:22
28 The Robotech Follies 1:53
30 Khyron's Theme 1:34
32 Alien Attack 1:23
34 It's You 2:04
36 Invid Theme 2:50
38 Catastrophe 1:33
40 Love Triangle 1:47
42 End Title 0:43

Disc 2 - The Complete Vocal Song Collection
Total Time - 73:01 - (click here for lyrics)

01 My Time To Be A Star (Reba West) 1:02
02 The Man In My Life (Reba West) 1:23
03 To Be In Love (Reba West) 1:45
04 It's You (Reba West) 2:14
05 We Will Win (Reba West) 4:01
06 In My Heart (Three Dog Night) 4:24
07 Underground (Michael Bradley and Joanne Harris) 4:27
08 Saved By Science (Joanne Harris) 4:41
09 Only A Fool (Gigi Agrama) 3:21
10 Call On Me (Joanne Harris) 5:20
11 The Future Is Now (Joanne Harris) 3:37
12 Together (Sunny Hilden) 3:10
13 Look Up! The Sky Is Falling (Michael Bradley) 4:53
14 It Don't Get Any Better (Michael Bradley) 3:46
15 Lonely Soldier Boy (Michael Bradley) 4:17
16 The Way To Love (Michael Bradley) 1:59
17 We Will Win (Michael Bradley) 2:32
18 ROBOTECH II : THE SENTINELS - The REF March 2:15
19 ROBOTECH II : THE SENTINELS - The Young Warriors 2:36
20 ROBOTECH II : THE SENTINELS - The SDF-3 1:28
21 ROBOTECH II : THE SENTINELS - Invid Strike 2:09
22 ROBOTECH II : THE SENTINELS - The Regent 2:35
23 ROBOTECH II : THE SENTINELS - Love Theme 3:09
24 ROBOTECH II : THE SENTINELS - The Sentinels 1:58

Palladium Role Playing Books

I think the Palladium books are great. The artwork is excellent. The books are jam packed with cool info. This was the very first role playing game that I've ever played. I've tried others; AD&D, Top Secret, Star Wars, but this is the one I keep coming back to. I think that's because this is my favorite subject. The first and third war are my favorites. I also have a great idea for Palladium. I think that they should have a book dealing with Macross City. Comprehensive maps of Macross Island, Macross City (in the SDF-1) and New Macross. This should also include comprehensive maps of the SDF-1. I'd buy it.

Role Playing Game Escapades

My friends and I have logged in about twenty to thirty hours of Robotech role playing time. It's not that much compared to many AD&D role players but it was the best we could do. My friends hardly had the time to play. I haven't actually played for a few years now but I do look through the books for the fun if it every once in awhile. We played the first and the third wars. The second war wasn't all that interesting. We mainly played in the third war, that's my favorite. I was almost always was game master.

I began the players in South America, much like Scott Bernard. Slowly they began a trek to Reflex Point in North America. I did a lot of campaigns were the players met up with freedom fighters. I also put in a fun little time travel scenario. I like continuity in the story line but I wasn't all that strict on what we played. Besides, it was fun to chase a stage 5 (humanoid version) invid through a mall and wreck the place trying to kill him! We also had an adventure where the players entered a stilt hive and destroyed it. During the process on of the legs got blown off and it fell over with the players in it. Oh, what a nasty mess they got into there. Once one of the players had his arms torn off while fighting an Invid. He was in a Cyclone suit and he didn't know how to fight in it (for he was a bio-maintenance engineer) and before he could get out of the way... slice-slice! Luckily he was also captured by the Invid and was experimented on in a genesis pit. He was given a pair of mechanical arms that could do Mega Damage! When he got into fist fights he ALWAYS won! The climax of the game was an assault on a hive. It was a coordinated attack to coincide with the attack on Reflex Point. It was a fierce battle with many casualties. Our heroes were almost victorious but needed to blow up the place from the center of the structure. In the only option left, they both stayed to detonate the explosives and gave their lives to destroy the hive. What a way to end the game! It was fun.

Robotech DVDs, Laserdiscs, and VHS

Lovely lovely Robotech DVDs ..... ahhhhhh .... ohhhh .... yheaaaaa ...... O.K. enough of that. Possibly the best Robotech piece of merchandise of all are the Robotech Legacy DVDs. ADV did a fantastic job (short of re-mastering the series). I was working at Fry's when the first one came out and I kept an eye out for each set as they came out with great enthusiasm. Problem is... I still to this day (nearly 3 years after their release) have not watched them! Why oh why you ask. Well to be truthful it hasn't felt right. If you are a big enough fan you might know what I am talking about. I didn't want to blunder into it. I HAVE to be in the right mood. I think though (at the time of this writing) I am almost there. I have started reading the books again and I am getting psyched! I have however looked at the extra material on the DVDs, which are cool.

I got my first Robotech laserdisc through my introductory package at Columbia House. Wow! Robotech on laserdisc for only a buck!!!!! I have gotten all the Macross saga. Before I had the laserdiscs I had the F.H.E. videos. Not the newer ones but he older ones with six episodes on one tape (Macross saga). They sucked, but that's all there was at the time and I was thrilled to get them! I was grateful to have them but man did they suck! They were recorded in SLP and had about 10 to 20 minutes of footage cut out of each tape. When I got the laserdiscs and got to see all this footage I had never seen before I was delirious with excitement. O.K. not delirious, but darn well close!

The Origin Of RoboCon.org

In 1997 I decided to make a web page devoted to the RoboCon 10 convention. There was only one page on the net that had a little information on the convention that occurred in 1995 and I was very interested. I got ahold of Tom Bateman the organizer of RoboCon 10 (and one of the people responsible for bringing us the Robotech Perfect Collection CD) and he was very excited about a site that records all that happened at the convention. He was very helpful getting me photos and video of the convention as well as literature and we talked a couple of times about what went on at the convention. I looked forward to RoboCon 2000 (which was canceled - boo hoo), but I don't think that I would have been able to attend (I'm in Texas). Originally the site was devoted only to the convention, but since I had my own Robotech site, I decided to merge the two under RoboCon.org - now the site has been acquired by Harmony Gold to showcase RoboCon 20, currently being organized by Kevin McKeever and Tom Bateman.