The Robotech Saga

Like most kids, I was a big Anime fan at a young age. And yet, only one series managed to stay with me as a became a teenager and that was Robotech. Out of nostalgia, I bought the DVDs a few years back, and I was pleased to discover that I still enjoyed the saga as much as when I was younger.

As a matter of course, I bought all the volumes from the Jack McKinney novelization of the series. Last year, Del Rey Books re-released the first three series of the saga in neat 3-in-1 omnibus editions. Which means that you can get your hands on basically the entire saga in 4 relatively cheap mass market paperbacks.

With the Holidays just around the corner, I've been receiving quite a few emails asking to write another post revealing my "older" favorites so that SFF fans can get them for Christmas. The list I came up with last winter was pretty full (Katherine Kurtz, C. S. Friedman, and many more). But the Robotech novels just might be what the doctor ordered if you are looking for an entertaining space opera.

- Robotech: The Macross Saga: Battlecry (Canada, USA, Europe)

- Robotech: The Macross Saga: Doomsday (Canada, USA, Europe)

- Robotech: The Masters Saga: The Southern Cross (Canada, USA, Europe)

- Robotech: The New Generation: The Invid Invasion (Canada, USA, Europe)

Used copies are even cheaper, and you can get copies of the earlier edition of each volume for as low as a penny. At those prices, old or new, they're quite a steal!

I was pleasantly surprised that a great Robotech community is still thriving at http://www.robotech.com/, where you can get a ton of info on the storylines and everything Robotech!

So join Rick, Lisa, Roy, Max, and the other untried REF forces who must face the Zentraedi threat from outer space. And it all begins when a large alien spacecraft bursts through hyperspace and enters Earth's atmosphere, crashing on Macross Island in the South Pacific. The nations of the world, who are engaged in a global war at the time, call a cease-fire to assess the alien threat. According to the first top secret report of the study of the alien spacecraft, it is discovered that the ship is military in nature, and its crew are on average, six times the size of human beings, with exceptional individuals exceeding fifty feet in height. Terrified by the all too real prospect of invasion from deep space, a campaign is initiated to unite the Earth under one unified government.

The construction of the Super Dimension Fortress-1 (SDF-1) is formally announced to the world, though the true nature of its underlying alien technology is kept "top secret". Development of weapon systems for use in combat against the giant alien threat begins.

Nearly a decade later, during the official launch ceremonies celebrating the maiden voyage of the SDF-1 on Macross Island, a Zentraedi fleet, sent by the Robotech Masters to retrieve their spacecraft and led by Commander Breetai, arrives near lunar orbit.

Sensing the threat, the aline ship reconstructed by the Earth united forces engages the enemy. The main guns of the SDF-1 automatically fire and destroy two approaching Zentraedi scout ships. Thus begins the First Robotech War. . .

Check it out! It's a lot of fun!