by the fans for the fans

Apologies if this is the wrong spot to ask but I figured I should. I like to write down my mental meanderings and was going to do some about Robotech. Looking around to refresh my memory I stumbled across the RRG again. I remember liking their interpretations of some things though I understood why it didn't work for others.

Yet, I noticed this at the top.

This file is obsolete in that refers to events and dates from a timeline which we have since then overhauled. Also the use of protoculture generators for mecha is being removed.

Did I miss new canon? Did we get official "here is how it is" on Protoculture, Invid, etc...

If so, anyone have a link to the new canon? I've tried searching but maybe I'm just not using the right search words.

Thank you for any help.

SirRobin wrote:

Apologies if this is the wrong spot to ask but I figured I should.

Yeah, probably the wrong spot to ask... but I'm sure MEMO or someone else will move it to the TV series section sooner or later.

SirRobin wrote:

Looking around to refresh my memory I stumbled across the RRG again. I remember liking their interpretations of some things though I understood why it didn't work for others.

Eh... the key word in the name of the Unofficial Robotech Reference Guide is the word "Unofficial". As stated by the site's authors, it was never intended to be treated as an authoritative source for the official Robotech continuity. In truth, the uRRG is a companion resource for the universe of the author's fan-fiction series.

The uRRG's stats come from observation of the animation, official artbooks for the Japanese source materials, the interviews with and information from Carl Macek, and the Robotech role-playing game by Palladium Books. As the Infopedia also used the Japanese source materials, at least some of the uRRG's information IS applicable to the official Robotech universe, if only by coincidence. As most of the articles have been extensively embellished by the authors, it should not be treated as anything like an official or authoritative source of information. It is, to be frank, fan-fiction.


SirRobin wrote:

Yet, I noticed this at the top.

Did I miss new canon? Did we get official "here is how it is" on Protoculture, Invid, etc...

In a word, "you said it".

One of the first things Tommy Yune did after he replaced Carl Macek as Robotech's creative director was he initiated a continuity reboot. Virtually all of the crap that was produced between 1987 and 2001 is non-canon now. Basically, the current official continuity contains only the original 86 episodes, the comics published under DC's Wildstorm imprint, and the Shadow Chronicles movie. The two videogames (Battlecry and Invasion) are in the gray area of pseudo-canon. All the other stuff, the old comics published by Academy, Antarctic, Comico, and Eternity, the McKinney novels, the old RPG books, and the unaired/incomplete stuff like Sentinels, Untold Story, and Robotech 3000, all got the axe.

Since then, Tommy has only issued two major retcons.

The first states that while all ships used by the United Earth Forces use protoculture for power generation, only those mecha used by the United Earth Expeditionary Forces (only those from the New Generation) use protoculture for power. Under this new retcon, the United Earth Defense Forces mecha (those of the Macross Saga and Masters Saga) are powered by thermonuclear reactors which run on stable liquid metallic hydrogen.

The second is the whole "Shadow" affair. Instead of being developed by the REF, the shadow fighter's stealth system (the "shadow device"), synchro cannons, and the neutron-s missiles are technology the REF acquired from one of their allies the Haydonites, and are collectively referred to as shadow technology. The Regess's remarks about the humans being the "children of the shadow" because they had been influenced by the "shadow of the Robotech Masters" now instead refers to the Haydonites, who are the creators of "shadow technology". Instead of being a tough-as-nails commander who was willing to raze Earth's surface if he couldn't oust the Invid, Admiral (Rick) Hunter is now an unwitting stooge who blindly trusted the Haydonites and ordered the implementation of the sabotaged shadow tech systems on all REF ships and mecha, and was misled about the effects of the neutron-s missiles, which would have turned Earth into a black hole.


SirRobin wrote:

If so, anyone have a link to the new canon? I've tried searching but maybe I'm just not using the right search words.

Not really, no.

You'd have to be buying the books they've been putting out to get most of this. There was a brief discussion about the "fusion retcon" in the Gaming section of RT.com when it was first announced, I'll post a link to it later. The VF-1's fusion powerplant is now listed in the Infopedia too. The rest of it you'd have to pick up by reading The Art of Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles and Robotech: Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles.

Thank you, yeah, I know the RRG is basically fanon but it always made the most sense to me. Of course that is a personal preference sort of thing.

Seto Kaiba wrote:

The first states that while all ships used by the United Earth Forces use protoculture for power generation, only those mecha used by the United Earth Expeditionary Forces (only those from the New Generation) use protoculture for power. Under this new retcon, the United Earth Defense Forces mecha (those of the Macross Saga and Masters Saga) are powered by thermonuclear reactors which run on stable liquid metallic hydrogen.

Whoa

Thank you, I never imagined they would yank the protoculture out of Earth mecha for Macross and Masters. Wow, I am pretty stunned by that but its his call. Yeah that does have a pretty dramatic affect on most the fanon done prior to that.

Very interesting...

By the by, I saw your sig and should mention that I'm a big fan of the VF-2SS.

www.vf-2ss.com/homebase.html

SirRobin wrote:

Thank you, I never imagined they would yank the protoculture out of Earth mecha for Macross and Masters. Wow, I am pretty stunned by that but its his call. Yeah that does have a pretty dramatic affect on most the fanon done prior to that.

Yeah... it came as a surprise to a lot of people, though I honestly don't think it should even be called a retcon, as it was only ever a fan assumption that the early generation Earth forces mecha ran on protoculture. Roy just says that the VF-1's engines are "based on a reactor design". Really, the only mecha that are explicitly identified as running on protoculture are the HWR-00 Mk.II Monster, VF/A-6 Alpha, VF/B-9 Beta, SFA-5 Conbat, the Condor battloid, and the various flavors of Cyclone.

I find the whole Rick situation far more disturbing... that Tommy bowed to pressure from a few whiny fanboys and tried to exonerate Rick by having him as the unwitting pawn of a conspiracy, instead of just a tough commander willing to destroy Earth rather than see it in alien hands is kind of disturbing in its own way.


SirRobin wrote:

By the by, I saw your sig and should mention that I'm a big fan of the VF-2SS.

www.vf-2ss.com/homebase.html

Yeah, I'm familiar with your site... I use this same handle on MacrossWorld, and "SetoKaiba" on Robotech.com. I'm still muddling away with my little project to compile the web's biggest Macross II resource.

Oops, its not my site, just a Macross II site that I like to lurk on and look at the beautiful VF-2SS.