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Robotech - The Macross Saga - Complete Collection

Robotech - The Macross Saga - Complete Collection

List Price: $69.98
Your Price: $62.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good DVD Set Here
Review: Ok if you like robotech then this is a must have, you get a 6 dvd boxed set with the first 36 episodes in english, the quality is about the same as when it was on tv in the 80's, pretty good but not excellent, thats why i only give it 4 stars out of 5, still this is a good deal.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of the greatest action cartoons of the eighties
Review: The box set contains 6 discs with all the episodes (48) of the macross saga of the robotech series. It also contains various previews for other anime movies of note. The picture quality on the dvds is not great for todays standards but still very watchable, the sound is also lacking but this is all secondary to the fact that the story line and the action on most of the episodes is ultra involving and is still fresh and original. Episodes like 'battle Hymn' are unforgetabble and will be watched again and again. I am a big fan of the series but still believe that even those who have not even heard of robotech would enjoy this dvd box set wich is one of the jewels of my DVD collection (expanding some 200 DVD)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better quality than given credit.
Review: The quality of this DVD set is very good. You have to keep in mind that Robotech was made in the mid 1980's. One reviewer went as far as to say that his recorded VHS tapes from 86 had better quality than this DVD set. My recorded VHS tapes from early 1998 when it was on cartoon network have much poorer quality than that of the DVD set. He couldn't possibly have been bieng honest because his tapes are 12 years older than mine.

I bought this set expecting it to have poor quality and sound, but i really wanted all the episodes. I bought it and to my delight it was WAY better than some people made it out to be. Maybe people dont understand that this is from 85 and animation quality from that era isn't very impressive. It looks exactly like it did when it was created.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Macross saga
Review: this is to be a Yule gift so i havent opened it but the box came very nice and unopened.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A great series badly mauled by extreme editing
Review: To begin let me tell you something about Robotech: Robotech was created by taking three Anime that were not in any way related (Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Southern Cross and Mospeada) and creating a single series - Robotech - from them. This is because back then there was a minimum length for shows to be aired on US-TV and Macross was too short...
As you can imagine continuity is not easy to be achieved in such a project...

Macross is a classic. Sure the animation is old (well, so is the show^^) but the battle scenes are still superb and nicely planned out and executed. Unlike in SC transformations are done when they make sense e.g. when battle shifts from space to the inside of a ship or to a planet surface. The story has some nice plot twists, the characters are given much time to develop and form bonds with each other and come the end you will have come to like almost every single one of them! Granted Minmei's constant whining grated on my nerves a bit and add to that the fact that her voice actress CANNOT SING, I didn't like her very much. (I was constantly cheering Lisa on^^) I'm told the original VA can sing a lot better...
The last few episodes could have been shortened somewhat, one or two were pure filler (Why you put filler at the end of an otherwise perfectly paced series is beyond me...)
I also cannot fathom why they invented a newly built SDF-2 for the plot. From the footage it is quite clear that this ship never existed in the original show and as it is destroyed without ever even lifting off, where's the sense?
Macross is in my opinion by far the highlight of the Robotech collection. I would go so far as to advise you to simply ignore the second season. Or even better: Get yourself the original version of the show, if you can afford it (See review of Kintari) without any references to "protoculture" and the like. (There is no protoculture in the original show.) Sadly Macross: SDF is very expensive... Maybe you get lucky to pick it up at ebay cheaper...
So with Macross you will get a great series badly mauled by extreme editing. Ignoring all the modifications will be hard but after a while I had the parts that didn't belong identified. Macross would be close to five stars if it were not for the changes in the story and Minmei's singing voice (That girl is supposed to be a pop-star for pete's sake!) I rate three stars still, because this series has some sort of closure: You don't need to watch the rest, if you don't want to.


Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Worth the price of admission
Review: What a collection for such a price! You get the original 36 episodes of the Americanized Macross saga in a pretty sturdy but not spectacular box. For those familiar with the books but not as familiar with the series, this boxed set covers books 1-6 of Jack McKinney's wonderful novelization. In many ways, the books are actually superior to the series. Regardless, this set is a must-have for any fan of Robotech, and a serious consideration for any fan of Japanese animation.

For those unfamiliar with the series, bear in mind that these episodes all date back to the mid-eighties so the animation is fairly primitive, the character and mecha models are inconsistent and the battle scenes can be a bit repetitive, with several sequences being recycled. A few of the characters are a tad annoying, Minmei, I'm looking at you! However, there is some pretty hilarious humor mixed in with the drama and action, especially when dealing with the Zentraedi (the alien invaders), and their responses to "Micronian" (human) culture. Several of the voice actors do a pretty credible job, especially Khyron, who is, well...unique.

Other than Minmei singing the same song twenty times over the 36 episodes, I really enjoyed finally getting to see Robotech since I was too young to watch it when it was a television staple in the US in the mid eighties.

Please remember this collection has no real "extras" other than a preview of the first episode of the second series of the Robotech saga. The quality of the video transfer is pretty average, with a couple episodes seeming to show some frame wear. Not too bad considering the age of the material


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 900 Minutes of Animated Bliss
Review: What you see here is pretty much what you get, and I'm not complaining. It's not elegantly packaged or loaded with extras, but this collection of Robotech's Macross episodes (all of them, 1-36) has one of the most addictive mixes of character, plot, and outright action ever to grace after-school cartoons.

I bought this 6-DVD collection just days ago to scratch a lingering itch for a show that I was obsessed with when I was 9 or 10 years old. I'm 29 now, but Robotech still hasn't lost its ability to suck you right in: A spaceship crashes onto a small island and the world comes together trying to figure out how to restore it; aliens come after the ship and intergalactic hell breaks loose, leading us on a space-epic of whose emotional detail and energy Tolstoy or Hugo would definitely have approved. You've got a rising pop chanteuse, the boys who love her, the prissy administrator who'll charm you later, the fighter jocks, the Star Search moments... Ah, it's grand. Yeah, of course, it's kitschy, and in a way no 9 year old would have grasped, but it's still hours (about FIFTEEN hours, if you can handle it!) of fun.

The only annoying thing--but some might not find this annoying--is that the commercial-break announcements are still there. It's nice that the commercials aren't, but they're still distracting, as are the credits at the beginning and end of each episode. Since it's a DVD, you can of course punch your way through it with ease, but it would have been nicer just to be able to float in one seamless 900-minute stream of Robotech.

If you're a hardcore fan, you might do well to buy the more completely and minutely detailed Legacy Collection box sets. I've got one of them, and it's nicely packaged and full of extras (like technology sketches, plot outlines, etc.), but I'll likely be selling it now. What got me addicted to Robotech in the first place, back when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, wasn't the planes, it was the people. This Complete Collection has everything I need: 900 minutes of sheer anime bliss, at a great, compact price.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Every Saga has Boxed Set...
Review: When people think of classic anime, they often think of the old space-opera epics that pioneered the now huge Mecha genre. And when you think of the Mecha clasics there are two series which very often come to mind. One of them was the first what would become known as the Gundam Legacy, the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The other is what was to become the first part of what we Americans call Robotech. THE MACROSS SAGA.

What is the Macross Saga? It is many things. It is the story of race of giant warriors from another part of the universe who attack earth in order to get back their missing super-space-fortress. It's the story of that ship and her crew who must continually fight a war with this alien race merely to survive. And it's the story of Rick Hunter, who does for this series what Christopher Blair did for Wing Commander. He's just an ordinary guy put in extraordinary circumstances, surrounded by a bunch of stange characters, and forced repeatedly to become a hero in a war that he knows is pointless.

Some of the episodes are great, some of them aren't so great. And the show definitely lags a bit toward the end. But the battles are spectacular, the music is classic, and most of the voice acting is memorable (it's not Shakespeare, but I'm not complaining). The singing...well it was fine the first hundred times I heard "To be in love", but after that...sometimes you just wish they had left in the japanese singing, it couldn't have possibly been worse than this.

Anyways, this series features some truly memorable moments, some nicely stylized animation, and a darn cool plot. It gets to be a little too soap-opera style at times, but if you're a die-hard anime fan you're used ot that by now. The music is great, the singing is not. And if you start to get bored toward the end, have patience. Every great Saga has a showdown, and this one delivers in spades.

In conclusion, every anime-fan should own this Saga. It's fun, it's entertaining and it's a classic by anyone's standards. And of course the reason why I started watching the show on dvd in the first place was: it's a really great price for anime on dvd, especially at six episodes to a dvd!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM...
Review: With a stroke of success in the 80's, the Robotech: Macross series still has a place for many fans today and shares a strong cult following. Being a fan of the series as a kid, I decided to buy the whole Robotech: Macross series, but I came across the overwelming amount of editions to the series. I didn't know which to buy, so I watched them all. Here are the differences between to different boxsets (all offered through Amazon):

Robotech: the Complete Macross Series
One Boxset: 6 disc

Sells for around $60-$65
Nothing special, picture quality is not great, but bearable. Comes in one compact boxset with all the disc in it. Would not reccomend getting this edition unless you just want a copy of the series and want to spend the least possible amount of money.

Robotech: The Legacy Collection: Macross Saga (Collections 1-3)
Three Boxsets: with 3 disc in each
Sells for around $40 each boxset, entire set around $120-$130
Same picture quality as the above set, but with addtional features. Comes with the most extras out of any current sets, but even then, they are so-so. I would actually recommend getting the above edition as I was not impressed with the extras, some were interesting, but it definately didn't justify the price. Your paying almost twice the price.

Robotech Remastered: The Macross Saga (Volumes 1-3)
Three Boxsets: Two disc each boxset
Sells for around $25 each boxset, entire set around $75-$80
Remastered picture quality superior to both sets above, sound quality much improved. This is the set that I would recommend. The price is affordable and well worth the extra money compared to the first set. Also includes a few bonus footage.

Macross: Super Dimensional Fortress (Sets 1-3)
Three Boxsets: Three discs each boxset
Sells for around $60-$70 each boxset, entire series around $180-200
Macross is the original Japanese series of the Robotech: Macross Saga. The storyline is slightly different with different music and sounds. When it was brought to the US, Harmony Gold added the Macross material with two other Japanese series to make Robotech. Macross is more "mature" and includes several scenes taken out of Robotech. Picture quality is even more crisp than the Remastered Series. I would reccomend only to die-hard Robotech fans. It's pretty expensive and lacks really any real extra features.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM...
Review: With a stroke of success in the 80's, the Robotech: Macross series still has a place for many fans today and shares a strong cult following. Being a fan of the series as a kid, I decided to buy the whole Robotech: Macross series, but I came across the overwelming amount of editions to the series. I didn't know which to buy, so I watched them all. Here are the differences between to different boxsets (all offered through Amazon):

Robotech: the Complete Macross Series
One Boxset: 6 disc

Sells for around $60-$65
Nothing special, picture quality is not great, but bearable. Comes in one compact boxset with all the disc in it. Would not reccomend getting this edition unless you just want a copy of the series and want to spend the least possible amount of money.

Robotech: The Legacy Collection: Macross Saga (Collections 1-3)
Three Boxsets: with 3 disc in each
Sells for around $40 each boxset, entire set around $120-$130
Same picture quality as the above set, but with addtional features. Comes with the most extras out of any current sets, but even then, they are so-so. I would actually recommend getting the above edition as I was not impressed with the extras, some were interesting, but it definately didn't justify the price. Your paying almost twice the price.

Robotech Remastered: The Macross Saga (Volumes 1-3)
Three Boxsets: Two disc each boxset
Sells for around $25 each boxset, entire set around $75-$80
Remastered picture quality superior to both sets above, sound quality much improved. This is the set that I would recommend. The price is affordable and well worth the extra money compared to the first set. Also includes a few bonus footage.

Macross: Super Dimensional Fortress (Sets 1-3)
Three Boxsets: Three discs each boxset
Sells for around $60-$70 each boxset, entire series around $180-200
Macross is the original Japanese series of the Robotech: Macross Saga. The storyline is slightly different with different music and sounds. When it was brought to the US, Harmony Gold added the Macross material with two other Japanese series to make Robotech. Macross is more "mature" and includes several scenes taken out of Robotech. Picture quality is even more crisp than the Remastered Series. I would reccomend only to die-hard Robotech fans. It's pretty expensive and lacks really any real extra features.


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