Not This Shit Again: Robotech Remix

Thanks for returning to Some Sorta Recap, where I reuse my favorite Word of the Moment– catawampus– to describe whatever the fuck I'm thinking of whatever the fuck I'm reading (or watching).

As I threatened after reading Robotech 2017 (eurgh), we're going right back in it with Robotech Remix. All I know is Lynn Minmei is probably missing, Dana Sterling is taking point in the plot, and Max Sterling is very likely gonna get the brakes beaten off him in this continuity.

Today's rantsona is brought to you by... a surprise. Read on to find out!

Do I Have To Go Back There?

So a quick-and-dirty recap of the prelude? prequel? that was established in Robotech 2017 called uh, Curtain Call. It was a side story they put in the last few issues. And since it was made abundantly clear that Things are Gonna be So Different, Things are Indeed Different.

Like Max and Miriya absolutely not being together.

Family drama aside, Minmei is apparently missing. During a concert (and failed rekindling date) someone also hijacked the signal and was doing some haxxors and doing all sorts of weird stuff and all we got is some dude torrenting from this bike or something.

...

Okay, for realsies (though I did just sum it up). During their date at a hologram Minmei concert (not her, in the flesh, because she apparently died offscreen at some point!?) someone began hacking and taunting Max. And instead of being Present in the Moment, Max started freaking out over the implications of such a blatant disregard for data security, instead of giving Miriya any sort of attention.

Which, I get it. I'd be alarmed if Hatsune Miku started addressing me directly as if we were personal pals during World War 33 1/2 and asking if I was still in touch with Strawberry Tower. I'd be fucking tweaking. On the other hand, this dork also shrugged off any concerns Miriya had– the girl just asked if he could communicate what the big deal was– and instead he outright stated that whatever the fuck was going on was more important than them trying to make it work. She was trying and he just... yeah. I'd feel incredibly slighted, too. Enough to punch a guy.

So what I'm saying is, Max honey, you should've taken me to this Recording of a Deceased Cultural Idol. I'd be a little upset, sure, at first, but we're both clearly fuckin' nerds that need to get to the bottom of things. Our priorities would've eventually aligned to what the hap is fuckening.

But Miriya is not me, and she needs some respect, here!

Your next date will be somewhere relaxing, without a direct line to your work (you fucking workaholic) and you can actually give her the attention she deserves. We can make this work.

Shit, I mean

men, amirite? Cue laugh track!

Dana and Max make for the bridge to investigate. There, they meet up with Rick Hunter and the Bridge Bunny crew to triangulate where the signal was coming from. Like most things, it was coming from inside the house. Er, ship.

Their attempt to apprehend the hacker was ultimately unsuccessful. The concert, they correctly deduced, was a cover for data theft. But what did they steal? And why? And from/to where? And Dana also ripped a whole hole into the hull to circumvent a locked door which was pretty funny.

Also here's that dude using Transmission on his motorcycle. God, I love the future.

Oh, yeah. Minmei lives. Because of course she does! Real idols never die!

But it's only four issues. I think. What can possibly go wrong?

lmao let's fucking find out

btw

Since I was a huge wonk about it previously, I am pleasantly surprised in the very first panel. Here we got the lastest in idol, Aahna, introducing herself:

Sooooooo... let's move on.

Nothing is the Same Anymore (once more, with feeling)

Lisa is Captain. So is Max. Him and Miriya aren't together. Rick's been missing for a week. Dana is here far earlier than originally scheduled. And, like, everyone knows about that.

She gets on a talkshow to explain how she got here, and how her parents were not only badasses but badasses in love in her home/original/NotThisDivorceTimeline dimension. Also how she got sent back in time to save the universes and stuff. Typical Saturday Night with Jay O'Brien late night stuff.

That nightmare aside, we get a bit of the family dynamic. Miriya, to no one's surprise, is a complete hardass of a mom. Dana is the Designated Older Sister Type to Bowie Grant, when she isn't reminiscing over happier times from her other life.

It's a weird thing. Overall, bittersweet. There's the undercurrent of Dana constantly comparing this reality to her own, and everyone in her immediate circle is aware that, any moment now, there will be a way to send her home. Especially Bowie, her best friend significantly younger than she is. He's hyperaware of the fact that he's not her Bowie.

...

Max is.

Well.

He's drawn nice?

He is strict about protocol and as we've already seen, all about the mission. He takes his job very seriously. And we do need that energy later when new characters literally pop out of a moon.

Hey, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Nah, fuck it. There's nothing else important going on like Max's two other kids from another mother or anything.

Back to the whole pissing-on-the-moon thing. They break out of that sphere of cheese and wave "hi" to Lisa as she informs Max that they're heading her way via Discord call. But thanks to it being a time anomaly and all, it may be the key to getting Dana back home. But in the meantime, it's a code red, Hunter is furtively paged one last time, and Dana is requested on the bridge.

And girl wants to go home. With some "YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD!" energy she storms right out to try and salvage this, instead of staying put and monitor the situation like a good not!daughter.

And from what we gather, two mysterious dimension-hopping ships are having a good ol' dogfight around New Macross City. Well, that's being generous. A drawn-from-memory red Zentradi mech was too busy beating the brakes off a Deja Vu Veritech fighter to give Dana and co much mind.

The loser crash lands and... oh. He's here to kill her. Because of course.

Back at base, Rick Hunter is still AWOL and this close to getting court martialed and thrown in a brig for chasing clues of Minmei's possible whereabouts (theoretically). They also discuss the recent skirmish-and-time-shenanigans. The Sterlings also get a little chewed out for, idk, having lives outside the conference room. How dare we not try to abandon our kids at daycare!?

But. Yeah, those two guys? They landed in the Zentradi graveyard, and will be in touch with the rest of the cast soon. Since we last cut away from Dana's future assassin, we get some focus on the other pilot that was whupping his ass: Linux Motorcycle Guy.

He needs more of that sweet, sweet Robotech to get his mech out of its crater and eventually, back home. And his sensors indicate Robotech Stuff right around the corner... where Miriya's day job of salvaging is.

--okay. This is bullshit. Miriya gets the brakes beaten off her, too. This is bullshit. I'm tired of the draws and and losses! Let my girl win at least one of the fucking fights she's in!

Meanwhile, kids will be (latchkey) kids. Fixing motorbikes. Being upcyclers. Consuming sugar against the wishes of their probably-hardass fathers. Stumbling upon the loser in an aforementioned one-sided dogfight during their one-sided motorbike race for more salvage.

But now we're more in contact with The Other Guy. They help him out, because we need a little dramatic irony. Dana's friends, helping out her would-be killer? Classic.

Oh are you fucking kidding me--

EXCUSE ME!?

ZOMBIES!!!!

YOU HEARD ME, MICRONIAN. ZOMBIES FOR SOME FUCKING REASON.

WHY ARE THERE ZOMBIES

WHY ARE THERE FUCKING ZOMBIES

WHY WERE THEY BURIED IN FULL SUITS OF ARMOR AND SHIT? WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA

THEY GOT INTO THIS!RICK'S VERITECH AND GOT THE FUCK OUTTA THERE

...Anyway

Before the plot comes storming in and tosses a murderous heavily-injured guy on their couch, we do have a quiet moment between BFFs, Bowie and Cameron. It's in contrast to a tense phone call with Bowie's parents as Dana worked late, missed picking him up, and has no idea where he is.

But with Captain Eratz Rick Hunter quietly bleeding out in the kid's vicinity (not to mention the super cool mech the cooler Another Older Sister Type managed to steer home)... she'll find out.

Also, he is trying to kill her. Because from where's he's standing, everyone he loves is dead and it's all her fault. Killed them all and stuff. Ergo, revenge!

...and you're telling me,

the child of two Ace Pilots and (I assume) rigorous military and self-defense training,

can't break out of this simple chokehold by a half-dead dude?

The ladies in this comic do not beat the brakes off people nearly enough. What the fuck? Who do you take me for? This some Bullshit Squared. Men wrote this, obviously.

(Joke aside– I know, she's only human. It's different when it's someone who looks like someone you know is choking you. And she's like, what? Still a teen? Let me shut the fuck up and cut her some slack, actually.)

Regardless. It takes a wrench to the head by Bowie and now look at him, he's got trauma now. Someone hug this baby. Where's Claudia to take care of her nephew!? What is she doing? (We'll find out later. Maybe.)

With emo!Rick down for the count (but not so down as able to just Sneak The Fuck Off when no one was looking), the plot marches on. As true with your dramas and comedies, the rest of the important main characters eventually convene on in the Baker's household.

Miriya shows up, Max shows up, I'm pretty sure Miriya calls Max a slur in Zentraedi[1], Dana breaks it up for the thousandths time, Max has a complete meltdown because how dare this woman be near his precious little twin angels because she's a murderer and– weren't you a soldier, ol' top? Get the fuck outta here with this shit.

...

In his defense she did war crimes. Allegedly. Please don't sue me mommy

--Hey, what's Linux Motorcycle Guy Up To?

Once Arminius LMG Blanc was done beating the brakes off my Warrior Queen, he's been wandering around doing Hero in Another Story stuff and talking to more lizards probably.

And– Oh, Right! ZOMBIES!!!!!

Thanks to space-time being absolute bollocks lately because of those two interlopers, there's a bit of a zombie problem. Seriously. Whose bright idea was it to bury these fuckers with hot weapons?

Before Miriya can call Max another slur and Max can threaten putting her ass back in prison, a stressed Lisa Hayes calls upon Dana to unfuck her situation because zombie Zentradi are shooting at her and the idol she's with. Until the cavalry arrives, she distracts them with a prototype U.N. Spacy Minmay Attack stratagem (Wikipedia). And until the beefier cavalry arrives, Dana defends the shuttle but can't bring herself to shoot "her own people" despite the fact that they're obviously dead zombies just kill them with fire!

But what actually lures them away is some sick Timeline Recovery moves from Arminius "Beat Da Brakes Off Yuh" Blanc. He lures them with Vibes, and wipes them off this side of the Time Variance Authority.

But– like you were really worried– the shuttle managed to land safely with the crew only a little shaken up.

You Forgot About the Idol, Didn't You?!

No!

Honest!

I know how important singers are in the ROBOTECH/Macross universe! It's just... other than Aahna's stellar introduction, she's only mentioned in passing until Issue 4... in the main story, anyway. She is here, because Minmei isn't.

She's heading to New Macross City to kick off her concert tour (keeping the populace tranquil, you know, bread and circuses?). I don't know what her deal is. Other than looking wistful when Rick was mentioned in her presence, I got nuthin'.

But so far, I like her. There's even some Bilingual Bonus because other cultures also exist, despite what our (US) government tries to pretend otherwise:

Some Other Stuff

The past two issues also had lil side supplemental stories, too; similar to how Curtain Call was introduced. They flesh out the world a little more, and they're fun! And there's more Aahna! That's great because I got n o t h i n g about her in the main story. I'm certain that would've changed with future installments.

First up, we get the 101 on how time's working 'round these parts. Thanks to Protoculture tech, you can tweak things just so and travel space and time! With caveats.

Also, advice for when you meet yourself? Take care of 'em/yourself like a houseplant and buy Aahna's new hit single, "Don't Do The Obvious Thing You Fucking Pervert (Southern Cross)."

As for the second side story...

oh.

Oh!

she's a stan. A Rick stan.

But seriously. She does outright mention "her" Rick, so there could be more Protoverse multiverse nonsense at play we're not privy to yet. Or these are just fun asides with no bearing to the rest of the plot. None at all! Nope!

Also

PUT SOME RESPECT ON MACROSS: DO YOU REMEMBER LOVE?'S NAME!!!!!! Released and found on Blockbuster's shelves as "Clash of the Bionoids," so Aahna honey you got no excuse! And hello, fansubs? The thing CrunchyRoll got popular for before they decided to get all legit and evil?

Shame, shame, shame! Straight to hell! You're on probation from the Rick Hunter Fanclub until you get your shit together. We do this because we love you.

Speaking of the Other OTP...

Lisa also tagged along in Aahna's private shuttle as a priority guest, because she's captain and she can do that. She got word that they found Rick, only to find out that it wasn't her Rick, and then they were getting shot at by zombies, so we still don't know

Where the Fuck Is Rick?

Fuck if we know. Roll tide!

Issue 5, Though

But it's only four issues. I think. What can possibly go wrong?

--me, concluding my recap of Robotech 2017

Through all my ahem myriad ways, when my eyes came upon "To Be Continued...", my heart skipped a beat. And then prepared to nut up, shut up, and do some serious searching for the rest of the series– and see if my local comic book shop can add it to my pulls.

Yeah, about that.

Fuck you, shit's canceled.

The thing that could possibly go wrong did. If Reddit is to be believed, the artist for Robotech Remix never got further than the cover and rough drafts for the insides. That was about 4 years ago.

Final Thoughts

Despite my low expectations and the bad taste Titan Comics left in my mouth from 2017, I ended up really enjoying the issues that I did read. It's a shame that there's a lot of loose ends and plot threads that we'll be stuck wondering about til the end of time. Or until they randomly come out of hiatus.

• Will Dana ever make it home?
• Will our OTP ever reconcile?
• Who is the mother of those precious darlings?
• Where did Minmei go?
• Did all of Aahna's concerts sell out?
• How many Ricks are there?
• When will I watch Macross 7?
• And who will Arminius beat the brakes off of next, and why should it be Max?

Eh, there's always fanfiction. (And someone go tell Aahna that.)

The Not-Rating: Child OC While Being in a Throuple with Max and Miriya Sterling/5

As promised, I kept today's rantsona until the end.

Everyone, meet Vela! Like most of the fam they know their way around Veritechs– in piloting and as a mechanic, being partial to the FA-109. They also love tinkering with Mama Miriya's old Queadluun-Rau, especially since they spend most of their time macronized.

How'd they get here?! Well.

Picture it: in this loving non-monogamous relationship, I'm the normie civilian that makes a great foil to 'em. I tell them to not overwork themselves before I become a hypocrite writing technical manuals about various Roboteching in the wee hours of the night. We take turns breaking coffee machines and playing a lot of battle sims, actually.

Then, we get it in our heads to have a science baby with all three of our DNA stuff, and have it cook for nine months in some Zendtradi tech! Boom, baby! (And later, middle child? We can work out the details later.)

Well, I had fun with that.

I love committing to the bit.

[1] this may be the only time I spelled this correctly