History Anime / Robotech

* ChineseGirl: Again, Lynn Minmei.

* HeroesWantRedHeads: Scott and Ariel in ''The New Generation''. From the same era, blonde bombshell rebel Rook with red headed smart-ass survivor Rand.

* In addition, they effectively have veto rights for the imports and English translation of ''Macross'' merchandise and series that are not covered by the original license. Consequently, all ''Macross'' productions with the exception of the original series, ''Anime/MacrossPlus'' and ''Anime/MacrossII: Lovers Again'' [[note]]the latter two were "snuck in" by LA Hero under Harmony Gold's radar at a time when their TV production and licensing divisions were badly savaged by a "headhunting" raid by Haim Saban. By the time HG could have contested it, it was too late.[[/note]] are blocked from being sold or translated in North America (as Big West and Studio Nue do not want to pay them). Under Harmony Gold's unchallenged interpretation, Creator/ShojiKawamori cannot make or distribute his own drawings and designs within North America. This has not made them popular.

One of the stranger aspects of all of this was how Harmony Gold could obtain the US trademark for ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' just by defending the rights to ''Robotech''. Japan and the US did not have reciprocity for copyrights at the time and Bandai/Big West (the owners of ''Macross'') had sublicensed the international distribution rights to Creator/TatsunokoProduction, who licensed all aspects of ''Macross'' except the Japanese model kits to Harmony Gold. Bandai also licensed several mecha designs to FASA for use in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'',[[note]][[https://www.sarna.net/wiki/The_Unseen According to Sarna.net,]] a website dedicated to the lore of the Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse, FASA might not have had a rightful license in the first place - the importer who cut the deal, [[https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Twentieth_Century_Imports 20th Century Imports,]] had deliberately misrepresented their own associations with Bandai, and allegedly had no legal claim to said rights themselves,[[/note]] and they were incorporated and used in the miniatures game. FASA had sued Creator/PlaymatesToys over alleged copyright infringement for a design in their ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad/Robotech'' crossover line that resembled a "Mad Cat". Harmony Gold countersued FASA for the longstanding use of ''Macross'' IP in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', citing their license from Tatsunoko. The suit was settled out of court, and the settlement was sealed so the settlement terms are not known. However, the suit forced FASA to voluntarily remove the offending designs out of fear of renewed legal hassles[[note]](More details are available on the ScrewedByTheLawyers/BattleTech page.)[[/note]]. Big West subsequently successfully sued Tatsunoko (but only in Japan), as ''their'' license to ''Macross'' was originally only to cover the original animation content of ''Macross'', and ''not'' any derivative content based thereon.

** Zentraedi.

* CloningBlues: Zor Prime, full stop. Also Musica and the other civilians in the Robotech Masters' fleet who come to realize the value of individuality.

* Contrasting Sequel antagonists,
The Zentradi don't even have a concept of civilians among their own kind, and are a pure military machine in term of society. Rick describes their culture as no better than robots. Seeing a man and woman touch sends them into crippling bouts of nausea. On the otherhand, their creators, the Tirolians, do have a culture and society...but it's become disturbingly regulated and sterile under the Robotech Masters, and what little artistic expression remains is used as bread and circus to keep the civilians population docile and controllable. In their own way this makes them more frightful then the Zentradi.

* TheHero: Rick Hunter for ''The Macross Saga'', Dana Sterling for ''The Masters'', and finally Scott Bernard for ''The New Generation''. They're all flawed individuals, but undoubtedly heroic.

* {{Bishonen}}: Max, Kyle, Konda, Bowie, Zor Prime, Rem, ''several'' Tirolian clones, Lancer ...basically, a lot.

The film rights were originally purchased by Creator/WarnerBros, but now Creator/SonyPictures have acquired the rights and plan to move forward with a ''Robotech'' franchise, and have announced that the first film will be directed by Andy Muschietti.

* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Rand's reaction when an Invid patrol senses them nearby and opens fire.

* TheMole: Ariel was MEANT to be this in the dub by the Invid, however, accidental memory loss likely due to being the first human type Invid besides the Regess herself.
* {{Mooks}}: Zentraedi, Triumviroids and Invid. The Bioroids don't start out as this. Dana describes them as easily outclassing [[EliteMook Battloids in battle]]... at first. Then the Robotech Masters begin to suffer a resource shortage, and their Bioroid pilots begin to lose their edge into this.

** The final battle with the Zentradi armada is [[DiscOneFinalBoss the midpoint of the Macross Saga]] and doesn't end the conflict with holdout Zentradi [[spoiler:(which manage to ultimately destroy the SDF 1 and 2).]]

** Another odd one: Minmay's name is changed from Lynn Minmay in Japanese (a glaringly {{Engrish}} spelling for a girl who's canonically half-Japanese-half-Chinese) to Lynn Minmei in English... which is actually how her name is properly spelled in Kana. They probably kept "Lynn" instead of changing it to "Rin" as written in Kana like her given name, because [[LuckyTranslation Lynn is a well-known name in English already]].

* GirlInABox: Ariel/Marlene.