Robotech and the Pony POV Series · 7:15am Sep 12th, 2016
The Pony POV Series is the MLP fanfic equivalent to Robotech... I never realized that until now... but given how many times I watched the tapes as a child, I shouldn't be surprised how much it influenced me.
Robotech started out as three separate animes not even set in the same universe, but had similar themes of TFing giant robots, music, war, and love. The reason Robotech came into existence was purely business, Macross by itself was short for syndication, so they arc welded the other two animes together, with each one being a different generation and robotech-war. This resulted in plenty of fridge logic and dub induced plot holes. But shockingly for its time for an 80s adaption of a Japanese anime, unlike say Voltron/Go-Lions: the majority of the characters deaths were KEPT INTACT! You heard right! Characters DYING was a THING! CIVILIANS DYING was a thing! And 98% of the time, there wasn't some nonsense about 'everyone evacuating in two seconds!' It WAS treated as something horrible!
Oh, and every 'season' was a myth-arc, meaning the episodes HAD to be shown in order.
(I think it ironic, that I tried to watch a gamers comedy, where they had a flashback one of the characters as a child swearing up a storm(or close to it) about how he couldn't believe he used to think GI Joe was cool and how people die in war (the irony being that GI Joe itself pressed the limit IN A DIFFERENT WAY as the heroes actually PUNCHED the bad-guys, something in the 70s and 90s was something that just didn't happen!). And everyone still loves and remembers GI Joe. While Robotech itself remains relatively obscure.
I guess I just feel more of a kindred spirit with that show now. Pony POV Series remains relatively obscure next to giants like Nyx, Cupcakes, Fallout Equestria, MLP Loops, Background Pony, and others.
And I'll admit, much like Robotech that I loved so much as a child (even if I was missing one of the tapes), the Pony POV Series has its share of bugs from welding together the previous gens of MLP together. But I think I loved figuring out HOW they could all together and fit together, was something I loved about Robotech, and that carried over here.
And like Robotech... Pony POV Series suffers from a faulty premise at the very core of its foundation (Only different is I wasn't aware of the fault for years): If Protoculture is what powers all robotechnology, how the hell are the humans able to use it, not know what it is, and no mention of how they refuel is mentioned until the third robotech war, and the SDF-1 supposedly carries the last Protoculture matrix on board it. And in spite of this obvious bug, people love Robotech all the same. Or at least, I do. And it inspired me, a lot.
I don't see what's faulty at the core of Pony POV, but I'm not picky.
Robotech deeply inspired me too -- Macross in particular is one of the sparks for the last few years of the Shadow Wars. It's solely due to the power of the Tree of Harmony, and Celestia's Sacrifice, that the Shadow Wars don't have an equally-dark ending.
4206454 Came here to ask this question as well.
4206454
4207443
That ponies actually remember their time discorded instead of ahem, "vague blurry impressions" :-( Which no one bothered to correct me on five years.
4207652 ...Well, I didn't remember that either.
Maybe the memories just bubbled back up or crystallized, as uncomfortable thoughts are wont to do.