Legacy Review #11 – ROBOTECH BOOK 6 (Doomsday)
- Francois DesRochers
- 9 hours ago
- 8 min read
Release Date: June 1987
Author: Jack McKinney
(James Lucerno and Brian Daley)
Page Count: 216 pages
(includes Chapter 1 from Southern Cross)
INTRODUCTION
The sixth of the six-book series covering the “First Generation” of the Robotech franchise; at least as portrayed to North American audiences. Thus continued my rabid obsession with continuing the novelization of the anime I once enjoyed on Saturday mornings, and playing the Palladium Books ROBOTECH RPG years later.
REVIEW
Episode Counter. The first book encapsulates the events from Episodes 24 to 28:
Synopsis. The Zentraedi fleet surrounding the Earth has been dealt a death blow. It's a pyrrhic victory for the RDF, as much of Humanity has been wiped out by Dolza’s orbital bombardment. The SDF-1 has returned to the Earth, the city of New Macross (once again) built up under its watchful eye and protection. Rebuilding efforts are stymied by the multitude of Zentraedi spacecraft crash landed on Earth, still bent on annihilating the micronian Humans. None are as singularly motivated as Khyron, who survived the SDF-1/Breetai counter-attacks by sneaking to the surface. His use of non-conventional warfare and recruiting of disaffected Zentraedi presents an existential threat, that ultimately leads to its tragic conclusion. But the combined forces of the RDF and Breetai's loyal Zentraedi score their own victories, capturing the vitally important Robotech Factory.
Bridge Chapter. Something rather neatly presented, the first chapter is a continuation of the story and the events first introduced in Chapter 1 of Book 1. We return to Zor, on a planet ravaged by an Invid invasion force, the SDF-1 escaping to a far-flung world. The origins of the Zentraedi provide the reader several answers to questions the characters have yet to discover. Crucially, these include: the history of how the Robotech Masters imprinted memories; emotionally conditioned the Zentraedi to be subservient warriors; and, the treachery they inflicted upon the Invid to gain control over the Flower of Life. Zor’s attempt to undo that betrayal and cripple his Robotech Masters overlords led to the SDF-1’s arrival on Earth, and their subsequent hunt for it.
Khyron’s Revenge. As the animus against Humans grows, Khyron becomes the beacon of their old ways. Intent on returning to the Masters with a fleet of warriors and the recently stolen Robotech Factory, he sees himself the successor of Dolza. His capture of the Micronization device and allure to Zentraedi who can’t cope with Human culture is an existential threat. This is only aggravated by his return to consumption of the Flower of Life, his persona overcoming the Zentraedi conditioning and developing an immunity to Minmei’s influence, as well as a recklessness that neither Breetai nor Exedore are able to fathom. The irony is that Khyron now, more than ever, acts like a Human commander.
Robotech Masters. In a series of interlude chapters, we get the viewpoint of the Robotech Masters and the dire straights they find themselves. Once the masters of the galaxy with their Zentraedi fleet at their beck and call, the Masters are now facing times of desperation. The lost secrets of Zor they now attempt to recreate through cloning processes; the great Zentraedi war machine they thought theirs until Breetai’s turned, and then also made a play to seize the Robotech Factory. This led them to first track down and start a reflex-drive journey to Earth; so low on protoculture they cannot even complete a space fold. The Robotech Masters are coming.
Rick and Lisa. Despite a torrent of gaffs and miscues by each to the other, some at the behest of Lynn-Kyle, who continues to be the foil to both Rick and Lisa for different reasons. Lynn-Kyle also presents as the self-serving miscreant, allowing Lisa to break from her fantasy and finally not just accept but express her feelings. Rick, on the other hand, heads off to rescue Minmei from the clutches of Khyron.
In the aftermath, things between Rick and Lisa finally push to a head, Rick expressing his feelings for Lisa. The slow burn that began as a few snippy comments between them in Book 1: Genesis, finally gets resolved. Many of the relationship issues in this novel felt a bit contrived, stretched out over its entirety. It almost seemed the battle sequences were written simply to bridge the various scenes between Rick and Lisa. None of these were more prevalent than the final scenes of the Minmei-Rick-Lisa love triangle nearer to the end; honestly, it's a bit of a mess to read. I can only imagine how unnecessarily so this must have been in the anime. In the end, Rick and Lisa are together, Minmei drawn back and accepting her role as an entertainer.
Minmei. Of note, Minmei does a fair bit of growing up in this book. Stuck in an abusive and coercive relationship with her cousin-manager Lynn-Kyle, she tries on several occasions to break away from him. This of course involves several scenes with Rick, who is ultimately unable to help her out. Rick’s initially detestable laissez-faire attitude finally comes to a head near the end of the book. Khyron, taking Lynne-Kyle and Minmei hostage, finally gives Minmei the impetus to break from her cousin. Her initial plan to reunite with Rick sees a bit of a sudden turnaround once Lisa is firmly at Rick’s side. I guess that part of her flighty attitude remains, while she returns to the spotlight and the one thing she was seemingly especially capable of, supporting the war effort through her performances.
Post Armageddon Reconstruction. The book glosses over the scarcity of resource issue that most post-apocalyptic settings are keen to explore. This is restricted by the boundaries set with the anime, which did not have this mind; I thought it noteworthy. The city of New Macross and its success is, once again, directly benefitted from the Robotechnology and the SDF-1. The remainder of the planet does not have this benevolence. We have a two-year jump and some vague references to other city-states and their efforts to rebuild. I found it blithely amusing to think that concert halls and the like would see such a priority, even in the two-year gap between the end of Force of Arms and Doomsday. ‘The show must go on,’ as they say, and I recognize the mechanism to forward the Minmei plot arc. The handwavium applied to this aspect is a little rich.
Foreshadowing. A peculiar thing noticed rewatching some of the episodes to back this thematic review. In the scene (S01 Ep 35, around the 3:30 mark) where our dauntless trio of Zentraedi spies are seen trying to sell various japanimation and cult-classic toys during Christmas season. One of the boxes clearly depicting a Logan Veritech from what would be the Southern Cross series. Additionally, when Claudia sees Lisa off into the taxi, she turns to go into a club featuring the lead act of the Black Cats, also oddly foreshadowing the Second Generation series that, to my knowledge, was never considered in the anime at this point.
CONCLUSION
The denouement realized at the end of Force of Arms is upended by the return of Khyron. The Earth, ravaged by the Zentraedi bombardment, now faces the grim task of rebuilding. The forces of the RDF work tirelessly, aided by the landing of the SDF-1 and the development of New Macross. The unofficial capital of Humanity, at least in North America, labours to incorporate Zentraedi workers into Human society. This dichotomy of worldview to blisters under the strain, and many Zentraedi return to their warrior ways. Under the beacon of Khyron’s leadership, many return to their old ways. There are still many who embrace Breetai's leadership and stay on to help the RDF. Of note, the trio of spies are
Khyron’s trajectory from the insolent senior officer bucking against his senior commanders’ intent and direct orders is finally freed of restraint, as is his bloodlust. I originally completely forgot about his sojourn at the Alaska Base in an attempt to scavenge more protoculture. His tactics are brutal and unpredictable, in a way more “human,” which makes him all the more dangerous. His seizure of the protoculture pod allows him to fuel his battle cruiser, a ‘fig leaf’ of sorts offered on the advice of Exedore, to allow Khyron to return to the Masters. He takes the bait, but is tested by the very existence of the SDF-1. His reroute to destroy the SDF-1 leads to the destruction of the SDF-2; the SDF-1’s counter-attack cripples Khyron’s ship, but it’s trajectory and momentum allows Khyron to execute a collision course. The resultant explosion is catastrophic and effectively obliterates New Macross City. Lisa, forced into the escape pod by Captain Gloval and Claudia, is the lone survivor of the crew. She is found by and (of course) rescued by Rick.
Gone are the machinations of the UEDC, now replaced by individual city-states trying to vie for their future. Most are still nominally protected by the RDF, though we get inklings of an independence movement near the end. Several references to Monument City and a couple of action scenes seem to directly imply that the Armies of the Southern Cross are active and starting to stretch their wings. We also get a direct tie-in with the Second Generation storyline, with numerous chapters detailing the Robotech Masters’ plight. They are running on fumes for protoculture, so much so they have to traverse the distance to Earth under normal propulsion; a journey of 20-odd years. This provides some legitimate time for the second major plot arc sets to develop.
Current Assessment (7/10). The action is entirely contained to the Earth. Only a perfunctory sojourn into space to retrieve the Robotech Factory, or the few chapters involving the Robotech Masters are off-Terra. The action is almost entirely reactive to the machinations of Khyron, while much of the story involves the convoluted, in some cases tiresome, relationship woes of Rick and Lisa. There is a fair chunk of text that lays out the assimilation issues for the Zentraedi, and how some of the more obstinate are incapable of changing their ways, despite being shown factual evidence to the contrary. A remarkably poignant message for modern readers.
The series ends with a literal explosive finish, the results of which will be defined over the next two Generation series. This tragic end to the SDF-1/SDF-2 and most of the crew/secondary characters we have followed up to then, is a reminder of the ground-breaking story-telling this series accomplished. Long-form character arcs over the entirety of the series were suddenly terminated in a way the reader likely felt more emotionally than the effect of the Zentraedi bombardment. The presentation of character reactions to the bombardment insulated the reader, made it an antiseptic tragedy. The heroic death of Captain Gloval, Claudia Grant, the Bridge Bunnies (Sammie, Vanessa, and Kim), likely Lynn-Kyle and the trio of Zentraedi spies (Bron, Rico, and Konda), Minmei’s adopted family at the White Dragon (Max and Lena) and the Mayor of New Macross (Tommy Luan) likely impacted readers in a more impactful sense. More so when examined in the context that this series was syndicated in Saturday morning cartoons for years.
Terminus: So ends the review of Jack McKinney's novelization for the "First Generation" of ROBOTECH. In conjunction with the reviews of the Palladium RPG products that were released back in the day, this has really turned into a fun project of reminiscence. We still have a couple of RPG books to review, and the write-up for the McKinney novel Zentraedi Rebellion. More ROBOTECH good ness to come!
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