1986 America got not one but 3 big screen transforming robot movies in the same year!

Transformers the movie.
Robotech the movie
Gobots battle of the rock lords.

All three bombed at the box office! Transformers did the best in America but it got it's butt kicked by howard the duck so that don't say much. Gobots did well in france and robotech did great oversaes and was a hit in Europe! Transformers did big in--??? (did it do well overeas? Anyone know? Was it a hit in the uk?)

So looking at these three films today, how do they hold up? What film did the best? Did you go see any of them on the big screen? Will gobots ever get a dvd release?

What do you guys think?

 

Robotech movie pretty much didn't come out. Only played in one market and hasn't been seen since. Seems like HG would release it on video. Not making them any $$$ sitting in the vault.

 

I have a soft spot for the Rocklords movie. I didn't have many transformers as a kid. I had gobots and rocklords.

I wish it would get a dvd release.

 

Robotech did only get a texas release yes but it still counts. (may not have been a good idea to have a guy shot point blank in the head and show a bloody hand in a kids movie. Some parents yanked their kids from the screenings!)

On the other hand robotech did great overseas and was a hit in Europe with vhs releases after and even a sountrack release.

 

Wish the US had got it on video.

 

Blame the parents of the texas showing.

 

just watch the original that's not cobbled together crap trying to make 4 different anime series match instead?

lol sorry sometime the "lying macross purist" comes out of me carry on.....

 

Kind of suprised anyone in Texaswould freak out like that over a littpe animated violence...

 

I thought the Transformers film was the only one to make it to actual movie theaters

 

I don't even remember the Go-Bots movie coming out. Don't even remember seeing ads on TV. I liked the Go-Bots cartoon so it seems like something I'd want to see.

I remember the Transformers movie ads on TV. Eventually got to see it at a theater during the initial run.

 

Yes gobots got a movie release in fact it beat transformers to the big screen. Transformers got the last laugh in America however as it did better then gobots.

Gobots went up against police academy 3 and money pit and lost! (and movie chains later shoved it to weekend showings. Ouch!)

 

Transformers was a good movie if you were the right age.

GoBots was an okay movie if you were a little younger.

Robotech: The Movie was an abomination. Carl Macek, high off his success with mashing three unrelated shows into a Frankenstein conglomerate, thought he would follow that up with something even more butchered and made his own. At least the 2 of the 3 tv shows got to keep most of their original essence. But the "movie" is a monument to ego and self indulgence. And I say that as someone who doesn't think that highly of the first Megazone 23 in the first place. But at least it was created by people with talent who cared about it. But this 'What's Up, Tiger Lily'/Roy Lichtenstein style of appropriating other people's blood, sweat and tears-infused art and then slapping your name on it bullshit has to stop.

 

Transformers The Movie still remains the best Transformers movie to date. And, in my opinion is actually better than the majority of the cartoon series.

The Gobots movie is okay. But, it is a bit boring in some places. The TV show, while not as good as the Transformers' cartoon, it was still better than the movie.

I have not seen the Robotech movie. But, since it's like 'cartoon', and they just took an existing movie and slapped their own names on top. (While editing the hell out of it.) I'm assuming it's not a very good film. Considering it is the only piece that was never released on DVD with the rest of them. Which means even Harmony Gold doesn't want to admit they 'made' it.

Transformers The Movie is hands down the best of these films.

 

Intro to gobots movie.

Tv spot for gobots. (I saw this ad as a kid but didn't go see the film.)

Robotech the movie music video for "future is now". (and you thought the touch was a really 80s song!)

Intro to robotech the movie.

 

From a European point of view, I actually liked the Robotech movie - I saw it on VHS ..must have been 87 or 88.

Yes I know Harmony Gold are scumbag trash, but on its own merits the movie was a decent conspiracy story, even if it was a copy paste amalgamation - which I didn't even know at the time.
It sure was more enjoyable to me than Robotech The Sentinels.

 

They did more than that. While the tv series at least kept the premise and basic story of Macross and Mospeda (less so, Southern Cross), the Robotech movie used the existing animation it took to create an entirely new and shitty story. It was a huge step backwards and fully deserves to be forgotten.

 

Funny thing is you can blame the macros owners for the version of robotech the movie we got. There are two versions! Version 1 that has never been released had no tv show footage and was all megazone footage only. It took place during the start of macross when the sdf-1 was in space and the main hero was related to the main hero from macross. He found out about macross island and the aliens and the government wanted to silence him.

The changed ending was from the megazone animaters who make a "happy ending" for the film.

The owners of macross was planning on bringing do you remember love (or was it macross plus? One of the follow ups) to America and didn't want two macross projects out at the same time and told harmony gold to change it to take place during southern cross!

Then they made the version we got now but kept the new happy ending. There are more strange behind the scenes from the film if you want to look it up! It's crazy.

Here's a strange thing. One of the video stores in a small city here in America when I was a teen had a vhs copy of robotech the movie to rent! It was the same as the movie poster I posted for the cover art! The movie never was released here so it had to be a uk region 2 copy (that can't play on American vcrs! Maybe no one rented it to complain?) or a bootleg! I never rented it as a teen. Man I wish I rented it just to see what in the world it was! To this day it amazes me that that was there. The video store is gone now of course.

 

Ah, so they used it as stock footage, and arranged it however they wanted. Sounds even worse than what I said it probably was like.

 

More or less it's the first part of megazone with southern cross footage here and there.

Odd thing is they made one of the bad guys a clone robot to tone down his death but keep the other deaths in there! Some pretty dark deaths! The bad guys were changed to the southern cross bad guys from the show. The southern cross characters only have cameos. The megazone characters are the main stars.


Here is a clip of the megazone part of the dub.

 

The Robotech edits are odd. About a year or so ago, I watched the first three episodes of Macross, while also watching the first three episodes of Robotech. Was going to do all, but I didn't have time for it at the time.

Anyways, weird thing is they kept things like Roy looking at Minmay's butt. A scene in which she is is only 15. But, edited out lots of scenes that make Minmay a more likable person. It's like they really hated the character, and wanted everyone else to too.

Edit: The dub itself isn't terrible in that clip. It actually sounds a lot better than I expected. Voice actors seem to be doing a decent job, even if Canon/Harmony Gold aren't.