Okay, I actually bought this. Why?
Because I'm a Robotech whore. Okay, that's not exactly accurate. It's not like a own a Southern Cross Polo, but I really would like to. [Must stop thinking about sporting that snappy looking polo with the Army of the Southern Cross emblem on it.]
It's more like I am a fan who'll buy a product when it's animated on impulse. Since I already had Shadow Chronicles(the only way that I know how to get Love, Live, Alive is to buy the two pack), I purchased it because Amazon had it discounted plus I had a five dollar off coupon.
I'm split overall on the decision to buy it. Love, Live, Alive is made from footage from a Mosepeda (the third anime that was used to create Robotech) OVA, Third Generation episodes, and new footage. Overall, the best thing of the new material comes at the very end.
The story is basically Lancer aka Lance Belmont or Yellow Dancer(oddly the character designer for Mosepeda was Yoshitaka Amano who did work for Vampire Hunter D and early Final Fantasy character designs though no Castlevania to my knowledge) recounting how he got to Earth as a member of REF and his eventually adventures with Scott Bernard's resistance group. He recounts this tale to a reporter named Kay played by Wendee Lee. Eventually after repeating the same scene of Lancer and Kay talking with new footage of Kay drawing a picture of herself or stopping a recording device, Lancer does a concert, and then he meets up with his old crew. Kay storms off after seeing someone in the audience. Scott tries to convince him to join the REF again to help find Admiral Hunter which suggests that this takes place after Shadow Chronicles. Anyhow, Lancer after spending time with the gang goes to a cabin in the woords where someone is waiting for him.
As for the new footage, there is a scene of the first REF attempt to retake Earth from the Invid in 2038. It failed. Dana is shown fleeing Earth in Wolfe's Garfish with other Southern Cross forces trying to escape which includes Southern Cross shuttles of all things. Plus, Betas actually transform. There was the additional footage of Kay and other small new footage to help with transitioning, but the big one is what came at the very end. At the end, Lancer goes to a cabin where Sera, the other daughter of the Invid Regess, is waiting for him. Most of the footage came from the Mosepda OVA version, but at the tail end, new footage is added of Sera holding her hand over her stomach telling Lancer that there were going to bethree of them soon. In other words, Sera is pregnant with an evolved Invid/human hybrid. At the end, there is a preview for Shadow Chronicles done in the style of Robotech previews.
Overall, Love, Live, Alive is not a necessary purchase for most including a lot of Robotech fans. In fact, it's mostly like Operation Robotech: it features a character narrating about events of the show. Some of the returning voice actors are kind of awful; Rook and Rand sound incredibly old like a retirees. Gregory Snegoff, Wendee Lee, Barabara Goodson, and Cam Clarke do good performances, but a lot of lines were archival especially for the episode footage. Also, they somehow found the original Robotech narrator who sounds different.
That gets me to a point that if I had been editing; I'd probably had used Shadow Chronicles footage at certain parts. Footage during the Battle of Reflex Point comes directly from the episodes with the original voice actors thanks to archival audio being reused too boot. Yeah, that's going to help people figure out things when Dan Warren plays Reinhardt in Shadow Chronicles which comes after this one. Since you've got most of the actors, you might as well record clarifying lines for certain scenes.
My big problem with the release is in fact Harmony Gold for once. In the past, I've defended them even on these boards. However, the fact that Harmony Gold sued Hasbro over a Jetfire colored Skystriker; I'm a little steamed with them. Considering that Harmony Gold is a conglomerate with a media division that seems to be more concerned with its real estate holding which apparently that's where Shadow Chronicles profits went to keep them liquid during the 2008 Housing Crisis, I'm a bit let down.
As Deadborder already recounted of the dead years for Robotech fans, a lot of us thought that Shadow Chronicles would lead to better days or possibly a new series or at least a couple more movies. However, Harmony Gold is more concerned with the possibility of the Warner Brothers movie than finishing up the story and the real estate holdings. At this point, I hope Hasbro beats Harmony Gold and then buys them and Big West. And then the Hub gets a new Robotech animated series. Plus, the Macross fans might get their later Macross series (though I suggest never watching Macross 7 because it hurt me badly) released in the US since no one could complain on either side of the pacific. Except for the Battletech fans who want the unseen still, it's a win for everyone, but there is always the possibility that the House that Optimus, Joe, and Ponies built will sign a deal for Topps and Catalyst to feature the art as long as certain rules are followed.
It's an insane dream, but as someone who like SDF Macross and Macross Plus but loathes pretty much everything else Macross including Frontier which was too Moe, I think it'd be the most fare outcome to settle the issue in my life time.
