Roboculture

Okay, its weird. I still get a fairly decent viewcount on this blog even though I don't really advertise it... Anyway!

It is 2007.

I am currently banished from Robotech.com. The boards are strictly being monitored by Steve Yun, the Harmony Gold Web Person for any sarcastic hanky panky. The man still harbors ill feelings of Tom Bateman's dismissal. To contact him would not be a good idea at this time.

No new products are in sight for the next few years except for overpriced toys. Everything is so focused on the Shadows franchise that the original show is literally being forgotten.

With that, people are wondering around the boards, with nothing in terms of a definitive source material for Robotech, how do you reconcile any of the new stuff being put out by the incorrigible Tommy Yune? Love the new Robotech or hate it (though Kevin McKeever wants us to believe its the best sci-fi franchise in the market now)

We look at the Robotech Megaverse RPG boards, with folks trying to do just that. How do you reconcile the continuity mess that is Shadow Chronicles to the original Robotech lore?

Here's Taalsim's take on how the Haydonites fit into the Bigger Picture:
I made the following posts bullet-type for easy reading

• The Haydonites are experts of energy and phased space technology (perhaps their 'Awareness' operates through warped space) Technology whose effects were threatened by some of the properties of the Flower of Life.

• The Tirolians appeared while the Haydonites were deciding on how to act to head off the emergance of a race whose adaptive biology might well threaten the Haydonite supremacy of space-warping technology, and the subsequent exploitation of Optera by the Tirolians gave the Hadonites their chance. (I couldn't really understand this -ed)
  

• Figuring the Robotech Masters would exploit only a portion of the potential of the FoL they stole, the Haydonites ingratiated themselves to the Tirolians, then snuck around behind their backs and bombed the snot out of the Invid, making it look like the Masters had done it. (A plot twist! That is some heavy ret-conning there -ed)

• Sure enough, the Invid, against Haydonite hopes but not against their expectations, survive, and the Regent declares war on the Masters for destroying his people. The Regis, initially in on the whole 'Tirolians wholly betrayed us' thing, later has her doubts, and that's part of what divides the two Invid Royals. (Another angle to the Sentinels Invid feud)

• The Haydonites help fan the war between the Masters and the Invid, hoping to exhaust the two powers, then pick off the loser. (Sounds more like the work of the Disciples of Zor -ed)
  

• When the Humans show up (Late-Sentinels period, sometime through the New Generation Saga), the Haydonites again play divide and conquer.

• This time fuelling Edwards' delusions of power. If Edwards won his coup, the Hyadonites would have an easily led dupe with no compunctions with destroying whole worlds, and Humanity would be wiped out.

• If Edwards lost, again they could suck up to the winners and help then understand the 'captured' technology and besides, they learn, the Invid are still around, courtesy of the split between Regent and Regis, so the Humans have a role yet to play...deliveryboys for Invid(and their own) extinction...

• Only now the Invid have ascended to a higher state, and those Invid left behind are showing some rather incredible powers...The Haydonites think they can now step in openly and sweep up the remainers, but the Invid are now breaking into the Haydonites' space-warping domain(?)*...Worse yet, the Humans are wise to them....

• And if the Invid decide to disrupt the Haydonites from their energy state...or Human and Invid gene plasm prove compatible....the introduction of Invid/Human hybrids into the human genepool and a spreading of those talents could truly threaten the supremacy of Shadow technology

Hmm... So as I predicted, Taalsim figures out that a Human-Invid hybrid would bring about the end of the Haydonites. Of course, it won't be that easy, because Harmony Gold executives think this particular story arc should last FOREVER!

Another long-time Robotech fan, Protoculture, an avid Shadow Chronicles fan, provides his insights on how the original series fits in to the Tommy Yuneverse of Shadow Chronicles.

• Haydonite practically blasted the 1st Invid homeworld to hell. Regess mentioned the Invid ancestors fled from Shadows (Haydonite) & by far, relocated to Optera (which proved fertile enough for FoL to thrived there) for several generations until Zor & Tirolian techno-voyagers make their stop there, where at the time Invid were ruled by both current Regess & Regent. Zor duped both Invid monarchs, steal the FoL secrets, returned to Tirol & discover protoculture. On Tirol, undergone a complete technological & social revolution following transformation from Stellar Republic to Robotech Imperium in what was known as the Great Transition, carved their Empire to greatest heights, with the crown achievement, The Zentreadi. The entire Local Group were pacified by stomping goliath Zent armies & armada ... with Peryton, Garuda, Karbarra, Praxis, Spheris fell under RT Masters dominion, alongside thousands of Tyrolian off-world colonies.

• But Masters never made a move against Haydon IV. Chances are, Haydonite may have struck a deal with Masters (realizing Haydonite firepower are not a match against Masters vast Robotech forces), allowing Haydon IV to still retain their independence while still becoming the buoyant & vibrant trading center in 4th Quadrant. Haydonite may have led the the Masters decision to defoliate the Invid & launched military campaign to wipe out the Invid on Optera, the fact that by monopolising protoculture production would be a great boon to Robotech Imperium. So the Invid were then again kicked out royally by stampeding Zents with Optera visibly poisoned to never supported the FoL. Hell, Haydonites may have supplied the Masters with the weapons to irradiate Optera, rendered it inhabitable.

• Once Invid were outta the picture, Haydonites waited patiently while Masters Empire expanded. Perhaps the Haydonites may have engineered the divisive & devastated war between Masters's faction & Disciples of Zor.

• Such great wars may have exhausted the Masters protoculture supplies, which prompted Zor's expedition to reseed alien worlds with FoL.

• Zor died in one such mission, & SDF-1 with the last viable protoculture matrices on board folded to parts unknown. Invid began its space guerilla wars, but was contained by Zents.

• Later on, with the conflict of 1st RT War with the destruction of the great Zent Armada, & Masters fleet shortly leaving RT Imperium vast territories, Invid forces launched a relentless offensive against the undefended Imperium, practically razing the entire Masters colonies. This would have drained the Invid's own forces, in which resulted in schism between Regess & Regent. Regent had to supplement his depleted forces with Inorganics by the time the inavsion of Tyrolian homeworld began in 2022AD, & without Regess approval, he launched a campaign to subdue the 4th Quadrant's Sentinel worlds to expand his little empire.

• Such endeavors would once again depleted the remaining protoculture supplies in the Regent storage, by the time REF came by & liberated Tyrol, Regent's forces was stretch thinly garrisoning Sentinel's homeworlds. But one important fact remains, while other worlds were definitely conquered by force, only Haydon IV surrendered peacefully, allowing Regent to usurp Haydon IV's High Command structure. Again, Haydon IV was better off compared to other Sentinel world. Haydonites secretly supported the massive Sentinel campaigns against overextended, protoculture diminished Regent's forces.

• Meanwhile, Regess with half of Invid race disappeared from 4th Quadrant & invaded FoL-infested Earth. This significantly weakened Invid Regent's forces in 4th Quadrant. As Sentinel campaign drew to a close, Haydonite's offered Shadow Technology & Neutron S weaponry to REF for Earth liberation missions which have TWICE failed spectacularly (2038 & 2042).

• This time around, as Regent's & later Edward's Invid forces were wiped out on Optera as a conslusion to exhaustive Sentinel campaign, Haydonite held an ace to watch REF make a greatest mistake in the last Earth Reclaimation Mission. REF in 2044, armed to the teeth with Shadow equipped fighters & vessels, with the planet buster Neutron S, launched the final offensive. Haydonites, with Awareness, would've expected the REF to finally deployed Neutron S missiles on Earth, which would resulted both Invid & humanity in Solar system to be obliterated completely by the resulting black hole which is the aftermath of Neutron S deployment (not that REF was informed of such matters). Haydonite will kill two birds with one stone if REF was dumb enough to deploy the doomsday weapons, which REF ultimatle did, but foiled by Regess' massive departure that destroyed the Neutron S missiles & a significant part of REF fleet.

• However, this time around, with REF greatly weakened after 3rd RT War, Haydonite decided to finished the last major 'protoculture-addicts' superpower, humanity, in which exploiting the Shadow-Tech to their advantage. Thus, began the Shadow Crisis.

Reads like a good, highly convoluted fanfic. It does manage to plug certain holes, but it also manages to shrink the universe into allowing this... "Haydonite" thing to be some sort of super master race. Not bad, but it feels a little too close to Starwars Episode 3. In that movie, it makes the mythical Clone Wars a sham war just so the Emperor can remain in power. I don't know. The great thing now is that people can still speculate on the Robotech Lore, as it has been since the beginning of the show. 

But what path will the Yune choose?