SDF-1 Macross Class Super Dimensional Fortress Breakdown 

Yay the Macross is finally getting its respect. I'm not dead.

The SFD-1 is the only ship to combine a ramming attack, boarding party, unloading a full clip, and theme song power-up into one scene.

As a lifelong Macross fan I have to say, thank you Barry Bend. You absolute unit of a man.

Some corrections. The four projections on the sides or shoulders are actually high-speed rail guns. The Deadalus and Prometheus were both carriers that were linked to the SDF-1. You could launch aircraft from either. The reason why the ship needed to transform was because when they first tried to use the space fold, the entire fold drives disappeared. With no drives, there was a big empty void between the reflex cannon mechanism and the main generators. So they had to transform in order to merge the cannon mechanism to the generator. The transformation was basically a fancy method of hot-wiring.

Ben that's why I kept saying SDF Macross and not Robotech. Minmmei was the reason.

This show was the first time I ever saw a character die in a cartoon (RIP Roy Fokker), and he was a MAJOR character. After that, NOBODY was safe, and you genuinely feared for and cared about each of the other characters that much more. Except for Lynn Kyle. Screw that guy.

Oddly. One of the most realistic aspects of this show is how the characters were SO human. They behaved irrationally and emotionally. I found myself screaming at them when they did dumb stuff, especially in their relationships.

I remember watching this as a kid after school in the 80's. loved it so much that when it came out on DVD i get the whole Macross series and showed my kids it. Of course they loved it also.

Against all odds, Barry tried to followed his dream. He relentlessly persevered despite months of being overlooked. Only after being assumed dead, did he finally achieve victory. Barry is the living spirit of anime.

I saw robotech when it first came to north America (yes I'm that old) and it was what made me love scifi, mechs and anime.

Dude you have to remember in the episode where Rick and Minmey were lost in a section of the ship that area was a closed off section that was actually an original section of the ship that was most likely forgotten during the reconstruction and after they were rescued Rick and Minmey learned they were in that area for 2 weeks.

If I remember from the novelizations correctly, half the problems they had with the SDF-1 were because it was something like 80% original Zentredi technology with a layer of human stuff gilded on top of it. And they had to launch in such a hurry that even Goval's command crew had very little idea of what the ship could actually do. So for the first few episodes, they were literally learning on the fly, while fighting a constant, running battle with the Zendtradi.

Dude, that's why Barry wanted you to watch Macross. The music and singing are a lot better. Also the Cat's Eye wasn't a drone, it was a manned recce craft- Lisa with the rear seater in one when she was captured.

"Do people actually like that song Minmei sings?" You have no one to blame but yourself for watching Robotech instead of Macross. The Japanese Minmay songs are actually really good, and there's more of them so it's not just the same one or two songs every time.

Most awesome review of the SDF-1 I have ever seen. So great to see my favorite cartoon as a kid given some love. A big thank you to Barry and the team that put this video together. L.D Rick is the Man!

Thank you Barry. Loved this series a a kid. Your persistence has reaped benefits for us all

Ben: I've watch Macross Me: Nice Ben: It's actually Robotech Me: For what f*cking purpose?

Lin Minmei shows us all that the ultimate weapon against the xenos threat is J-Pop.

The Daedalus Maneuver is one of the most satisfying animated attacks ever. You can almost hear the SDF-1 screaming "FUUUUUCKKKKK YOOOUUUUU!" while punching with a clamped on destroyer.

Now that you have seen Robotech it’s Time to watch SDF Macross. Then not stopping watch the rest. Macross Frontier is my favorite of the series. I was born in 82 and my older brother turned me onto Macross when I was 5 or 6 which turned me into a major anime fan.

I'd love to see you cover Captain Harlock and how he practically single-handedly repelled an alien invasion of Earth while at the same time evading a hostile Humanity.

"To be fair though, I'm pretty sure the ship was in Canada at the time of the blast.." Yes. Yes it was. Good-bye Toronto...

The song(s) are one of the significant differences in Macross vs Robotech. Each time Minmei sings in the original it is a different song, one that is relive the to what is going on. It plays a significant role in the story.

That "reconnaissance drone" was piloted and had a radar operator in it.

When you like before watching. That's Macross.

As the creator of the UN Spacy Database, and former site owner of the Macross RPG Galaxies site......Barry Bend I salute you and your perseverance for the greatest ship and series ever 😁😍

In the Japanese version Minmay sings different songs every time. Still only has two brain cells though.

Minmei's Japanese VA actually had a successful music career in Japan and even voiced the character for the U.S dub version. So yeah, people liked the songs enough.

Spacedock doing a breakdown of the UNCF Yamato BB-01. Generation Tech doing SDF Macross. Someday i might even get my breakdown of the Freedom Guard Ship Amaterasu from Starship Operators. Someday.

Barry is an absolute legend.

Awesome Barry Bend thank you for your consistency, one of my all time favorites!!!

Thank you. I enjoyed your review of the SDF-1. Robotech was the series that got me into anime back when I was in middle school. Please keep up the good work.

Minmay had a crap ton more songs in the original Macross. Heck I think her va got a contract as a pop singer for her work on the show.

Now, if Minmei was in the Expanse and tried that singing shit Amos would space her and then go back to eating Alex's lasagna.

Real surprise to see a video on this done by you guys. Big fan of Robotech and by extention Macross. Thanks for doing it!

This was a Robotech breakdown not a macross breakdown. Robotech changed and watered-down the original macross story.

(Barry bend right now) "VICTORY SCREECH LULULULULULULULULULU"

There is a reason why our dear Barry recommends the original Macross (Japanese version) compared to Robotech, in Macross there are variety of songs sung compared to lower budget song selection in Robotech. The original have different ending compared to the Robotech version as well. There is also some difference in technology descriptions in Macross compared to Robotech. But at last Marcoss have some needed love in this video. Kudos in that.

I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this video!!

Say what you will about Rick Hunter, everyone knows Roy Fokker was the real war hero

I grew up on Robotech and the rest of the Macross saga. Great movies too. Thanks for the suggestion, Barry.

Minmei's songs only work in the Japanese, also I think it was Vancouver they wiped out with the shields

Thank you American Ben. Love your video. This was my favorite series in the 90's. Mises it allot. You did a good job in summing it up. It bring back lovely memories. Must say, the one thing I did not miss was the song. Have a nice day and thanks for the good work you have done.

Thanks Barry! SDF-1, good job. I watched this back in the day. made me late to school more than once.

I believe that the speaker from the generation film in this video should also see the macross original series with Japanese duo. It is because The element of songs themselves are one of the triple elements from the macross series besides variable fighters and love stories. In fact, the songs with the original Japan duo are at least better than their English duo counterpart. It is recommended to also check the movie version of the original macross series, do you remember love. It is because compare to western fiction design, the design from Japan always carry its own weight and a lot of great machines are created by the mankind.

Agreed Rick is a war hero, but Max is the deadliest pilot

The Harmony Gold Robotech was the first anime I ever watched as a kid, and is what got me into anime, I have watched all the original Macross series aswell as the follow up series but to this day the Robotech still holds a very special place and I binge watch the entire series every couple of years

Robots have had a limited budget for music, hence Minmei’s “only” song. The Japanese version , she had several others.

Awww ! That was really touching at the beginning mention of Barry . Also damnBarry thats a lot of comments asking for Macross over the episodes . You my good sir have awesome perseverance !

Each arm was an aircraft carrier. Rick got nothing on max just FYI. kind of the statement of the whole show was force of arms wont save us only culture can. Granted USA only got the cut up gibberish version.

Been wanting this one for a while thanks for carrying the torch for us fans of the sdf1 Barry you absolute unit

The SDF-1 uses the full ship barrier shield twice. The second time was on episode 27 "Force of Arms" when the SDF-1 crashes into Dolza's mother ship. After it launches all it's reflex rockets, the SDF-1 engages the barrier shield. After you see Dolza's ship explode, you see a second, smaller explosion. That was the barrier shield exploding after the first explosion overloads it.

Holy I totally didn't expect someone to do Macross breakdown.

"This team named the ship the SDF-1. Or Super Dimensional Fortress One. Why did they give it such a stupid name? Because in another dimension the ship was named the ASS-1, or Alien SpaceShip One. Later to be christened the Macross once repairs were complete. This is a much better name. Unfortunately this dimension issued a multidimensional copyright and trademark, preventing anyone outside of the original dimensional cluster from using those terms."

The most unrealistic thing about Robotech Season 1 was that every other spacefaring race in the Galaxy didn’t immediately form a coalition and exterminate the monstrous species that unleashed Minmei’s singing on a universe that had done NOTHING to deserve it.

Singing as an art and part of culture has been integral to the Macross lore and theme of culture overcoming barbarism, as it depicted the impact of the former in upholding or developing civilization. Speaking of the songs, the Japanese versions transmit better the theme.

American Ben please wach the "Do you remember love?" movie for better reference material!

The Macross had plenty of issues but that was due to how little the humans knew about its systems. Look what happened to the fold drive after they first used it. As there understanding of the technology grew, alot of those issues were resolved and implemented into future Macross-class ships. Yes, fan of the show do like the song 'My boyfriend is a pilot' but we like the japanese version. Not the american one.

Thank you for the video, Barry.

Ok, my mom was always a very strict person regarding my studies when I was a kid,so I had to be very sick to be able to stay at home,Wich almost never happened...however, when we started watching Robotech in local TV, at the end of the series she was so hocked up she let me stay at home that day just to watch it together...it is one of my precious memories sitting at her feet in front of the TV and being amazed with the story... THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Good effort there guys. But I would like to point out some of the supposedly questionable abilities mentioned in the video about the SDF-1 was quite unfounded. Firstly, the SDF-1 was originally designed to be able to fire the Reflex Canon in Carrier mode. However, the ill-fated inital Spacefold of the SDF-1, which was meant to take them to to the moon but instead sent the SDF-1, the surrounding ships and Macross island to the edge of Pluto instead, caused those spacefold generators to disappear from the ship entirely. Without those generators, there was not enough power to fire the Reflex Cannon. So the ship HAD to make the modular transformation in order to realign the ship power systems to enable it to fire the main gun. It just happens to look like a dorky robot with two lances above its head, because the SDF-1 was modified while in Pluto orbit to use the two aircraft carriers (Daedalus [as mentioned], the other was Prometheus), that got transported along for the spacefold ride, as its arm appendages. This way it solves the problem of living space to house the extra people brought along with them and they wouldn't have to expend too many resources to make seafaring aircraft carriers, outer-space propulsive. So it was not silly, it was necessary. The SDF-1 had to constantly switch between its ship mode and the modular transformed battle mode because, the the SDF-1 had sublight speed capability in ship mode. The battle mode was slow as PH'UC and you can't get back to earth doing 100 mph and not have every one aboard die of old age while you do it. The Pin-point barrier system was also not a stupid design but but like the modular trasnformation was put into place out of necessity because the ship was under powered without those spacefold generators and thus could not activate its full shield barrier and all of its crucial systems at once. So the Pin-point barrier system was put in place to give some kind of protection from enemy fire until the SDF-1 could return to Earth and get those Spacefold generators replaced. Again...Not silly but necessary. The story was written that way to show the danger the people on that ship had face everytime the ship transformed. It was hard living through an earthquake every week. But it allowed the SDF-1 to develop its little mentioned but amazing materials recycling system that made sure every bit of the rubble and damaged part within the ship could be broken down, reprocessed and remade into materials they needed. The SDF-1 is a great and iconic ship in Science Fiction literature and the designers and writers of Macross deserve our respect for giving us this ship to inspire us.

Now to cover the rest of the Macross Franchise: Macross Plus (OVA) Macross 7 (TV Series + OVA) Macross Frontier (TV Series / Movies) Macross Zero (OVA) Macross Delta (TV Series / Movies)

Thank you so much for looking at Macross. Its a great universe and the Japanese continuations just build. Also the music gets MUCH better. I wholeheartedly request you do more.

Jfc you nearly had me balling. Glad Barry is here to see this with the test of us SDF Macross fans.

Your hostility towards Lynn Minmay will be recorded and remembered.........

way to go Barry, loved watching that show, Robotech .

Grew up watching Robotech, use to draw many of the characters and most of the mechas, great review, thank you!

This was a good episode i grew up with robotech the macross saga so seeing my favorite super fortress get the recognition it deserves is the best thank you for brining light to this old series.

It's about fracking time! Edit: Having watched the vid now, I'm sorry you subjected yourself to Robotech. SDF Macross is much better and has more than one song by that little ****. Still, to me the two best characters from that part of the franchise is Roy Fokker and Misa (Lisa) Hayase.

Come battle brothers! Let us use this technology to crush the xeno, heretic, and mutant!

Glad you finally covered the SDF1!!!!!!!!!

Thank You and Barry for this. Long time fan of ROBOTECH.

I can imagine Barry watching this video, gets to the 1:45 and like :" WHAAAT???"

The ADV dub of Macross was a lot better, since they were able to get the original Japanese voice actress for Minmay to dub here character in English. It is a shame it can be so difficult to find. (Darn you, Harmony Gold USA)

If you read the books they go into the dimensional part of the SDF. The inside of the ship is filled with rooms that are there own pocket dimensions. Roy Focker was in the first expedition inside and finds a huge door that leads into a room that can not fit inside. Its a aspect of the ship that was lost in the Robotech series, and i do now if they go into it on the original unedited showings. it helps explain how they could rebuild the city inside the ship and why Rick and Minimay stayed lost as long as they did.

Ok Ben almost got me with the Barry thing.I thought we was dead for a minute. 😂😁😄😄

2020: We need Superman, we got Brightburn.

How is Barry not the first comment

Kudos To Generation Films. That was a great video 👍

I do love your videos they are great to watch and laugh at them. But all things considering you guys do some really good research into the different subject matter. Keep up the great work and bring more content for me to oggle at.

Yeah, Harmony Gold really f'ed up SDF Macross. Lyn Minmei's playlist is one of those things cut. Like, all of it. One of the things that really makes SDF Macross, and for that matter all of Macross (even Delta), something special. Might I suggest following this up with Macross Plus. Bryon Cranston plays the protagonist Isamu Dyson, and the story mirrored the real life competition for the Advanced Tactical Fighter in the late 80s and early 90's that led to the deployment of the F-22. I'm pretty sure Lyn Minmei's one and only song in Robotech was written by whatever low level real estate broker walked in late that day at Harmony Gold. It doesn't resemble any of the songs from Super Dimension Fortress Macross, such as "My Boyfriend is a Pilot" or the title song of the Macross movie "Do you Remember Love."

Thanks to Barry we get to see GF's perceptive on the SDF-1 today. However, some points to consider. The SDF-1 was never meant to be an invincible ship. It was clobbered from Earth parts with a Supervision vessel that was already beaten to a pulp by its Zentradi pursuers long before it crash landed on Earth. The entire thing was meant to take a maiden voyage for further analyzation, and definitely not ready for war when the Zentradi, specifically the 67th Britai branch fleet came knocking. SDF-1 received all sorts of derogatory nicknames while in service, and Captain Global famously dubbed the ship as a 'pile of junk'. The SDF-1's grav engines flew out of its hulls at one point because Earth materials were unable to withstand the power and pressure produced by these alien devices. Another point was the pin-point barrier, while a terrible idea, the barriers were meant to be a last resort, since the power generated within the ship was unstable, and was unable to keep up the energy shielding that covered the entire ship, thus why the crew had to improvise (laughable as it might have been). As for why the Supervision ship crashed intact? Well, that's what it was designed to do. These ships were designed to smash through hard objects and come out unscathed. On the Zentradi side, you have Kamjin, whose hobbies include getting drunk on the job, smash through asteroids and/or fellow Zentradi ships because it's fun. Kamjin often make bets on how many ships he can smash through coming out of fold. So it's not a surprise these ships would remain intact after so much trauma. Today, that ship sits quietly in the middle of 'Macross city', and act as a monument/museum. Nobody in the right mind would want to crew that ship ever again (unless you are Sharon Apple).

The one thing that sends shivers down my spine to this day is the intro music to Robotech.

I don't remember them actually saying it in the show, but the reason it was called the "SDF" was because the aliens that created the ship/fortress had dimensional engineering technology and it was much bigger on the inside than on the outside (like the TARDIS). That was how they could have whole cities inside and easily get lost. It was implied that they had never fully explored the interior of the vessel.

your ship can be cool, but never SUCKER PUNCH enemy ships level of cool.

Hell yeah love that ships that anime was my gate way to scifi I salute you barry

That alien vessel is 22 years overdue. I’m still waiting for my Valkyrie to arrive.

Nice video, I actually love Minmei’s songs throughout the Robotech show. Just hearing her songs brings back good memories.

Way to go Barry Bend!!! Where ever you may be.

If you had watched Macross instead of Robotech they had more than one song.

Finally! Thanks for the Robotech/Macross love.

Grats Barry Bend! I remember watching this when it came out on tv, rushing home to catch it, etc. Craptastic broadcast that we watched it on, without even a VCR at the time.

You forgot Lynn Minmay's only other song she seems to know: "To be in loooove must be the greatest feeling that a girl could feeeeel."

No you don't watch Robotech, you watch Macross. Lynn Minmay is a Japanese singer and the Japanese version has much higher production values with the voice actors, so the songs are much better.

Good shit Barry! That's the determination I like to see.

I remember watching that show back in the 80s it was the first type of anime that I ever saw I loved it until it always will have a special place in my heart thank you for the video

Kyun kyun, kyun kyun, watashi no are wa, pailotooooo. No, I don't know the real lyrics, I sing what I hear

Robotech needs to have a reboot

One of my favorite anime of all time. Loved it, watched it recently, still love it.

Note that the SDF-1's arms were not initially there. After the long-range teleport, two nearby naval ships were repurposed and attached there. One of the ships was named Daedalus, hence the name of the attack.