What was the first Real Robot series to make it North America?

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Mafty
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What was the first Real Robot series to make it North America?

So what exactly was the first "Real Robot" series to make it to airwaves in North America? I know shows began being imported in the 80s (including the infamous Robotech debacle), so how many were released and when? Or was Robotec the closest thing to imported mech anime? I wondered because the Battletech novels(themselves part of the Robotech controversy) seem to have references to alot of mech shows that wouldn't seem to have been exported from Japan at that point. For instance the Mechs have Beam Sabers(Though I know Star Wars had the Light Saber first), and some of the novels have gladiatorial mech combat(like Votoms). So where did these ideas come from? Was it a coincidence? Or is it tied more toward the Robotech issue?
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tHeWasTeDYouTh
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Re: What was the first Real Robot series to make it North America?

I would say Macross through Robotech. Gundam came in the late 90s with the original three movies being released(white vhs cases) and later on Gundam wing came out on toonami. the original series was later released on toonami with a new dub.
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: What was the first Real Robot series to make it North America?

Mafty wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 3:16 pm So what exactly was the first "Real Robot" series to make it to airwaves in North America? I know shows began being imported in the 80s (including the infamous Robotech debacle), so how many were released and when? Or was Robotec the closest thing to imported mech anime?
Super robots had been a thing for decades... thanks to Tetsujin 28-go being localized in the US and Canada as Gigantor back in 1968.

Real robots were a phenomenon that didn't really properly emerge in Japan until 1979-1982, so you could say that the incomplete (pre-Robotech) Harmony Gold dub of Super Dimension Fortress Macross was the first real robot series to make landfall in North America.


Mafty wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 3:16 pm I wondered because the Battletech novels(themselves part of the Robotech controversy) seem to have references to alot of mech shows that wouldn't seem to have been exported from Japan at that point. For instance the Mechs have Beam Sabers(Though I know Star Wars had the Light Saber first), and some of the novels have gladiatorial mech combat(like Votoms). So where did these ideas come from? Was it a coincidence? Or is it tied more toward the Robotech issue?
Given that it's BattleTech, that they were plagiarizing is the safest of all possible bets. FASA was an incredibly shameless, creatively bankrupt outfit that sincerely believed it would never face any consequences for plagiarism or copyright infringement, and the game's creators routinely did the hobby expo circuit (which is where they found the plamodels that "inspired" BattleTech in the first place). They would have seen bootleg tapes and/or plamodels for shows like Gundam, Macross, MOSPEADA, Votoms, Orguss, Dougram, etc. at those events.
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