In the last reissue of the novels, changes had been made throughout the novel series against the authors' intent. The "Robotech Novels – Support the True Books By the Original Authors" Facebook page was created to help generate support for James Luceno and Brian Daley's true work.
On February 16, 2013, Harmony Gold announced at the Animation On Display convention in San Francisco that it was rewriting parts of the first 12 Robotech novels for the sake of "canon." Since the 2000s, apart from the TV series, its idea of canon has been some WildStorm comics; two post-Sentinels animated videos with glacially paced story advancement; changed dates to the timeline; no Sentinels books and other novels such as "The End of the Circle"; and little else. For a number of years in the new millennium, only the first 12 novels were reprinted or made into e-books. The fact that HG was working on rewriting much of those 12 to fit its restrictive view of the saga was alarming.
By limiting publication of the novels, the franchise was limiting itself. Meanwhile, the remainder of the 21 books just sat on the sidelines, not making money and not helping Robotech show more of a presence at bookstores. By altering the books and putting things in that the authors never wrote, HG was overlooking that the authors gave the books a number of admirable traits, such as more of a military feel and a compelling and thorough continuation of the saga.
This Facebook page makes no claim as to whether it affected later decisions made by the franchise, but it does list the following instances since its inception. Since the creation of this cause page on Facebook in early 2013, support for the work by the authors has grown, especially support against any tampering with their writing. In addition, following the founding of the "Robotech Novels – Support the True Books By the Original Authors" page, some of the planned alterations to Jack McKinney's work were dropped. And another development occurred: 8 of the other 9 books in the series were reissued on April 30, 2014. Getting the remaining 9 novels re-released always has been a desire of this page since the beginning. But other issues exist.
Much more work needs to be done. The novels still need to be presented with material suitable to their content. After the '90s editions, subsequent editions have had timelines and so-called appendixes that misrepresented the work and were obviously not by the authors. Now the reissued novels still have blatantly wrong timelines and inappropriate appendixes, which are, of course, not by the authors.
To make matters more troubling, numerous e-book-formatted, post-author changes now were made throughout the prose of the reissued books, whether it's the first 12 or the more recently returned 8. These changes were made against the authors' intent and without consultation — the authors being James Luceno and the late Brian Daley, both comprising the pseudonym Jack McKinney. Listed alterations, featured in the revised "new" appendixes, are thought by Harmony Gold as not too disruptive to the original prose, but since phrases in the novels were changed into things that do not fit either the context of surrounding passages or simply what Jack McKinney intended or both, we are of the mind that they are disruptive. And major changes for dates within the electronic editions go against how characters are still portrayed in a number of places throughout the prose. Toward the end of the saga and of course throughout, the authors wrote the characters with viewpoints that reflected their respective ages for specific years in the chronology, not at ages that would make all of the main characters many more years older before the SDF-3's final spacefold. Further, even in HG's efforts to make the novels more like HG's selected canon, its actions were not very thorough, and as a result, the text is far from abiding to what is the supposed canon. HG's changes resulted in something that does not serve its canon and certainly does not serve the novels. And all that had to be done to avoid this situation was be true to the work that is by the "pen author" whose name is on the books — Jack McKinney.
Exactly who was HG trying to satisfy? Was it the longtime fans of the novels or those who never liked them? Was HG trying to convince itself into somehow accepting them via its tampering? (Along with changed dates, wiping away much of the authors' text in the "Robotech Chronology" section within the digital editions of "Rubicon" and "The End of the Circle" became one of the most disturbing things about the electronic travesties.) But HG does not accept the novel series in its canon, even after the alterations, and somehow HG has avoided one of the simplest, respectful, and profitable ways to reissue the novels — through a Star Wars-like "Legends" label that would publish the Robotech novels as they were written in the ’80s and ’90s. Of course, the Robotech novels don't even need such wording from a label; Disney/Lucasfilm is far from alone in publishing past content appropriately. For instance, comics publishers Marvel and DC have reprinted numerous past stories from their catalogs over many decades in a manner that respects the creative intent of those who had worked on them. More examples abound throughout the prose and comics fields that show revered, classic material being published as intended by the writers and/or artists and coexisting on bookshelves and virtual spaces with new, company-appointed canon material.
Somehow, some of the recently reprinted classic Robotech comics got a pass when it comes to tampering with the material; other than the comics being shrunk to fit the dimensions of print omnibuses, no widespread tampering has been seen for those comics. Then in early 2021, it was brought to the attention of this page that online stores, such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes, were no longer able to sell the digital editions (albeit digital travesties) of the Robotech novels. However, consumers who already bought the digital travesties before they were pulled from the lists of online locations still have them in their personal library via whatever service they use. More recently, it was discovered that the first three novels have been re-collected into both paperback and digital omnibus forms and are now available for preorder through Penguin Random House and other sellers. Unfortunately, there is no indication that the prose in this re-release has only the edits of the true editions — from the ’80s and ’90s — rather than the pervasive non-author tampering.
If you've enjoyed the novels and don't want to see an important part of your love of Robotech disrespected in such a manner, then let not only Harmony Gold heads know but also those at Crunchyroll, the current handler of Robotech merchandising. Go to comic cons and anime shows and be heard. They want to talk Robotech at these panels, so let's talk Robotech. Let's talk about the lack of consideration for their own product and the valuable contributions to the mythos from the authors. Let's discuss how HG went against universally accepted publishing practices and mistreated the work of those who gave the saga many of its best moments.
At the same time, we need to write to them. If we care at all about how the books are presented, we need to show it in a number of ways. Write to the heads at Harmony Gold and Crunchyroll about how they are failing their fans. Spread the word. Get on the web forums, Facebook, Twitter, etc., along with writing email messages and snail mail letters. In short, if this is wrong to you, then let's do something about it! In fact, let's do many things.
We can be heard — by letting HG and Crunchyroll know that rewriting even a fraction of the books and adding content that misrepresents the novel series are a travesty to the work of authors James Luceno and Brian Daley. The books still need to be reissued with text which is, in every regard, true to the authentic work of Jack McKinney. We want all the books back, and we want them all back right, as intended by the actual writers. If you agree, please "like" this Facebook page, and use it as a springboard for how your support does not end with clicking "like."
Speak out at conventions and shows, get on the web forums, use social media, keep reading and sharing the pre-millennium paperbacks, and write Crunchyroll and Harmony Gold at the email addresses below:
business@crunchyroll.com
info@robotech.com
Furthermore, you can help show support by signing a petition for the re-release of the Robotech novels as they had been originally published. In addition to specifying the value of the novels in regards to the overall Robotech epic, the petition at Change.org outlines the many financial benefits to Crunchyroll should it properly bring the books back to print. (Note: MegaSciFi.com, "Robotech Novels – Support the True Books By the Original Authors," and its sister online presence, "Robotech Timeline for the Animation, Novels, and Comics," are not affiliated with "Robotech Novels Universe," which is the developer of the petition.) Please read and sign this vital petition at the following web address:
https://www.change.org/p/crunchyroll-re-release-the-robotech-novelizations
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