![]() ![]() “There was no anime fanzine community in the UK in the mid-80s. That’s interesting enough, but Helen also informed me that Robotech UK was the first fanzine specifically dedicated to anime in the UK. If you’re curious, the first ten issues are available as a PDF via DriveThruRPG. Acquired by Anime News Network in 2005, the last issue was published in 2008. Faced with litigation from Harmony Gold (see? they were pgnacious even back in the ’80s), Protoculture Addicts soon went “official.” Ten issues later, it turned into a general anime magazine and went on to be the longest-running North American anime magazine. It’s difficult to talk about Robotech fanzines and not mention Protoculture Addicts, the creation of a group of college students from Quebec. While Robotech served as an introduction to anime for American fans that missed out on Battle of the Planets or Starblazers (and I do mean American fans - Robotech was, and is, surprisingly popular in South America), its influence on UK fandom was practically nonexistent according to McCarthy, saying, “ Robotech had virtually no impact on the UK.” So, far from being the UK equivalent of Protoculture Addicts, Robotech UK was hyping up a series to fans that had (probably) yet to see it. What struck me after reaching out to Helen McCarthy, who should be familiar to fans as the author of The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 and The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga and who’s specifically thanked in the fanzine’s credits, was that Robotech UK, and its creator Tony, was something of an anomaly. There’s some background on the show’s creation, a brief synopsis of the show’s three “seasons,” and an interview with the show’s producer, none other than Carl Macek himself. Published sometime in 1986 by Tony Luke, Robotech UK, at first glance, seems like your run-of-the-mill Robotech fanzine from the 1980s. One of the things sent my way was a copy of Robotech UK. ![]() ![]() Along with garnering some fascinating comments from older fans (seriously, the comments were a much more interesting read than the actual articles) and inspiring me to launch Zimmerit, it became popular enough that I had people offering to send me things to feature. ![]() Back when we still updated Colony Drop, I wrote an irregular column called History’s Greatest Disciple that served as an excuse to dig up old books and magazines of the ‘80s and ‘90s. ![]()
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