Sentients Magazine

Please note that this website rejects the changes made throughout the prose of the 20 Del Rey eBooks released in 2014, along with their HG-issued timelines and appendixes, and this site also rejects the HG-issued timelines and appendixes in the Del Rey paperbacks that were printed after the 1990s. The post-1990s Del Rey paperbacks and the 2014 electronic editions are travesties to the work of the Jack McKinney co-authors; the aforementioned add-ons and the changes in the prose of the 2014 electronic editions were made against the authors' intent. In contrast, the editions listed below are among the authors' true editions. (The more recent Titan Books editions show some promise, although only some of the novels have been republished by Titan so far.)

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As indicated in the introduction, placements and dates for the entries were derived from sources featured throughout the timeline.

However, some of the dates/placements were not easily extrapolated. On this page, I detailed my extrapolations for those more

difficult entries. Since the main focus of the timeline is to present an order of events based squarely on the selected licensed works,

the number of dates/placements attributed to me is relatively low, and they were made with the aim of simply refining the chronology.

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Could a number of the dates I had developed be substituted with others that are just as plausible? Certainly. That’s why I discussed

them with actual Robotech writers. Whenever they had something else in mind, I used their suggestions.

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As with my continuity lists, the printing info of the editions I used for the novels is as follows:

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Robotech 1-3 (three-in-one edition) – May 1994

Robotech 4-6 (three-in-one edition) – October 1994

Robotech 7-9 (three-in-one edition) – April 1995

Robotech 10 – February 1990

Robotech 11 – November 1987

Robotech 12 – December 1987

Sentinels 1-3 (aka Robotech 13-15; three-in-one edition) – August 1995

Sentinels 4 (aka Robotech 16) – July 1988

Sentinels 5 (aka Robotech 17) – August 1988

Robotech 18 – January 1990

Robotech 19 – May 1994

Robotech 20 – April 1995

Robotech 21 – April 1996.

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And as with my continuity lists again, the above info is important to keep in mind; going through my timeline and notes, you’ll find that

page numbers are cited from those editions. Other editions may have different page numbers and so forth.

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The extrapolation notes correspond with the letter/numeral designations after certain timeline entries. In times past, I would say to click a designation on Robotech Timeline – References Version and you would automatically get the portion of this page that features notes pertaining to the selected entry. Likewise, if you were to click a designation below, you would get the corresponding timeline listing. But since switching service providers recently, I haven’t had the time to include this feature again, so in the meantime, please simply have the References Version page and this Notes page open in two different tabs to fully use both pages.

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A1 Aeon Lanack (which eventually switches over to Aeon Robotech) refers to the Tirolian system for dates. I had always wondered

how a numeral from Aeon Lanack would relate to an Earth year, so I asked Jim Luceno (who coauthored the Robotech novels under

the pseudonym of Jack McKinney, and for the purposes of this page, shall henceforth be called Jim). To my surprise, he urged me to

devise my own explanation.

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I structured the Tirolian system around these two dates: 1171, Zor’s birth, and 1256, the beginning of Zor’s exploration of the

quadrant. Since Zor was known to be a young, preternaturally gifted genius who had been given the tremendous responsibility of

heading a starship with the objective of ensuring a glorious future for his race, I reasoned that his age at the start of the journey

should be reflective of his unique gifts and the utmost trust placed upon him. Hence, with every four numerals from Aeon Lanack just

about equaling the passage of one Earth year, Zor would be in his early twenties by human reckoning.

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A2 Yes, Zor was born on Tirol, but his origins remain largely shrouded in mystery. Page 199 of Novel 18 indicates that records of his

birth had not been found. Also, at the end of the novel, Rem claimed that his child Minmei is carrying will become Zor, despite that they

live in extradimensional Haydonspace and a method of time travel would be needed to deposit Zor on Tirol at the birth date given in

the novel’s Chronological Summary. Adding much to the quandary, the comic Robotech Genesis: The Legend of Zor shows Zor’s father

was a Tirolian named Zol. Of all the material, the clearest statement that Zor was born on Tirol is at the beginning of Novel 18’s

Chronological Summary.

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B1, B2 As the Aeon Robotech dates approached the “present day,” I thought it would be interesting to see the Earth standard as

well (i.e. “also 1976-1989”). Another embellishment of mine is the 632 A.R. date. Novel 18’s Chronological Summary shows Zor’s

seedings as taking place from 580-640 A.R. But when I was putting together the timeline, I wanted to show an event on Earth that

took place within those A.R. numerals. So before Zor seeded Spheris, 632 was picked as a cutoff because it’s around the time of a

notable Earth-related event: the start of the Global Civil War.

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A3 I gave 1990 as the start of the Global Civil War because the material states the war was nearly ten years old when the SDF-1

crashed.

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A4 I picked 1995 as the start of the World Unification Alliance because the group seemed to be a last-ditch effort to save the world

that was a bit too late in forming. The Global Civil War had been on its way to going “fully” global by 1994.

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A5 Comics writer Bill Spangler had covered the early history of Roy Fokker and Claudia Grant the most, so I asked him when the

fireworks began.

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B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9 The cited material provides the year the SDF-1 arrived, but not the month. I chose December to heighten

the obvious end-of-the-millennium connotation. I included Zor’s stealing of the Protoculture matrix and the escape of the SDF-1 in the

same month to emphasize a closeness of those events to the ship’s arrival. Other events under December were included because their

pacing occurred at a reasonably quick clip, having directly followed the SDF-1’s crash.

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A6 This spot of the timeline was picked for the formation of the UEG because it made a sort of sense to me that the World Unification Alliance and other global powers would join together to become the UEG no sooner than after the destruction of Mars Base Sara. Also, Jim said the formation occurred around this year.

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A7 This date originated from The RDF Field Manual for the Palladium roleplaying game. Bill had it in mind when he referred to the

Grand Cannon in the Return to Macross comic. According to him the date presented a reasonable amount of time having passed for

Earth scientists to unlock some of the technological mysteries aboard the SDF-1.

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A8 Development of the Veritech Fighter follows the start date on construction of the Grand Cannon because I believe take-no-prisoners-

minded leaders would push for the development of this grandiose weapon before increasing research in other areas.​ Although the timeline doesn’t show it, I tend to think of June as the time when breakthroughs in Veritech development occurred, which probably preceded the actual naming of the fighter. Also of interest, Jim said that development on other mecha would certainly have taken place at the same time, though most were phased out once the Veritech program gained momentum.

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B10, B11 Jim told me that the start dates for the Robotech Defense Force and its academy are sometime in late 2002. This

recommendation caused me to speculate on exact months (something I’d only done a couple other times, due to a combination of

significance and a good degree of surrounding information that these instances presented). July was selected as the instatement of the

RDF since, with the advent of the Veritech, the UEG would certainly soon create the military that specialized in the usage of

Robotechnology. I chose September as the academy’s launch date because it would allow the UEG at least a couple months to hold an

aggressive recruitment drive before opening academy doors.

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A9 I thought a couple years after the UEG instatement must had passed before the UEDC formed; page 46 of Novel 19 implied a

significant gap of time between the two.

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A10 Lisa started attending the RDF Academy in April 2005, according to the Academy Blues comic. Naturally she would be assigned

the SDF-1 upon graduation. Since she didn’t begin the academy during a fall semester, I reasoned that she probably graduated no later

than the winter of 2008 and went directly to the SDF-1 within the same month.

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A11 Page 184 of Novel 2 (three-in-one edition) implied that either November or December was the month the Zentraedi attacked

Macross Island. I chose December because the last month of the year has the most symbolic resonance, also heightening the parallel

with the plummet of the SDF-1 ten years ago.

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A12 The year of Rick’s promotion was determined by the fact that Minmei turned 16 at the same time. Minmei had been 15 when

the Zentraedi attacked Macross Island in 2009.

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A13-a I placed construction start date of the SDF-2 in its own separate entry to suggest that the RDF was too busy with relief efforts

to start building it right after Dolza’s Rain. Besides, according to Novel 6, page 334, the SDF-2 began construction after the start of

construction on New Macross.

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A13-b The Robotech Masters’ pilgrimage to Earth was moved from 2012 to the last event of 2013 because instances in Novel 6,

pages 368 and 390-392, along with Novel 20, pages 14-17, show that the Masters’ journey to Earth was started after Breetai and the

RDF captured the factory satellite, despite the listing in Novel 18’s Chronological Summary or the 20-year trek projection in Macross

Episode 31 “Khyron’s Revenge” and Novel 6. (With a launch date of 2013, the trek to the Terran solar system actually took 16 years, as

indicated in Novel 20, pages 14-15; the arrival of the Masters’ fortresses at the edge of the solar system occurred in 2029 [Novel 20,

pages 14-17], which preceded the first Earth/Masters battle, dated 2031 [Novel 7, pages 4 and 18-24; Novel 18 Chronological

Summary].)

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A14 Since Dana has the dominant personality, I placed Bowie’s birth after hers to emphasize her big-sister role.

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A15 The March date was implied by “March’s sudden melt” on page 5 of Novel 19.

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A16 I figured the demolition either started late March or early April. It’s known that a full month was needed for the demolition and

that the burial took place in May.

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A17 On pages 37-38 of Novel 19, it’s June as Rick and Lisa headed to Fokker Aerospace Base. The top of page 38 says they’ve been

“tiptoeing around the issue of his promotion for two months...” I placed the promotion after the start of the demolition because it

seemed more appropriate for the RDF to concentrate on promotions at that point.

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A18 Another date that originated from the Palladium roleplaying game.

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B12, B13, B14, B15, B16 Comic series The Malcontent Uprisings was the first source to explore the time period with the same name.

Later, Novel 19 adapted material from the comic while further expanding on the time period. Some dates were changed in the novel.

This entry shows one of the changed dates from 19.

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A19 My best guesstimate on the month for this entry. No more, no less.

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A20 I placed the hijack attempt in March 2017 since the A-bomb detonation on the 15th seemed to had taken place about a week

ago.

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A21 In Novel 18’s Chronological Summary, Spheris was the last planet listed as conquered by the Invid during the years 2015-2017.

I placed it as the last event of 2017 for no other reason than it seemed to be as good a place as any.

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A22 Unlike some other events mentioned in the newscast on pages 274-275 of Novel 19 that had received dates from the comic The

Malcontent Uprisings #12, the unification of the Southland city-states was not given a specific month by any source material. I placed

it in July 2018 mainly because the latest source-dated event in the newscast occurred in the same month. And I have the unification

follow the ASC’s capture of the Paranka to imply that Leonard’s victory helped spur support for seceding from the UEG.

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A23 Moran and Leonard seemed well entrenched by this time, so I bumped this from the last event for 2025, in Novel 18’s

Chronological Summary, to the beginning.

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B17, B18 In my Explaining the Logic Behind the Order link (a page under reconstruction), I talked about how the comic series Cyberpirates had proven challenging for me during the incorporation of it onto my Video/Comics lists. For the timeline, I’ve included two Cyberpirates entries, one from the first issue and the second from issue four. As I conveyed in Explaining the Logic..., most events from Cyberpirates are hard to pin down in relation to Sentinels events, but the two Cyberpirates events on the timeline are not. Within the two months known to have passed between the featured Cyberpirates entries, I’ve been able to fit in key Sentinels events.

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A24 Extrapolation for the placement of the Sentinels’ formation (the original XT members) was quite involved. When the Sentinels

intercepted transmissions of the REF’s victory on Tirol, they started heading for the planet. And before that, we know Tesla was about

to leave for Haydon IV to pick up some more specimens while the liberation of Tirol was nearing the end. I figured the founders of the

Sentinels must have broken free from Tesla soon after Tirol’s liberation.

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A25 I placed the components’ return after other events for 2028 because it happened in the last month of the year.

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A26 The January date puts this entry at the top of 2029.

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A27 Placement in August was implied by references in Novel 20.

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A28-a Sentinels Novel 5 said the Optera mop-up lasted two months.

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A28-b I decided to put Drannin’s birth under October 2029 because the Robotech Elder Nimuul on page 169 of Novel 20 indicated

that the first of the full-size Zentraedi births occurred around this time. My guesstimate on when Nimuul said this bit of dialogue is that

month, which coincides with my determination that the Ark Angel began its slow return to Tirol in October 2029 (see A27 and A28-a in

timeline and notes); Drannin was born en route. (On page 43 of Novel 20, it’s known that Zor’s computer was operational from January

2029 through October 2029. The Masters communicated with it over a shorter length of time than Zand and toward the end of its

operation—a development that encompassed Nimuul’s dialogue.)

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A second thing I want to note is that, as with various passages cited in both my Timeline entries and Continuity lists, some events in

one book might overlap with those in another book or more, without knowing exactly when something took place in relation to another

event in some cases. Drannin’s birth and some events either briefly mentioned or found throughout Novel 20 are an example of that.

Listing things chronologically always has been doable for the series but only up to a point.

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A third thing (yes, that’s right—a third thing) I want to note is the mention of the Awareness’s awakening on pages 48 and 169 of

Novel 20. (I’m taking the opportunity to mention this here because Nimuul’s dialogue about the Zentraedi giving birth occurred during

one of the Elders’ conversations that mentioned the Awareness’s awakening.) Page 167 indicated the Sentinels were still returning to

Tirol, but in the same exchange involving the Robotech Elders (page 169) and a previous exchange (page 48), they said the Awareness

was awakened; however, the Awareness supposedly didn’t awaken—or reawaken—until years later, according to Sentinels Novel 5,

pages 203-204, Novel 18, pages 16-19, and Novel 18’s Chronological Summary, so this might appear to be an oversight in Novel 20 on

the first reading. On the other hand, there is a considerable string of events within the Sentinels novels that suggests that the Elders

were referring to an earlier awakening: 1) Before the Sentinels’ campaigns, the last time anybody had challenged Haydon IV’s defenses

had been about 2,000 Earth-standard years ago—several hundred invading ships had been destroyed in a matter of moments. Despite

Veidt’s advice, a Veritech team tried to slip by Haydon IV’s legendary defenses but awakened them instead [Sentinels Novel 3 (three-in-one edition), pages 459, 466-467; Sentinels Novel 4, page 25]; 2) Janice Em directly contacted the Awareness and was changed by it

[Sentinels Novel 4, pages 58-64, 87]; 3) Zor-shaped “antibodies” were used by the Awareness in fighting the Invid upon Vowad

unleashing the planet’s defenses [Sentinels Novel 4, pages 72, 106, 111-130]. With these events, it can be surmised that the

Awareness was awake, at least for a time, before its heightened level of activity in the last couple pages of Sentinels Novel 5 and

during Novel 18.

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B19, B20 Placement for this entry was implied by an estimated number of weeks having passed since the September date in which

the Masters made contact with Zor’s computer.

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A29 Since Emerson blackmailed Leonard into supporting a dissolution of the Earth Defense Force around the end of October 2029,

and at the most, two weeks passed afterwards before the Senate voted on the accord through which the dissolution was enacted, I

determined that the accord took place in the same year, not the next as suggested in Novel 21, page 206. (I reasoned the blackmail

occurred before November because Zor’s computer stopped operating around the same time [Novel 20, pages 43, 248 to 251]). And

because the accord was passed about two weeks after the end of October, I assigned November as the month for the accord to go into

effect.

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There were times that I wanted to move the accord to the next year per Novel 21 in order to have the date conform to that book,

but events that soon follow the blackmail preclude me from doing so: 1) Novel 20, pages 252-258, establishes that the retooled Earth

Defense Force is now called the Army of the Southern Cross, and 2029 is more or less the implied year in a discussion within Gibley’s

group; 2) Emerson states on page 255 that SPOOK’s Tokyo operations are being phased out during a conversation that takes place two

weeks after Leonard’s attempted coup, then pages 255-259 show Zand in the process of leaving SPOOK which is followed by the

shutdown being discussed by Gibley’s group; 3) another reason that all of this happens in 2029 is that Terry soon returns to Japan

after turning down Emerson’s offer to reenlist [pages 255, 257-260]. His return is among these events, and it makes sense that he

wouldn’t have any reason to stay away from Japan for months.

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A30-a With Novel 21, page 12, first full paragraph, as a reference, these events all seemed to fall under June 2032.

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A30-b I wanted this event to parallel the release of the spores on Earth that took place earlier in the year. But I didn’t want to make

the parallel too obvious, so I placed the Opteran reseeding down a ways.

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A31 I have the rallying of troops on Earth share the same entry as the renaming of Optera in order to make events overlap for once.

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A32 Jim told me that Dana’s arrival on Tirol was 6-9 months after the Regis’s invasion of Earth. Between the Red Moon events

seemed the perfect spot for this entry.

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A33 Although Novel 18’s Chronological Summary hardly includes events from its own narrative, I believe a reasonable placement for

them (the events prior to the reemergence of the SDF-3 in Earthspace) is within the same year as the end of the Third Robotech War.

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A34 Another instance of overlapping events to make occurrences seem less parceled.

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A35 Lisa said over ten years passed during the fold out of newspace. Pinning it down to 11 years felt about right.

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A36 Another guesstimate on an exact date. 2050 has a nice ring and allows a decent amount of time to pass before the ever-diligent

human race embarks on another expedition. Also, I made the only non-date extrapolation when I based an SDF-4 mission objective on Lisa’s words: “Soon we’ll know whether the saga of Protoculture made itself felt in the Andromeda Galaxy or if things there are a new story entirely.”

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Robotech Timeline for the Animation, Novels, and Comics – References Version

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