I think that it was necesary, because thanks to that incident Rick becomes a better lider, and every body has seen that in war you can die in every second, of course is not something for not be sad, but every bodycontinue with his life…

Farewell,Ben!

Look in a series involving a war… people have to die and it can’t always be some faceless character. This is how we arrive at drama. Ben was obviously created as a character to be around just long enough to befriend Rick, let you get to know him and then BAM he dies and you have more drama. Thats why they made him so clumbsy in the first place. Also he also nearly died earlier in I think it was one of the battles with Kyrons forces. If he had not been saved by Rick or Max (I can’t remember) he would have been dead then. So.. how did you not see it coming. He was made to die.

the very fact that it
wasn’t as we wanted it,
is what makes it more
emotionally powerful.
That is Robotech.

Cow!  It’s what’s for dinner! ^_^  :(

I have been off this site for a long time. this is still a very important topic, if you ask me.

I watched the Macross Saga again recently and Roy and Ben’s death were back to back. Sadness

Its simple. The original SDF Macross animation and storyline already have scene of Ben Dixon’s character died. Thus Robotech writers adapted it to fit the narative of Robotech. Ben wasn’t much of a support characters most often just a comic relief or that blunder of a ineffective sidekick. Despite his death is unglamourous, his death affected Rick the most as Rick is his ranking officer and Ben was his mate, and subordinate under him too. Having Ben’s death came right after Roy’s it really hit Rick that no one even those close to him will be spared from the aftereffects of war.

Ben’s death served a plot point where Rick will matured into a great character he is later on, as a leader.

Revitising this thread brings back memories, I visited this site on a whim just to see if it ever was up and running again.  Glad.to see it again.

SteelMax - 11 November 2018 05:28 AM

Revitising this thread brings back memories, I visited this site on a whim just to see if it ever was up and running again.  Glad.to see it again.

Welcome back

Lisa&Rick; - 04 November 2018 07:24 PM

I watched the Macross Saga again recently and Roy and Ben’s death were back to back. Sadness

The back to back losses really help give Rick that “this is real now” attitude.
Up until the loss of life he experiences first hand, his biggest worries wasn’t the war, it was Minmei.
This is another reason I love the scene where he hangs up on Minmei, it’s a visual cue that he’s started turning all that ‘off’ in his mind as he starts to see what is actually important and how high the stakes are.

Later we see he is able to compartmentalize both and by the end of the Macross Saga he’s not only an extremely effective leader but also able to be mature about Minmei while still reaching out a helping hand in her times of need while not getting too caught up in it all.

Rewatching Robotech is great. As we get older we pick up on all these other things that we can relate to a lot better because of our years of experience