who are we?

Jonathan L. Switzer | "Captain JLS" | Editor & Publisher

First exposed to the Robotech saga as a young boy during the series' initial run in syndication, Jonathan L. Switzer had no clue how the series would later drastically affect his life. Despite it being on at 6:00 a.m. he managed to wake up for it often enough to remember the series' iconography and opening sequence many for years to come, and had his psyche forever marred by the final scenes of episode #83, where Marlene and her friends together discover her true nature. When Robotech went off the air, all he had to remind him of the series were first printings of the first Robotech novel, Genesis, and the first Robotech II: The Sentinels novel, The Devil's Hand.

In the summer of 1992, on a family shopping expedition to Tulsa, Oklahoma, Switzer discovered his first Suncoast Motion Picture Company store in a shopping mall whose name eludes him. The store had the entire Robotech saga on video cassette, a sight he had never before seen. When shown this fantastic sight, he was amazed and thrilled, but his parents only let him buy one tape. Filled with a curious blend of disappointment and excitement, he grabbed the first volume of Family Home Entertainment's truncated 100 minute/six episode The Macross Saga collection. From there, he delved into the novels, reading the two he owned cover to cover and seeking out the rest. By the end of 1994, he had read the last novel of the cycle, The End of the Circle, twice, and had over half of The Macross Saga on LaserDisc, as well as a handful of Palladium Books' Robotech VHS tapes and Streamline Pictures' Perfect Collection tapes, which featured two episodes of Robotech and the two corresponding episodes of the series' original Japanese counterpart.Tormented throughout these years in particular, his middle school / junior high years, for being a bookish geek, he credits Robotech as one of the few things that kept life worth living during those years. Sad, really.

While did not get into the series' comic books until 1995, he quickly made up for lost time by seeking out back issues upon back issues, digging through musty comic book boxes in comic shops across the midwest. In seven years time, he amassed nearly every Robotech comic book ever published. He made his first foray into Robotech internet fandom at the Disciples of Zor message board in about 1995 or '96, and started the webpage which earned him his on-line screen name -- a site called the "SDF-5X Conqueror" -- in 1998. From that time he's gone by the nickname Captain JLS, even though the SDF-5X website is long gone after several incarnations. During the same era he created the first draft of the Robotech Comic Universe website, which endures to this day. In 2002 he made his first contribution to Evan Cass's Emissaries fanzine, a drawing of the Zentradi commander Breetai, and remains a regular contributor, even after taking the reigns of the publication in late 2004 after it became too much of a burden for Cass to bear. Switzer writes a regular editorial column, "Captain's Log," and a continuing fanfiction story, Robotech Conqueror, based upon characters and events created by himself and a circle of fellow Robotech fans at his "SDF-5X" website in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

Switzer's main interests besides Robotech include American and Japanese comics, non-perverted anime, and robot toys ranging from domestically-produced Transformers merchandise to Bandai's high end die-cast Soul of Chogokin line. His favorite color is red, and he likes to pass the time by doodling quick sketches of characters he created as a child and playing quick rounds of Street Fighter II on his GameBoy Advance SP. His favorite non-animated TV shows are 24, House, Doctor Who, and perennial favorite Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He presently works as a gifted paraeducator at two of the elementary schools in his hometown.

Feel free to contact him via e-mail at captainjls[at]animejanai[dot]com. His personal weblog can be found here and his Robotech weblog can be found here.

Evan H. Cass | "Cassman" | Founder

My little brother and I were cleaning our bedroom one Saturday afternoon in 1985 when my father came in and told us that there was a television show on that we might be interested in. Ditching our chores -- with our dad's okay of course -- we sat down in front of the TV and watched the remainder of the program ... a cartoon unlike any that my 9 year-old self had ever experienced. Not only did it feature giant fighting robots -- very desirous subject matter for an imaginative boy like myself -- but it featured an obvious serial-television quality and a strong focus on characters and characterization. That was the day I watched my first episode of ROBOTECH (Episode 4: The Long Wait). I was hooked. For the next year or so, Saturday afternoons at 11:30am on Eau Claire Channel 13 were set aside by my father, brother and myself to watch ROBOTECH. Though the dynamically animated robot action was definitely thrilling to behold, it was the story and characters that kept me coming back. Epic in its scope and framed within an intelligent science fiction environment, it featured a realistic look at war and relationships; characters evolved and even died; years passed and new generations arose.
 
Though ROBOTECH disappeared from the regional airwaves after that year, it didn't disappear from my memory. With the help of toys, games, books, comics and more over the following years, I was able to continue to remember, thrill to and explore the ROBOTECH universe and its characters. Coming full circle, a number of years ago, my first real job allowed me to aquire and watch the whole original series again. How would my 20-something self react to the show my 9 year-old self so loved? Nervously, I sat down and watched it ... and was relieved to find that It still resonated with me. Sure, the visuals and voice acting weren't as great as I'd remembered, but the spirit of the story and characters was still there. I still thrilled to the story. I still cared for the characters. It was then that I first actively dove into the world of ROBOTECH fandom. ( ... thanks in large part to the just-becoming-mainstream internet. Thank you, ROBOTECH PAGE; thank you, DISCIPLES OF ZOR.)
 
In recent years, if anything, my interest in and appreciation for ROBOTECH has only grown. Back in 2000, I established the Robotech Roundtable, an international ROBOTECH fanclub, the website of which I still maintain. In 2001, I started, published and edited EMISSARIES, an old-school print fan magazine that reached -- and still reaches (see this very website for more information) -- readers worldwide. Due to life complications on my end, in 2004, I turned the zine over to another publisher/editor -- friend Jonathan Switzer -- though I still continue to be involved as a fellow Emissary, regularly contributing letters and articles, (and soon) fiction and art, and acting as an assistant-editor of sorts. Hopefully, this unique aspect of ROBOTECH fandom will be around for a long, long time ...
 
( ... what, with THE SHADOW CHRONICLES soon to come out and a new future dawning for ROBOTECH, how can in not be?)

Visit Evan's irregularly updated audio weblog, "The Cassman Cometh," here.