Humans on motorcycle mecha fight an alien invasion in the anime series Genesis Climber MOSPEADA.
At first glance, the “alien invasion” plot sounds pretty standard issue, but there are some unique twists along the way.
Invasion
Americans might recognize MOSPEADA as part of the Robotech series. It was adapted into English as Robotech: The New Generation.
The story takes place on 21st century Earth. Mankind has colonized Mars. An alien race, called the Invid or Inbit, invades the Earth.
The Inbit invasion is pretty unstoppable, and a few human refugees escape to the Moon. The Inbit set up an Earth base called Reflex Point somewhere in the Midwest.
The Mars colonists send troops back home to fight the Inbit on Earth. But the first wave of Martian troops fails.
After the failure, the Mars colony, or Mars Base, builds up a huge military force before trying again. This force includes transforming mecha.
Mars Base sends these new troops, called the Earth Recapture Force, in 2080 — 30 years after the initial alien invasion. However, this attempt is also unsuccessful.
The Second Earth Recapture Fleet is sent a couple of years later. Like the previous attempts, it is also mostly a failure.
After three attempts at saving Earth from the aliens, the humans seem to be no closer to their goal of liberation. There are only a few fighters left to liberate the planet.
Naturally, these fighters will form a ragtag bunch of heroes, determined to win where previous attempts failed.
More plot
In many ways, the Inbit are not your typical alien invaders.
After the initial invasion is successful, they don’t seem inclined to do a lot of attacking — unless there is trouble brewing or they are attacked directly. They also don’t attack Mars.
Instead, the aliens seem mostly content to let the scattered humans who are still on Earth remain in place. Life is miserable for some people, but the aliens don’t interfere all that much.
The lack of human leadership leads to lawlessness in some areas. Other people become willing collaborators with the aliens in order to survive. This puts them into direct conflict with the heroes, as they are unwilling to fight back agains the aliens.
The situation has historic parallels with Vichy France — you have the powerful conquerors, people willing to keep their heads down and a few resistance leaders trying to fight back.
There are also similarities to the Old West. Human civilization is starting to break apart, allowing for outlaws to rise.
The situation can’t last, as the aliens’ plans are eventually revealed to be deadly dangerous for human beings and even for the Inbit themselves in the long run.
It should also be noted that the aliens aren’t just invading for no reason. They are searching for a new home, and they don’t seem to care that they’ve taken away ours.
The Inbid also aren’t humanoid. But, when they come to Earth, they experiment with creating humanoid forms in order to better adapt to Earth. One of the humanoid aliens gets amnesia and starts to sympathize with the humans.
Eventually, some of the aliens start to realize that they are the bad guys in all of the fighting, and try to convince the other aliens to retreat.
In the end, the Inbits leave — except for the ones who want to stick around with the humans. They even clean up behind themselves before they go.
Mecha
All of the mecha/ armored battlesuits found in Robotech/ Macross-style anime shows are pretty cool. The most famous of these are the Valkyrie, especially the Skull Squadron ones. (Jetfire of the Transformers is another good example.)
But the MOSPEADA motorcycles are a pretty cool addition to the concept. They can be ridden like an ordinary motorcycle. But when needed, the rider and motorcycle transform and combine into one robotic unit. Pretty sweet.
And because they are motorcycles, our heroes can ride into town. This fits in perfectly with the post-invasion, post-apocalyptic feel to the series.
In case you were wondering, MOSPEADA stands for Military Operation Soldier Protection Emergency Aviation Dive Armor.
Another mecha is the three-form transformable fighter called the AFC-01 Legioss Armo-Fighter. The Legioss Armo-Fighter has three modes. One is a winged aerospace fighter, one is a humanoid robot, and one is a half-robot with legs and an aerospace fighter cockpit.
Characters
Stick Barnard — A Mars Base soldier who is stranded on Earth. Leader of a group of freedom fighters. His fiancée, Marlene, was killed. His name can also be spelled Stick Bernard or Stig Bernard.
Ray — A scavenger, a loner and something of a joker.
Mint La Blue — A 13-year-old girl. She tags along with the group. She eventually becomes a valuable part of the freedom fighter team.
Houquet et Rose — A former biker gang member. She is reluctant to join the team, but eventually, she does. She falls in love with Ray.
Jim Warston — The mechanic of the group. He comes across as stupid, but he is intelligent.
Yellow Belmont — A soldier, disguised as an entertainer. He crossdresses. Joins the fight to free the Earth.
Aisha — A humanoid Inbit. She gets amnesia. The team names her Marlene. She develops human emotions.
Refless — Leader of the Inbit. Wants to terraform the Earth for the Inbit.
Solzie — A female humanoid Inbit. Learns to sympathize with the humans. Falls in love with Yellow.
Battlar — A male humanoid Inbit. Often defeated by Stick. The fight against the humans is personal for him.
Robotech: The New Generation
In North America, the series was shoehorned into the Robotech continuity. Robotech: The New Generation takes place after Robotech and The Robotech Masters.
In The New Generation, all of the failed Mars Base fleets are part of the Robotech Expeditionary Force. The Invid (Inbit in the original) are enemies of the Robotech Masters. Part of what convinces them to leave Earth is the realization that they have become like the Robotech Masters.
The series covers what is known as the Third Robotech War. The war includes the Invid invasion of Earth, the attempts to liberate the Earth and the resistance against the Invid.
The MOSPEADA motorcycles are renamed Veritech Cyclones. The AFC-01 Legioss, which bears a strong physical similarity to Robotech’s VF-1 Valkyrie, is renamed the VF/A-6 Alpha Veritech.
Characters are also renamed. Stick becomes Scott. Ray is Rand. Mint becomes Annie “Mint” La Belle.
Houquet becomes Rook. Jim is Jim “Lunk” Austin. Yellow is Lance “Lancer” Belmont. Aisha becomes Ariel.
Refless is Regess, Solzie is Sera and Battlar is Corg in the Robotech version.
Love Live Alive
Love Live Alive was an Original Video Animation music video. It used new and old anime footage to tell about events after the end of the series. There are flashbacks to previous events.
Yellow Belmont was a main character for the OVA. It was adapted as Robotech: Love Live Alive in 2013.
In the Robotech version, a reporter interviews Lancer (Yellow) before a concert. Lancer tells about the events leading up to the war. He also talks about his involvement with the rebellion against the Invid.
Other former members of the team surprise him that evening. They have a campfire dinner and talk.
Lancer and Sera are a couple. We learn that Sera is expecting a child.
History
Genesis Climber MOSPEADA is an anime series. The Japanese title is Kikō Sōseiki MOSPEADA. The 25-episode television series ran from October of 1983 until March of 1984.
The Genesis Climber MOSPEADA: Love Live Alive OVA was produced in 1985. It is 50 minutes long.
There was no manga version of the series.
In 2003, ADV released a DVD box set of the series. This is in Japanese, with English subtitles and without all of the Robotech stuff.
Robotech: The New Generation in Print
Jack McKinney wrote a printed adaptation of Robotech: The New Generation. This novelization was published as three novels — Invid Invasion, Metamorphosis and Symphony of Light.
In 2007, an omnibus edition of the three novels was published as Robotech: The New Generation: The Invid Invasion. It was published by Del Rey.
Jack McKinney was a pseudonym for two authors, James Luceno and Brian Daley. The two wrote adaptations of the Robotech series.
Although there was no manga for Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, Comico created a comic book adaptation of Robotech: The New Generation. Each comic book issue corresponded with an episode of the TV series.
Comico: The Comic Company was a Norristown, Pennsylvania, company. It produced comic book adaptations of Robotech. Other titles included Jonny Quest, Mage: The Hero Discovered and Grendel.
It was founded in 1982, went bankrupt in 1990 and continued to publish until 1997.
Genesis Climber MOSPEADA is available on Tubi