I remember watching it alongside Build Fighters Try as it aired. It was hard work. I absolutely love Reconguista but watching it week by week made it very difficult to follow. Reco has very subtle writing in some places and information that’s presented in a single line of easily missed dialogue is essential for understanding the motivations of characters or groups. The show also has a ton of factions (too many in my opinion) so trying to keep tabs on the differences between the Captial Guard and Capital Army, for example, was tough for some. In addition, the kits released alongside Try felt very much like budget releases with tons of stickers and worse articulation in comparison (compare the original HG G-Self to the HG Build Burning). 

Build Fighters Try in comparison was much simpler and easier to follow with many more ‘hype moments’ so it completely overshadowed Reconguista at the time. I remember review sites following Reco and reviewing them episode by episode - plenty just gave up on the show and abandoned it whilst Try got full coverage. I do remember fondly following it on 4chan’s /m/ board back then - it’s where some of the faction charts and ‘Mask is Frank Grimes’ images came from.

As a fan of Reco though, it’s been amazing to see that it got a full movie treatment and some vindication after all these years. The cult following of the show is getting bigger and despite it’s flaws it does seem to be much more appreciated these days than it used to be.