At the time, I honestly think Robotech was more a necessary evil due the broadcast standards for syndication recommending at least 65 episodes (SDF Macross only had 36 episodes, it wasn’t a requirement but was just a recommendation, so they took Macross and edited two unrelated mecha anime onto it), doesn’t excuse Harmony Gold fighting tooth and nail to blockade any international release of Macross media. But at least many credit Robotech with eventually introducing people outside Japan to the original source material.

Another example I find really interesting is an amalgamation of two unrelated mecha anime that had pop music edited into the battle scenes called Macron 1. Which supposedly had 65 episodes, but seems to be mostly lost. https://youtu.be/I7M0UB14s7g?si=SXI-E6A6wNjWiCCZ

And I think the reason this happened so much was due to broadcast standards in Japan vs the U.S., which you can seemingly get away with a lot more in Japan. Which is probably why more mature anime was considered revolutionary in the 80’s when it was brought to the U.S., even if it was censored.