Scott Bernard

Scott Bernard (Known as Stick Bernard in Genesis Climber Mospeada^[2]) is a fictional character from the third Robotech Series: The New Generation. He is a young man, who is somewhat reluctant but a leader at best. He is a skilled pilot and was set to marry the woman he loved Marlene Rush. However, Marlene is killed in the battle with the Invid. Scott has a holographic medallion she gave him as a token of her love and he uses it to give him strength to continue the fight against the Invid.^[3]

Scott Bernard is voiced by Gregory Snegoff, who also provided the voices of Khyron and Dr. Emil Lang.

Story

Third Robotech War

Scott Bernard was born in 2023 in outer space, less than a year after the Robotech Expeditionary Force, led by the SDF-3, left Earth to find the Robotech Masters' Homeworld in hopes of preventing another war on Earth. One of the first children born during the mission, Scott was part of the new generation of Earth's defenders.^[4]

In 2042, Scott, now aged 19, served as a pilot in the 21st Mars Division, one of the advanced battalions trying to reclaim Earth from the Invid by destroying their base, Reflex Point. Prior to arriving on Earth he proposes to Marlene Rush, his then girlfriend and fellow Mars Division soldier who accepts his proposal for marriage. However, Scott's happiness is short lived as the Mars attack group is overwhelmed by the unexpected force that Invid can now muster. The entire division is destroyed and Scott is the only survivor.^[5]

After crashlanding on Earth, Scott is devastated by the loss of Marlene, but Scott decides to continue on his mission to reach Reflex Point. Believing that Admiral Rick Hunter will eventually return with the full strength of the REF to free Earth, Scott vows to do all he can to help weaken the Invid on Earth. Scott is joined on his mission by other freedom fighters as the series progressed. They were Rand, Annie "Mint" LaBelle, Rook Bartley, Jim "Lunk" Austin, and Lance Belmont. Along the way, the group also encounters a woman named Ariel who apparently has amnesia, so they decided to call her Marlene (after his fiance). As she traveled with them, Scott developed feelings toward her and Marlene/Ariel feels the same way. They fall in love with each other until Scott discovers that she is an Invid (who has a human body), at which point his feelings started to get mixed. In the end, Scott realizes that he is in love with Ariel but during the battle can not bring himself to admit it to her, or himself.

In the Battle of Reflex Point in 2044, Scott helps lead Earth resistance forces and REF commandos against the Invid forces in an attempt to reach Reflex Point and destroy it. Ariel manages to convince her mother, the Invid Regis to leave Earth lest both races be destroyed. The Regis converts her entire race to energy and flies off into the universe. As a concert plays nearby to celebrate Earth's liberation, Scott meets with Ariel, who has chosen to stay behind. Scott tells Ariel that he must leave Earth and his friends to rejoin the Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF) to search for Admiral Rick Hunter and the SDF-3, which is lost in space. However, he promises Ariel that he will return.^[6]

The Shadow Chronicles

In the latest installment of the Robotech series, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, Ariel, after having a premonition, seeks out Scott on Moon Base ALUCE to warn him that the Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF) and humanity face a new alien threat. The Children of the Shadow, who have been plotting the destruction of anyone using protoculture, specifically the Invid and now the Humans. Scott meets up with Marcus Rush, Marlene's brother and is disturbed by Marcus' consuming hatred of the Invid. When Ariel is revealed to be an Invid, Scott tries to convince Marcus and the REF that Ariel is not the enemy and that a new threat is about to manifest itself, but his initial pleas are ignored and he is placed in confinement on suspicion of being a traitor. It is only when the Haydonites, who are now revealed to be the Children of the Shadow, attack the REF at Space Station Liberty that Scott's warning is realized. The Haydonites are a highly-advanced cybernetic race who had allied with the REF and provided it with advanced weaponry and technology to fight the Invid. However, it soon becomes clear that all of the technology the Haydonites gave to the REF is equipped with hidden weakeness which the Haydonites exploit to destroy the REF defenses at Liberty.

Realizing the situation, Captain Vince Grant and Scott ride through Liberty on cyclones until they reach the station's supply of Neutron-S missiles. With all of Liberty's personnel evacuated to the Ark Angel, they rig the missiles for detonation, and the Ark Angel prepares to initiate a space-fold. As she teleports to save Veritech pilot Marcus Rush, Scott finally tells Ariel that he loves her. At the end of the movie, as the Ark Angel flies over the Earth's surface, Ariel and Scott share their first on screen kiss (kissing previously on the 79th episode: "Frost Bite", in the New Generation series).

Secondary Continuity

In the Robotech books by Jack McKinney, which have been relegated to a "secondary" position of continuity following a reboot of the Robotech timeline in the 21st century, it is stated that Scott is the godson of Dr. Emil Lang. In this continuity, Scott was born on Earth in 2014, appearing as a young boy during the storyline of The Sentinels in the 2020s. As this would make Scott thirty during New Generation, the novels move the timeframe of his entry into the Third Robotech War up from 2042 to 2034, keeping him around twenty. In the novels, is well known to both Vince & Jean Grant (who did not previously know him in the new animation continuity as seen in The Shadow Chronicles) and his has been promoted to the rank of Colonel. He and the crew of the Ark Angel take part in the mission to rescue the SDF-3 from the Regis' New Space (she absorbed all first generation protoculture in the known universe when she departed Earth).

In the comic book series Robotech: Return to Macross, Brian Bernard is introduced late in the series as a research scientist under Dr. Lang. The two are old friends and although not explicitly mentioned, it was probably the intention, judging by appearances, that Brian was Scott's father. The comic book series, ended however, before his character could be explored.

At the conclusion of the Mckinney book End of the Circle, Scott finally declares his love for Marlene/Ariel and reconciles with Mr & Mrs Rush, who he had a falling out with over the truth concerning Marlene/Ariel. He also proposes to Marlene/Ariel who naturally accepts.

Skills

Scott is a Lieutenant Commander of the 21st Squadron Mars division.^[7]

He is a qualified Veritech Pilot and Cyclone Rider. Being born in space, he was unfamiliar with many of the landscapes & weather patterns of Earth, and he did not know how to swim (but was shown diving into a river to save Rand from drowning). He is promoted to the rank of Commander in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles and is one of the most dangerous Robotech warriors in Robotech history, having defeated Corg, Prince of the Invid, in mecha combat.^[8]

References