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The real problem with how fans treat series falls into several related categories

• 1. How they begin - Having a slow or repetitive beginning (with stuff that doesn't appear to be plot-related), such as Southern Cross or Macross 7, you lose fans that the majority of the series would have entertained, making the middle and end of the series moot, for those - and in Japan, bring on the end of the series way too quickly.
• 2. How they end - If you alienate the fans one had to that point, with a lame ending, such as Evangelion, it can really do a number on fan perception of a series (or later unrelated works). Ranma 1/2 falls into this category with its manga. I think that Takahashi lost about 75% of her fanbase with that one, judging from the precipitous drop of discussion of all her stuff at that point, even the active series - and despite the fact that her ending left it open for more fan material, which conventional wisdom says would have kept the interest higher, for much longer, after series end.
• 3. As a writer, getting so involved with your version of the story for a derivative series (with a fan base) that you lose track of the source (be it a historical romance, a manga, or the series being a sequel or prequel to an earlier one), alienating the fans as well. Shadow Chronicles is a victim of this, as was (to a lesser extent) Macross Zero. The problem lies with persons who can't grasp that while fans might buy an "Alternative version" (retelling of stories or reuse of characters in a totally reimagined setting, like Tenchi & El Hazard, or CCS vs. Tsubasa, or even Classic Battlestar Galactica vs. modern BSG), the fans almost always WILL revolt if you change it to where everything you knew before is tossed out, while insisting that it IS the same universe they knew.

(note - had to go back in and number the points as both the ordered and unordered list options were NOT showing the numbers/Dots - so if they show up later, you will know why the list looks odd)

IMO, Macross 7 had too much of both aspects of #1 for most conventional fans, and didn't help itself when they had Mylene back out of her engagement with Gamlin at the end (And frankly, while Dynamite 7 sucked, at least it gave hope for that relationship). However, if one got past the instant aversion to Basara and watched the series, there were major plot issues left from the original series that were expanded on quite well. To paraphrase Eric Flint (and others) too many people focus on Ahab, when it is the WHALE is the protagonist of Moby Dick (and the humans the antagonists of the story). If anything, the main characters of Macross 7 were Mylene & Gamlin on the "human" side and Sivil & Gigile on the Protodevlin side (Sivil only beginning her path to self-discovery on the death of Gigile).

Macross Zero seemed to go overboard with #3 with a lot of the Macross fans that had blindly ignored the (non-Basara-related) plot points within Macross 7, but actually served to bring the two TV series closer in alignment. And the ending had a number of fans holding up the "WTF" signs. And, the REALLY interesting thing is, now that we are watching Frontier, is perhaps we were wrong on the characters there as well. While Sara and Shin shaped the plot, there are now hints in Frontier that MAO was the main character.....

Macross Frontier so far has been uneven. Lots of camp, mixed with lots of serious plot, and very little care taken in making the transitions flow smoothly. The first 5 episodes had to many homages and rehashed plots from previous Macross; in fact, we probably were given more story in the "exposition" parts about the setting (the colonies, how folds work, etc.) before the opening credits of the first 9 episodes, than most of the rest of the series so far. Of the second 5 episodes, 4 have actually been plot drivers, but the middle one was done in a free-for-all comedy manner that made me think that the series was jumping the Eden Hydra (for lack of a shark). And, frankly, the viewers of today are so more results oriented, that I would not be surprised to find out that taking until the 6th episode to get to the action (in a 26-episode series, no less) probably lost as many viewers in Japan that Macross 7 lost from taking 13 to get to the same relative plot point. (For that matter, Southern Cross took somewhere in between, even a decade before, and the writers waited too long in setting up the "whys" of the conflict, and caused the series to be malformed due to the early cancellation and drive to finish it in the little time left to them). Episode 10, in the guise of a telling of the story of Zero, no less, has given us more of the plot, and reasons to watch more of the series, than the first 9, just from revelations and minor mentions made in the process (Doctor Mao, and Ozma's musings of it being fate that Ranka be the one portraying her, for example?).

And, the REALLY interesting aspect of this all, is that because of all the discussion of how the Protoculture was limited (and so would modern humanity, its heirs) by the limits of fold travel & communication, actually provides a back-door means (should they wish) to actually bring Macross II into the continuity, 20+ years after Frontier, as by that time, most of the fleets would be so spread out none could aid Earth (and it's not like much aid was being provided either way in the 2040s or 2059, from the plots we see in the later shows), and so many fleets would have left Earth (and departures stopped) that Earth's population was probably made up of those unwilling, unfit or unworthy for the fleets (or their descendants). How does the old tagline from the L5 Society go? "The Meek shall inherit the Earth - the rest of us will go to the stars..."

Some points to think about....