In the dubious
Macek rewrite of
Macross known as
Robotech -- and in the
Jack McKinney novelizations thereof -- the term "
Protoculture" refers to a mysterious
force that powers the engines and weapons systems of the
SDF-1. The
Zentraedi expeditionary force seeks to capture the SDF-1 for its Protoculture-based
Robotechnology.
Later, it is revealed that the Protoculture Matrix stems from the control of the Invid Flower of Life, which the Robotech Masters stole from the Invid homeworld. In the McKinney version, at least, the Protoculture is a relatively transparent metaphor for sublimation in the Freudian sense. That is to say, the Protoculture energy is created when the reproductive process of the Invid Flower is artificially suppressed by means of an energy field. Considering the amount of sexual tension going on in the McKinney editions, the metaphor is quite apt.