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Robotech and HG License Debates


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He had a filthy mouth before getting hired by HG?

He's pretty much the same guy but they pay him to be tool now. To give you an idea of how much people loved him. There was that infamous photo of MWer giving him the finger behind his back at an Anime Expo. He wasn't working for HG back then. He just like dropping in and telling people the "truth." He had a reputation of only showing up when news came in about the Rights to Macross.

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He had a filthy mouth before getting hired by HG?

Oh, you don't know the half of it. On the old MW forums, he was constantly shooting his mouth about how RT was supposedly superior to everything else. Oftentimes, I bagged at his poor grammatical skills. Then one day, he posted a racist comment towards me, which infuriated the rest of MW and got him banned immediately.

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Oh, you don't know the half of it. On the old MW forums, he was constantly shooting his mouth about how RT was supposedly superior to everything else. Oftentimes, I bagged at his poor grammatical skills. Then one day, he posted a racist comment towards me, which infuriated the rest of MW and got him banned immediately.

That gives a whole new meaning to that avatar he uses on rt.com. It always did look a little prickish. That would also make him a total sell out if he's cool with all the crap HG's been pulling. They must pay him enough to keep smiling about it.

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That gives a whole new meaning to that avatar he uses on rt.com. It always did look a little prickish. That would also make him a total sell out if he's cool with all the crap HG's been pulling. They must pay him enough to keep smiling about it.

Ask Jasonc about that...in the last RT thread, he said that Mr. McKeever doesn't make a whole lot.

He must be doing it out of love... :wacko:

Edited by Gubaba
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That gives a whole new meaning to that avatar he uses on rt.com. It always did look a little prickish. That would also make him a total sell out if he's cool with all the crap HG's been pulling. They must pay him enough to keep smiling about it.

Believe me, he's a real prick in person. Me and MilkManX had the misfortune of bumping into him when we met Tom Bateman at AX2003. I was 2 seconds away from punching his lights out, but I decided not to at the risk of being permanently banned from AX (like that Kamjin639 guy who pied Tommy Yune a couple of years ago).

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When you look at it, they're basically being run by a bunch of generation X fanboys, whose talent isn't above that of say, your average fanfiction writer. I wonder if these guys realize how inferior their product is compared to Frontier (for example), or do they all see themselves as modern day American Hideaki Anno's?

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When you look at it, they're basically being run by a bunch of generation X fanboys, whose talent isn't above that of say, your average fanfiction writer. I wonder if these guys realize how inferior their product is compared to Frontier (for example), or do they all see themselves as modern day American Hideaki Anno's?

That's sacrilege man :lol:

It's a shame he didn't become an animator for M7....

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OK, so clearing up distribution rights on DYRL isn't easy, although I'm not sure on why Big West seems so powerless or at least willing to except status quo.

One would think the DYRL situation has certain priority with Big West to get it sorted out, so they can make some money with the product outside of Japan again.

And what about all the other shows. As I understand the first page, we can get Macross without HG interfering. Only a name change is necessary.

So what is the holdup? Why aren't companies exactly knocking on Big West's door to distribute M7, M0 or the new MF?

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So what is the holdup? Why aren't companies exactly knocking on Big West's door to distribute M7, M0 or the new MF?

Good question. I don't know the answer, but if I had to hazard a few guesses I'd say:

1) It's getting harder and harder to turn a profit on anime in the West*

2) The real-robot genre isn't as popular in the West as it used to be*

3) Rumor is that you need to offer Big West a lot of $$$ to license Macross anime

*Naturally, Gundam is the exception :p

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Most of the newer of anime get licensed in the development stage (from David Williams, ADV). Given that Bandai Visual has done the Japanese release of Zero, M7 and Frontier it is quite possible that they also have the international rights to these series.

So if we assume for the sake of argument that these series are licensed, why aren't they released?

Mecha is not popular among the younger anime audiences. M7 and Zero are not guaranteed hits, not even among mecha fans.

Frontier might have a better chance ude to its popularity however:

it might be very expensive due to music rights, not sure how that works for an anime that may have been licensed already (we really don't know, Gububa and myself had a discussion about that some days ago in an other thread).

the Macross trademark is in the way of a US release, renaming it might be to much hassle. Personally I have hopes for a UK release when the HG trademark drops but who knows. Alternatively Australia is an option if the trademark is a problem.

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Sigh, I kinda have regrets about watching this, but now I know Kevin has been in the industry for a while now.

Everybody, the/a voice of Robotech:

AOD 2009: Kevin McKeever Jackass Anecdote

Boy, that would be great. Paying money to go to an anime convention. Taking the time to go to a panel.

Then listening to some idiot spend 7 minutes talking about being on the set of Jackass...

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When you look at it, they're basically being run by a bunch of generation X fanboys, whose talent isn't above that of say, your average fanfiction writer. I wonder if these guys realize how inferior their product is compared to Frontier (for example), or do they all see themselves as modern day American Hideaki Anno's?

It must be part of that Running the Asylum wave that's happening to franchises, but they're behind the times and appear to have brought the series to a complete halt. However, they still think they have enough influence over other companies to have an advantage.

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Mecha is not popular among the younger anime audiences. M7 and Zero are not guaranteed hits, not even among mecha fans.

Well M7 is a hit in Japan that for sure, and mecha is not the reason..

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Well M7 is a hit in Japan that for sure, and mecha is not the reason..

Yeah.... If it didn't become popular there it wouldn't have spanned 49 episodes, 3 part encore, 4 part OVA, 1 movie and lots of OSTs

Edited by Sir Galahad®
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Alternatively Australia is an option if the trademark is a problem.

HUH??? Please explain?? New to me??

Taksraven

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Yeah.... If it didn't become popular there it wouldn't have spanned 49 episodes, 3 part encore, 4 part OVA, 1 movie and lots of OSTs

I think those OST's are a BIG part part of why it's popular (I know the ONLY thing I like from Mac7 is the music).

Most likely how popular the music is would dictate the success of Mac7 in the west, and I just don't see 90's J-pop going over well enough in the west to make a US release a success.

coupled with the fact that the show is more than a decade old... (selling anything that isn't bright and flashy and pandering to kids these days is almost impossible.)

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coupled with the fact that the show is more than a decade old... (selling anything that isn't bright and flashy and pandering to kids these days is almost impossible.)

Animeigo is the only company I can think of, in the U.S. at least, that would seriously consider licensing shows that old. They would probably treat it well if the excess baggage didn't get in the way of it getting released.

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I think those OST's are a BIG part part of why it's popular (I know the ONLY thing I like from Mac7 is the music).

Most likely how popular the music is would dictate the success of Mac7 in the west, and I just don't see 90's J-pop going over well enough in the west to make a US release a success.

coupled with the fact that the show is more than a decade old... (selling anything that isn't bright and flashy and pandering to kids these days is almost impossible.)

The Anime industry in Japan is big... so big that even big name bands like L'Arc~en~Ciel has songs for Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X to the rest of the world) and Full Metal Alchemist. Actually Japanese Animation always has an Opening and Ending theme made by J-Pop/J-Rock artists, unlike American Cartoons which have a Jingle with the name of the show at the beginning and then the instrumental version at the end (That is what I usually notice). Usually when I watch Jap Anime that was moved to an American Channel, they remove the opening and ending themes (maybe to cut costs for royalty).

Macross on the other hand has a lot of insert songs that are essential to the show and removing it is quite impossible (unless you do it the RT way with songs like We Will Win and Stage Fright ~ugh). So if they decide to play macross 7 in the US I think song royalties (or an equivalent) are included.

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Macross on the other hand has a lot of insert songs that are essential to the show and removing it is quite impossible (unless you do it the RT way with songs like We Will Win and Stage Fright ~ugh). So if they decide to play macross 7 in the US I think song royalties (or an equivalent) are included.

There are already legitimate English versions of some of the songs from Macross 7 that could be used for a U.S. release, but there are reasons inside and outside the series universe that would make them difficult to use. Still, they'd probably be better than any new tunes from RT.

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Well M7 is a hit in Japan that for sure, and mecha is not the reason..

Yeah.... If it didn't become popular there it wouldn't have spanned 49 episodes, 3 part encore, 4 part OVA, 1 movie and lots of OSTs

M7 was popular in Japan 15 years ago and back then it would have been a hot title to license. Today, it is most definitly not a guaranteed succes for a western release. As anime52k8 said, it will have a hard time competing with newer anime. This is not a time where licensing firms want to try risky titles. (CPM for example filed for bankruptcy a few days ago). If a Macross title is released in the West then the most likely candidate is Frontier

HUH??? Please explain?? New to me??

Taksraven

HG has not trademarked Macross in Australia. There are no legal issues with a possible release of Frontier there.

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HG has not trademarked Macross in Australia. There are no legal issues with a possible release of Frontier there.

Where's my region 4 DVDs then?

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Where's my region 4 DVDs then?

Unknown, the only thing we do know is that a potential Australian release can't be blocked or interfered with by HG.

It doesn't mean there are no other factors that could prevent a release. Without direct acces to the US market an english sub/dub may just not be profitable. Who knows.

Edited by Bri
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I'd actually prefer a sub over a dub in this case, normally I don't but for Frontier I make an exception. that would be cheaper as well.

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There are already legitimate English versions of some of the songs from Macross 7 that could be used for a U.S. release, but there are reasons inside and outside the series universe that would make them difficult to use. Still, they'd probably be better than any new tunes from RT.

I rewatched DYRL and wondered, what if they dubbed this in english and used robotech songs? :lol:

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I rewatched DYRL and wondered, what if they dubbed this in english and used robotech songs? :lol:

There was an edited dub made years ago that didn't turn out as well but was released in the U.S. as Clash of the Bioroids. As for a version with Roboech songs, leave it to the fans.

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Unknown, the only thing we do know is that a potential Australian release can't be blocked or interfered with by HG.

It doesn't mean there are no other factors that could prevent a release. Without direct acces to the US market an english sub/dub may just not be profitable. Who knows.

Just kidding mate. I know it's more complicated than that. ;)

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Most of the newer of anime get licensed in the development stage (from David Williams, ADV). Given that Bandai Visual has done the Japanese release of Zero, M7 and Frontier it is quite possible that they also have the international rights to these series.

Considering that Zero, M7, and possibly Frontier as well were developed with little or no expectation of leaving Japan, its more like Big West retains their International rights to those series. Bandai Visual would most likely be a top candidate for international distributions should BW decide.

Mecha is not popular among the younger anime audiences. M7 and Zero are not guaranteed hits, not even among mecha fans.

I don't think Mechas unpopularity is the problem just look at the popularity of Gundam, Code Geasse, Gurren Lagann, Evangelion, and the Transformers LAM in America alone. Its more like M7 and Zero are only guaranteed hits with diehard Macross fans who most likely watched fansubs already, everyone else is too busy with the new flashy mecha series too even notice.

Frontier might have a better chance ude to its popularity however:

it might be very expensive due to music rights, not sure how that works for an anime that may have been licensed already (we really don't know, Gububa and myself had a discussion about that some days ago in an other thread).

The music rights license would no doubt be very expense considering the albums reached the top charts. On the flipside the music rights are probably not as tangled as M7, with its multiple music holders having had 15 years to spread about in Japan. While the music has been licensed for the anime in Japan, the music right holders still have to give their consent and license music for international distribution in other countries. BW might have hired them, but May'n, Yoko Kanno, Megumi Nakajima still have the rights to decide which countries their songs can be distributed to.

I think the biggest problem is that there are so many indefinite and definite obstacles in the way of Macross that most companies steer clear of it. Every company takes a market risk and mostly like runs into one or two individual obstacles when licensing and marketing anime, but Macross is an example of how everything that can go wrong with international licensing has gone wrong.

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Courtesy of RobotechFanPlus on the rt forums:

http://bankofkev.blog-city.com/macross_wor...pts_in_rage.htm

If this is true, is he serious? This is the kind of guy who now represents Robotech?

Also watch out, FanPlus now knows of Macross World.

Well...that blog entry of BoK is from 2004...maybe he's grown up a bit since then?

But it's interesting that he tries to justify his racist comment to areaseven by saying that A7 was racist first... :rolleyes:

And I seriously doubt that FanPlus recently learned about Macross World...he's probably already a member here (and no, he's not me). But whoever he is, he clearly holds Robotech fans in real contempt. They'll ban him soon, if they have any wits at all.

EDIT: After perusing BoK's blog a bit, I have to say that I think I love this entry the best:

http://bankofkev.blog-city.com/see_mari_ii..._on_nov_1st.htm

Not only does he misspell the name of the club, but there's a big picture of Mari (looking lovely, as Mari always does) with a huge "ROBOTECH.COM" logo plastered on on the lower corner, AND he says this:

Mari Iijima, the voice of Lynn Minmay in ADV's english dub of Macross will be preforming live at 8 p.m. on Nov. 1st at the following location.

(Empahsis mine.)

Hmmm...he seems to have left something out... :lol:

Edited by Gubaba
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