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HG and Robotech Debates


azrael

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Much of the success and achievements Carl Macek made for Robotech and the anime distribution industry, especially in the early days, came at the expense of something else. He made choices that turned out to be important moral and ethical dilemmas in the emerging industry, which had ongoing consequences as this and other places have shown over time. What's sad is that some of it was both unnecessary and repairable if he tried, but he ended up strongly defending his actions till the end. How he went about it made him look like an opportunist, lacking class and integrity, even while he was trying to do some good with his talents. Because of this, on a professional level, I can never accept what he did in his early career. Especially here, the ends did not justify the means.

However, on a personal level, I had no problems with him. I never met the guy and he never directly offended me. I can only really comment about the work he did and what happened behind the scenes from it. Despite his, I sincerely offer my condolences to his friends and family for this tragedy. Rest in peace sir.

After dwelling on it for a while, that's all I have to say about it.

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I have been busy at work for the last three days and i never realized that in those three days a lot of things have happened. I just read the news just today about Carl Macek's passing. Though i admit i hated Carl Macek, but i hope he finds peace in the Protoculture heaven. :(

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woah..haven't logged in here for years and just out of the blue decided to click on the mw link in my bookmarks. Sad to hear about Carl..hope he rip. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have had the same anime interest as I do now.

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Mode Mode:

I guess you numb nuts need to be told to shut up cuz none of you seem to take a hint. Attack the man's work all you want but seriously, but as a person, leave the dead guy alone. If I hear one more tasteless comment out of any of you, I'm just gonna drop a ban hammer.

What the heck is Mode Mode? ^_^

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Does HG hold the rights for Macross in the UK?

Taksraven

If you mean, does HG have a trademark on Macross in the UK? Yes, they do have two trademarks, but only on merchandise. Not on the TV series.

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what are the chances of finally seeing a proper DYRL english subtitle DVD in the US? Sorry if this was answered already.

That's a thorny one...

In 2000 or thereabouts, Robert Woodword of AnimEigo said they looked into getting it, but no one could figure out who owned the rights (since several companies had released around the world over the years, most of those companies had gone bankrupt, and their assets were divvied up to various buyers).

Then in 2004, at an HG panel, Tommy Yune said, "We are able to release Macross the Movie as a product."

(at about 3:58 or thereabouts.)

After that...silence. :mellow:

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Then in 2004, at an HG panel, Tommy Yune said, "We are able to release Macross the Movie as a product."

For Tommy Yune, it's a thoroughly typical convention panel Q&A response... it doesn't actually answer the question being asked and the vague, awkward wording makes it easy for die-hard Robotech fans and imbecilic panel attendees to interpret it to mean something other than what he literally said. The die-hard Robotech fans are so easy to mislead and so willing to be misled that deflecting questions of licensing in derivative works by talking about merchandising rights has become Tommy's standard tactic for dealing with any questions about their inability to use Macross.

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I was just watching Death Note (Light killing people with heart attacks) when I read about Carl Macek dying from a heart attack. That gave me the creeps. However, I hope Carl and his family find peace at this difficult time. :(

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For Tommy Yune, it's a thoroughly typical convention panel Q&A response... it doesn't actually answer the question being asked and the vague, awkward wording makes it easy for die-hard Robotech fans and imbecilic panel attendees to interpret it to mean something other than what he literally said. The die-hard Robotech fans are so easy to mislead and so willing to be misled that deflecting questions of licensing in derivative works by talking about merchandising rights has become Tommy's standard tactic for dealing with any questions about their inability to use Macross.

If they had the rights they would have released it already.

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If they had the rights they would have released it already.

Of course... if Harmony Gold actually had the distribution rights to Macross: Do You Remember Love? they would've gotten it out there ASAP as both a slam dunk sales-wise and a means of appeasing the Macross fans who were busy verbally tearing them several new orifices of indeterminate purpose and usefulness. The whole "we can release X as a product" business is a skillful way of muddying the waters by picking a vague way of saying "we can make toys, comic books, and other merchandise based on X" that sounds like "we have control of, and can release, X in any way we see fit".

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Of course... if Harmony Gold actually had the distribution rights to Macross: Do You Remember Love? they would've gotten it out there ASAP as both a slam dunk sales-wise and a means of appeasing the Macross fans who were busy verbally tearing them several new orifices of indeterminate purpose and usefulness. The whole "we can release X as a product" business is a skillful way of muddying the waters by picking a vague way of saying "we can make toys, comic books, and other merchandise based on X" that sounds like "we have control of, and can release, X in any way we see fit".

I disagree. Saying "We can release the movie as a product" is a bizarrely-worded statement, but there is no possible way it can mean "We can release products based on the movie."

I'm not saying they do have the rights, since they obviously don't, but I can't see any way of saying Tommy was merely muddying the waters or mixing up the issues...in this case, his words appear to be blatantly false.

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For Tommy Yune, it's a thoroughly typical convention panel Q&A response... it doesn't actually answer the question being asked and the vague, awkward wording makes it easy for die-hard Robotech fans and imbecilic panel attendees to interpret it to mean something other than what he literally said. The die-hard Robotech fans are so easy to mislead and so willing to be misled that deflecting questions of licensing in derivative works by talking about merchandising rights has become Tommy's standard tactic for dealing with any questions about their inability to use Macross.

As I've said, part of it is HG (which I won't cover), part of it is people not knowing how it all works. As I've said, many of these panel goers are not lunatic-fringe-fans. They don't read the RT forums, they aren't die-hard Macross fans, and they don't know the legal terminology. I won't call them "imbecilic", just fans with only rudimentary knowledge of things. When you listen to the Q&A sessions, these people don't ask very specific questions. And therefore, get skewed answers. People have to understand what are trademarks and copyrights and who has what. Hell, I spell out what HG has in copyrights here, which is exactly what Tatsunoko has. I even listed the trademarks HG has as well. If people would do the research, read a few more sites than Wikipedia, people would begin to understand some things.

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I disagree. Saying "We can release the movie as a product" is a bizarrely-worded statement, but there is no possible way it can mean "We can release products based on the movie."

I'm not saying they do have the rights, since they obviously don't, but I can't see any way of saying Tommy was merely muddying the waters or mixing up the issues...in this case, his words appear to be blatantly false.

HG, through Toynami has released DYRL toys, but never anything as far as the DVDs or the actual feature. It would seem that if HG's legal isn't even sure about it, I'm using some pretty decent logic here, but I doubt Tommy would know for certain as well.

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I disagree. Saying "We can release the movie as a product" is a bizarrely-worded statement, but there is no possible way it can mean "We can release products based on the movie."

I'm not saying they do have the rights, since they obviously don't, but I can't see any way of saying Tommy was merely muddying the waters or mixing up the issues...in this case, his words appear to be blatantly false.

Well, it keeps people interested and coming back to conventions or online asking the same questions every year. Maybe that's what they intended.

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As I've said, part of it is HG (which I won't cover), part of it is people not knowing how it all works. As I've said, many of these panel goers are not lunatic-fringe-fans. They don't read the RT forums, they aren't die-hard Macross fans, and they don't know the legal terminology. I won't call them "imbecilic", just fans with only rudimentary knowledge of things. When you listen to the Q&A sessions, these people don't ask very specific questions. And therefore, get skewed answers. People have to understand what are trademarks and copyrights and who has what. Hell, I spell out what HG has in copyrights here, which is exactly what Tatsunoko has. I even listed the trademarks HG has as well. If people would do the research, read a few more sites than Wikipedia, people woul begin to understand some things.

but research takes time & effort ^_^

but I'm proud to say I've done mine

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Eh..? What does that make MEMO and Mav_LSC?

A whole different story.

What about Toho? I went to a Toho site and DYRL was still in their movie catalogue. It also seems that Celebrity's Just For Kids distributed Clash of the Bionoids through Toho. Can't HG distribute through Toho too?

IIRC, Toho Co. Ltd. was the theater distributor for the movie. Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd. with Bandai Visual are the actual holders of the video distribution.

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Eh..? What does that make MEMO and Mav_LSC?

Rather a different kettle of particularly stupid fish. It'd be particularly unwise to lump them in with the ordinary fan rabble and convention-goers, as their particular ailment isn't simple ignorance... it's an unthinking faith in Tommy Yune and the belief that lying to their fellow fans, threatening fans who question the lies, harassing the fans who criticize their jackass behavior, and slandering people who out them as liars are all justified in the name of defending Tommy Yune, Harmony Gold, and Robotech from anyone who doesn't think they're wonderful.

So why doesn't Bandai Visual put out a proper DYRL with good english subtitles?

Because Harmony Gold holds the trademark on the Super Dimension Fortress Macross name and logo in the US and a few other places. Bandai Visual would have to obtain permission from, and presumably pay royalties to, Harmony Gold for use of the trademarked name and logo if they were to release Macross: Do You Remember Love? in any region where Harmony Gold's trademarks are enforceable.

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Because it's not Gundam.

There's always hope for a bluray. If only we could somehow communicate to them how much it would screw over their oppents in the rights issue, I'm sure they'd jump at it.

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This will probably get me yelled at, but some of the poison I've see spewed in this thread over the past several months really makes me question the purpose of this thread. And then this BS when a man has just died? All because of a cartoon? Some of you need to grow the hell up or go someplace else.

came in here to post this. Don't care what any of you say, CM was responsible for introducing me to anime and more specifically, RT and hence, Macross. If it wasn't for him and his crew bringing RT to the US, I wouldn't be posting this right now. R.I.P.

what are the chances of finally seeing a proper DYRL english subtitle DVD in the US? Sorry if this was answered already.

about the same chances of 8,000,000 Ways to Die coming out on dvd.

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