Freiflug88

I doubt Tommy and Kevin are the only ones who discuss with Warner and Maquire directly about Robotech. The very founder and CEO of Harmony Gold, Frank Agrama has been a producer and writer for every Robotech so far and no doubt keeps taps on how the RLAM is doing as its not everyday something from HG's catalog gets a chance to become a hollywood blockbuster. Thats it! We just need to buy up all of HG's toys then complain that their broke to get full refunds from HG until they exhaust all their funds and abandon Robotech. I do have to admit it was nice of them to give the fans a full refund though.

I believe there is a great chance this could be valid for one simple detail: a European company is making the game in other words HG is outsourcing to a cheaper foreign company once again. It also sounds to me like HG might have gotten an idea from the "Ghostbusters 3: The Movie" Video game. Rather then produce Shadow Rising they could just have some one else complete the story in a video game. Plus they must be hoping to cash in on the trend that several popular games have become more profitable then movies. If HG is making thousands of Americans lose their life savings in this economy we should notify the government. While we are at lets also tell Obama that ripping off the intellect property of the Japanese and selling it as your own is immoral and that allowing it to continue puts a smear on America's image. Then he can use some of the bailout money to buy the Macross trademarks and hand them back to BW. Problem solved!

It better be made out of pure gold that was mined out by the other Harmony Gold if their gonna label the thing original. At least we can take this as a sign that the RLAM is still a go. Since they announced the RLAM to the world rather then keeping it underwraps they got to at least speak to the fans. If the RLAM was shelved Kevin and Tommy would have canceled any scheduled Robotech panels, silently retreated to their offices of solitude, and post that it was all BW's fault for not recognizing HG's copyrights to their "original" series Robotech and scarying WB away with lawsuits so don't blame us fans blah blah blah. He and everyone else in HG that has been working with WB were probably the first to know. The video clips Chrisk linked with Tommy mentioning Roven's involvement were filmed on July 3rd 2008 at Anime Expo 2008 when Roven was still attached to the RLAM and way before the news that Roven had left was posted on January 29th 2009 in the very iesb.net article you linked.

D'oh! Yet another reason I need to rewatch Macross 7. I wasn't even thinking about the VF-17 from Macross 7, never even noticed the VF-17 Nightmare/F-117 Nighthawk connection either . I was thinking about how WB turned the iconic batmobile into an armored car on steroids that just looks too bulky and if its gonna be dodging Itano circus manueavers I like it looking sleek and agile. I can see the RLAM using a variety of transforming jets though. Rather then have only the fighters modified to transform they might as well have stealth bombers (VF-17s) and Predator drones (Ghosts). Now if they just don't turn the battle pods into War of World's tripod knockoffs. It just doesn't have a ring to it like I dunno... "Hail Zeon." Besides HG is more like the Earth Federation of sorts: they deserve to have a space colony dropped on their HQ. I repeat a space colony. We can't afford to drop the A.S.S 1 over their heads and give them a chance to apply their plagiarizing skills to Extraterrestrial Over-Technology.

I didn't think it would be that easy. I thought I was going to have to do go to something extreme like go to some dark room and chant "Sazaz Sazaz Nester Nester blah blah blah" with sexy college girls wearing only black robes. That's what the mute button on your TV remote and the Macross II OST CD in your stereo is for. You must be thinking of Streamline Pictures, the company that Carl Macek and Jerry Beck founded 21 years ago back in 1988. Several older titles that ADV has dubbed lately though have were dubbed by Streamline Pictures and Carl Macek years ago. Yeah, I don't think Macek was ever an actual employee of ADV, but I am sure he has connections with the guys at ADV as pretty much everyone in the anime industry is connected. I won't be surprised though if he was hired to consult on ADV's redub of titles like Megazone 23 that were dubed earlier under him through Streamline Pictures.

That explains it. I don't remember who, but someone told me that Tatsunko made Macross II behind Big Wests back and that Big West seized it after BW vs Tatsunko. I still think it would interesting though if HG/WB some how acquired the Live action rights for the mecha designs that are unique to Macross II. Everyone knows HG doesn't have the creativity to redesign VFs, and as for WB after looking back at what they did with the Batmobile I almost get the feeling they will be making VFs out of a F-117 Nighthawks. Needless to say I think the VF-2SS and other M II designs are much better design than what HG/WB would likely come up with and I could list about a dozen different reasons for using them. As for BW I think they could really only gain from overcharging HG/WB for the live action rights to their mecha designs from their discontinued alternative universe and acting all buddy buddy with HG and WB before they grab a hold of the completed movie to leak out. Of course rather then leak the movies themselves they should make deals with lots of arrested Japanese p2p users to have their charges for sharing Macross Frontier dropped if they seed the leaked copy of the RLAM for a year on public torrent trackers via their seedboxes and home computers.

Forgot about that, but that is a very good observation. That's no weather balloon its the SDF 1! Huh, I had always heard that it was an unofficial production. Its probably just confusion over the fact that Shoji Kawamori, the creator of Macross wanted nothing to do with it though.

Do you mean WB will not risk losing the opportunity of releasing the movie in Japan? If WB isn't going to release the movie in Japan then there would no doubt be more changes WB would be able to get away with. Yeah Japan is one of the biggest film markets in world, but its also the one market in the world where animated movies consistently outsell live action movies. Factoring in the insignificant fanbase for Robotech in Japan and the potential legal costs with a lawsuit the Japanese film market just doesn't seem to appealing for the RLAM. Indeed, Big West is the sole rights older of any Macross sequels or derivatives. Big West was able to obtain the unofficial sequel Macross II after establishing this fact. Maybe we should be hoping the RLAM is a Macross rip-off and that Big West can just outright take it from WB and HG like they did with Macross II!

True, my point though was that it takes more then just visuals to change the feel of a series or movie. Like many others, I used to believe that Robotech was all one big show because all the sagas had a similar feeling thanks to the same VAs, music, narration, witty jokes, etc. I have a similar idea of creating a little fan movie. My plan though is just to extract the 3d models from Robotech Battle Cry or the Macross PS2 game if I can get my hands on it and import them to 3ds max for the actual mecha. I figure I will show the movie only among friends unless I am able to get permission from BW for the mecha designs and the video game studio who did the actual modeling to show it in an amateur film festival or something.

I heard that rumor way back when the RLAM was first announced. I quess there is some truth to the rumor in that a likely cast for the Japanese dub of the RLAM would be the the Macross VAs who are still in the VA busness, but I doubt it will be a literal re-edit of Robotech into Macross. I remember hearing that HG chose the Korean in-between animators to save a lot of money after shopping around. It obvious why they would want to deal with Tatsunko, but I wonder if they considered approaching Big West to commission them to animate Admiral Hunter and the SDF-3 with Macross Zero visuals? I think that going with a big studio like Tatsunoko or Big West over the Koreans wouldn't have changed much aesthectically except maybe better cell shaded 3D with Tommy Yune still at the helm as any studio would have just been commissioned to draw Yune's streamlined charater designs and follow his directing in the end. What made me skeptical was when I heard Tommy Yune start to talk about how the Robotech universerse was so big and great that it easy to create side charaters like Jack Archer and show Robotech from other viewpoints besides Rick Hunter. To me it sounded like he was trying to indirectly say don't be surprised or disappointed if and when the RLAM doesn't focus on the familiar Macross saga characters. Despite the inevitable redesigns I have no doubt it will be the different story, charaters, and presentation if anything that will prevent the RLAM from feeling like Robotech/Macross. Just compare the two Battle Star Galacticas. Despite similar visual designs, same character names, and main plot they still felt like two very different shows.

Don't forget that HG did do wrong with Robotech Battlecry and a number of Macross Saga comics in the pasts, but your right in that they haven't really been doing anything illegal wrong lately that would warrant legal action.

Its all thanks to their Dōjinshi culture that was abe to bloom because their isn't nearly as many lawyers in Japan as there are here in the US. We will have to wait and see just how "lax" Big West will be with any Macross homages in the RLAM. I wonder though if WB and HG have considered avoiding distrubting the RLAM to Japan in order to allow a more few risks in making the RLAM closer to the source material. I figure if the RLAM is never brought to Japan then it will never really compete with Macross and there will be more red tape for Big West to deal with in order to bring HG and WB before a Japanese or American court so Big West would be more likely to allow the small stuff to slide. Plus I doubt the movie market in Japan would be worth it anyways especially with a movie that would not resemble their popular Macross at all.

Of course! All we need to do is trying broadcasting Minmay's song Ai Oboete Imasu ka to Big West, Tatsunko, and Harmony Gold's headquarters at the same time. If that love song can make the Macross, Zentradi, and Meltradi space fleets all get along and become one bad-ass unit imagine the corporate love triangle it will create... Wait love triangle... poo this isn't going to work cause some one always gets hurt, left out, or dies at the end of a love triangle! Woe is me! Is it mere coincidence or fate that the very series about the sad drama of Love triangles is stuck eternally in a copyright triangular feud.

That makes sense. I also found a video of the Legioss transforming as its been awhile seen I've actually watched Mosepeda/New Generation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-IGkWs0ujw. I have noticed that their is a noticeable difference in the actual transformation process and mechanism, but yet their is a strong feeling of similarity between them as I watch them transform. I can only imagine a LARM Veritech verus Macross Valk case would face a similar situation if WB applies their own transformation process to their Veritech designs like Bay's team did with Transformers.

Of course the mecha design is visually different, but the Gerwalk and Battloid Transformations are obviously from the Macross VF-1. If Big Wests was going to claim copyright infringement over the Legioss it would be over the transformation ideas like when Fox sued Universal Studios over the copyright infringment of "34 distinct ideas" stolen from Star Wars that were used in the orginal 1978 BSG. http://io9.com/326482/

I doubt this is a sign of change after reading the article at http://catalystgamelabs.com/2009/06/24/cat...gs-back-unseen/ They are just allowed to use old existing images of the unseen Macross mechs as illustrations in upcoming Battletech novels nothing more. After the Big West verus Tats case HG was still able to use Macross pics, but they weren't allowed to create any new ones. All this means is that Catalyst was likely able to get in on the same deal of using imagines produced before the Big West Vs Tats decision. The Japanese copyright and Constitution is practically identical to America's, because we wrote their current laws and Constitution while we occuptied and rebuilt Japan after WWII. You bring up great points about how the Legioss is a homage and no one would confuse it with the VF-1, but that just kinda shows my point that Big West wasn't too upset about Tatsunko applying their Gerwalk and Battloid ideas for their own anime mecha designs. I think in all honestly if WB uses an F-14 and just gave it Gerwalk/Battloid, then Big West would only be able to cry infringement on the Gerwalk/Battloid transformations, but not the actual jet design. The VF-1 design definitely resembles the F-14 jet design because it is a practical copy of the F-14 minus horizontal stabilizers and with a few additions such as the head turrent, but that doesn't make the F-14 jet design the property of Big Wests's by a long shot. If WB gets permission to use the F-14 from the actual US Air Force and Defense Contractors who designed the F-14 then no court Japanese or US would ever possibly side with Big West over copyright infringement of the VF-1 jet mode.

Harsh, yet so true. HG has been sucking it since 1985, if we are lucky they will gag and choke themselves to death soon. No surprise there. Your new avatar still has the "ass" in assertion... literally All this potty language has made me realized there should to be a South park parody of Robotech and HG's evil plagurizing deeds that is at least half as awesome as the emmy nominated Chinpokomon episode. On a serious note though had Big West striped Tatsunko of its rights to Legioss because of its plagurization of Battloid and Gerwalk modes, then HG wouldn't be able to use Alpha and Betas in any future Robotech.

Personally, if I was Harmony Gold then my argument would be that when you right down to it the VF-1 is just a F-14 with minor alterations that transforms to Gerwalk and Battloid modes, and that if using the Macross Gerwalk and Battloid modes was such a big issue then why the hell didn't Studio Nue hound Tatsunko for completely ripping off their idea of 3 mode transformation jets when Mosepeda came out in 1985? Is there some unwritten rule that states it's cool to rip off macross mecha designs for other 80s anime, but not for live action movies produced in America over 25 years later?

I like your idea, but I would rather see them pull off a re-imagined Macross Plus, the "Top gun of anime": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcLl6f_Mfu4. They can have Tom and Tobey fight against each other in a transforming YF-22 vs. YF-23 competition, no need for generic aliens. Their both around 5'8 and in their 30s though so their won't be any epic David verus Golith esque fist fights, but their will still be intense fights over who gets the heart of Olivia Munn while a CG idol with the "Hyber sexualized body" of Janice schemes in the background. Everyone will enjoy the movie except for hardcore RT fans complaining "WTF! There is no protoculutre and this isn't the Macross Saga!" HG will come up with some BS that they planned the movie at the time of the Macross Plus toy scandal and that "This is our Macross Plus, its better then Macross Saga cause you know its got a Plus sign at the end of the title, and its got a nude 3d avatar designed by our favorite horny Korean dude." Micheal Bay didn't just add bells and whistles to the orginal G1 designs. He had a team of about 300 engineers from Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic dissembling vehicles to pieces and model them and find ways of making them folded up robots in a custom made modeling program. Its obvious that a lot of the designs were inspired in part by the G1 designs, but they were still original designs that could be used without getting permission from the Japanese designers (Shinji Kawamori was one of them) who made the Japanese toys that became the transformers. . True, being remotely recognizeable to the original designs could attract legal action, but it would be a very weak case. Creating CG models from original sketchs that have recognizable design cues inspired by the originals can easily be judged as being legimate in court. Straight up modeling from lineart from Macross Art Books and then editing some polygons is another thing entirely.

Thats fantastic news, it means my worst fears won't come true . The LAM won't have Tobey Maquire, as Breetai with ridiculus dreadlocks ordering around an enlaved humanity to mine protoculture in areas too small for the giant zentradi in a horrible sci fi flick made for and by Scientologists.

LOL I didn't even notice. I agree that it looks much cooler spelled this way. What does it take start a new trope on TV tropes.org BTW? I want to see if I can make "Hyber sexaualized body" into THE trope to describe sexy females with artificial/cybernetic bodies like Motoko Kusanagi, Kosmos, and Janice. That way if Dreamworks does produces Ghost in the Shell I can post everywhere "That it isn't Ghost in the Shell until we see the Hyber sexualized body jumping off a building (preferably in the nude)."

I think the light hearted feel of the Robotech we are familiar with will be replaced with a much more gritter and realistic feel like BSG. The city life in space with a light mood is for Macross, and this is a Robotech movie with dark edgy Hollywood movies being all the rage. I am starting to think though that the Robotech LAM will be much more like a reimagined Robotech Battle Cry then a reimagined Robotech Macross Saga. HG is always stating that WB has been given access to all the rights to Robotech for the LAM, but they always neglect the important fact that HG can only license the rights they already have and we know If HG had all the rights to the Macross charaters they would be all over the place in Prelude and RSC with their same familiar faces attached to hyber sexualized bodies. With that in mind HG and WB probably have little choice, but to write in new characters with their own stories and then come with some excuse that fans already know the outcome of the Rick, Lisa, and Minmay Love Triangle and that the decesion for new characters was completely a creative rather then legal decision. Don't forget that there is no way Bodolza's age of 125,000 "cycles" isn't consistent with a few human years. Didn't realize that. I guess only the Macross Plus trianle is is complete without using jailbait. Then again I don't know Ishtar's age, but I bet facing Feff after taking Ishtar's virginity would be much worse then a felony charge anyway.

Lol! Is that a Macross doujin or is that actually from the Macross 7 trash manga or something? She'll feel like herself again When she shoots all her heroin In one big blast from! In one big shot from! In one big blast from! In one big shot! From her wave motion gun!!!

You do have a good point with the changed back story. It also occured to me that before Minmay became a star and Hikaru a soldier they were practically no pictures of them for the fictional filmmakers of the DYRL in the macross universe to tell what they even looked like. The lower age of consent in Japan isn't entirely true though as each Prefecture of Japan can have their own laws on consent so the age of consent varies from 13-18 depending on where you are in Japan.

It was just a funny FYI to show that the guys at Big West must have been having similar thoughts about ramifications of portraying tweens in a romantic relationship with implied sexual content in a threatrical movie, so they simply changed the ages of the characters to 18. I would say that keeping in mind that the main Robotech charaters started the series as young as 15, but matured over the show should make it easier to stomach a cast of tweener actors though. Keep in mind that tween actors would also be going though puberty and grow in the gaps between the productions of the Live action Robotech trilogy so by the time the third Robotech film is made Miley Cyrus would probably be close to 20.