TheLoneWolf
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Because the arbitrator concluded that if Harmony Gold loses their rights to SDF Macross, then Harmony Gold should also lose the "Macross" trademark. Both companies agreed to be legally bound by the arbitrator's decision, so that's pretty much the end of it.
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Great article! I'm glad to see that Arcadia would like to make a TV SDF-1.
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One thing to keep in mind is that the VF-1's are based off old 2010 molds, whereas the rest of the HM-R line are modern designs. Also, the HM-R is supposed to be a flagship line, which is reflected in these newer designs. I don't know what Bandai's intentions were for the 2010 lineup, but they certainly weren't trying to make waves with it. When the HM-R VF-2SS comes out, we'll get a good look at what Bandai can really do transforming with toys at this scale.
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Leonard French does a pretty good job at summarizing the issues, but he made a few factual mistakes. According to him, Tatsunoko Production "was the original creator of...the original works that lead to Robotech, which were Macross..." and licensed/lost out certain rights to Big West and Harmony Gold. However, this is a gross inaccuracy in regards to The Super Dimension Fortress Macross. In reality, Studio Nue created SDF Macross, with Big West as Studio Nue's primary sponsor. To reiterate, the staff members of Studio Nue planned, designed, wrote, scripted, and directed SDF Macross. This is no secret, just look at the closing credits of SDF Macross and it's all there. Tatsunoko had no creative input over SDF Macross, so crediting them as the show's creator is wrong. All Tatsunoko did was supply the animators to animate roughly half of the series. And even then, Tatsunoko didn't use their own animators, instead farming out the work to their subsidiaries, such as the Korean studio Star Pro. Again, all of this information is in the show's credits sequences. So how did Tatsunoko and Harmony Gold acquire certain, limited rights to SDF Macross? If you didn't read my old post here, I'll briefly summarize it. Since Big West didn't have the money to pay for Tatsunoko's animators, they gave Tatsunoko a) the right to distribute the show outside of Japan, b) the right the merchandize the show outside of Japan, and c) a portion of the show's local (Japan) merchandising sales. Tatsunoko later licensed a) and b) to Harmony Gold. French appears to be under the impression that these rights were licensed or won by Tatsunoko in court, when in fact, Studio Nue/Big West outright gave these rights to Tatsunoko in 1982. The Japanese court cases from the early 2000's reinforced these three rights, and in addition, gave Tatsunoko the television broadcast rights to SDF Macross in Japan. Obviously, that latter has nothing to do with the rest of the world. And, as we all know, the Japanese courts correctly ruled that Studio Nue and Big West never intended to give Tatsunoko the rights to the designs and story of SDF Macross as payment for Tatsunoko's animators' work. To French's credit, Harmony Gold's US court filing routinely omit Studio Nue and Big West's contributions to SDF Macross, so it's no surprise that he wasn't aware of their ownership rights. And as he readily admits, it's an already complicated situation. Unfortunately, since French is an attorney, his statements regarding Tatsunoko as the "creator" of SDF Macross will now probably be viewed as canon by the US fandom and cited as such going forward.
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This lawsuit has nothing to do with the Battletech controversy. Harmony Gold is suing Tatsunoko Production in order to enforce an arbitration order against Tatsunoko. Long story short, Tatsunoko was ordered to reimburse Harmony Gold's legal fees, which arose out of an arbitration dispute between the two. So far, Tatsunoko hasn't paid Harmony Gold back and Harmony Gold is asking a district court to force Tatsunoko to pay. I would write more, but I'm literally about to walk out the door for a trip. I'll try to go into more detail when I arrive at my destination.
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It looks like Stick's been smoking some protoculture. Other than that, I love the sculpt!
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Battletech kickstarter computer game.
TheLoneWolf replied to koonfasa's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Yes, that's all it means. The SDCC toy actually comes with Jetfire's vintage 1985 bio card, which features artwork of him in his Super VF-1S form. But that artwork wasn't what the lawsuit was about. According to Harmony Gold's court filing, they objected to "...a toy in a box labeled, 'G.I. Joe and the Transformers... The Epic Conclusion.'" -
Do you have any links for that info? I never expected Tatsunoko to be actively involved with the LAM, but I'd be shocked if they weren't even a signatory to the contract.
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I'm not a fan of all the extra, random details that are on that SDF-1. And the fact that you can't transform it makes it an easy pass for me.
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There's little chance that Harmony Gold will lose their license. Tatsunoko Production has renewed it three times already, so it's safe to say that they'll renew it a fourth time, if they haven't already. Even if Tatsunoko Production were to drop Harmony Gold, it probably wouldn't affect Sony's contract. Sony's contract was most likely with Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko. If HG drops off, then the contract would carry on through Sony and Tatsunoko.
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LOL! In Toynami's defense, 16 years ago most people thought that Ben piloted a generic CF. It wasn't until Toynami released their Morphers box set that they, along with most of the fandom, realized that Ben had a unique color scheme.
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Books Nippan/U.S. Renditions - A Blast from the Past
TheLoneWolf replied to Duke Togo's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
Woooow, I love the guerilla style layouts that they used. And some of the names are still recognizable today, like David Keith Riddick and Robert Napton. Thanks for posting those scans! -
Judging by this picture, I assume that Toynami will finally be releasing Ben's 1/100 VF-1A, which should include his standing and cockpit figures.
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Glad to hear that these are being released stateside. My only gripes involve the yellow tips on the missiles. But it's nothing that some gray paint can't fix.
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When I transformed Evolution Toys' VF-2SS, the first thought that ran through my head was "Damn, this feels like a Toynami toy" due to the toy's cheap plastic and looseness. It's fitting that Toynami will now be distributing ET's Legioss' in the US.
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That's it? I could've sworn there were more. Thanks. If the movie could speak, I'm sure it'd say "Hold my beer."
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Has anyone been keeping count as to how many directors have been attached to this debacle? After a decade of no progress, naming another director isn't something to get fans excited about. It's a reminder of the hopelessness of this movie.
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Thanks for the heads up! I really hope that Calibre Wings can release those Macross F-14D's here in the US, because I'd snap them up in a heartbeat. I always thought it was a shame that they only saw a limited release at WonderFest.
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Manga stated that their master dub track for episode 4 accidentally got trashed during the dubbing process, so the entire audio track had to be rebuilt from scratch. Since they inserted new foley and omitted some musical tracks in this dub, I wouldn't be surprised if Big West and Bandai forced them create an accurate English dub for Japan for legal reasons. Not to mention that it'd be a little insulting to the show's Japanese directors.
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If big VF-1's are what you're into, you may want to wait a little bit and see if Bandai releases their monstrous 1/35 VF-1J. Unfortunately no release date has been set, nor is there any guarantee that it'll ever be released. But since this year is Macross' 35th anniversary, I can see Bandai releasing a 1/35 toy on the show's 35th anniversary. Coincidence?
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That's interesting, I had always assumed that the leaked beta was the furtherst that Star Fox 2 had made it along. I'm astonished that Nintendo was sitting on a 100% completed copy all this time. Yeah, I thought it was pretty dumb to cancel it. But then I read that there was still serious animosity between Nintendo and Sony concerning the cancellation of the Nintendo Playstation, so with that in mind, it makes sense that Nintendo was worried about their 3D being compared to Sony's Playstation.
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The SNES classic was an easy pass for me, until I saw this. I played the leaked beta and liked the direction the game was going, but didn't think it would ever be finished. Has there ever been a situation where an incomplete game was actually finished (not remade) two decades later? I tip my hat to Nintendo for remembering Starfox 2; they'll be getting my money for sure.
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With the VF-2SS, we'll finally get a chance to see what the High Metal-R line is really made of. While the Destroids and Zentradi mecha were all top notch, neither of them are transforming toys. And I don't consider the HM-R VF-1's to be true HM-R toys, since they're really just old High Metal toys that got grandfathered into the new "R" line with some tweaks. If Bandai can cleanly handle the VF-2SS' crazy transformation, the sky's the limit for them. I have confidence in Bandai and will be pre-ordering on day 1.
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At that price range, I'd say it's the Hi-Metal R and 1/55 lines, hands down. Personally, I'd go with the Hi-Metal R line since it's such a varied line with, Destroids and Zentradi mecha to complement the VF-1. Just make sure to avoid the old Hi-Metal (sans the "R") toys since they aren't as rugged as the newer Hi-Metal R's. About half of my old Hi-Metal toys developed loose ankles after 1 or 2 transformations.
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Legally speaking, that's not a good analogy to make. While Big West, Bandai, et al. can't ship Macross toys outside of Japan, re-sellers in Japan (eg: HLJ) are under no such restriction. So if you buy a 1/60 VF-1S from HLJ and they ship it directly to you in the USA, then none of Harmony Gold's rights are infringed. In addition, these types of restrictions don't apply to private individuals with intent of keeping the goods in their private collections, since the damage to Harmony Gold is deemed negligible. That's why Harmony Gold hasn't sent HLJ any cease & desists, nor have they tried to shut down MacrossWorld's For Sale forum. However, if store located in the USA, such as BigBad ToyStore, were to buy one hundred 1/60 VF-1S' from a re-seller in Japan, and then market those VF-1S' here in the USA, then Harmony Gold's rights would be infringed for two reasons. First, a Macross branded toy is being marketed in the USA without HG's approval. Second, as a large scale retailer, BBTS can't make the argument that they're simply engaging in a small, private transaction; their intent was clearly to resell those VF-1S' in the USA on a mass scale. As for a bit of trivia, BBTS did receive a cease & desist a while ago, which is why they now only sell Harmony Gold/Tatsunoko Production branded Macross toys. On an unrelated note, why does the topic refer to these bootlegs as "gray market" toys? There's nothing gray market about them.