TheLoneWolf

On 9/18/2019 at 3:41 AM, no3Ljm said:

This non-painted multi-part resin kit contains less than 5 components. It could be assembled by super glue within 10 minutes. Super glue is not included in this kit.

I hope that Kids Logic will be using industrial strength resin with these. Regular resin is fairly brittle when it comes to small, thin pieces and I can see those wings and antennas easily breaking.

4 hours ago, Fortress_Maximus said:

@TheLoneWolf:  Possibly true but why weren't the contractual issues finalized before launching the KS?!  The only level that sold out was strictly for Mikimoto's drawings.  Personally would not be surprised if a few early supporters wanted to back out because of false and misleading advertising.
 

My guess is that both parties honestly believed that all the contractual issues were ironed out. Perhaps Mikimoto assumed that AnimEigo was going to handle all the various licensing issues with the shikishi; after all, AnimEigo is one of the oldest anime distributors in the US and has a reputation for professional work. Meanwhile, AnimEigo might not have believed that a handful of shikishis would be enough to infringe Japan's copyright laws, especially since Mikimoto isn't being directly paid for them. But given Mikimoto's fame, combined with the shikishis' high pricetag, should make them highly susceptible to Japan's strict copyright enforcement.

On 9/3/2019 at 1:57 PM, Fortress_Maximus said:

Until we get more detailed information from Woodhead I am not going to assume the worst and give both him and Mikimoto the benefit of the doubt.  However, it still would have been professional and greatly appreciated by fans alike, if these unforeseen contractual issues were resolved well in advance of the KS campaign.  We may never know the truth but if anyone finds out, please share via pm if you cannot disclosure publicly.  Thank you.

Robert Woodhead's explanation jives with my limited knowledge of Japanese copyright law. Japan strictly enforces their copyright laws, more so than the USA in some regards. If Mikimoto was going to draw copyrighted characters from other anime productions in exchange for money, then AnimEigo would need to get permission or a license from those copyright holders to do so. For example, if someone pledged $2,500 for Mikimoto to draw a character from Super Dimension Century Orguss, then AnimEigo would need to get permission from TMS Entertainment Co. and Big West. Since AnimEigo only has a license with AIC for Megazone 23, Mikimoto is limited to drawing characters from Megazone 23.

If no money was being exchanged, or if the money from the shikishi was going to a charitable cause, then Japanese copyright holders probably wouldn't care.

Excellent work, I love reading translated interviews!

I think the TIA editors made a mistake in that article. It says that Kawamori was born in Fukuyama prefecture, but at his panel at Otakon last year, Kawamori said that he was born in Toyama prefecture. I double-checked the panel's audio and he clearly says Toyama.

Hopefully they fix the coloring on Breetai's pants in the new production run. His pants aren't supposed to be purple.

The good news is that N64 games do fit inside the small USPS flat-rate boxes.

But if you don't have the time or desire to deal with 20+ sales, the best thing to do is to sell the system and accessories as one lot and all the games as a 2nd lot. Shipping them together in a single lot is going to be almost as bad as parting them out. Lots don't make as much money as individual sales, but since you didn't pay for these, it's all profit anyways.

Do the games all have their booklets, paperwork/flyers, and cardboard trays? If so, make sure to note that in your auction. Complete games will usually fetch around $20 minimum and higher depending on the game's demand/popularity. Even sold as a lot, you'll still make quite a bit of money.

edit: Oh yeah, I'd test out the N64 at the bare minimum. "Untested system" is slang for "probably broken" on eBay. N64 cartridges are pretty robust and easy to clean, so you shouldn't have to worry about those.

3 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

If anyone was to approach a single Macross title for western adaptation, I'd think Macross Plus probably has the best chance of success.  It's probably had the most exposure of the franchise due to HG's leaky practices then, and it already feels like the most "western" of Macross material, between the Top Gun comparisons, minimal necessary exposition, and the unique role music played in that particular story.

I think someone else had a similar idea.

The old Macross Compendium has some dates for the Tatatoku stuff.

http://macross.anime.net/production/models_toys/mecha/united_nations/variable/vf1/index.html

4 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

I'm not following your logic here. HG and Tats may be join copyright owners, but if KC only has a contract with HG, then I don't see why Tats would be obligated to allow KC to continue manufacturing products under their trademark.

KitzConcept has a contract with both Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko Production. Tatsunoko's contract with Harmony Gold explicitly designates Harmony Gold as "the lawful and authorized representative to exercise merchandising rights related to the underlying series..." As Tatsunoko's authorized representative, Harmony Gold has the authority to legally bind Tatsunoko to contractual obligations involving merchandising. Basically, any merchandising contract signed by Harmony Gold automatically includes Tatsunoko.

Back to KC's Dark Gold VF-1S, I really like that color scheme, especially since it prevents KC from applying their usual gaudy panel lines.

On 6/8/2019 at 1:11 AM, jenius said:

A curious thought here, if Harmony Gold really does lose their license in 2021 to merchandise Macross products, then that seems like it will royally f*ck KitzConcept and Toynami (to a  much lesser degree). BigWest will probably be in no mood to deal with companies that were not operating under their licensing previously and they will have not motivation to do so with their biggest sponsor (Bandai) already having a full catalog it could deliver.

KitzConcept should be fine. Since Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko Production are joint copyright owners, if HG's rights expires, then KC's existing contract to produce Robotech/Macross toys should remain in force through Tatsunoko. Think of it as when a married couple takes out a mortgage in both of their names. If one spouse dies, then the mortgage stays in force through the surviving spouse.

The only caveat would be if KC's contract contains an explicit provision stating that the contract becomes void if HG's rights epire. But if that were the case, then KC should be fully aware of what may come.

12 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I wonder what implications Big West's new trademark are going to have for Titan Publishing Group and their current (awful) Robotech comic.  They're based in the UK, and that comic is making fairly liberal use of the Macross name.

If UK trademark law is similar to ours, then it's business as usual for Titan while the appeal process plays out. But when Harmony Gold loses the appeal, I can see Titan renaming everything "Macross" to something else, or even just referring to it as "the city" or "the ship." It'll be a bit embarrassing, but nothing they're already used to, considering the comic's content. Take this with a grain of salt as I'm not familiar with UK law.

To Macross fans in the UK, if Big West releases Macross Blu-ray discs and books over there, please buy them. If fans just download torrents and call it a day, Big West may wonder if their legal expenses are worth the trouble.

On 5/30/2019 at 7:27 PM, sh9000 said:

I think it comes with the Fext System sets.

Ah, my mistake. I thought you had bought that new Fext stand and that the photos were yours.

On 5/29/2019 at 3:18 AM, sh9000 said:

https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2673142702756189&id=1641462599257543

Do you prefer these over Tamashii's stands? It seems weird that the arm can't be plugged in to the center of the stand.

On 5/26/2019 at 3:35 PM, Legioss said:

Sorry, I've never been to Macek's gallery and haven't seen it. The only times I went to California were in 1995 and 1996 for Robocon and Anime America '96.

I have this 1996 Nikaku Animart Catalog. I don't know if I have any others scanned. I still have my Books Nippan, Super Collector, and maybe some other catalogs in paper form.

nikaku96.doc 182.3 kB · 3 downloads

Whoah, that Books Nippan newsletter has some crazy romanizations! Does it happen to say what month it was written?

Thanks for posting those pics, it's great to see what anime fandom was like during the early days of the web.

In the books, the White Walkers' origin has yet to be revealed. But Melisandre does say that they are creations of the dark god, whereas in the show they're the creations of the Children of the Forest. Maybe the showrunners gleaned their info from GRRM's notes or maybe they just pulled it out of their asses. Nothing's mentioned about them being immortal neither, it's just assumed.

As for female White Walkers, one is mentioned in the story of the Night's King. In this story, a Lord Commander of the Night's Watch fell in love with a woman who matches the description of a White Walker. While the White Walkers resemble monsters in the TV show, GRRM described them in the books as having a strange type of beauty, so a human falling in love with one wouldn't be outright disgusting.

There aren't any more instances of female White Walkers in the books, but then again, only a scant few have been seen up close, so it's difficult to say that there just aren't any.

As for Craster's deal, I just assumed that he wanted to be the only pervert rooster in the hen house, so getting rid of his sons was a win-win deal for him. But I could be wrong and perhaps the White Walkers specifically requested his sons.

15 hours ago, Tochiro said:

I need to fix some of the line formatting later, but for now, heres my write up.

http://www.decultureshock.com/nhks-ultimate-macross-poll/

This is fantastic, your translations and explanations are invaluable!

On 4/18/2019 at 12:19 PM, kajnrig said:

Well. So much for FBA.

That's a pretty fascinating case. From the information in that video, it looks to me like Capcom is in the clear. The problem with the FinalBurn Alpha team is that the proverbial right-hand doesn't know what the left-hand is doing.

The first thing to check is FBA's Articles of Incorporation (assuming they have one). The Articles of Incorporation should state whether Barry Harris is empowered to make legally binding decisions on the behalf of the team. If he doesn't have that power, then the contract he signed with Capcom is as worthless as used toilet paper.

If Harris has the authority to make such decisions, then the next step is to determine whether the rest of the FBA team are legally considered employees who are producing code under a written "work-for-hire" agreement, or whether they're independent contractors. If they're employees producing code on a "work-for-hire" basis, then Harris can license their code to whomever he wishes. But if they're independent contractors, then they legally own their respective portions of code that went into FBA, so Harris has no right to license their work to anyone without their permission. Since the team is comprised of volunteers who are working from home using their own hardware, compilers, etc., they're almost certainly independent contractors.

If my analysis is right, then the lesson here is to hire a lawyer before signing any major contract. Unfortunately for Capcom, they're going to take the brunt of the blame for Harris' mistake.

Anyways, that's the kitscshiest arcade stick I've ever seen. Someone's going to make big money selling a decal to cover up that thing. 

On 12/17/2018 at 8:48 PM, TheLoneWolf said:

I don't think the unfortunate residents of Hell will have to worry about finding a new home just yet, considering there's a long list of unreleased Robotech toys.

Called it.

This might actually be a blessing in disguise for Southern Cross. If MAAS' lazy designs were actually released, their sales probably would've been so disastrous as to completely extinguish that 0.001% chance the show has of seeing more mecha toys.

Harmony Gold should count their blessings that MAAS died when they did. If they had relented to MAAS' Kickstarter plans, it would've been yet another Kickstarter debacle for them.

1 hour ago, Convectuoso said:

Can't wait for the VF-1D. What worries me is ..what comes next for HMR?

More VF-1 and VF-4 repaints. With the VF-4 just being released, I wouldn't expect any new sculpts for another year or so.

Beyond that, I'm thinking the Q-rau.

The Regult is way too small to fit an average-sized Zentradi pilot, even if you squish the pilot inside.

These are photos of John Moscato's Regult and Zentradi pilot models; the Zentradi pilot is 1/72 scale and the Regult is 1/57 scale. Even though the Regult is much larger than it should be, the pilot barely fits inside.

As for the HMR line, as Lolicon said, it's a non-scale toy line, so don't try to do serious scale comparisons with it.

Model builder and photo credit: Cool8tor

3 hours ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

Kind of surprised that a Yamato v2 Elintseeker sold earlier today from Mandarake for 30,000 yen, given that one can pre-order the Arcadia upcoming release for much less money.

The buyer might not be aware that a reissue is being released soon.

Or maybe the buyer is securing one just in case the Arcadia version has QC problems or has some minor, undesirable design change.

I noticed that clicking on any of the articles on the main page leads to a blank page.

Also, there's no articles at all prior to January 2012.

I'm pretty sure there never was a chrome version of the VF-19 Kai, just the VF-19S, VF-17S, and VF-17D.

If there was, then Kawamori forgot to include it on the limited edition card that came with the set

17 hours ago, Penguin sushi said:

I know that the hm regult is really expensive, but has anyone had any experience with the ones from revoltech?

If you're looking for cheaper Regults, you're best bet would be Toynami's 1/100 Battlepods. They don't have the crazy posability and details of the HMR, but they look decent.

If the HMR's don't get a reissue, I can see Toynami's Battelpods going up in price.

Packaging designs are indeed protected by copyrights. Assuming that Bandai acquired all of Takatoku's intellectual property, and not just their toy moulds, they would have a leg to stand on.

But I don't see Bandai doing anything. Bandai never used that packaging design under their own brand, not to mention that the 1/55 line is long dead; it'd be hard to argue that they're suffering actual harm. The best that they could hope for is an injunction, which doesn't net them anything.