jenius

HG has the rights to the original Macross show and merchandise outside of Japan. That means there are official channels to sell things in the states (licensed merchandise) and unofficial channels (imported goods). Everyone in the states who sells imported Macross goods is engaging in the "Gray Market" and should realize (although some may not) that HG has the right at any time to issue a C&D. The thing about issuing C&Ds is that they're cheap and easy. HG has clearly been extremely half-assed in their efforts to back up their own license though and that's why the gray market is thriving. I'm not at all surprised that once anyone says "Prove it" they disappear because they're not looking to spend money to stop little shops from selling foreign toys, they're looking to have those shops voluntarily respect the rights (the cost benefit just isn't their to actually bring in a lawyer beyond drafting the C&D). Having Toynami actually be successful (I can't believe I just wrote that) gives HG a weapon now to use so they can avoid lawyers that much easier with the simple threat to choke off supply. Any remaining legal issues beyond this have to do with the intellectual property rights, derivatives, the name Macross, etc. There's no dispute as to HG's claim to the original Macross footage and the associated merchandising. Correct me if I'm wrong but I was pretty sure that the last concrete ruling we had affirmed BW's intellectual ownership and limited HG to just the footage and the merchandising (ie. no sequels, no returning characters, nothing new that appears to have its roots in Macross).

It's confusing because the Aoshima product has the Toynami stamp on it and is very similar to the Toynami MPC but they are different enough that they should be thought of as two different products. Anything that looks like a Toynami MPC in a non-Robotech box is actually an Aoshima Legioss. For more on the differences visit my post here.

I believe you mean to say: "I'm seeing blue Aoshima Legiosses on eBay for around $60 to $70, but only one Scott MPC for $160."

That kind of thinking might just blow your mind.

Blue is out. If Toynami follows their usual pattern they will probably put out a new repaint every 3 to 6 months.

I'll bet their answer would hinge on whether or not the people who paid for their services were left with useless pieces of broken plastic and little else to show for it...

I thought Kevin shut down Valk Exchange to focus on his family... could be wrong though. And didn't the Blasto guy steal a bunch of people's money from the board allegedly to fight HG and then disappeared? Typically companies don't come right out with a lawsuit, they send you a C&D. HG is within its rights so this anger seems unfounded. The one thing I really hate... and don't know who to blame... was that the Jokemachine 2.0 project got shut down. Those things looked sweet but something happened with someone that shut it all down.

and some couches transform into beds. Couches 2, Q raus 0.

Why is this complicated at all? Tatsunoko, a Japanese company acquired the rights from BW for helping finance the Macross TV show. Tats then sold those international rights to HG to recoup their investment. There's no evil international henchmen here... it was a pretty straight forward business deal that granted HG international rights to Macross. EDIT - it's kind of ironic in a thread about the greed of a Japanese company (and whether or not they are greedy) to infer that HG is evil and greedy and that Macross should fall under "fair use" laws. None of it adds up. There's still clearly money to be made on the license, licenses that are fairly owned both within and without Japan.

That's an old Gakken 1/35 Legioss and the Tread is 1/55. It's an apples and oranges comparison that's causing your visual confusion. If the MPC Alpha was present you'd see the Beta towering over it.

If you lived in Japan you would probably get your parts directly from Yamato (like US people did when the Garland broke). So if you're getting your stuff through Overdrive the service isn't really comparable. Pete, Robotech exists because HG got the "international" (meaning not in Japan) rights to the original Macross series. This means anything from the original Macross series outside of Japan should fly the Robotech banner. This part of the story is just about the only thing that isn't disputed. All of the court cases and such that have happened since revolve around things like derivative works, concept rights, etc. and those cases have shown that HG had no rights to any concepts or derivatives(sequels) of the Macross universe. All the litigation angered all parties so now they refuse to work together. Still, anything from the original Macross series is now, and has always been since the invention of Robotech, a license of Harmony Gold outside of Japan (although if you wanted to be a real litigator bad ass you might argue they've asserted their right inconsistently in some regions...).

The hip bar actually can be lowered and articulation is improved significantly... but still not completely unhindered. I'd qualify the Destroid toys as being fairly fun to pose... much better than the QRau

Ugh, it's really come to this old debate. No one disagrees that HG holds the license outside of Japan for merchandise for the original Macross. That means it's totally in their rights to insist people include them in any profits made on Macross merchandise outside of Japan (again, related to the original show). To sit their and make it sound like they're bad guys for insisting they get what they paid for when they acquired the license is wrong. The reason this is affecting you is because BW and HG can't come to any sort of agreement. HG would love to have all that merchandise in Japan being sold here under the Robotech name but BW refuses to work with HG (for valid reasons). Where HG screwed up, and created the hostile environment with BW, is when then started claiming all derivative Macross works as falling under the original agreement. That was a ham-fisted, bone-headed, and greedy move... but it doesn't suddenly invalidate their rights to the original Macross show and merchandise. If all they're trying to do is get BBTS to stop selling original Macross show toys then that's something BBTS should have always known could happen.

No flash, just in a well lit area.

This toy is really difficult to photograph because of how bleached white it is. The light reflects a bit more off the surface so my lighting rig isn't soft enough. Since the shoulders exhibit this same problem with reflecting a bit too much light that the surrounding bits do I'm of the mind to say they must all be made of the same material. I've examined several pictures close up now and I can't discern a change in shade I'm afraid.

Yep, go to figures.com and look around and you'll see pics.

I've finished photoshoots of all the other recent releases, I pulled the MPC Alphas and Aoshima Legiosses out of storage, and the photo area is ready to roll. Unfortunately, I haven't even gotten a shipping notice yet. I'm excited to put this thing through its paces though so turn around time from my getting it to my putting up a post shouldn't be very long.

I think what you're seeing is actually the effect of the arms casting shadows. When I look at them in person I can't see any real difference in hue.

Maybe these will help.

This was just asked a while back and answered with "there was a mock-up at Comicon so presumably so"

Would extreme close up pictures of the shoulder hinges help you folks? I could do that (speaking of the 1J). Darkhawk, consult your magic 8 ball... no concrete info is out.

Instead of asking "will Yamato ever..." you should state, "I would like Yamato to make the following, do you agree with me?" The answer to the question "Will Yamato ever..." will always be "Maybe."

whoa late to the party.... These were just Bandai origin valkyries being released in the US (they're essentially reissues of the 2001 reissues). There was talk of more 1/55 later down the road with different heads but it was stuck in the "gauging interest" arena.

My Fuke post is up: Check it out by clicking here.

Yeah, but no one could have anticipated this extremely long (probably indefinite IMHO) wait. It seemed that these were going to be released immediately following the Japanese release originally. Kevin, has there been any more word from Toynami? Are you going to carry any other Toynami products any time soon?