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JB0

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Everything posted by JB0

  1. JB0
    I just realized a HUGE problem with this annuncement. We've spent two decades watching a succession of drama-bombs from these two franchises' legal situation. Where the heck are we supposed to get our legal soap opera now?
  2. JB0
    Looks removable to me. They turned the chrome radiators of the original toy into missile launchers. As missile launchers, they almost certainly are on pegs so they can be handheld.
  3. JB0
    If they want to distribute CURRENT Robotech works featuring elements from Macross outside America, they have to partner with Big West. They're over a barrel there. Future Robotech "works" is a flexible concept. They can't make more animation featuring SDF Macross elements, but comic books are still fair game. Though perhaps one they might be hesitant about, given their licensees' propensity for lifting things from OTHER Macross works and adapting them into Robotech.
  4. JB0
    My understanding about the trademark lawsuits is thus: 0: Around the turn of the century, HG starts telling everyone they need to quit bringing Macross merchandise out of Japan because HG actually owns all of Macross and there's no way out without paying them. In spite of Macross II and Macross Plus already being distributed internationally without HG's approval, and Mac Plus toys sitting on shelves across America. This is probably due to plans to bring the original Yamato 1/60 VF-1s to America, which are much nicer than Toynami's Masterpieces. 0.5: Big West is furious about this and adopts a "don't negotiate with terrorists" approach to HG. Any Big West licensee that pays money to HG sees their licenses cancelled, and any manufacturer that does business with HG gets blacklisted from ever doing business with Big West. 1: HG, upon realizing their opponent has a spine and they can't ACTUALLY force Big West to just give them all the Macrosses by saying "we own this, so give it to us", files a bunch of trademarks on everything tangentally-related to Macross everywhere outside Japan explicitly to prevent Big West selling any Macross. HG still doesn't own the copyright to anything or even any distribution rights, but they own trademarks on the word Macross and the UN Spacey logo and a bunch of other important terms and images. Big West is effectively locked out of the international market unless they negotiate with HG. (This is the point where HG starts putting the words "Macross Saga" prominently on their merchandise, to give the appearance of actually using these trademarks for legitimate business purposes.) 2: Big West, upon realizing most countries' trademark law contains provisions for overseas creators to take of maliciously-registered trademarks, filed complaints and got all the trademarks confiscated from HG and assigned to Big West. Now the shoe's on the other foot as those obstructionist trademarks prevent HG from selling anything Macross-related outside the US(including the first half of Robotech), because Big West has trademarks on the word Macross and the UN Spacey logo and a bunch of other important terms and images 3: HG, upon realizing that US trademark law does NOT work this way and very much favors the applicant, stonewalls Big West. They can do whatever the heck they want everywhere else(except sell SDF Macross merchandise due to the Tatsunoko agreement), but HG has the US market completely locked down. It is the only weapon HG has, but it is a fairly big one. 3.5: I believe Big West was waiting for the license agreement to run out so they could swoop in and take over. This probably seemed a fair bet, as HG and Tatsunoko were on fairly bad terms. But that didn't work out, and Tatsunoko renewed the license agreement for international distribution of SDF Macross and related merchandise. 3.9: Oh, hey, there's a plague. That's pretty much affected every industry on Earth, including the ones HG and Big West are involved in. I believe both companies suddenly started looking at red ink on their balance sheets and became a lot less interested in stonewalling. 4: That brings us to today, where Big West and HG have sat down and negotiated a ceasefire.
  5. JB0
    Because it gives Big West gets veto power over future Robotech decisions? It is hard to see how this is a win when HG used to answer to no one.
  6. JB0
    Legally-speaking, they aren't. They don't use any SDF Macross names or designs.
  7. JB0
    Here in Dallas, that's about what I'd pay in taxes... except I don't have a state sales tax. Sales tax is all city and county level, and adds up to 8.25%. (The cities want to raise it, but state law prohibits total sales tax from exceeding 8.25%) I can't actually set up an order to check, because Ark is sold out. What's even the point of preorders if you aren't going to make enough to fill everyone's orders? I HATE EVERYTHING!
  8. JB0
    Comic books and novelizations are considered merchandise, which is why HG can make them. They don't have rights to produce derivative moving-picture productions, be they animated or photographic.
  9. JB0
    That'd be satisfying as hell, but they don't really have the leverage to force that particular concession. They would've had to get Tatsunoko to not renew the license, and Tatsunoko doesn't really care about all this except that they get paid one way and don't the other.
  10. JB0
    It certainly explains recent weather down here in my neck of the woods. Texas got REALLY cold for a little while, and our weather is famously connected to Hell's. I guess the aggressive campaign to overturn HG's trademarks and release 100% Pure Macross™ everywhere outside the US was hurting the Robotech money-laundering operation sales more than they would publicly admit. My guess is this agreement is almost exclusively on Big West's terms, with the "Robotech movie in Japan" clause being the only exception.
  11. JB0
    Ah, she got the Isamu treatment.
  12. JB0
    I'm honestly pleased with the Ark toy, aside from the large gaps on the sides. I feel like there ought to be panels folding over those. While I grant it is not show-accurate(and there's no such thing as comix accurate, with Marvel drawing it different every time), I like how it looks. I probably would've skipped it if they hadn't also included Teletraan-1 as a converting robot. I was kinda hoping for a second that the Teletraan-1 robot would attach the rest of the ship as armor to make the Ark-bot, but... nope.
  13. JB0
    They found a sucker to pony up more dough for this trainwreck?
  14. JB0
    Good to know.
  15. JB0
    Wouldn't an HBT canister BE the small amount of fuel? It isn't like an eyedropper of hydrogen will get you hours of fusion.
  16. JB0
    The last news was announcing their presence at a large merchandising event. My suspicion is they couldn't attract enough merchandise licenses to fill out the budget, and quietly dropped everything. Such an ignoble fate, but it is sadly on-brand.
  17. JB0
    Heck yeah. The world needs more Captain Power, and we're never going to have it.
  18. JB0
    I thought the whale-hunter VF-1 in Dynamite 7 was a civilian model.
  19. JB0
    It is just plain stupid. I enjoyed it, though. Enough that I'm sad there wasn't a second season.
  20. JB0
    Yes, but not when they're fresh. Only markdowns are worthy of the battle.
  21. JB0
    Unless it is the Q. Rau. Then they add a gun and call it a Q. Rhea. In fairness, that IS a bit like comparing a BMW to a Model T. On-topic! As you offer no explanation for WHY you would make these changes or how they would improve the show, I am left to infer intent. I offer my thoughts on several points, but feel free to enlighten me. Why make him a fighter pilot? That is not a minor detail. Changing the main character's background and personality so drastically results in rather significant changes to the entire show. I dare say that once all the repercussions of this change ripple through the narrative, there is a good chance it won't be recognizable as Macross II anymore. Nah. Giant borg sounds kinda lame. ... More thoughtfully, it undermines a core theme of the franchise at the time. The enemies in Macross, despite being aliens from the other end of the galaxy, are not freakish monsters that can't be understood. They are people, not too dissimilar from ourselves. While circumstance has put them at odds with humanity, there is common ground, and if everyone would stop shooting for two seconds and just talk to each other, there might not be a reason to fight in the first place. Making the aliens overtly human helps underscore this message. Certainly, the idea that even "grotesque monsters" are, fundamentally, people like us is on-brand, one that's barely brushed against in DYRL, and saw only limited exploration in Seven(despite the latter's MUCH longer runtime). It is a concept worth exploring more. But as with making Hibiki a soldier instead of a reporter, it is a major change that carries broad repercussions for the overall presentation(if not necessarily the narrative). Without a careful rework of the show, it will just serve to de-humanize the mardook, turning them into targets we can feel good about slaughtering wholesale because they "aren't really people". And that seems to be very un-Macross. To what purpose? Paint schemes and robot legs are minor cosmetic tweaks that seem to not make much of a difference either way. I am open to an explanation, but see no way this can make the show better OR worse, just... slightly different, but not in any meaningful way. Let's point the lens elsewhere briefly to illustrate. Would the original Gundam look better in monochrome as originally intended instead of the crayola accident forced upon the production by sponsors? Absolutely! But would it make that series better or worse in any way other than the most superficially meaningless? Not really, no. Again, to what purpose? We spent basically all of the 90s determining that gore won't make a bad thing good, and a good thing isn't inherently improved by the inclusion of gore. It could emphasize the brutality of war, but since you also want to dehumanize the presentation of the mardook, I assume that is not your purpose. In light of that, I see no creative reason for adding viscera, it is just "because it is kool and edgy".
  22. JB0
    Define what a "real sequel" would be, in your eyes.
  23. JB0
    I'm pretty sure there's other options besides "audience of one" and "tasteless clowns".
  24. JB0
    "17 years later..." Impressive.
  25. JB0
    When he's done, can I borrow your truck? I'm builoing a solar power tower, and that looks to be the vehicle I need.
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