Bri

Even a reactionary character can contribute to a story as the lead. Look at Hikaru in SDFM, he was not mister initiative either. Arguably the most important characters in SDFM are Global and Breetai whose decisions shape the future of Macross. As for Alto's character: don't like him one bit. I have a dislike for temperamental, rude characters so would have prefered a different male lead, but his role is important. Shame his crappy personality hurts the love triangle as I kind of pity the girl who wins. Hmm would this be inverted shipping?

There wasn't much of a joint European effort until the mid 60s. At that time the only two counties with experience in building advanced jets were Britain and France. Afaik Dassault was part of the early design stages for the Eurofighter before they started on the Rafale. Most of their designs were deltas and I'm sure their experience weighed in. The Swedish defense efforts were separate from the rest of Europe as a neutral country. Maybe their need for interceptors made deltas the most likely choice. Thats pure specualtion though.

Aye, Planet Manga which part of Pannini publishing released both a German and Italian edition. Just wondering where does this idea of world wide rights for HG come from? As far as I can tell HG has at the most: 1) a sub-license from Tatsunoko: this gives HG rights to distribute SDFM and worldwide merchandising rights for SDFM outside of Japan. Hgs rights connot exceed Tatsunoko's unless there is a seperate deal between HG and BW that we don't know about. Note: If I have read this thread correctly it is not even sure that Tatsunoko has any authorship rights just ownership of the footage is confirmed. 2) HG has acquired trademarks on Macross in several countries, ones I know of are the USA, Canada, Germany, the UK and France. 3) HG supposedly aquired the license for DYRL (unconfirmed). Unknown if this is a worldwide license or USA only. Gubaba noticed that the copyright posted on the page from Gui predates the Trademark of HG in France. Even if HG wanted Pannini and Glenat to stop publishing M7 trash, they can't enforce it as the use of Macross predates HGs trademark. Also regulations on trademarks require that they are actively used for them to be enforcable.

I think it has a lot to do with the time these fighters were developed. The Rafale, Typhoon and Grippen all have their early design work down in the late seventies/early eighties. At the time the Delta configuration with Canards may have looked like the best option. The F-16 XL that lost to the F15 E for the ETF competition also had a delta wing. The "US teens" were conceived based on late 60s/early70s research while the YF22/YF23 had their roots in the late 80s. I wouldn't be surprised if the shape of these fighters followed the advances in computer-processing-power and windtunnel testing.

Curious if these guys will be able to help out Nasa with the possible lack of manned launch vehicles for the Space station when the Shuttle retires. Pretty impressive progress for a private firm. Space X

The kind of obsession that blogger shows can't be healthy. For me HG means very little. It's just that their action make Macross DVDs and merchandise harder and more expensive to get. If they'd stop interfering in that I'd wish them the best of luck with whatever Robotech project they want to do. The whole mess around that company just seems so destructive.

It does seem very likely that it was HG involvement that got the US vrsion cancelled but there is no confirmation. Just in the interest of confirming facts. What is very interesting though is that Glenat (and possebly Pannini/Planet Manga for the German edition) seem to ignore Harmony Golds Macross trademark on comics/magazines etc. in Germany and France. Wouldn't surprise me if they didn't even know about it or care even less.

I thought it was...but then I checked the references. It was first mentioned by Ewilen on this board as part of a modus operandi of BW to block any deals between their US based licensees and HG to prevent acknowledging any rights of HG to the Macross derivatives like what happened to Toycom. Ewilens post Later JBO referenced to it in a recap. Found a mention on ANN that HG in cooperation with Tokyopop would release Macross 7 trash but that licensing issues prevented it. So again no hard fact *sigh* I read the whole HG license thread today (waiting at home for a repair guy) and just ouch... so much uncertainties. I understand now why people get so frustrated on this issue.

You are contradicting yourself here. You state Macross stuff not being released with Macross has nothing to do with HG while a few posts further Animeigos Macross gets pulled due to HG exercising the trademark. There is more to Macross then just animation. The whole fight started on merchandise of the Macross derivatives. HG started sending threats to importers of Macross products like the YF-19 toys. While the animation may not have come over due to expensive licensing, no merchandise can be legaly distributed either. As for BW and HG not being on good terms. It has been confirmed on more then one occasion. For example Tokyopop trying to publish Macross 7 trash but BW pulls license when the publisher asks HG permission. Yune stated that they would allow Frontier in the US but they do want to get payed for their trademark, blaming it all on the uncooperative attitude of one Japanse company. These are not the actions of companies in a friendly relationship. Yes, there is no offical declaration of war, but that doesn't mean everything is peachy. The results of the lawsuit made it clear in hindsight that HG was never in a position to block any Macross derivatives. Hence the distraction part on HG side in the nineties is irrelevant. The grasp of HG currently on Macross lies with purely with the trademark. If that drops then HG has no influence on anything Macross except SDFM.

Transformers has no copyright issues and Hasbro has a strong relationship with Takara-Tomy. In comparison BW and HG are not on good terms. BW/Nue has the copyright so HG can't make any movie or animation derivatives of Macross without their consent. Robotech is a pure HG property they can do with it as they please as long as they dont infringe on the Macross copyright. Question is how close can the movie resemble the Macross story without breaking that copyright. It's the Macross trademarks expiring, not the Robotech ones. It is that trademark that keeps any Macross derivatives and related Merchandise (eg everything but SDFM) off the US market. Plus and Macross II were already released before HG secured the trademark. (HG has the merchandising rights to SDFM).

I guess tastes differ, I think all stealth aircraft cept the SR-71 are ugly as sin. Tbf I don't like the delta wings either so that leaves very little modern aircraft. Come to think of it, it's only the Flanker that looks decent of the latest stuff. hmm, I'm curious what does everyone think are the coolest planes? For me it would be the F14, the F15 and the big ugly shooty things like the A-10 and the AC130.

Quick question, trying to find out what the numbers are for the M&M Vf-1Js. Think it was 202 and 303, but who is which? I know there is a post somewhere on the boards about it, but can't seen to get it to show.

Doubt it's possible to connect a nationality to any of the non-Japanse characters in Macross, unless it's established by the writers. Take for example Claudia La Salle: It's a French name but those are found in the US, Canada or any french speaking European or African country. Maximillian is a former aristocratic name and is found all over Europe. btw wonder why Focker is pronounced as Foaker? in Japanese it's pronounced the same as in Dutch. The aerospace company is mispronounced as well. Still the sound is not alien to english as its the same o-sound as in clock. To close to the curse word?

If there is one thing I that is wrong with Macross Frontier is that it is too short. I think the series would have been better if it had 50 episodes instead of 26. The side characters had a lot of potential but never got the time to develop. The main triangle used up most of the avaiable time and even that felt rushed at times. Anime has changed a lot since the 80s when SDFM was created. Evangelion changed anime, not only story wise but also its format. Night time anime is the norm now. Internet forums give instant fan feedback. Frontier is a product of it's time, it aims to please a mature hardcore anime audience without going in to Japanese culture or demographics. Fanservice, cliches, self mockery and insider jokes are more common as writers know their target audience will get the intent and references. If you write for audults you no longer need to behave grown up, you can just indulge in those old childhood fantasies and joke around with them. Still, it is possible to get a SDFM quality series out. If there has been any series that managed to recapture the feelings I had when watching SDF Macross it would be Eureka 7. In many ways it is the true spritual succesor to SDFM.

Sorry to hear it's cutting in your toys. Not meant to insult, just made a comparison to show how bad it can be. During last summer prices were up here as well and it cut in my wallet too. And as soon as the economy picks up, demand for oil will go up as well, cheap fuel wont be around forever.

I had nearly given up after the clones episode but they managed to turn it around. This was quite a good episode. One more vote here to give Billy a lead injection. Shame Louise and Saji have become such whiny characters. I enjoyed their "normal person view" in season 1 but no they had to be dragged in to the action. Hopefully a good wrap up in the next episode. Is that the last one or is it 26 total for s2?

Try classic media player that usually works best for .mkv otherwise make sure you use the latest cccp package for VLC

Most of the time watching a series in bulk helps me to apreciate it more. I was more positive then most about series like Gundam Seed Destiny, Xam'd and Macross 7. These all had some pacing issues or were somewhat repatative. Being able to skip the credits or the recpa episode helps a lot instead of having to wait another week. An exception was BSG season 3, it was very similar and dark so I got a bit saturated at some point and didn't apreciate it as much as if I would have seen it weekly by episode like season 4.

Hmm, a Roboteh movie as a Macross parody , Edward Peninhands..a travesty . I know! The new Robotrech movie will be a Burlesque cabaret with Toby Maguire as a genderbend Minmay!

Very true, but Warners size can also be a severe disadvantage here. If Warner releases a movie with Macross elements in it, they run the risk to get sued for copyright infringement in Japan. HG can have all the licenses in the world they do not have the IP. The Tokyo court was clear in awarding those IP to BW/Nue. The real question in this case will be what would be a copyright infringment? I am not a lawyer so can't answer that. Suppose the Robotech movie roughly follows the Macross story but would use transformable F14s called Veritechs. They fight the T'sen-Tradi, the slave army of the Robotech masters. Would that qualify?

I wish I could get gas at those prices. I'm paying 6.92 USD per gallon...

The final episode was just a bit so so. Predictable ending. Good to see what happened to the characters though, I'll hand them that. Adama and Roslin did some fine acting together. The thing that saved the episode for me was the conversation between the two angels.

I guess this why the site is called Macross World. No one needs to like all the series to join in on the discussion. Would get boring if everyone liked every part of the franchise.

Yes, there is very little fact to base anything on. Pretty much all information is either from observations or from employee/anime con panel remarks etc. So there is always doubt. I try to be careful in distinguishing between fact and interpretation by using "I think, could have or assume". The HG claim of no one minded the store does not neccesarily mean that they were financially unsound or in financial trouble. It's a private firm there could have been an internal conflict. Tommy Yune has stated that the current HG management is not the same as the one back then. (no idea how long "back then" is.) Also HG did not have the Macross trademark on animation products in the early 90s so I doubt they could have stopped Macross Plus and Macross II releases then even if they had wanted to. Note that HG contacted those importers about Macross Plus and Macross II merchandise, not DVDs. The intellectual property of Macross by Big West/Nue is not in doubt. A market is more then just the animation. HG blocked M+ and MII merchandise imports and asked importers to stop and hand over their products, that contradicts the statement that they want to make money of the license themselves. How much Macross merchandise have we seen from HG around 2000? I think there is a valid case for market protection, but feel free to disagree. Our opinions on why HG grabbed the trademark aren't as important as the fact that they did. Would Frontier and Zero hurt Robotech as a franchise? Interesting question, I don't know. Current day anime fans are less tolerant of "westernised anime" then those in the nineties but Robotech has a more mainstream audience. Would be interesting to see how Robotech fans would react if Frontier was broadcasted on say "Cartoon network". HGs statement of not blocking Frontier means very little if they expect Big West to pay HG license fees for their own product which I feel HG knows BW/Nue wont do. I would assume that if HG really wanted a deal they would hand over the trademark over to Big West in exchange for a licensing agreement from BW/Nue.