Bri

I just hope they don't get any contracts in the UK soon, because they'd have no option but to pick Morris Dancing... [1]

[1] Not a guy called Morris who dances. Traditional folk dance. Involves pigs bladders. On a stick. Look, just read Terry Pratchetts Lords and Ladies, okay?

hmm, protecting the UK from an invasion by Elves with Morris dancers by an Isreali Defence firm in a Bollywood production Now there is a plot for a cult movie.

Does it expire in 2012? If so, that's the best news I've heard in quite a while.

My unstudied, ignorant opinion is that if the Robotech movie is still on-track in 2012, they'll renew the trademark. If the movie stalls out for some reason, and Shadow Rising is also nowhere to be seen, they MIGHT let it lapse.

Well, trademarks have to be renewed every 10 years by turning in a form and pay a fee of 100USD per registered class.

I know very little of the US legal system but it doesn't mean it's safe for any other party to start using the trademark straight after, there are bound to be some ways for anyone who forgot to re-register to reclaim it.

The UK trademark is due to expire end of July this year, will be interesting to see if it gets renewed.

When Macross II and Macross Plus were released in the USA in the early 1990's, Harmony Gold still had no problem selling Robotech tapes, CD's, laserdiscs, toys, comics, novels, and television syndications. At that time, the mediocrity of Macross II didn't reflect negatively on Robotech, nor did the success of Macross Plus reflect negatively on Robotech either. All the different frachises were able to co-exist in financial harmony.

I'm not sure. HG was not very active in the early 90s due to some kind of problems. In 1999 HG seems alive again and started to agressively contact distributors of Macross related merchandise to stop imports. The whole Bigwest/Nue versus Tatsunoko court case is a result from that. In 2000 Big West tries to secure the Macross trademark. Big Wests attempts fails for whatever reason. HG reacts and secures the trademark shortly after Big Wests failure.

I would interpret the combination of banning imports and securing a trademark in this context more like HG trying to protect its market instead of trying to get in on the action of Macross products. Their focus until 2006 is mainly on trying to revitalize Robotech with the comics and shadow chronicles. HG sanctioned Macross merchandise is a pretty recent thing I think.

We will only know HGs true intentions in 2012 when the trademark runs out. If they don't renew it they were only in it for licensing money and underestimated the response of Big West/Nue, if they renew then its to stop Macross/Big West.

@ taks

Afaik HG was in fanancial trouble at the time and didn't pay much attention to Macross related releases.

Note: Oddly only just noticed that Big West registered the US trade mark first. They were abandonned a few months later and then HG took them over. Always thought HG filed them first.

I certainly agree it is al about money. I have heard the argument before ( think some interview with Tommy Yune?) that HG only wants a licensing fee from their Macross trademark as they helped make it popular in the West.

However, how realistic is that the Macross/UN spacy trademark will ever generate any cash for HG? Big West hasn't allowed any dealings with HG in 20 years, why expect that to change soon? HG still incurs a fixed cost of a few thousand dollars(excluding legal fees) every 10 years to retain that trade mark. If there isn't a second motive (like protecting their own franchise) then hanging on to the trademark sounds like a poor bussiness strategy to me.

This topic made me dig up my Kiseki VHS tapes again. Now I rememeber again what I disliked: the horrible dub (couldnt get a sub) and the setting of 70 years after Macross. I don't like large time jumps in sequels.

But in fairness it's not a bad show. Cool Valks and Mikimoto character designs.

I prefer character mecha over cannon foder so it would be Nora versus Ivanov for me.

In terms of colors: The darker the color the more pronounced the silloutte is compared to the details and vice versa.

I'm not the biggest fan of the shape of the Sv-51 and the stripes make the Nora a bit more dynamic so I personally like that one best.

If you prefer a more realistic, less anime like color scheme or a military feel then go for the Ivanov.

I don't think they are panicking but I would call it a defensive strategy. HG protects the Robotech franchise with those trade marks and with good reason. These trademarks keep out any Macross sequals and merchandise, which are arguably superior to what HG and their partners release. Not to mention that all Robotech derivatives are dead in the water.

Neither Boeing nor Lockheed was particularly impressive in building real fighters. Boeings last fighter to enter service was the P26 Peashooter in 1934 if I'm not mistaken.

Lockheed was bit more succesful with the P38 Lightning, P80 Shooting star and the F104 Starfighter. They were off course far more reknoned for their Spy/Stealth planes.

The F16 was developed by General Dynamics.

McDonnel-Douglas and North American were far more famous builders (both part of Boeing now)

Northrop-Grunman is still independant I think?

True, I worded it a bit ambigously. HG has been securing the Macross trade mark per nation, individually. They did it in both the US and Canda sperately, effectivly the trademarks cover most of North America. I'm sure they were pretty afraid for cross border imports from the North.

I doubt it will add much to the story. These movies are like a treat to the fans and to make some extra money of an existing succesfull series.

I can remember an interview where Kawamori says that he likes to do an OVA or movie after a TV series. Producing a TV series is apperantly very stressful and the people who have worked on such a project tend to unwind a bit while working on an OAV or movie project after completing the series. Can't find it, but it ws some Q&A session with Kawamori and Kanno before Frontier.

The USAF is the most likely target customer even though Boeing denies it. If this is indeed a retrofit kit then it could be an option with target numbers of F22s falling short of what the USAF needs.

Boeing is a major subcontractor for the F22 so has no real interest to see the program ended. Maybe that is why the statement was made that they don't actively aim to market it in the US.

A retelling? Use the designs from Mikimotos Macross the First manga, story boards and dialog from original SDF Macross, animation team from Frontier (and maybe some Sunrise or Bones buddies from Kawamori) and voila. Only annoying thing is that HG has the copyright on the name Macross otherwise it could even be distributed worldwide without Tatsunoko or HG, not to mention all the derivative Yamato or Bandai VFs.

Hmm SDF MacBeth? nah

Aren't we saying the same thing? Leave the original alone and make derivatives or change it and do what ever with it as long as the original is remains avaiable to the fans gives the same net result?

reading back: I meant mental as in going crazy in a positive way.

I'm not a fan of messing around with original work other then doing some enhancing to make the work suitable for new formats like DVD /Blue Ray.

It would be nice if SDFM would get the same treatment as Gundam or Zeta Gundam in a 3 part movie box as a seperate entity. Even more tempting would be a NGE like treatment like 1.0. Won't happen but hey I can dream. ( Im sure a few more successes like Frontier would help a lot).

I'm sure everyone on the boards would go mental at the concept of seeing SFDM redone in a 3 or 4 part movie set with DYRL like animation and the latest CGI.

And what if one or two sequences are re-worked such that they significantly change things? It doesn't take much. That would be awful! Plus, Kawamori, doesn't have the same sensibilities now as he had back in 1982.

You touch on a very interesting point. SDFM still stands out amongst the other Macross works for it's great character development. I wonder how much influence Ishiguro, Tomita and Matsuzaki had on the story and character development compared to Kawamori (and Ohnogi). I'm not saying that they were more important but maybe they added something special to the mix that when the team broke up the franchise never really got that vibe back.

I'd definetly grab a Blue Ray version if it ever comes out, I don't mind the lack of subtitles. Seen the series often enough to know what is said even without reading it.

Annoyingly same goes for the Robotech dialog

Found my old VHS tapes last week, recorded the show when it aired here in '87. They are still in pretty good shape

Quite possible that the commanders of the ARMDs have other tasks when they are on the SDF-1, not sure if they are full time captains.

Curious what the job of the commander of an amfibious landing ship/hovercraft is, when it is aboard their troop transports at sea?

As for who's getting them---smart money's on Japan. They want the F-22, this is the next best thing. (F-35 simply is not that good in air combat from everything I've read---they won't even say it can match an early F-16) Japan wants the F-22 for pure air-to-air, the F-35 would be a very expensive inferior substitute--they don't want a cheap, multi-role plane like most nations---they want a truly kick-ass air superiority plane---there's not many options for that nowadays.

The Japanese airforce wants the F-22, doubt they will accept the second/third best option easily. Their government would lose polical leverage in the negotiations if they'd even consider voicing support for an F15 upgrade.

IIRC the Eagle has a massive frontal radar crossection due to its intakes, which were optimised for high speeds to intercept the MiG 31Foxbats. This version should remedy that I guess.

"Convenient" for Boeing to have a upgraded F15 ready now Lockheeds F22 production is in doubt.

For me the movie with streetraces is still American Graffiti. Love those late 50s cars. Only thing wrong with the movie it didnt have a '59 corvette.

From what I have read on ANN it should be an alternate retelling of the series.

I'm not sure if the series is intended as a comedy but entertaining it sure is.

Finished Bounen No Xamdou and Rahxephon. Both from Studio Bones and both are semi-mecha series. Raxhepon is a more art oriented, slightly pretentious varaint on the NGE theme without the angst and larger production values. Bounen no Xamdou is more Eureka 7 in an advanced fantasy world (hard to describe this one, both outdated and futuristic tech mixed in a modern setting)

They are total opposites: Rahxephon has a well developed plot and very balanced pacing but it's characters are a bit bland, altough the lead male and female are great.

Bounen no Xamdou is a mess story wise, the writers seem to lose track of what is going on and can't explain it. Halfway through I had the feeling they knew as little as the viewers of where it was heading. Still Xam'd has some redeeming qualities. It has one of the best casts of characters I have seen sofar. Probably because of the focus on the characters the plot gets left behind. I feel it had a lot more potential then what it turned into. Maybe if it had gotten 50 episodes instead of 26 it wouldnt have felt so rushed at times. Eureka 7 beats Xamned in most areas altough on the whole I like the Xamned cast slightly better.

All in all two nice shows though bit worse then Bones' Eureka 7 imo.

This VF-11 is my favourite non VF-1 valk so Ill have to get it. To bad it's going to be hit by salestax as its slightly above the free import limit. Would be able to buy at least 2 regular 1/60 VF-1s for that price.

Same here. Loved the ending of Eva. Neccesity is the mother of invention. If things hadn't gone the way they did, I doubt NGE would be as good as it finally turned out. Luck is a factor.

Don't think the movies were bad just a physical representation of what happened during the last two episodes. Not better but nice in the way of additional scenes and they didn't detract from the series.

As for Frontier, not sure if it's fair to compare it too SDFM and NGE, the latter are more character driven and still have a fanbase even after a 25 respectivly 15 years. That says something about they way they stand out from the crowd.