Radd

Huh, seeing it next to that 1/60 VF-1 it looks smaller than I expected.

Oh, yeah, and Dante, that little orange speck came up some time ago. There was certainly some speculation that the front of the heat shield is in the nose cone. I think it's a possibility, with the rear portion of the heat shield protruding up into the neck of the fighter.

I'm fairly indifferent on the Macross Plus colour scheme. So long as the toy doesn't explode/disintegrate/burst into flames upon contact with air I'll likely pick one up. Still, I do hope we see a repaint with the Raven's colour scheme. I really like that one.

I'm not particularly attached to the movie. I'll probably give it a once-over sometime. I do agree that too much CG is a bad thing, but then I do tend to like a lot of modern digital effects, like adding atmospheric shaders and better light effects to animation, when it's done well. (Unfortunately, far too many abuse these effects.)The stills in the comparison shots show some of that, and it looks decent. On the other hand, I liked the still shot of Motoko about to leap from the building, but it looked pretty bad in motion when I saw the teaser. Of course, I'm not certain I'd agree that GitS looks better than just about any other modern anime film. It was a great looking film when it came out, sure, but there are certainly movies before and after that look much nicer.

Ten episodes in, still watching Tytania. I really hope everything so far has just been a really long prelude, it certainly feels that way. Lots of interesting possibilities keep popping up, but it doesn't seem to go all the way with them. My optimistic side is suspecting everything so far is prelude, and hoping for some massive payoff as the various plot threads suddenly collide. The pessimist in me suspects it's gotten as good as it's gonna get, and will never be nearly as interesting as LotGH got. So far it's good enough that I look forward to each new episode, so I'll find out eventually.

I can relate. My friends aren't limited to just violent action anime, there's actually quite a variety of tastes, but almost all the shows I love, all my friends (at least those local to me right now) seem to hate them. They do seem into Frontier, though, which is great. Most of them actually don't like anime with giant robots. Oddly enough, most of them thought Plus was just "alright", but really got into Zero. I can't even watch shows like Gao Gai Gar or Gaint Robo with them. Most of them dislike Leiji Matsumoto stuff, too. It's pretty frustrating when trying to find anime we can all enjoy.

How do you know it isn't a Tread?

This thread has gotten all kinds of scary.

I can see the point. Just like how while I might personally be perfectly happy with Alternators Rodimus and not so interested in an MP Hot Rod, I can still see how others would be very keen on the idea of MP Hot Rod.

I used to be much bigger into Transformers, then from RiD on I found myself getting new Transformers and being really torn on whether or not I actually liked them. After picking up some Armada toys, and some of the G1 reissues, I realized that I didn't actually care for them that much at all and just stopped buying. I started buying Classics and had the same sort of feeling. I loved Alternators while the line lasted, but now I'm just down to the Masterpiece toys. I actually just ordered MP Thundercracker last week. I still kinda wish I'd nabbed a first release of MP Starscream, as it looks like they'll never release a version of that colour scheme with the improvements from all the subsequent releases of that mold. I've actually got a huge box of RiD, Armada, G1 reissues, and other Transformers that after my most recent move I never bothered to unpack. I might have to look into finding a local eBay store just so I can get them off my hands. I kinda doubt a Henkei/Classics Unicron will ever happen. The line seems designed around small and relatively cheap figures.

I doubt it. AgentOne is as opinionated as they come, but he's generally good natured about it in so far as I've ever seen.

Oh God, of course if the person was yanking our chains, that was probably exactly the response they were looking for. If not, well it certainly does nothing for the stereotype of nerd-raging Macross fanboys. I hope it was no one from here.

That was my thought reading that. I mean, anyone into anime enough to check out fansubs and profess to write a blog on the topic has got to know the story behind Robotech. If not, then just the smallest amount of internet research turns up the answers pretty quickly.

Er, the Alternators were never supposed to be G1 accurate. They were modern remakes of the characters. I really doubt popular belief says otherwise. I liked the Alternators, Wheeljack included. Actually, he's one of my favourites. I do see why some don't like them. I've always thought the line needed a companion line to add more variety in alt modes. The Masterpiece toys help, of course, but they're too few and far between. Instead, the line had some characters that were pretty forced. Prime as a pickup (not a terrible toy, but still my least favourite just on concept), Grimlock as a Mustang, etcetera, and then devolved into too many repaints, far too quickly. That most of the Decepticons were slight retoolings of Autobot Alternators certainly didn't help.

I rather liked her in-between character design, with the jacket.

Oh, I definitely agree they deserved a proper Alternators treatment. Unfortunately, they didn't really support Alternators with much variety (related lines featuring alt modes other than cars would have helped quite a bit, I imagine) and the line is now dead. Personally, I'm fine with the size of the seekers. They at least tower over the Alternators. I'm disappointed that Grimlock will be Starscream size, rather than Prime size, though. I'd welcome more military vehicles done in the size range of MP Starscream. Tanks, helicopters, and whatnot. Heh, an MP Warpath could actually be all kinds of fantastic, with a few creative liberties taken.

This is sad. We should get together, maybe hire a lawyer, and write a book about the whole ordeal.

DarkHawk, the short answer? Not likely. Individuals are allowed to import items such as, say, Macross toys, despite all this. It's not against the law. Also, HLJ is based in Japan as I understand it. It's something of a grey area, but HG has been doing this for years. This most recent noise is most likely related to their deal with Bandai, and Toynami's clout with domestic sales.

It's not so complicated. Harmony Gold, beginning shortly before the planned US release of the Macross Plus toys (or maybe it was the first VF-X? I forget which came first) suddenly started claiming they had the rights to "all things Macross". They claimed they owned not only merchandising and distribution rights, but even went so far as to claim that they owned the designs. They extended this to every single Macross production that existed, and began throwing threat of litigation at any attempt to bring anything Macross to the States without giving them a cut of the pie. Sometime after the Tatsunoko v. Big West case settled the matter of who had what rights, HG managed to get a trademark on the name "Macross", and seems to be basically doing the same thing, but now under their ownership of the trademark. Big West must have seriously dropped the ball, as I understand it they had been blocking HG's attempts to trademark the name, and were attempting to get their own trademark.

Remember, HG/Tatsunoko only have the merchandising rights to SDF:M, and for a very long time now HG has done everything in their power to stop any and all Macross releases and merchandise from having a domestic American release. This has put them at odds with the company that has the merchandising/distribution rights for every other Macross, namely Big West. This is why Big West does not want to play ball with HG, in their eyes HG's tactics have amounted to underhanded abuse of the legal system. Any company, such as Yamato, who wants to continue dealing with Big West has to balance that against any possible deal with HG. Yamato deals with HG, and they could find their deal with Big West to make Macross products for Japan, and their deal to make Macross products outside of the original TV series, to be in jeopardy. I imagine the American market for SDF:M toys may be a bit smaller than the overall SDF:M/Plus/Zero/VF-X market. However, as someone suggested, it's entirely possible that Bandai has the clout to toss around to make an international market happen. Still, it seems so far that the Macross deal being done seems limited to Bandai's reissues/repaints of the old Takatoku toys, doesn't it? We'll have to see where this goes.

I'd been thinking that Blitzwing and Astrotrain would make great Masterpiece candidates. As would Ultra Magnus with his armour (rather than just the repainted Prime we got). I would personally love a Masterpiece Unicron, if such a thing were possible. Hell, I'd be happy if the Beast Wars Unicron made for one of the Japanese lines were released. I have not been happy with any of the Unicron toys released, though as far as Transformers fans go I'm pretty difficult to please. I'd like to see a Masterpiece Ratched and Ironhide, seeing as how we never got Alternators versions of either, and their original incarnations are somewhat lacking. I've also wondered what they could do with the gestalts if working in Masterpiece quality. So long as gestalts like Devastator were taller than Prime and Megatron I'd be generally pleased. The cities I'd like to see tower over most everyone else, but then we're talking pretty large toys. Of course, wasn't Fortress Maximus significantly taller than Masterpiece Prime? Still, I know large scale toys like that generally aren't worth it to toy companies like Hasbro, and difficult for collectors to find space for.

"Your powers combined...." Cue the Captain Planet themesong!

Not all of Yamato's VF-1 toys are DYRL based. They have sold a large number of toys from SDF:M. As I understand it, license agreements are supposed to cover scenarios like that, and one does not automatically get any rights not clearly defined in the agreement. Still, some of the DYRL designs are only somewhat, or not at all different, from their TV counterparts, such as the Destroids. I can certainly see where there may be some issues there. I do agree that intellectual property laws are a mess. I also believe that's an important topic. Now, regarding retailers, there are reasons why laws can dictate what they can and cannot sell. Sometimes I think the laws are flawed regarding this, but much of the time they're perfectly reasonable. Assuming HG has the rights they claim, they certainly don't want import shops subverting their domestic market.

If Pete was referencing the Tatsunoko v. Big West case, it seemed to reaffirm Tatsunoko's ability to sell HG international distribution and merchandising rights to the tv series, and seemed to clarify that this applied only to the tv series. HG has gone well beyond the scope of that, which is the primary issues most fans have. Directly, in that HG has worked to prevent the release of any Macross toys, including those beyond the original tv series, and indirectly because it is almost certainly because of HG's tactics that Big West refuses to work with them. Tatsunoko and Harmony Gold jointly own international distribution and merchandising rights to SDF:M. I don't believe anyone argues against that point. I doubt there would be so much internet rage on the topic if HG was working within those clearly recognizable rights. Certainly there would be some, as one would still need to import SDF:M toys from import shops and online retailers, and HG would be well within their rights to send cease and desist letters to domestic shops importing large quantities (however, by my understanding, it is entirely legal for individuals to buy such items from international import shops, such as HLJ). Of course, if HG hadn't gone out of their way to make enemies of Big West, then it wouldn't be out of the question to see Yamato's SDF:M toys released here, licensed through HG. Now, it's entirely possible HG believes they own the rights they claim, though unlikely as they made no noise when Macross II or Macross Plus first saw domestic release, despite the fact that they were actively pushing Robotech projects at the time. Of course, some of those projects consisted of derivative works, such as comic stories, even if they went to some effort to discourage people from using DYRL designs, as they, at the time, seemed to recognize that they did not own the rights to those (this was, unless I am misinformed, a large part of why they stopped working with Antarctic Press). The published findings of the aforementioned court ruling, and HG declining to provide proof of ownership or taking any further action at all when confronted with a lawyer all give armchair lawyers plenty to chew on. Afterall, if Tatsunoko did not have the rights to sell, HG can't very well have them no matter what their deal with Tatsunoko was. If that were the case, I could certainly sympathize with HG, but feel they've reacted in a way that does no one any good. Of course, I believe most of us realize we're just armchair lawyers here. None of us have all the facts. Few of us have any legal background whatsoever. Nearly all of us realize that nothing we say here will have any affect on the situation. Still, this is a forum devoted entirely to a hobby we all share. Of course we're going to talk about it.

Yup, it was a Green Lantern comic. Apparently it had some things like a crucifixion which might have set off alarms, but it looks like DC asked specifically what they would have to remove in order to get CCA approval, and it's then that the CCA stated that it wasn't what was depicted, but the artist's style. I'm really having trouble wrapping my head around that concept.