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Robotech and HG license debates


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Well, can't blame him for the lack of material with the franchise really quiet at the moment. Except for some blurbs about merchendise, "movie" updates, and convention panels, who knows what the situation is.

I guess I can't blame Tommy Yune for digging through the corpse of a dead TV show.

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For a series in the process of reviving itself, you have to wonder sometimes what is really going on behind the scenes with this silent treatment. Besides existing productions, online sources for Harmony Gold like the homepage, imdb, and wikipedia (who knows how reliable these sources are) doesn't mention anything new being worked on by the company since 07-08. Would it surprise anyone if something big like layoffs at HG, the IP getting sold to someone else, or the company going bankrupt happen out of nowhere? Anyone good in business or economics have a take on this?

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HG is private so any supposition on their financial health wouldn't be worth anything. They're probably doing fantastic all things considered and their staff seems to be about 10 people deep at most so layoffs seem unlikely (and that 10 might include the two people who did CGI on Shadow Chronicles). They probably made money on the Shadow Chronicles and selling rights to WB and they're probably picking up a fraction on every Beta sold.

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As I understand things, a trademark does NOT denote that you own the copyright to a product. Merely that you're using that brand.

Especially since trademark is not restricted to the media. We've all seen the infamous Robotech pool cleaner.

No one would argue that they own the Robotech cartoon/merchandise amalgamation. Or that Harmony Gold is claiming ownership of a pool cleaner.

Now, I'm not denying that the Macross trademark would get ugly fast if anyone felt obliged to argue the point.

But it doesn't denote that they're claiming they own the Macross copyright.

In fact, HG has consistently designated Macross as a copyright of Tatsunoko Productions. They're certainly attempting to confuse the issue, but not in the way you claim.

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Is that a good thing or a bad thing? ;)

After hearing his shows this week, I'm honestly not really sure. I think he's frustrated with the current Robotech situation like others and has branched out talking about other things as well. I guess I felt charitable and wanted to spread the word. Plus, I wanted to follow the rules about keeping Robotech drama in this thread for a change.

Don't worry, he's harmless. Not like the other one.

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They're probably doing fantastic all things considered and their staff seems to be about 10 people deep at most so layoffs seem unlikely (and that 10 might include the two people who did CGI on Shadow Chronicles).

I believe the there are around 20 people at HG. The animation for Shadow Chronicles was done by a company in Korea.

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I believe the there are around 20 people at HG. The animation for Shadow Chronicles was done by a company in Korea.

Do we have any idea of the budget for the Shadow Chronicles, just out of interest.

And for that matter, how much did it take overall to purchase the rights and create the original "Robotech" series?

Taksraven

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Do we have any idea of the budget for the Shadow Chronicles, just out of interest.

And for that matter, how much did it take overall to purchase the rights and create the original "Robotech" series?

Taksraven

Tommy's discussed the Shadow Chronicles budget before, I believe it was in the neighborhood of $5 million.

No idea how much those original rights were purchased for from Tatsunoko, but back in those days the exchange rate was around 250 yen to the dollar. It probably wasn't much.

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Tommy's discussed the Shadow Chronicles budget before, I believe it was in the neighborhood of $5 million.

No idea how much those original rights were purchased for from Tatsunoko, but back in those days the exchange rate was around 250 yen to the dollar. It probably wasn't much.

lol !!! $5 million for that piece of poo. I smell fraud ...

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  • 2 weeks later...
From the animation company's side, DR Movie, it's probably more impressive when converted to Korean Wons. Current rates turn $5 million into â‚©6759000000 (KRW).

By that line of thinking, people in Zimbabwe are swimming in cash. Last I heard, one dollar is equal to about four truck loads of Zimbabwe crap-bills. With a 2 million percent inflation rate, this means that tomorrow one dollar will be equal to 8..MILLION truck loads of Zimbabwe crap-bills. What counts in such conversions is purchasing powers, not zeros.

I dunno. I have no clue what the production costs of making animated films are. Not a clue at all.

5 millions bucks sounds like a pretty low budget, though.

Low budget doesn't necessarily mean "suckage."

Robotech, however, does :)

Pete

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Maybe they were trying to make a statement about the new direction of the franchise.

"Yeah, we took material from other shows to make our series in the past, but now we have the resources to make our own stuff. No more novels, RPGs, and comic books, it's time for the big screen. And this only cost us $5 million, so suck on that Kawamori!"

It also helps that the fandom is desperate for anything regardless of quality. They may rant about their products later, but in the end HG still has their $30-$200 per sale, or in Palladium Game's case from the "Crisis of Treachery," per pity sale.

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Low budget doesn't necessarily mean "suckage."

Low budget should never really mean suckage, it should just mean a lot of harder work with the potential to still make a good product.

I apply the logic that usually its a case of the higher the budget the lazier the filmmaking. (Star Wars prequel series, anyone?)

Taksraven

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Just wondering was shadow chronicles released in Japan? I don't imagine that original robotech (macross, southern cross, mospeda) ever was.

No, there have never been any Robotech products released in Japan because HG's license doesn't include that territory.

There is a Japanese fansub .SRT file that's available, though. I believe you can find it on Yaco's site.

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Really, now that is interesting. I wonder what the Japanese fan opinion of robotech is then?

They would probably love it as much as they would love a film like The Magnificent Seven.

Taksraven

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Put it this way... I doubt there are any fansites for it.

Actually, someone just posted a link to a Japanese Robotech fansite a week or so ago in one of these threads. Can't remember where it was right now.

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I've seen those before. It boggles the mind.

Hardly. If Japanese really don't give a frak about Macross (to much Gundam-loving there) that much, yet surprised over Western fan-base enthusiastic over all thing Macross, it shouldn't boggle the mind atleast a few of 'em may know a thing or two about Robotech.

For all its worth, those minority might think RT is the English version of the original series, & that RTSC might be a GC Mospeada sequel done by Koreans.

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I don't think so. Try: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AD%E3%...%83%83%E3%82%AF

Regarding Shadow Chronicles in particular:

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles In 2002, Tommy Yune announced deployment of new work. This work will be "ROBOTEKKU in 2004. : It was named shadow force" (Robotech: Shadow Force). It is changed immediately and a title is "ROBOTEKKU. : It became shadow (SHADAU) chronicle" (Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles). The representative of the harmony gold company prepared the panel in the animation convention, and exhibited the CG animation of a production art or the pilot version. In the animation exposition in 2005, and comic Cong, the preview of finished goods is shown and this can be seen also on a website. 2005 used as the 20th anniversary of ROBOTEKKU Although completion of the year was aimed at, it was late in practice, and it was put on the market as a DVD in North America on February 6 (Australia is on March 7, 2007), 2007. A story is deployment with 30 minutes of the beginning also as used in the field of the remake version of the last round of The New Generation (muslin PIDA), and the episode from which Admiral Rick Hunter in whom only the name appeared in front of the 1 talk as mentioned above goes missing is also added. 1 hour of after that becomes new deployment, and a plot of Haydonites (HAIDO knitting and others) and the last's fighting are drawn. [ which are new enemy The children of shadow (children of a shadow) ] From the old series, Scott Bernard <stick Bernard>, Ariel <AISHA>, Regis <REFURESU>, and General Reinhardt (commander) appear. As a new character, Roy Fokker (Roy Fokker) and Hunter once as a scull leader which took the part Maia Sterling (Dana Sterling= handicap rear Farina JINASU = younger sister of Jeanne FURANSEZU) Moreover, Marcus (younger brother of Marlene <Merlene>) appears as one of heroes.
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Wow thats a lot of info in that wiki entry they even list the Jack McKinney novels.

Robotech diehards are good at filling up the wikipedia with crap. ;)

I think that they take the view the more they write about RT, especially in places like the Wikipedia, the more "legitimate" RT becomes. :wacko: :wacko:

Taksraven

Edited by taksraven
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Robotech diehards are good at filling up the wikipedia with crap. ;)

I think that they take the view the more they write about RT, especially in places like the Wikipedia, the more "legitimate" RT becomes. :wacko: :wacko:

Taksraven

On the English version of wiki, I expected longer entries for the Robotech comics and novels with info on the individual storylines and concepts for each. In fact, even some character bios lack info from what happened to them in these entries. I don't know if it was ever noted before most of it was retconned out. Either these fans didn't have the time to do it or are expecting other people to buy the stuff and find out for themselves.

Edited by Einherjar
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Guess this will be put on the entry very soon:

IESB Exclusive: Producer Chuck Roven Off Robotech

I'm guessing he knows when to jump off a sinking ship or has more important things to do with his time.

So reading between the lines the project is in development hell (*big* surprise) and only has one possible star attached.

I give it ten years at least, if we ever see it at all.....

Taksraven

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At this rate, they should suck in their pride and hire back Carl Macek or, if they're really desperate, Uwe Boll. At the very least he somehow has the assets to hire anyone and do all the effects they want. :lol:

Btw, are they still paying people to get the film out the door while it's in development hell?

Edited by Einherjar
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