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HG and BW reach an agreement (Link included)


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Yeah....collectibles. Sorry, but I see no changes. Why? It's got nothing to do with legality. It's economics. The product is a niche item. It's expensive to produce and market. And with the market size being small to begin with..sorry. But at least you there's a chance you can get the product, unlike those of us in PCMR (PC-Master Race) who can't even get in the queue just to get a $500 PCB with an oversized fan&heatsink on it. And PCMR is a much bigger audience than the >$100 collectibles audience.

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4 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Did...hell just freeze over?

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.

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28 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

Still waiting for my dyrl english subs 

lol!

we've all been watching DYRL since possibly the first accurate fansubs and alongside the various hk-engrish ones, that you should already know by heart what each and every dialogue in DYRL exactly means. 

Even in  the most bizarro engrish version!

 

:bump:

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I too would enjoy Macross 30, the ps vita Macross delta game along with the trilogy of Macross frontier games that came out for psp all available on PS4/5 and Nintendo switch. Heck Macross M3 and the DYRL would be good too. Ok, all Macross games please!

twich

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I’m over the moon. Finally it is happening. I knew the grip was loosening due to BW slowly but deliberately chipping away at HG’s license stranglehold, but seeing this happen is unexpected.

i wonder how Kawamori feels about HG still keeping rights over some of the characters. 

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1 hour ago, Keith said:

Especially after the Switch port of that awful 2D robotech shooter, Battroids have gravity in space! If we could get a Switch port of the Saturn/PS1 DYRL Shooter it'd be epic.

Honest question, was it that awful? It’s $10 USD  on switch store. Should I save my money? Never played it, but graphics looked passible.

Twich

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4 hours ago, Shawn said:

Before we all start bashing HG here, I did not get 'bend at the knee' out of that at all.

It says

"The agreement also recognizes Harmony Gold’s longstanding exclusive license with Tatsunoko for the use of the 41 Macross characters and mecha in the Robotech television series and related merchandise throughout the world excluding Japan."

So if you are in the US, as most fans are on this site, HG still is the Macross TV (and dyrl?) licensor.

Which implies we can get Frontier and Delta here and new series, but the OG Macross is still HG, and with their license with Toynami still in effect, I doubt we'll be seeing DX VF-1 Valkyries here anytime soon.

 

That's what I got out of it, too.  Instead of eradicating Harmony Gold from the Macross landscape, Big West made concessions to them, which gives them ownership still of SDFM in the western hemisphere. It's not the landmark sweeping victory I was hoping for. I want to see Harmony Gold's influence on the franchise utterly wiped out; it's the least they deserve for their shady shenanigans over the last few decades.

I am happy at the prospect of all the other Macross series, and hopefully toys (re-releases or otherwise) making it to American shores without interference or legal challenges.  With the possibility of a new YF-21 in development at Bandai, the prospect of it's availability here without resorting to the usual midnight madness is somewhat comforting, albeit cautiously so. But overall, this is good news, certainly news I never really ever expected to see, so there's a measure of positivity to be had. I'll be far more enthused when I start seeing the various Macross series on Blu-Ray at my local store, and valk toys and models showing up at B&N, Comic stores, and all the American e-tailers. The day I come home from a store with a new valk is the day I'll know the nightmare is finally over.

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9 minutes ago, treatment said:

lol!

we've all been watching DYRL since possibly the first accurate fansubs and alongside the various hk-engrish ones, that you should already know by heart what each and every dialogue in DYRL exactly means. 

Even in  the most bizarro engrish version!

 

:bump:

i can finnlly get clash of the bionoids on bluray uncut:lol:

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2 hours ago, azrael said:

I don't think the trademark would necessarily have to be re-assigned or amended for Big West. Harmony Gold can simply create a $1 perpetual license for Big West and collect a small percentage of royalties from any products sold. Big West will probably reciprocate in the EU when it comes to Harmony Gold over there. But we'll see.

2 hours ago, azrael said:

My take is this is essentially a "stay-in-your-lane" agreement. Nothing changes with SDFM and DYRL?. FASA? SDFM and DYRL? merch?  No change. Those are done deals.

RT live action movie? BW will not file any lawsuit as soon as it places a foot on Japanese soil. Likewise, HG will not make a move on II, Plus, 7, Zero, Frontier, Delta, maybe even VF-X games, etc. touching US soil. As long as there is some money changing hands (likely). BW can finally get some sweet-sweet US money into their pockets.

^ This 100%

2 hours ago, Dangard Ace said:

If this means HG stops making it expensive for me to get my transforming robot planes then I’m all for this deal.  If it means they get to stick their logo on the box but I save $50-$100 hell  yes.  I would love to buy the 1/48 VF1D from a local store.  

Lol, sorry, but I just don't see that happening. When Yamato released their 1/15 Garlands, the prices between the Japanese and US versions was negligible. And the same thing occurred when MegaHouse released their 1/15 Ride Armors in the US and Japan. Niche products are usually going to be expensive. But the big gain here is that Bandai, Arcadia, et al will now be able to offer customer support to any properly licensed products going forward. Customers will no longer be at the mercy of whichever import retailer they bought a lemon from. :yahoo:

Overall, I'm glad that these two companies have finally come to an agreement, there's far more money to be made by working together. The only losers here are all the law firms that Harmony Gold used to send out those lovely cease & desists. :p

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16 minutes ago, Marzan said:

i wonder how Kawamori feels about HG still keeping rights over some of the characters. 

1241451113_chunkymonkeyrick.jpg.0df6c8a43f78b40d6abf3a41b8cf055c.jpg

 

isntsheNEAT.jpg.7b6b023f2ec717bae13f74e60c7c6b52.jpg

I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.  They’ll never look like how they were in the 80s anyway.

Edited by Einherjar
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2 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

i can finnlly get clash of the bionoids on bluray uncut:lol:

Hey, now. That's a different ballgame.

The Bionoids bizarro english-dubs is still the most awesome awful english-dubbing ever made!

Not Kung-Pow! awesome, of course, but still...

 

 

:bump:

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the guy that gets exclusive toy review units directly from arcadia is asking Bandai Spirits if Macross Toys will be released in the US.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2021/04/09/the-decades-long-rights-battle-over-macross-and-robotech-has-finally-been-resolved/?sh=20254b7e1ad8

 

I have also reached out to companies like Bandai Spirits to find out whether their extensive toy and model kit lines for Macross will also be finally released globally.

Edited by davidwhangchoi
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13 minutes ago, TheLoneWolf said:

Lol, sorry, but I just don't see that happening. When Yamato released their 1/15 Garlands, the prices between the Japanese and US versions was negligible. And the same thing occurred when MegaHouse released their 1/15 Ride Armors in the US and Japan. Niche products are usually going to be expensive. But the big gain here is that Bandai, Arcadia, et al will now be able to offer customer support to any properly licensed products going forward. Customers will no longer be at the mercy of whichever import retailer they bought a lemon from. :yahoo:

 

I don't live in the States where you get cheap shipping and don't have to worry about custom fees.  I might not be saving $100 but I'd definitely be saving near $50.

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17 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

.  Instead of eradicating Harmony Gold from the Macross landscape, Big West made concessions to them, which gives them ownership still of SDFM in the western hemisphere. It's not the landmark sweeping victory I was hoping for. I want to see Harmony Gold's influence on the franchise utterly wiped out; it's the least they deserve for their shady shenanigans over the last few decades.

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. 

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8 minutes ago, JB0 said:

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. 

It would be satisfying, wouldn't it?:lol: But yeah, at this point, it's the first positive step in decades towards getting Macross availability here in the West beyond Robotech, so it's a victory. Like everyone here, I hope BW, Bandai, and Arcadia take advantage of the situation to expand the property in the West beyond its rather niche existing market. With Transformers still riding a wave of popularity and little in the way of competition, it'd be nice to see Macross become as well known as Naruto or Pokemon. I doubt that'll happen, but it would be great to see it become much wider known and liked by a wider audience, fueling the desire for toys and models. We can only hope.

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1 hour ago, twich said:

Honest question, was it that awful? It’s $10 USD  on switch store. Should I save my money? Never played it, but graphics looked passible.

Twich

It plays like someone looked at screenshots of the DYRL shooter, but didn't play it to meaningfully copy it. For instance, in the DYRL game Gerwalk has a lock on gunpod option, batroid does as well (with more of q 360° range), and you could Itano Circus to your hearts content.

The RT game on the otherhand gives you the same straight ahead firing gunpod in fighter/gerwalk, and more firing angles (no lock on) in battroid. The missiles are generic kinda follow an enemy single shot missiles, and the rest of the game is a badly balanced bullet hell game mixed with super clunky top/dowm Destroid missions.

Story is minimal, jumping around rapidly through the series. So yeah, even at $10 it's pretty disappointing.

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2 hours ago, treatment said:

lol!

we've all been watching DYRL since possibly the first accurate fansubs and alongside the various hk-engrish ones, that you should already know by heart what each and every dialogue in DYRL exactly means. 

Even in  the most bizarro engrish version!

 

:bump:

Yup, any fan worth their salt already has sooo many copies. Hell, I wonder if I've still got my VCD.

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3 hours ago, TehPW said:

I'm one of those Fanboys, SIR. But I'm not losing my sh*t over this. TPTB have already milked the CAD versions of the Unseen into designs remarkable but street legal. What i don't understand is how HG gets DYRL and not Episode Two of Macross Plus (with the DYRL Male PA, the dummy VF-1J in blue trim and the Monster cameo)?

:shrug:

It all comes out in the wash anyway. I just want the "Creative Team" (and I use that term loosely) at HG to start acting like Robotech ends at episode #85 and not #36. I shouldn't have to 3D Print my own crap when I (and many, many others) would beat a path to their door to get stuff.

Edited by 1st Border Red Devil
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2 hours ago, Einherjar said:

1241451113_chunkymonkeyrick.jpg.0df6c8a43f78b40d6abf3a41b8cf055c.jpg

 

isntsheNEAT.jpg.7b6b023f2ec717bae13f74e60c7c6b52.jpg

I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.  They’ll never look like how they were in the 80s anyway.

Great we'll get new gritty comics green lighted any day now!  :D

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4 hours ago, treatment said:

 

One can only hope the Valks most want will be.

For some perspectives, I believe those Wing Gundam GFFMCs and Metal Builds were rather quite difficult to get from P-Bandai USA/Bluefin. 

 

 

Eh, it wasn't that bad as long as you paid attention and ordered when it released. Perhaps more difficult later on due to popularity. The PO for many tamashii web exclusive metal builds stay open for quite a while on P-Bandai USA, while they sell out in a couple minutes on the Japanese site. It's been great for TWEs as those always have been the iffiest. 

GFFMC Wing you could actually order 6 copies when it released, which I should have done lol. Snow white prelude I was able to get through Bluefin rather easily as well. 

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5 hours ago, Dangard Ace said:

If this means HG stops making it expensive for me to get my transforming robot planes then I’m all for this deal.  If it means they get to stick their logo on the box but I save $50-$100 hell  yes.  I would love to buy the 1/48 VF1D from a local store.  

My thoughts exactly. I just want an end to "Preorder Madness" for Valks. 

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4 hours ago, davidwhangchoi said:

the guy that gets exclusive toy review units directly from arcadia is asking Bandai Spirits if Macross Toys will be released in the US.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2021/04/09/the-decades-long-rights-battle-over-macross-and-robotech-has-finally-been-resolved/?sh=20254b7e1ad8

 

I have also reached out to companies like Bandai Spirits to find out whether their extensive toy and model kit lines for Macross will also be finally released globally.

Hope he gets a detailed answer from bandai! From the press release language, it DOES NOT seem merchandising is included!

Which logically, HG would want to maintain their hold on merch, what not from the upcoming RT movie...

Edited by seti88
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5 hours ago, Einherjar said:

1241451113_chunkymonkeyrick.jpg.0df6c8a43f78b40d6abf3a41b8cf055c.jpg

 

isntsheNEAT.jpg.7b6b023f2ec717bae13f74e60c7c6b52.jpg

I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.  They’ll never look like how they were in the 80s anyway.

Ha, ha,ha, god that's just awful. I've seen high school art that's of a higher standard.

No, my point was worrying about how Harmony Gold might interpret the agreement when it comes to SDFM characters that appear in other Macross shows. For example, Maximilian Jenius and Miria? You cannot have M7 without them. Focker in Zero? II, Plus, Frontier and Delta have no issues of this kind.

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11 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

TBH, I kind of expected this was the direction things were heading.

Harmony Gold had already lost the fight for the Macross trademarks in almost every key market in the world.  Big West had obtained all the leverage it needed to effectively shut down the Robotech franchise outside of the Americas.  With the Robotech franchise devoid of any realistic future prospects, it was more or less inevitable that Harmony Gold would look for a way out either by bending the knee to Big West in order to obtain a percentage of the profits from Macross releases worldwide or sell their stake to someone else who would.

Harmony Gold bent the knee, brothers.

We have won.

I disagree, we didn't win.  They're still going to keep getting paid.

Edited by Mommar
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