TheLoneWolf
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Everything posted by TheLoneWolf
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4 months? Try 7 months. The original release date was last October, which then got bumped to December, and then January. Toynami's got a reputation to maintain here. I see these toys hitting the bargain bin real fast. I don't them selling well in light of the superior Ori Toy releases that Toynami recently announced. Way to cannibalize your own wares, Toynami.
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I don't think those sections you referenced are applicable here. Those sections concern deadlines for trademarks that have already been registered. Unless I'm mistaken, I can't find any evidence that Warner Bros. nor Maguire Entertainment ever filed a trademark registration in the first place, so those deadlines wouldn't apply to them.
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My first reaction to that article was "There's a sucker born every minute." Bravo Sony, bravo. Here's what I found most interesting. Unlike the old Warner Bros. license, where Harmony Gold had no active involvement with the movie, Frank and Jehan Agrama are now going to be two of the movie's executive producers. It seems the Agramas are no longer content to sit passively on the sidelines, now they want to actively push the project forward. For Sony's sake, hopefully the Agramas will limit their involvement to financing and signing off on formalities. The Agramas are known for their business acumen, not their filmmaking talents. Hopefully, when Harmony Gold negotiated this new contract with Sony, they remembered to include an exclusionary clause for short, non-profit films. That way, Cesar Turturro's Robotech: Valkyrie Project can finally be released in its entirety. While I personally don't care for RVP, it'd still be nice if its fans finally got some closure. On a side note, I'm surprised that Warner Bros.' license expired after 8 years. Usually, these types of licenses expire after 5 or 10 year intervals. Unless Warner Bros. decided to cut their losses and put their license up for sale (with Harmony Gold's blessing), rather than let it expire and get nothing in return. Oh yeah, I wouldn't count on Shoji Kawamori getting involved. Big West and co. bankrolled all of his Macross projects. If Kawamori were to help one of Big West's rivals potentially make millions of dollars, without a single penny going back to Big West, that would considered nothing short of utter betrayal. Anyways, realistically speaking, Sony probably doesn't care as much about Kawamori as we fans do. Sony's targeted audience (not Macross fans) doesn't know who Kawamori is, nor do they care about Japanese mecha aesthetics. So it doesn't make financial sense for Sony to try to lure Kawamori over to their side.
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That's pretty interesting, since the Regult and Glaug were both designed by Kawamori, whereas the N-Ger was designed by Miyatake. Just curious, but did you have to oversize your old Gnerl too? Because that was also a Kawamori creation. By the way, I love how you oversize your Zentradi models. It's a thoughtful balance between realism and the titanic spirit of the Zentradi.
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Did Big West ever ask you to pay them licensing and royalty fees for merchandising their intellectual property, the Nupetiet-Vergnitz? Did Big West ever ask you to destroy the resin kits that you produced? I didn't think so. But you're asking cool8or to do that for you? That's hypocritical.
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You seem to be operating under the misconception that Tatsunoko Production and Harmony Gold are illegally using Big West's copyrights. However, they've been fully compliant since the matter was settled in the Japanese courts years ago. The situation is understandably confusing since Harmony Gold often plays (legal) hardball with their limited rights and, as a result, they've become widely unpopular amongst Macross and Transformers fans. Not to mention that Robotech's spokeman tends to make ambiguous and unhelpful statements concerning Harmony Gold and Tastunoko's rights. I recommend reading this post for more information.
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I don't really understand why you're following this thread if you don't like the Hi-Metals.
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The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next
TheLoneWolf replied to mikeszekely's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
There's no such thing as overdoing comparison pictures. -
Bandai DX VF-171 shoulder triangle (Shapeways)
TheLoneWolf replied to Xigfrid's topic in The Workshop!
No problem, here you go. I didn't apply excessive force when bending the legs; it seems like the parts developed fractures on their own and my bending them finished the job. It looks like broken thigh joints are becoming pretty common.
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Bandai DX VF-171 shoulder triangle (Shapeways)
TheLoneWolf replied to Xigfrid's topic in The Workshop!
Fantastic work, Xigfrid! I would buy your replacement triangles in a heartbeat, but the thigh joints on mine also disintegrated. Is there any chance that you could make replacements for these too? -
Lego VF-1S + Super Parts! We should all get behind this!
TheLoneWolf replied to spanner's topic in Toys
Getting these licensed wouldn't be impossible, but there would be some obstacles to overcome. The biggest would be how much Lego is willing to pay out in licensing fees. If Lego wanted to release these sets worldwide, they'd have to pay licenses fees to both Big West and Harmony Gold. They'd have to pay Big West to license the sets in Japan and pay Harmony Gold for the rest of the globe. On top of that, from what I hear, licenses from Big West and Harmony Gold don't come cheap. While Lego has no problem paying top dollar for pop culture licenses, such as Star Wars and Harry Potter, would it make financial sense to pay a pretty penny for a niche market like Macross/Robotech? Lastly, Lego would have to agree to put a Toynami logo on any sets it releases outside of Japan. You see, Harmony Gold has designated Toynami as their exclusive toy distributor for Macross/Robotech, essentially setting up Toynami as world's (excluding Japan) gatekeeper for Macross/Robotech toys. Given Toynami's controversial reputation when it comes to Robotech/Macross toys, would Lego be willing to potentially tarnish their brand by pairing it up with Toynami's? -
What a ripoff! These MPC Alpha reissues are gonna cost $140?! That's a 133% price increase over the original MPC Alphas. For that kind of money, it had better come with a 1/55 scale Invid Shock Tropper. But knowing Toynami, it'll probably just come with a cheap stand and low-grade ABS plastic that bootleggers wouldn't even touch. And let's not forget the abysmal QC that the last batch of Alphas had.
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Macross Δ (Delta) - announcement thread
TheLoneWolf replied to renegadeleader1's topic in Movies and TV Series
It shouldn't belong "entirely" to Williams. The previously copyrighted materials (ie: prexisting characters), such as Inky, are still the property of Namco. Only the original portions, such as the character of Jr. Pac-Man, can be owned by Williams. This case is a good example of what I'm referring to here. Exactly. -
Macross Δ (Delta) - announcement thread
TheLoneWolf replied to renegadeleader1's topic in Movies and TV Series
What extra bit are you referring to? -
Macross Δ (Delta) - announcement thread
TheLoneWolf replied to renegadeleader1's topic in Movies and TV Series
That's very interesting. Like Dynaman, I always assumed that it was going to be a Japanese live-action film. From a business standpoint, making it in Hollywood for a global audience was probably the best course of action. Big West's archives would probably be the most likely place. When licensed projects fold, the copyrighted materials made are generally given to the licensor (Big West) since the licensee no longer has any lawful right to them. -
Old Sculptor: These darn young whippersnappers and their CAD. Why, back in my day, we had to sculpt these toys with our bare hands. Young Sculptor: <mind blown> On a serious note, it's wonderful that more and more of these classic sculptors are finally getting the recognition they deserve. They were responsible for sculpting art that would captivate the imaginations of thousands of children, yet for the most part, their identities were unknown. Thanks for posting that article, CF18.
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Sweet, it's good to know that they take fan feedback seriously. My only other nitpicks are the lack of landing gears (I'd even settle for plug-in landing gears) and the big "001" on the wing with the red tip. If I buy one, I'd like to put a UN Spacy kite sticker from a spare Yamato sticker sheet on that wing, ala the line art. But the "001" font is so large that the kite sticker would have to take up most of the wing. I know I know, I'm being picky. But a plain black strip on that wing would be helpful to those of us who'd want to put a kite on, and I doubt it'd increase the cost at all.
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Macross Collectibles Market Watch - Current Auction/Store SOLD prices
TheLoneWolf replied to jvmacross's topic in Toys
There's no way I'd pay that much money, unless it was certified by Studio Nue or Big West. -
I'm sorry to hear about your Hi-Metals, that really sucks. I just checked my Roy, Hikaru, and Max Hi-Metals and thankfully they don't have any cracks. And for what it's worth, I do fiddle with the Roy and Hikaru VF's a bit from time to time.
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I completely agree. Incorporating an internal heatshield and landing gears will mean more complex mechanisms that will need to be manufactured, which will probably increase the MSRP. And, not only could these changes make the toy more expensive, but it might also increase the risk of it breaking, since it's such a small scale. The only safe changes I'd like to see would be a fix for the crooked gunpod in fighter mode, reinforced ankles, upscaled TV pilots (they're way too small), and a new VF-1S head. I don't think any of these would jeopardize the toy's infrastrusture nor significantly increase its cost.
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I'll start worrying about Arcadia when Bandai actually releases an old-school product (hello Hi-Metal YF-21), and if that product sells well (and hello to you too, original Hi-Metal toys).
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There never was a mass produced Milia Hi-Metal, not even as a web exclusive. If Bandai does pull the trigger this time, it'll be a first. The Milia from EXO's photos looks like it's a repainted Hikaru VF-1J, as there are lots of instances of white plastic showing beneath the red paint. As others have noticed, Bandai never made TV style arm armor for the Hi-Metals. The web exclusive Super/Strike Armor sets that were sold separately were DYRL style. Though Bandai did include TV style stickers, in case buyers were determined to equip them on TV valks anyway. It wasn't an ideal solution, but since the Hi-Metals were supposed to be mid-range toys, I'm not surprised Bandai cut a few corners.
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I'm with bbrain on this one; we've already got enough chibi VF-1's on the market. If I'm going to be tempted to buy a new one, then it'll have to be a bona fide home run. This one comes close, but the long wings and lack of landing gears make it a pass for me.
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OMFG!! I never thought I'd see the day the Hi-Metal line returns! I've always a big fan of this underrated toy line. I'm not going to buy the Roy, Hikaru, and Max VF's since I've already got them, but the rest are instant pre-orders for me, no matter how much they cost. I hope the line succeeds this time around for the sake of the Zentradi mecha. 1/100 might just be the best fit for them in terms of scale and budgets.
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I seem to remember a while ago that Graham said that Big West's toy licenses are indeed scale exclusive*. It's a good business practice too, because as a licensor, it's in Big West's best financial interest to provide their licensees with a ripe market to exploit. If Big West allowed licensees to produce toys in any scale and from any show that they wished, that would pit licensees in direct competition with each other. While that situation could benefit fans in terms of quality and cost, it would cut into the licensees net profits, which would deter other companies from doing business with Big West in the future. *As jenius mentioned earlier, we don't know how long these licenses last. They could be perpetual, which would be unusual, or they could be limited-term.
