Seto Kaiba

Robotech routinely tries to present re-releases of decades-old material as "new"... and markets their releases of decades-old material as "never before seen" like putting the cut footage back in Robotech Remastered or the MOSPEADA: Love Live Alive OVA. Mind you, that's not the point. The point is that Big West has Harmony Gold's Robotech franchise by the bollocks thanks to those trademarks, so what little Harmony Gold can bring to market RIGHT NOW (the Robotech TV series and its mostly-Macross merchandise line) is under Big West's thumb. They signed away their future freedom to be allowed to keep doing business in the here and now. I doubt it. Robotech is extremely obscure everywhere except South America, and most of the people who are aware it exists have little if nothing nice to say about it. That's been the case since the nineties, when even advertisements for Macross II got on the bandwagon of "Robotech is old and busted, Macross is the new hotness". I'd expect, if they can get Big West's consent, the live action movie would be rebranded Macross worldwide.

I believe Big West owns the songs themselves but it's all exclusively distributed through Victor's FlyingDog. As a direct consequence? No. Indirectly? Yes, it very well could. I'm not sure if it's on Spotify to ask for the rights to expand the music's distribution or on Big West and FlyingDog to make it clear it's available now. Yeah, but if there's a small manufacturer that has comeuppance coming it's certainly that one. So, all in all, Big West can freely use anything from any Macross story in new motion picture works (TV, movie, etc.) because they own the copyrights. They don't have to worry about HG's trademark claims in any key markets except the US now that they've effectively overturned HG's trademarks everywhere else that matters. Now that HG is onboard, there are no real obstacles. HG just gets a little piece of the action in exchange for rubber-stamping whatever Big West wants to distribute in the US. Mostly... Harmony Gold actually began applying for trademarks in some areas around the same time they began sending cease and desists to import toy dealers. Their UK filing was made in 1999, two years before their US filing. TBH, I'm not sure the coronavirus thing had any significant role to play in it from Big West's end since Japan wasn't hit nearly as hard (thanks to its culturally-ingrained tendency to wear masks when ill or potentially ill). Harmony Gold probably also wasn't too heavily impacted by it because their audience is tiny and they have nothing going for them outside of print-on-demand home video and streaming. Nothing of theirs required leaving the house. Harmony Gold has never made original Robotech works featuring elements from Macross for copyright reasons, and won't do so in the future either. The reason Harmony Gold had no choice but to partner with Big West is that Big West now owns the trademarks on the Macross name, logos, key art, etc. in markets outside of the United States. Harmony Gold used to own those trademarks themselves, and had used them to prevent Macross's sequels from being distributed outside of Japan. Armed with the trademarks they successfully overturned and took possession of over the last four years, Big West has the legal power to block distribution of the Robotech TV series from most international markets via its "Macross Saga" and to block distribution of the almost exclusively Macross-based Robotech merchandise lines in those markets. That's pretty much the entirety of Robotech's income cut off in one fell swoop. Harmony Gold was left with two options: Reach some kind of mutually acceptable accommodation with Big West. OR Let Robotech's slow decline continue to accelerate towards its terminal conclusion. And they chose Option 1. Nah, they'll just say Remix is non-canon like they did to almost all of the other comics.

It doesn't say that either. And the reason they have to cooperate? Big West owns a lot of the trademarks that used to belong to Harmony Gold, so HG now needs Big West's permission to use certain terms, logos, etc. in most key markets. So IF Harmony Gold ever makes anything Robotech again they'll be cooperating with Big West on distribution out of legal necessity.

Ah, that's a fair point. Western adaptations of anime have pretty uniformly been box office failures and tend to do comparatively worse in Asian markets. I've seen a number of analysis pieces pinning Ghost in the Shell and Alita: Battle Angel's respective failures to break even on lukewarm receptions in China. It's still a potentially-important agreement to reach, which could translate into millions of box office dollars even for a poor performer. Sony might. It's still only a proposal.

There was only so much that they could do with the show's budget and the sheer scale of the thing. It has a fair amount of surface detail in closeups, but from far away those details (realistically) become indistinct on an object as large as it is.

The implausibility of the movie ever being made aside, that would actually be a fairly important point for the hopes Harmony Gold pinned on the proposed film. Japan stands real tall at the box office. Like, outside the US, Japan is #2 behind China in terms of the yearly box office gross according to the Motion Picture Association's annual report. (For 2019. The 2020 numbers are... atypical... for the obvious reason.) When you consider that Big West potentially had the power to lock a Robotech movie out of Japan, China, and the EU? That's the top two non-US markets plus five of the remaining top 20 markets amounting to approximately 2/3 of the global box office earnings.

Have you, perchance, read the leaked plot outline for the remainder of Shadow Chronicles? I suspect you would not have enjoyed it. It did not inspire confidence. If you have not, but are interested, I can assist you in that regard. Depends how hard and fast they hit us. I think we've got at least half a year to sock cash away for Macross goodies while Big West and Harmony Gold sort out distributors and the like.

In the Robotech television series (the so-called "original 85") and in merchandise. Or, put simply, Harmony Gold still has the license to distribute the original SDF Macross series animation and make merchandise based on it.

No, I did not. As indicated previously, Harmony Gold has been very clear that the proposed Robotech live action movie is not an adaptation of the TV series. They have indicated it is planned to be a reimagining with a new original story, new original designs, and so on. Nothing in it is going to be derivative of the Japanese animation used in the Robotech TV series, per HG. It isn't, therefore, a derivative work of SDF Macross. The same is effectively true for the Robotech animated sequels. They can't, and therefore don't, use Macross designs in the new animation produced for them. They use legally-distinct replacement designs for the few returning characters, and generally refer to past events from the Macross Saga in generic terms or not at all. (e.g. why Maia Sterling is "half-alien" not "half-Zentradi") They are legally derivative works based on Southern Cross and MOSPEADA given their usage (with permission) of IP from those shows, but not of Macross because the projects don't use the Macross IP or base anything on it. (Comic books, video games, etc. are legally merchandise, rather than derivative works, so it's fair game there.) That's not correct either... for the reasons stated above.

So, the answer here is all down to what's legally considered to be a derivative work vs. what's legally considered to be merchandise. Because Super Dimension Fortress Macross is a TV series - a motion picture - creating another motion picture work like a TV series or movie based on it or its IP would be derivative work and therefore prohibited. By the same token, narrative media in a non-motion picture format like a novelization, comic book, or video game would be considered merchandise and therefore A-OK because HG has the merchandising rights under license. This distinction between what's derivative work vs. what's merchandise is the reason Harmony Gold can use the merchandising rights it licensed to adapt SDF Macross or its Robotech "Macross Saga" into comics, novels, etc. but had to redesign all of the Macross Saga characters for Robotech II: the Sentinels and Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles to avoid a copyright infringement suit for unauthorized use of those designs. What are you talking about? The official statement doesn't mention derivative works at all. It lays out only the following points: The agreement was signed 1 March 2021. Harmony Gold has agreed to get out of the way of Macross distribution worldwide. Big West will not stand in the way of distribution of a Robotech live action movie in Japan if one is made. Harmony Gold's license agreement with Tatsunoko Production, under which they hold the "rest of world" distribution and merchandising rights to SDF Macross excl. Japan is recognized as valid by all parties. Going forward, Big West and Harmony Gold will collaborate on distribution of future Macross and Robotech works. Harmony Gold has NEVER had the ability to make derivative works based on Super Dimension Fortress Macross's IP... because Tatsunoko doesn't have that ability, and all of Harmony Gold's rights were obtained from its licensing agreement with Tatsunoko Production. That's why Rick Hunter et. al. were redesigned for Sentinels, and again for Shadow Chronicles, and why pretty much all their sequel efforts are MOSPEADA-based. Even HG itself has been pretty clear on this. The Robotech live action movie is not a derivative work WRT Super Dimension Fortress Macross. It has always, from the moment it was announced back in 2007, been explicitly indicated to be a reimagining of the Robotech story that has no connection to the Robotech TV series.

I don't think Big West had any expectations on that front. Y'see, Big West gave the international distribution and merchandising rights for the original Macross TV series to Tatsunoko Production as compensation for the assistance Tatsunoko provided in funding production of the series. Tatsunoko then turned around and licensed those rights it'd obtained from Big West to Harmony Gold USA in '84. They didn't need to involve Big West in any way, because those rights belonged to Tatsunoko. Tatsunoko Production itself was likely originally operating under the assumption that Harmony Gold's plan was to dub the series into English under its original title. That was, after all, Harmony Gold's actual plan initially. They were a couple episodes into production of the dub when Revell forced a course change that led to Robotech as we know it. In theory, there would be nothing stopping Harmony Gold from breaking Robotech up and making it an artifact title for an anthology-type presentation... except the Robotech fanbase itself and the misguided hagiography whenever Carl Macek's name comes up. They've already done it to 90% of Robotech's material. What's 10% between friends? Harmony Gold's claim was only half of that... they mistakenly (or so they said after the fact) claimed that their license agreement with Tatsunoko granted them exclusive control of all things Macross outside of Japan. They walked that one back fairly quickly after Tatsunoko got wind of it and corrected them. That's what led to them going after the trademarks on the Macross name, logos, and key art as a way to support their effort to prevent their relaunch of Robotech from having to compete against Macross. That unfounded claim prompted a copyright review - not a dispute - between Big West and Tatsunoko in Japan's courts to make sure that everyone was clear on who owned what and why under the original contract between Big West and Tatsunoko from 1982. One of the major problems with talking about this is that so many people oversimplify things and give folks entirely the wrong idea about what happened. The only parties that have ever genuinely disputed the validity of Harmony Gold's license to the original show have been the folks Harmony Gold has sued for infringement like FASA, Catalyst Game Labs, etc. No, it really doesn't. The statement just says that the existing status quo that was already in place from the very beginning is still in place and that Harmony Gold's existing license is unaffected by this new distribution agreement. Harmony Gold still can't produce derivative works based on Super Dimension Fortress Macross. They can distribute the original animation, edit it for content, and make merch based on it to their heart's content but that's all.

The IP wasn't in dispute. Their IP problem was that Macross, the most popular third of Robotech, was unavailable for use in sequel development because its IP was owned by Big West not Tatsunoko and Tatsunoko therefore couldn't authorize them to use it the way they could stuff from Southern Cross or MOSPEADA. Not that being unable to base sequels on your franchise's most popular installment is any less discouraging to investors. But the biggest part of why they had to self-fund was that the Robotech franchise's track record was abysmal. Every attempt to develop a sequel failed, and several cost the investors significant sums in the process. The current situation doesn't really do anything to change Robotech's ugly history of failure... so I wouldn't count on them finding money to make anything new for it.

Business is business... but copyright infringement is copyright infringement, and all parties involved are pretty aggressive about protecting their rights. It's a just possibility, for now.

Only if Big West pressures Harmony Gold into revoking his license. Otherwise, I suspect they'll run out a few more for Harmony Gold under that license before running out of material.

What they don't have is money. After Shadow Chronicles flopped, Harmony Gold's senior management cut off funding for future Robotech animation development. Tommy Yune had promised them that his Shadow Chronicles OVA was going to be a huge hit that would make Robotech relevant or even mainstream in the anime industry, that it would bring in new fans in droves, and that it would attract investors who would finance all episodes after the first one. That, obviously, did not happen. Harmony Gold's management stuck to the terms they'd set and refused to fund any further development, leading to Shadow Chronicles episodes 2-4 being cancelled, and the only subsequent works being a dub of existing material and a Kickstarter campaign to fund development of a new series pilot. Now that Harmony Gold can make money on animation distribution without having to actually spend their own money to develop new material... you bet your backside they'll drop the non-performing Robotech property in a heartbeat.

Mainly because the official statement mentions it, both in the context of Robotech allegedly having a future and apparently Big West having a say in said future. And, of course, there are folks wondering about the implications... even though the most realistic and likely outcome is, as we've said, Harmony Gold dropping Robotech like a roadkill raccoon to focus on Macross distribution. Except for the MOSPEADA part, that's almost certainly the direction they're headed... and entirely voluntarily at that. Not Harmony Gold. They don't have the money, the talent pool, or the industry clout to pull that off... and they can't do it anyway because the IP is owned by Tatsunoko Production. Tatsunoko Production might take an interest if their Genesis Breaker project is well-received. Mind you, after seeing the quality (or lack thereof) in Tatsunoko's last attempt at mecha anime I would be VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY afraid for MOSPEADA if they announced they were going to reboot it. I have neither forgiven nor forgotten the landfill-on-fire that was The Price of Smiles.

That's a fair summation of Macross Delta in general, IMO... in both the positive and negative senses. Questionable pacing, a story that's less serious and kind of threadbare-feeling, repetitive action, but a soundtrack full of absolute bangers.

Except for the "new title" part, that's what it was supposed to be from the outset... a complete departure from any previously existing material. An all-new story with all-new characters and designs, etc. etc. Essentially a completely separate story with the Robotech name hastily slapped onto it. Harmony Gold's plan was for that new, all-original Robotech movie to be a replacement for the failed Robotech animated series and be the new face of the franchise. WB or Sony would do all the work, and Harmony Gold would just sit back and collect the royalties. Which is, yes, why it hasn't been made. There's no advantage in it for WB or Sony to develop an original IP all on their own and then hand over royalties from it to some third party for the use of a name that the film is at-best tangentially related to. They could stick an original name on it and keep all the money for themselves.

Eh... looking at it from a pure feasibility standpoint, I don't think the prospects of the proposed live action movie are affected by this. Given Harmony Gold's own comments on the matter, the proposed live action Robotech movie was always tipped to be a complete reimagining. A clean break from anything that had existed in Robotech up to that point. That effectively guaranteed that the movie would never be made, because why bother going to all the time and expense of developing an all-new IP on WB's or Sony's dime to unnecessarily fork over partial ownership to a company whose involvement was little more than licensing them the name of an obscure 80's TV cartoon? If Sony actually decides to pull the trigger, it feels like this opens the door for Sony to drop the obscure Robotech name in favor of the more noteworthy Macross one. To be honest, I don't expect to see anything new from Robotech going forward. We know Harmony Gold has been looking for a way out ever since Shadow Chronicles bombed. It was originally supposed to be the live action movie, where they'd just sit back and collect royalties while someone else did all the actual work. Now it looks like it's going to be functioning as Big West's distribution partner, sitting back and collecting royalties while Funimation or whoever does all the actual work.

It's nothing that any other potential Macross distribution partner wouldn't receive... it's not any kind of concession on Big West's part. It's just (quite literally) the cost of doing business. Will it, though? Harmony Gold quite literally gave up on Robotech's animated series almost fifteen years ago when Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles bombed. Robotech: Love Live Alive was a glorified DVD extra feature packaged with Shadow Chronicles to inflate sales numbers by getting fans to buy the failed OVA's only episode twice. Robotech Academy was a Hail Mary attempt to get someone to pay for a pilot because Harmony Gold wouldn't. The proposed live-action movie has been Coming Never since 2007. The last original Robotech development was cancelled in 2020, and that was the widely-panned Robotech Remix. They have effectively zero incentive to continue Robotech at this point. By supporting Macross instead, they can make the same (or better) money with less effort and investment on their part. They'll take the path of least resistance because they know Robotech was, and is, a functionally dead brand. They might still bluster a bit about Robotech and Carl Macek's alleged vision, but odds are they aren't going to bother attempting to develop Robotech any further.

While Lower Decks is absolutely the least repugnant of new Trek's offerings by a considerable margin, it's still pretty weak tea. Not enough to justify shelling out for Paramount+. I'd consider torrenting it, but it's not even really tempting enough to guarantee I'll do even that much.

Well, if any of our friends on the US east coast start talking about some bloke named "Dagon" or vacationing in R'lyeh, you'll know it's time to pack it in and find a new planet.

Your definition of victory is too narrow, my friend. Harmony Gold abandoned the field. They've signed the instrument of surrender. It just wasn't a completely unconditional surrender. Instead, true to the company's quasi-Italian roots, once they'd exhausted their bluster and their elaborate aggressive posturing failed to impress... they switched sides. They decided to knuckle under and learn to love the taste of Big West's boot leather rather than lose the farm on a slow and fundamentally unwinnable battle of attrition. Yeah, Harmony Gold will collect some small percentage of the take from Macross licensing... but that's all. Big West gave up NOTHING in this. NOTHING. And they got everything they wanted. Harmony Gold, on the other hand, effectively gave up almost everything it had for a few crumbs from Big West's table. They withdrew their opposition to Macross's global licensing. They'd already effectively abandoned Robotech and now apparently are giving Big West partial control over it as well. The only thing they can cling to is the hope that Sony will green-light a Robotech movie... which, from the outset, was never going to use Big West's IP anyway and is all but guaranteed to be a failure because failing is what American anime adaptations DO. It's not quite the complete annihilation that folks who utterly loathe Harmony Gold were hoping for, but it's INCREDIBLY close in the final analysis. Robotech is, for all practical intents and purposes, dead. Harmony Gold has bent the knee to Macross's owners without any significant concessions from Big West's side. That's a win by any standard. No, it's nothing like that. The statement about Harmony Gold's rights is basically just affirming that Harmony Gold's license agreement with Tatsunoko Production is still valid and in force... the one which only grants Harmony Gold the distribution and merchandising rights to the Super Dimension Fortress Macross animation outside Japan. They've never been able to use Big West's intellectual property in the proposed live action movie. (Indeed, they had announced the film with the intention of it being a "reimagining" with all-original design works.)

Pretty sure its just short... all of those extra games were pretty short. It'd be nice if they ported them alongside a sub/dub of the movies they originally came with. That's probably asking a bit much tho. Not in the city proper, but yeah I'm in the metropolitan area there. I'm not aware of too many Macross fans out our way, but for some reason the hobby shops always seemed to have a few Macross kits banging around. There's at least one or two other MWers in my area, I know... mainly because I've bought DX Chogokins from 'em. Considering how much time Macek and co. spend alternately badmouthing him and blocking his work from broader distribution, he must be feeling a real sense of vindication right now.

I know the Frontier movies had games on 'em. They were those weird "PS3 Combo Pack" editions.