Seto Kaiba

If memory serves, Perfect Memory says that Tatsunoko joined the production only after Big West had already got the ball rolling and determined that it was going to run more expensive than they were budgeting. The court documents leave no room for doubt, since the 2002 court ruling says Tatsunoko has no claim on the disputed design works because they were neither involved in their creation nor funded their creation. By a similar token, the 2003 court ruling over ownership of the animation itself found that Tatsunoko owned the animation because they'd paid for its production, but that Big West owned the contents because they created it all before Tatsunoko got involved. All the same, ownership of the Macross story was never disputed during these rounds of legal back-and-forth. It does appear, given Big West's various adaptations thereof, that it belongs to them rather than Tatsunoko.

Yeah... like Talos said, there were already plenty of VF-1's in civilian hands prior to the events of Macross 7 in 2045. Plenty of 'em were clearly former military models that had been surplussed out, and there was also a dedicated civilian-use model off the VT-1 Super Ostrich platform. I don't think removal of the weapons systems was mandatory though, since the Destroid Monster in civilian ownership was still armed... as was Milia's red VF-1J, which even had super parts right up until Gamlin "borrowed" it and it got shot down. I'm kind of leery about that Fire Bomber-esque paintjob. I could really do without having Basara derail the movie while the cast tries to pound sense through his malformed four-inch-thick skull.

If, as I'm assuming, you refer to the public statement Big West made on their website way back when, that only refers to the design works because ownership of the design works was the only thing being disputed in that lawsuit. They fought over ownership of the design works and of the copyright on the animation itself, but unless there's another case we don't know about, there's really no evidence that ownership of the story was ever in dispute. Insofar as who precisely owns the copyright on the story of the original Macross series, don't we already have a concrete answer to that? The story, like most everything else that was created during development of the series, was created before Tatsunoko was brought on board to help fund production of the series. As such, under a common sense examination it should be Big West, not Tatsunoko, who owns the copyright on the Macross story. The copyright listing pulled in the post you linked to looks like the copyright on an English language adaptation or translation rather than full-fledged ownership of the materials. As owners of the distribution rights, Tatsunoko would have had every right to register a copyright on any and all foreign language adaptations and translated versions they produced for overseas distribution. Normally a good idea, though you won't get very far looking for ownership of the story in the Japanese court rulings because, as far as I know, it was never disputed. The wording in the ruling made in 2003 does seem to support what you're saying in that it says that Tatsunoko's production of the animation does not give them any rights to the materials created for the series prior to their involvement. Saying it'll go on forever is probably optimistic... after all, at the rate the Robotech fanbase is decaying, without a blockbuster to unite them and bring new people in, it'll be a dead title or at least a complete unknown within 10 years.

Yeah, it certainly looks that way... has anyone "in the know" had anything more to say about the September 2010 drop dead date that was supposedly attached to the live action movie license? I'd be very surprised if Warner Bros has actually made any progress on the film since they showed an early story treatment to Sylvain White. Certainly Tobey Maguire isn't making Robotech his top priority... in fact, it looks like he's been ignoring the project for at least two years now, and is focusing on other films that stand a chance of actually being released. Y'know, I have it on excellent authority that they spend a lot of their free time tossing cards into a hat and giving each other piggyback rides when they're not preoccupied with appealing to Tommy Yune's colossal ego in the faint hope that he might do some actual work one of these days instead of just endlessly congratulating himself for Shadow Chronicles. Herein lies the paradox of the Robotech fandom... the fans want to see Harmony Gold pay more attention to the "original" TV series and build on it, but when they actually get it (e.g. Sentinels, Shadow Chronicles) they immediately turn up their noses at it because it's embarrassingly amateurish. This endless cycle of optimism and disappointment that so many Robotech fans are mired in stems from the disconnect between their expectations of what Harmony Gold can do based on their rose-tinted memories of the TV series and what Harmony Gold is actually capable of. In many cases, this disconnect is almost unconscious... the fans don't mentally account for the fact that almost everything they enjoyed about the "original 85" was the work of the original creators, who were actually competent people. So, of course, when the time comes to make a Robotech sequel, those fans expect the same levels of quality from Harmony Gold... a much less capable outfit whose best writers would have great difficulty achieving a passing mark in a middle school creative writing class. It's not a matter of their work on the new shows being worse than what they contributed to the original TV series, since they're on about the same level, it's that the fans rate the series higher based on elements that Harmony Gold had nothing to do with. The reason the stories of the sequels all suck exceptionally hard is because they can no longer get by on changing the names in stories written by competent people. So, it's an hour or so on how to draw women who look like a pencil that's been stuck through two grapes? Isn't that a little outside his skill set? He's a "marketing coordinator" and his education in the fine arts consists of a BFA in lighting design, of all the silly things. No doubt they're hoping the industry is dying so things can come full circle and they can go back to slapping their names on someone else's work and passing it off as something original. So, 3 hours of flim-flam and wild exaggerations in the faint hope that it'll convince people that Robotech wasn't roundly ignored even in the 1980s. It's just insulting to everyone else who worked in the industry before Robotech came along, and frankly everyone who came after too... Nah, didn't you hear? This year they're going to a restaurant that specializes in grilling deep fried food! Seriously though, considering all the hostility and jockeying for "biggest fanboy" points we see in the vocal fans, one has to wonder how they manage to put aside all their idiot tendencies for a few hours to pretend they don't quietly detest each other and themselves. Hey, they gotta do SOMETHING to make it feel like they aren't just going through the motions to string along the brain-dead cattle that compose 9/10ths of the Robotech fanbase. Yep! Tommy baked them himself for a gathering of all of his fans after the convention. They come in two flavors... arsenic and potassium cyanide! In all seriousness, I half-expect a mass ritualistic suicide from the Robotech fans if the live-action movie and/or the Shadow Rising movie get canceled. They're almost as big a pack of nuts as the Scientologists, and that's saying something.

And what, may I ask, is Harmony Gold but a company that keeps its repeat customers by stringing them along with an endless stream of empty promises and weak excuses? In point of fact, there's a strong possibility that they'll do exactly that if the live action movie turns out to be a success. The nature of the so-called "original 85" as a hodge-podge of unrelated shows introduces a great many problematic legal hurdles (discussed elsewhere in this thread) that hamper Harmony Gold's ability to continue the story in any meaningful way. If the live action Robotech movie were to succeed, they would no longer have any reason to try to keep the animated series's rapidly shrinking fanbase (people like you) happy by continuing the story in progress. They could banish the vast majority of the franchise's legal issues for good by tossing the animated series out like they did the old comics and novels, and starting over from scratch with the movies and/or an all-new series based on them. It's what Paramount did, and the only reason Warner picked up Robotech was they wanted to try to make that particular brand of drippy brown lightning strike twice. So, let me get this straight... you, as a fan of Robotech, think it sucks more than usual that Harmony Gold refused to break with their 25 year tradition of failure and incompetence this year by doing nothing of any significance and having nothing to show for all the empty promises they've made? If you don't mind my asking, what makes this year such an exceptional disappointment? Is it just that you assumed this year's damp squib was going to be special because it was 25 years ago that Robotech was shat out onto TV to imitate the success of Transformers ('s funny how history repeats itself, isn't it?) and was promptly ignored because two-thirds of it is rubbish? Did you, perchance, forget that every anniversary occasion for Robotech has essentially been a celebration of how they've achieved nothing in the X years since their last major failure? Seriously, I'd like to know... how anyone familiar with their "achievements" can expect anything BUT failure and disappointment from them is a mystery to me. Well, yes... that's because Macross is a reasonably popular, competently run franchise, while Robotech is basically just bad crossover fan-fiction and shameless plagiarism partially legitimized by a licensing agreement.

I'm sure if they really wanted to they could find some rationale to go to court over it, but if past performance is any indication... they won't have to. Ever since Harmony Gold inadvertently started the whole Big West vs Tatsunoko legal brouhaha, they've been assiduously avoiding using anything from Macross in a way that could be actionable. Dodging legalities is more than likely the reason Harmony Gold opted to kill or otherwise dispose of any and all familiar faces from the Macross Saga who weren't plot-critical in a nice, safe comic book miniseries where the odd fact that comics are technically merchandise gives them the ability to use those designs in a Robotech title without the need to fear litigious retribution. Nah, that big honking MacGuffin and various attempts to recapture it are the central plot point for pretty much two-thirds of the entire Robotech continuity. It'd take a LOT of extreme rewriting and shoddy editing to banish that plot point... and if they manage that, why even try to call it Robotech? Why not just stop beating around the bush and give that mess a new, more appropriate title like Baron von Macek's F*cking Plagiarized Adventure, How to Lose an Audience in 10 Minutes, or perhaps Battlefield Earth 2. No matter what they call it, if the movie does make it to release there's little doubt it'll be a big winner at the Razzies just like Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen was. (Incidentally, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen was nominated for Razzies in seven categories, incl. Worst Actress (Megan Fox), Worst Supporting Actress (Julie White), Worst Screen Couple (for Shia LaBeouf and either Fox or any Transformer), Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel, and Worst Picture, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. It actually won Worst Screenplay, Worst Director, and Worst Picture.)

Any way you shake it, the course of action that Warner Bros and Maguire Entertainment are most likely to take will be to sidestep any potential legal entanglements surrounding the source material by using only those aspects of Robotech that are owned entirely by Harmony Gold. In short, only those aspects of the story not present in the original show that were created by Harmony Gold during the adaptation process.

Eh...the idea of having a race of giants as the antagonist(s) wasn't exactly an original idea when Macross's creators did it in 1982. You could argue the earliest example was Gulliver's Travels, which was published in 1726. Of course, if you want to refine it down to giant space aliens, 1973's La Planète Sauvage, a French animated film, is the earliest example I can find. Now, if they were to incorporate aspects that are quite distinctly Macross... like their uniforms, mecha, and insignia, then they'd be in trouble for sure. Whether they'd be able to get away with them being giant aliens cloned for use in war is dubious, since Robotech did change the backstory significantly, which could potentially put them in the clear. After all, it's not like clone armies are something unique to Macross either.

Yeah, apparently the novelization says he's half-Zolan, while 2059:Memories labels him as half-Zentradi. Macross Chronicle appears to favor the latter.

Well, y'see... the way copyright law is written with respect to derivative works, there's no way that Harmony Gold could give Warner Bros permission to do a straight-up adaptation of Macross. However, they can freely use any of the aspects of the "Macross Saga" story that they can legally claim copyright on. In short, they can freely use anything they created that wasn't present in the original work. So, yes... they can technically make a Macross Saga movie. It won't look anything like the Macross Saga that Robotech fans are familiar with, since the copyrighted mechanical and character designs are owned by a company with whom Harmony Gold is not on good terms, but they can still use the character names from Robotech, and have it be about an alien ship called Zor's battlefortress, and have Robotech Masters and all of that malarkey. It won't have most of the landmarks of the Macross story that so many Robotech fans mistake for Macek's handiwork, but at least the names and the general thrust of the plot (giant aliens want Zor's battlefortress back) can be the same.

If anything, the recent behavior of producer Tobey Maguire might shed some light on what's going on with Robotech's live-action movie. Robotech isn't the only project he's involved it, but it does seem to be far and away the lowest priority, since he's also producing two other films... Tokyo Suckerpunch (in which he is also starring), and Afterburn... which are slated to come out in 2011 and 2012 respectively, if memory serves. Clearly Warner isn't the only one who's finally realized what they've bought. But, as my example illustrated, the type of "veto" power they're talking about has been given to property owners before... though it's doubtful they had enough clout to get it added to their licensing contract.

Eh... there's no indication that they are, so the safest assumption is that they're not. I would In the show, perhaps... it's not the case in the supplementary publications. I've heard that 2059:Memories indicates he's half-Zentradi, and he's featured with several of the other half-Zentradi characters in an Extra Report in Macross Chronicle as well...

You might want to try this thread for samples of art from the new-ish manga Macross: the First. Part of the reason you're not finding it is probably that you're looking under the wrong title... its proper name is Macross: the First, and the reason you won't find any DVDs or Blu-Ray releases of it is because it's not animated, it's a manga series running in Macross Ace magazine.

Regrettably, I don't... I only purchased the five I needed for my own collection, though I've got a friend who might. He owns a hobby shop, and was importing Chronicle for a few customers of his. I can't say for sure that he has any, but I'll be happy to ring him up for you when his store opens in a few hours and check. If he does, I'll shoot you a PM. (Incidentally, I found a few more binders floating around on Yahoo Auctions Japan, which were in a bundle with five binders and a few issues of the magazine for ¥15000, or about $170 USD)

Unfortunately, it looks like you're probably not going to have a lot of luck finding Macross Chronicle binders for your collection unless you're honestly willing to pay through the nose. As you said, it doesn't look like HobbyLink Japan or HMV have any. Nor, for that matter, does eBay. You can find some on Amazon.co.jp under "used" and "collectible", though you'd better be prepared to shell out as much as $80-$110 USD + shipping per binder. If you're unwilling to shell out for them at that absurd price, the official binders aren't your only option. I know someone here on the MW forums found an alternative to the Macross Chronicle binders with the right ring spacing for Chronicle pages. I think it might've been sketchley who found it, but don't quote me on that.

Yeah, I'm on like episode 51, and it's been a very satisfying series so far... I've had fans of the manga talking my ear off about the way the series really ends for a while, so the ending's not exactly going to come as a surprise, but over 50 episodes in and I've yet to find a bad one. Yeah, Talos and his gf are still trying to get me to watch the second season, but I'm pretty uninterested in it... the repetitiveness of season 1 kind of killed it for me, and Yoriko just annoys the piss out of me. Her VA should just stick to non-verbal animal noises in Tenchi Muyo sequels and have done with it. Now that I've finished with that, I've moved on down my queue... breaking up the mecha and action run with a harem comedy before moving on to L-Gaim.

Eh, it's not like it matters... after all, even in the best of times it's far more likely that a new Robotech project will crash and burn than that it will survive to see a proper release. Even if they do finish and release it, it's a safe bet that nobody in the industry or, indeed, outside the ever-shrinking Robotech fandom will actually care or even take notice. If it ever comes out, it'll be exactly what we've come to expect from Harmony Gold... a badly-concealed attempt to continue masturbating what parts of the source material they can freely use to shake the fans down for some quick cash. So, it's basically just this image flipped horizontally and with Sera substituted for the basic Inbit Protector?

No, not really... it seems unlikely that J.K. Rowling had the ability to veto the script for one or more of the Harry Potter movies, just based on what she herself had to say about her involvement. After due consultation with a reliable Potterhead (my ex), it does appear that J.K. Rowling was given the power to review the script for each film and delete any portions she felt were inconsistent with, or contradictory to, her vision for the story. The genesis of the whole "Dumbledore is gay" brouhaha was apparently one such edit wherein she deleted a scene where Dumbledore reminisces about an old (female) lover from the script, scratching it out and penning "Dumbledore is gay" in the margin. An extremely unusual level of control for an author, but J.K. Rowling was the creator of one of the hottest properties of the time and someone with a frightening amount of money, which no doubt prompted them to make an exception in her case. An outfit as small-time as Harmony Gold isn't going to be given any such say.

Gee, put it like that and you might hurt Tommy's feelings by making him think that people might not want a side story about an Invid princess with boobs bigger than her head. Nah, that particular rule only applied when it was Macek talking about the failures he presided over during his tenure as creative director. If something went right, it was always his idea or part of his grand vision, even though he almost invariably had nothing to do with it. If things went awry, it was always someone else's fault and the result of either circumstances beyond his control or executive meddling that went on over his head. Hilariously, it almost invariably worked the other way around, with the decisions the fans all point to as evidence of Macek's genius having been made without his involvement by other, more competent people in positions of actual authority. By the same token, the decisions that many fans loathed in the various failed sequels were mainly his doing. Truly, he was a man with one and only one skill... the ability to fly under the radar while taking credit for the work of others and blaming others whenever his own decisions ended in catastrophe. Yes, it does sound like the sort of thing Macek would do, doesn't it? I doubt it, though, since what we're getting is Tommy Yune art as a "teaser". Odds are it's going to be an extremely brief and amateurish-looking OVA knocked out for a shoestring budget by some studio's janitorial staff like Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles was. Y'know what? That's a good thing. As you haven't been subjected to their company for nearly as long as I have, you probably missed the fact of life that the vast majority of Robotech fan projects turn out to be utterly unoriginal rubbish unfit for consumption by human, or even animal, audiences. At least the guys who made Genesis were trying to put their own spin on things... the blokes behind Skull Knights seem to just be trying to thieve as much from the Macross Zero OVA as they think they can get away with. Killing more fan projects is only going to accelerate the rapid decay of Robotech's fan population. It increases the already overwhelming feeling of stagnation that's begun to get to even the most hardcore Robotech fans active in the online community.

Well, for once it looks like Google Translate and/or Bablefish aren't playing you false... that definitely says "Kamiya Power Shovel". パワーショベル is a reasonable enough approximation of the english words "Power Shovel", romanized as "pawaashoberu", and 神谷 is Kamiya. My guess would be that it's referring to the piece of mining/excavation equipment known as a power shovel, a type of excavator.

So, in other words, it's just more of the usual gibberish from a borderline-illiterate nutjob that even the Robotech lunatic fringe has a hard time taking seriously these days. I'm not surprised in the least that MEMO is doing everything he can to hype this latest weaksauce bullsh*t from Harmony Gold... he's been sucking up to Tommy since Robotech.com opened, and he probably still thinks that it'll get him a job at Harmony Gold. I wonder what Steve and Tommy think of him now that he and his best pal have essentially killed the Robotech.com community section.

It's possible, yes... but I doubt we'll ever get the particulars of the contract out of Harmony Gold. If there's ANYTHING in it that might be perceived as even remotely unfavorable to them in any way, you know they'll bury it deeper than Jimmy Hoffa. After all, Harmony Gold always put a higher priority on appearances than on substance. That's why they've been presenting the announcement that the movie project exists as though the movie'd already been made, and why they're announcing that Warner has the merchandising rights to the movie like it's something out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, I have the strangest urge to join the U.N. Spacy... (Max and Kakizaki are clearly liking what they see too. )

Of course... it's dollars to donuts that's exactly what happened with this new unnamed project they're allegedly working on. As many in the fanbase are still engaged in wailing and gnashing of teeth over his death and "remembering" what a visionary he was, Harmony Gold could get them to buy into just about anything by saying that it was something Macek had envisioned. Hell, it started before the man even died with them inviting him back in an advisory capacity, a choice which made the dumber fans think that he would have at least partial creative control over the series again (ironic, as it turns out, since Tommy Yune had far more success in his tenure as creative director than Macek ever did). I'll wager that, if this side story is really something they're working on and not just noise they're throwing out so people think they aren't just jerking off to Shadow Chronicles concept art, it was something that crossed Macek's desk only briefly, and was probably one of Tommy's ideas that Macek said wasn't completely stupid, or something like that.

Yeah, I had a moment like that when I looked up Bin Shimada's filmography. I knew he'd done both Paptimus Scirocco and Stick Bernard, but I had no idea he'd also been cast against type as a shy and indecisive bike cop (and main character love interest) in You're Under Arrest!, which I'd happened to be watching at the time.