Bigwest And Tatsunoko Logo

[Agent-GHQ]

What's up everyone! I noticed that my Old School VF-1S Strike Valkyrie 1/55 Bandai came with two different sticker logo. One is from BigWest and the other is from Tatsunoko. Both models are the same except for the box. The BigWest has a ruff texture while the Tatsunoko has the smooth surface texture. So, I have a few questions between two company called Big West and Tatsunoko.

1. Do they both own Macross?

2. Do they have equal rights on Macross?

3. What are the histories between the two in the establishment of Macross?

4. What are their roles with Macross?

5. Does one own Macross T.V. while the other own Macross D.Y.R.L? If so, which owns what?

6. How come Yamato doesn't have their logo on the 1/48? All I see is "Made in China 1982 BigWest."

7. For this question, please refrain from pulling out your slingshot, bebe gun, or paintball gun because I think its a million dollar question:

A. Who or how did Macross formed?

B. Who came up with the idea of Macross?

C. Whos idea was it originally?

Thanks for the help peeps!

Edited July 19, 2006 by Agent-GHQ

[Roy Focker]

Wait you've been for two years and don't know this stuff?

Someone please do me a favor and send him in the right direction. Thx you.

[EXO]

*points to Robotech.com*

[Ghadrack]

Well, I used to recommend Lebhead's site, it had a nice primer on Robotech versus Macross, and the HG vs. Big West debacle, but his site seems to have gone on to web-heaven.

There is always the HG licensing debate thread, there is good information there, but you have to wade through a lot of junk This Thread

[Agent-GHQ]

Thanks Ghadrack! I'll now battle my way for the answers.

[sketchley]

I'll try and answer your questions. My knowledge is a bit limited, so if any of you readers with greater knowledge can correct any errors in the following, it'd be greatly appreciated.

1. Do they both own Macross?

Yes and no. Big West owns Macross in general, and the animation of SDF Macross, as well as DYRL. To get SDF Macross finished, and finished on schedule, the related products (character goods, models, toys, etc.) rights were sold to Tatsunoko Studios.

2. Do they have equal rights on Macross?

No.

3. What are the histories between the two in the establishment of Macross?

See answer to 1 and 4.

4. What are their roles with Macross?

I know nothing on Big West. I am of the suspicion that it is a holding company or they purchased Studio Nue - which is the company that Macross originated out of, and continues to create new Macross projects. Tatsunoko Studios is (was?) an animation company that was originally contracted to produce animation for SDF Macross.

5. Does one own Macross T.V. while the other own Macross D.Y.R.L? If so, which owns what?

Big West owns both. Tatsunoko Studio owns the right for marketing related goods (models, T-shirts, toys, etc.) for the SDF Macross TV series only. (Though, as the designs are similar, and as Big West wasn't very aggressive in stopping them, Tatsunoko went above and beyond the rights that they had purchased and did some crazy things like sell the rights to the international distribution of the SDF Macross series to some American company - rights which they never had in the first place.)

6. How come Yamato doesn't have their logo on the 1/48? All I see is "Made in China 1982 BigWest."

Yamato is a seperate and unrelated company that purchased the (temporary?) rights to produce toys for Macross. They may or may not have recycled the molds produced by another company that may have produced the toys earlier.) The main reason is toy collectors don't want to see the toy covered with company name crap. Though, I suspect their name and logo was plastered on the box that the toy came in.

[Pat Payne]

4. What are their roles with Macross?

I know nothing on Big West.  I am of the suspicion that it is a holding company or they purchased Studio Nue - which is the company that Macross originated out of, and continues to create new Macross projects.  Tatsunoko Studios is (was?) an animation company that was originally contracted to produce animation for SDF Macross.

Big West is an production/sponsorship company (IIRC) that footed the bill (or most of it, as it turned out) of the production of Macross, and because of that, gained many of the subsidiary rights to the series (barring the legal fart-up). They've been involved in other shows including Orguss, Captain Tylor and others -- their name turns up now and then. They don't animate or write stories - they cut checks, which is just as important, for as Cicero might have said: "The sinews of animation is an unlimited purse."

Tatsunoko is on life support right now, as they were bought last year by TAKARA Toys (the fine people that brought you Transformers) and it's seemed that TAKARA is more interested in raiding Tatsunoko's back catalogue for toy licenses, although they may also fund new projects -- but you can be they'll all have highly merchandisable toy lines behind them. Tatsunoko does (or did) animate, both through the main studio (Tatsunoko Pro) as well as "farm-team" studios such as (the maligned) StarPro and AnimeFriend. Even if they let Macross go, they would have had a place in anime history -- Tat was very well known for Speed Racer, Gatchaman and Tekkaman long before Macross was ever concieved.

5. Does one own Macross T.V. while the other own Macross D.Y.R.L? If so, which   owns what?

Big West owns both.  Tatsunoko Studio owns the right for marketing related goods (models, T-shirts, toys, etc.) for the SDF Macross TV series only.  (Though, as the designs are similar, and as Big West wasn't very aggressive in stopping them, Tatsunoko went above and beyond the rights that they had purchased and did some crazy things like sell the rights to the international distribution of the SDF Macross series to some American company - rights which they never had in the first place.)

Yes and no. According to the recent legal modus vivendi, it's implicitly agreed (if very grudgingly) that Tatsunoko and HG, through getting there "fustest with the mostest" that at this moment they have de facto rights to the TV series only outside of Japan. HG did protest about Macross Plus and Macross 2 -- well after the fact and were told, in effect, to pound sand. the rights in Japan all reside with Big West, as well as with Studio Nue, although for reasons that are (I'MNAL) unfathomable to me, truncated to just Big West on a number of copyright notices. This may change if the lawsuits continue to work their way through the Japanese legal system.

The thing is witht he movie, Tatsunoko somehow elbowed their way into that as well, and so may feel that it qualifies as one of the "derivatives" in the "over a barrel" agreement they executed with Big West a few days before the TV series premiered.

6. How come Yamato doesn't have their logo on the 1/48? All I see is "Made in China 1982 BigWest."

Yamato is a seperate and unrelated company that purchased the (temporary?) rights to produce toys for Macross. (They may or may not have recycled the molds produced by another company that may have produced the toys earlier.)

From all indications, the 1/60 and 1/48 Valks are completely newly-engineered designs.

The main reason is toy collectors don't want to see the toy covered with company name crap.  Though, I suspect their name and logo was plastered on the box that the toy came in. 

417309[/snapback]

I'm not sure it's that. I don't know about other toy collectors, but to me a copyright notice unobtrusively on the bottom of a wing is not the end of the world. It may have been that Yamato felt no need to assert their own copyright on the toy direct for any number f reasons:

1. The toys (particularly the 1/48) are so mechanically complex that it may be somewhat bootleg-resistant, and so Yamato took a calculated risk

2. Japanese copyright law is a bit more lax than US law (which usually demands a copyright notice of some sort) and so the people at Yamato may have seen it as a bit of superfluous tooling that they could dispense with.

3. They plum forgot, and decided that now was not the time to start adding it onto the molds.

Edited July 19, 2006 by Pat Payne

[Agent-GHQ]

Thanks a million Sketchy and Pat Payne! Now I feel more confident talking about Macross to those who do not know Macross.

Edited July 19, 2006 by Agent-GHQ

[Ginrai]

Tatsunoko didn't "somehow strongarm their way" into DYRL rights. Like the original SDF Macross TV show, Tatsunoko helped bankroll the production. As part of the deal, they got international distribution and merchandising rights. The argument is over whether it extends beyond that.

[Roy Focker]

Good Case Closed.