HG and Robotech Debates

[renegadeleader1]

I guess you're really that serious, eh?

sometimes, tho, it does help to check authors and publication dates of stuff to avoid inducing facepalm moments...

anyway, back to the RT comedy-thread.

Orson Scott Card was nine years old when Starship Troopers was published... Thats one hell of a child prodigy!!!

[blackconvoy_D01]

When is Harmony Gold going to go bankrupt? I mean, they can't possibly be making money anymore. Maybe we at MW could buy them out and donate the rights back to Big West with the understanding that they have to start marketing and releasing in North America (hey, a man has gotta have a dream).

Really though, how does Harmony Gold still have money?

Do people really buy enough Robotech merchandise to keep them going? I just can't believe it.

I'd want to know how much the Robo-tech franchise is worth. I'd buy it, had I the capital. Fire the entire staff, and start something completely different.

[Bri]

When is Harmony Gold going to go bankrupt? I mean, they can't possibly be making money anymore. Maybe we at MW could buy them out and donate the rights back to Big West with the understanding that they have to start marketing and releasing in North America (hey, a man has gotta have a dream).

Really though, how does Harmony Gold still have money?

Do people really buy enough Robotech merchandise to keep them going? I just can't believe it.

HG is also in real estate and runs a movietheater/event facility, they do not just depend on Robotech or other B-productions they distribute. How much Robotech is worth? Unknown, but it generates enough for HG to retain the Tatsunoko license, trademarks and Yune and co, and fund the staffs convention hopping. Altough the staff may also have to do work for the other parts of the company.

HG going out of business may have limited effect on Macross. The foreign distribution rights of SDFM would just revert to Tatsunoko. What would happen to HG's Macross trademarks (arguably the biggest roadblock preventing international distribution of sequels and merchandise) after a bankruptcy is interesting. I don't know enough about regulations in regard to trademarks to say anything about that.

Edited March 24, 2011 by Bri

[blackconvoy_D01]

HG is also in real estate and runs a movietheater/event facility, they do not just depend on Robotech or other B-productions they distribute. How much Robotech is worth? Unknown, but it generates enough for HG to retain the Tatsunoko license, trademarks and Yune and co, and fund the staffs convention hopping. Altough the staff may also have to do work for the other parts of the company.

HG going out of business may have limited effect on Macross. The foreign distribution rights of SDFM would just revert to Tatsunoko. What would happen to HG's Macross trademarks (arguably the biggest roadblock preventing international distribution of sequels and merchandise) after a bankruptcy is interesting. I don't know enough about regulations in regard to trademarks to say anything about that.

Hypotehcically, if HG went into a certain type of bankruptcy they could retain their lic. on Robo-Tech, Macross, etc. Unless they were so strapped for cash that the would have to forefeit the rights and lics. Now that'd be interesting to see.

[Xx-SKULL-ONE-xX]

Unless they were so strapped for cash that the would have to forefeit the rights and lics. Now that'd be interesting to see.

Could this be arranged? With all the economic troubles one would think they would be well on there way.

[blackconvoy_D01]

Could this be arranged? With all the economic troubles one would think they would be well on there way.

They have to file that form of bankruptcy. Then another co. would have to petition for recievership and pay in order to get whatever is up for grabs, as deemed by the Judge. Licensing, Designs, Rights, Distribution, whatever in intwined with Robo-tech.

Edited March 24, 2011 by blackconvoy_D01

[Xx-SKULL-ONE-xX]

They have to file that form of bankruptcy. Then another co. would have to petition for recievership and pay in order to get whatever is up for grabs, as deemed by the Judge. Licensing, Designs, Rights, Distribution, whatever in intwined with Robo-tech.

We can dream...we can dream...

[Jasonc]

One of us can only hope that we win the Mega lotto, and then buy the franchise and all licenses and rights therein. Damn, at $155 million cash payout, after taxes, you're looking at, at least $80 million. I'd buy it just to get Macross over here. There'd still be money to be made off of that, and I'm sure BW would be willing to work with anyone else, other than HG. I know it's more complicated than that but it's possible.

[treatment]

nothing to dream about.

Bandai's just too chickenshit to do the right thing of finally distributing their Macross-license here in the States.

They just won't challenge HG for the license, trademarks, etc.

They're scared of any litigation coz it'll cost money either way.

Bandai would rather and would vastly prefer to sell you their Gundams and other crapola titles/toys instead.

BigWest can't do poo, either, since they don't have any distribution unit other than their contract with Bandai.

Victor might have some logistics like Bandai, but Victor just care more about the more lucrative music-licensing gig.

Edited March 24, 2011 by treatment

[Jasonc]

nothing to dream about.

Bandai's just too chickenshit to do the right thing of finally distributing their Macross-license here in the States.

They just won't challenge HG for the license, trademarks, etc.

They're scared of any litigation coz it'll cost money either way.

Bandai would rather and would vastly prefer to sell you their Gundams and other crapola titles/toys instead.

BigWest can't do poo, either, since they don't have any distribution unit other than their contract with Bandai.

Victor might have some logistics like Bandai, but Victor just care more about the more lucrative music-licensing gig.

It's not that cut and dry. While we can speculate on reasons why, there's usually more than one reason, or more than one hurdle that each company would need to jump over to get this stuff done. Maybe it's not that they don't want to, maybe they can't? Or, maybe they can, but don't want to put other things at risks, or maybe profit margins would diminish, etc. I've explored options available, and some seem helpful. However, as I, nor anyone here that I know of work for any of said companies, the best thing to do as people in HG's realm of the Robotech/Macross issue is to keep on buying what you like, and let your interest be known and hope that they see a viable market outside Japan.

[Bri]

Bandai's just too chickenshit to do the right thing of finally distributing their Macross-license here in the States.

They just won't challenge HG for the license, trademarks, etc.

They're scared of any litigation coz it'll cost money either way.

Bandai would rather and would vastly prefer to sell you their Gundams and other crapola titles/toys instead.

That is not quite true. Bandai company lawyer Cynthia Nishimoto, on behalf of Big West, appealed against HGs trademark application in 1999. In the end in 2002 the USPTO awarded the trademark to HG based on US trademark regulations.

[blackconvoy_D01]

That is not quite true. Bandai company lawyer Cynthia Nishimoto, on behalf of Big West, appealed against HGs trademark application in 1999. In the end in 2002 the USPTO awarded the trademark to HG based on US trademark regulations.

But if HG goes under, then they loose the TM, if they transfer ownership of Robo-Tech and all lic. Associated with it, then whoever is in recievership will be over those TM's, correct?

[Duke Togo]

So, what's going on here? Anything new? Same old?

I think I've said this before (long, long time ago), but between the internet, p2p, and international shipping, HG's "rights" mean jack squat to Macross fans.

[Bri]

But if HG goes under, then they loose the TM, if they transfer ownership of Robo-Tech and all lic. Associated with it, then whoever is in recievership will be over those TM's, correct?

The TM's can be lost if HG does not actively use them (by not selling products in the applicable TM categories) or if the TM's are not renewed(which should happen for the 5 Macross TMs in the period 2012-2014). In case of bankruptcy and if no third party would buy the TM's, they would be considered abandoned after 3 years of non-usage.

A sale of Robotech is far more complicated as it depends on the nature of the contracts between Tatsunoko and HG. Without the licenses from Tatsunoko for SDFM, Mospeada and SDCSC, Robotech is little more then a logo, a tune, a handfull of character names and a few Tommy Yune character designs. We don't know if HG can sell their licenses without Tats consent, nor do we know what the renewal period of those licenses are. The Macross TM's are very hard to use without acces (read license) to the SDFM worldwide video distribution and merchandise rights which are owned by Tats.

In case anyone wonders about a potential default of Tatsunoko; they are a subsidiary of toy company Takara-Tomy (transformers etc.).

[Seto Kaiba]

So, what's going on here? Anything new? Same old?

Jack squat, to be precise... at least, since a lack of news and blatant jackassery from the idiot brigade on robotech.com is hardly a new development.

I think I've said this before (long, long time ago), but between the internet, p2p, and international shipping, HG's "rights" mean jack squat to Macross fans.

Granted, the Macross fandom enjoys a wide variety of ways to get around Harmony Gold's attempts to keep Macross out of the west, though it still hacks off those of us who'd like to see proper English-language releases of these books and magazines for everyone to enjoy instead of just those of us who can read Japanese.

[treatment]

That is not quite true. Bandai company lawyer Cynthia Nishimoto, on behalf of Big West, appealed against HGs trademark application in 1999. In the end in 2002 the USPTO awarded the trademark to HG based on US trademark regulations.

meh.

If that's their official excuse, then they need better lawyers. There's a bunch of 'em. They prolly already have a lot of better lawyers in-house. They just didn't want to use 'em or go thru with it.

And why only in 1999? II and Plus were out before then. Why not before or since? M-Zero even got a bunch of redesigns to distinguish it from previous Macross-properties, but Bandai just sat on it. They weren't making toys for it, anyway.

Bandai just really didn't care about Macross. They were pushing the Gundam-platform into the US very hard into establishing that. To them, it makes more business sense. They're (still) Japan-centric, and the sad fact is, Macross just ain't that big in Japan compared to their other stuff. Macross was prolly deemed as a nightmare of an investment for them and a viable competition against their Gundam-US stuff. And that's even before any legal fights against HG.

M-Frontier presents an interesting conundrum with Bandai. They've heavily invested on it (media, toys, concerts, etc) and from all indications, is a bonafide commercial hit in Japan. Will that be enough to push Bandai to finally bring a Macross property into the US and challenge the current Macross status quo?

Who knows.

For me, Frontier sucks rotten eggs, but more power to Bandai if they can get that title and its toys here in the States.

Right now, HG sits rather cozy and pretty with the trademark. They don't have to do anything. They most likely can't be sued directly since they're just a sub-licensee, courtesy of Tatsunoko.

At the same time, BigWest is most likely content of not having their properties here in the US at all just to spite HG. We fans still continue to import media and toys despite the horrid exchange-rate, anyway.

Oh, well...

[Zen72]

To break the monotony.....

For Robotech fans that want to remember some good times....

For non-fans that want to say "He likes Robotech and has no qualms about Macross?......WTH??????"

For the cultist keepers of the Holy and Blessed order of "You're either with me and the Robotech fandom or ELSE!" crowd so that they can scream "HE'S A HERETIC/MACROSS PURIST/MACROSS GROUPIE!!!!!!"

Just somethin' to do.....

ROBOTECH EPISODE EXPLOSION TOURNAMENT

We're in Round Two...and the peeps are having fun!

JT/Zen72.....ya know.... that "OTHER" Robotech Podcaster

[Bri]

Jack squat, to be precise... at least, since a lack of news and blatant jackassery from the idiot brigade on robotech.com is hardly a new development.

Granted, the Macross fandom enjoys a wide variety of ways to get around Harmony Gold's attempts to keep Macross out of the west, though it still hacks off those of us who'd like to see proper English-language releases of these books and magazines for everyone to enjoy instead of just those of us who can read Japanese.

Indeed, nothing new on the western front. RT is still as dead as roadkill, and HG still manages to have it's fans in a feeding frenzy over the carcass. But it can't hurt to inject some common sense in these discussions. Especially since a lot of nonsense seems to spill over from rt.com.

I agree on the books, manga and magazines etc. those are really the part where the rights still hurt.

If that's their official excuse, then they need better lawyers. There's a bunch of 'em. They prolly already have a lot of better lawyers in-house. They just didn't want to use 'em or go thru with it.

She is the head of their legal divsion in the US. Also HG's actions are, as far as we can tell, perfectly legal. Better lawyers can't overturn the law.

And why only in 1999? II and Plus were out before then. Why not before or since? M-Zero even got a bunch of redesigns to distinguish it from previous Macross-properties, but Bandai just sat on it. They weren't making toys for it, anyway.

BW tried to get TM's for "Macross Plus" instead of "Macross" in 2000. The attempts were abandoned in 2001, I can only assume they were rejected. I would speculate that any attempt to get TM's for "Macross 7", "Macross Zero" or "Macross Frontier" as separate entities would share the same fate. Bandai's involvement was twofold at the time. They have merchandising licenses for Macross 7 and Bandai Visual is a production comitee member in every Macross production since M-Plus and M-7.

Why HG did not do this before 1999 in reaction to MII and M-Plus is the "no-one minding the store theory": The RT staff had moved to Saban and HG's entertainment section was mostly inactive in the early 90s. That part of HG recovered thanks to the rise of DVD in the late nineties.

Bandai just really didn't care about Macross. They were pushing the Gundam-platform into the US very hard into establishing that. To them, it makes more business sense. They're (still) Japan-centric, and the sad fact is, Macross just ain't that big in Japan compared to their other stuff. Macross was prolly deemed as a nightmare of an investment for them and a viable competition against their Gundam-US stuff. And that's even before any legal fights against HG. M-Frontier presents an interesting conundrum with Bandai. They've heavily invested on it (media, toys, concerts, etc) and from all indications, is a bonafide commercial hit in Japan. Will that be enough to push Bandai to finally bring a Macross property into the US and challenge the current Macross status quo?

Masked Rider, Ben10, Power Rangers and Dragonball are far more important US releases for Bandai than Gundam. Gundam as a toyline pretty much failed in the US on it's own (due to some spectacular mishandeling of the property), even without any legal issues. There is no gurantee Macross would do any better. Macross Frontier is a popular anime, but it caters far to much to otaku tastes to have a chance outside of the anime fandom.

What I find frustrating is that the TM's prevent official translated releases of works like manga such as Macross the First and Macross(light)novels. Even worse, HG has also blocked the French market, the most important manga market outside of Japan, where more obscure titles would have had a chance to be translated. And what does HG offer in exchange? Crappy comics and RT-novels that missed their calling as toiletpaper.

Edited March 25, 2011 by Bri

[treatment]

What's damn funny in all of these crap is that we got Blu-Ray tech now.

Japan and US both are in region-A.

So far, none of the Macross BDs have any english-subs.

Bandai can just add them at minimal or even at no cost at all. There are english-translators/subbers in japan that they can pay peanuts for the subs.

Yet, still no english-subs on Macross BDs.

Most likely none planned for any future Macross-titles yet to be released in japan, either.

They can't use the excuse that HG's got the trademark since it doesn't apply in Japan.

What is up with that?

[sketchley]

What's damn funny in all of these crap is that we got Blu-Ray tech now.

Japan and US both are in region-A.

So far, none of the Macross BDs have any english-subs.

Bandai can just add them at minimal or even at no cost at all. There are english-translators/subbers in japan that they can pay peanuts for the subs.

Uhm, no. Unless if you want mumbo-jumbo speak.*

Until they know that they will get a return on their investment, they won't bother laying down a single yen to get non-Japanese subtitles on their discs (I've even heard that some anime doesn't even have Japanese subtitles! Can't confirm it.)

*One site I just checked has a rate of $0.16 USD per (English) word, 1,000 word minimum; and no indication of rush-fees. On top of that you have to get people to do the programming, timing, and also get the graphic designers to create screens in English for the English-only speakers to interact with. And is there going to be separate packaging - as I highly doubt that DVDs and BDs with no or little English on them will sell very well. More money.

Edited March 25, 2011 by sketchley

[jenius]

I would think the barrier for English subtitles has less to do with the expense of the subtitles and more to do with the distribution of the product. Since Bandai wouldn't be able to distribute the BDs to HG's territory (even if the BDs work in that territory) the incentive to do English subtitles is dramatically reduced. Bandai would only be able to sell these BDs to the same distributors they already do so they don't see a dramatic increase in market. If they could get Macross Frontier into Best Buy you would see an English subtitle version. If you would still have to go through HLJ (or a Japanese DVD/book store) or some similar store then sales aren't going to shift up much.

Edited March 25, 2011 by jenius

[TheLoneWolf]

Most likely, Bandai Visual's video distribution rights only apply to Japan. If they included English subtitles, that would indicate to Big West that they also intend to (indirectly) market their Blu-ray's in North America, which would incur a more expensive licensing fee from Big West.

As for the cost of translations, I've contracted corporate Japanese-to-English translators in the past and can tell you that you'd be looking at roughly $2000 per TV episode. Translation rates vary depending on the source language and verbiage, and Japanese is one of the more expensive languages to translate into English, as opposed to others such as Spanish or French. If you apply that formula to episodic series like Frontier, that's a lot of money to invest. You guys have gotten spoiled by fansubbers doing this work for free.

[Bri]

Most likely, Bandai Visual's video distribution rights only apply to Japan. If they included English subtitles, that would indicate to Big West that they also intend to (indirectly) market their Blu-ray's in North America, which would incur a more expensive licensing fee from Big West.

I doubt that Big West has a stronger voice in the production committee than say Bandai or MBS (the primary broadcaster) who were major financial backers. In that committee decisions on merchandising, distribution, music etc are made up front. I think it's quite safe to assume that Bandai Visual has those rights by default.

The main problem with Japanese editions is the price. A new set of Frontier Blu-rays would cost well over $500. The core anime fanbase in Japan is prepared to pay those prices, the rest of the world isn't, at least up till now. So it hasn't really been profitable to add subs. The only Japanese editions where this happened were BR releases that already had an english DVD version with subs like Haruhi Suzimiya. This might change with Gundam Unicorn as a test case: global release with multiple languages at Japanese price level.(source Bandai annual report 2010). If succesfull (and this seems to be the case) we may see this approach repeated with other very succesful anime. So there is some small hope.

Just an indication of how niche the market truly is: an anime (more exact: late night anime like Frontier) is considered to be profitable if it sells over the minabi line which is 3000 units. To my knowledge Frontier has been the second most succesfull TV anime release on BR so far with an average of 45,000 units per BR (only Bakemonogatari did better). Under normal conditions a series that sells 5000 units is a financial succes, and anything over 20,000 is one of the top titles of a given year.

[treatment]

Uhm, no. Unless if you want mumbo-jumbo speak.*

Until they know that they will get a return on their investment, they won't bother laying down a single yen to get non-Japanese subtitles on their discs (I've even heard that some anime doesn't even have Japanese subtitles! Can't confirm it.)

*One site I just checked has a rate of $0.16 USD per (English) word, 1,000 word minimum; and no indication of rush-fees. On top of that you have to get people to do the programming, timing, and also get the graphic designers to create screens in English for the English-only speakers to interact with. And is there going to be separate packaging - as I highly doubt that DVDs and BDs with no or little English on them will sell very well. More money.

I may have to call bs on the programming/timing/etc/etc. When you have your production-facilities and stuff, those things are insignificant trivialities.

so fwiw, Studio Ghibli's have always had english-subs on their DVD even before the massive influx of money from the Disney-licensing. Iirc, Studio Ghibli doesn't even do any subbing other than the actual dialogues and titles themselves.

They don't even sell nor include much of any merchandising like Bandai does on their titles.

Sure, SG only make movies/ova's, but so does Bandai, too. Has anyone seen an official english-sub on the Frontier-movie?

[Jasonc]

What's damn funny in all of these crap is that we got Blu-Ray tech now.

Japan and US both are in region-A.

So far, none of the Macross BDs have any english-subs.

Bandai can just add them at minimal or even at no cost at all. There are english-translators/subbers in japan that they can pay peanuts for the subs.

Yet, still no english-subs on Macross BDs.

Most likely none planned for any future Macross-titles yet to be released in japan, either.

They can't use the excuse that HG's got the trademark since it doesn't apply in Japan.

What is up with that?

They ARE interested. Trust me on this one, at least from a couple sides of the block.

[treatment]

They ARE interested. Trust me on this one, at least from a couple sides of the block.

Sorry, dude, but no.

it's 2011 already.

They better put something official out based on that interest, or it's just yet-another-shenanigan.

at least BigWest had the balls to have announced Sunward back in the day, even if Sunward was still-born.

Edited March 25, 2011 by treatment

[Bri]

So far, none of the Macross BDs have any english-subs.

Bandai can just add them at minimal or even at no cost at all. There are english-translators/subbers in japan that they can pay peanuts for the subs.

Yet, still no english-subs on Macross BDs.

Most likely none planned for any future Macross-titles yet to be released in japan, either.

They can't use the excuse that HG's got the trademark since it doesn't apply in Japan.

What is up with that?

How many American fans would put down $500, shipping not included, to import a Macross Frontier Blu-Ray set? Compare that to the cost for including the subs in Japan and you have an answer.

so fwiw, Studio Ghibli's have always had english-subs on their DVD even before the massive influx of money from the Disney-licensing. Iirc, Studio Ghibli doesn't even do any subbing other than the actual dialogues and titles themselves.

The Disney-Ghibli distribution deal predates the arival of the first DVDs. Also Ghibli/Disney do a world wide release of the DVD/BRs which means the subs and dub are prepared in advance and are available at the time of the innitial release in Japan. Totally different situation and scale compared to TV anime series.

Edited March 25, 2011 by Bri

[Jasonc]

Sorry, dude, but no.

it's 2011 already.

They better put something official out based on that interest, or it's just yet-another-shenanigan.

at least BigWest had the balls to have announced Sunward back in the day, even if Sunward was still-born.

Well, then if you've actually had meetings with, or talked with some of the people in these companies that make these decisions in regards to subtitles, then you'd know why I posted what I did.

Edited March 26, 2011 by Jasonc

[treatment]

How many American fans would put down $500, shipping not included, to import a Macross Frontier Blu-Ray set? Compare that to the cost for including the subs in Japan and you have an answer.

WTF?

why does it have to be a set?

When Frontier BD were first being produced and released, Bandai could've elected to add english-subs on it.

They didn't.

The Disney-Ghibli distribution deal predates the arival of the first DVDs. Also Ghibli/Disney do a world wide release of the DVD/BRs which means the subs and dub are prepared in advance and are available at the time of the innitial release in Japan. Totally different situation and scale compared to TV anime series.

Seriously? You're going off tangent here. Nobody's talking about any dubs here.

fwiw, I've got a couple of Studio Ghibli dvds imported from Japan when the SG/Disney dvd-titles started appearing in the States. They both have english-subs. They both do not have any english-dubs. They're both not even available in the States. Afaik, one is not even part of the deal with Disney at all.

Additionally, I did specifically mentioned that Bandai do produced movies and ova's, too, like what SG's been doing.

The point is, SG's philosophy seems like they don't mind people importing their titles from japan and accomodate them by at least including english and even french subs. Even if their titles are already available in Europe and the States.

Bandai, on the other hand, just want to sell to their japanese base, so no english-subs at all.

Edited March 26, 2011 by treatment

[treatment]

Well, then if you've actually had meetings with, or talked with some of the people in these companies that make these decisions in regards to subtitles, then you'd know why I posted what I did.

I'm sure many of us will be happy if they can finally distribute the Macross titles with english-subs on 'em on shiny media (dvd and/or bd) for us to purchase.

Until then, however, skepticism will continue.

[Einherjar]

How many American fans would put down $500, shipping not included, to import a Macross Frontier Blu-Ray set? Compare that to the cost for including the subs in Japan and you have an answer.

Didn't HG put out various editions of Robotech (or Robo-tech, or whatever you spell it these days) over the years, VHS, DVD, etc., with various prices up until the Protoculture Collection? And people kept buying them despite having the same 85 episodes on them? And now people are talking/thinking about a Blu-Ray edition to top off the previous ones, and people are again willing to buy it?

Oh yeah, I think there's a significant population who would import, if only to get something different after 25 years for just $500.

Edited March 26, 2011 by Einherjar

[Bri]

WTF?

why does it have to be a set?

When Frontier BD were first being produced and released, Bandai could've elected to add english-subs on it.

Because it's 9 volumes, with 2 to 3 episodes per volume. With a price tag of about $80 per volume.

Why would Bandai Visual add those subs? It cost money to add them, while few foreign fans would be prepared to buy those BR at Japanese prices for anime.

Seriously? You're going off tangent here. Nobody's talking about any dubs here.

You missed the point. The only Japanese editions of anime that get english subs, are the ones that are released in a new version or format. In this situation the Japanese producers can easily aquire the english sub from the existing older US edition. This is what happened to the Kyoto animation season boxes and new blu-ray releases of older movies like Ghibli's and a few others such as Patlabor, Akira and GITS etc. Since the more recent Macross shows have not had a western release, there are no easy to aquire subs for any new Japanese DVD/BR versions.

As I wrote earlier the only exception to my knowlegde is Gundam Unicorn, where Bandai experimented with releasing it at the same time in Japan, Europe and the US with a similar high pricetag.

[Bri]

Didn't HG put out various editions of Robotech (or Robo-tech, or whatever you spell it these days) over the years, VHS, DVD, etc., with various prices up until the Protoculture Collection? And people kept buying them despite having the same 85 episodes on them? And now people are talking/thinking about a Blu-Ray edition to top off the previous ones, and people are again willing to buy it?

Oh yeah, I think there's a significant population who would import, if only to get something different after 25 years for just $500.

I suspect the Robotech fanbase keeps buying the same crap over and over out of some perverted feeling that if they give HG enough money they will *finally* make another sequel that explains what happened to poor old admiral Hunter. It's some kind of SM game.

In case of Macross, torrents and fansubbers provide a free alternative. And I think a lot of Macross fans would rather spend that $500 on merchandise rather then getting the same content on a few discs. Unlike Robotech there is a lot of Macross to spend your money on. I don't say no one would buy the Blu-rays, but really, how many would? A few dozen? Maybe a few hunderd people? Is that enough?

Edited March 26, 2011 by Bri

[sketchley]

I may have to call bs on the programming/timing/etc/etc. When you have your production-facilities and stuff, those things are insignificant trivialities.

You missed the point.

IT COSTS MONEY.

It doesn't matter if they have production-facilities and staff. They still have to pay for it. Even if it's only 10 man-hours worth of work, it's still an extra cost.

[treatment]

Because it's 9 volumes, with 2 to 3 episodes per volume. With a price tag of about $80 per volume.

Why would Bandai Visual add those subs? It cost money to add them, while few foreign fans would be prepared to buy those BR at Japanese prices for anime.

Err, you missed the point.

Bandai was heavily pushing BD back then as their primary media and Frontier was the best title at the right time that had the best chance to really show off the tech that that is capable of including multiple subtitles. Bandai elected not to add subs on it.

Iirc, there were some data that showed Frontier-BD actually had significant import-sales.

You missed the point. The only Japanese editions of anime that get english subs, are the ones that are released in a new version or format.

say what?

:sigh:

So you just don't have any Ghibli R2J-dvd's in your possession, then. Moving on.

In this situation the Japanese producers can easily aquire the english sub from the existing older US edition.

Macross Plus had english-dubs and english-subs when it was first released in the States. I believe there was even an international-version from Japan that had either a dub or subs or both.

When I got my remastered Plus-box, it didn't have any english subs or dubs.

So what are you were saying again?