The Newbie and Short Questions thread

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

It does, thanks, but I was hoping for something a bit higher resolution, or more focused on the heads in particular, preferably from different angles. Maybe design sketches, the Master File, or something. I'd check the animation again but they rarely went into battroid mode anyway, and whenever they did usually the only one to get a good shot of its face was the J. Oh well. I got what I needed, thanks again.

There's a good set of views in the GERWALK and Battroid portion of the VF-31 Master File, though I'm afraid my scanner's busted again so I'm kinda SOL unless a cell phone picture will suffice...

[no3Ljm]

2 hours ago, kajnrig said:

It does, thanks, but I was hoping for something a bit higher resolution, or more focused on the heads in particular, preferably from different angles. Maybe design sketches, the Master File, or something. I'd check the animation again but they rarely went into battroid mode anyway, and whenever they did usually the only one to get a good shot of its face was the J. Oh well. I got what I needed, thanks again.

JVMacross posted this on the Macross Master File thread. Hope that helps.  

 

[no3Ljm]

What kind of VF-1J variant was featured in this SDF Macross Promotional Poster? I'm just curious as to what was featured on its backpack. Thanks!

 

[jenius]

I can do it after all the toys are released but that won't be much help. 

[Scream Man]

Hey did the Knights in Delta have callsigns? Knight One, Knight Two etc? I dont think they did, but I may be remembering wrong.

[jvmacross]

On 6/8/2017 at 10:57 PM, no3Ljm said:

What kind of VF-1J variant was featured in this SDF Macross Promotional Poster? I'm just curious as to what was featured on its backpack. Thanks!

 

 

Just Kawamori throwing out some ideas before everything that actually made it onto the show was finalized...if anything it looks to me an idea that eventually was adapted for the Tomahawk....

 

Here is another example of early concept Valkyrie "add-ons".....

 

...which then was likely adapted here....

[no3Ljm]

On 6/10/2017 at 7:24 AM, Scream Man said:

Hey did the Knights in Delta have callsigns? Knight One, Knight Two etc? I dont think they did, but I may be remembering wrong.

I don't remember they have. Only Keith's as White Knight is what I remember.

On 6/10/2017 at 9:07 AM, jvmacross said:

Just Kawamori throwing out some ideas before everything that actually made it onto the show was finalized...if anything it looks to me an idea that eventually was adapted for the Tomahawk....

Here is another example of early concept Valkyrie "add-ons".....

Thanks JVM! I like that Gerwalk with the missile pods.

 

[Seto Kaiba]

On 6/10/2017 at 10:24 AM, Scream Man said:

Hey did the Knights in Delta have callsigns? Knight One, Knight Two etc? I dont think they did, but I may be remembering wrong.

None were used in the series... I don't recall if the Aerial Knights trainees in the gaiden manga used them for their Sv-154 Svards.  They always just refer to each other by name, and it seems only Keith and Hermann rate any kind of honorific (Keith-sama and Master Hermann respectively).

Keith's title of "White Knight of Darwent" gets bandied about a fair bit, but it's not used like a callsign... it's a non-hereditary title passed down to each top ace of the Aerial Knights.  (Since many of the Aerial Knights are nobles, but noble blood apparently isn't a requirement to join, I wonder if the title could pass to a non-noble like one of the Jussila twins?)

Edited June 12, 2017 by Seto Kaiba

[Scream Man]

Cheers fellas. 

[kajnrig]

Only tangentially related to Macross, but an item I'm having shipped by SAL just left Japan - the Figuarts Zero Mirage figure. The tracking page lists it has having left "TOKYO INT V BAG 2". I've never heard of that before; usually I see the name of the airport. Anyone seen that before and/or can clarify what it means? I have my guesses, but I figured I'd ask. Thanks.

[Seto Kaiba]

2 hours ago, kajnrig said:

Only tangentially related to Macross, but an item I'm having shipped by SAL just left Japan - the Figuarts Zero Mirage figure. The tracking page lists it has having left "TOKYO INT V BAG 2". I've never heard of that before; usually I see the name of the airport. Anyone seen that before and/or can clarify what it means? I have my guesses, but I figured I'd ask. Thanks.

Yeah, I've had a few similar statuses show up on tracking for packages from Japan at my day job.

"TOKYO INT V BAG 2" is an internal postal code for one of the international mail handling centers which process SAL and EMS packages, serving Tokyo Haneda international airport.

[kajnrig]

So from this post on there's a bit of questioning on fold quartz (in the FSW VF-31s) vs fold carbon (in the -31As). Anyone have any insight on the differences?

[Seto Kaiba]

From the thread where the question was originally asked:
 

1 minute ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Sure thing.

Fold carbon is the synthetic crystalline material that is the heart of pretty much any device that operates on super dimension spatial physics like thermonuclear reaction power systems, all forms of fold technology (fold communications, cross-dimensional/fold wave radar, fold systems, etc.), heavy quantum beam weapons, and reaction warheads.  Its main use is that it produces the impossibly high-mass dimension-straddling exotic matter known as heavy quantum when energized.  Heavy quantum's impossible mass produces intense gravity, so much so that if left alone it'll collapse on itself and fuse.  That gravity, properly contained, is used to provide compression and containment of fuel in OTM thermonuclear reactors, to manipulate the fabric of space-time for gravity control and space fold jumps, and its tendency to collapse on itself and fuse is exploited as the mechanism by which most beam weapons in Macross work by collecting a big chunk of heavy quantum and corralling the resulting fusion reaction into a beam (most notably the "main gun" systems, but the little turrets work the same way).

Otherwise, it does all the same stuff fold quartz does (receiving, transmitting, amplifying fold waves) but less well... fold quartz is basically super-high purity fold carbon that humanity isn't able to synthesize (yet, but the Vajra and Protoculture can/could) that produces a better, even more potent form of heavy quantum and thus tends to improve any super dimension-based device when substituted for fold carbon (e.g. fold systems, beam weapons, etc.).

[Scream Man]

Whats the heat transfer like from the exhuast on a Valk?

I ask because in Battroid and Gerwalk, we have seen instances of biological creatures very close to the exhausts and never suffer burns, so I wondered if there was an artifact of the overtechnology process that caused this? Or am i just thinking about it way to much?

[frothymug]

Yeah, I'd chalk this up to overthinking. Or actually, you noticed a bit of an oversight by the animators. The exhaust should be supersonic, which means that the total temperature will be extremely high. 

[Seto Kaiba]

7 hours ago, Scream Man said:

Whats the heat transfer like from the exhuast on a Valk?

I ask because in Battroid and Gerwalk, we have seen instances of biological creatures very close to the exhausts and never suffer burns, so I wondered if there was an artifact of the overtechnology process that caused this? Or am i just thinking about it way to much?

 

33 minutes ago, frothymug said:

Yeah, I'd chalk this up to overthinking. Or actually, you noticed a bit of an oversight by the animators. The exhaust should be supersonic, which means that the total temperature will be extremely high. 

Nothing I'm aware of... the interior of the engine is protected somewhat by the reactor's GIC system containing the reaction plasma, and the thermoelectrics in the engine converting some of the heat into electrical energy, but the exhaust velocity is still EXTREMELY high.  10km/s on the VF-1.  

Reasonably, standing near the exhaust stream of an actively running engine should be a manifestly unhealthy thing to do.

 

[Scream Man]

Eh, I figured. Just curious  

[anime52k8]

On 6/12/2017 at 10:05 AM, Seto Kaiba said:

None were used in the series... I don't recall if the Aerial Knights trainees in the gaiden manga used them for their Sv-154 Svards.  They always just refer to each other by name, and it seems only Keith and Hermann rate any kind of honorific (Keith-sama and Master Hermann respectively).

Keith's title of "White Knight of Darwent" gets bandied about a fair bit, but it's not used like a callsign... it's a non-hereditary title passed down to each top ace of the Aerial Knights.  (Since many of the Aerial Knights are nobles, but noble blood apparently isn't a requirement to join, I wonder if the title could pass to a non-noble like one of the Jussila twins?)

So does this Manga actually have images of the SV-154?

[Sildani]

What was the purpose of the YF-29's super parts? More missiles, more propellant I get, but what did those harpoon looking things do?

[Seto Kaiba]

On 7/9/2017 at 0:16 AM, anime52k8 said:

So does this Manga actually have images of the SV-154?

It does, albeit nothing particularly detailed or well-drawn.  The focus is principally on character drama, so the few times we see a Svard it's either from inside or flying overhead at a decent altitude.  We do, however, get an introduction to the unnamed White Knight of Darwent whom Arad shows a picture of in his Ep5 briefing, who died in Windermere's war of independence and cleared the way for Keith to take the title.

 

 

1 hour ago, Sildani said:

What was the purpose of the YF-29's super parts? More missiles, more propellant I get, but what did those harpoon looking things do?

... there was a lot of comedic potential in smartarse replies to this one, but I'm going to give it a miss because probably ninety percent are in screamingly poor taste. 

The correct, strictly un-funny answer is that they're fold wave projectors.  They are, in practical terms, a pair of high-powered fold wave amplifiers intended to facilitate communication and peace with the Vajra through the usual Minmay approach of making the enemy LISTEN TO [THEIR] SONG.  (In this case, by projecting said song "loud" enough for the Vajra to hear it and understand.)  The large fold quartz fittings installed on either side of the airframe behind the cockpit on the YF-29, YF-29B, YF-30, and VF-31改 Siegfried are there for the same reason, as fold [wave/song] amplifiers.

 

EDIT: Before someone asks, I flat-out refuse to call the Siegfried just "VF-31".  It's not the production model, and really isn't a factory-done custom job like the VF-11MAXL, so it properly ought to be  VF-31改.

Edited July 12, 2017 by Seto Kaiba

[Sildani]

Is that the kanji for "Kai"?

Also, please tell me if I have the following correct:

VF-25 built, has Super Parts. 

VF-27 built, equivalent to Super 25. 

YF-29 built in response to 27. 

27 gets Super parts in response to 29. 

29 gets Super parts in response to Super 27?

25 gets Tornado parts because... profit?

Just how much fold wave projecting did they have to do?! The 29 already had 1,000 carat fold quartz pieces, the harpoons had to have doubled that... kinda like taking a gold bar and deciding give it platinum plating, no?

Edited July 12, 2017 by Sildani

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, Sildani said:

Is that the kanji for "Kai"?

Yes, using the On'yomi reading of the kanji it comes out as "Kai".

(改 is often mistaken for meaning "Custom", it's actually more along the lines of "Revision".  If you work in an office that likes trendy BS, this is the first kanji in "Kaizen", the other one being 善.)

 

1 hour ago, Sildani said:

Just how much fold wave projecting did they have to do?! The 29 already had 1,000 carat fold quartz pieces, the harpoons had to have doubled that... kinda like taking a gold bar and deciding give it platinum plating, no?

Part of me really wants to make a joke about how there isn't a therapist's couch in the world big enough for a VF that's doing that much projecting...

Still, the goal is presumably to allow for either a more targeted and direct application of fold song into specific groups of enemies, or to extend the effective range of a fold song by acting like a repeater.  (This isn't necessarily mutually exclusive either.)

With respect to cost, yeah... the YF-29 Durandal was a bank-breaker.  That's why the Macross Frontier fleet only built the one, and even then had to rush it and reuse VF-25 parts in some areas.  Fold quartz was quite expensive, and still is to a large extent, because there are very few ways to get your hands on the stuff in any usable quantity or purity apart from hunting a very large, very heavily armed Vajra for its "brain".  Never mind that it's illegal, it's a distinctly unhealthy thing to do if you intend to stay alive for very long, which is why planets with the stuff in reasonably large quantities (e.g. the former Vajra planet, Uroboros, Windermere IV) would be the richest planets in the galaxy if not for the ban on trading in the stuff.  The YF-29 was made possible by picking over corpses of the larger Vajra forms during the war, and the YF-30 by the deposits of the stuff the Protoculture left behind in ruins.  I'd assume that the VF-31改 used fold quartz from the New UN Gov't-controlled mines on Windermere IV from before the first war.  Either way, the YF-29 takes the cake in that it has no less than six large chunks of high-purity fold quartz (four in the fold wave system, two in the fold wave amp), the canopy was coated with granulated fold quartz, and the Super Packs had some smaller but still substantial chunks of the stuff.  Small wonder it was too expensive to produce in numbers.

 

 

1 hour ago, Sildani said:

Also, please tell me if I have the following correct:

VF-25 built, has Super Parts. 

VF-27 built, equivalent to Super 25. 

YF-29 built in response to 27. 

27 gets Super parts in response to 29. 

29 gets Super parts in response to Super 27?

25 gets Tornado parts because... profit?

The order of developments is... complicated, and it's been refined by several different sources including Macross R and Great Mechanics DX.

The logical place to start the genealogy of the 5th Generation Variable Fighter is with the program inception for the original YF-24 prototype, an unseen and allegedly ugly plane that had the uninspiring nickname of "The Camel" because of the hump made by its prototype ISC.  From that, the YF-24 Evolution prototype was developed in the 2050's.  From there, we get to branches in the design family tree:

Trunk:

YF-24 → YF-24 Evolution

Evolution Branch:

YF-24 Evolution → Production Design Frozen (2057) → VF-24 Evolution

 

From there, we get to what Master File refers to as Project Triangler, a joint development program between at least two (three in MF) emigrant fleets to develop a 5th Generation VF based on the redacted YF-24 Evolution prototype specs that were transmitted by the New UN Government to all member fleets and worlds.

 

Messiah Branch:

YF-24 Evolution → Project Triangler launched → YF-25 Prophecy → Paladin Pack → Production Design Frozen (2058) → VF-25 Messiah (LRIP type Block 0/1) → Super and Armored Packs

Olympia Branch:

YF-24 Evolution → Project Triangler launched → YF-26 → Canceled 

Lucifer Branch:

YF-24 Evolution → Project Triangler launched → YF-27 → Development data for YF-29 covertly obtained through L.A.I. → VF-27 Lucifer (undisclosed production model) → Super Pack

Galaxy Branch: (Alleged/Speculative in-universe, may have been a smokescreen for production VF-27 or just an unfounded rumor)

YF-24 Evolution → Project Triangler launched → YF-27 → Development data for YF-29 covertly obtained through L.A.I. → YF-28 (alleged) → ? → Profit

Durandal Branch: 

YF-24 Evolution → Project Triangler launched → YF-29 development type (parallel with Y/VF-25) → Tornado Pack (for VF-25) → YF-29 Durandal (Alto) → "Holy sh*t that's expensive!" → Super Pack because why not?

Percival Branch: 

YF-29 Durandal (Alto) → Spec shared to New UN Gov't → Shinsei head office refinement → YF-29B Percival

Chronos Branch:

YF-24 Evolution & YF-29 Durandal (Alto) → Richard Bilra's obsession with fold faults → YF-30 → a few crashes and one borrowed YF-25 airframe control AI later → YF-30 Chronos

 

The YF-30 Chronos, of course, because its own new starting point for the Brisingr Alliance's next gen VF thanks to a partnership between their local Shinsei Industry and LAI offices and two other companies: Bharat and Hiotori.  The partnership marketed itself as Surya Aerospace.

 

Kairos Branch:

YF-30 Chronos → Spec shared to New UN Gov't → Shinsei head office refinement → YF-30B Chronos (maybe) → Simplification by Surya Aerospace → YF-31 → Production Design Frozen (2067) → VF-31 Kairos

Siegfried Branch:

YF-30B Chronos (maybe) → Simplification by Surya Aerospace → YF-31 → Production Design Frozen (2067) → VF-31 Kairos → Xaos Valkyrie Works customization → VF-31改 Siegfried

 

Then there's these total smegheads...

 

Draken III Branch:

Sv-50 → Sv-51 → Sv-52 (in theory) → UN Wars end → We're only in it for the money! → VF-4 Lightning III → General Galaxy founded → SV Works founded → SHENANIGANS! for like three fighter generations → Sv-154 Svard → SV Works sold to Epsilon → Sv-262 Draken III → "Maybe selling weapons to a genocidal madman wasn't such a good idea"

 

 

If you're still with me after all that, the gist of it is that the YF-25, YF-27, YF-29, and YF-26 (but only if you trust Master File) were developed side-by-side as parallel programs.  YF-27 got ahead by using stolen development data from the YF-29 and beat the others into production, the VF-25 was the first to go officially into production, YF-26 got canned (maybe), and YF-29 turned out to be too expensive to produce.  The VF-25's Tornado Pack was used to test hardware and flight control for the YF-29.  The YF-29's Super Pack was developed because of the Vajra in the hopes of maybe finding a nonlethal alternative but carrying enough kaboom to make it out if it didn't work.  The VF-27's may have been a response to the YF-29 nearing completion to help make up the difference in performance, but no definitive reason has been given that I'm aware of.

[kajnrig]

Is Myung "Korean," insofar as one can have a nationality in the post-SDFM world? I was writing a story where people pronounce the word "Hmoob" (or "Hmong," if written in English) as "Myung," and googling turns up that it's a fairly common Korean family and first name.

[Seto Kaiba]

12 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

Is Myung "Korean," insofar as one can have a nationality in the post-SDFM world? I was writing a story where people pronounce the word "Hmoob" (or "Hmong," if written in English) as "Myung," and googling turns up that it's a fairly common Korean family and first name.

According to her published bio, Myung is part-Chinese and part-Caucasian (of no specified variety).

[anime52k8]

5 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

It does, albeit nothing particularly detailed or well-drawn.  The focus is principally on character drama, so the few times we see a Svard it's either from inside or flying overhead at a decent altitude.  We do, however, get an introduction to the unnamed White Knight of Darwent whom Arad shows a picture of in his Ep5 briefing, who died in Windermere's war of independence and cleared the way for Keith to take the title.

 

how disappointing. I want battroid/gerwalk pics and at least one set of super scribble-y transformation steps.

[kajnrig]

26 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

According to her published bio, Myung is part-Chinese and part-Caucasian (of no specified variety).

Ah, good to know. Thanks. I've never known of a Chinese person named Myung... but then again, I've also never heard of anyone Korean being named Myung, either.

[Seto Kaiba]

10 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

Ah, good to know. Thanks. I've never known of a Chinese person named Myung... but then again, I've also never heard of anyone Korean being named Myung, either.

To be fair, Macross Plus had some rather questionable choices in the transliteration of the character names into the Latin alphabet.  

The most frequently cited incorrect romanization is that Dr. Jan Neumann, whose given name is improperly transliterated as Yang.  It's actually the same mistake in her case, there's no グ in her name like there ought to be if her name was "Myung".  It should be something along the lines of Miyun Fan Lon.  (I don't speak any Mandarin, though, and none of our China branch folks are around for me to pick their brains at time of writing.)

[Sildani]

Thanks Seto. What's the armament of the Tornado pack then, besides the two bloody great guns and corn cobs of micro-missiles? It looks like it has three micro-missile launchers on each wing (black patches on the leading edge). 

As for the Super parts for the 29, looks like the only armament it added were more micro-missiles, is this correct?

Edited July 13, 2017 by Sildani

[Seto Kaiba]

10 hours ago, Sildani said:

Thanks Seto. What's the armament of the Tornado pack then, besides the two bloody great guns and corn cobs of micro-missiles? It looks like it has three micro-missile launchers on each wing (black patches on the leading edge). 

... they do look a bit like corn cobs, don't they?

Without the addition of the large LLM-03A micro-missile pods, the TW1 Tornado Pack's armament is relatively light compared to the other FAST Pack options the VF-25 has.  It's got the big damn TW1-HPC/M25 twin heavy quantum beam cannon turret, eight BLM-02S micro-missile launcher systems in the wing body (six dorsal, two ventral), and two BLM-02S launchers on the conformal fuel slush tanks mounted on its legs/engine nacelles.  All told, rather a less impressively missile-spammy affair than the Super Pack or Armored Pack, but scary all the same given that it can be used in atmosphere relatively unhindered.  The weird bit is that the TW1-HPC/M25 heavy quantum beam cannon is indicated to essentially be completely independent of the Valkyrie, with its own dedicated thermonuclear reactor, condenser, and coolant loop, an unusual break from previous designs where the gun was either powered externally using generator output from the VF's compact thermonuclear reactors (e.g. VF-1 Strike Pack, VF-2SS Super Armed Pack) or running off a battery or capacitor built into the pack that may or may not use a connection to the VF's power system to continuously recharge (e.g. VF-11 Full Armor, VF-25 Armored Pack, VFMF VF-25 Strike Pack).  Apparently this led to the TW1-HPC/M25 having an aggressively low continuous operating time of less than five seconds at maximum output and a theoretical maximum of just 5 minutes, though it can be converted to a MDE beam weapon which dramatically increases the stopping power.

 

10 hours ago, Sildani said:

As for the Super parts for the 29, looks like the only armament it added were more micro-missiles, is this correct?

Yeah, it was a pretty minimal set of upgrades focused mainly on improving the craft's existing fold wave functions, since it already had a pretty excessive built-in armament of a hundred micro-missiles and MDE beam cannon turret.  The only actual fixed parts of the Super Pack are a bolt-on energy conversion armor module for the shield and the wingtip pods containing fold wave projectors and micro-missiles.  The rest is all fuel tanks and disposable rockets for space use.

[kajnrig]

On 7/7/2017 at 6:15 AM, Scream Man said:

Whats the heat transfer like from the exhuast on a Valk?

I ask because in Battroid and Gerwalk, we have seen instances of biological creatures very close to the exhausts and never suffer burns, so I wondered if there was an artifact of the overtechnology process that caused this? Or am i just thinking about it way to much?

I feel like this bit of news, while unfortunate, is topical.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/woman-dies-after-jet-engine-air-blast/ar-BBEkmRB

21 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

All told, rather a less impressively missile-spammy affair than the Super Pack or Armored Pack, but scary all the same given that it can be used in atmosphere relatively unhindered.

Speaking of atmospheric, Frontier always makes a point of showing the VF-25 eject its Super parts before entering atmosphere, but Ozma never does with his Armored Valk. Is this just him brute-forcing his way around in atmosphere, or is the Armor Pack designed to be aerodynamic? (Certainly doesn't look like it...)

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

Speaking of atmospheric, Frontier always makes a point of showing the VF-25 eject its Super parts before entering atmosphere, but Ozma never does with his Armored Valk. Is this just him brute-forcing his way around in atmosphere, or is the Armor Pack designed to be aerodynamic? (Certainly doesn't look like it...)

Apart from the bolt-on armor affixed to the anti-projectile shield and the armored covers for the intakes, the VF-25's Super Pack doesn't really offer any kind of tangible improvement to the VF's defensive ability.  The VF-25's Armored Pack, however, offers something on the order of a 4x improvement thanks to its ASWAG advanced energy conversion armor.  I think that is the key difference behind the decision to purge the Super Pack before entering atmospheric flight and Ozma's habit of retaining the Armored Pack.  It's definitely not intended for flight, but the Armored Pack can brute force itself around in a limited fashion (more or less entirely in GERWALK) to be a passable heavy ground unit.

[anime52k8]

On 7/7/2017 at 4:15 AM, Scream Man said:

Whats the heat transfer like from the exhuast on a Valk?

I ask because in Battroid and Gerwalk, we have seen instances of biological creatures very close to the exhausts and never suffer burns, so I wondered if there was an artifact of the overtechnology process that caused this? Or am i just thinking about it way to much?

 

well, there was that one time in the first episode of SDFM where hikaru killed a studio Nue employee with the jet exhaust of his VF-1D.

[TehPW]

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=58142.msg1337884#msg1337884

this question is loaded with nuclear waste: handle with care. Why does the current holders of the Macross IP in Japan refuse to attack the Company-only-known-for-realistate? Do they really think its not worth it (or is there some kind of dishonor/stain culturally)? Reading the topic has been informative to me (and law knowledge/interest is as far from my personal interests as possible, normally) but it vexes me as my love affair with stompy robots suffers once again... if this isn't supposed to be here, apologies.

[sketchley]

2 hours ago, TehPW said:

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=58142.msg1337884#msg1337884

this question is loaded with nuclear waste: handle with care. Why does the current holders of the Macross IP in Japan refuse to attack the Company-only-known-for-realistate? Do they really think its not worth it (or is there some kind of dishonor/stain culturally)? Reading the topic has been informative to me (and law knowledge/interest is as far from my personal interests as possible, normally) but it vexes me as my love affair with stompy robots suffers once again... if this isn't supposed to be here, apologies.

Not going to the site, but the short form of the answer is:  Big West did.  They went to trial (in Japan), and they lost the rights to the footage (not the designs) to Tatsunoko - who sold them to that real estate company.

There are, of course, longer and more detailed answers to that already on the boards.  I encourage you to look them up.

[Seto Kaiba]

6 hours ago, TehPW said:

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=58142.msg1337884#msg1337884

this question is loaded with nuclear waste: handle with care. Why does the current holders of the Macross IP in Japan refuse to attack the Company-only-known-for-realistate? Do they really think its not worth it (or is there some kind of dishonor/stain culturally)? Reading the topic has been informative to me (and law knowledge/interest is as far from my personal interests as possible, normally) but it vexes me as my love affair with stompy robots suffers once again... if this isn't supposed to be here, apologies.

The short version of what would otherwise be a painfully long and tedious explanation is:

"Because You-Know-Who hasn't infringed on Big West's rights (yet)."

The-Company-That-Most-Not-Be-Named has, under a license agreement with Tatsunoko, an exclusive license to distribute the animation of the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross series and merchandise for same outside the Japanese domestic market.  Tatsunoko obtained that particular set of rights from Big West as compensation for helping bankroll production of the series' animation back in '82.  All this nonsense in the courts about BattleTech and MechWarrior's Unseen concerns international merchandising rights owned by Tatsunoko thanks to the original production contracts mentioned previously.

FASA did a very dumb and lazy thing when they were creating BattleTech, in that they went to a model kit distributor named Twentieth Century Imports (TCI) and tried to buy the rights to a bunch of box art from Macross, Dougram, and Crusher Joe kits as a shortcut for designing robots for their game.  TCI didn't have any legal authority to let them use that art, or perhaps misunderstood their intentions as wanting to publish an illustrated catalog or something, but FASA claimed they were given permission to use the art and went ahead.  Naturally, when their game got to market You-Know-Who got understandably annoyed because FASA was illegally making merchandise using designs from the Macross TV series in the US in violation of their exclusive license.  You-Know-Who sued, and FASA settled out of court when it became clear they were 31 different flavors of F****D, and as part of that settlement agreed to never again use those designs, which became "The Unseen".  Skip a little down the timeline and they sold the brand off to Catalyst Game Labs, who they apparently forgot to tell about this confidential settlement.  A very ill-advised attempt to bring back "The Unseen" later, and You-Know-Who's lawyers were on the horn threatening lawsuits.  Catalyst's own lawyers reviewed the previously-confidential settlement, Catalyst apologized publicly for their gaffe, and life went on.

BattleTech/MechWarrior and Transformers get a legal threat or actual lawsuit from You-Know-Who at least once every few years whenever a product they put out is felt by You-Know-Who to look too reminiscent of the SDF Macross designs they have the merchandising rights for.  It mostly never goes anywhere, because it's either obviously spurious or just You-Know-Who flexing nuts to remind people they still exist.

Sometimes when they do this, like with FASA, they're actually in the right.  This time, seeing what they're suing over, it's pretty damn spurious and unlikely to end in their favor.  I suspect You-Know-Who is doing this to show Sony their CONSTANT VIGILANCE regarding their brand.

 

(No word yet on if their vice president of marketing has created a horcrux or not...)

 

 

4 hours ago, sketchley said:

Not going to the site, but the short form of the answer is:  Big West did.  They went to trial (in Japan), and they lost the rights to the footage (not the designs) to Tatsunoko - who sold them to that real estate company.

There are, of course, longer and more detailed answers to that already on the boards.  I encourage you to look them up.

Not quite.

Big West didn't lose the rights in court, they gave the international distribution/merchandising rights to Tatsunoko as payment for their help in animating the series back in 1982.  The courts merely upheld the original contract between them when You-Know-Who goofed and forced the two companies to review their rights in court in the early 2000s.  (The only new wrinkle to come out of that was that Tatsunoko tried to assert they were entitled to a share of the take from sequels because of their role in producing the original, the Tokyo district and appellate courts both said "No" because they were not involved in development... only production.)

Tatsunoko licensed their rights to You-Know-Who... a license we're told will expire in 2022.

Edited July 24, 2017 by Seto Kaiba