Robotech Academy - You want a new Robotech series...?

[renegadeleader1]

Alright, I'm going to officially start a new kick starter next month. It's going to be to pay for a high end lawyer, to do the leg work, to kick HG out of the "Macross" world, and back to the only thing they actually own.. which is to the animation, distribution, and merchandising rights of SDFM.

Big West, Nue and Tatsu already battled it out in japan, they own the rights to "Macross", and that HG only owns the rights on SDFM. However HG started sending out C&D's to the other companies that were bringing over M2 and M+, saying they owned the rights to "Macross"... they also trademarked several "Macross" related names here in the US to keep anyone else from doing so.

Essentially HG is a snake of a company, that used false tactics to insinuate that they have these licenses, when they don't. Just like when HG threatened to sue Hasbro for the Jetfire/VF-1J toy.. it was a empty threat. My idea is one of two. Either higher a lawyer to do the leg work to get

and official stance from BW and Nue on the Macross rights for North America.. and Europe since HG also claims they own that as well!

Or get enough money to pay for lawyers to basically... run HG out of legal money.

I'm working on the logisitics of both currently.

If you want to join in, I will need a few admins to help run the KS.

*my Lawyer buddy just gave me a better idea, essentially begin work on a "live action fan made" Macross Plus or 7 adaptation.

Wait for the C&D from HG, and then challenge them, they will actually have to prove it. which means they spend the money to

prove that they own the rights.

The Kickstarter would actually be for the production of the film, with the intent to use the money to fight HG.

Just have to word that carefully so anyone funding knows the money may be switched to legal funds.

YOU. WILL. LOSE. You will lose bad. Your lawyer friend is an idiot for not pointing out the flaws inherent in your whole argument that would lead to a Judge throwing it before it gets anywhere near a trial. Then again maybe he just hears the cha-ching of a retainer fee in the hopes you will hire him.

[Keith]

You guys will see! When I'm mysteriousky watching my Shadow Chronicles rehashed into a single episode that will only ever be released to us donors, you're gonna be so jealous! Of course by jealous, I mean shaking your heads wondering why I'd waste the time & money.

[azrael]

...When Tommy first said it was mainly to gain investor interest, I felt like it was a huge slip-up on his part when I heard it. When Tommy showed the trailer again last year, there Lionsgate reps in the audience, so he could have been playing that up to them? Has this been purposefly planned as vaporware the whole time?

Asking questions here is 100% useless. We do not have the answers for you. These are questions backers should be asking HG's staff on Kickstarter, the RT homepage, Facebook, etc. And they would be silly not to, especially if they put in a pledge.

I propose that anybody that pledges money to this, then gets NOTHING out of it (even after years of waiting) has absolutely zero right to complain/rant/hate about it on this board. Seriously, we're telling you NOW that this is probably a bad idea, and you'll probably never see 1 second of footage, or 1 penny back.

Seriously, I don't want to spend the next 18 months moderating a zillion "HG took my kickstarter money and we didn't get anything" posts...

Mr March already said it--any competent business shouldn't need a kickstarter to fund their own product/IP! Not when they sold a zillion DVDs over the past couple years, yet seem to have nothing to show for it...

I'm just going to lock the thread when I see them, whenever they'll come. They can stay (unless they broke some other rule). But if any user donated to this, didn't ask about what they are donating to, then come here to complain when they feel they got a raw deal, that's not our problem. Their CVs are available if you want to know what they've done. It's like a job interview or a business proposal meeting. You better know what you're getting into before you jump in.

[terry the lone wolf]

What gets me is that for years one of the complaints was there was no new series and now a new series has been announced people are complaining on how it's being funded. Though crowd funding seems to be the way smaller niche projects are being produced..

[skullmilitia]

YOU. WILL. LOSE. You will lose bad. Your lawyer friend is an idiot for not pointing out the flaws inherent in your whole argument that would lead to a Judge throwing it before it gets anywhere near a trial. Then again maybe he just hears the cha-ching of a retainer fee in the hopes you will hire him.

The flaws in my argument? what flaws?

These are public knowledge, Harmony Gold has the Animation and merchandising rights for "SDFM" the series, and absolutely nothing else.

They have trademarked key words in North American to make it impossible for anyone else to bring in certain elements. They further forgerized this by sending Cease and Desist documents to several productions for Macross II, and Macross Plus, even though Harmony Gold DO NOT OWN THEM.

What do you now understand about this situation? They used fear and threat to bully productions that didn't have the legal money to fight back and personally own HG at their own game. This was proven recently by Hasbro, who didn't even respond to HG's request to stop sell the jetfire mold. Hasbro didn't even respond!!! why? because they know HG has nothing to stand on.

Getting a legal agent to respond on HG by getting an actual acknowledgement by Big West and Nue would end HG's rule of stupidity and allow the last 15 years of Macross shows come stateside. Why would you not support that?

Edited July 7, 2014 by skullmilitia

[technoblue]

What gets me is that for years one of the complaints was there was no new series and now a new series has been announced people are complaining on how it's being funded. Though crowd funding seems to be the way smaller niche projects are being produced..

Macross releases have been pretty steady since SDFM, whether in film or in print:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macross

Oh, you mean Robotech releases?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotech

[Old_Nash]

Kind of ironic.....Harmony Gold has killed a few projects over the years........and those people asked for no money from the fans......now Harmony Gold wants money for their own project.....FROM THE FANS.....

Irony....however they WILL make their goal.......I do not doubt that....

And that's where the REAL fun begins.....delays...."we don't knows"....maybe 2016.......

You'll see more than one pissed off donor in the coming year....

HGKILLLIST.jpg

You have the names of the projects?

[Falcon]

Kind of ironic.....Harmony Gold has killed a few projects over the years........and those people asked for no money from the fans......now Harmony Gold wants money for their own project.....FROM THE FANS.....

Irony....however they WILL make their goal.......I do not doubt that....

And that's where the REAL fun begins.....delays...."we don't knows"....maybe 2016.......

You'll see more than one pissed off donor in the coming year....

HGKILLLIST.jpg

Must have missed a few of these "kills". What are the names of the defunct ideas HG have killed in the pic?

[Zen72]

Must have missed a few of these "kills". What are the names of the defunct ideas HG have killed in the pic?

In order of the pic...

Robotech Invasion

Robotech: Project Valkyrie

Robotech: Skull Knights

Robotech: Genesis

[Darkwater]

Asking questions here is 100% useless. We do not have the answers for you.

Wait a sec - this is the INTERNET. Ask a question on a forum and you'll get 100% certain answers, regardless of qualifications of the person posting. INTERNET!

[renegadeleader1]

The flaws in my argument? what flaws?

These are public knowledge, Harmony Gold has the Animation and merchandising rights for "SDFM" the series, and absolutely nothing else.

They have trademarked key words in North American to make it impossible for anyone else to bring in certain elements. They further forgerized this by sending Cease and Desist documents to several productions for Macross II, and Macross Plus, even though Harmony Gold DO NOT OWN THEM.

What do you now understand about this situation? They used fear and threat to bully productions that didn't have the legal money to fight back and personally own HG at their own game. This was proven recently by Hasbro, who didn't even respond to HG's request to stop sell the jetfire mold. Hasbro didn't even respond!!! why? because they know HG has nothing to stand on.

Getting a legal agent to respond on HG by getting an actual acknowledgement by Big West and Nue would end HG's rule of stupidity and allow the last 15 years of Macross shows come stateside. Why would you not support that?

They own the original SDF:M series and they trademarked Macross among other things. Let me put it this way, There is no way Pepsi with its established Mountain Dew brand is going to role over just because you want to release your brand and call it Mountain Dew PLUS, Frontier, II, or 7. You will be laughed out of court.

[Legioss]

The best one on there is Captain.

"Farty McButtlips, stop ****ing around and get back to your veritech, now!"

[Legioss]

They own the original SDF:M series and they trademarked Macross among other things. Let me put it this way, There is no way Pepsi with its established Mountain Dew brand is going to role over just because you want to release your brand and call it Mountain Dew PLUS, Frontier, II, or 7. You will be laughed out of court.

You forgot to mention in your example that Mountain Dew PLUS, Frontier, II, and 7 contain freshly made original Mountain Dew formula, while your Pepsi sells old stale cans left over from when the original creator sold it to them, copies of those cans, and very rarely they make some cheap merchandise for sale with the Mountain Dew logo on it like dorky hats and wallets. They only have second hand knowledge of Mountain Dew just like any other fan.

Harmony Gold has licensed SDF Macross from Tatsunoko until 2021 unless extended further.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/07/23/Transformers.pdf

Edited July 7, 2014 by Legioss

[anime52k8]

I feel like Keith and EXO are the only other ones here who truly appreciate the massive potential for unintentional comedy this project will provide for years to come if this kick starter succeeds.

[JB0]

I feel like Keith and EXO are the only other ones here who truly appreciate the massive potential for unintentional comedy this project will provide for years to come if this kick starter succeeds.

Oh, I appreciate it. I just haven't had anything much to add.

Since I appear to be the only one that saw the title and immediately thought the most Robotech thing they could do was adapt Lazer Tag Academy into Robotech Academy.

[azrael]

Oh, I appreciate it. I just haven't had anything much to add.

+1

[Marzan]

Just found about this. Talk about late to the party :-)

Half a million bucks from the fans to make a Robotech pilot based on an idea that's a quarter of a century old? LOL. I get the feeling that the people at the top level of Harmony Gold were laughing their pants off with this pitch. They must have absolutely no trust in them and then let them go ahead with their fundraising.

I hope one of 2 things happens.

1) They get their money (up to almost 63,000 today) and then we get to, (respectfully and without gloating of course), get to watch half a decade of development hell, production delays, personnel changes and other assorted CF's, until finally we get a pilot episode that will of course not result in a new series.

2) They fall well short of their target and the Argama guy decides to cut costs and puts the whole film/animation division on sale. He then get's a call from Mr. Funimation who makes a deal he can't refuse for the rights HG has on the Macross name overseas.

[Keith]

I feel like Keith and EXO are the only other ones here who truly appreciate the massive potential for unintentional comedy this project will provide for years to come if this kick starter succeeds.

I'd love to see a project greenlight style documentary, chronicling blunder after blunder. That in itself would justify the target budget. Also, pledges should comw with a code to reinstate robotech.com forum accounts, so I can gloat about how I've saved robotech to banky & crew.

[Agent ONE]

In order of the pic...

Robotech Invasion

Robotech: Project Valkyrie

Robotech: Skull Knights

Robotech: Genesis

Don't forget RT the Movie (megazone)

[myk]

I'd love to see a project greenlight style documentary, chronicling blunder after blunder. That in itself would justify the target budget. Also, pledges should comw with a code to reinstate robotech.com forum accounts, so I can gloat about how I've saved robotech to banky & crew.

I'll pledge money to that one; the last comedy I saw was Hot Tub Time Machine...

[Mechapilot77]

as much as i hate HG, i woudln't mind seeing the further adventure of Scott. lol. shadow chronicles was kinda...meh, but not that horrible. i'm kinda thinking "knights of sidonia" might be the new "robotech" for thie gneration if it catches on...watchd the first 4 eppies on netflix...not bad. i do wish there were more different mecha though..the mk17 and mk18 look identical. lol

[TangledThorns]

I'm so torn by this. As much as I'd love to see more Robotech I don't like the idea of Harmony Gold behind it. It'd be like asking George Lucas to direct another Star Wars film, ugh. I am leaning to donate still...

[Agent ONE]

I'm so torn by this. As much as I'd love to see more Robotech I don't like the idea of Harmony Gold behind it. It'd be like asking George Lucas to direct another Star Wars film, ugh. I am leaning to donate still...

No man, more like having Uwe Boll direct the next Star Wars movie.

[eriku]

What did HG do with all of the Robotech money they've made over the years? Seems like they should have had plenty by now to fund their own project. I'm guessing Mrs. Macek has some expensive habits.

Regardless, while I would love to see HG lose their rights to Macross, I can't deny the potential for comedy that will come from a new Robotech series.

[nanoplasm]

The flaws in my argument? what flaws?

These are public knowledge, Harmony Gold has the Animation and merchandising rights for "SDFM" the series, and absolutely nothing else.

They have trademarked key words in North American to make it impossible for anyone else to bring in certain elements. They further forgerized this by sending Cease and Desist documents to several productions for Macross II, and Macross Plus, even though Harmony Gold DO NOT OWN THEM.

What do you now understand about this situation? They used fear and threat to bully productions that didn't have the legal money to fight back and personally own HG at their own game. This was proven recently by Hasbro, who didn't even respond to HG's request to stop sell the jetfire mold. Hasbro didn't even respond!!! why? because they know HG has nothing to stand on.

Getting a legal agent to respond on HG by getting an actual acknowledgement by Big West and Nue would end HG's rule of stupidity and allow the last 15 years of Macross shows come stateside. Why would you not support that?

I just got here.

Are you saying to start a Kickstarter Fund to hire lawyers that will challenge HG's rights on the Macross IP?

I would totally donate to that.

[terry the lone wolf]

Just found about this. Talk about late to the party :-)

Half a million bucks from the fans to make a Robotech pilot based on an idea that's a quarter of a century old? LOL. I get the feeling that the people at the top level of Harmony Gold were laughing their pants off with this pitch. They must have absolutely no trust in them and then let them go ahead with their fundraising.

I hope one of 2 things happens.

1) They get their money (up to almost 63,000 today) and then we get to, (respectfully and without gloating of course), get to watch half a decade of development hell, production delays, personnel changes and other assorted CF's, until finally we get a pilot episode that will of course not result in a new series.

2) They fall well short of their target and the Argama guy decides to cut costs and puts the whole film/animation division on sale. He then get's a call from Mr. Funimation who makes a deal he can't refuse for the rights HG has on the Macross name overseas.

The Roddenberry family made some nice change selling Gene's old ideas... "Earth: Final Conflict"..The Sentinels is a 30 year old concept but that's what the RT fans want and it's probably RT's strongest story concept..

[Kanedas Bike]

You know, I'm going to not throw any shade on HG for this attempt, regardless of what I may actually think.

There are still some die-hard Robotech fans out there, as evidenced by the amount that's been raised so far and from even in my own peer group when we talk about old cartoons and the like.

I hope Harmony Gold raises the money, makes a decent pilot and that it gets picked up. That way those that like Robotech can finally have a victory, especially if they've put-up vs. shut-up.

HG can't or won't fund their own property, asks fans for money, that fans contribute then good on all of them.

-b.

[Marzan]

The Roddenberry family made some nice change selling Gene's old ideas... "Earth: Final Conflict"..The Sentinels is a 30 year old concept but that's what the RT fans want and it's probably RT's strongest story concept..

Maybe. But it just shows that they're incapable of creating fresh ideas that might revive their franchise. They constantly have to go back to their past to come up with concepts.

[Seto Kaiba]

The Roddenberry family made some nice change selling Gene's old ideas... "Earth: Final Conflict"..The Sentinels is a 30 year old concept but that's what the RT fans want and it's probably RT's strongest story concept..

The key difference there, terry, is that while old Gene might've been a little nuts... at least his ideas were his and there were some decent people behind their execution who knew how to moderate and distill his insanity into something palatable. Neither of those has ever been true for Robotech. Especially Robotech II: the Sentinels, as that was practically paint-by-numbers in its completely generic sci-fi setting and they STILL screwed it up horribly.

When your strongest story concept is something that leads to you firing experienced writers for telling you it doesn't make sense, it's time to consider a change of career.

[Freiflug88]

Alright, I'm going to officially start a new kick starter next month. It's going to be to pay for a high end lawyer, to do the leg work, to kick HG out of the "Macross" world, and back to the only thing they actually own.. which is to the animation, distribution, and merchandising rights of SDFM.

Big West, Nue and Tatsu already battled it out in japan, they own the rights to "Macross", and that HG only owns the rights on SDFM. However HG started sending out C&D's to the other companies that were bringing over M2 and M+, saying they owned the rights to "Macross"... they also trademarked several "Macross" related names here in the US to keep anyone else from doing so.

Essentially HG is a snake of a company, that used false tactics to insinuate that they have these licenses, when they don't. Just like when HG threatened to sue Hasbro for the Jetfire/VF-1J toy.. it was a empty threat. My idea is one of two. Either higher a lawyer to do the leg work to get

and official stance from BW and Nue on the Macross rights for North America.. and Europe since HG also claims they own that as well!

Or get enough money to pay for lawyers to basically... run HG out of legal money.

I'm working on the logisitics of both currently.

If you want to join in, I will need a few admins to help run the KS.

*my Lawyer buddy just gave me a better idea, essentially begin work on a "live action fan made" Macross Plus or 7 adaptation.

Wait for the C&D from HG, and then challenge them, they will actually have to prove it. which means they spend the money to

prove that they own the rights.

The Kickstarter would actually be for the production of the film, with the intent to use the money to fight HG.

Just have to word that carefully so anyone funding knows the money may be switched to legal funds.

What about a Kickstarter with the goal of a legal compromise with HG instead of a drawn out Legal battle? We Macross fans could raise money for the expressed purpose of paying HG their trademark fees in exchange for allowing Big West and US Distribution companies to import Macross Frontier, 7, DYRL you name it to the States. It would be a Win for everyone... including yes the HG corporation we love to hate. But ask yourselves would you rather spend a few bucks now to satisfy a trademark fee you grumble about or twiddle your thumbs for possibly decades in hoping that something will change and someone else will deal with it? And just think of the big positive message it would send to companies like Corporate Leadership of Funimation, Section 23, Viz Media, etc that Macross fans are so enthusiastic for a chance to buy Macross in America.

[Hoptimus]

OK LET ME STATE THIS ONCE.

THIS THREAD IS ONLY FOR TALKING OF THE Robotech Academy Kickstarter and its issues with HG.

THIS IS NOT TO BE A REHASH OF WHO OWNS MACROSS in the USA.

PLEASE.

OTHERWISE I SHUT THIS DOWN.

Now back to slamming the bad ideas and wow what did they do with all their gangbusters money from DVD sales HARMONY GOLD.

Thank you.

[EXO]

The key difference there, terry, is that while old Gene might've been a little nuts... at least his ideas were his and there were some decent people behind their execution who knew how to moderate and distill his insanity into something palatable. Neither of those has ever been true for Robotech. Especially Robotech II: the Sentinels, as that was practically paint-by-numbers in its completely generic sci-fi setting and they STILL screwed it up horribly.

When your strongest story concept is something that leads to you firing experienced writers for telling you it doesn't make sense, it's time to consider a change of career.

I agree with this, but at the same time the discussion of the sentinel is moot because the people that worked on that isn't the same team promising the new animation from the KS project. What people have to look at when considering donating money is everything done the last few years... maybe the last decade? That includes Shadow Chronicles, the added scenes from RT:LLA, the video games and the comic books. If that's the sort of quality that they're expecting then by all means they should donate. If they're expecting more, that would likely result in a successful continuance of the project? Then you really have to reconsider that donation. They may very well get a pilot made but as some people here brought up... what are the chances of that pilot getting picked up? What's their success rate?

lol. MMX beat me to the issue of relevance... while I was typing this.

Anyway... if you ask yourselves these questions and you're still tempted to donate... then I encourage you to donate and donate hard! If this project doesn't happen then we're right back where we were a couple of days ago and I rather see what comes out of this than have people whining about the missed opportunity of bringing Robotech back...

[skullmilitia]

They own the original SDF:M series and they trademarked Macross among other things. Let me put it this way, There is no way Pepsi with its established Mountain Dew brand is going to role over just because you want to release your brand and call it Mountain Dew PLUS, Frontier, II, or 7. You will be laughed out of court.

Either way HG sucks, this will fail, and Robotech will once again be limited to the only greatness it was back in the 80's, for a very, very, very short time.

Edited July 7, 2014 by skullmilitia

[azrael]

Just so we're clear about what you should be expecting from HG:

https://twitter.com/oatmeal/status/486228607564390402

[technoblue]

Yeah. Does this mean that potato salad is now the pineapple salad of the Robotech Universe?.