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NEWS: Harmony Gold Renews License to 1st Macross, Southern Cross, Mospeada Anime Series

Probably the worst news I have heard in a long time. HG is a company that has produced nothing of merit since the 1980s and acts like a copyright troll.

I guess I will have to bite the bullet and import the SDF Macross Blurays from Japan.

Oh definitely. It's all about nostalgia. Gen X'ers and some Gen Y'ers are the ones having nostalgia about Robotech and we don't see them actively celebrating the franchise all these years either.

At conventions, we don't see young people dressed up in original Macross/Robotech character costume or actively selling fan arts at conventions. If you happen to see original Macross/Robotech cosplay, it's usually some middle-aged fans dressed up as one while having their little kids tagging along (I've seen one). And those older fans don't even follow latest Macross franchise since they're too busy with their kids.

If Robotech is still a big deal, then there would be some kind of marketing blitz celebrating on every 5 anniversary years (5, 10, 15 years respectively) So far, I have not seen or read about such thing in past 25 years as anime fan and I've only seen usual Harmony Gold setting up a small panel at a local convention somewhere with some older fans line up to hear HG's latest announcement.

In my opinion, Robotech franchise is just grasping straw to stay relevant. Most of the kids who watched Robotech in 80's grew up and moved onto something else. Robotech franchise can do something to be relevant to young fans, but I noticed that their established Robotech storyline is not attracting new generation of fans and not able to produce sequels easily. Come to think of it, Harmony Gold barely finished the sequel, Shadow Chronicle, with outsourced labor from Korea and we know that IT CAN'T EVEN COMPETE with any of the Macross sequels produced in Japan in terms of quality.

If Macross Delta and Frontier are licensed in the West, young fans would rather spend money on those merchandises as they're more relevant to them.

I'm a Gen X myself (born 1976) and probably that's why I can't help myself making comment about Macross/Robotech rights nonsense.

2. The voices. The original VA for Hikaru passed away a few years back and from what I understand, Kawamori is adamant about not replacing him. Even if he did agree to recast him, recasting Minmei, replacing Mari Ijima would be an absolute nightmare for anyone trying to fill those shoes.

@TheHTRO: I am being realistic about when people could legally expect to see the original version of Macross here.

If you ignore the current Robotech comic and other media, then sure, I guess we could say the franchise is dead and isn't beinf used. There's always been a Robotech comic since the 2000s. Various reboots, spin-offs, and etc. Even if you ignore the stalled live-action movie, and other projects, they're clearly using the franchise.

If you ignore the current Robotech comic and other media, then sure, I guess we could say the franchise is dead and isn't beinf used. There's always been a Robotech comic since the 2000s. Various reboots, spin-offs, and etc. Even if you ignore the stalled live-action movie, and other projects, they're clearly using the franchise.

Robotech is no different than Voltron or Power Rangers. A complete American focused spin off of a Japanese media where most fans don't care about the source material. Voltron is pretty much only driven by nostalgia, as is Power Rangers. Hell, Power Rangers comics went back to the original Mighty Morphin cast because of that reason alone. Sure, it sucks, but it's how some franchises will always be remembered in America.

Unlike Power Rangers, but especially like Voltron, every single remake or attempt to get a sequel off the ground has crashed and burned.

Any Robotech remake, if by some small miracle it did get made, would end up like Legendary Defender. No audience, bad toy sales, idiotic writing, and a general audience that had no craps to give because it didn’t feel or act like the original.

And that’s 76 more than we’ll ever see out of Robotech.

Toei and Shout Factory seem to have a pretty good relationship right now, I can see them grabbing the licence. Hell, they are likely working with Hasbro to continue releasing Sentai over here.

Beatdigga wrote:

And that’s 76 more than we’ll ever see out of Robotech.

Remember when Carl Macek planned to have a Robotech sequel where they would have a new episode for every weekday of the year?

How much money that Tatsunoko Production agreed to this?

Harmony Gold couldn't have had that much money.

Somebody else could've likely outbid them if Tatsunoko Production had shopped around.

Also as a result of the Big West litigation, Tatsunoko asked Harmony Gold to protect Macross trademarks outside of Japan, and agreed that Harmony Gold could deduct legal fees from royalties paid to Tatsunoko. Tatsunoko also disputed this agreement in its counterclaims, but again the court ruled in favor of Harmony Gold.