Forum - View topicNEWS: Harmony Gold Renews License to 1st Macross, Southern Cross, Mospeada Anime Series
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Kaori Makimura
 Posts: 152 Location: usa |
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Bamble
Posts: 130 |
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Yeah, at this point it just seems like spite. HG have no viable Robotech projects actually in production (the live-action film, of course, will never get made). The last reported sales for the bizarre reboot comic indicate that it scraped just over 5,000 copies.
Macross (yes, by way of Robotech) was one of the few mecha series that actually aired in the U.S., which makes it all the more bizarre to consider that the last Macross production to receive an official release outside of Japan was Macross Plus: The Movie back in 1997. Or, to put it another way, there have been over 20 years of missed opportunities for money to be made on a franchise that actually has a genuine built-in nostalgia factor. Indeed, Zero was far from perfect, but was almost tailor-made for also getting a release in the Western market given its short length, focus on one of the most popular characters from the original series, and its status as a prequel (looking back at the time, both Star Wars and Star Trek had gone down the prequel path). With just the one ongoing comic with feeble sales to its name, it's genuinely a struggle to see what worth Robotech as a brand name even has left now and why HG are utterly committed to keeping their stranglehold on those original three series. By extension, of course, keeping all the Macross spin-offs off-limits to current licensors. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2271 Location: Online Terminal |
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It's already been here If this was just about IP law and companies engaging in illicit behavior, that'd be one thing, but I know it's not. It's about gatekeeping, the quixotic desire of keeping content "pure", and how people continue to conflate "important" and "good" as synonyms when that's not always the case. I'm okay with Macross not coming over, and everyone who's mad can continue to stay mad forever. |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4426 Location: New York |
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Yes, the company whose CEO was convicted of money laundering for the Italian Mafia and the only reason he didn’t serve jail time was because he was too old and they feared for his health in prison. This is spite. This is not capitalism where you try to make something more palatable for an American audience. Because Robotech has no audience. Those comics didn’t sell for crap despite having some fairly decent talent (although I’d rather Simon Furman just wrote episodes of the next Macross series proper). And as I’ve said before, they have promised a Robotech movie for 15-20 years at this point, and a lot of big movers and shakers in Hollywood ranging from Tobey “Emo Dance” Maguire to Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio, James Wan, and the guy who directed IT. No one can make the film because Harmony Gold cannot use any of the elements that count thanks to the legal nonsense they initiated! So screw Robotech, and screw the criminals at Harmony Gold. This whole “sticking it to anime fans” with their BS copyrights that Big West has already overturned in Europe being supported is no different than people arguing for micro transactions and predatory practices because it means “sticking it to gamers”. |
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3903 Location: New York state. |
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And one wonders why Western Macross fans continue to get miffed with the legal mess behind the franchise preventing later installments of Macross from coming stateside like Frontier and Zero. I'm amazed at the amount of pettyness that Harmony Gold has to keep trademark rights to the franchise and sit on it for however long they feel like it without doing squat with it.
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2234 |
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Yeah, making excuses for the shady business that has been investigated for money laundering and tax fraud, because THAT doesn't sound petty. Seriously, this is not about gatekeeping this is about having a huge cultural landmark barred from release over here because a company is abusing copyright laws. Robotech is fine, it was a very important moment in anime history that helped garner interest in the medium. Heck, a lot of Robotech VAs like Wendee Lee (her first role ever!) and Richard Epcar are still in the industry. However, it's time to stop barring release of Macross over here. HG can't even be properly exploitative, as they would make plenty of money off Macross. They're being childish is what is going on. |
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Ggultra2764
Subscriber Posts: 3903 Location: New York state. |
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Besides Plus, Manga also got rights to sell the Macross II OVA series and there was a heavily edited version of Macross: Do You Remember Love released on VHS in the 1980s called Clash of the Bionids. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
 Posts: 4912 |
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As someone who is both a Macross and Robotech fan, my disappointment is not out of hatred for the series. Sailor Moon and Robotech were two of my first anime growing up and Robotech was one of my first mecha shows. One of my biggest disappointments is that Harmony Gold's legal mess is ruining the reputation of the dub which was once pretty well regarded in anime fandom. I compare Robotech to Voltron which also had a similar type of dub but you can still watch the uncut version on Crunchyroll, and it had a popular reboot that lasted for several years in spite of all it's own fandom drama, and there's still a lot of love for Voltron with American fandom. But Harmony Gold won't do anything new with the franchise to keep it alive and they seem to only exist as copyright trolls.
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geepee
Posts: 109 |
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they own the license worldwide.Case in point:the recent Super Robot Wars games are getting localized in English for the Asian market,but not those with Macross stuff in it.Those remain untranslated. |
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6030 |
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Came to see the outrage over this given how HG sitting on the Macross rights just to sit on the Macross rights is such a patently stupid thing (and also because of often this gets brought up around here) wasn't surprised at all. And the backstory regarding all of this is no damn better.
[quote="Beatdigga"]And as I’ve said before, they have promised a Robotech movie for 15-20 years at this point, and a lot of big movers and shakers in Hollywood ranging from Tobey “Emo Dance” Maguire to Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio, James Wan, and the guy who directed IT. You must really have either hated Spider-Man 3 or just hate Tobey Maguire if you had to reference that one scene from the movie.....but left Leonardo "1 in 5" DiCaprio alone 
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Cardcaptor Takato
Posts: 4912 |
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Alita barely broke even and that was the best case scenario for a live action anime remake so I don't know how Harmony Gold thinks they can make the Robotech movie a success when the franchise is on life support in the US and especially if they can't even use the Macross characters.
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Beatdigga
Posts: 4426 Location: New York |
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Leo got robbed for The Wolf of Wall Street and everyone knows it. To be fair, I find the Emo Dance hilarious, which was the intended reaction, wasn’t it?
But these aren’t random foreign directors or fly-by-nite production companies. This isn’t Cannon Films in the 80’s. These were real movers in Hollywood, big production companies like Sony, and they all failed. Because Robotech is by its very nature a false bill of goods. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
Posts: 4912 |
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My favorite part of Harmony Gold's announcement was when they said they wanted to make Robotech the "next Harry Potter" because there's apparently no other major sci-fi film series they could have made an analogy with.
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AiddonValentine
Posts: 2234 |
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Because it's a carrot they're going to keep dangling for all eternity. |
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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Harmony Gold are vile. I hate them more every time they are mentioned. Let it go, do the right thing.
We all know the story now. I have to wonder what the audience at these panels looks like. In the age of the world we're in - how can this company be so dense? |
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