Forum - View topicNEWS: Harmony Gold Renews License to 1st Macross, Southern Cross, Mospeada Anime Series
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16941 |
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I'm more amazed they even had a panel at AX to begin with. I'd expect them to crawl out from under their rock, announce this from the shadows, and then crawl back under said rock. Did they have the panel simply to see the disgusted and disappointed faces of the fans who actually attended?
Last edited by Redbeard 101 on Sun Jul 07, 2019 10:32 am; edited 1 time in total |
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SrkSano
 Posts: 205 |
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For whatever it's worth the current Robotech comic isn't bad on the writing side of things. It's a modern update of the original story with surprises thrown in. The artwork is atrocious and it's sickening that it almost comes off as a storyboard for the movie, but it is entertaining and a lot of the modern day science fiction tropes Simon Furman is incorporating serve it well and could lead to some interesting things.
As for Delta, Frontier, Zero, 7 and so on, honestly it blows that to watch this stuff you have to go underneath the internet or buy really pricey DVDs. I'm hopeful that something will shake out and despite Harmony Gold's efforts these things will come to us in some capacity or at the very least, some other alternative will come along for us to view and own these things by easier means. Last edited by SrkSano on Sat Jul 06, 2019 3:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4426 Location: New York |
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I love Simon Furman’s work for the most part. Dude wrote the finale of Beast Wars and it’s his version of Transformers that’s considered the most iconic by fans thanks to his Marvel Comics run. But I’d rather he of the Furmanisms worked on an actual Macross show instead of a comic no one will read.
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4621 |
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Does "Robotech" as a brand still have any sort of widespread recognition in general nerd-dom? Like, what audience do they think exists for anything with that name slapped on it?
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Black Turtle
 Posts: 110 |
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I was banned (temporarely, but they ask my phone number to reactivate it, so fudge them) from twitter while explaining the situation to this guy https://twitter.com/ixchelongas/status/1147565413057933312 .
What a joke. Last edited by Black Turtle on Sat Jul 06, 2019 3:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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gedata
 Posts: 615 |
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This is like if 4Kids still existed, but only to keep One Piece out of the hands of any better distributors.
And I bet we still won't see that Robotech movie for another decade or so. I wasn't around for when Robotech was still popular, but it's legacy continues to hold the original franchise back for us sadly. |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3984 |
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This. Ugh, can't believe they were able to renew it. That pretty much seals the deal. Nothing's ever changing.
Yeah, and even with that fandom drama, and a relatively weak final season, overall that new Voltron show was so damn good imo. I loved it. This pretty much puts the nail in coffin that they'll be allowed to renew whenever it comes up. Meanwhile even Yamato has seemingly (or at least partially) finally fixed this shit thanks to Funi finally being able to release the excellent recent remake TV series and recently put out the first half of the second series 2202. |
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1138 |
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I cannot beleive it, I remember watching reruns of Robotech and enjoying a long time ago and I enjoyed it for what is was, even knowing about everything that HG did about the international distribution rights for everything related to Macross. Luckily here in latin america we got Do you Remember Love? dubbed twice (and in the first dub Roy Fokker's voice actor reprised his role from Robotech). I think some people mentioned that HG made a comic book based on the Macross saga but to me that's not enough for them to still claiming that they own the rights to all of Macross' concepts.
Regarding Robotech as a brand, I think that it still has some brand appeal in the same way that He-Man, Thundercats and other 80s shows have. I know people older than me that watched Robotech as kids and have fond memories about it, but never got into anime or know anything about Macross at all, so I can totally see why Sony Pictures and Harmony Gold are still trying to make a movie aimed to those who watched Robotech in the 80s, like Hasbro and Paramount did with Transformers in 2007. |
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ditto526
Posts: 22 |
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so much for a legal blue ray copy of "Do You Remember Love"
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Heishi
 Posts: 1328 |
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Ooof. I don't know what Tatsunoko was thinking here.
Imagine having Gatchaman not released here in the west legally because Sandy Frank still owns the IP for some insane reason. I feel bad for Macross fans out there. This franchise could do better had HG not had their greedy claws on it. For shame. Robotech was fine for its time, but now its high time we saw the series in its original format and that is Macross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. Same with Voltron and Battle of the Planets. |
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nDroae
 Posts: 382 |
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To me the most important question now, and there've been guesses both "yes" and "no" in this thread, is whether Harmony Gold will be able to continue to prevent series like Macross Frontier, Delta, and future installments from being streamed and sold in the west. What if the answer is yes? Let's say Harmony Gold actually does what this satirical article suggests. https://www.animemaru.com/harmony-gold-to-adapt-macross-delta-as-robotech-spin-off/ That is, licensing, adapting, and releasing every new Macross entry as a Robotech show, and only releasing that dubbed edit. In that case, you could make the argument that it's "about gatekeeping, the quixotic desire of keeping content 'pure,'" though you'd accomplish nothing beyond an amusing spectacle. But they're not going to do that. Concern and anger regarding a possible or likely continued total blockade of new Macross in the west is clearly not about "keeping content 'pure.'" It's about content being available at all. |
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1405 |
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Thing is, they can't even do that. The license Harmony Gold holds is specifically for the TV series and character designs for The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, and none of the later Macross series or films. They specifically have that license through Tatsunoko Productions, who only have the rights to that series (along with Southern Cross and Mospeada) BUT, the vague language of the agreement has allowed HG to make spurious claim to owning the entire "Macross" trademark outside of Japan, and thus can try to block or lay claim to any attempts to license later Macross titles. Or ask for a cut of profits. As such, Studio Nue/Satelight, who own the rights to basically everything that hasn't been released in English, haven't been able to sell their licenses to any distributor or localizer. That is what people are and have been angry about. I don't care if HG wants to keep making whatever Robotech stuff they want - what I want is to be able to own series like Macross 7 in English outside of fansubs, or to own Delta for less than the price of 2 months ren via imports+shipping. I want to have these series I love available for people besides the hardcore base that pass around fansub torrents. And until HG either goes out of business or somebody takes their wonky trademark claims to court, that's seemingly impossible. |
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AniMatsuri
 Posts: 4 Location: Middle of the Pacific |
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Honestly I thought Robotech was good for its time and it did bring a lot of people in to anime fandom but it's time has come and gone. Times have changed and no one brings in new anime that way anymore.
From now on I will active encourage my friends and anyone willing to listen to me to stay as far away from anything Harmony Gold does and anything connected with Robotech. I hope the live action movie does get made so it can fail so badly no one will want to get near the Robotech franchise for 100 years after that. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5873 Location: Virginia, United States |
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It is always worth a laugh to see Harmony Gold treated as the great Demon Lord.
The issue has never been Harmony Gold, but rather the three major Japanese companies. They are the ones having a falling out and continuing it. They are the ones who started this sordid tale. I have no problem with Harmony Gold protecting what is theirs. At the end of the day, this extension is a plus in their box. I have heard over the years, many iterations of this great debate. Nothing has really changed. I really think it comes down to, that it is easier to dog pile on a U.S. company, than three Japanese companies, who could really care less what we all think. Robotech is the show that brought me into the anime fold, but the discovery of the Japanese Macross franchise kept me there also. In my eyes, the blame lies mainly in Japan. Macross is not the only franchise not being released in the west. I am still waiting for a western release of Senki Zesshou Symphogear. Don't bother with any legalise. Heard both sides of this great debate many times already. I have my fingers crossed, just like everyone else. |
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nDroae
Posts: 382 |
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I think we all know that, except perhaps Joe Mello. That's why I specified Harmony Gold "licensing" the series they don't actually have the license to. Your last paragraph makes the same point I made: that the blockade is worse than the status of the original series. I didn't expect Tatsunoko to allow the license to be renewed, following the previous legal fight as described in the article, so at this point I couldn't even be sure the other Japanese companies wouldn't license new Macross to HG. But I still don't think HG will actually pursue that. |
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