57 replies to this topic

[BattleOfLuthien]

So this is a thing: I was about to put my Robotech DVDs on ebay when...




*** m8?

Edited by BattleOfLuthien, 05 August 2012 - 12:56 PM.

[Adridos]

FASA bought the rights for the design when the Japanese studio didn't have a cartoon for it yet.

However, Harmony Goild acquired them and with it also the rights for the design in USA... the rest is unseen history.

Edited by Adridos, 05 August 2012 - 12:58 PM.

[Fabe]

No, that is a Zentradi Officer's battle pod, FASA used some of the mecha designs from Robotech/Macross in Battletech.

[Xathanael]

[Vanguard836]

Search for "unseen mechs". The Marauder is one of them and its original design originates from Robotech, not battletech.

Search for the phoenix hawk if you want a surprise lol.

[Adridos]

Fabe, on 05 August 2012 - 12:58 PM, said:

No, that is a Zentradi Officer's battle pod, FASA used some of the mecha designs from Robotech/Macross in Battletech.

There wasn't any Robotech/Macross when FASA released Battletech (called Battledroids, back then).

Harmony Gold bought the studio that sold the design to FASA and made the cartoons.

[Fabe]

Adridos, on 05 August 2012 - 12:58 PM, said:

FASA bought the rights for the design when the Japanese studio didn't have a cartoon for it yet.

However, Harmony Goild acquired them and with it also the rights for the design in USA... the rest is unseen history.

super dimension fortress macross came out in 1982 Battletech came out in 84 so there was already a cartoon for the designs.

[Adridos]

I apology, then. Need to do some further research about this, as it's really interesting story.

[Hollister]

Adridos, on 05 August 2012 - 01:00 PM, said:

There wasn't any Robotech/Macross when FASA released Battletech (called Battledroids, back then).

Harmony Gold bought the studio that sold the design to FASA and made the cartoons.

wrong

Harmony Gold bought the rights from Tatsunoko which had the merchandising and distribution rights.

FASA bought the original line art from Big West, the creators of macross

[DragoFire]

add the warhammer, archer, rifleman,, plus the two light LAM's, plus the phoenix hawk which was thhe medium LAM.A few of the dropships were from other asian animated shows.

[tyrone dunkirk]

BattleOfLuthien, on 05 August 2012 - 12:55 PM, said:

So this is a thing: I was about to put my Robotech DVDs on ebay when...




*** m8?

Ohhh boy. Someone doesn't know too much bout the history of BT do they ?

[Monsoon]

Trust me, just go to the Wikipedia page for the story, already there have been 2-3 people who have given a wrong account of what's happened. Short story the Japanese company that created Macross and it's distributor both sold the rights, one to FASA the other to Harmony Gold, HG went on to take these rights and the rights from two other IP to create the Robotech Saga.


Skip forward a few years and some nonsense lawsuits later, and FASA not wanting to spend all their time and money on Lawyers, and we have the Unseen.

Edited by Monsoon, 05 August 2012 - 01:36 PM.

[Fabe]

Adridos, on 05 August 2012 - 01:20 PM, said:

I apology, then. Need to do some further research about this, as it's really interesting story.

Yeah I've heard conflicting stories on the issue of who owns the right to the mecha designs. Some say HG bought the exclusive U.S rights to Macross and all related materials and FASA was only granted the right to use the "Unseen" for the Japanese release of Battletech while other say HG does not have full rights to the franchise and the Japanese owner are still free to license material to whom ever they wish.

Edited by Fabe, 05 August 2012 - 01:40 PM.

[Nakuru]

There is still a bit of confusion over who really owns the rights to the designs. Harmony Gold just managed to win their case in US courts, but overall, ownership still isn't clear. Even the Japanese courts seem to contest Harmony Gold's claim to the control of the designs.

[Exilyth]

If only someone could translate this legalese...
http://alex.kaempen....ld_v._fasa.html
http://alex.kaempen....d_v._fasa2.html

... we might actally be enlightened about the issue.


Also, Harmony Gold scrambled together three different anime to make Robotech.

Edited by Exilyth, 05 August 2012 - 02:20 PM.

[Peiper]

Clearly this demands a Trial of Possession.

I declare the the Inner Sphere and Clans unify for the express purpose of a trial of possession for the rights to produce these battlemechs. If the Robotech kids don't want to give up the fights, we will smash them to dust, and it will no longer be an issue. They might send the SDF-1 against us, but that is just ONE ship. When the turn around to report back, they will find every planet conquered and no home to defend.

Then we can get back to killing each other over politics and intrigue.

[Nakuru]

Peiper, on 05 August 2012 - 01:52 PM, said:

Clearly this demands a Trial of Possession.

I declare the the Inner Sphere and Clans unify for the express purpose of a trial of possession for the rights to produce these battlemechs. If the Robotech kids don't want to give up the fights, we will smash them to dust, and it will no longer be an issue. They might send the SDF-1 against us, but that is just ONE ship. When the turn around to report back, they will find every planet conquered and no home to defend.

Then we can get back to killing each other over politics and intrigue.

The Robotech toys are a bit on the fragile side. Even a Locust in Battletech can withstand a medium laser, while almost everything aside from the Macross can go down in one shot. All we'd need to bid is a single company of Locusts against their entire force, and we win

[Karyudo ds]

Fabe, on 05 August 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

Yeah I've heard conflicting stories on the issue of who owns the right to the mecha designs. Some say HG bought the exclusive U.S rights to Macross and all related materials and FASA was only granted the right to use the "Unseen" for the Japanese release of Battletech while other say HG does not have full rights to the franchise and the Japanese owner are still free to license material to whom ever they wish.

Harmony Gold as mentioned above bought the rights from Tatsunoko I believe first. The rights they bought supposedly were all rights to Macross outside of Japan. Under what if any time limits I have no idea as Harmony Gold has NEVER been willing to discuss it. However Tatsunoko only sold the rights because they claimed they could because they put down a lot of money to help produce Macross.

About 2 decades later Japanese courts finally recognized that Tatsunoko had no right to sell anything to anybody and declared that Big West, the people who make everything Macross (mostly then) and everything since actually owned the original series. Depending on the exact wording of what Harmony Gold bought, they may have no legal claim to Macross at all since early the 2000's (post Battlecry) but no one said anything when they released the original Macross footage to be remastered so exactly what's going on is sort of unknown. Of course this is also a part of the reason that it's hard to find Macross 7, Zero, or Frontier outside of Japan. They might not be interested in trying to figure it out either.

It's a long story and basically what you get when you steal designs (legally or otherwise) from other shows. I still find it funny to see older Battletech fans that don't know where these designs came from.

[Skadi]

Edited by Skadi, 05 August 2012 - 02:09 PM.

[neandertal74]

its more than just the marauder, there is a shot on mars where they use the rifleman, warhammer, and a very similar mech to a longbow