Harmony Gold being Harmony Gold (again)

Discussion in 'BattleTech (Harebrained)' started by MagnusEffect, Aug 21, 2017.

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  1. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Incomplete list of of the "original 41":

    So yeah... we might finally be rid of HG's meddling.
     
    MagnusEffect, Sep 21, 2017
    #21
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  2. Lardaltef

    Lardaltef Well Liked Berserker

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    I think the Ost series mechs (ostol, ostroch and i think there is a third one) are based off various versions of the battlepod/Reguld.
     
    Lardaltef, Sep 24, 2017
    #22
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  3. Lardaltef

    Lardaltef Well Liked Berserker

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    Had to look it up but suppsedly the stone rhino (behomoth) and some other one i've never heard of which is the Matar are very loosely based off the monster II destroid. The largest one with the 4 guns on top.
     
    Lardaltef, Sep 25, 2017
    #23
  4. Hollister

    Hollister Fun-Taker Berserker

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    Bandai Tatsunoko probably doesnt want to renew with HG because they themselves have lost tons of revenue because of HG's douche baggery. They havent been able to legally distribute any Macross merchandise outside of Japan. They will probably be making a new show by then, with wanting to distribute it themselves, along with all the past shows.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2017
    Hollister, Oct 5, 2017
    #24
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  5. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Given how much more globally connected companies like Bandai are, this makes total sense. HG is an antiquated middle man at this point.
     
    MagnusEffect, Oct 6, 2017
    #25
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  6. Damion Sparhawk

    Damion Sparhawk The Missing Link Viking

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    [​IMG]
     
    Damion Sparhawk, Oct 7, 2017
    #26
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  7. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    MagnusEffect, Nov 28, 2017
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  8. Solis Obscuri

    Solis Obscuri Well Liked Hirdman

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    Very interesting. A summary judgement (with prejudice no less!) would be a major coup for Battletech fans.
     
    Solis Obscuri, Nov 28, 2017
    #28
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  9. Dihm

    Dihm Speaker of the Word Staff Member Gothi SC Thane

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    :awesome:
     
    Dihm, Nov 29, 2017
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  10. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Robotech's loss is everyone else's gain:


    They somehow managed to get 1.4 million in kickstarter funding (more than enough to fund the project) and still managed to fuck it up.

    Kickstarter page:
    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rrpgt/robotech-rpg-tacticstm/description

    Polygon article (only one I could find):
    https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/2/17071612/robotech-rpg-tactics-kickstarter-disaster-palladium-books

    Poor Robotech fans... their entire fandom is based on a botched localization project and a mountain of lies. Maybe after all this is over, we will live in a world where both Battletech and Macross can coexist without harassment from Harmony Gold.

    Interesting to note that all Robotech products have been liquidated and removed from the Palladium Books website:
    http://www.palladiumbooks.com/index...ch-29-2018&catid=52:weekly-updates&Itemid=183
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2018
    MagnusEffect, Apr 4, 2018
    #30
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  11. Lardaltef

    Lardaltef Well Liked Berserker

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    Holy fuck. At that pledge amount (the 1.4 million) that's roughly $270 per backer. Also can harmony gold just die already (the company not the people).
     
    Lardaltef, Apr 4, 2018
    #31
  12. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Harmony Gold makes most of their money in real estate and a bunch of random direct-to-video movies these days. The few Robotech related projects they produce are sparse:
    http://harmonygold.com/
    (don't login or sign up for anything. you can access the site by just clicking off to the side of the login prompt)

    This is all Harmony Gold has produced in the past year:

    (apologies for the obnoxiously loud music in the video)

    It's a limited edition 1/6th scale model of Rick Hunter's VF-1 cockpit (only 300 made). Cost? Only $1,380 + $300 for overseas shipping!

    [​IMG]

    Any other "in-progress" projects mentioned on the website are just a bunch of 403 broken links. :lol:

    Also, you can't actually buy anything Robotech related from Harmony Gold. They literally outsource all of it to other businesses. They just show up for the check.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2018
    MagnusEffect, Apr 4, 2018
    #32
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  13. Lardaltef

    Lardaltef Well Liked Berserker

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    So if you haven't seen what HG is saying battletech infringes on it is kinda funny.

    They are saying the locusts infringes on the marauder
    [​IMG]

    The atlas is the armored valkyrie (which is the crusader). And the shadowhawk is the destroid Spartan (It's the archer).
    [​IMG]

    At least with PGI they have the right mechs to the right robotech/macross art.
     
    Lardaltef, Apr 4, 2018
    #33
  14. Hakija

    Hakija Chaos Pony Viking

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    That's just sad. The Shadowhawk was stolen from Fang of the Sun Dougram. Not even the right series.
     
    Hakija, Apr 4, 2018
    #34
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  15. Lardaltef

    Lardaltef Well Liked Berserker

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    Also it seems like the actual right were never sold to HG they were more rented to them but they still are with the Japanese companies that made the art.
     
    Lardaltef, Apr 4, 2018
    #35
  16. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    I don't think you meant it literally, but just to be clear, nothing was "stolen" from anyone. The Shadow Hawk and Fang of the Sun Dougram (which is owned by a totally separate company than Macross/Robotech) was a legal purchase of the licensed art. But yeah, just goes to show the Harmony Gold people are fucking idiots and couldn't tell the difference between them.


    Regarding the Macross/Robotech-related IP, at the time the rights to the art were first licensed, it was before the internet and back when the original owner (Studio Nue and Shōji Kawamori, creator of Macross) had no intent nor desire to sell the franchise in the united states (this was 1982, six years before Akira was even released in Japan!). The rights got sold piecemeal to both Harmony Gold and FASA to make a quick lump of cash, but the documentation was shody by all accounts... which is why we've had to deal with this for so long. Essentially, the Harmony Gold bought the license to sell the Macross anime (hacked apart and edited as Robotech) and FASA had the right to use the art for their mech designs (was cheaper than making their own art at the time). By today's standards, no lawyer would have advised this, but this was before IP globalization and the people involved didn't know any better. In fact, story goes that Studio Nue didn't even bother to tell Harmony Gold or FASA that they had "double-dipped" with the license. Ideally, Harmony Gold and FASA could have been able to operate independently without interfering with eachother, but HG shot first and fucked everything up.
     
    Last edited: Apr 4, 2018
    MagnusEffect, Apr 4, 2018
    #36
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  17. Damion Sparhawk

    Damion Sparhawk The Missing Link Viking

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    and the best (worst) part about it is that literally the only reason HG has been able to keep everyone ducking and covering for this long, is because nobody could afford to actually take them to court where things would have come to light rather quickly, like the fact that HG never actually held any rights to anything except distribution.
     
    Damion Sparhawk, Apr 6, 2018
    #37
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  18. Lardaltef

    Lardaltef Well Liked Berserker

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    Last edited: Apr 10, 2018
    Lardaltef, Apr 10, 2018
    #38
  19. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Good fucking grief. I've heard some people say it may take another year if the judge grants HG's motion to allow time for evidence to be gathered from teh Japanese courts. My guess is they want to take this internationally in hopes that PGI and HBS will not be willing to go that far.
     
    MagnusEffect, Apr 11, 2018
    #39
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  20. Lardaltef

    Lardaltef Well Liked Berserker

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    I want the judge to just go "fuck you HG for trying to drag this out.". Which apparently the robotech fans follow this as much as much as battletech but want HG to win. I think. Robotech fans. Not macross (Japanese series) fans. Which I don't know why HG keeps saying they own the rights to macross... robotech is not macross.
     
    Lardaltef, Apr 11, 2018
    #40
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