Author Topic: Robotech licence to produce miniatures sold to Palladium Games - Unseen soon?  (Read 43844 times)

ShadowRaven

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Seven and Frontier are out because of Harmony Gold's license to distribution of all things Macross in North America and the current lack of dealings on both sides. Part of it is because Harmony Gold is really not in the entertainment industry, but is unwilling to give up their distribution rights all the same. Palladium has it's rights through HG who don't have the rights to the other stuff. Palladium can't just go to the people who do own the rights in Japan and seek permission without violating certain legal issues and contractual rights. The folks in Japan don't want to sell the rights to HG to import stuff, because, well just because. It's something of a Gordian Knot
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Lyran Archer

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What is the expected street date for this new Robotech game? 2014? 2015?
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=The folks in Japan don't want to sell the rights to HG to import stuff, because, well just because.

because HG has been so obnoxious about the rights they do have, and done so little with the robotech license it's rather poor business acumen to give them the rights?
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felix77-26

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So Battletech copied Robotech in the 80's and got sued? Now Robotech will be making models in Battletech scale 1/285. Hope they scale well :)

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So Battletech copied Robotech in the 80's and got sued?

Not quite.  In the early 80s, a company called Twentieth Century Imports got the rights to release model kits based on the anime series Macross, Dougram and Crusher Joe.  They later subcontracted rights for these images to FASA for use in BattleTech, and TCI rebranded the kits as BattleTech units (and often shipped them with stat sheets for the game). 

In 85, Harmony Gold licensed the anime series Macross, Southern Cross and MOSPEDA, and edited and rewrote them to make Robotech.

In the early 90s, FASA decided to make a BattleTech toyline to tie in with the cartoon.  Among the companies who put in tenders were Tyco (who won the contract), and Playmates.  Shortly afterwards Playmated brought out their own robot toyline called ExoSquad, and one figure in the line looked amazingly like a Mad Cat.  FASA brought the matter to court.  Shortly after this Harmony Gold and Playmates entered into some level of agreement, Playamtes began to release the old Matchbox Robotech toys under the ExoSquad banner, and Harmony Gold countersued FASA with regards to the Macross designs present in BattleTech.

What's important to note is that FASA and Harmony Gold independently obtained rights to the Macross designs.
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ShadowRaven

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Having seen the Playmates 'not a Mad Cat' it seems a very good probability that they had their model makers produce one as part of the bid, or perhaps in anticipation of getting the bid, and when they did not opted to make some changes and make use of it. Something I can not fault them for, but FASA really had no choice but to take it to court, and likewise, Harmony Gold had really very little choice but to do the same. Of course the matter is in the past, should best be left in the past, and should Paladium ever actually release these minis, we can try and forget that last two decades of frustration
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klarg1

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Ah... where's an Alexander with a sword when you need him?

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I'm pretty sure that, in this case, cutting the proverbial Knot would require some billionaire fan to buy the companies in question and then send in an army of lawyers to sort it out.

Ryumyo

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This could be interesting.
So without speaking ill of anyone;
May Palladium Games succeed at their venture.
( The Tomahawk that has posted images does make one wonder the possibilities. )
Don't worry though, I still like CGL and am more than willing to give money for product : Books, more books, still more books, PDF's, e.t.c. Whatever else I need or want still makes the list of " gotta have it - the sooner the better.
Besides I do not see Palladium Games making anything like a TRO series like how CGL does. 15+ main TRO's, 20 XTRO's and counting.

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They seem large, but oh, the possibilities :)
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ShadowRaven

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really hard to judge size, but...I WANT!!!!
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Sigma

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My gut says they look true 1/200, but I hope I'm wrong.

Lorcan Nagle

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They're claiming roughly 1/285, and there's been nudge nudge wink wink comments that they'll be roughly compatible with BT minis.  I'd say that means the Destroids are going to be about the same size as modern BT minis, but the Valkyries will be larger (in Macross/Robotech VF-1s are bigger than Destroids)
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ShadowRaven

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and that's okay with me. if i can mount it on a hex base and use it on a map it's an okay size. beside bigger models are easier to paint
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Sigma

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This is my reasoning that lines up with Lorcan.

At "true" 1/200-1/220, the destroids will be Btech scale.

Comparison between 80's 1/200 VF, modern 1/200 VF, and RP Phawk LAM.


Cyc

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Hopefully they are successful, as I'd kill for Legioss and Tread minis

Deadborder

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Hopefully they are successful, as I'd kill for Legioss and Tread minis

The odds of anything not Macross-centric are slim to none. YOu should know this allready
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Cergorach

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This is my reasoning that lines up with Lorcan.

At "true" 1/200-1/220, the destroids will be Btech scale.
At 1/285 the Robotech Tomahawk (12.7m) would be 4.45mm tall, that's only a few mm smaller then my plastic Warhammer. 1/200 or 1/220 would make them very big for BT... The Glaug would be far to tall for BT...

Wrangler

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Aren't recent Battletech miniatures gotten bit bigger since the original Ral Partha mini's came out. I thought 1/285 scale was pretty close current mini's size.
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pensiveswetness

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The odds of anything not Macross-centric are slim to none. YOu should know this allready

odd since thier most current offering in video was clearly MOSPEDA-centric... i thought those folks did their best to distance themselves from Macross as well since nothing in Shadow Rising had anything visual to do with Macross... its almost as if the mins are like... well, jail bait...

Syzyx

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Palladium has already confirmed Southern Cross and New Generation as expansions to the game that will have same scale minis. So, yes, Legioss etc. are coming down the pike.
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Sigma

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At 1/285 the Robotech Tomahawk (12.7m) would be 4.45mm tall, that's only a few mm smaller then my plastic Warhammer. 1/200 or 1/220 would make them very big for BT... The Glaug would be far to tall for BT...

Glaug will be way too big anyhow. I use real 1/200 Glaugs for N-scale. And look at the 80's 1/200 stuff I posted.

The quotes around "true" are because they are making stuff around 1/250 now and labeling it as 1/200. That LAM in the middle is on almost the exact same size base as the miniatures in the press photo if they are really on 40mm. I think the Destroids will be just about right and everything else will be too big going by what we know at the moment. I hope somebody has the presence of mind to bring a ruler or something for scale to the next place these guys show up so we'll know for sure.

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odd since thier most current offering in video was clearly MOSPEDA-centric... i thought those folks did their best to distance themselves from Macross as well since nothing in Shadow Rising had anything visual to do with Macross... its almost as if the mins are like... well, jail bait...

The Macross saga is the most popular segment of Robotech, followed by New Generation/MOSPEDA, and Southern Cross comes a distant third. While Shadow Chronicles did remove or minimise as much of the Macross elements as it could, it's almost certainly a result of the legal battles between Big West and Tatsunoko. 

Basically Big West produced the original Macross TV series, but were running low on money.  Tatsunoko agreed to pick up the costs in return for international distribution rights and a significant share of merchanidse and funded an additional 10 episodes after the show's initial success.  It was Tatsunoko who sold the US rights to Harmony Gold.

In 2002 and 2003, a series of legal battles between Tatsunoko and Big West asserted that Big West had the rights to the designs and intellectual properties of Macross, while Tatsunoko held the rights to the original TV series' actual production.  As a result of this, while Harmony Gold has a fairly solid lock on distribution and merchandise for Macross, they've less of a legal standpoint to use the Macross designs in new animation.  As a result Rick looked much older, and the SDF-3 was redesigned so it didn't resemble a Zentraedi cruiser even slightly.
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Wrangler

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I wonder how much these things are going to cost....I can't imagine there going be inexpensive.
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Stormlion1

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Everytime I look at these, I get more and more impressed. But I honestly and really doubt there will be much of a crossover in scale for anything but the odd destroid and the Unseen. The Robotech Valkyries are just going to be to big for the Valkyrie, Stinger, and Wasp and the Phoenix Hawk may be close, but I can already here the people complaining that the scale just won't be perfect. What I want to know will these come prepainted and dissassembled or will it be up to the buyer to assemble and paint these puppies. I also wonder just what kind of game this will be as well.
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The_head_of_Neal

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They would be foolish to not have these guys in the same scale as Battetech.  The money is in the minis not the rules, and when another game system will use your minis...

Anyone else waiting with baited breath for a M.A.C.II Monster.  O0

davitch

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Just by looking at the bases for the pictures above, these are not going to scale well with current production lines from IWM.  IWM hasn't changed alot of their molds since they bought them from Ral Partha, which makes alot of the sculpts out of scale with their most recent sculpts that are closer to the right scale. 

Although the Robotech miniatures look nice and seem to be well thought out, there is going to be a scale issue.  Rifleman should not be the same size as an Atlas.
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Glaug will be way too big anyhow. I use real 1/200 Glaugs for N-scale. And look at the 80's 1/200 stuff I posted.

No it won't. Have you seen how tall the reseen Marauder is? It's 55 mm to the shoulder. That places it at about 16 meters tall, which is what the Glaug is supposed to be. In fact, the Old unseen Marauder mini I have, if it had its dorsal gun, would be 50mm tall, in line with the old classic Battlemaster I have.

That's not too big of a difference. Sure, it makes the destroids look small, but, it's spindlier too.

I've seen quotations somewhere of 40-50 mm figures. It'll work perfectly as far as I'm concerned, as long as they keep to that.

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