SDCC GI Joe/Transformer leftover stock to be sold by...

[Doom Saber]

I also happened to call HTS customer services line while all this was going on......I didn't expect the woman I spoke to to know about the exclusives in depth.....but I asked her if she knew if the GI Joe/Transformers exclusive would be up....and she told me that all she was told was that that particular exclusive would not be available.

 

I asked her about the Joe club getting it and she had no idea what the Joe club was.....and I believed her. She just answers phones......but she told me that all she was briefed to tell people was that it wouldn't be available.

 

And the source of my "reportedly" is someone that did that very same thing on the day the exclusives went up. A HTS employee told them that they had received the Transformer/G.I. Joe exclusive, but that the couldn't put them up because of a lawsuit and weren't sure if it was going to be available. This also was after the Club e-mail went out. Sounds like the CS employee you spoke to was a little better briefed (or maybe it was later in the day).

 

Either way, don't be at all surprised if the Joe Club raffle doesn't happen now either.

 

A lawsuit? Is Harmony Gold that very protective over an IP they never made, but acquired?

 

After writing the above sentence, I decided to check the Harmony Gold Wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony_Gold_USA just to see what other crap they've done since I remember them being all "courts and lawsuits" whenever a Japanese toy company or even the Japanese owners of Macross try to bring Macross to the west.

 

Anyway, on the wiki page it says this:

 

In addition, Harmony Gold’s license for Macross came from Tatsunoko Production, but Japanese courts ruled that it was Studio Nue (creators of the series) that controls the Macross intellectual property. The license Tatsunoko was given was for international distribution outside Japan only, and does not allow them to control the intellectual property.[citation needed]

 

Harmony Gold claims in Federal Court that Hasbro's SDCC 2013 exclusive set "G.I. Joe and the Transformers ... The Epic Conclusion" violates their copyright license on the animated Japanese Macross TV series (1982-84).[4]

 

They also provided a link to that reference, which is this:

 

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/07/23/59597.htm

 

The link has a PDF file of the lawsuit:

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/07/23/Transformers.pdf

[Doom Saber]

For anyone that is a fan of the Robotech/Macross series, it should be surprising (though I was) that Harmony Gold is suing over the matter since it appears that it is the only thing it does nowadays - sue or a prevent a company to bring over Macross merchandise in the west and then follow up with a shoddy version of their own.

 

It is the reason why America hasn't gotten an official Macross sequel since Macross Plus; Harmony Gold released a follow up to their Robotech franchise, which ended in a cliffhanger - it was made as a response to the Macross 25th Anniversary series, "Macross Frontier."

 

Other than that they blocked off any Japanese Macross games coming to the west, and instead had companies like TDK making games based on the series. They even block Yamato from releasing a domestic release of their Macross toyline, and instead had Toynami (a US company) make inferior versions that stoled ideas from the Yamato line.

 

While it is true that a proper Macross translation was released in the US, it was released because of Harmony Gold trying to milk the line.

[Jmacq1]

For anyone that is a fan of the Robotech/Macross series, it should be surprising (though I was) that Harmony Gold is suing over the matter since it appears that it is the only thing it does nowadays - sue or a prevent a company to bring over Macross merchandise in the west and then follow up with a shoddy version of their own.

 

It is the reason why America hasn't gotten an official Macross sequel since Macross Plus; Harmony Gold released a follow up to their Robotech franchise, which ended in a cliffhanger - it was made as a response to the Macross 25th Anniversary series, "Macross Frontier."

 

Other than that they blocked off any Japanese Macross games coming to the west, and instead had companies like TDK making games based on the series. They even block Yamato from releasing a domestic release of their Macross toyline, and instead had Toynami (a US company) make inferior versions that stoled ideas from the Yamato line.

 

While it is true that a proper Macross translation was released in the US, it was released because of Harmony Gold trying to milk the line.

 

Pretty much true, though what you're missing is that at this point the folks in Japan don't even care about bringing Macross stuff to the United States, and in fact, the Japanese side of the coin has been just as big of dicks as Harmony Gold, albeit in different ways. Basically, there have been times when Harmony Gold was willing to play ball, but the Japanese side wasn't, and vice-versa. Now there's so much bad blood on both sides that nothing's ever likely to happen. Though in all truth, Harmony Gold's "ownership" of the Macross license has never TRULY been tested in the courts. If Hasbro were to take this case to trial, it would in fact be the first time it would be held up to scrutiny (every other time Harmony Gold has gotten lawsuit-happy the other parties either settled out of court or simply gave up...for example FASA/Battletech simply stopped using the Macross (and Dougram) inspired designs in their game despite having had a valid license of their own to use them...contrary to popular belief they did NOT lose a lawsuit with Harmony Gold nor were they "pirating" the designs back in the day...it never went to trial because FASA knew they wouldn't be able to afford a protracted court case). Harmony Gold's claim certainly has NOT held up in Japan's courts. Not that it gives any legal weight in the USA, but even so...

 

It would be some glorious irony if Hasbro were to take this to court and end up invalidating HG's license, or bankrupting them with court costs, but sadly it's not a very likely outcome.

 

In any case, the interest on the Japan side isn't really there anyway: The anime boom has long since been over in the US, and most of the Japanese-made Macross toys wouldn't pass American safety standards, so even if they got a domestic release as "collector oriented product" they probably wouldn't cost much less than they do via import now.

 

On a side note: The first Robotech game on PS2 was actually pretty fun.

[JoeRhyno]

The funny part in the lawsuit, if you read it is part of what they want is for Hasbro to obtain all the sold sets. I guess they could track people down through credit card transactions, but what about cash sales... and then what about those that bought it and then resold it after SDCC... lol. I hope Hasbro takes this on. It's silly because it's one tiny little insert showing the art from the original tech spec.. it's not like it's a huge drawing on the box, or a huge picture of the original toy on the back. They demanded a jury trial too.. I hope that works in Hasbro's favor too.

[Doom Saber]

For anyone that is a fan of the Robotech/Macross series, it should be surprising (though I was) that Harmony Gold is suing over the matter since it appears that it is the only thing it does nowadays - sue or a prevent a company to bring over Macross merchandise in the west and then follow up with a shoddy version of their own.

 

It is the reason why America hasn't gotten an official Macross sequel since Macross Plus; Harmony Gold released a follow up to their Robotech franchise, which ended in a cliffhanger - it was made as a response to the Macross 25th Anniversary series, "Macross Frontier."

 

Other than that they blocked off any Japanese Macross games coming to the west, and instead had companies like TDK making games based on the series. They even block Yamato from releasing a domestic release of their Macross toyline, and instead had Toynami (a US company) make inferior versions that stoled ideas from the Yamato line.

 

While it is true that a proper Macross translation was released in the US, it was released because of Harmony Gold trying to milk the line.

 

Pretty much true, though what you're missing is that at this point the folks in Japan don't even care about bringing Macross stuff to the United States, and in fact, the Japanese side of the coin has been just as big of dicks as Harmony Gold, albeit in different ways. Basically, there have been times when Harmony Gold was willing to play ball, but the Japanese side wasn't, and vice-versa. Now there's so much bad blood on both sides that nothing's ever likely to happen. Though in all truth, Harmony Gold's "ownership" of the Macross license has never TRULY been tested in the courts. If Hasbro were to take this case to trial, it would in fact be the first time it would be held up to scrutiny (every other time Harmony Gold has gotten lawsuit-happy the other parties either settled out of court or simply gave up...for example FASA/Battletech simply stopped using the Macross (and Dougram) inspired designs in their game despite having had a valid license of their own to use them...contrary to popular belief they did NOT lose a lawsuit with Harmony Gold nor were they "pirating" the designs back in the day...it never went to trial because FASA knew they wouldn't be able to afford a protracted court case). Harmony Gold's claim certainly has NOT held up in Japan's courts. Not that it gives any legal weight in the USA, but even so...

 

It would be some glorious irony if Hasbro were to take this to court and end up invalidating HG's license, or bankrupting them with court costs, but sadly it's not a very likely outcome.

 

In any case, the interest on the Japan side isn't really there anyway: The anime boom has long since been over in the US, and most of the Japanese-made Macross toys wouldn't pass American safety standards, so even if they got a domestic release as "collector oriented product" they probably wouldn't cost much less than they do via import now.

 

On a side note: The first Robotech game on PS2 was actually pretty fun.

I used to follow Macross and from my understanding, the Japanese were willing to bring merch to the States. I recall them trying to bring the Yamato figures out here, as well as a lawsuit between Harmony Gold and a Japanese company over the license of Macross merchandise to the west. Harmony Gold ended up losing. Despite losing, Harmony Gold still bar the figures somehow.

 

Here is a link where Big West, The original creators of Macross, won the lawsuit over Harmony Gold in who owns international rights. This was around a decade ago

 

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2002-02-26/macross-lawsuit

[Nguyen_Dragon]

I bit the bullet and got one off eBay for around $180...

[Jmacq1]

For anyone that is a fan of the Robotech/Macross series, it should be surprising (though I was) that Harmony Gold is suing over the matter since it appears that it is the only thing it does nowadays - sue or a prevent a company to bring over Macross merchandise in the west and then follow up with a shoddy version of their own.

 

It is the reason why America hasn't gotten an official Macross sequel since Macross Plus; Harmony Gold released a follow up to their Robotech franchise, which ended in a cliffhanger - it was made as a response to the Macross 25th Anniversary series, "Macross Frontier."

 

Other than that they blocked off any Japanese Macross games coming to the west, and instead had companies like TDK making games based on the series. They even block Yamato from releasing a domestic release of their Macross toyline, and instead had Toynami (a US company) make inferior versions that stoled ideas from the Yamato line.

 

While it is true that a proper Macross translation was released in the US, it was released because of Harmony Gold trying to milk the line.

 

Pretty much true, though what you're missing is that at this point the folks in Japan don't even care about bringing Macross stuff to the United States, and in fact, the Japanese side of the coin has been just as big of dicks as Harmony Gold, albeit in different ways. Basically, there have been times when Harmony Gold was willing to play ball, but the Japanese side wasn't, and vice-versa. Now there's so much bad blood on both sides that nothing's ever likely to happen. Though in all truth, Harmony Gold's "ownership" of the Macross license has never TRULY been tested in the courts. If Hasbro were to take this case to trial, it would in fact be the first time it would be held up to scrutiny (every other time Harmony Gold has gotten lawsuit-happy the other parties either settled out of court or simply gave up...for example FASA/Battletech simply stopped using the Macross (and Dougram) inspired designs in their game despite having had a valid license of their own to use them...contrary to popular belief they did NOT lose a lawsuit with Harmony Gold nor were they "pirating" the designs back in the day...it never went to trial because FASA knew they wouldn't be able to afford a protracted court case). Harmony Gold's claim certainly has NOT held up in Japan's courts. Not that it gives any legal weight in the USA, but even so...

 

It would be some glorious irony if Hasbro were to take this to court and end up invalidating HG's license, or bankrupting them with court costs, but sadly it's not a very likely outcome.

 

In any case, the interest on the Japan side isn't really there anyway: The anime boom has long since been over in the US, and most of the Japanese-made Macross toys wouldn't pass American safety standards, so even if they got a domestic release as "collector oriented product" they probably wouldn't cost much less than they do via import now.

 

On a side note: The first Robotech game on PS2 was actually pretty fun.

I used to follow Macross and from my understanding, the Japanese were willing to bring merch to the States. I recall them trying to bring the Yamato figures out here, as well as a lawsuit between Harmony Gold and a Japanese company over the license of Macross merchandise to the west. Harmony Gold ended up losing. Despite losing, Harmony Gold still bar the figures somehow.

 

Here is a link where Big West, The original creators of Macross, won the lawsuit over Harmony Gold in who owns international rights. This was around a decade ago

 

http://www.animenews...macross-lawsuit

 

Right. That's what I was talking about with the Japan side winning outside the US. But while they had interest in bringing Macross over 10 years ago...not so much now. 10 years ago the anime market in the US was much, much bigger than it is now. Heck, it's almost had a 90's comic-book style collapse. It's possible an American distributor would be interested in the Macross properties (particularly Frontier) but most of the indicators are that Big West doesn't think the US Market is worth the trouble anymore. It doesn't help that to fully appreciate Frontier, you really need to have seen the preceding Macross series...or at least Macross Zero, Macross 7, and "Do You Remember Love?" and Macross 7 and the original Macross are pretty long in the tooth now. Don't get me wrong...the already-existing US Macross fans (myself included) would buy the heck out of it all, but it would have an uphill battle for mainstream success.

[Outsiders]

I was wondering since we haven't heard of anyone winning the lottery and getting selected and GI Joe Club pulled the information from their website. Can we file a lawsuit against them for conducting a false lottery? Everyone else wants to sue them so why not us as well?

[Ren]

I was wondering since we haven't heard of anyone winning the lottery and getting selected and GI Joe Club pulled the information from their website. Can we file a lawsuit against them for conducting a false lottery? Everyone else wants to sue them so why not us as well?

 

I was wondering the same. Already not a fan of the club. I understand it costs a lot to maintain the club and club exclusives, but they seem to take particular joy in raking members wallets over the hot coals any chance they get. Just my opinion, of course. But I'll stick to being a non-member.