Certainly not safe for work but full of bits of gaming history that was news to me. Its a fun video. Hopefully you're not too offended by excessive vulgarity ;)
While I enjoyed the rant, was that really all one take?, the ranter clearly has his biases. Personally, I think that what Harmony Gold did with Robotech, taking three completely separate series, removing the blantant sexism, and writing a totally new story linking them all was nothing short of brilliant. That being said, the IP for Robotech is a hot mess. Even the name Robotech doesn't belong to Harmony Gold but was licensed from Revell, the model company, as they already owned the trademark for an unrelated series of models. To be fair to Harmony Gold, FASA opened themselves up to litigation when they outright stole the mecha designs from Macross. All that should be ancient history though. Perhaps Harmony Gold today should concentrate on finshing the Robotech story rather then be concerned with what other people are doing. Even better, they should find someone else to license a Robotech RPG so we can get a decent game out of it.
When FASA created the Battledroids boardgame in 1984 that would become BattleTech, the designers licensed the rights from Twentieth Century Imports (TCI) to use certain pre-existing mecha from the Japanese anime series' The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Fang of the Sun Dougram and Crusher Joe. These were then used as visual representation of several BattleMechs and other units within the BattleTech universe, under new BattleTech-specific names and with BattleTech game stats devised entirely by FASA.
They didn't "outright steal" the designs.
"During a series of lawsuits FASA found out that TCI, from whom FASA's rights to the images derived, might not have been in a legal position to provide these rights to FASA in the first place. However, this was ultimately never decided. The lawsuits were settled out of court in 1996."
That is the official story from team FASA per the lawsuit. I remember reading other versions in print, pre-Internet, but since I don't have my fingers on those sources I'll concede the point. We can still agree the IP is a mess.
The pure foul mouthed fan boy gushing he throws out there for BT in this and his "Battletech: An Introduction" video has me itching to head down to the basement and pull all my old BT books off the shelf.
I'll never understand the whole IP fiasco, but I basically agree with him that it's ridiculous for this still to be a thing. Primarily about the upcoming PC game - the miniatures/wargame is still (moderately) active.
Now THAT, my friend is how you go on a rant!
ReplyDeleteHere in the UK you might get a raised eyebrow and a 'tsk-tsk' or (if you REALLY screw up) a heavy sigh and some rolled eyes.
As a backer of the latest BT Kickstarter, that made my day.
This guy takes RANTS to a whole new level.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as a backer of the BT Kickstarter (and still having my original Board game, etc, etc, etc) I approve.
As bit of shame, I did watch the Robotech stuff as a kid. But what can you do? :)
While I enjoyed the rant, was that really all one take?, the ranter clearly has his biases. Personally, I think that what Harmony Gold did with Robotech, taking three completely separate series, removing the blantant sexism, and writing a totally new story linking them all was nothing short of brilliant. That being said, the IP for Robotech is a hot mess. Even the name Robotech doesn't belong to Harmony Gold but was licensed from Revell, the model company, as they already owned the trademark for an unrelated series of models. To be fair to Harmony Gold, FASA opened themselves up to litigation when they outright stole the mecha designs from Macross. All that should be ancient history though. Perhaps Harmony Gold today should concentrate on finshing the Robotech story rather then be concerned with what other people are doing. Even better, they should find someone else to license a Robotech RPG so we can get a decent game out of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen FASA created the Battledroids boardgame in 1984 that would become BattleTech, the designers licensed the rights from Twentieth Century Imports (TCI) to use certain pre-existing mecha from the Japanese anime series' The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Fang of the Sun Dougram and Crusher Joe. These were then used as visual representation of several BattleMechs and other units within the BattleTech universe, under new BattleTech-specific names and with BattleTech game stats devised entirely by FASA.
DeleteThey didn't "outright steal" the designs.
"During a series of lawsuits FASA found out that TCI, from whom FASA's rights to the images derived, might not have been in a legal position to provide these rights to FASA in the first place. However, this was ultimately never decided. The lawsuits were settled out of court in 1996."
That is the official story from team FASA per the lawsuit. I remember reading other versions in print, pre-Internet, but since I don't have my fingers on those sources I'll concede the point. We can still agree the IP is a mess.
DeleteThe pure foul mouthed fan boy gushing he throws out there for BT in this and his "Battletech: An Introduction" video has me itching to head down to the basement and pull all my old BT books off the shelf.
ReplyDeleteRazorfist is always entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI'll never understand the whole IP fiasco, but I basically agree with him that it's ridiculous for this still to be a thing. Primarily about the upcoming PC game - the miniatures/wargame is still (moderately) active.
ReplyDelete