For your reading enjoyment!

So,,, I decided to go to the source this morning... and I began a good search of "Harmony Gold Reputation" so i could find out what the industry things about HG, and see if that is different from disgruntled RT fans.

One of the better results was this site: http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/Company/Harmony-Gold.aspx

That's right, a website all about companies that rip people off!

There are about 4 posts on here, and 0 rebuttals. Most of the posts involve the MPC Valkyries including the possible copyright infringement of the design, the promises of 33% die-cast and then a change of position AFTER the cut-off for canceling pre-orders which resulted in only about 6% die cast. Also, alot of comments about how HG has blocked the importation of any Macross merchandise... all sorts of good stuff, including Steve Yun supposedly removing all criticism of the MPC from the forums and then banning all users that made complaints.

Another interesting point was the claim that the credits in the Robotech DVDs did not give any credits to the original writers of the three original series. Now I sold off all of my legacy edition DVDs.. so can anyone check and see if there is any reference to the original creators of the properties that Robotech was comprised of?

And my apologies if this is all re-hashing of old, old stuff, but I just found it interesting that this is what you hear about the reputation of HG. I have not found any references to their quality, good real estate practices, or anything positive about them yet. If i do, I will post it up since i do like to show both sides of the subject... but I think that this again just supports the position that HG.com is all about the profit, and not about advancing the property.

For the record, no. I don't believe the old Robotech DVDs credit the people who actually created Macross. They list Tatsunoko, but not Big West or Studio Nue.

And along those lines, the studios that created Southern Cross and Mospeada were also probably not credited...
if someone said, well Robotech is the story written by Carl Macek so the original story doesnt matter... I would point them the the wikipedia article for Mospeada and the fact that the original story line and character names were just slightly slightly changed to fit into RT and English.


(As a side note... its funny how it always comes back to Macross it seems, with the other two series kinda being forgotten / ignored. I know that back in the 80s when I was watching Robotech I remembered the Macross saga well, and a few glimpses of the New Generation.. but Robotech Masters I had 0 knowledge of until i read the Jack McKinney novels.....I wonder if the Masters were even shown here in PGH.)

But back on topic, I always thought my MPC Max Sterling felt a bit cheap and reminded me alot of a model kit i had when i was 7, but I didn't know better 8 years ago when i found it and bought it on clearance. And to wrap it up.. I wonder what the number of people banned vs number of "true fans" is.... its amazing how one sided people can be in this whole thing, especially, imo, the "true fans" that take it all on faith and trust...

Before I completely take over this thread... I found an article about Toynami from the 2010 New York Toy Fair posted by CollectionDX.

http://www.collectiondx.com/article/nytf_2010_toynami

Apparently there will be no new Cyclones, and no other new merchandise is on the horizon after these recent Battlepods... so that chatter from Steve Yun about maybe getting hovertanks? I wouldnt put much faith into it.

Also, the rework of the Maia Sterling Alpha was also pretty limited, and if you see SushiSpooks comments in various forums regarding the rework.. it sounds like it was pretty minimal.

Apparently I next need to learn about Toynami and what they all about. Do they actually design anything of their own? Do they just license stuff from Aoshima and other Japanese manufacturers to release them in the US?

I have contacts out to an old Anime Insider reporter to find out a neutral perspective on the issue... and once i get anything im allowed to repeat, i will let ya know. If you guys can find anything though, lemme know. thanks!