Weekly Update Oct 10 2014

[Jaymz]

Ok boys, girls, and gamers of all ages.....it is another week so it is time for another update and commentary.

As i always say, those who do not like my commentaries or criticisms therein are welcome to NOT read them. That being said...here we go:

www.palladiumbooks.com/index.php…

"The creative energies have been flowing, with work on Matthew Clements’ Dead Reign™ Sourcebook: Graveyard Earth™ (it’s probably being typeset and laid out as you read this), "

Is there a time the creative juices AREN'T flowing? That being said I am glad to see the the DR book might actually be out prior to Halloween but it is cutting it close with a 2-3 week printer turn around...

"Palladium Christmas Surprise Packages start NOW!"

These are an AWESOME deal if you live in the US. Not so much in Canada as shipping costs almost as much as the package itself. Regardless it IS an excellent deal otherwise. Seems a bit early which is a good thing with all that has gone on that wasn't so positive this year.

"NEW! Coalition States Polo Shirt with Embroidered Emblem"

Neat may have to buy one....

"NEW! Black, White and Red, Property of the Coalition States T-Shirt"

Variety is good

"Could an Embroidered Rifts® Logo Polo Shirt be next?"

Why ask? Just do it.

"Robotech® RPG Tactics™"

Glad to see it's getting into full swing for shipping. Still not expecting mine before December being in Canada.

"HELP Wanted: Still have a need for volunteers"

Haven't heard of any issues but this idea still makes me nervous....

"UPDATE: Dead Reign™ – Graveyard Earth™ Sourcebook"

As I said glad to see this MIGHT actually be out before end of month.

"UPDATE: Palladium Fantasy RPG®: Bizantium and the Northern Islands™"

MAYBE just MAYBE they will actually gt this out by end of year.

"UPDATE: The Rifter® #68 – Autumn Issue"

They need to get this back on time more often than not , not the other way around. It used to be the most consistently on time release and it is a crap shoot now and has been for a couple of years now.

"UPDATE: Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook One
– Formerly titled ‘UEEF Marines’

It’s coming. Still planned for a 2014 release."

Not bloody likely LOL

"UPDATE: 2015 Open House – May 14-17, 2015"

Day trip still planned.

"This week threw us some unexpected curves"

Um.....after 30 years of unexpected curves happening ALL THE TIME...shouldn't you actually plan accordingly? Just sayin'. In this case with Wayne that IS truly unexpected and I am very happy he is ok. Wayne is a good guy and catches a LOT of flack for stuff he has no control over as probably the most public face of Palladium.

"Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Box Set – Cat. No. 55100 - Retail Release Date: In stores September, 2014."

Guys? Seriously, check your work before you copy/paste things over....this is what? the third time this has been pointed out?

"2015 POH Game Masters needed"

I'd love too.......but being only a day trip and wanting to meet people and chat with them as long as I can.....that would be difficult at best and damn near impossible otherwise. I'll be happy to just get there, wander around and talk to people quite honestly.

That's it for this week folks. See you next time

[MacrossMike]

Oct 12, 2014 13:54:39 GMT Jaymz said:

"The creative energies have been flowing, with work on Matthew Clements’ Dead Reign™ Sourcebook: Graveyard Earth™ (it’s probably being typeset and laid out as you read this), "

The creative energies have been flowing... on a project that amounts to little more than the end result of a Halloween-themed mad-lib.

Seriously.  Why are they acting like writing a zombie book is hard?  Zombies are the lowest common denominator of monster bullshit.  A whole book devoted to zombie bullcrap is the sort of thing any barely-sapient writer could start writing at 9 and have the finished manuscript before lunch.  They're the darlings of movie monster enthusiasts precisely because they're so painfully uncomplicated that even a criminally incompetent idiot like Uwe Boll can do a half-decent job.

As achievements go, having written a zombie book is about as worthy of celebration as going into the office and NOT dying in a tragic stapler accident... nobody with anything resembling a sense of perspective could pretend it's worth noting.

Oct 12, 2014 13:54:39 GMT Jaymz said:

Is there a time the creative juices AREN'T flowing? That being said I am glad to see the the DR book might actually be out prior to Halloween but it is cutting it close with a 2-3 week printer turn around...

Well, yeah... when the run out of booze.

Oct 12, 2014 13:54:39 GMT Jaymz said:

These are an AWESOME deal if you live in the US. Not so much in Canada as shipping costs almost as much as the package itself. Regardless it IS an excellent deal otherwise. Seems a bit early which is a good thing with all that has gone on that wasn't so positive this year.

Mac, I gotta tell ya... if you think THAT'S bad, I'll help you import some books and models from Japan directly sometime.  If you're using EMS for shipping, you count yourself lucky if the cost of shipping is less than the cost of the goods you ordered, even if it's just by a few cents.  When I ordered the binders for my 2nd Edition Macross Chronicle collection, the cost of shipping was THREE TIMES what the goods themselves cost.  Importing some of those rare books and models, I've seen shipping bills of almost $300 for some orders.

Oct 12, 2014 13:54:39 GMT Jaymz said:

"UPDATE: Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook One
– Formerly titled ‘UEEF Marines’

It’s coming. Still planned for a 2014 release."

Sure it'll be a 2014 release... he didn't say what calendar, so we can always attribute the inevitable missed target to him using the Armenian, Baha'i, Bengali, Burmese, Coptic, Ethiopian, or a host of other calendars that'll give him hundreds or thousands of years before 2014.  The 1,911 years he'll have under the Juche calendar should be enough to get it right, right?

I mean, sure, it's still going to be crap and clinging to the OSM's coattails so hard it's laughable to pretend it's Robotech... but at least he'll kick it out the door.

Oct 12, 2014 13:54:39 GMT Jaymz said:

Um.....after 30 years of unexpected curves happening ALL THE TIME...shouldn't you actually plan accordingly? Just sayin'. In this case with Wayne that IS truly unexpected and I am very happy he is ok. Wayne is a good guy and catches a LOT of flack for stuff he has no control over as probably the most public face of Palladium.

When something finally goes exactly to plan, he won't know what to do... though how many of the curveballs are truly unexpected, and how many are not really curveballs at all, but the result of truly incompetent management?  I make a living unfucking people's business practices, and Kevin sometimes gives me the impression that he treats the Pointy-Haired Boss from Dilbert as a role model.

Oct 12, 2014 13:54:39 GMT Jaymz said:

"Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Box Set – Cat. No. 55100 - Retail Release Date: In stores September, 2014."

Guys? Seriously, check your work before you copy/paste things over....this is what? the third time this has been pointed out?

Juche calendar all the way, bro!  In 96 years we can party like it's 199!

Besides, "in stores" when it's Robotech just means "collecting dust".  Not like it matters.

[kryptt]

Let's hope the HG guys don't get the tatsunoko guys drunk and the "accidently" give HG the rights to macross again in 8yrs time. Does this mean my RT RPG and minis game be worth more money in 2022?

i can only imagine the reaction of the hardcore fans on RT.com. They'll probably go crazy ape shit. 

[MacrossMike]

Oct 15, 2014 4:03:51 GMT kryptt said:

Let's hope the HG guys don't get the tatsunoko guys drunk and the "accidently" give HG the rights to macross again in 8yrs time. Does this mean my RT RPG and minis game be worth more money in 2022?

Really, I don't think that's something we need to worry about.

Harmony Gold isn't exactly making money hand over fist on Robotech.  They never have, but the past few years have been especially telling for how poorly they're actually doing.  The Robotech RPG Tactics Kickstarter was, demographically, driven more by Palladium fans and Battletech fans than Robotech ones, and after all the brouhaha over broken promises, delays, and quality issues, the chances of it getting an expansion set are near-zero and shrinking daily... and that is the ONLY success they've had in the last seven years.  That's why they don't quantify their alleged success.  If they did tell us their sales figures, instead of forcing the few people determined enough to unearth the objective data to contact their distributors, the fandom would be somewhat disillusioned to realize that when Robotech is allegedly "selling gangbusters", it's only moving a few thousand copies WORLDWIDE.  Most of them would be shocked to learn the bar is set SO LOW that it's a trip hazard in Satan's wine cellar.

After so many years spent with their thumbs up their collective asses, they jump at every hint that Robotech might still be worth money... only to discover they've got an over-inflated sense of their own importance and nobody wants their shit.  They had to resort to begging their fans for a $500k pittance to develop a new TV series pilot and something like half of the $194k they actually got pledges for was from just a dozen people.

In eight years, they won't have enough money to print a batch of CafePress shirts... let alone convince Tatsunoko it's worth it to renew their license when Bandai has made a push to release ALL of Gundam in the US.

Oct 15, 2014 4:03:51 GMT kryptt said:

i can only imagine the reaction of the hardcore fans on RT.com. They'll probably go crazy ape shit. 

They probably wouldn't understand what it meant... and would probably think it meant Robotech could use the Macross designs.

[kryptt]

I wonder if HG will use their macross patent to continue to hamper macross products in 8yrs time?

[MacrossMike]

Oct 19, 2014 20:26:07 GMT kryptt said:

I wonder if HG will use their macross patent to continue to hamper macross products in 8yrs time?

*heavy sigh*  The word you're looking for is TRADEMARK.

A copyright is the exclusive right, protected under law, of an original work's creator to control his work's use and distribution in the name of making a profit from his (or her) work... and applies to things like literature, film, and software.

A trademark is a recognizable sign, symbol, design, or other form of marking that identifies a product or brand and distinguishes it from others.. and applies to titles, logos, iconography, distinctive terminology, and the names of services.

A patent is the legally-protected exclusive right of an inventor to control the use and distribution of an invention in exchange for publicly disclosing their invention.

Terms are a particular problem where the Robotech legal mess is concerned... because Robotech fans don't seem to know the difference between 'em, and so the poor schlubs get easily confused as to whether Harmony Gold owns a copyright to Macross (they don't) or trademarks (plural) on the Macross logo and the specific word "Macross".  'course, the Robotech fans also don't seem to know the difference between a ruling and an appeal for summary judgment, which has made them all the easier to confuse for those doing the confusing.



Once Harmony Gold loses its license to the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross series in 2022 (or earlier if Tatsunoko can be persuaded to cancel it), they won't be able to continue filing to renew their registered trademarks on the Macross name and logo.  Unlike a copyrights and patents, which provide the exclusive legal protection for the creator for several decades before expiring, trademarks have to be renewed by filing an affidavit to prove you're actually using the thing the trademark covers to renew the trademark registration every couple of years.

Without the rights granted to them under license by Tatsunoko, Harmony Gold would no longer be able to legally use anything Macross... and therefore they would no longer be able to file an affidavit of continuous use to renew their trademarks.  Even if their last renewal left them with a few years to go, it would be child's play for the new licensee to challenge Harmony Gold's trademark and win.

[kryptt]

My bad meant trademark. And thanks, good to know that. I'm looking forward to macross products hitting western shores someday.

[MacrossMike]

Oct 20, 2014 3:17:33 GMT kryptt said:

My bad meant trademark. And thanks, good to know that. I'm looking forward to macross products hitting western shores someday.

Eh, I should apologize... I shouldn't get irritated by things like that, it's just a pet peeve since I spend all damn day dealing with other people's intellectual property at work.  It doesn't help that, while US copyright and patent law is pretty straightforward, trademark law seems to have been written by an infinite number of monkeys huffing an infinite amount of paint thinner.  (also known as "a typical Tuesday in congress")

But yeah, maybe Macross Δ will be the first Macross series to reach the United States since Macross Plus... we'll be seeing that in a year or two, and Robotech's simply not long for this world when even a non-starter like Voltron is considered to be slumming by doing a crossover with it in the name of meager sales of a few thousand issues.