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Xeno426 In reply to Miscreant74 [2017-07-27 21:01:48 +0000 UTC]

Keep in mind this was the mid-80's; there was no internet to easily figure out who owned the rights to what. FASA bought the rights to use a bunch of anime mecha, some from a company already distributing in North America, some from the original Japanese creators, and thought they had their bases covered.

HG also got a license, but they managed to successfully argue in court that the vague wording of their license gave them exclusive distribution rights to all of North America. Hell, they even tried to take complete international rights away from the original Japanese creators, but the judge was on the ball in that regard and shot it down.

Fast forward a few years, HG gives FASA a C&D, but FASA thinks it's in the clear (it bought licenses, after all), and so ignores it. Nothing comes of this for a several more years, and then Playmates comes out with an Exo-Squad toy that looks suspiciously like one of FASA's own unique designs. They sue for copyright, but then then they get sued as well for copyright on the various Robotech mecha that they thought they had license for. As it turns out, those licenses they bought weren't worth anything, because either the company they got them from didn't technically have the right to re-sell the license in the first place or HG owned exclusive NA distribution rights to them.

FASA and HG settled out of course, so we don't know the details, but the result was that FASA would never use the mecha of Robotech origin ever again in North American publication. However, since they technically still existed in-universe, they became known as "unseen".

It should be noted that the Japanese company that made the various Robotech mecha is not at all happy with Harmony Gold. HG's super-litigious behavior has basically blocked them from expanding into the North American market, and it's why Macross never got very big in the US.

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Miscreant74 In reply to Xeno426 [2019-09-18 18:18:55 +0000 UTC]

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Miscreant74 In reply to GenghisQuan [2012-01-21 21:25:18 +0000 UTC]

the one from Robotech packed 40cm artillery cannons(4;top main cannons) and the arm launchers triple tubes and fired MRMs or in a pinch SRMs but in Battletech/Mechwarrior you could load any that could fit a heavy Mech. PS in Robotech it weighed 370tons. The last Time I played Mechwarrior the Max Weight was 100 tons with out ammo. They May have bigger mechs now but I don't see them going for 300 ton class.

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masterofcaps In reply to GenghisQuan [2010-02-21 11:21:37 +0000 UTC]

Uh..., I have no clue. It's not my design, so make up your own stats.
If you don't already know it SSW is a good and free Battlemech Designer.
[link]
How you convert the Tabletop stats to the MW4 game is up to you.

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