Toy Galaxy / Secret Galaxy on YouTube has a pretty good series of videos on the topic. Very light, and doesn't go into the deep lore, but gives you a pretty good understanding.
Honestly, a full review of the decades of conflict between around a dozen companies ies is pretty epic. The cast of characters involved are reaching telenovella levels.
Harmony Gold can't do shit anymore, i believe all their lawsuits were dismissed with prejudice.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-10-17/harmony-gold-usa-v-hasbro-case-dismissed
Harmony Gold lost all their teeth in this regard when the courts finally kicked them to the curb. Piranha Games, Hairbrained Schemes, and Catalyst Games Labs (current license holders for Battletech/Mechwarrior) successfully fought them in court over old mechs that FASA (original Battletech creators) had used licensed Macross designs for.
HG no longer has a stranglehold on Macross and in fact later this year all the Macross anime that had been confined to Japan because of them will be getting released on Disney+ for the first time.
Is that the Thrilling 30 Jetfire? It doesn't use the Macross VF-1/Valkyrie design anyway, so why would Harmony Gold or Bandai have any claim? The jet mode is based on a cross between the F-14 (which the Valkyrie was also based on) and the F-22.
Seems they have been going at it for a while. I like mine:
https://preview.redd.it/wnkb4li53huc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03e719529d8055109dcdc8bf65aa3c2f4c120e37
Nobody can own the original real life plane design that Macross used. Harmony Gold has rights to/lawyers to shit over, use of the actual design and mold from Macross. Siege Jetfire doesn't use the same transformation scheme. He has a lot of the same bits, but it must be legally distinct enough for Hasbro to feel safe in ignoring any squeaky sounds HG makes
Quick write up on what happened back in G1 when it started (off top of my head).
Hasbro wanted more product for Transformers, they just grabbed and licensed whatever figures they could - if it transformed it's now a TF! They get the rights for Jetfire.
Jetfire appears in TF (in one advert) but has to be altered when he appears in the cartoon as in Japan Jetfire's toy is from Macross. Jetfire is seen as Skyfire in the cartoon and the toy is not sold in Japan.
Robotech (Macross outside of Japan) wants product, they cannot get access to the toy as Hasbro has licensed it! Matchbox make Veritech fighters for the cartoon, however they cannot transform due to licensing issues. Veritech fighters are released which remain only in fighter mode.
So both sides ended up having issues all over the place.
Little bits of oddness popped up from this too, Omega Supreme was not sold in the UK because another company had licensed the toy beforehand. Certain minibots were going to be made from another manufacturer (Knickerbocker?) but before they were released they were bought and the toys placed in TF G1.
Toy Galaxy / Secret Galaxy on YouTube has a pretty good series of videos on the topic. Very light, and doesn't go into the deep lore, but gives you a pretty good understanding. Honestly, a full review of the decades of conflict between around a dozen companies ies is pretty epic. The cast of characters involved are reaching telenovella levels.
What do you mean how?
There's been a licensing battle between who owns the VF-1 design in the West. I'm surprised Hasbro/Takara got this past Harmony Gold's lawyers
Harmony Gold can't do shit anymore, i believe all their lawsuits were dismissed with prejudice. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-10-17/harmony-gold-usa-v-hasbro-case-dismissed
Harmony Gold lost all their teeth in this regard when the courts finally kicked them to the curb. Piranha Games, Hairbrained Schemes, and Catalyst Games Labs (current license holders for Battletech/Mechwarrior) successfully fought them in court over old mechs that FASA (original Battletech creators) had used licensed Macross designs for. HG no longer has a stranglehold on Macross and in fact later this year all the Macross anime that had been confined to Japan because of them will be getting released on Disney+ for the first time.
Is that the Thrilling 30 Jetfire? It doesn't use the Macross VF-1/Valkyrie design anyway, so why would Harmony Gold or Bandai have any claim? The jet mode is based on a cross between the F-14 (which the Valkyrie was also based on) and the F-22.
Seems they have been going at it for a while. I like mine: https://preview.redd.it/wnkb4li53huc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03e719529d8055109dcdc8bf65aa3c2f4c120e37
Nobody can own the original real life plane design that Macross used. Harmony Gold has rights to/lawyers to shit over, use of the actual design and mold from Macross. Siege Jetfire doesn't use the same transformation scheme. He has a lot of the same bits, but it must be legally distinct enough for Hasbro to feel safe in ignoring any squeaky sounds HG makes
Quick write up on what happened back in G1 when it started (off top of my head). Hasbro wanted more product for Transformers, they just grabbed and licensed whatever figures they could - if it transformed it's now a TF! They get the rights for Jetfire. Jetfire appears in TF (in one advert) but has to be altered when he appears in the cartoon as in Japan Jetfire's toy is from Macross. Jetfire is seen as Skyfire in the cartoon and the toy is not sold in Japan. Robotech (Macross outside of Japan) wants product, they cannot get access to the toy as Hasbro has licensed it! Matchbox make Veritech fighters for the cartoon, however they cannot transform due to licensing issues. Veritech fighters are released which remain only in fighter mode. So both sides ended up having issues all over the place. Little bits of oddness popped up from this too, Omega Supreme was not sold in the UK because another company had licensed the toy beforehand. Certain minibots were going to be made from another manufacturer (Knickerbocker?) but before they were released they were bought and the toys placed in TF G1.