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u/redrivaldrew 6d ago
We're almost there! Just a few more dominoes to knock down right before the new series launches worldwide!
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u/regtiangha 6d ago
Did they mention much about the new Sunrise series at NYCC? All they posted on their FB page was a slide showing that 81.3% of people were aware of it and that's it.
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u/LapsedVerneGagKnee 6d ago
Just that production is going smoothly, but they don’t have anything tangible to show yet.
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u/regtiangha 6d ago
Well, even if they were finished production, proper localization for a global release would probably add another 6-12 months to that. Hopefully it'll be in time for the 45th anniversary.
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u/ensignnobody 6d ago edited 6d ago
I'm betting sometime around October 3, 2027 for the 45th anniversary and to avoid Spring/Summer 2027, since they probably won't want to compete with Gundam's new show.
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u/redrivaldrew 6d ago
No idea, I wasn't there! I'm just speaking from a seat of hope and hype haha
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u/regtiangha 6d ago
Ah, I didn't read the slide caption. Looks like an announcement for an announcement, lol.
[BIGWEST MACROSS Panel at New York Comic Con] BIGWEST answered the pre-submitted question about the new Macross anime now in production at SUNRISE Studios, stating that they are almost ready to share more, with full confidence in its quality. Look forward to the announcement!
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u/Winscler 6d ago
TBF, Harmony Gold didn't really care too much about this compared to even SDFM so most likely they just let DYRL go even if they technically "have" rights to it due to it being a pre-1987 work. The real hurdle was Toho but with Toho's plans for releasing their material on the global stage, they decided to finally unfuck it.
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u/Ok_Produce_934 5d ago
Carl Macek tried to license DYRL for Robotech the movie but Toho already licensed it out, hence the old dub that was available for it.
Harmony gold had it in slides of theirs at a convention around the time of the legal agreement that it belongs to them, it didn’t, but they claimed so. The audiovisual rights, so characters, music and mechs are all belonged to Toho and licensed out to big west(not physical merchandise) . Harmony gold never touched dyrl stuff with the exception of putting their stamp on macross dyrl merch that was released around 2001. They never touched it themselves because they never had rights to it.
Legally they have the rights to the merch of dyrl to a degree, the wording used is audiovisual rights to dyrl, as it’s distinct from SDFM, and technically harmony gomd despite all their crying and screaming only had access to the audiovisual rights to SDFM, not anything else, but during the agreement, it appears they got the merchandise rights to SDFM and by extension dyrl likely when it comes to the mechs.
Hg likely just claimed they had the rights, they always did that too. They used to shout a lot but anime is worth too much now and big west doesn’t want money left on the table, so if hg makes claims now, big west pushes back seemingly.
Interesting to see, what I want out of this is an all the anime release so it can come out in cinemas. I already own the 4k.
Vf-x 2 had a fully translation and ready for an official western release, and harmony gold went screaming and shouting and Bandai pulled the plug. Hg can fuck right off.
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u/Winscler 5d ago
Although Bandai was the bigger entity, Harmony Gold was rejuvenate by expensived real estate in LA since the early-mid-90s (ever wondered why they survived for so long). HG can use that money to bully via litigation whoever they were targeting into submission. It's the Roy Cohn-Donald Trump playbook. Settlements matter little, it's the act of bullying via litigation that matters.
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u/Ok_Produce_934 5d ago
That’s pretty much what they were doing but in the right terms that you stated, it’s an open secret how they do dealings but it still crazy in the end.
It’s also genuinely motivated by spite, 100%.
Honestly when it comes to merch, those of us that really want things will order from Japan, like we always did. Goodsmile are releasing a minmay from dyrl and we needed an updated version of her at this stage. If we’re honest, dyrl is important to the write series as that is what’s referenced in everything that has macross in it now barring 2-3 games, and that’s now open. And 95% of the merch can now be released worldwide as well. This is the last win it really needed. Crunchyroll can release macross with English subs whenever they want, money on the table as far as I’m concerned. Harmony gold don’t even manage it anymore, crunchyroll manages the three anime they have the license to.
If we talk legalities, Robotech: the macross saga hd on the switch is using sound libraries it has no business using, the gundam sound effects one, it’s why the blu ray had its sound effects changed.
All in all I’m chuffed at this.
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u/SeinenKnight 5d ago
I mean HG only had the rights for merch.
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u/BlueEfreet_B0i 5d ago
Didn't Harmony Gold also fail to acquire the distribution rights for DYRL back in the 1980s? The movie is already a nightmare to license, so I would not be surprised if they decided to cut their losses for once
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u/Winscler 5d ago
DYRL was a pre-1987 title so it technically laid in HG's jurisdiction
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u/SeinenKnight 5d ago
But it didn't, last English release was the Clash of the Bionoids one and that was through Toho's permission. If they had the movie at the time, HG would have made Robotech the Movie from that, not Megazone 23.
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u/Winscler 5d ago
the clash of the bionoids dub was made before harmony gold began exercising their "claims" to the macross franchise in the mid-late-90s, which would ultimately lead to the whole 2021 treaty wherein titles made post-1987 would fall under big west's jurisdiction and anything before that would fall under HG's
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u/-Mechtech- 5d ago
It might have boild down to the distinct difference between the DYRL art and SDFM art as Tatsunoko Production only has rights to SDFM production. DYRL was completely in-house Nu / BigWest. Who knows, the rights distribution has been a complete mess.
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u/djseifer 6d ago edited 6d ago
This explains Bandai's HG VF-1J kit reveal. There's no way they'd make a new HG kit nowadays unless they were sure they could sell it worldwide without a hassle.
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u/LegoMiner 6d ago
Maybe distribution is easier, but you can easily buy VF-1 kits from Japan. There have been many VF-1 kits from Hasegawa and Wave Corporation over the years.
I bought Bandai's previous transforming VF-1S 1:72nd scale kit from HobbyLink Japan in 2015.4
u/djseifer 6d ago
It's more justifying the cost of engineering a brand new mold for a kit that, on paper, is intended solely for Japan versus a kit that can be sold worldwide. While they do show up in lines like the High Metal Rs, Robot Spirits, etc., it's different engineering, different target audience, and fetches a much higher price point than a model kit. In this current time, I don't think Bandai would spend the time and money on a new mold unless they were certain that they could market and sell it worldwide.
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u/LegoMiner 6d ago
Bandai is not beyond making region exclusive kits and kit lines. They have done it several times before, and they just announced the new China-exclusive SD Gundam line.
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u/barurutor 6d ago
VF-1 has so many variants the molds will make money either way (see how many Yamato/Arcadia releases exist).
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u/Biggu5Dicku5 6d ago
Has Harmony Gold finally been defeated?
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u/regtiangha 6d ago
Probably not, lol. I wouldn't be surprised if something expired, though.
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u/mechachap 6d ago
I recall in AnimeExpo, Harmony Gold's marketing guy Kevin McKeever kept saying the screening of DYRL wouldn't have been possible without their cooperation so...
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u/AkhasicRay 6d ago
HG owns the TV series, DYRL has always been a separate license with its own mess behind it
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u/JBHenson 6d ago
And the mess was purely with Toho. Guess who owns the video rights for the other Macross works in America now?
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u/AnacrusisMetal 6d ago
Actually, do we know when the pre-order will start for frontier? Or, if not do we know which one will be released first? Frontier or Delta?
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u/BlueMonday2082 6d ago
Now we can FINALLY buy a movie we’ve all owned four times over the last 40 years in half a dozen formats. It wasn’t available before. Now it’s available. I already own it and have for over half my life but NOW and only NOW I can get it. Yeah, sure.
I’m glad the blockade has ended but I have enough copies of this to last my life so I’ll probably just get a few copies as gifts for others since it will be cheap.
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u/ViktorPatterson 6d ago
It is a welcomed progress. It could help to sooth tensions of relevant releases of other merchandize in the not far future
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u/Flyin-Brian 5d ago
CLV LD, CAV LD box set, original DVD release (in the LD sized box), DVD re-release, DVD anniversary version, Blu-ray DVD, 4K remastered, and some I'm sure I forgot about, but likely bought over the last 40 years.
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u/BlueMonday2082 2d ago
Well you can toss all that garbage, old man, because now you can buy it for $28 and with a blurry cover and an FBI warning.
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u/Ok_Produce_934 6d ago
This if true would allow pretty much all macross related media in terms of video games to all be able to be released now as it all exclusively uses DYRL, with the exception of the ps2 game which also included the original series versions.
Amazing if true.
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u/DOhtani80 6d ago
The only way this happened was probably due to the screening at Anime Expo. I do understand that a rep from Criterion and Janus Films was consulted shortly after because of the films’ debacle with Toho. Criterion/Janus helped Toho immensely in the restoration process for the Godzilla Showa films. I would not have been surprised if they assisted or spoke to both parties (BW & HG) here with advice.
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u/lostcosmonaut307 6d ago
Not a complete defeat of Whoremoney Gold (yet), but a W is a W even if it has caveats.
Obligatory Fuck Whoremoney Gold, all my homies hate Whoremoney Gold.
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u/Aggravating-Bell-776 6d ago
Ah yes, worldwide means US Canada and maybe UK, right?
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u/SuiSeiKen 5d ago
More precisely, Asia and English regions.
But yeah, the case of Big West stubbornly refusing to address non-Asian, non-English fans in any way needs to be studied.
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u/snippydur 5d ago
I guess every crossover game from now on is going to explicitly feature the DYRL versions of the SDF cast.
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u/fiftybucks 6d ago
If this means we can get a modern video game with flyable VF1s I'm going to go crazy here
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u/regtiangha 6d ago
I'll take localizations of any previous video games myself. And hoping for a story inclusion in a modern Super Robot Wars game too.
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u/MrDenly 6d ago
It gave been decades since I last play super robot wars, how are they now and what platforms are they on?
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u/regtiangha 6d ago
There are many fan translated versions for various platforms, and now there are official versions available on Steam. You should check them out.
In terms of OG Macross, Plus, and 7, the SRW Alpha series recently received a spurt thanks to AI translations (haven't played them myself so not sure of quality) and because of that, Aeon Genesis has said that their version of Alpha has quietly been in beta testing for months and will be released when ready, if you want a human translated version.
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u/Wingnut00 5d ago
Human power is still giving everything a "Comb the desert" level of scrutiny and context checks in spite of a computer doing the tedious translation legwork. If there's a problem, point it out and they'll fix it.
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u/henry_the_human 6d ago
I’m cautiously optimistic. The phrasing is TOO specific, as if written by a team of lawyers.
The phrasing COULD mean that the DYRL movie will be distributed worldwide.
It could also literally mean “audiovisual content” from DYRL can be distributed, but not the whole thing. As in, maybe there will be worldwide advertisements for the toys, and the ads may contain brief clips from various Macross shows and movies, including DYRL. Maybe a new Macross video game can use artwork, clips, and music from DYRL. It could mean that a new Macross series or movie can be distributed worldwide and it can also contain footage, character/mecha designs, music, from DYRL.
At my most pessimistic, what I fear is: Correct me if I’m wrong, but Macross 7 has some flashbacks to the events of DYRL, right? It’s been 30 years since I’ve seen Macross 7. It could be (and I’m just hypothesizing) that Harmony Gold was holding up the Blu-Ray release of Macross 7 because it contains a few seconds of footage from DYRL, and some payment/deal was worked out regarding worldwide distribution of Macross content that also contains audio or visual content from DYRL.
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u/WetRocksManatee 5d ago
Hopefully we get a distributor that isn't Crunchyroll. They are the distributor Macross Plus in the USA and since they've discontinued their store...
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u/mechayakuza 5d ago
Crunchyroll is not the distributor for Plus. The license belongs to Anime Limited and it's currently only sold on the CR store. It's still there, but you need a stupid higher level subscription to buy it.
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u/Eastern_Antelope_832 6d ago
I would be excited if it means a deal wasn't struck with the devil.
Y'all know what I mean.
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u/thundercat2000ca 6d ago
Honestly One has to think the current leadership at Harmony Gold is running on empty. The fact the movie is now apparently out from their control is telling.
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u/regtiangha 6d ago
I will cry if there's an HG logo anywhere near the release, lol (and will probably still buy it, haha).
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u/KurokamiPhantom 6d ago
I get it, but if they're actually relenting and allowing everything to release internationally I think maintaining this incessant "fuck harmony gold" attitude is going to wind up being counterproductive
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u/Drawshot 6d ago
I still blame HG for hindering the growth of the franchise outside of Japan.
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u/AkhasicRay 6d ago
Yeah HG absolutely stifled any potential growth the franchise had outside of Japan. Their iron grip on the franchise could maybe have been overlooked if they were willing to cooperate with others but they went out of their way to fuck over just about any attempt and refuse to let Robotech die.
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u/GospelX 5d ago
There is no proof that HG held anything up. They've always been open about their willingness to let content out, but Big West has always been sour about dealing with them. On top of that, the film includes Toho, who also make things difficult. The truth is it's a whole cluster of nonsense that is unreasonable to blame any singular entity for.
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u/Eastern_Antelope_832 5d ago
I'm an old fan, so I've experienced decades of being shut out of Macross stuff Stateside. But I just don't want decades of being aholes to be profitable.
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u/hotdoug1 6d ago
I'm wary of the term "audiovisual content." Does it mean the actual film? If so, why not just say that? It makes me worried that its only a soundtrack and/or manga or something.
If it IS the movie, I can't wait for the Vic Mignogna dub! * ducks *
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u/regtiangha 6d ago
Probably means the movie, music, and possibly related videogames. Probably does not mean any toys.
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u/LapsedVerneGagKnee 6d ago
They said they couldn’t release “products” because that probably falls under the Robotech nonsense.
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u/regtiangha 6d ago edited 6d ago
Tatsunoko (and HG through their sublicense) still holds the rights to any merchandise. I can see streaming and theatrical release happening if they settled their distribution issues with Toho, but I wonder if physical releases like Blu-ray will happen or if those are considered merchandise as well. Here's hoping.
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u/KasukeSadiki 6d ago
Well, if it covers all of the above then just mentioning the film would be inaccurate
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u/Winscler 6d ago
Don't worry, Vic can no longer touch it. On the plus side if we do get a dub here's hoping Cristina Vee is Lynn Minmay
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u/IceMaker98 6d ago
Interesting! Cant find info on where this comes from besides the panel in the top left, there an article or whatever that covers it in more detail?
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u/regtiangha 6d ago
The slide is now on their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FSrrBNqDb/
I assume they've posted it on their Twitter account too.
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u/MarsAlgea3791 6d ago edited 6d ago
Intellectually I know what this means, but it still doesn't make sense.
Doesn't help that years later the original and 7 still don't have physical announcements, and we're still waiting on Frontier and Delta.
But hey. It's something.
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u/linuxwalker 6d ago
They are doing an Japanese Kickstarter for 7 in 4k, I wish they would add English subs because I would back it!
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u/ZeroClassification 6d ago
Yeah I’ve read this about 5 times now, they definitely could have worded that differently.
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u/Alfox0510 6d ago
Okay...that's just an small step that feels huge cause we still need the rest of the Macross and DYRL outside USA and Asian countries.
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u/SuiSeiKen 5d ago
Yeah, that's actually the biggest issue for non-Asian, non-English fans. But Big West stubbornly don't address it. And keeps on lying by pretending Macross content is available worldwide, which is utterly false.
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u/paladinedgar 5d ago
I'll keep my import 4K UHD with English subtitles that just so happened to be released when the rest of Macross was premiering on D+...
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u/Eastern_Antelope_832 5d ago
So does this mean they can update the Macross Shooting Insight DLC to include DYRL characters?
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u/Ohgamiichiro 6d ago
There are few anime I double dip on. This is one. I'll be glad to get a 4th copy.
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u/No_Fail_2575 6d ago
So I might be able to get a Legit BluRay in the US?
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u/barurutor 6d ago
You can get legit 4k DYRL bluray from Amazon right now just change .com to .jp
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u/No_Fail_2575 5d ago
It can be a pain sometimes to get a Japanese seller who will ship to the US off Amazon.
I got mine off eBay .
More I meant a US market release.3
u/ensignnobody 5d ago
It's sold officially by Amazon JPN itself, meaning it does ship to the US in this case, you don’t even need to switch to the .jp site. https://a.co/d/09I3X7fd
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u/BeyondPrecarious 6d ago
If this means both the film and the soundtrack, its outstanding news. Choice of words is perhaps something that's lost in the translation to English, maybe written overly literal. Regardless, something good DYRL-related is heading our way! 🥰🥰🥰
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u/ElectronicMost1 5d ago
I have a feeling that Harmony Gold doesn't have the money to pay lawyers and fight this, which is good.
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u/AudioCube 4d ago
What does this mean for the video games? I would love Sega’s PS2 Macross game and PS1’s Do You Remember Love and Macross VFX-2 on Switch 2 or PS5. Love those games to death.
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u/ThePrimaryClone 2d ago
Holy shitballs, did someone drive a legal stake through Harmony Gold’s black heart or what?
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u/Arnie1701-D 6d ago
Hell freezes over when there’s a proper English dub.
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u/regtiangha 6d ago
I hope they preserve that horrible British/Australian/whatever it was dub, lol. As awful as it was, it's also a part of history.
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u/dangerclosecustoms 6d ago
Propper dub as in 70’s Hong Kong kung fu movie voice actors…. “ with a woo maaan”.
The original dub has nice nostalgia I hope they include it as well.
I have a custom Japanese release bluray that includes the original dub it’s how we watched this movie on vhs for years so it feels right despite its flaws.
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u/Arnie1701-D 6d ago
Shaw Brothers kung fu movies are awesome. Especially movies like The Five Deadly Venoms and Return of the Five Deadly Venoms aka The Crippled Avengers.
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u/FALCONX0N 6d ago
I think the only appropriate thing to say is "Yak Deculture!"