Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

[marco]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

wow ... great news ... !

[ady]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

Well done, I thought house robots are with chris Reynolds?


http://www.alleffects.com/about-us/

[teamstorm]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

John spoke to me a while back about this, and it's certainly great news and a great step forward. However I would say one thing....

... we need to be VERY careful to manage expectation around this. This is NOT Robot Wars 'coming back', this is a licence deal that Roaming Robots has done with the owners of the Robot Wars brand in the US to allow him to rebrand the Roaming Robots show as Robot Wars.

Reading on the Roaming Robots Facebook page it's already clear that the biggest fear (and the reason that we didn't licence the Robot Wars name which we could have done some years ago) is that once you call the show Robot Wars a level of expectation is set with the audience/fans as to what to expect. Already there are people asking questions about what changes to the Robot Wars arena there will be when it comes back, if it will be Craig Charles presenting the show... Jayne... Phillipa etc etc.

This is clearly a great step forward in the recognition of the brand that propelled this sport into the public mind - but we all have a duty to keep our feet on the ground.

It is VERY clear that people are doing exactly what we feared some time ago, expecting that something called 'Robot Wars' will be the format they have always understood Robot Wars to be - and anything that we can do to manage the expectation of our audience and fans reduces that risk of disappointment.

Managing that will be tough for Jonno to do, we're not going to help him if we disappear into our own little cloud of hysteria.

Great steps forward, but feet on ground time for us all !

[ady]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

Well said, I think the main dissapointment is if u couldn't get your hands on the house robots, arena wise as you are a travelling show u could get away with that.

The question I always here from audiance members is where is razer, hypnodisc etc....

[grant_ploughbot]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

The only problem with the house robot's as far as I'm aware is that Robot Wars LLC don't have the rights to use them in the UK so I don't think it's legal to use them at an event. Remember Robot Wars LLC are the brand, not a TV company.

The house robots are trademarks and designs of the BBC in the UK and are used under licence by Mentorn in the television series. The house robots are trademarks of Robot Wars LLC throughout the world excluding the UK.

It's one of those things that's so difficult to find the facts but unless it's changed recently I think the above sums it up for the UK. Many people have tried locating the House robot's but no idea if they still exist.

As Ed said above, it could be very good if the expectations of famous TV presenter's, the main RW robots and house robots aren't there, but it's going to be a tricky one. Are there any contracts for robot's attending that stop them from attending other EO's event's etc?

[grant_ploughbot]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

The only problem with the house robot's as far as I'm aware is that Robot Wars LLC don't have the rights to use them in the UK so I don't think it's legal to use them at an event. Remember Robot Wars LLC are the brand, not a TV company.

The house robots are trademarks and designs of the BBC in the UK and are used under licence by Mentorn in the television series. The house robots are trademarks of Robot Wars LLC throughout the world excluding the UK. All pictures of house robots (except for toy pictures) on this page are Robot Wars.

It's one of those things that's so difficult to find the facts but unless it's changed recently I think the above sums it up for the UK. Many people have tried locating the House robot's but no idea if they still exist.

As Ed said above, it could be very good if the expectations of famous TV presenter's, the main RW robots and house robots aren't there, but it's going to be a tricky one. Are there any contracts for robot's attending that stop them from attending other EO's event's etc?

[teamstorm]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

Yes the house robot issue is a complex one. John can by all means licence the part of the house robots that Robot Wars LLC (not so much a brand as a limited company that owns a brand it can licence) owns, but both Mentorn and BBC Worldwide own other 'bits' of what goes into the House Robots (name rights, image rights etc).

In order to use them legally and above board, you would need rights agreements with Robot Wars LLC, Mentorn and BBC Worldwide - which is where the problem comes, once you pay your rights fees to all three, any financial benefit you might see gets eaten away. This is often an issue where you have multiple rights-holders for something, it makes them almost un-usable.

One for John to be aware of I guess, just because Robot Wars LLC has licenced John the right to use them, he still has to do his due diligence and get agreement from BBC Worldwide and Mentorn. In my view - not worth the hassle.

[robotwars]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

Well I don't need to have a public debate about the ins and outs of our contracts and what we can and can't do, that's for our legal team and the house robots contract including image rights to Major Damage is a complex thing.

I've said what's happening, and it's cost a lot of money in legal fees and it will hopefully be worth the effort its taken to get where we are !! No one else is doing anything.

In my eyes this is nothing but a positive step forwards and something I could only have dreamed about to be in this unique position.

Hopefully people will support it, the usual candidates clearly don't, but that goes with the territory of putting your head in front of the firing squad!

Ed you very correct in some of those things you said, We shall see how it works out but I've got nothing to lose. And the community has it all to gain!!

I wouldn't be here 11 years later if I didn't think it was worth the effort !
John

[Danjr1]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

Well done Johno! Brilliant news! it can only mean positive things for the future of the sport in the UK.

[shakesc]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

Awesome work

Well done John

[Anttazz]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

I don't think anything any of us can say can be useful to be honest, John, his colleagues and legal team are undoubtedly more versed than any of us will ever be on the ins and outs of the deal(s) he has managed to make. All that we should be doing at the moment in my opinion is congratulating him on his achievement in attaining the rights to use the brand which brought us all together.

So to that effect, Congratulations Jonno, I for one will be proud to be part of the first show of the new Robot Wars

[psycho_fling]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

i thought Craig Charles was owned by the BBC ??

[ady]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

Hey Jonno we might not av always seen eye to eye! But I do mean as per my previous post well done, honestly! Whatever is said u are a good person to the sport and I thank you in the things u do in keeping it going and building a future, your commitment is enough said, and for that u av my respect!
Don't think my previous post was being harsh(I will be the first to admit I speak before I think!) but it was a sincere post trying to give advise,even though your experience is greater than mine and my advice probably means diddly squat ;-)
The work that has got you this far means alot, and I wish you luck for the future on building on your beginnings, so good luck!!

Just coz I'm not best friends with someone it doesn't mean I don't respect them, and I think you have proven that in your own right with what you have done in the robot community

[robotwars]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

Couldn't even say why we haven't seen eye to eye, probably because I get drawn into other people's arguments on here.

It was my 2013 New Years resolution to not get involved anymore and just do my own thing, and I'm doing ok.

Cheers for the comment, time will tell what happens.

John

[calumco]

Re: Starting 2013 with a bang....Our News :-)

house robot wise i heard that either they were happily put into storage by their owner, or that the bbc claimed them back for some reason, which either means they were stored on behalf of the bbc somewhere, or even broke up and scraped for a cash strapped company to get a bit of extra $$$ in these hard times but who knows, im hoping itd be the first option