The ongoing prattlings of a lifelong geek and his random luck with love, work, children and rediscovering himself.

2006-02-06

ROM "the Spaceknight" to return?

I received a message today from a "Bing McCoy", who is the known creator of the "ROM the Spaceknight" toy (which the successful comic series was based on) stating the following to me:

  • Anthony -

    Greetings from the creator of ROM the spaceknight. FYI ROM will be ressurected soon.   Note that the official website ROMthespaceknight.com will also launch in about a month.

    Cheers,
    Bing McCoy

This is certainly interesting news.   Since I host and own the site "romspaceknight.com", and am an avid fan of the comic (not really the toy, since it was a flop) I'm VERY cautious about this.   Assuming it is true, I am weary to think what "they" are going to do to a well-written history of a great Character and Supporting Cast (in truth, I think it's safe to assume they are going to start fresh, since their current site (stonefoundationentertainment.com) makes it sound like Marvel has been removed from the equation, and Marvel owns the rights to most of the "true ROM myth" - the character itself was the only thing owned by Parker Brothers, now Hasbro.   The troubling part is, their site claims something that is not accurate:

  • Rights re-acquired from Parker and Marvel.   Discussions in progress for the return of ROM.

Marvel has had no say in the status of ROM for many MANY years now.   Referencing Parker Brothers is also odd, since it's actually Hasbro that would be dealt with in this matter.

The domain in question that has hosted very VERY vague information about ROM for a while now is administered by a "Brian McCoy", so we'll see what happens.   The above mentioned domain for the "new ROM" is administered by a "Brian Harris".   In any case, this is certainly interesting news.   I'm just not very comfortable with the prospect of someone who developed a flopped-toy developing a comic book from the toy they made over 25 years ago.   I'd like to have a positive perspective on this, but I'm definitely in a "wait and see" pattern right now.

More interesting is the fact that they are referencing Parker Brothers instead of Hasbro.   Add to that the fact that I personally attempted twice to obtain the rights to ROM to further his history myself, and my most recent attempt (in 2005) yielded this official response from Hasbro directly:

  • Hi Anthony,

    Thank you for your email. We appreciate your interest in our company.

    We regret to advise that Hasbro, Inc. is not selling rights to any games or products, which are active or inactive.

    If you have specific questions regarding this product, please provide them and we will try to have them answered. Please keep in mind that this product has been discontinued for quite some time and the information may not be available.

    We appreciate your understanding.

Obviously things can change over time, but again... I remain... "hopeful" but cautious.

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