Editing The Pen Addict 614/transcript (section)

== Follow-up segment introduction ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So I called this first segment, Myke. Literally all of the follow-up is the title of our first segment. Because we got a bunch on last week's episode. Then we had some that dropped in just in my inbox this week from several episodes ago. So I want to cover this. Let me read this first one, Myke. I call this one On Monsters. Okay. So each little segment has a little title of the follow-up. This follow-up is on monsters.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I could not let it pass. But Godzilla is not in any way part of Universal Monsters. And neither is King Kong. This is from my friend Michael Harris, who helped put together the watch. So Godzilla and its associated kaiju like Mothra and Rodan are all owned by Japan's Toho Studios, who has an agreement with Warner and Legendary Pictures to license them for the Monsterverse series. The rights to Kong are more complicated, to say the least. Parts are in the public domain. However, the based film rights were owned by RKO Studios, who released the original 1933 film. Godzilla and Kong would appear together on film several times, hence Kong's inclusion in the Monsterverse films. But who owns those rights is confusing. Universal is wrapped up in it, but not to the extent of ownership. But at some point, RKO was purchased by MGM. I need a flowchart, Myke. Who sold it to Ted Turner, which is how parts or all of the Kong film rights ended up at Warner when Turner sold it to them. And Warner has a production agreement with Legendary, and hence the Monsterverse. The classic Universal monsters are completely different, and a lot of their monsters are film versions of what are today public domain properties like Frankenstein, Dracula, Invisible Man, etc. I'm certain that you've gotten a few emails about this, but as a media studies person who has worked on Japan, I was screaming at the car stereo yesterday. We get a lot of people screaming at us, Myke. So I'm just going to say, it's okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So you just grab this whole thing, like you just read this whole thing, and you wonder why I might have gotten them confused. You know what I mean? Like, was it really the worst thing? I got most of this correct, right? Like I said, Frankenstein, Dracula, Invisible Man, but yes, Godzilla is not part of Universal Monsters. Godzilla is part of Monsterverse.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And the problem... Thank you to Michael for the correction. Yes, Michael. It's all in jest, and he's a lovely person. Is it, Brad? Is it all in jest? It is. It is. I mean, it is factually correct now, but... The part that got us in trouble was my excitement over wanting Godzilla. So I just kept dragging us back into it. It's like, I need a Godzilla. I need Godzilla. I need Godzilla. I was like, yeah, that's not going to happen. So here's what we need, Michael. Not you, Myke, but Michael, who sent us this email. We need Michael to get in touch with Montegrappa and say, hey, you need to work with whoever owns the rights to the Monsterverse series. Well, here's the thing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You just read that whole thing, and you're still not sure, you know? I did have to check myself. I wasn't going to say. That's all you need to do. It doesn't matter how you do it. Make a Godzilla pen. That's right. But also, I really want an Invisible Man pen. That's true. I really want it, and I know how to do it. So listen to me, Montegrappa, right? Like, I got you here. Clear barrel, some bandages around it. Perfect.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Invisible Man.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Montegrappa is made for this, right? To make these types of things. Yes. I have a feeling like if they did make a Godzilla pen, we'd be looking at, like, one of the super crazy high-end ones, right? Because how could you not, right? Like, one of the 50, 60 grand pens, because that's what it deserves. And, yeah, it'd be cool to see. So thank you for that feedback, Michael. Love it. And I won't say. I'm still not as confused as ever, but we'll go with. They probably don't have the rights yet. But given the licensing deals that Montegrappa does, you never know. You never know.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Who knows? Because nobody knows who owns the rights anyway, so it could be anyone.