Yeah, everything that's old is new again.
I'm not saying Goblin is inventing anything particularly novel here, just that they have managed to do it at a reasonable cost and gain some actual market clout in the process of "innovating". JR may well have done all of this before, but they don't have the market clout of a SAB, Align, HH/Blade, etc. Or KDS or Compass for that matter. JR seems to be one of those companies that likes to keep its product pricing high in order to make their stuff less popular and have an aire of "snooty" about it. Not unlike a lot of british car makers.
It works for them so more power to them, but that also mean they aren't "driving" the market in the same way SAB or Align can and do, despite any innovation they may manage to put out there.
That all said, I think SAB/Goblin has innovated on the design and aesthetic front. They aren't the first to do "full wrap" styling, but the lines and design of their heli and canopy, coupled with the molded CF boom (no wrap) is pretty novel and worthy of the attention they've gotten as a result. The fact they could price it and stock it so mere mortals could get it... they are doing amazing things over there.
Getting Bert on board certainly was a master stroke too. The guy is a marketing machine for them, let alone the technical and testing expertise he brings to the table.
