hey udderdude, thanks for being concerned on our behalf. rest assured the issue of legality has been a long standing concern for ToGCC in regards to getting this game made, and that we have consulted carefully in order to make sure everything was cleared.
as you mention, the original game was made almost entirely of re-appropriated assets, and had a really strong identity made up of patchwork videogame and sports icons. the sequel takes a bit of a different approach.
there was a lot more to the first game than the surface layer pop-culture stew; of course it's a matter of opinion whether that game stands on the merits of it's own humor or not, but we believe this game will easily outstrip the first in that regard =)
cboyardee covers a lot of this in greater deal in
this interview.