Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - What Crunchyroll Purchasing RightStuf Means To Us
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13242 |
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To think that the little piracy website that could would consume both Funimation and RightStuf.
I've been using RightStuf for a long time, even as far back as sending in money orders via snail mail, because I didn't have online payment options. I think Heaven's Feel is the last thing I bought from them. I stopped buying most physical media long ago, mostly to not support Funimation, so it doesn't really affect me right now (in fact I gave away 90% of my large collection to a youth center a few months ago). But I will always appreciate RightStuf and curse them for every time I typed two fs in the address bar. |
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TsukasaElkKite
 Posts: 4031 |
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I've been using RightStuf since I was in high school in the mid 2000s, and to see them get bought out and then completely destroyed in the name of profits infuriates me. Now that CR has them, say goodbye to any discounts that we got with RS. All manga, novels and anime will now most likely be sold at full price with zero discounts, EVER. To add to that, CR's packaging, shipping and customer service are awful. People have ordered figures, only to have them be delivered broken, missing parts, or not get delivered at all. Ditto with DVDs. All CR has to say is "lol it's not our fault, so we won't be refunding you or sending you a replacement. Thanks for your money!" After this final RS sale ends, I'm not giving CR a single cent. Everything CR touches turns to shit. I'll be buying from Alibris or Robert's Anime Corner Store going forward. The prices are a lot cheaper.
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Engineering Nerd
 Posts: 904 Location: Southern California |
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Truth be told. I was tempting to get a Rightstuf "Got Anime" membership (the $25 one) earlier this year, but thank goodness I held off that time.
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merr
Posts: 489 |
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I don’t get why they’re merging everything into the CR store instead of just closing it and rebranding RightStuf. I can’t imagine nearly as many people use the CR store, and you just know there’s going to be some massive screwup that happens with the account mergers.
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VampireNaomi
 Posts: 146 |
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I renewed my Got Anime membership in June, so that was a waste of money since while they do say members will get discount codes for the CR Store, they also say accounts originating outside the US and Canada won't be migrated there. So thanks for nothing.
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4633 Location: New York |
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Once you get past the obvious of monopolies sucking, Right Stuff predates the internet. This was the days of mail order catalogs and clubs in the back of indie comics directing what small presence of fandom existed. All wiped away for what, brand synergy? It’s a loss and not one person other than someone in a Sony board room has said otherwise.
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
Exempt from Grammar Rules
Posts: 638 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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For what it's worth, this weekend I put in two orders I had been marginal about for a while, and they both shipped this morning. So somebody's still trying.
Two 'cause the second one was so marginal I needed another day to think about it. Just how much Sgt Frog does a man really need, 100 eps? or 200? Finally said to myself, c**p, get it all. My credit card can bleed a little this month. |
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Hagaren Viper
 Posts: 793 |
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Even better is that Funiroll bought out and re-branded Right Stuff before they've even addressed account merging between Funimation and Crunchyroll - something they brought up when the merge happened and never mentioned again, not even a ballpark time. I'd like to think that they'll just rebrand RS and call it a day, otherwise what is the point of buying a store only to sell the things they are already selling anyway? It says something that even through the complaints and worries people were excited for the FuniRoll merge - but nobody is excited for this.
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4669 |
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Yeah, I don't think anyone is too surprised that the brand will go, but the questions all revolve around what this will mean for customers. It would be nice to think Sony didn't buy it just for a warehouse/distribution center, but it's not hard to think that a big company will look at things like good packaging and people there to answer the phone as costs it doesn't need. I suppose time will tell on this one. If boxes show up and the only difference is that you have a different logo on it, that will say something. But I have gotten enough from RS over the years that any other differences will also be immediately apparent.
It's funny that the article mentioned using a pre-paid debit card. I tried using one that a friend gave me as a gift, and RS wouldn't process it because they couldn't verify the identity. Fortunately, the staff there was able to talk me through what they needed to process it. Probably my best example of customer service there was a point where I had let my Got Anime membership lapse since I wasn't ordering much. I eventually placed a sizeable order, and they contacted me to say they could add a membership, it would take effect with that order, and the discount would pay for it, so everything going forward was basically bonus savings.
I think it also says you have the option of requesting a pro-rated refund.
Because somebody higher up decided Crunchyroll is "the brand" for anime in North America. And yeah, I'm expecting problems with the account mergers. The transition of content from Funimation to Crunchyroll did not happen as they said, so I'm doubtful about it. If I recall, accounts were also supposed to be merged, and things like your queue would carry over. As far as I can tell, that didn't happen and they are probably hoping that people just moved over and forgot about it. Last edited by Greed1914 on Tue Sep 26, 2023 2:45 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Aresef
Posts: 918 Location: MD |
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CR buying TRSI to supercharge its distribution is like Costco cutting its hot dog costs by buying a meat processing plant.
I work in media relations and this whole thing has been a massive comms error, a fundamental failure to understand the community and the customers who liked the thing they bought. They say they're folding the store into CR but people don't know exactly what is meant by that. We've heard only secondhand that they're keeping the Grimes warehouse and they may be getting rid of live-action stuff. They failed to anticipate the kind of worries fans would have. I actually looked up my first order. It didn't live on their website so I had to go through my email. In December 2004, I bought the box set of Boogiepop Phantom. Soon after, I turned around and bought Boogiepop and Others on DVD, a Boogiepop shirt and Vol. 2 of Invader Zim. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15611 |
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I just wonder how Discotek will survive. But anyway, Sony only bought RS because FF7 stole from Macross 7.
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FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2499 Location: United States |
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A lot of Discotek's stuff is still available on places like Amazon. Not ideal, but it's something.
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NikamiYuhara
Posts: 51 |
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Didn't use RightStuf much over the years but they were usually solid. My last order was pretty bad though. Never bought books from RightStuf before, but bought like six or seven light novels during the winter sale last year and pretty much all of them were damaged to a decent degree except one volume of Grimgar.
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1440 |
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There's also been nothing to suggest the CR store is going to stop carrying Discotek products or that Discotek is pulling their stock from CR's storefront after the move. |
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2317 Location: Online Terminal |
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While I don't deny that TRSI has culture cache, I'm also reminded that Drew Carey is hosting his 17th season of Price is Right so maybe what's hip hop and happenin' has changed.
I also think the bigger regret is that no one internally was able to take up the TRSI mantle. Having just been at a show that was run almost exclusively by fandom olds, the more existential fear should be what happens to fandom when the these generations age out. |
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