You are welcome to look at the talkback but please consider that this article is over 13 years old before posting.
Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - Foisting Gundams
|
Goto page 1, 2, 3 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lord Geo
Posts: 2666 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
|
|||
Odd how Answerman is a giant Gundam fan, yet doesn't know that the original Gundam is in fact getting released on DVD over here, in dual-audio, via Bandai's Anime Legends re-release brand. All that we'll be missing is episode 15 still... Oh well, we all make silly mistakes at times. But, hey, if Answerman is wrong about original Gundam, maybe this will mean that we actually will be getting Gundam X one day! Thanks, Answerman! |
||||
|
||||
penguintruth
 Posts: 8500 Location: Penguinopolis |
|
|||
|
Gundam fans in the U.S. (like me) just have to realize that Gundam isn't part of the entertainment consciousness the same way it is in Japan. Gundam has been a staple for decades there, and it only came here in drips and drabs. Whatever Bandai Entertainment can market here, we should feel lucky to get. Would it be nice if they could make a success out of titles like Gundam X or Victory Gundam? Sure. But competing with shiny new titles from newer franchises? That's just not going to happen.
I've had to handle this as a Lupin III fan, too. The reason why people keep buying stuff from Transformers, GI Joe, and other such Western franchises is because they grew up with it, and Western marketing has somehow kept it in the minds of the people, to cash in on it for generations. Nobody's getting tired of selling Batman toys. |
||||
|
||||
asimpson2006
 Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
|
|||
|
Didn't Gundam Wing air on Toonami first, then the original series? I don't think it was a bad idea to put the original series on TV like everyone thinks it is.
My thoughts on the QOTW. I don't think any of those listed will see the light of day. I wish some of them would they might be so bad. I'm not like others and thinks that everything Hollywood touches is a bad. |
||||
|
||||
GWOtaku
 Posts: 678 |
|
|||
|
For the record Turn A Gundam is coming eventually, albeit sub-only according to a Bandai rep in late April. Obviously not an ideal situation but the show isn't forgotten either.
MSG's run was cut short while Wing and G were rerun. As a matter of fact, it unfortunately didn't work. It was a good show that was wrong for Toonami at that time. |
||||
|
||||
|
asimpson2006
Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
|
|||
|
[quote="GWOtaku"
MSG's run was cut short while Wing and G were rerun. As a matter of fact, it unfortunately didn't work.[/quote] I knew it was cut short I was just saying that Wing was TV then the original series because I remember seeing Wing first. |
||||
|
||||
Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
|
|||
|
Gundam has a large fanbase out west it just doesn't buy it. Look at Gundam 00, how many people who watched Gundam 00 and called it epic do you think actually bought it? From what I have seen not a lot. Same thing with Seed, it did really well when it was fansubbed but it bombed on Cartoon Network.
Gundam Unicorn's success in Japan is two fold, it is aimed at people who watched GUndam in the 80's and Harutoshi Fukui, the creator of Gundam Unicorn is a best selling author whose novels have been made into big budget live action movies. Fukui is just unknown in the West because the average american doesn't want to read about how Fukui thinks Japan needs to return to Fascism. Without either of those two draws then your basically going to have to try to create a brand new audience based entirely on how good Gundam Unicorn is. If success in Japan was a guarantee for success in America than Gundam Seed, and Gundam Seed Destiny would have been two of the highest selling series in the past decade. Last edited by Charred Knight on Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||
|
||||
Myaow
 Posts: 1068 |
|
|||
|
I've been wondering about what ever happened to Turn A Gundam lately too... I really hope that it does get a release but it's been almost a year since we heard anything about it! Why would Bandai announce that they have the license at a major USA convention if they didn't intend to do anything with the license? This makes me sad.
|
||||
|
||||
Saturn
 Posts: 513 |
|
|||
yeah, Gundam Wing started off Gundam on Toonami, and it was quite successful. The problem was that the series they tried to follow it up with didn't really cater to these new-found fans-- Wing is (in?)famous for its legions of fangirls, after all, so pretty boys would have been a good choice for the next series. It's too bad for Cartoon Network (and Bandai) that the logical follow-ups for Wing here in the States (Seed and 00) came far too late to pick up the steam from Wing's success. (I'm not speaking for ALL the fangirls, of course, but as I was one when the show first aired in the States, I can say from my experience and that of my friends that G Gundam and certainly the original series didn't hold much appeal for us. And not just because the character designs weren't attractive-- the series themselves were too dingy and unappealing to look at. Shallow or not, I want to look at things that are nice to look at, the same way I want to eat things that taste good.) |
||||
|
||||
ArthurFrDent
 Posts: 466 |
|
|||
|
oh, my he asked the question... about all the bigdamnseries that we could make a hollyweird blockbuster out of...
and THAT my friends is the problem... any of the stuff that COULD be launched will be 'the biggest thing evar' to come out of Japan, so the rights will be expensive, and the expectations stratospheric. The problem that presents us with is that, then you must make a blockbuster of epic proportions, with a huge budget. THEN you will expect huge returns, and when in the course of human events it... lands with a dull thud. it doesn't seem possible to make a nice little movie anymore that will make you a nice little profit. Can you imagine a nice little take on Eva coming out of the indies at Sundance? I heard that Trollhunter is an amusing little movie that cost $3.5M to make and is being brought over on the arthouse circuit from Norway, and it will do fine, because expectations are in line. Any of the super-maxi-big stuff out of Japan just has too much going against it. AND? Are you really sure you want them to mangle something you already love? |
||||
|
||||
doctordoom85
 Posts: 2093 |
|
|||
IIRC, it took almost 2 years for FUNimation to release some of their licenses like Oh Edo Rocket. I'd give it a little more time before worrying, Bandai has already said the original Gundam boxsets are coming out this year, so let's wait a little longer. |
||||
|
||||
|
Crisha
Moderator
 Posts: 4290 |
|
|||
As a fangirl who watched GW when it aired on Toonami, I can concur with what Saturn is saying. GW was my first major fandom I participated in (there were smaller ones prior, but this one was big). If you take a look at Anipike Classic, you can see the shear number of sites dedicated to the G-boys and all the yaoi that followed. Man, I really hope Turn A Gundam is released. Subtitle only, it doesn't matter. I haven't really been interested in Gundam since GW (and even now I couldn't really watch it - the fandom is what I truly fell in love with). Seed was sorta interesting, but I've only officially watched half of the series (with my friends). I just went online and read summaries of the rest of the series. P.S. Forever a 3x4 fangirl! |
||||
|
||||
The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
|
|||
Funimation dubs all their shows, create artboxes and LE items, and have dozens of shows they have to balance at any given moment. Plus they're constantly adding more shows to release. Bandai has one more volume of K-ON, Disappearance, the second volume of Tales of the Abyss, Star Driver, and whatever complete collections they're planning. And they've already announced Turn A Gundam is going to be sub-only. Comparing the sheer incompetence of Bandai to Funimation and they're constantly busy schedule isn't a good one. Last edited by The King of Harts on Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:59 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||
|
||||
Vortigernus
 Posts: 13 |
|
|||
|
Gundam franchise has always been a mixed bag. No matter how good it starts, it always ends in disappointment. Wing, Seed, OO; you name it.
They never live up to my expectations. Umm, perhaps this is just my imagination running wild, but did you just reference a Stephen King short story "Everything's Eventual" in this week's flake?! 
|
||||
|
||||
|
s.alsa-man1991
Posts: 137 |
|
|||
|
Battle Angel will go into production after Cameron obtains three quarters of humanity's financial resources. So, after Avatar 3. Probably in a decade or so.
|
||||
|
||||
|
vermilionone
Posts: 45 |
|
|||
|
I used to work for an anime news entity that was at least big enough to get press releases from Bandai. I remember when we got the announcement that the animated Kikaider was coming out; after all the fanfare and the release of a tie-in toy series, they quietly pulled the announcement, press release on their website, and denied ever making an announcement when I e-mailed them for follow-up. They didn't actually release the series until a couple of years later.
I've also worked as a moderator for their official forums, and had been roped into things like doing flavor-text translations for cards and game rulings and suffice it to say that working with them requires a lot of jumping through hoops. When doing rulings for the Naruto CCG, we had to send my rulings to the Japanese game developers first, who would at times simply not bother to reply. I feel like those are the prevalent attitudes. They don't feel particularly beholden to their non-Japanese consumers, and are simultaneously very controlling of, but irresponsible towards their American branch. I don't know where Turn-A is, but if a press release was posted on their website, it might be worth it to see if it is still up. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group