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Post by zoidsfan1 on Jun 18, 2011 21:04:59 GMT -5
I've been thinking about this. People have pointed out elsewhere on the board that the show was made primarily to sell toys. If that's the case, why didn't we didn't we get a lousy show, instead of a good one?
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ligerzilla2014
Sergeant
"Gojiraaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!"~ Random Japanese Guy
Posts: 244
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Post by ligerzilla2014 on Jun 18, 2011 21:27:37 GMT -5
Cuz if the show was crap then people wouldnt buy the toys. And people wouldnt watch the show which would also decrease awareness.
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Post by Xehn on Jun 19, 2011 12:24:26 GMT -5
Not entirely true. The original Transformers was a crap cartoon. Bad writing, bad animation, general nonsense.
But uh, it sold well enough that Transformers is still going. >.>
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Post by Chuckles on Jun 19, 2011 14:16:26 GMT -5
Zoids wasn't that good, but regardless, no show is automatically going to be bad, just because it is supposed to sell toys.
Creating a tv shows is a job, and if you make a bad show that becomes canceled, you lose your source of income. Worse still, people will attribute your name to that failed series in the future, thereby shrinking your chances of being hired to work on another show. Therefore, people working on a tv show are motivated to make it at least decent if nothing else.
And then of course, there are the people who are tasked with making a show to sell toys, but go out of their way to make it awesome anyway, so that everyone benefits. The recent My Little Pony series being a perfect example.
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Post by SkyKnight on Jun 20, 2011 10:52:45 GMT -5
Japanese anime try to have a cohesive storyline that wraps up within 26~52 eps, unlike the US cartoons that can go on for several seasons - even as TF fan, I gotta say the G1 cartoons were cheesy and corny: nothing worth praising at all!
But as with other mecha shows, I say the critical mistake for the Zoids anime, is the "hero" factor, aka you see only a handful of Zoids that are piloted by the main characters, while others are in the background or just cannon fodder :-(
With that alone, you couldn't sell 60+ types of different Ziods that you need to build for kids.
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Post by Sen Vaez on Jun 28, 2011 13:54:40 GMT -5
War provides an excellent theater for a story. And since Zoids are supposed to be war machines, it was possible to mass-market the model kits while still enjoying a story with a rising conflict and enjoyable (if somewhat cliche) characters. That's why the original Zoids and Genesis were able to work so well. I'd say they performed as well as some of the more recent Gundam series.
But what about New Century and Fuzors? They were modeled after the Pokemon "battle of the day" scenario with varied results. NC seemed to enjoy strong but short-lived popularity. I think that's because the characters were so over-the-top that you could enjoy them despite the nonsensical plot. It was mindless fun, with an emphasis on fun.
Fuzors tried to copy NC, but without the extreme characterization. That, coupled with poorer animation and even more blatant attempts at merchandizing, set it up for failure. The audience just didn't care; and no one wanted to accept the inferior designs of Hasbro's Blox Zoids against the more detailed models. To be fair, Fuzors improved once an overarching storyline began to form, but that was more than halfway through the series.
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Post by zoidsfan1 on Jun 29, 2011 21:05:46 GMT -5
I like that answer!
Also, what did you think was cliche about Chaotic Century's characters?
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Post by Sen Vaez on Jun 30, 2011 2:49:21 GMT -5
I started watching Zoids when I was relatively new to the anime genre, but looking back, I realized that a lot of the characters fit an archetype. I'll describe some of them in a broad sense:
Van - Youthful, energetic main character who relies on action over forethought. This character appears in a lot of anime for younger kids, including Digimon, Pokemon, Spider Riders, etc.
Fiona - Mystic figure who is suffering from plot-convenient amnesia. I can't name a lot of this type of character off the top of my head, but Fiona seemed to be stuck in the role of sensing evil powers or suffering flashbacks. She never really dealt with a sense of loss from her dead culture or uncertainty about her place in the modern era.
Irvine - Aloof and seemingly cold figure. A fan-girl favorite because he seems dark and moody, but has a heart of gold. There are many, many examples of this in anime.
Dr. D - He showed up exactly when needed, then left just as quickly. The quirky genius type. Great for comedy, but so inconsistent you don't expect him to become part of the main force. Doctor Toros also fits this type, but his quirkiness was toned down.
Prozen - Evil schemer. Evil for evil's sake. My most frustrating moment was when he tried to convince Van that he was just as bad as Prozen, because his actions where hurting someone somewhere. It was so tacked-on and flimsy because we never witnessed Van making a hard choice that would have to hurt somebody.
To be honest, I thought Moonbay and Zeke were more a-typical characters. I can't really peg them.
Now, this is not to say I dislike these characters. They were archetypes, but they were very good representations of each. But since Zoids finished its run I've seen different anime and witnessed stronger character development. So while I will always enjoy the CC and the NC crews, I realize that they fit a mold almost perfectly and do very little to break out of it.
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Post by zoidsfan1 on Jun 30, 2011 17:06:22 GMT -5
since Zoids finished its run I've seen different anime and witnessed stronger character development. Like where? Just curious |
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Post by Sen Vaez on Jun 30, 2011 19:21:45 GMT -5
Favorite example: Code Geass. Even the major villains have motivation for their actions, and there's a great moral gray running through the series. Other anime include a lot of the big titles: Zeta Gundam, Soul Taker, Macross, Death Note, Count of Monte Cristo/Gankutsuou, Rahxephon, Scryed, and Escaflowne. Characters in these series may have started as archatypes, but over the series the plot fleshed out their backstory and allowed them to grow as characters. Never an easy task, but it's part of what makes stories so memorable. |
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Post by Tilly on Jul 1, 2011 4:21:57 GMT -5
Zoids is ALL very stock cheese shounen...and I say this with a decent amount of affection, being weak to a lot of its tropes ;p. Though I give battle story!Rosa (no relation to CC Rosa) and Leena huge points for subverting the LOL KIDNAP THE GIRL thing, which I'm so very sick of.
I dislike that Van and Prozen bit too, because Van never DID deal with the way death will follow a hero too (or, you know, should if you want to have any claim to being a serious series set in a war). It's just randomly brought up there and...that's it. I think it was the single most frustrating bit in CC for me.
Macross is win, and I feel the need to also mention Fullmetal Alchemist for shounen done VERY right...at least if you're talking about the comic or Brotherhood.
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