That's not really fair to the franchise. Ask an adult a few years after Robotech ended if they knew of the series, I'd imagine many wouldn't know what it was. Does this mean Robotech wasn't a popular series? Not at all. It just means it wasn't a mainstream crossover success. This would be the same case for Medabots, and as someone who has a Masterpiece Starscream avatar, and after reading your posts in other threads, I imagine you were probably born in the 1980's. You'd be well above the target demographic of Medabots by the time it came to North America.
----- Original Post -----
by mike962 at 1/4/2011 12:38:10 PM
Brian out of curiosity who the heck decided to pick this tltle up in the first place ?? Ther eis so much more worthy to pick up and you guys decided ot pick this one which nobody heard of before really (at least in my case)
Medabots as a franchise has been mishandled in the US (although for the better part of the last two decades, it was no better in Japan), which all falls plain on the lack of faith in the brand. Despite being a series based on a video game, when Medabots premiered in North America, it wasn't like Pokemon, there was no media storm headed for North America. Nelvana hadn't secured a toy licensor, Natsume (the owner of the video games the series is based upon) wasn't planning on localizing the video games, and in fact, Nelvana had re-ordered the episode count so that the first season could end conclusively, as Nelvana was almost dead certain the show wasn't going to get renewed as it was only supposed to be time filler before FOX sold Fox Family (and in turn the programming of Fox Kids) to Disney. But to do this, Nelvana had to sign a five year programming deal with Fox Family.
But when the show premiered on Fox Kids in Summer 2001, something unexpected happened, the show became popular. In its debut year it was the most popular new series on the block, getting higher ratings than Transformers: Robots In Disguise, and would compete with Power Rangers: Time Force and Digimon for the blocks ratings crown. Nelvana, and Natsume USA realized their mistake in not trusting in the brand, and rushed to get product on the market alongside Nelvana preparing the episodes they initially skipped. But most of this product landed in Winter 2002 or early 2003 (this product push included an extensive toyline from Hasbro, Natsume's video games, manga comic books from Viz, a trading card game from Topps, and a home video release from ADVision). Which was then Fox Family's sale to Disney became official, the Fox Kids television block was disbanded, and because of Nelvana's contract (which would later see Beyblade have its success hindered) Medabots was forced to air on ABC Family (formerly Fox Family). ABC Family was too limited a venue for the series to maintain its success at that time, and unlike Digimon (fourth season aired on UPN) and Power Rangers (went to ABC Kids on ABC) who went to mainstream channels, Medabots, being a third party acqusition was left to rot. It did have some success on ABC Family, as Natsume, Nelvana, ADV and Hasbro continued to support the franchise throughout the next two seasons of episodes but it was no where near what it had on Fox Kids (which aired only 26 of the 91 episodes with ABC Family being the only home for 27-91 in the US). Although Natsume stopped translating Medabots video games once the anime series concluded, and ADV did not release the third season on DVD.
A case of under exposure, and a lack of faith is what hurt the franchise from becoming a huge success in the US (although it was very popular in both Canada, and the UK where mainstream broadcasts were maintained throughout the run), but a case of over exposure is what nearly killed the franchise in Japan.
In the late 90's, when the franchise was launched in Japan, the games became a surprising success on the GameBoy, selling more than a half million units of the first game just in Japan which lead to multiple manga, toys, and anime being created. This success lead the publisher, Imagineer, and the developer, Natsume to flood the market with sequels, expansions and spinoffs to the number of nearly 50 different releases in five years. The Japanese market couldn't handle that much, and as such each game sold less than the previous to the point where a remake of the first game ended up selling less than 20,000 units in Japan, a collosial decline from what the original game sold. This is when Medabots kind of died.
On both sides of the world, Medabots died around 2004, leading to any community not having a chance to grow. The fanbase was too young, and there wasn't anything new to keep in interested, which in turn didn't allow a fanbase that could be rallied up easily. Everyone though Medabots was just gone for good...
Until 2010, which saw the release of Medabots DS, a game that acts as a sequel to the second Medabots game (which proved to be the most popular worldwide, and was the basis for the Medabots anime). The game recieved acclaim in Japan, and has went on to sell more than 100,000 units in Japan within a few weeks. Which was more than Imagineer expected Medabots DS to sell within its lifetime. This success has lead to a sequel being announced for the upcomming Nintendo 3DS for a late release this year to early next year, and rumors for plans of another anime series (which haven't had any proof). As well as a re-release of the entirity of the Medabots anime on DVD, which just concluded a few weeks ago. The set, spread over 4 sets, retails for more than $200 CDN each. Sadly, a little out of my price range for sets that only contain the Japanese language, and not even an English subtitle track.
Maybe with Medabots, Shout! Factory was ahead of the trends. Afterall, this year marks Medabots 10th Anniversary in North America. Ten years is when the nostalgia tends to kick in with people. ;)
Honestly though, I hope a new Medabots anime series is made. It'll give the franchise a fresh start without the baggage of no trust.
----- Original Post -----
by B Ward at 1/4/2011 1:53:20 PM
Yes, but when this title was acquired, it had not yet aired in the U.S. and was HUGE around the rest of the world. They had a big marketing strategy to roll out the game, the cartoon, the toys, etc. For all intents and purposes, this should've been a big title. But, again, it's an example of Americans not getting behind what the rest of the world is enjoying, much like Oban: Star-Racers (which I'll still argue is the best animated series I've ever seen) and Pucca. Both of these received rave reviews overseas (Oban even received a BAFTA -- the U.K.'s equivalent of an Academy Award for television and film) and are big hits. Everywhere, but here.
We're trying to stay ahead of the trends, rather than keep dishing out popular, but already-released collections.
Brian
Follow me on Twitter! (@BWard028)
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