Topic: Night of Expansion...Night of Carnage!!!!

[Cosmic King]

Howdy,lumaholics,your Starry Sovereign reporting for duty

First of all I wanna say that the title of this topic may sound too weird yet it is the most fitting,you will see why

A while ago I was chatting with fellow lumaholic Janus and he mentioned a very interesting subject:

When the expansion of the media kills the franchise or the source material

Sometimes tragedy comes when an obscure or not so obscure source material gets the chance to become popular in a wider circle than its loyal fandom,sometimes it may lead its fandom to abandon it due to the expansion murdering the spirit of the source just to get some money from any person that ignores the real deal

A huge example would be the pussification of these 2 icons



In the case of Superman,he got the following:

Dark and Edgier Versions from the early 90s







(Hey,everybody at the comic book biz was doing this but I prefer the classic Man of Steel)

But the worse came for the Dark Knight as there was:

Campy Movies



(Too much screentime for Batman's buttocks in the fourth movie,perhaps that is why they started again the franchise)

Seduction of the Innocents



(It explains itself perfectly)

Well,that was the case on comic books,now considering mangas and anime my favorite example would be how the executive producers of the UY series blew up the chapter of the Miss Tomobiki Contest,what once was a funny battle of the most beautiful babes on UY became a political conspiracy that made little sense

Well,there may be more examples,so feel free to mention them,lumaholics,and remember,not all expansions are bad but we are gonna use this space to talk about the bad ones

Au revoir

[janus]

Don't forget about Spiderman, right now he is just an image that young kids like that many companies can cash in. The demand for certain franchise can get so strong that there is no other alternative that just to give it to them. That is a fatal mistake because its popularity grows, things go out of hand and the original purpose is lost. Although it isn't in all cases though.
That is why I don't want Japanese franchises to expand towards other countries. it's true that we have easier access to current anime, manga and games, but this could recoil in a bad way if it keeps up.

[cata]

I don't agree with Janus. But I'm not here to cause a fight or anything.

In case of Digimon series (I'll only talk about the first 3 for now) things gone wild.

The first series (Digimon Adventure) was awesome. Had a great story, a new concept, great characters, great monsters and it was easy to watch. I loved this show.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS!!!!



In Digimon 2 (Digimon Adventures 02), it became worse. Daisuke was a ripoff from Tai, Tailmon which used to be the most mature, clever and cult Digimon became childish, some digivolutions were ridiculous such as Shakkoumon which is combined from Ankylomon and Angemon. At one point in the series, Digimon 02 looks like PowerRangers. Mimi looked nothing like she used to be. Also, Iori, who's the kid who got the Knowledge and Reliability symbols is not much more reliable than the rest of the cast and Miyako has much more knowledge than him. And this goes on and on.



I'M STILL SPOILLING!!!!!




In Digimon 3 (Digimon Tamers) they abandonned the whole concept they had so far and came up with the idea that the previous digimons were characters from a trading card game and everybody played it. This is my favourite season so far. Takato who's not so good at school, spends his time playing the trading card game and drawing monsters. He draws a red dinosaur which he names Guilmon and names his attacks and personal information. That information goes to his Digital Device accidentaly and that's how Takato's Guilmon was born. How they fight and how they digivolve is a new concept which consists on 3D effects again but this time it really feels like Digimons are just data. Their fighting is improved with the use of cards that look like those trading cards that belong to the Digimon trading card game. The cards can give abbilities, body parts and skills improvements such as speed, wings or attack but also teach new moves and attacks temporarilly from other digimons.




END OF SPOILERS!!!

[janus]

I wouldn't say it's wrong to expand, and some franchises have proven so, but expanding is like a gamble, the odds are against you with fans with a lot of expectations, this is just a rant on what loyal "first" fans are afraid of. The Bleach anime for example has been following mostly step by step from the manga but with a few fillers, extensions and quite a bit of different charater developments.

BTW cata I like opposing points, that's why this is a discussion. Just as longs this doesn't get out of hand and becomes a fanboy(or girl) trolling

[cata]

Let's say that I got traumatized since Sidzero came up with his arguements.

Of course it's not wrong or bad to expand, as long as you make something good of it. You can take Naruto for example. There's a fine plot (fillers), enjoyable characters, characters development and nicely done animation. 3 years later (in the Anime) came Naruto Shippuuden which isn't boring to watch, continues to have the same good things that it used to have, maybe except some funny stuff that the main character used to do. xD

Of course some people trash Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden because they say it has too many fillers. I can honestly say I liked those fillers because it had a good plot and to me, it was enjoyable to watch.

But if there's something that goes on and on and on of the same thing, it gets pretty annoying. At least to me. I'm mostly reffering to Pokemon. Pokemon came to Portugal when I was in the 1st grade. It was a big hit! Everyone loved it (and still does). I could never really watch the Anime because I couldn't get up early (I never got to school in time for 4 years because of this xD). When the 1st two games came out (Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue), everyone got it. I used to watch my friends playing it at school. Then, came the Pokemon Trading Card Game. I loved this! I remember that a full deck (60 cards) were very very expensive. People still watched Pokemon and still played Pokemon for those 4 years I spent in that school. After the 1st season of Pokemon, came the 2nd which is with new pokemons but same characters. (I never liked Ash) Always the same plot (well it's Pokemon so what could I expect? -.-) and always the same thing. The only thing I truly enjoyed was Team Rocket. I always loved Meowth, Jessie and James. And then came the 3rd Season with more new Pokemons but same characters and same plot and same everything. Some seasons, added new characters but the same trio remained.

Unlike Pokemon Anime, the games keep getting better and better. Better graphics and better challenges. People say the 2nd Season's games were the best so far. I enjoyed all of them.

Then, there's also other type of Pokemon games: Pokemon Pinball (I love this), Pokemon Ranger (I love this, too), Pokemon Colosseum, etc.

In conclusion:

Stop making Pokemon Anime, and make more Pokemon Games! xD

[FallinG_StaR]

You are crazy for balls... Pokeballs... XD

Unnecessary comment?... Yes

Funny?... Sure was for me... XD

[cata]

Stop spamming you ecchi-addicted Mod! xD

[FallinG_StaR]

It's not my fault... that was the ecchi in my veins talking... XD

[cata]

If it's YOUR veins, it's YOUR fault. (get it?) xD