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ANNCast - Bursting the Bubble with Lance Heiskell


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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 3:42 pm Reply with quote
I knew a guy in my college anime club that had that Kiddy Grade ball cap. As far as I know, it only made it to cons, though.

Man, this whole episode was a mix of a nostalgia trip and just making me feel old. Laughing

I suppose it makes sense that the announcement of FMA came at E3 since I'm pretty sure I heard about the first video game before I saw the anime. By the time the second game came out, the first two episodes of the second half of the show were bundled with it, which was a big deal to me at the time because it was still going to be a while before it premiered on TV.

I think visiting Best Buy during the early part of the bubble burst was made it sink in that things would be different. My local stores went from both sides of an aisle filled with anime DVDs that I hadn't even heard of to part of one side, and if it wasn't on Cartoon Network, then it wasn't there.


Last edited by Greed1914 on Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:26 pm; edited 1 time in total
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lheiskell
Industry Insider


Joined: 21 Jul 2003
Posts: 233
Location: Fort Worth, TX
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 3:52 pm Reply with quote
This is Lance! If you have any additional questions, I'll answer them here!

Just like old times.

Ask and I'll answer.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Former FUNimation Guy

Lance
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Mach Rider



Joined: 19 Apr 2019
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 4:44 pm Reply with quote
lheiskell wrote:
This is Lance! If you have any additional questions, I'll answer them here!

Just like old times.

Ask and I'll answer.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Former FUNimation Guy

Lance


Can you tell us when One Piece Season 10 is coming out? All of this silence makes me feel like I'm back in the anime bubble when we'd get little word about show hiatuses...

I feel like my biggest bubble memory is Bandai's "throw any type of release we can at the wall and see what sticks" method, which consisted of inconsistent chipboard boxes for high profile releases (Geass Season 1 got a great one, and then nothing for Season 2), sub only releases followed by dubbed releases of the same title (Gurren Lagann), no Blu-ray for shows that had HD versions available (Geass and Gundam 00), numerous glitchy discs, and a ton of re-releases. There was no consistency or QC for anything released during and after the bubble by them.
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KitKat1721



Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 952
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 5:24 pm Reply with quote
As someone who started getting back into anime around the early 2010s (I still watched some anime prior to that, but more sporadically, and I wasn't reading about anime news in general), this was definitely an interesting listen. I knew about the anime bubble in hindsight, but its crazy how quickly everything during that time seemed to happen. Its still crazy how quickly things can change today, with production increases, rising licensing prices, expanding services on a global scale, the quick turnaround of popularity, etc...

I will say, outside of a few sets I got as Christmas gifts over the years (FMA, Wolf's Rain, Paranoia Agent, Bebop), many of my first anime dvds I bought with my own money were from the SAVE line. The green spine didn't really bother me considering it was reversible. Nowadays it seems like legal streaming has replaced most of that "buy it on cheap just to check it out" mentality, and a collector mentality (prioritizing nicer editions) has become more prevalent for home video. But that's just based on my own bubble.

When simuldubs were first announced, I assumed dubs would have a noticeable downgrade with more main cast repetition, but its been my biggest surprise that this hasn't been the case at all, and many of my new favorites have been simuldubs. Plus, its nice to have more variety with seasonal anime by being able to watch both.

Thank you guys for doing such a long episode! Definitely made my afternoon.
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lheiskell
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Joined: 21 Jul 2003
Posts: 233
Location: Fort Worth, TX
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 6:00 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Can you tell us when One Piece Season 10 is coming out?


I left FUNimation 4 years ago. You'll have to ask them.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7578
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 6:04 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
I knew a guy in my college anime club that had that Kiddy Grade ball cap. As far as I know, it only made it to cons, though.

It was in the first volume LE, and they sold all 5000 of them and even did a reprint (although IIRC the second run didn’t have the caps).
Never worn mine, what with the title; I still maintain they should have gone with the GOTT logo like the Japanese mobile phone holder. That and caps never fit me.
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lheiskell
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Joined: 21 Jul 2003
Posts: 233
Location: Fort Worth, TX
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 6:04 pm Reply with quote
KitKat1721 wrote:

Thank you guys for doing such a long episode! Definitely made my afternoon.


Fantastic! Glad you liked it.
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lheiskell
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Joined: 21 Jul 2003
Posts: 233
Location: Fort Worth, TX
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 6:13 pm Reply with quote
Shiroi Hane wrote:
Greed1914 wrote:
I knew a guy in my college anime club that had that Kiddy Grade ball cap. As far as I know, it only made it to cons, though.

It was in the first volume LE, and they sold all 5000 of them and even did a reprint (although IIRC the second run didn’t have the caps).
Never worn mine, what with the title; I still maintain they should have gone with the GOTT logo like the Japanese mobile phone holder. That and caps never fit me.


We also did a first print run of the cards that came with the R2 release for all 6 volumes. I think it was 6 cards for each volume so 36 cards. I had a printer cut, collate and insert into those into pouches. I has parts of the R2 books translated for the website (remember wihen shows got websites?) but I had so many spinning plates that I didin't do much with them.

It was crazy for a first release, but I wanted to establish a quality reputation on FUNimation anime releases.

We couldn't get the phone holder, so many different phone sizes anyway. I never did a T-shirt for any release because anime fans are very petite to quite stout. Adjustable hats were more one size fits most, and we had a good price quote that fit the budget for promo item. I almost got Lumiere and Eclair embroidered on the back side of the cap, but that was 20 cents over budget and I could't get it approved to go over.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7578
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 6:48 pm Reply with quote
lheiskell wrote:
[We also did a first print run of the cards that came with the R2 release for all 6 volumes. I think it was 6 cards for each volume so 36 cards. I had a printer cut, collate and insert into those into pouches. I has parts of the R2 books translated for the website (remember wihen shows got websites?) but I had so many spinning plates that I didin't do much with them.

I appreciated the stuff on the website. Somewhere I have a backup of it (which was though with it being all Flash).
I had the problem where I got duplicate cards, but being abroad thee was no easy fix (but I had the Japanese set anyway)

Quote:
We couldn't get the phone holder, so many different phone sizes anyway.

It was good up until I got my first smartphone. But it’s been retired for years now.
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consignia



Joined: 06 Jul 2011
Posts: 392
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:05 pm Reply with quote
lheiskell wrote:
This is Lance! If you have any additional questions, I'll answer them here!

Just like old times.

Ask and I'll answer.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Former FUNimation Guy

Lance


Would you rather have a hand made out of ham, or an armpit that dispenses sun cream?

You can eat the ham hand, but it doesn't grow back instantly. You could nibble at it a bit and it would be back almost instantaneously, a finger would take a few days to grow back, and if you ate the entire hand it would take a month.

The armpit can dispense a limited amount of sun cream, but again replenishes itself at a slow rate; there is pretty much enough for two adults, assuming normal usage.
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invalidname
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2434
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:46 pm Reply with quote
Hey, no banging on Kiddy Grade. When Colleen Clinkenbeard was in my town for a con last year and someone asked what old anime should people rediscover, her first pick was Kiddy Grade.

Speaking of, question for Lance (I'm only halfway through the episode so maybe this comes up). Funimation is the one licensor that was really strong before and after the bubble, and one apparent side effect is that some old shows they licensed have hung around for 15 years or more now Not just the Dragon Balls and Fruits Baskets, but the real deep catalog stuff, like Kiddy Grade, Moonphase, Rumbling Hearts, Peach Girl, Desert Punk, Suzuka, that kind of thing. All still available to stream, or buy on DVD or download. Were those licensed in perpetuity, or do they come up for renewal every few years and the terms remain acceptable to all parties?
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7578
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:53 pm Reply with quote
invalidname wrote:
Hey, no banging on Kiddy Grade. When Colleen Clinkenbeard was in my town for a con last year and someone asked what old anime should people rediscover, her first pick was Kiddy Grade.

Dude, I have like 6 complete copies not counting the movies.
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KabaKabaFruit



Joined: 20 Sep 2007
Posts: 1869
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:55 pm Reply with quote
My favourite bubble memory was when FUNimation decided to cancel the Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Uncut Special Editions in favour of the Orange box sets without compromise to the patrons who put their trust and money into the release prior while under the impression that said patrons were supporting the industry. Those same patrons also got laughed off the forums because their contributions towards anime recognition were minor compared to that of cable network viewers and fansubbers.
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lheiskell
Industry Insider


Joined: 21 Jul 2003
Posts: 233
Location: Fort Worth, TX
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 8:14 pm Reply with quote
consignia wrote:

Would you rather have a hand made out of ham, or an armpit that dispenses sun cream?

You can eat the ham hand, but it doesn't grow back instantly. You could nibble at it a bit and it would be back almost instantaneously, a finger would take a few days to grow back, and if you ate the entire hand it would take a month.

The armpit can dispense a limited amount of sun cream, but again replenishes itself at a slow rate; there is pretty much enough for two adults, assuming normal usage.


It would be a Spiral ham hand. Only problem is that I can't find the Blade Children to cut it for me.

I am and will always be mainly an indoor kid.
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Wizduden64



Joined: 08 Apr 2005
Posts: 6
Location: Tennessee
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2019 9:32 pm Reply with quote
Interesting that I would cross paths again with you, Lance. The last time I heard from you, Justin Rojas was still working there at Funimation. This was early 2010s. I hope you aren't tired of the medium by now.

I was a teenager during the anime DVD bubble. Anyone remember Media Play? Man I feel old...

I miss the days of going into Waldenbooks back in the day in the mall when they had racks of manga. (I'm dated now...) Or Best Buy. Or Borders.

And here I am today writing this post in a con hotel room.

One question, however. Why did anime DVDs of the mid-2000s era have dub-titles, switchable camera angles, and OP/EDs rerecorded in english?

Peace out Lance.
-Sam Kirby
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