They don't sell fan service like they used to
PostPosted:Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:54 am
I went to Borders yesterday and they had Megaman Complete Works and Megaman X Complete Works in the graphics novel section for $40 each. Now I normally buy anything that has a good cover even if I know there's nothing good inside, but since this stuff was already open I decided to read it first. The Megaman one is probably not worth talking about since it's only Megaman in 120 different colors but then I guess there really isn't much you can illustrate on the original Megaman series. But there's no excuse for the Megaman X one. You have a lot of interesting characters that you can draw about. There's actually no shortage of female characters if you need some kind of generic filler for the art section. There's plenty of raw stats you can talk about in the Megaman X series (X1-X3 all have the boss's power measured in HP). There's also plenty of unresolved background stuff to talk about, certainly more than enough to fill a ton of space like a drama CD would.
Instead the whole book more or less consists of taking the sprite of the boss in the game and put it in paper. There is literally nothing on the book that you can't find from Capcom's website for the same games. In the end I can't justify buying this stuff, and I checked my collection of artbooks and whatnot, and found that I have two artbook from Shin Tenchi Muyo (the newer TV series) and I don't even like Shin Tenchi Muyo! I think I bought one of them because Sakuya was on the cover. I mean, this is basic fandom 101. You have to put the person you think that has the biggest following on the basis of good looks on the cover, and Megaman X isn't that guy. Even Xenogears Perfect Works has the quasi-naked Elly on the cover.
While we're at it, I looked up some of the manga fan service stuff I have accumulated, and I found that One Piece has no talent for merchandising whatsoever. The OP source book (there are 3 of them, I didn't buy them, my brother did) is basically a 500 page synopsis of what has happened in OP. Now, if you're one of those weirdoes that will actually buy this stuff you already know the story like the back of your hand. You don't need a guide and even though every source book has this stuff to fill some quota of pages, it can't be all that's there. I noticed that One Piece seems to lag way behind in merchandising despite being the biggest manga in Japan by far, and the sourcebook is a good example of where it goes wrong. Even the Hunter X Hunter sourcebook has a section about the power level of all the later characters (Meryem, Komugi, powered up Gon, royal guards). The Naruto sourcebook has a bunch of totally useless information just for the diehard fan like how many S class missions Orochimaru went on, or the power pentagon for a character that died 3 frames after he appeared in. What good is this stuff? Who knows, but fans love this stuff! I mean if you just want to know stuff about Naruto that's already covered in the manga/anime then you can just go back to that source! But the manga/anime will never tell you how many S class missions Orochimaru went on so that's another piece of useless knowledge to justify wasting $10 on a sourcebook! Xenogears Perfect Works has the game's fictional measurement units and how they convert to real world units. It also has the history of Miang 1 to Miang 999. It has a 4 box comic section on "Tolone teaches physics with Seraphita". That's the stuff you expect to get so that you feel your $80 was a justified investment even if it is not.
I guess some people/company just don't have talent at selling merchandise. A particularly funny one is the author of Black Cat. He's writing on a new(er) series and his notes basically read like: "Guys I ran out of ideas so I'm going to bring out my characters from Black Cat and have them strip naked to drive some sales". And then people found out Selphilia Arks isn't one of the girls involved and nothing more was ever heard of that series. I saw one guy commenting on how can you miss the fact that Black Cat's fanboys are always drooling over Selphilia, not the underage girls that are dime-a-dozen in the world of manga? Then again, maybe Capcom still thinks Zero isn't the one that's driving the sales in the Megaman X series, so stranger things have happened.
Instead the whole book more or less consists of taking the sprite of the boss in the game and put it in paper. There is literally nothing on the book that you can't find from Capcom's website for the same games. In the end I can't justify buying this stuff, and I checked my collection of artbooks and whatnot, and found that I have two artbook from Shin Tenchi Muyo (the newer TV series) and I don't even like Shin Tenchi Muyo! I think I bought one of them because Sakuya was on the cover. I mean, this is basic fandom 101. You have to put the person you think that has the biggest following on the basis of good looks on the cover, and Megaman X isn't that guy. Even Xenogears Perfect Works has the quasi-naked Elly on the cover.
While we're at it, I looked up some of the manga fan service stuff I have accumulated, and I found that One Piece has no talent for merchandising whatsoever. The OP source book (there are 3 of them, I didn't buy them, my brother did) is basically a 500 page synopsis of what has happened in OP. Now, if you're one of those weirdoes that will actually buy this stuff you already know the story like the back of your hand. You don't need a guide and even though every source book has this stuff to fill some quota of pages, it can't be all that's there. I noticed that One Piece seems to lag way behind in merchandising despite being the biggest manga in Japan by far, and the sourcebook is a good example of where it goes wrong. Even the Hunter X Hunter sourcebook has a section about the power level of all the later characters (Meryem, Komugi, powered up Gon, royal guards). The Naruto sourcebook has a bunch of totally useless information just for the diehard fan like how many S class missions Orochimaru went on, or the power pentagon for a character that died 3 frames after he appeared in. What good is this stuff? Who knows, but fans love this stuff! I mean if you just want to know stuff about Naruto that's already covered in the manga/anime then you can just go back to that source! But the manga/anime will never tell you how many S class missions Orochimaru went on so that's another piece of useless knowledge to justify wasting $10 on a sourcebook! Xenogears Perfect Works has the game's fictional measurement units and how they convert to real world units. It also has the history of Miang 1 to Miang 999. It has a 4 box comic section on "Tolone teaches physics with Seraphita". That's the stuff you expect to get so that you feel your $80 was a justified investment even if it is not.
I guess some people/company just don't have talent at selling merchandise. A particularly funny one is the author of Black Cat. He's writing on a new(er) series and his notes basically read like: "Guys I ran out of ideas so I'm going to bring out my characters from Black Cat and have them strip naked to drive some sales". And then people found out Selphilia Arks isn't one of the girls involved and nothing more was ever heard of that series. I saw one guy commenting on how can you miss the fact that Black Cat's fanboys are always drooling over Selphilia, not the underage girls that are dime-a-dozen in the world of manga? Then again, maybe Capcom still thinks Zero isn't the one that's driving the sales in the Megaman X series, so stranger things have happened.