Cool bbm pictures

I’m trying to really kit my stormsurge out and I was thinking of printing some scale Tau posters for the cockpit, kinda like how tank crews will have pictures in their tanks. If anyone has some cool posters that I could print for immersion that would be great.

One thing that stands out to me is that the advice for getting laid while you are either cohabing and/or are going through a divorce is abstinence. It's good advice, to be sure, but in reality works about as well as teaching only abstinence in school - leaves you without the knowledge you need to succeed!
Basically, the steps below are designed to destroy her map of you. She knows what you do, she knows your routine, and women are pretty good at knowing the importance of suddenly different things. You will have to destroy her ability to know what to expect and normalize unpredictability.

1. Set a pin for your phone!

1A. Start by imagining you have something to hide on your phone. Put it on vibrate, keep it on your person at all times around her, if you set it down, set it down facedown. Don't answer a single text message in front of her, but you can and should use it to check the weather or emails, or surf the web. She probably won't say a single thing, but she is GOING to notice this change and now she's suspicious. Silence her messages - she's used to you responding quickly and she WILL find reasons to contact you just to see if you respond quickly. You will need to slow down communication with her - normalize your replies taking a long time. If she calls don't always pick up. Let it go to VM, or text her that you are busy, or will call back, or whatever. The goal of 1A is to break her expectation of you replying quickly so that it doesn't really stand out when you go on dates later.
1B. Pick a few days each and every week to be out of the house. Don't share what you are doing immediately, make her work for it. She may or may not ask for a while, but she's paying attention. What should you do? Well, I suggest buying some new clothes, try out a few gyms, go for a hike, try out new places to eat by yourself, check out bars and find a few cool ones at different parts of the area you are in, try out a musical instrument lesson, go to car meets, go to biker meets (Harley dealerships have huge bike meets and they cook), play poker, go fishing.... It doesn't matter WHAT you do specifically, just that you ARE actually doing things, and you SHOULD be doing things you would never normally do. Take pictures. You should do this for a minimum of 1 month.
***Why? Well, you don't really know who you are as a single man, and this step is partly to help you figure that out, while shattering her map of 'what you do.' At the same time, you are learning to be less dependent on her for emotional support, simply by slowing down communication with her and creating that distance.

1. This step depends on her, not you. She is going to question you about all these new things and probably outright accuse you of having another girl. Tell her you don't have one (don't get defensive), and if you can show a picture of what you were doing that triggered her accusations, then do it. Tell her you are doing new things because you are a single man again, and you need to discover who you are without her now. Tell her you have no interest in another relationship - that you have decided to work on yourself and focus on being happy. All of those things are true, and you should save the bulk of what you'll say for when she confronts you. The goal here is to get her to accept the IDEA you might actually be working on yourself and shutting her out - she's not going to buy it, but this casts doubt in her mind you found another woman, and that's good enough to continue to step 3.
   
2. CHANGE YOUR PHONES PIN CODE! She probably has it by now. We are about to actually have something to hide.
   
3. Sign up for whatever online dating apps, but you need to turn OFF banner alerts! This should be obvious, but don't bring her back to your house, no matter how sure you are your STBXW isn't going to be home or show up. Condoms... this will get you caught. Either buy and dispose of the whole pack (never bring them home) or find a really good spot to hide them in your car that she'll never find.
   
4. Great, now you found some girl and she's making you happy, right? Getting laid, she probably makes you feel like a Million $s. Good. You'll want to see her constantly because you just realized how terrible you have actually been treated, don't. Your STBXW will say some hurtful and mean things and you'll want to drop that you are and have been banging someone else... don't. If your STBXW feels like she's getting more suspicious end things with 'new girl,' let the situation cool and find a new, new girl... or don't, and continue to work on yourself.
   

Why go through all of this? Because even if you stop at step 3 you've helped yourself! Interestingly, like many can attest to, the moment you find another woman she'll be interested in you again. The mere idea that you could do new things and be happy without her will bring her right back - like the happiness sucking harpie she is.
Lastly, I want to say one more time, that I think NOT sleeping around until after your divorce has been signed by a judge is by far the smarter thing to do. What I am describing here is essentially OPSEC for having an affair, but this level of effort is required because while she may be able to get laid without consequence, the system is not 'for you' and she will make sure you get every inch of the justice d*ck without any lube if she finds out you are plowing the younger, hotter, fun version of her.

My first time buying ETFs so I really am asking this 💀 but this is in the picture is cash.to, and it's cool if I need the money in a few months, right?
https://imgur.com/a/jERg6o6

Hey everyone.
I'm 17 years old, turning 18 in July.
I feel kind of lost right now. I get that it's hard for 99% of the people that just turn " 18 " and are " just " entering life and learning the hardships, I've always been aware of these and prepared. I love working, like genuinely love it and spend 24/7 wanting to work.
I just don't know what or where.
So, a little " picture " of me. I was hit by a car back in 8th grade, I don't remember exactly what age that is. In result I was in the hospital for 4 months, had to " re-learn " how to walk since my body had technically forgotten it since I hadn't walked for so long. And this affected what I could do for a couple of years, and I kind of sometimes find it hard to "memorize" stuff. I had broken my left leg, spine, nose and my skull. Worst part was the skull, had to get a VERY risky operation, which thank God it went great and now I've got a very " cool " big ol' scar on my head lol. I was very sporty, I loved sports and wanted to pursue " fighting " sports such as mma and grappling as I got older, so like the age that I am now. But since this happened, Sports & MOSTLY those sports came out of the picture. I used to be a really good b'bal player, I was always put up with people 4-5 years older than me, but stupidly I was " shy " of how skinny I was. Anyways, I was SUPER skinny, and I hated that so much. And I'm basically an ectomorph, no matter HOW much I eat I genuinely don't get fat. So, I put my mind to it, ignoring what the doctors said and started working my ass out. And now, I'm much better, don't feel anything related to the accident. My head just feels a little overwhelmed when let's say I run constantly for like 5+ mins. Anyways, now I'm very very very pleased with my body. It's quite the " dream " body for my age.
I know you might be thinking what in the fuckery does this have to do with me asking for advice about " work ", I'm basically trying to tell you that if I put my mind to something nothing stops me. I don't need "motivation" to pursue something, all I need is the " start " and I just chase till finish. And That is how it is for me, 99% of the time the start is hard for me.
I guess I'm good with languages. I speak Armenian, Persian, English and a little Russian // Spanish (Can get them both to an advanced level if I find the " need " for it) & I started learning French, because I'm going to go to a French UNI and I wanted a HeadStart compared to the other students, but my mom kind of shut me down and said why are you wasting your time learning a "language" when they're going to teach you that from scratch. Instead learn something actual (she was referring to programming). I mean yeah, I guess I agree with her, since I don't know anything for the "future" to work. But anyways in no way do I want a job in anything related to languages (Like a translator etc...)
I was 15-16, I worked as a logistics operator and was able to make $1600 in a month. But the market kind of died, so did the office, so I stopped, then I focused on my exams for UNI and I'm accepted now. I will be studying Marketing, but probs will switch to Business on my 2-nd year. I have plans to get a Master's degree as-well. Either the opposite of what I study (so If I get a bachelor's in marketing, I'll go for a master's in business or if I have enough finances to pay for it myself, I'll go for CS).
So now, after I've finished everything, School exams done, UNI has been applied // accepted to and I'm just " getting " into life I'm worried day and night about work. I feel like I genuinely don't know anything to find a work for or just in general don't know anything. And I know people say there is so so much time ahead of you, you're still young and you'll find it. But I don't want to waste a single second, since each second can be spent studying or even better working.
I am decent at forex trading; I am able to make decent profit (demo account obviously) and have general knowledge of the market and know how it works basically. Of course there is still much to learn, like anyone in any field. My dad works as a trader as-well. See this is something that I enjoy, but I can't have this as a " main " job. It will be something on the side, and I need to have another MAIN source of income to be able to grow my account and get decent profit. Anyways as I mentioned that 1.6k I've got saved, I'm going to be opening an account at like $300 and I can see me making decent money from it, but still as I said that's not going to be a main " field" or "job" I don't know the word.
That's basically all that I "know" or am good at.
I talk to my mom, asking her to help // guide me. She keeps on saying programming, go become a programmer (saying this person makes tons, that person pays for her whole family and has tons of money for himself etc...). I know programming is an amazing job, mostly pay-wise, but I just don't enjoy it. I ask her to give me an idea for something else, I don't enjoy this and sarcastically she says go become a barber or a server or something. It's quite irritating because my sister has just finished her master's degree (she's 22) and makes good money, and she looks " down " at me, treats me like she's "higher?", ha-ha.
So currently, for the past week I've been studying programming (Python to be exact), and I guess I can see me finding a junior position during August or September probably. But as I mentioned, I don't really enjoy this. It's just not my thing I guess, writing stuff on and on and on all day is eh... to me.
I'm a person who genuinely loves working, just need guidance. Also, another reason why I'm so EAGER to just " jump" into life and start ACTUAL work, is because I want to get myself a car (fully paid by me) and much more stuff on my bucket list.
Sorry if this is stupidly long and half of this is just " pointless " but I guess I'm ranting and trying to get advice.
Thank you if you read all of this,
Kindly put down thoughts!
Best Regards.

Please share your hobbies a bit about you when you message me, I don't want to have to pull the info from ya 😅! I love picture updates whether it be a cool rock, bird, or something that made you happy recently.
Hey! Looking for some people to share my weird life with. I'm currently living in an rv full time and redoing a 100 year old home that is burned out on the inside 🔥. I just started so my current shedule is cleaning/cooking during the week and getting trashy on the weekend 😆. I'm healing atm from a ton of work this weekend.
Hobbies I like! ● Wildlife Photography ● Traveling/Finding new cool nature spots ● Finding deals (thrift stores, flea markets, goodwill bins, whatever I need to dig through) sadly my current area kinda lacks in that category ● Collecting (pokemon cards, antlers) I want to collect more but the rv I live in is very very tiny. ● Being a depressed, anxious, feral creature (Will I dissappear and hate myself for hours? Yes Will I dissappear into the forest to relax and wish I was part of nature? Also yes) ● Deer 🦌 (I grew up in an area without wildlife and now I'm surrounded by them and it's the coolest thing ever! They like the yard in the property I recently got and it makes me so happy 😭😍.)
If we don't get along feel free to just have a quick chat. If I dissappear it's me not you. I've got alot going on mentally and physically right now.

Everything purchased and paid for today will be shipped TOMORROW
Please be warned that I will never send you unsolicited messages offering to sell something that is not part of this sale.
Please don't contact me via chat, it's very clunky and makes it difficult for me to keep track of conversations. Looking forward to your Private messages.
To send me Private Message just click this link - https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=CrazyRusFW&subject=&message=
PROOF FOR EVERYTHING
I use custom poured silver bar made by u/420pepe in my verification photos, I think you should too! :)
LUCKY ANGEL 20 FRANC PART 1 ALBUM
LUCKY ANGEL 20 FRANC PART 2 ALBUM
Please disregard the grading on the flip inserts but they are all nice coins as you can see from the pictures. Coins of the same date are numbered on flips. $460 each
MEXICO GOLD
SOLD DOS PESOS - $128 each
ALL DOS PESOS ARE SOLD
2.5 PESOS - $155 each
1920 5 PESOS - $300
Russia 1898 5 Rubles - $345
Netherlands 1875 10 Guilder - $475
USA PRE-33 GOLD
1895 $10 Liberty MS61 CAC - CAC Guide is $1590, take it for $1500 shipped ALBUM
1927 $2.5 Indian MS63 - $550. Old NGC Fatty ALBUM
1874 GOLD $1 - $325
1861 $2.5 Liberty - $500. Very attractive example of Civil War era gold ALBUM
$2.5 INDIANS ALBUM
1912, 1913 and 1928, Each one @ $390 (wholesale price for XF is $395).
1928 is SOLD
FOREIGN GRADED
1914 Canada $10 MS63 - $1200. Priced to sell, only $30 over melt. ALBUM
1869-BB France 20 Francs MS61 - $500 ALBUM
1949 Switzerland 20 Francs MS65 - $500 ALBUM
1936 Canada $1 MS64 - $150 ALBUM
1949 Canada $1 MS65 - $75 ALBUM
US COINS
1881-S $1 Morgan MS65 CAC - $340. Absolutely spectacular coin, was really hoping to get Gold CAC sticker on it but no luck. Rattler ALBUM
1880-S $1 Morgan MS64PL - $240. Very pretty coin with golden toned reverse, old fatty holder ALBUM
1879-S $1 Morgan MS65 - $185 ALBUM
1881-S $1 Morgan MS65 - $150. Blast white coin from Club Cal Nevada Collection ALBUM
1881-O $1 Morgan MS63 - $115. Very pretty coin in old fatty holder ALBUM
1886 $1 Morgan MS65 - $200 Blazer in old NGC fatty ALBUM
1897 $1 Morgan MS63 - $125 Slight rim tone in ANACS soapbox holder ALBUM
1922 $1 Peace MS64+ - $90. Blast white coin ALBUM
1831 Bust Half VF30 - $120. Affordable example with TruevIews ALBUM
1875-S 20c XF details - $155 Another affordable example of popular type coin ALBUM
1943 Walking Liberty Half MS66 - $145. Blast white Gem ALBUM
1946 Walking Liberty MS64 CAC - $120 ALBUM
1960 Franklin MS64 - $40. Old fatty holder, some color ALBUM
1942 Mercury Dime PF65 - $170 PQ example, last year of proof issue ALBUM
1941 Mercury Dime MS66FB CAC - $110 Old NGC Gold Foil holder ALBUM
1944-D Mercury 10c MS64FB - $35. Old fatty, some toning ALBUM
1954-S Roosevelt MS67 - $25. Old Fatty, toned reverse ALBUM
US CLASSIC COMMEMS!!
1920 Pilgrim MS63 CAC - $160 ALBUM
1935-S Texas MS66 - $300 ALBUM
1936 Cleveland MS65 - $125 ALBUM
1936 Long Island MS64 - $115 ALBUM
1893 Columbian Half MS63 - $110 $105 ALBUM
1946 Iowa Half MS65 CAC - $160 $155 ALBUM
Shipping at cost - First Class starts at $3.50, Priority at $8.50. If you would like insurance (Cost is $1 per $100 of value of the package) or signature (+$2.50) this will be extra. Please let me know if you want any of these extra services. I pack safely and discretely, and ship fast. All paid for purchases will be on their way NEXT BUSINESS DAY.
Payment via PPFF (Sorry, I do not accept G&S payments anymore), CashApp or Zelle. If you are a trusted buyeseller I can accept Venmo (sorry, no Venmo for newer users). USPS money order is cool too.

Everything purchased and paid for today will be shipped TOMORROW
Please be warned that I will never send you unsolicited messages offering to sell something that is not part of this sale.
Please don't contact me via chat, it's very clunky and makes it difficult for me to keep track of conversations. Looking forward to your Private messages.
To send me Private Message just click this link - https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=CrazyRusFW&subject=&message=
PROOF FOR EVERYTHING
I use custom poured silver bar made by u/420pepe in my verification photos, I think you should too! :)
LUCKY ANGEL 20 FRANC PART 1 ALBUM
LUCKY ANGEL 20 FRANC PART 2 ALBUM
Please disregard the grading on the flip inserts but they are all nice coins as you can see from the pictures. Coins of the same date are numbered on flips. $460 each
MEXICO GOLD
SOLD DOS PESOS - $128 each
ALL DOS PESOS ARE SOLD
2.5 PESOS - $155 each
1920 5 PESOS - $300
Russia 1898 5 Rubles - $345
Netherlands 1875 10 Guilder - $475
USA PRE-33 GOLD
1895 $10 Liberty MS61 CAC - CAC Guide is $1590, take it for $1500 shipped ALBUM
1927 $2.5 Indian MS63 - $550. Old NGC Fatty ALBUM
1874 GOLD $1 - $325
1861 $2.5 Liberty - $500. Very attractive example of Civil War era gold ALBUM
$2.5 INDIANS ALBUM
1912, 1913 and 1928, Each one @ $390 (wholesale price for XF is $395).
1928 is SOLD
FOREIGN GRADED
1914 Canada $10 MS63 - $1200. Priced to sell, only $30 over melt. ALBUM
1869-BB France 20 Francs MS61 - $500 ALBUM
1949 Switzerland 20 Francs MS65 - $500 ALBUM
1936 Canada $1 MS64 - $150 ALBUM
1949 Canada $1 MS65 - $75 ALBUM
US COINS
1881-S $1 Morgan MS65 CAC - $340. Absolutely spectacular coin, was really hoping to get Gold CAC sticker on it but no luck. Rattler ALBUM
1880-S $1 Morgan MS64PL - $240. Very pretty coin with golden toned reverse, old fatty holder ALBUM
1879-S $1 Morgan MS65 - $185 ALBUM
1881-S $1 Morgan MS65 - $150. Blast white coin from Club Cal Nevada Collection ALBUM
1881-O $1 Morgan MS63 - $115. Very pretty coin in old fatty holder ALBUM
1886 $1 Morgan MS65 - $200 Blazer in old NGC fatty ALBUM
1897 $1 Morgan MS63 - $125 Slight rim tone in ANACS soapbox holder ALBUM
1922 $1 Peace MS64+ - $90. Blast white coin ALBUM
1831 Bust Half VF30 - $120. Affordable example with TruevIews ALBUM
1875-S 20c XF details - $155 Another affordable example of popular type coin ALBUM
1943 Walking Liberty Half MS66 - $145. Blast white Gem ALBUM
1946 Walking Liberty MS64 CAC - $120 ALBUM
1960 Franklin MS64 - $40. Old fatty holder, some color ALBUM
1942 Mercury Dime PF65 - $170 PQ example, last year of proof issue ALBUM
1941 Mercury Dime MS66FB CAC - $110 Old NGC Gold Foil holder ALBUM
1944-D Mercury 10c MS64FB - $35. Old fatty, some toning ALBUM
1954-S Roosevelt MS67 - $25. Old Fatty, toned reverse ALBUM
US CLASSIC COMMEMS!!
1920 Pilgrim MS63 CAC - $160 ALBUM
1935-S Texas MS66 - $300 ALBUM
1936 Cleveland MS65 - $125 ALBUM
1936 Long Island MS64 - $115 ALBUM
1893 Columbian Half MS63 - $110 $105 ALBUM
1946 Iowa Half MS65 CAC - $160 $155 ALBUM
Shipping at cost - First Class starts at $3.50, Priority at $8.50. If you would like insurance (Cost is $1 per $100 of value of the package) or signature (+$2.50) this will be extra. Please let me know if you want any of these extra services. I pack safely and discretely, and ship fast. All paid for purchases will be on their way NEXT BUSINESS DAY.
Payment via PPFF (Sorry, I do not accept G&S payments anymore), CashApp or Zelle. If you are a trusted buyeseller I can accept Venmo (sorry, no Venmo for newer users). USPS money order is cool too.

As the dream begins, I'm preparing to enter a building, I'm feeling a sense of contentment. The structure is familiar to me. It's a place that I remember appreciating the architecture of in the past, as far back as when I was a child. I walk around a bit, smiling, thinking that I have to tell someone about this association to my past. So obviously, I haven't been to this area in a long time. In fact, I think it'll be my first experience actually walking through the doors. However, I had been in one of the neighboring buildings on many occasions. They're both similar in style, but I've always liked this one I'm going to today very much more.
I'm kind of looking around the interior in awe as I enter the building. The inside is as cool looking as the outside. It all has a kind of art deco design.
Then I notice my ex-girlfriend in the large, spacious room. She's crouched down to be at eye level with some kids; one or two, maybe three. Either they're playing a game of some kind or she's helping them to get ready to go outside, adjusting the collar of a raincoat perhaps. They don't appear to be her own children. The scene has a very kindergarten teacher type vibe.
She turns her head as she notices me, and smiles. It's not clear whether she knew I was going to be there or not. But seeing her is a total surprise to me. A pleasant one. It feels really good to finally see her again. We interact for a bit, talking. Replaying this in my mind just now, I can feel my heart soar. I have no expectations of what will follow. I'm not thinking about kissing, reuniting or having sex - things I long for in real life - so I'm solely in the moment. I realize now while writing this down that she was probably able to do that for me often. That partner had helped me to feel centered when we were together.
After some conversation in the dream I find out my ex-gf works there, in this building, for my therapist. Then the dream transitions to where I'm walking into my psychologist's office. My impression is that I felt good going in, still riding the high of appreciation for the building and of seeing my gf again. But there are some conflicts here in the timeline. I can picture arguing with her out in the lobby area too, which would have been before I entered the office. Insert shruggie emoticon here.
I haven't been to see this therapist, either in the dream or real life, in a long time either. It's like our first session of a restart of our work together (which would have been for the third round). I would be happy if this were happening in real life. But I'm suddenly angry at the guy, basically yelling at him for having hired my ex without warning me about it ahead of time. My assumption is that he knew how important she had been to me, knew how much pain I'd been in since the breakup, and knew how triggering it would be for me to see her again. That was about it for the dream.
Some context: In real life, I had been seeing this therapist while that girlfriend and I were still together, or at least supposedly still a couple, even though she'd been out of the country for months, if not over a year. We didn't "officially" break up until after I stopped going to him for therapy and she returned from overseas. However, originally I had started my second round of sessions with him because she and I had begun having an affair. One that led to my divorce (and questionably to hers). I had probably spent the entire therapy session time since then - maybe six years? - talking so much about the anxieties caused by my relationship with her that he was literally nodding off while I blabbed on and on. In fact, I had stopped seeing him in part because I noticed this happen once or twice. I never mentioned to him though that I felt like I was boring him with my complaints, and it hadn't been my intention to put a halt to our work together. But we had a break for holidays, a different opportunity arose, and I decided to try that approach for awhile. Turned out to be years. He and I haven't communicated in any way for nearly 20 years.
Feel free to interpret the dream if so inclined, but the meanings aren't lost on me at all. I'd be happy to discuss. I just had to get it out of me and preserved somewhere.

I am getting some cornhole boards made and am looking for ideas. Right now I am thinking of an offensive picture and a picture of the blackshirts. Either a cool action shot or an edit. I have found a few online, but nothing that sticks out. Curious to see if you guys had anything that would look good or have any other suggestions.

Ima just come out and say it. I don’t believe sissies should be allowed to post here. Sissies just give femboys a bad name. Just saw a post about what your fem name is and a guy named “Sissy-genericname” post and say he got his name after being fucked and moaning so loud or something like that. Then look on his profile and I regretted doing that😳 🤦‍♀️ Middle aged guy posting on purely sissy subs and posting god awful pictures and also has the nerve to call himself a Femboy.
Idc how old you are, you can be a Femboy. I’m in my 30s but Jesus H Christ what is wrong with people like this. This is a PG-13 sub where we can congregate and give advice and help one another. Not so middle aged men can live out their sexual fantasies and associate themselves with us.
If you’re a sissy, fine! That’s cool but don’t bring that sh*t over here. It’s disgusting and pathetic. People like them give femboys a terrible reputation. Please don’t feed into their fantasies by letting them associate with us. They’re not femboys. Irl they don’t dress fem, talk fem, or do anything fem outside of their bedroom walls.
I sure hope I’m not the only one who feels this way. Sorry to rant 🙏🏼

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

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Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.