Vocab level h new edition

Hi,Im new to Harvard's cs50 course, i took this course's first video lecture named as scratch It also came with a problem set to solve and submit to harvard in scratch ( a web app created by mit,it uses a visual based programming language to make games and animations) i was not even able to make my first game in it which was simple ball catching game) all of my logic looked right to me but didn't worked except two or three lines. I help my father on his shop from 8 am to 8pm and just find about 1 to two hours for this course. My brain isn't braining. I just get frustrated and quit, my motivation level is falling down with every day passing. I feel like im very stupid and can't even thing of a very basic solution
What should i do and does this happens to you (experienced lads out there) and is it normal and is everyday of a programmer is like that?
Sorry for any typo as English is not my first language
Thanks for helping me out

Machaon woke up, another day under the dimly lit, haze choked skies of his home world of Barbarus. As always, he got dressed, had a meager breakfast, put on his gas mask and ventured out into the toxic air to check on his crops. His father had spent a long time trying to create a strain of their main food crop so that it could resist the toxic environment of the upper levels of Barbarus, and allow more food to be grown. His father always said that they were “working today so others can eat tomorrow.” Unfortunately, his father passed away many years ago, but Machaon continued his work in earnest, doing his best to accomplish his father’s dream.. And based on the growing stalks of healthy looking crops, he had succeeded. He performed a more thorough inspection on the stems and leaves of the budding vegetables, and wrote down everything he saw in his journal. Years of his family’s work finally come to fruition.
Next on his to do list was to check the herbal garden his mother had grown. He had taken care of it when his mother was unable to, due to a debilitating sickness. The garden had a few different varieties of medical herbs, including hawthorn, lavender, aloe, and peppermint along with a mix of herbs for cooking. He checked the stems and leaves of the plants, making sure all of them were healthy, once more writing his findings in his journal. Confident all his plants were healthy, he closed his notebook and made his way to the local herbalist he was being mentored by. Machaon had spent time with a local herbalist to try and learn how to make herbal remedies to cure his mother’s sickness, and the older gentlemen needed help with certain things around his house. In exchange for his expertise, Machaon provided some of his own herbs and some extra food since the older gentleman had trouble growing enough food to feed himself.
Machaon knocked on the door, hearing a gas mask sealing and a cantankerous older gentleman call out “I don’t appreciate interruptions to my work! Best be something important!” A few seconds later, the herbalist came to the door wearing a load of protective equipment, something that seemed a little out of place for an herbalist, swinging it open. “What do ya wan — oh hey kid, come on in.” The old man opened the door, hobbling back into his abode.
Machaon walked in, taking a look around the place. It was a mess like it always was, but the old man did have his own system of organization. Calling it a system of organization was a stretch, but Machaon couldn't convince him to change his ways, so he gave up on convincing him and focused on his herbalist and apothecary training. Pushing that thought from his mind, he put on his herbalist protective gear and got ready to start the day’s training regiment. The old man looked at him, smiling “You ready kid?”
Machaon looked at his journal, stocked with papers and writings, now old and worn. He was in his thirties now, and most people he knew and cared for had passed on. His mother died not too long after he finally made a chemical resistant strain of crops, and his herbalist mentor had passed a few years after, finally having accomplished his life goal. Wiping a tear from his eye, Machaon wiped a tear from his eye, closed his journal and went on his usual ritual of checking on his plants and documenting strange things. Once he finished, he changed into his apothecary attire and shouldered his backpack full of supplies. His apothecary goal was to keep tackling the disease outbreak that had popped up nearby. A village a few days ago in the valley east of his abode had sent missives asking for medical aid, as a small portion of their population had been confined to their homes with fevers and coughs, with the occasional victim with boils on the skin. He had been working to quell it these last few days, but he was not sure if he was going to be able to completely stop it before it spread outside his control. Unfortunately, he would never be able to find out. As he began to take care of his ill patients in the sick house, he heard the sounds of a ship outside, and the clanking of boots. Something was up, and he was certainly not about to surrender his patients to whatever was outside.
Machaon walked outside, a simple pistol holstered on his hip. He may be an apothecary, but he could deal just as much hurt as he could heal. And he certainly wasn't going to run away when he had people in his stead, people that could spread infection and kill even more people. However, he soon found that his pistol would do nothing against the new arrivals. A military officer of some kind, along with some soldiers had formed up outside the sick house, the officer wearing what seemed to be an imperial army officers uniform, a green patch with three green skulls on the shoulder. The officer approached him, and began to read from a data slate. “Apothecary Machaon Strakos, on the order of Primarch Mortarion, daughter of the God-Emperor of Mankind, head of the Death Guard Adeptus Astartes legion, you are to be transferred to the Endurance, the Primarch flagship, for apothecary duty. You have one hour to gather your belongings.”
Machaon tried to protest, “With all due respect sir, I have patients to take care of, otherwise they’ll die.”
The Imperial Army officer looked at him with disdain. “If you do not comply peacefully, I will be forced to make you comply.” The soldiers next to him aimed their lasguns at him at the same time, their faces cold and icy.
Machaon knew that his ‘forced compliance’ would hurt his patients more than him leaving peacefully. “As you wish, officer. I will collect my supplies and return shortly.” He then returned to the interior of the sick house, gathering all his supplies into his backpack, along with the seeds for his plants. He didnt want to leave his people, but he didnt have much of a choice. A young girl who was laying on a cot by the door asked him, “Mister, where are you going?”
He wanted to tell her the truth, but he knew that wouldn't help. So he did the next best thing he could do, and he kneeled down next to her cot. “Well young lady, I’m going to take care of another group of people who need my help. There’s a lot of them, and the man outside needs my help to do it. I know you all are in good hands, so I’m going to save the people who aren’t in good hands. Feel better young lady.” He said, giving her a flower from his garden as he stood up and left. He didn't really believe what he said, at least not entirely. He would be helping people, but not the way he wanted, not on his own terms. Nevertheless, he would do his duty to his planet and his people.
Machaon walked outside the sick house and found the officer. “Officer, I’m ready.”
The Imperial Army officer looked at him coldly. “Then get on. We must reach the ship before the fleet takes off for the next expedition.” He and his soldiers then got on Stormhawk, and Machaon made sure to follow close behind them. The doors shut, and the engines roared to life, taking the ship off the ground and into space. Shortly after, they arrived in the hangar of the Endurance, and the Imperial Army company that escorted him departed, and Machaon followed quickly, not wanting to be left in the huge ship.
When he stepped out of the Stormhawk, he saw a virtual city of people working, repairing and refueling ships, unloading cargo, and new recruits moving deeper into the ship. It was certainly more people than he had ever seen in his life, but it did not phase him. He knew that whatever they were calling him for would have been big, especially if it was being led by a daughter of the Emperor. He followed the Imperial Army officer further into the ship, until they arrived at the barracks section of the ship. The Imperial officer told him simply “These are your quarters. Find a bunk.” Then he left.
Machaon was not particularly impressed with the lodging, but decided it was better to secure a spot rather than leaving it to chance. Once he found a spot, he laid down his items that were not essential to his duties as an apothecary, kept whatever else he had on his and tried to make his way to the apothecary chamber. Having no idea where everything was, he asked directions, and eventually after nearly an hour, found his way to the apothecary chamber and began to set out his equipment and find a place to grow his herbs. He knew he would need them for the battles ahead,wherever they may be.

I was wanting to implement promotional offers in my app, behind a 'spin-the-wheel' type interface. Maybe you get 3 months free, or 10% discount etc. Now, I'm targeting new users here and Apple docs on promotional offers tell me "The App Store deems all customers with an existing or expired subscription in the app eligible to redeem a promotional offer" - now clearly new users won't have an existing subscription receipt. Now, I'm fine to do the eligibility criteria myself, generate the signature and present an offer; but if app store is just going to kick everyone and say "nope, you're not a expired customer, you not having the offer" then it won't really work.
Apple's recommendation is to use introductory offers, but this would apply to all new subscribers and I couldn't distinguish between a 10% discount and a 3 months free user.
Then I could setup different subscription products and just be selective about when I present them. But that gives a list of in-app purchases on the app store page and if users see a list: [Monthly @ $9.99, Monthly @ $8.99] that's confusing & misleading even for users. I suppose I could setup everything @ $9.99 and then use introductory pricing within the promotional subscription product, then I'd get a still inflated list in app store but more consistent pricing (e.g. [Monthly @ $9.99, Monthly @ $9.99]). I wonder if this would introduce any vulnerability that allow user to make purchase outside of the app and opt them into the most preferential subscription?
I know Apple is all about random & arbitrary restrictions, but not allowing the use of promotional offers for new users is just a whole level of crazy, when (I understand) they work well for running for a promotional duration then transitioning user over to standard pricing.
Ideas what I do for the best of me? Thanks!

I used to use pretty litter and used it for a few months before i switched to the tidy cats alert brand. i have been using tidy cats for awhile so I decided to switch to something i was more comfortable with. the pH color changing litter, when i used pretty litter, did not change once in color.
now that i have been using tidy cats i noticed that the litter changed color after my cat used it. it matched the part of the chart saying there were elevated levels of alkaline in my cats urine (that’s means a possible UTI or something similar). that worried me seeing as how she doesn’t even have half the symptoms. she has a bit of an odor but it’s not super prominent and she has been urinating outside of the litter box but she has always been insanely picky if there’s too much in the litter box (i scoop it literally everyday but if i get home too late or don’t scoop it at my normal time i’ve noticed she gets mad). other than that she has no other symptoms.
i contacted my vet to set up an appointment but haven’t heard anything yet. the day i switched my litter she escaped outside (she’s an indoor cat) and im not sure if that would affect her in any way. i’m also confused as to how i had pretty litter one day with no changes in the color of the litter and the next the tidy cats brand now it started to change. im not sure what litter to trust or if these litter brands had issues for anybody else so it concerns me.

I’m in a weird spot with Kendrick’s music. He’s probably my number 3 behind Lupe and 3 stacks because I hear the talent but I don’t love all of his music. Something is just off and I don’t know what exactly. For a long time I thought it was the weird voices that he does but I don’t know. I WANT to love it but it doesn’t grab me.
You can see by my top 3 that I love lyricism and wordplay which Kendrick clearly has. But I’ve always felt Kendrick was slightly overrated and his wordplay and entendres weren’t on someone like Lupe’s level. I’ve always felt like he had too many bars that just didn’t mean anything and said weird shit like “my left stroke just went viral” that no one knows the meaning of.
But… I have a new theory that it’s because I can’t relate to his music. With Lupe it’s all politics, history, social issues on a large scale. With Kendrick you get the social issues but from a black perspective and I’m not black. I haven’t lived that struggle. I understand it in a way an outsider can but it’s different if you haven’t experienced it. Lupe and Andre don’t get that deep into those issues. I mean Lupe does sometimes but it’s more of a history lesson and you don’t get the soul and feeling you do with Kendrick. Lupe’s a professor and Kendrick is like a wise oracle or some shit. Kendrick is the embodiment of the culture.
I say all this because I want to make a genuine effort to get it. I’m smart enough to know that everyone can’t be wrong. Is it even possible if you can’t relate?

Howdy Y'all, I'm new to the sub and I want to find some friends to play FFXIV with. I'm not exactly new at the game but I'm not super experienced or far in. I play a level 28 marauder

At the end of March, I set a goal to start publishing a weekly newsletter on Beehiiv. I had started before on Mailchimp but couldn't make it past three weeks. Editing and making the email look acceptable was a pain, and I couldn't get into a flow. Then, Beehiiv came along and looked too good to be true.
I got pulled into the shiny new platform and restarted with Beehiiv, and I am so glad I did. I am running a six-week streak, and I am going as motivated as I was on day one. I have never written so much in my life.
Importing from Mailchimp was super easy, and I could edit some of the old posts within Beehiiv to update the links, for example.
I didn't do too much on the initial styling. I changed the color scheme, added a description, and slapped a logo together. I just wanted to get back to writing. And I wanted a system. I wanted a task each day that brought me to complete my weekly post without distractions or detours.
The platform makes it easy to focus on precisely that. After sending the initial two emails, with my style and structure evolving, it was easy to repeat the same steps week after week to get my post out (Research, Outline, Writing, Edit, Final Prep).
I usually style while writing and a bit more during the edit. After six weeks, writing and using the "/" commands continuously feels so simple—I don't have to think about the tool and can focus 100% on the content.
As I had my weekly rhythm going, I had a bit of time for the "tool" again. I set up Google Analytics, SEO, Tag Manager, Indexing my page, etc.,
The YouTube videos Beehiiv puts out make it super simple to learn and understand (no background knowledge needed). Even if the Beehiiv UI had changed (with the new Website builder), the comment section of the videos had these updates. Huge kudos to the guides!
Now that I have content and trackers on all the things, diving into the Growth section makes sense.
The analytics section about where subscribers come from is helpful, but I have not gotten any organic growth yet, which brings me to the "improvable."
Remember why I stopped MailChimp? I had to do too much outside of creating my content. This is how organic growth (cross-posting on social media, etc.) feels to me. But I know that without it, I am not seeing any growth. I understand that that's a task that is on me. I just wish I had a clear path.
I have a small number of subscribers (50), most of whom were gathered from a subscription form on Medium posts and brought over from MailChimp. But outside of that, I have seen no growth.
I will try the Referral program next, but I don't yet know how to optimize my organic growth system.
I feel like the benefit of a follow/follow back commenting system (community) on other platforms is that the newsletter gets promoted indirectly. Pure interaction might spark some growth.
On Beehiiv, I have to go outside the platform and "plug" my newsletter, and I have not yet figured out how to best do that without feeling like I am promoting it too much. The Medium posts, I posted on Medium first and added a form below. But I do want to post on my newsletter first, not on Medium, do I them cross-post there? Would that hurt SEO?
This would be another cool YT tutorial section, or maybe that exists or maybe I need to do a digital growth marketing course to get better at it. But if I have 5 hours per week, I'd rather put that into creating my content, and maybe the referral feature is my best bet?
Would love to hear your thoughts on that and am excited to post a 12-week streak update if anyone is interested.

it’s quite strange how the new environmental damage system works, if you set it on advanced.. in my case if i land on a planet with let’s say freezing temperatures of -150 degrees and i go outside, then it takes around 4 minutes until my suit protection is depleted.. this is no bigger problem, since your watch warns you with a constantly more frequent ticking sound that you’re about to lose your protection.. problem is just, that once you’re suit protection is depleted and your watch ticks like crazy, i have not found a way to reset the suit protection to the base level.. it seems for me that once you’re suit protection is depleted there is no way to restore it... by taking shelter in an outpost or your ship you just regain the health lost from the yellow damage bar, but not you’re suit protection and therefore also the more moderate slowly increasing ticking sound from before.. every time i exit now my shelter with a previously depleted suit protection all hell breaks loose.. the watch starts ticking like crazy, i immediately get an affliction and instantly take environmental damage.. i don’t think this is supposed to happen, is it? does anyone know how to deal with this issue?

Chapter Seven: To what do I owe this honor?
I now have access to 15 potential spawners, of which six are actually in use, the others haven't been made yet. At this rate, I'll have so many spawners available to me that it will take me forever to go through them. However... none of my spawners were made from creatures much larger than your typical house cat so maybe as the size and complexity of creatures that enter my domain increases it may effect that in the future. Time will tell I guess. I wonder a little bit about that and I really hope that more complex creatures will be more difficult to acquire spawners from. This all seems too easy. Oh well, it is what it is for now.
It's been interesting though. I now have three rooms. Almost enough mana to upgrade both the owl and slime spawners to level two if I forgo creating a new Scion, and it's only been a few days since I became myself. Things seem to be moving pretty quickly for me. I go ahead and upgrade my owl spawner to level two. It has a 2 hour timer on it now. As well as a shorter 1 hour timer for normal owls. That's interesting. It's the same duration as my mountain cat spawner so far. Looking into my cave I pull up the slime spawner. This one I want to do something different. Paging through the menus I find the area on magic and then to illusion magic. I want my slimes to be illusionists. My slimes spawn at 10 minutes for a base slime, and I want a magic slime. Now that I know it can be done. I upgrade the spawner to level two, the timer flickers and changes to 20 minutes. Huh... ok it doubled the time for a level two slime to be born. Interesting. I then upgrade my slime spawner to spawn Illusion magic using slimes, and the timer changes again. It now has THREE timers running. One for base slimes. One for non-magical level two slimes, and a new one for the level two illusion magic slimes at 40 minutes. So it doubled again.
As the day winds down. I decide my best bet is to just relax and let the night flow past me. By dawn I should have enough mana gained to create an Owl Scion, and maybe do my next expansion. Or maybe only one of them. Hard to say as it will totally depend on how many random invaders come through my domain. So with that thought I go back to paging through the menu and learning as much as I can about what I can or may be able to do. The night passes without me noticing it. But come mid morning I do notice the presence of a delver and it's NOT Sebastian.
My attention snaps to my perimeter and I see a garden variety Dwarf. About four and a half feet tall, ruddy red hair, a beard that is intricately braided that goes down to her belly. They are staring intently directly at me. Ok I know they can't see me, but they are staring at my cave, so at me. I alert my Scions and they begin moving my minions into ambush positions. I don't want to kill this dwarf, but I'll try real hard to discourage them from exploration. I am not at all ready for that yet. They unsling their backpack and remove a clipboard and what I can only guess is a pencil or pen and start writing. I can't understand the script, but they are writing something down anyway.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Inspector Ingrid Emberhart.
Yohhan was right. It is a new dungeon. How he sensed this thing from the city still baffles me but it is a dungeon and it knows I am here. I'm not picking up any malevolence though. I can sense it's minions moving around. Very organized. It's also stronger than Yohhan said it was. At least a level two core, if not a level three core. That doesn't worry me much. I'm a level 12 steel warrior. Nothing this dungeon has should even be able to scratch me. But caution is still the watch word of the day. I begin looking around. An Owl spawner in an oak. Looks to be level two. It's not being aggressive yet, so I walk slowly towards the entrance. As I do so a Massive Mountain Cat steps out of the cave. Barring my entrance. It's a Scion, it has to be.
“Hello Scion. I am Inspector Ingrid Emberhart of the Dungeoneers Guild. It is my duty to inspect dungeons to clear them for delvers to enter. May I inspect your dungeon?” To my shock the Scion shakes it's head no. Ok this dungeon doesn't want an inspection. Why? Maybe it doesn't want delvers? That is odd for a dungeon. I need to figure out what is going on here. “Is that no to the inspection?”
The Scion shakes it's head no. Ok.. so I am not barred from inspecting it. Could it not want delvers? That would be extremely strange. Potentially dangerous as well. A dungeon that doesn't want delvers, may put accidental delvers at risk of death. “You don't want delvers?” I ask..
The Scion does something I didn't expect. It nods yes and shakes it's head no. That doesn't answer the question. Or does it? Let me see... “Ok, correct me if I am wrong here please? You don't want delvers right now, but maybe in the future?” To my great relief the Scion nods yes. Now I understand. The dungeon isn't ready for delvers yet. It must want to either be stronger to kill them, or stronger to protect itself from harm. Ok lets ask the questions then. Goddess be with me.
“Right, so you do want delvers, but not yet. You want to be stronger for them? To prevent them from entering?” The Scion shakes it's head no. Hmmm... “Ok, so you are ok with them entering. Do you intend to harm them?” The Scion shakes it's head no, and looks vaguely nauseous. That's encouraging. It seems that this dungeon is at least not murderous.
First / Previous / Next

I and my wife went to the doc after 6 days of the period being late. She checked her and did an ultrasound, but couldn't see anything. So she gave us an hCG test. We did it and took the result back to the doc, she said my wife is pregnant because the level was 51. 47 mUI/ml. She gave her some meds, and asked us to repeat the test after 48h to check.
We did the test again, and this time the level dropped to 41.87. Also, my wife is bleeding.
Is this a miscarriage? Is it something, I dunno, that can happen?

I've known this person for over 5 years. Granted, I've never really had long term friends before, I've always had bad social anxiety. but I've been putting myself out there the past few years.
We've hung out less than 3 times each year. I would have loved to hang out at least once a month, but I have 3 kids, and have always either been in school full time or working.
Now, here's the other reason.. when I ask to hang out in the middle of a text convo, sometimes last minute and sometimes planned in advance, she either stops responding entirely, or flakes - "sorry, my hubby's mom needs help with xyz, or I wont be able to make it because xyz.."
Granted, I've asked her before about her social life (in a convo about feeling lonely) and she has said she doesn't have any other friends, and only talks to her cousin on a daily - not even her sister. She lives with a TON of immediate and extended family, and all of her social media posts are about them, exercising, or her now newborn baby.
I'm contemplating on confronting her and just checking where our friendship stands , like how she sees it, if she's comfortable with being text-only and an annual hang out; and if I'm overstepping or doing too much when I ask her to hang out. I don't know if it's social anxiety, or extreme introversion, or what.
But I genuinely enjoy her as a person and It makes me sad to think we could never be anything more than surface level, distant friends.
Would asking her about this be the right choice? or should I just leave it be? My life doesn't allow me to pour all my attention into a new friend, I can barely keep up with 3. But I love having friends, I love hanging out, and I love learning about others. But I'm forsure assuming she views friendships a different way.

Hello, I accidentally bought two copies of Link's Awakening. Selling one copy in brand new packaging, never opened.
$35 for USA shipping only.

TW/ suicidal ideation mention
I was on birth control from August 2022-December 2023. Not sexually active, but my doctor suggested it as a caution before going to college and also to deal with my “PCOS” that he didn’t want to diagnose, (which wasn’t officially diagnosed until April 2024 after trying for 3 years).
Went off the birth control after seeing a new OBGYN and being sent to an endocrinologist after the OBGYN agreed I didn’t need it
My new endocrinologist prescribed me a birth control to help my hormone levels and it’s norethindrone acetate and ethinyl estradiol tablets (1 mg/0.02mg).
I absolutely hate it. The first two weeks, I had very severe mood swings that involved some suicidal thoughts, have woken up with so much more acne, my skin is dry/much more sensitive to the sun, and I’ve been bloated beyond belief.
I messaged her on the chart website I go through asking if I should finish the pack or just stop it completely. It’s been so unbearable and miserable, but I just want help managing my PCOS beyond what I’ve already been doing.
Has anyone else had these issues with that specific type of birth control? I know it’s an off brand, but man it’s just been an AWFUL experience, and I haven’t even finished the pack 😭

How do I edit a playlist in the new app? I know they removed the queue, I don’t mean that, I just mean the normal playlist.

This is my first build and wanted some feedback if any recommendations are needed.
Processor: Intel NEW 14Gen Core i7-14700F 20-Cores up to 5.4 GHz L2+L3 61MB Cache
Cooling: DeepCool LE720 Liquid Cooler 250W TDP AIO 360mm ARGB PWM Fan
Motherboard: MSI B760M Project Zero DDR5 WIFI 6E Back-Connect Mainboard
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) 5600MHz DDR5 RAM
Graphics Card: ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 TI SUPER 16GB GDDR6X
Sound card: Integrated Sound Card
Case: MSI MAG PANO M100R PZ 270-degree Panoramic Display - Black
Power supply: ASUS ROG Strix 850W Gold Aluminum Axial-tech Fan PCIe Gen 5.0 Fully Modular Power Supply - Aura Edition Or Thermaltake Smart BM3 850W 80Plus Bronze ATX 3.0 & PCIE 5.0
SSD: SAMSUNG 980 SSD 1 TB PCle 3.0x4 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD Storage

I (22M) have never been in a relationship. I talk to a girl, we flirt and build interest for sometime and then it just all falls apart. I run out of things to say, the conversations become boring and eventually the girl loses interest. The problem is this happens with every girl I have ever talked to. How do I keep things interesting? Can you share any personal experiences and/or tips to come up with new ways to rebuild the same level of spark? Also, how long do I wait until I finally ask if she wants to date?

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.