Beez UK Anime Legends

jonboy said:
The Feb and March 2010 sets have reveiled themselves at HMV!

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDet ... sku=299915

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDet ... sku=299933

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDet ... sku=299916

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDet ... sku=299936
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I was going to post about the Gundam Seed Part 2 and Gundam Seed Destiny ones, but didn't want to double post. Nice find with Eureka Seven, I didn't notice that one, more than happy to snap that up! Thanks for pointing it out. HMV's prices are a couple of pounds cheaper than Play.com too, I've pre-ordered everything except Destiny so far!

Despite Andrew confirming them on Twitter, it still seems too good to be true. I genuinely hope people pick up as much as they can.
 
Wow, I can't believe Beez have gone from 'over-priced, collectors' sets only' to 'cheaper than R1 budget sets' in the space of a few days. Yes, the titles are all older re-releases, but it's still pretty amazing.

Maybe all my complaining in the past gave Andrew the motivation required to cry a lot to his boss(es)? Really, I should be getting the thanks for this, assuming that's the case.

My only concern now is the packaging. Please be brick sets and not flimsy Gunbuster 2 things, or TTGL book-like cases without an art box... or some other silly new design. Beez aren't too bright when it comes to thinking of storage safe designs.

Anyway, after seeing the E7 and GS:D prices, I've ordered all four sets (now three). I'm not sure of E7, but it's a Bones title and I would've got both R1 sets for £18 if I could've in the past.
As for GS:D, I'm fully expecting it to be shite, but I own GS and, at some point, plan on rewatching it. Watching the sequel afterwards would be pretty cool.

(I was going to post a £60 pic, but I ordered Gundam SEED by mistake. >_<)

Yesterday I was sad about now having any pre-orders, Toward the Terra aside. Now I have Baccano, My-HiME's spin-off, E7 and GS:D. Sweet.

Everyone should order Wolf's Rain, assuming it's the real, complete set deal. It's excellent, has Yoko Kanno's music and one of the best OVA finishes ever. I thought £18 to import the complete R1 collection was amazing value...

By the way, there will no doubt by Planetes and WHR sets on the horizon. I asked if there would be re-releases back then, when they were trying to get rid of old stock.
 
Aion said:
My only concern now is the packaging. Please be brick sets and not flimsy Gunbuster 2 things, or TTGL book-like cases without an art box... or some other silly new design. Beez aren't too bright when it comes to thinking of storage safe designs.
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You bring up an interesting point when it comes to packaging..

What we can assume is that the disks will be the same as what came in the original singles - since any new disks would require a different BBFC certificate, which would raise the cost. Therefor we can assume that the Gundam Seed sets will be five disks. The Wolf's Rain set will be seven disks.

Looking at packaging options, the obvious ones would be brick sets similar to how ADV used to package their UK collections, and essentially what Bandai ships their legends collections in for America.

Another option would be a single DVD case sized collection. In America, Clamp School Detectives was shipped in a case the size of a regular case, but contained six DVDs. I can't see how you'd get seven in one of those however.

Thinpaks is an option also, with a thin card case for them. This would probably be my least favourite option.

In reality though, the most likely option would be option one - the generic brick, which can hold up to eight DVDs.
 
Fudce said:
I can't see how you'd get seven in one of those however.
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That's easy: two on the left side of the case, two on the right. A piece of plastic in the middle, connecting to the spine. One side holds two discs, the other one.

Using that method, it would be possible to store eight discs in a single disc sized case. Where there's a will, there's a way.

In reality though, the most likely option would be option one - the generic brick, which can hold up to eight DVDs.
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Usually, I'd auto assume these sets would mirror the R1 releases, maybe with different artwork. However, Beez have played around a lot with packaging of late, and that makes me nervous. Even with their expensive first GS seed they screwed up; making it open up in an awkward way, resulting in damage the more it's opened.

I'd be more than happy with bricks. Mainly because I have no space left and they can be placed on top of each other without the risk of damage.
 
Aion said:
Wow, I can't believe Beez have gone from 'over-priced, collectors' sets only' to 'cheaper than R1 budget sets' in the space of a few days. Yes, the titles are all older re-releases, but it's still pretty amazing.
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Glad you think so - to be completely fair though it has to be old titles at first or it'd be very difficult to pull off til you can judge certain factors ^^. There will still be collectors' sets for those who want them, like Wolf's Rain and Gundam Wing limited to 1000 units or so to be printed ever but that won't be your only way to buy the shows from now on :).

Aion said:
My only concern now is the packaging. Please be brick sets and not flimsy Gunbuster 2 things, or TTGL book-like cases without an art box... or some other silly new design. Beez aren't too bright when it comes to thinking of storage safe designs.
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In this case to meet costs etc we're doing it in brick sets for it I believe. I'll see if I can do some photos of sample cases when I'm in the office in Paris next week for you guys :).

For everyone curious - the reason for doing this is relatively sound though as the boxes are relatively homogeneous - they can hold a range of different numbers of DVDs so it's cost efficient for this kind of range. It means places like HMV.co.uk and Play.com can charge £14.99/£16.99 for them and really makes them a steal :).

It's a scale of economics - when doing a full series + extras in one set something has to give. So in this case the case does - but we'll continue being flexible in style for the limited edition releases :).

Aion said:
Everyone should order Wolf's Rain, assuming it's the real, complete set deal. It's excellent, has Yoko Kanno's music and one of the best OVA finishes ever. I thought £18 to import the complete R1 collection was amazing value...
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As far as personal taste goes here I completely agree with you on that for both points ^^.

Aion said:
By the way, there will no doubt by Planetes and WHR sets on the horizon. I asked if there would be re-releases back then, when they were trying to get rid of old stock.
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Those were unrelated to this, the stock clearance isn't actually related to the Anime Legends range so there was no answer at the time as I was yet to put together the proposal based on wider feedback :). Whether those titles are on the list is TBC at present. WHR stands a better chance than Planetes does too!
 
Fudce said:
Aion said:
My only concern now is the packaging. Please be brick sets and not flimsy Gunbuster 2 things, or TTGL book-like cases without an art box... or some other silly new design. Beez aren't too bright when it comes to thinking of storage safe designs.
Click to expand...

You bring up an interesting point when it comes to packaging..

What we can assume is that the disks will be the same as what came in the original singles - since any new disks would require a different BBFC certificate, which would raise the cost. Therefor we can assume that the Gundam Seed sets will be five disks. The Wolf's Rain set will be seven disks.
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That's not actually true as we had each *episode* BBFC'd not DVD volumes which means we can alter the release as we so choose :). MVM submit entire DVDs meaning they have to use the same original singles. In the case of many of our titles though we keep the same format as it's easier for mastering costs :p.

Fudce said:
In reality though, the most likely option would be option one - the generic brick, which can hold up to eight DVDs.
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I've confirmed this too but just to say again that thought is basically spot on :).
 
beez_andrew said:
Glad you think so - to be completely fair though it has to be old titles at first or it'd be very difficult to pull off til you can judge certain factors ^^. There will still be collectors' sets for those who want them, like Wolf's Rain and Gundam Wing limited to 1000 units or so to be printed ever but that won't be your only way to buy the shows from now on :).
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Hmm I wonder if this is confirmation Gundam Wing is in the erm...wings so to speak? Never seen Gundam Wing and the current set is too much for me to justify, so I hope so!

Also, with regards to packaging, I can understand cheap brick cases, and certainly welcome them as a factor related to costs, but for the love of god, please get a different Anime Legends logo to the ugly US one!
 
BAKA said:
beez_andrew said:
Glad you think so - to be completely fair though it has to be old titles at first or it'd be very difficult to pull off til you can judge certain factors ^^. There will still be collectors' sets for those who want them, like Wolf's Rain and Gundam Wing limited to 1000 units or so to be printed ever but that won't be your only way to buy the shows from now on :).
Click to expand...

Hmm I wonder if this is confirmation Gundam Wing is in the erm...wings so to speak? Never seen Gundam Wing and the current set is too much for me to justify, so I hope so!
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I'd like to do something with it - so watch this space :). As I say we're planning to release 2 sets per month usually of different shows so there'll certainly be a chance for everyone to pick up titles they missed the first time round. I'll try and confirm each quarter's line up as they get locked in too.

BAKA said:
Also, with regards to packaging, I can understand cheap brick cases, and certainly welcome them as a factor related to costs, but for the love of god, please get a different Anime Legends logo to the ugly US one!
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I'll be putting up a provisional example of the cover for Wolf's Rain shortly but you'll be glad to hear it's a different logo we're using :).

- Andrew
 
The logo better not be 'Beez Legends', with a bee icon. Brrrrrrrrrrr. Do not want. I hate bees, and I hate the Beez logo. The only plus point of it is that you didn't go with spiders as your mascot, or moths. Those look evil.

It'd be sweet if you released both .hack//SIGN and Wolf's Rain cheapo sets. .hack//SIGN has the best of Kajiura (the best anime composer), while Wolf's Rain has the best of Yoko Kanno (her best, and she isn't far behind). They're worth owning for the music alone.

I suppose, since these are going to rival the budget R1 range, you aren't going to be releasing any R1 only AL releases straight into AL format in the UK? I guess that'd be asking for a bit too much, really...
I feel the only way to shift a lot of copies of older Bandai R1 titles now is to aim low. In the case of Scrapped Princess, it's a bit much to expect people to pay £60 for shimmery as hell video quality. Then again, the majority of the human race are idiots, and anime fans are mostly brats...

Also, to the person who asked about Gundam Wing - don't. I felt cheated, and I got the LE release (...well, four, actually...) for like £3. It's a bit ****, really. Even our resident black guy agrees with this, and he has **** taste.
 
I saw the Gundam Wing boxset for £100 in my HMV a little while ago, I was primarily shocked by the price, shortly followed by a prolonged chuckle at the amount of security devices and the such-like on it...It had its own alarm with speaker!

Also, if you are planning on doing 2 sets per month, is it likely that older Bandai shows that have not been released in the UK thus far will go straight to this format? Otherwise I can't see it lasting too long by my reckoning from the catalogue on your website...
 
Olio8O said:
also, are you going to re-release Escaflowne in this line as well? The current 2-part box set is around £30 each last time I saw it.
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Seconding this, those sets are rare-well out of print anyway.

I hope this also means certain Bandai shows that have aired on tv and haven't gotten a release will get released too?
 
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