[Overseas] Legend of the Galactic Fail

Standard sleazy bait and switch tactic to get a quick ROI. Boutique label Synapse is notorious for doing that.
  • Release expensive steelbook first
  • Say that there are no plans for a standard edition in an attempt to panic people into buying the expensive steelbook
  • Announce standard edition a few months later
  • Rinse and repeat
Synapse has done this with Demons 1&2, Tenebre, Phenomena and most recently with Suspiria.
 
Well. I've been waiting for this forever but I still haven't seen the show. And now I regret not buying the JP sets in person years ago!

I wish HIDIVE worked on my TV in some way.

(If it wasn't store exclusive I might just buy it anyway because I'm insane.)

R
 
While it'd seem to make sense splitting it up I'd guess there's risks in later sets not selling as many as the initial ones.

For the run time the price is around the right level, but it's one hell of a hit.
 
Scavenger said:
Standard sleazy bait and switch tactic to get a quick ROI. Boutique label Synapse is notorious for doing that.
  • Release expensive steelbook first
  • Say that there are no plans for a standard edition in an attempt to panic people into buying the expensive steelbook
  • Announce standard edition a few months later
  • Rinse and repeat
Synapse has done this with Demons 1&2, Tenebre, Phenomena and most recently with Suspiria.
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I've bolded the part I think is relevant here. Gotta say, I simply DO NOT believe at this point that this is actually the case when a distributor says it, and I'm going to be taking my usual outspoken stance on it where I see this kind of claim made from now on. To be completely candid, if a Distributor says 'no plans for a standard edition release,' that is a VERY alarming state of affairs, and we as consumers need to discourage it.

So, let this be known: I WILL NOT SUPPORT ANY ANIME RELEASE THAT OFFERS A PREMIUM EDITION FORMAT AT THE APPARENT EXCLUSION OF A STANDARD EDITION RELEASE LATER.
 
Well, instead of whining and moaning about it, I just bit the bullet and bought the set... although, I did use Paypal Credit so I can pay it off over 6 months interest-free, at least. That should lessen the blow a bit. Perhaps I'll have it half paid-off even before it arrives...

I really don't care at all for that huge, awkward-shaped storage box it comes in though; I want CE/LE sets that fit on a standard DVD shelf unit. So, I'll probably end up just putting the four box sets on my anime shelf, placing the book on a separate bookshelf where I keep all my other anime art books, and packing the storage box away somewhere on a closet shelf.

The main issue I'll have with this release is that I really hate yellow subtitles, one of Sentai's biggest faults for me. I assume this will be more of the same.
 
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Scavenger said:
Standard sleazy bait and switch tactic to get a quick ROI. Boutique label Synapse is notorious for doing that.
  • Release expensive steelbook first
  • Say that there are no plans for a standard edition in an attempt to panic people into buying the expensive steelbook
  • Announce standard edition a few months later
  • Rinse and repeat
Synapse has done this with Demons 1&2, Tenebre, Phenomena and most recently with Suspiria.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I struggle to believe there'll never be a standard/lower price edition. The numbers of people who'd like to own LotGH in the English speaking world must be way, way over 1000. I mean that's a pretty standard print run for LEs here in the UK alone, and we have like a fifth of the US population.

I'm guessing this is just what their research suggested they could get away with, and that there are indeed a thousand superfans wealthy and willing enough to blow $800 on it. After Sentai have those people's money, I wouldn't have thought they'd pass up the chance to make more out of the rest of the fans without such high budgets.
 
I was sure that Robert Woodhead from AnimEigo siad about 15 years ago that the licencors wanted to release the series as one giant box set, which was the main impediment for the series getting a release in the west. Unfortunately I can't find where he said that (maybe the old AnimeOnDVD.com forums), however back in 2003, the Japanese licencors where looking at releasing the series in the US, subtitled only, as one box set on DVD for US$1,700 if 1,500 people made a pledge to buy it. So I genuinely think this absurd US$800 BD box is something forced on Sentai by the licencors. I also feel that those contractual conditions for any home video release meant no cheap sets. Though it just seems absurd they'd author all those discs only to print up 1,000 copies.

You know, over the last couples of days I genuinely debated if I should or shouldn't buy this box set. The problem is that it's a Sentai Filmworks online shop exclusive, and that shop only ships with the US and Canada. This means that I'm going to have to use a proxy within the US. Did some rough sums and I think all toll including proxy fees and 10% GST (it'll be over the AU$1,000 threshold so I'll be paying 10% regardless of the new GST on all packages come 1 July), so I think the the total will come to well over AU$1,400, which is an utterly absurd price I'm not willing to pay. Instead I could buy a new PC for with that money and a lot of expensive software or a return ticket to Tokyo and a couple of days accommodation. There's so many other things I could (or need to) do with the money. I also doubt they're going to find 1,000 US fans to buy this box before the July release date.
 
Greboruri said:
I also feel that those contractual conditions for any home video release meant no cheap sets.
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See, the reason I'm not totally convinced about that is that it's basically saying "Sales of 1000 units at $800 mean this product is going to make up to $800k, but never a penny more than that."

I don't know any business, not even the crazy world of the Japanese anime business, that would be self-sabotaging enough to place an upper limit on their own potential profits like that. Once they've bled all the superfans dry (in both Japan and the US) I can't see them stopping and never wanting to make any more money out of the licence again.
 
If they ever do standard editions they really ought to release films 1 & 2 before or alongside Season 1 since they are best watched before starting the series. (Not just my opinion, it's generally recommended.)

If...
 
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ayase said:
See, the reason I'm not totally convinced about that is that it's basically saying "Sales of 1000 units at $800 mean this product is going to make up to $800k, but never a penny more than that."
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But they're also making money on streaming the show. The previous attempts to get the series into the west have lead me to believe that this is all we'll get in terms of physical home video release. However authoring all those discs for a measly 1,000 units seems nuts. I don't want to believe it, but I suspect this is all we'll get.

ayase said:
I don't know any business, not even the crazy world of the Japanese anime business, that would be self-sabotaging enough to place an upper limit on their own potential profits like that.
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Oh yes they are, especially in terms of licensing material outside of Japan. For certain properties the licencors would prefer no western release over releasing it in a way that's typical to markets in the west. Look at current and previous attempts by Bandai Visual, Aniplex, Pony Canyon etc. They'll either try their Japanese style release over here and occasionally succeed, or sook when it all falls in a heap and take their bat and ball and go home.
 
One thing I'll toss into this discussion now that my very palpable anger over the craptastic release strategy has subsided enough for me to offer anything constructive:

If this was really the best Sentai could manage for a home video release, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that they could have been more transparent about it. Quite literally years passed since they first announced they'd got it.

I'm kind of pessemistic with regards to chances of a physical release that folks who aren't brain surgeons or extreme sports calendar models * can afford, mind you. That's mostly because anime streaming has gotten to a point where it's reaching so many fans over and above on-disc releases that I can actually see that getting LotGH primarily for streaming purposes could indeed be lucrative enough for Sentai. It set's a worrying precedent for those fans who are committd to buying and owning their anime, though.


*Please note, I have nothing against people in the extreme sports calendar modelling business. In fact, I dated an extreme sports calendar model once. It went bad, but not before an absolutely MAGICAL weekend in Andorra spent learning how to ski and reflect the light from climbing pitons in an eye-catching manner. Photography is such a multi-faceted and under-appreciated art. And by the way, Aneta, if you're out there, please get in touch again. I always regretted how thing ended between us. What can I say? I'm a petty, jealous man at times. But you have to understand, Claude made an inappropriate offer, and I simply HAD to step in. Just... for god's sake, call me, okay?
 
It's a GREAT show, and personally I'd rank it alongside the likes of Macross, Eva, Lupin, Bebop etc...BUT...this release strategy is crazy.

As much as I'd like to pick it up, there are just far too many hurdles to navigate here.

Oh well, guess I'll be keeping my 'digital' copies and not feeling bad about it....
 
I think the fact it's hardly flying off the shelves proves the release strategy is just stupid. Much like the tacky packaging.
 
Can we say for sure that it's not selling according to expectations? If it had sold through 173 units within the space of a few days it had already turned over more than a fair few cheaper releases. I doubt anyone sane on Sentai's side is expecting it to sell through by release since $800 isn't a sum that every potential buyer can produce out of thin air with no warning whatsoever.

Everyone said that the Kara No Kyoukai LE sets were going to be a sales disaster in the US and that was a cool $400 for seven movies with untranslated extras. I forget how many copies they made, but the entire batch sold out without any problems. People may be underestimating the fervour of wealthy otaku who have been kept waiting for a release for decades.

R
 
I am actually still debating. I would have put a pre-order already if I were living in the US. The price is tolerable, there have been much more expensiver ones. But the thing holding me down is that packaging, which isn't my biggest cup of tea and really eats up so much space (which I don't have) and adds so much weight which makes shipping just so unnecessarily expensive and I am notoriously whining over shipping fees too much already as that would be a healthy incident.

Where do you see the sold counter?
 
Rui said:
Can we say for sure that it's not selling according to expectations? If it had sold through 173 units within the space of a few days it had already turned over more than a fair few cheaper releases. I doubt anyone sane on Sentai's side is expecting it to sell through by release since $800 isn't a sum that every potential buyer can produce out of thin air with no warning whatsoever.

Everyone said that the Kara No Kyoukai LE sets were going to be a sales disaster in the US and that was a cool $400 for seven movies with untranslated extras. I forget how many copies they made, but the entire batch sold out without any problems. People may be underestimating the fervour of wealthy otaku who have been kept waiting for a release for decades.

R
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Even though 173 copies may generate $138,400.00 the cost of Licencing and packaging is significantly higher. You also have the expense of authoring all the discs which for a big series is not cheap. I would suspect for Sentai to make any money they will need to shift all the stock at $800.00 to be classed as a success which is probably why they are limiting purchases to their own store.
 
Luna said:
Where do you see the sold counter?
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They used to have the quantity on the shop page so you could see how many remained (it has been disabled to stop people speculating, I guess!)

I know that a reasonably alarming number of people on this foreign anime forum are importing it, though, and given how much extra we have to pay on top of the list price I'm sure that there are legitimate buyers and speculators alike investing on the other side of the pond.

R
 
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