DragonBall Z Abridged

[YamiGoku]

I get the feeling that TFS returning to DBZ Abridged for the Buu arc is an inevitability at this point.

One way I can see them doing it to avoid getting burned out again is to simply release one or two episodes a year, maybe every Christmas and a day in June.

The other major problem they talk about is that they are afraid of losing their channel because things got worse on youtube since they stopped uploading DBZA, and if they continue, TOEI may make them lose it permanently.

[WittyUsername]

I can’t imagine there being any real benefits to going back to DBZA anytime in the near future. It’s too risky and they’ve already mentioned how burnt out they are from abridging in general.

[Scsigs]

I can’t imagine there being any real benefits to going back to DBZA anytime in the near future. It’s too risky and they’ve already mentioned how burnt out they are from abridging in general.

Give it time. Considering Kaiser does little editing things on Twitter every so often & they're doing the ShortZ, I bet, after a few years, they'd wanna come back to it. Though copyright is the thing they'd definitely have to worry about. Maybe they could use a different site to host the videos just in case, but who knows. maybe they've exhausted all the options.

[zDBZ]

Whether it was a write-around or not, I like the new variation on the Piccolo gag. And in a world where Goku never came back for the Buu saga, this idea -

Spoiler:

Vegeta badgering an uncooperative Gohan to keep the rivalry going

- is what I would've wanted to see.

[YamiGoku]

I love this little thing.

https://twitter.com/teamfourstar/status ... 4404680704

[Noah]

I get the feeling that TFS returning to DBZ Abridged for the Buu arc is an inevitability at this point.

My thoughts exactly, like no offense, none of their new works are much appealing to me.

I could picture would of nowhere and without any announcement, they just decided to drop on their channel:


"DragonBall Z Abridged: Episode 61 - TeamFourStar (TFS)"


Man... that would reach 10 millions views in 1 week.

Still hope they come back, someday...

[LoganForkHands73]

I get the feeling that TFS returning to DBZ Abridged for the Buu arc is an inevitability at this point.

My thoughts exactly, like no offense, none of their new works are not much appealing to me.

I can picture would of nowhere and without announcement, they just decided to drop on their channel:


"DragonBall Z Abridged: Episode 61 - TeamFourStar (TFS)"


Man... that would reach 10 millions views in 1 week.

Still hope they come back, someday...

I get the feeling that TFS still feel the need to legitimise themselves, rather than always letting themselves be known as the funny anime abridger guys. As a result their new original content lacks a certain... spark. It almost feels a little perfunctory. They've done a standard work-com, a standard RWBY-esque CGI animey, a standard SolCal cartoon... nothing really leaps out, does it? All their original content totally lacks that supreme wit of their Abridged series since they have no prior material to work off. Don't get me wrong, I applaud them for trying to make fully original IPs, but none of it really feels truly original. Dieseldust is decent but it relies on the same generic animesque tropes they once satirised in DBZ Abridged.

They just need a long break. Eventually they'll reach a point, especially with the direction the Shortz are going, where they'll be unable to resist returning to DBZ Abridged. I just hope the return is hype.

[Matches Malone]

I get the feeling that TFS still feel the need to legitimise themselves, rather than always letting themselves be known as the funny anime abridger guys.

I never understood why some artists feel that way. If you're good at something, why wouldn't you want to be known as the person who's good at it ?

[LoganForkHands73]

I get the feeling that TFS still feel the need to legitimise themselves, rather than always letting themselves be known as the funny anime abridger guys.

I never understood why some artists feel that way. If you're good at something, why wouldn't you want to be known as the person who's good at it ?

I understand why they might (not saying they absolutely do but it's how they come off) feel that way, but I agree it's often better to just stick to what you're good at for the most part and perfect your craft. But yeah, I understand the feeling because my vocation's screenwriting -- I used to do more of my own original ideas but these days I tend to do freelance work on other people's projects. Doing that is fulfilling but sometimes it feels like the work isn't fully my own. Of course, all creative professionals have to work with others and cooperate on ideas otherwise nothing would get made, but there's always that bit of ego in the back of your mind telling you you're a sellout, you're not a legitimate artist, etc. It's best to ignore that voice.

TeamFourStar probably feel the same way because their best remembered series have been heavily rooted in the hard work and ideas of others. No matter how many fans say "I take DBZ Abridged as canon", they'll never be able to take any credit for Dragon Ball.

[PerhapsTheOtherOne]

There's also the burnout on doing the same thing for so long at such great risk to themselves and their staff, many of whom are also close friends.

Is Japanese corporate/legal precedent really that bad that Toei has to directly respond to and condemn DBZA?

[Scsigs]

There's also the burnout on doing the same thing for so long at such great risk to themselves and their staff, many of whom are also close friends.

Is Japanese corporate/legal precedent really that bad that Toei has to directly respond to and condemn DBZA?

Well, it's not just Toei that does that with abridgers, the Japanese company behind Yugioh: Duel Monsters had the same kind of attitude towards Little Kuriboh. Take note of how 4Kids & FUNimation see it as another form of creative expression & take it in stride with a good humor. The Japanese side of things, mostly because of how strict Japan's copyright laws are, as well as corporate work structures are, as well as their values differences between them & America, more than likely see abridged shows the way TFS do them as ripping them off & possibly dipping into their profit margins by using their footages &, even when editing stuff out of the episodes & movies, uploading their property online for all to see & download. Abridged series skirt the line of fair use/not fair use in the US, so Japan's stricter copyright laws definitely make them illegal, even if they're not being used directly to make a profit.

Although, it's not like they can't take ideas from them. Dragon Ball Super's animators clearly took a few things of inspiration from TFS in places & Toriyama fixed Broly when rebooting him into official continuity, though I do know that the criticisms of Broly's character & movies existed long before TFS. So, it's not like they don't acknowledge them. They just don't like them. It's really funny the world of corporate business, huh? Almost like the fact that Nintendo doesn't like people emulating their games, but does fuck all to release their legacy content, even though it'd make them a lot of money.

[JewyB]

I mean, Toei at least have a point, they hate their fan community, with a passion. What do you expect them to do, hire their fan creators to take a major portion of control over the ongoing manga series? Please, use some critical thinking!

[YamiGoku]

I like the new stuff but my problem with is that it takes forever to come out just for a few minutes, and then I lose hype because it takes forever again.

I know animation is expensive and hard to produce but they should make a few episodes and air them together one every week, like they did in the end of DBZA, because releasing one every blue moon just makes me lose interest.

[Planetnamek]

I get the feeling that TFS still feel the need to legitimise themselves, rather than always letting themselves be known as the funny anime abridger guys.

I never understood why some artists feel that way. If you're good at something, why wouldn't you want to be known as the person who's good at it ?

I understand why they might (not saying they absolutely do but it's how they come off) feel that way, but I agree it's often better to just stick to what you're good at for the most part and perfect your craft. But yeah, I understand the feeling because my vocation's screenwriting -- I used to do more of my own original ideas but these days I tend to do freelance work on other people's projects. Doing that is fulfilling but sometimes it feels like the work isn't fully my own. Of course, all creative professionals have to work with others and cooperate on ideas otherwise nothing would get made, but there's always that bit of ego in the back of your mind telling you you're a sellout, you're not a legitimate artist, etc. It's best to ignore that voice.

TeamFourStar probably feel the same way because their best remembered series have been heavily rooted in the hard work and ideas of others. No matter how many fans say "I take DBZ Abridged as canon", they'll never be able to take any credit for Dragon Ball.

I can understand wanting to branch out and try new things and feeling frustrated when those other things don't get nearly as many views, Film Brain recently did a Twitter thread bemoaning the fact that his film festival videos barely got any views compared to Bad Movie Beatdown and how he does not want to be known solely as an angry critic for the rest of his life.

Though looking at the views on TFS's output since their announcement that DBZA was over, it's really not looking good at all, Unabridged episodes have gotten less then 500,000 views and their podcast videos typically gets less then 75,000 views(with most in the 30-40 range). Their Sonic video essay only got barely over 100,000 views(and I have to say it wasn't particularly good so I can see why). That Dr Stoned video got slightly over 400,000 views. The Jojo video got around 300,000. DieselDust only got 166,000. Haiykuuu got less then 200,000. The Beastars video got around 567,000 views. Compare that to their DBZA videos regularly getting over 10 million views and it paints a pretty dismal picture. So far the only post DBZA videos to crack a million views are the Dragon Shortz, which tells me the vast majority of their subscribers only want to see TFS do DBZ-related stuff.

[LoganForkHands73]

I never understood why some artists feel that way. If you're good at something, why wouldn't you want to be known as the person who's good at it ?

I understand why they might (not saying they absolutely do but it's how they come off) feel that way, but I agree it's often better to just stick to what you're good at for the most part and perfect your craft. But yeah, I understand the feeling because my vocation's screenwriting -- I used to do more of my own original ideas but these days I tend to do freelance work on other people's projects. Doing that is fulfilling but sometimes it feels like the work isn't fully my own. Of course, all creative professionals have to work with others and cooperate on ideas otherwise nothing would get made, but there's always that bit of ego in the back of your mind telling you you're a sellout, you're not a legitimate artist, etc. It's best to ignore that voice.

TeamFourStar probably feel the same way because their best remembered series have been heavily rooted in the hard work and ideas of others. No matter how many fans say "I take DBZ Abridged as canon", they'll never be able to take any credit for Dragon Ball.

I can understand wanting to branch out and try new things and feeling frustrated when those other things don't get nearly as many views, Film Brain recently did a Twitter thread bemoaning the fact that his film festival videos barely got any views compared to Bad Movie Beatdown and how he does not want to be known solely as an angry critic for the rest of his life.

Though looking at the views on TFS's output since their announcement that DBZA was over, it's really not looking good at all, Unabridged episodes have gotten less then 500,000 views and their podcast videos typically gets less then 75,000 views(with most in the 30-40 range). Their Sonic video essay only got barely over 100,000 views(and I have to say it wasn't particularly good so I can see why). That Dr Stoned video got slightly over 400,000 views. The Jojo video got around 300,000. DieselDust only got 166,000. Haiykuuu got less then 200,000. The Beastars video got around 567,000 views. Compare that to their DBZA videos regularly getting over 10 million views and it paints a pretty dismal picture. So far the only post DBZA videos to crack a million views are the Dragon Shortz, which tells me the vast majority of their subscribers only want to see TFS do DBZ-related stuff.

Damn, FilmBrain, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Looking at that Twitter thread, I can feel his frustration but if you drastically change your content style, you can't expect to continue riding it just as big as before just on name recognition. If you're brave enough to make the leap, you've gotta be prepared to see a decrease in views. If he continues pushing the new direction, good on him. The whole "angry Nostalgia Critic wannabe" genre is a relic at this point.

TFS are in a slightly better position because they have a reasonable amount of disposable money and talent from multiple people. However, eventually the lack of interest as you've clearly shown with the viewing figures is going to pile up catastrophically. They can either keep pushing forward with new content or go back to DBZ Abridged, in my opinion both moves are perfectly respectable. If they eventually give up the new direction, that's going to hurt, but they might be able to put all the passion back into DBZ Abridged.

[Scsigs]

I can understand wanting to branch out and try new things and feeling frustrated when those other things don't get nearly as many views, Film Brain recently did a Twitter thread bemoaning the fact that his film festival videos barely got any views compared to Bad Movie Beatdown and how he does not want to be known solely as an angry critic for the rest of his life.

Though looking at the views on TFS's output since their announcement that DBZA was over, it's really not looking good at all, Unabridged episodes have gotten less then 500,000 views and their podcast videos typically gets less then 75,000 views(with most in the 30-40 range). Their Sonic video essay only got barely over 100,000 views(and I have to say it wasn't particularly good so I can see why). That Dr Stoned video got slightly over 400,000 views. The Jojo video got around 300,000. DieselDust only got 166,000. Haiykuuu got less than 200,000. The Beastars video got around 567,000 views. Compare that to their DBZA videos regularly getting over 10 million views and it paints a pretty dismal picture. So far the only post DBZA videos to crack a million views are the Dragon Shortz, which tells me the vast majority of their subscribers only want to see TFS do DBZ-related stuff.

I can easily compare this to, & forgive me for doing so, Doug Walker after he killed the Nostalgia Critic off back in 2012 in favor of Demo Reel. Some of the ex-CA creators made some good points where Doug could've done a better job bracing people for that show & gauging interest than just ending his most popular show. It shows the nonexistent strength of Doug Walker's writing & filmmaking where not a lot of people tuned into Demo Reel as a suitable replacement for the NC. So, he soft rebooted the NC because he wasn't making money.
Now, I'm only making this comparison to show that, when you're only known for 1 thing, it becomes hard to become known for other stuff. And, with the ending of DBZA, I can see how a lot of the 3 million people subbed to them just don't care to watch anything else from them. I'm certainly not saying that these guys are as bad as Doug Walker. Far from it. However, when the best thing you're known for is, basically, comedic fan fiction, it's hard to take off from that with other content. I don't want these guys to be forced back to doing DBZA for views (which is why I'm glad they couldn't make any money directly from it, as it never became a crutch for them), especially since it'd be a half-hearted effort from them. Look at Doug Walker nowadays. It took a few years, but the NC went on a downward spiral because the spark of passion he once had for it is gone. It's true that you can argue the NC was never good, but it was at least entertaining in the early years. I don't want that to happen to DBZA. It's better they ended it on their own terms than just do it out of a hunt for views. My opinion is that I think they should've done the other content in the year they took off before episode 60 to brace people for what content was coming, but this is how they've chosen to do it. Gotta roll with the punches.

[Planetnamek]

I understand why they might (not saying they absolutely do but it's how they come off) feel that way, but I agree it's often better to just stick to what you're good at for the most part and perfect your craft. But yeah, I understand the feeling because my vocation's screenwriting -- I used to do more of my own original ideas but these days I tend to do freelance work on other people's projects. Doing that is fulfilling but sometimes it feels like the work isn't fully my own. Of course, all creative professionals have to work with others and cooperate on ideas otherwise nothing would get made, but there's always that bit of ego in the back of your mind telling you you're a sellout, you're not a legitimate artist, etc. It's best to ignore that voice.

TeamFourStar probably feel the same way because their best remembered series have been heavily rooted in the hard work and ideas of others. No matter how many fans say "I take DBZ Abridged as canon", they'll never be able to take any credit for Dragon Ball.

I can understand wanting to branch out and try new things and feeling frustrated when those other things don't get nearly as many views, Film Brain recently did a Twitter thread bemoaning the fact that his film festival videos barely got any views compared to Bad Movie Beatdown and how he does not want to be known solely as an angry critic for the rest of his life.

Though looking at the views on TFS's output since their announcement that DBZA was over, it's really not looking good at all, Unabridged episodes have gotten less then 500,000 views and their podcast videos typically gets less then 75,000 views(with most in the 30-40 range). Their Sonic video essay only got barely over 100,000 views(and I have to say it wasn't particularly good so I can see why). That Dr Stoned video got slightly over 400,000 views. The Jojo video got around 300,000. DieselDust only got 166,000. Haiykuuu got less then 200,000. The Beastars video got around 567,000 views. Compare that to their DBZA videos regularly getting over 10 million views and it paints a pretty dismal picture. So far the only post DBZA videos to crack a million views are the Dragon Shortz, which tells me the vast majority of their subscribers only want to see TFS do DBZ-related stuff.

Damn, FilmBrain, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Looking at that Twitter thread, I can feel his frustration but if you drastically change your content style, you can't expect to continue riding it just as big as before just on name recognition. If you're brave enough to make the leap, you've gotta be prepared to see a decrease in views. If he continues pushing the new direction, good on him. The whole "angry Nostalgia Critic wannabe" genre is a relic at this point.

TFS are in a slightly better position because they have a reasonable amount of disposable money and talent from multiple people. However, eventually the lack of interest as you've clearly shown with the viewing figures is going to pile up catastrophically. They can either keep pushing forward with new content or go back to DBZ Abridged, in my opinion both moves are perfectly respectable. If they eventually give up the new direction, that's going to hurt, but they might be able to put all the passion back into DBZ Abridged.

I actually still enjoy the angry critic shtick on occasion and i'll freely admit I still enjoy watching NC and think he still knows how to put out some good stuff. He too tried to branch out and do new things with Demo Reel back in 2012 and it's views were pretty weak compared to NC episodes(and I can see why, it's not a terrible show but it definitely feels like it's punching above it's weight class with what it tries to do and it's not nearly as clever as it thinks it is) and it actually dramatically decreased traffic to the site as a whole, that combined with DR being considerably more expensive to make made it so that Doug had pretty much no choice but to bring back NC or else the Channel Awesome website would've floundered and taken everyone else down with it, and I feel like TFS is headed for that point where they have to bring back DBZA or lose everything. Plus now you've got COVID throwing a wrench into their works, with Unabridged being a live-action show I can't imagine it's easy to film under those conditions, DBZA by contrast could easily be done remotely(Though I know they did use a studio for it in the past)with very little risk to everyone involved.

I'll admit I haven't watched much of FB's Festival Vids because I just don't think they are as good as his BMB videos. I don't just find positive videos nearly as interesting as negative ones for whatever reason.

[Planetnamek]

I can understand wanting to branch out and try new things and feeling frustrated when those other things don't get nearly as many views, Film Brain recently did a Twitter thread bemoaning the fact that his film festival videos barely got any views compared to Bad Movie Beatdown and how he does not want to be known solely as an angry critic for the rest of his life.

Though looking at the views on TFS's output since their announcement that DBZA was over, it's really not looking good at all, Unabridged episodes have gotten less then 500,000 views and their podcast videos typically gets less then 75,000 views(with most in the 30-40 range). Their Sonic video essay only got barely over 100,000 views(and I have to say it wasn't particularly good so I can see why). That Dr Stoned video got slightly over 400,000 views. The Jojo video got around 300,000. DieselDust only got 166,000. Haiykuuu got less than 200,000. The Beastars video got around 567,000 views. Compare that to their DBZA videos regularly getting over 10 million views and it paints a pretty dismal picture. So far the only post DBZA videos to crack a million views are the Dragon Shortz, which tells me the vast majority of their subscribers only want to see TFS do DBZ-related stuff.

I can easily compare this to, & forgive me for doing so, Doug Walker after he killed the Nostalgia Critic off back in 2012 in favor of Demo Reel. Some of the ex-CA creators made some good points where Doug could've done a better job bracing people for that show & gauging interest than just ending his most popular show. It shows the nonexistent strength of Doug Walker's writing & filmmaking where not a lot of people tuned into Demo Reel as a suitable replacement for the NC. So, he soft rebooted the NC because he wasn't making money.
Now, I'm only making this comparison to show that, when you're only known for 1 thing, it becomes hard to become known for other stuff. And, with the ending of DBZA, I can see how a lot of the 3 million people subbed to them just don't care to watch anything else from them. I'm certainly not saying that these guys are as bad as Doug Walker. Far from it. However, when the best thing you're known for is, basically, comedic fan fiction, it's hard to take off from that with other content. I don't want these guys to be forced back to doing DBZA for views (which is why I'm glad they couldn't make any money directly from it, as it never became a crutch for them), especially since it'd be a half-hearted effort from them. Look at Doug Walker nowadays. It took a few years, but the NC went on a downward spiral because the spark of passion he once had for it is gone. It's true that you can argue the NC was never good, but it was at least entertaining in the early years. I don't want that to happen to DBZA. It's better they ended it on their own terms than just do it out of a hunt for views. My opinion is that I think they should've done the other content in the year they took off before episode 60 to brace people for what content was coming, but this is how they've chosen to do it. Gotta roll with the punches.

I can agree with that, Demo Reel was thrust upon CA viewers with little to no warning and we were told to accept that NC was dead and deal with it, understandably people weren't happy. I compare that to when Criminal Minds had A.J. Cook's character J.J. written off the show just so they could have some extra money to make the spin-off Suspect Behavior. Many fans were openly pissed at CBS for screwing over a beloved character just for a spin-off nobody was asking for, and that showed as the ratings for the spin-off were pretty poor compared to the main show, so SB got cancelled and with money free again CBS was forced to eat crow and bring back J.J.

I think NC has arguably improved since it came back in 2013, as Malcolm, Rachel and Tamara added a much needed spark into the show. I think some of his best episodes are in the revival(I especially loved the one where he tore apart that awful Lion King remake). I feel like Doug still enjoys doing the show, it just took taking a break from it for him to really learn to appreciate it again, if he had continue without stopping and never done Demo Reel I think the show definitely would've suffered. Likewise I think TFS taking a break from DBZA could do wonders and re-ignite TFS's passion.

[Scsigs]

I can agree with that, Demo Reel was thrust upon CA viewers with little to no warning and we were told to accept that NC was dead and deal with it, understandably people weren't happy. I compare that to when Criminal Minds had A.J. Cook's character J.J. written off the show just so they could have some extra money to make the spin-off Suspect Behavior. Many fans were openly pissed at CBS for screwing over a beloved character just for a spin-off nobody was asking for, and that showed as the ratings for the spin-off were pretty poor compared to the main show, so SB got cancelled and with money free again CBS was forced to eat crow and bring back J.J.

I think NC has arguably improved since it came back in 2013, as Malcolm, Rachel and Tamara added a much needed spark into the show. I think some of his best episodes are in the revival (I especially loved the one where he tore apart that awful Lion King remake). I feel like Doug still enjoys doing the show, it just took taking a break from it for him to really learn to appreciate it again, if he had continue without stopping and never done Demo Reel I think the show definitely would've suffered. Likewise I think TFS taking a break from DBZA could do wonders and re-ignite TFS's passion.

I mean, I liked the revival for the first 2-3 years, but when he started doing the shitty clipless reviews (including the infamous one for Hocus Pocus), I slowly stopped liking the show, since it'd gone too far away from its original premise & set of rules, including one of the few remaining ones Doug HIMSELF set up when he made the video announcing the reboot back in 2013. The Hocus Pocus review was basically a rehash of the Moulin Rouge review, only not nearly as entertaining, with its message & just shows how Doug sees people who like the things he doesn't. Then the Christmas With the Cranks one where Doug gave a whole speech about how the show's changed & he doesn't wanna go back to his old style...only to do just that for the show's 10th anniversary only weeks after.
The Change the Channel stuff didn't start my hatred of Doug Walker, but it sure intensified it by a lot. I was basically done with the NC before then anyways. Some good episodes, but it's all tainted by the fact that it's Doug.

[Matches Malone]

They can either keep pushing forward with new content or go back to DBZ Abridged, in my opinion both moves are perfectly respectable.

Respectable, yes, make sense ? not in the slightest. I just can't see how they'll be able to justify continuously relying on content that gets a fraction of the views DBZA got. The majority of their non-anime videos since DBZA received less than 40k views. That's unsustainable. I get it, they did one thing for too long and want to try something else, but no one cares. For a bigger example, look at Kishimoto. He's been known as the Naruto author for 20+ years now, which is why he tried to branch out and work on a completely different manga. That manga, according to him, was supposed to be just as big, if not bigger than Naruto...until it was cancelled after 5 volumes. It didn't even last a year. That's exactly where TFS will be headed if their content views continues to remain within the 20-40K range.