Funimation's 30th anniversary collectible home video release

[rs_chaosmaster]

I would suspect a price tag between $500 and $750 if it is all in one set and is everything we want.

Give me:

-Japanese Broadcast Audio
-4:3 Aspect Ratio
-Limited Edition Box
-Dragonbook
-Faulconer Score
-Pioneer Dub
-Original DBZ Dub
-Redubbed DBZ
-Next Episode Previews
-Grain

-Did I miss anything?

[Kuwabara]

Exciting news! I'll be sure to lock in my preorder when they're opened up.

Somebody already mentioned the 4:3 Dragon Balls, but check out these fonts:





I have a really good feeling about this!

[HimuraBenny]

I'd love a complete set of DBZ, but as a casual fan, I do not want to spend a boat load of money for something I might never watch in full. I will go as high as $250 I think, $300 if they bowl me over.

[bigray]

I'm actually expecting atleast a $500 price tag.

With all considerations taken in; figure, limited run so gotta jack up the price. They've already given a heads up that it's going to be expensive so if the price was anything comfortable then they wouldn't have said anything.

On top of that people are already paying over $1000 for dragon boxes (brand new that is) and even when first released they were like $60each? That's already $420.


So if it's a repackage of the exisiting remasters then they can forget about it, I won't buy it out of sheer annoyance

[DBZ_Lee]

This is a 4:3 release, Geekdom seems confident in it. That's good enough for me.
I can see this easily fetching up to $600. I'm reluctant to go any higher, as that's crazy money.

[Scsigs]

Geekdom said an interesting thing in the other thread...

He's often been right about these things, but it is ultimately unconfirmed so take it with a grain of salt as you always should for anything not officially announced, but...

30th Anniversary Remasters ARE coming.
Will be announced VERY soon.
Z first (presumably)
4:3
Audio is also stellar
WILL be localized

Does localized mean English dialogue or US Broadcast Audio (Faulconer/Menza/Johnson) Music?

"Localized" means ported to another language, meaning translated. In this case, the set will include the audio mixes for the dub & the 2 different music tracks & subs for the Japanese audio, same as their other releases.

[Spoofer]

It won't be the season sets repackaged. There wouldn't be high costs associated with that, especially when 2,500 preorders are required to cover it.

Like Funi's $250~$550 Bebop sets (where the extra costs went towards new physical packaging and novelty items) which they also mandated minimum pledges for?
https://web.archive.org/web/20180506013 ... bebop20th/

When the exact same discs (minus a 2-hour dub retrospective and the movie) were already selling on Amazon for $20-30?

Bebop had a 1,000 pledge requirement, though IIRC they got 1,500 pledges on the $250 option, and presumably even more on actual pre-orders. 2,500 sounds like the natural evolution of that requirement based on how much interest they got on Bebop and based on DBZ being a bigger property.

Addtionally, based on the answers from their FAQ:

WHY HOLD A RESERVATION CAMPAIGN?
Due to the high costs associated with the set, we need to guarantee a minimum number to print. We think a DBZ 30th anniversary set is an awesome idea, but we need to measure the interest!

WHY 2,500 UNITS?
This is the minimum build order for sets from our printers. This minimum makes sure that we can sell the product to you at an affordable price.

WHY ARE YOU HOSTING THIS HERE INSTEAD OF ON A PLATFORM LIKE KICKSTARTER?
The short answer? We aren’t looking to crowdfund this set. We feel that Kickstarter and similar crowdfunding platforms are typically asking fans to fund the creation of new content, not something like a collector’s edition which may be cool but isn’t quite the same as new content. We love and support (and back!) lots of projects for new anime, new dubs, or new forays into the North American market, though!

IF THE SET DOESN’T HIT 2,500 UNITS, WILL IT REALLY NEVER BE CREATED?
We’re holding ourselves to the commitment that your pledge actually means something and is more than a gesture, so if we don’t hit the minimum, we will not create the set.

Everything is worded in such a way that they're stressing the costs and focus on the physical Collector's Edition packaging rather than the costs associated with licensing a new Toei master, or production costs of an actual in-house remaster or reauthoring (or even localization of a Japanese remaster).

As I said in that other topic, Funi was hoping to charge $550 (plus shipping) for the most expensive Bebop set that included a hardcover artbook, bookend figures, and a pair of vinyl. The planned DBZ set includes 2 of those things. Plus 265 more episodes. Do the math on why it's so expensive even if it's the same discs as before. =p

[PremiumSalt]

Geekdom said an interesting thing in the other thread...

He's often been right about these things, but it is ultimately unconfirmed so take it with a grain of salt as you always should for anything not officially announced, but...

Does localized mean English dialogue or US Broadcast Audio (Faulconer/Menza/Johnson) Music?

I believe "localized" refers to the video track in this instance (meaning the title cards and credits will be in English), obviously any FUNi DBZ release will include their standard English audio offerings.

[DBZfan29]

Geekdom said an interesting thing in the other thread...

He's often been right about these things, but it is ultimately unconfirmed so take it with a grain of salt as you always should for anything not officially announced, but...

Does localized mean English dialogue or US Broadcast Audio (Faulconer/Menza/Johnson) Music?

I believe "localized" refers to the video track in this instance (meaning the title cards and credits will be in English), obviously any FUNi DBZ release will include their standard English audio offerings.

Localized probably just means it’s getting released in the US. I doubt they’d mess with the title cards if it was a new remaster from Toei. I didn’t really think much of the word.

[KBABZ]

Does localized mean English dialogue or US Broadcast Audio (Faulconer/Menza/Johnson) Music?

I believe "localized" refers to the video track in this instance (meaning the title cards and credits will be in English), obviously any FUNi DBZ release will include their standard English audio offerings.

Localized probably just means it’s getting released in the US. I doubt they’d mess with the title cards if it was a new remaster from Toei. I didn’t really think much of the word.

Incorrect, localization and translation are two similar but different ideas. Translation is simply translating the dialogue into another language. Localization is a bit more complicated because it involves taking ideas that are region-specific and making them work in another culture. For example, in the fourth episode of the Pokémon anime, Misty screams "Mushi! Mushi! Mushi!" ("Bug! Bug! Bug!"), to which Ash pops in and says "Ushi?" ("Cow?"). This pun doesn't work in English, so 4Kids went with Ash saying "Maybe it's a... cowterpie!". The dubbers had their hands tied with that because it includes a shot of Ash popping in wearing a cow costume, and if they only stuck to translation rather than localization, Ash would have just said "Cow?" in English for seemingly no reason. Manga is at least able to include margin-text to explain certain jokes and phrases, but anime has to fit mouth-flaps and not use on-screen text to explain its own jokes.

Sometimes Dragon Ball dubs do this for dialogue, but I don't think it's happened that much regarding names in terms of trying to localize the spirit of where the name comes from. For example, most of the Ginyu Force's names are very different and in several cases don't attempt to keep the pun and just sound cool (prime example: Jeice should be something like Jeese to keep the cheese analogy), and Shenlong became Shenron because having the r makes him sound cooler, and... shorter, I guess. Chi-Chi's I suspect wasn't bothered with because there's no way of conveying the milk/pair of breasts duality of the Japanese name without just flat-out calling her "Tit-tit". Luckily Toriyama has a tendency to pick the English names anyway, like calling Whis Whis instead of, like, Sake.

Some forms of localization can be less cut-and-dry. For example, in the English dub of the 25th episode of Pokémon, Brock calls his riceballs jelly doughnuts to try and make them more relatable to western kids, and later seasons would digitally replace japanese foods with western ones like footlong subs, as well as Dragon Ball characters mentioning very western foods like burgers. These arguably ruin some of the original spirit of the show being set in a Japanese/Chinese-rooted world, and in the case of Dragon Ball that's incredibly important to the aesthetic considering the wuxia/ancient China-inspired part of the story that Toriyama is tapping into. The Pokémon anime has gotten around this by not making the regions appear rooted to a certain place in the world unless it absolutely has to, although with the recent theme of the games setting it in other parts of the world like France, New York, Hawaii and now the UK, this has gotten more difficult to do. You could also argue that having simpler episode names for Dragon Ball is a form of localization too given that "two sentence spoiler" names are very unfamiliar to western audiences, but this has gone away since Kai.

ANYWAYS, yes, in terms of the physical release, I'd imagine it means the set will have English menus, title cards, and of course subtitles for the Japanese audio.

[simtek34]

Key point from the FAQ section on the Page:

WHY 2,500 UNITS?
This is the minimum build order for sets from our printers. This minimum makes sure that we can sell the product to you at an affordable price.

If that is the case, count me in! To be honest, I actually don’t own Dragon Ball Z in full, and haven’t tried to since losing an auction for the 7 Dragon Boxes for $150 last year. IF this is in 4:3 and has no DVNR. It is a must-buy. NEP’s, Broadcast Audio, and JP Credits would just be icing on the cake. If it is really that affordable, FUNi should just repackage the old BDs with the (hopefully) new master, or discontinue the previous one all together.

[Kinokima]

I hope there are different price points like the Cowboy Bebop set but as DBZ is much longer than Cowboy Bebop I can see it being at least double the price

I am not very confident I’ll be able to afford this

[LostTimeLord]

The trouble with a reservation model is that you have to be confident that Funimation won't disappoint and, well, Funimation has a habit of disappointing when it comes to DBZ. I'm not expecting anything other than the existing BDs (plus a new bonus disc) until Funimation directly says otherwise.

[KBABZ]

I hope there are different price points like the Cowboy Bebop set but as DBZ is much longer than Cowboy Bebop I can see it being at least double the price

I am not very confident I’ll be able to afford this

I agree. The artbook is nice but I suspect it's just the one announced earlier in the year that's the Chogasu translation (in which case Funi lied, again), and I have no need for Super Saiyan Goku Statue #641. I just want the discs and the box!

The trouble with a reservation model is that you have to be confident that Funimation won't disappoint and, well, Funimation has a habit of disappointing when it comes to DBZ. I'm not expecting anything other than the existing BDs (plus a new bonus disc) until Funimation directly says otherwise.

That's kinda why Funimation have said "We'll reveal more details soon".

[Gyt Kaliba]

I am not very confident I’ll be able to afford this

You and me both.

Like, I'm thrilled this is happening, and I'll certainly sign my name to showcase interest in the set being made (so long as doing so doesn't automatically lock me in to a purchase that is), and I'd love to upgrade my sets of DBZ (which outside of Dragon Boxes One and Five, is made up of the old DVD Season Sets), but depending on the price...I might not be able to. :/

Like, even if this baby is $300, that'd be stretching it a good bit on what I'm able to afford and be willing to pay for something I technically already own. But if we're actually looking to it costing like upwards of $500? That's just insanity.

[Scsigs]

Is japan getting this? Cause if they're not, i don't see toei giving funi the master negatives to do the remaster.

I mean, even if they weren't, it doesn't matter. Remember the level Blu-Rays? If FUNi tapped the company that did those again, we'd still get a good remaster, even with FUNi's 3rd generation film masters (which, yeah, they have film masters already, so they could do their own remasters again anyways). I mean, come on, bruh, give them SOME credit. The levels were great & to see them complete would be awesome.

[Spoofer]

Again, $270 (including shipping) for fancy Bebop packaging, a cheap artbook, and two vinyl. For a 26-episode show. They wanted $570 for the version including bookend figures.

For 290ish episodes of DBZ with another artbook and figure? As low as $500 is probably the best you could wish upon a dragon ball for. Really the only hope for a cheap release is if they reuse the old discs like they did with Bebop, and are feeling extraordinarily charitable when the current MSRP of the 9 season sets is already about $400, and Funi's current sale prices still amount to $300 total. Since they're clearly targeting collector whales with these sorts of releases, you'll see markup (rather than discount) for physical bonuses and especially prestige, which again in Bebop's case was between $200-$500 on top of its standard release's MSRP. That's assuming they're not scaling the amount of episodes with prestige value, which could put it into 4 figures, but I'm not sure that even Funi has the balls to do that in 2019 (depends on how many collector whales Funi assumes are among DBZ's adult fans and how much disposable income they assume at least 2,500 of them have).

If there's actual remastering involved, then it would be even more to cover all that licensing and/or production overhead. It could easily eclipse Sentai's Legend of the Galactic Heroes pricing.

[PremiumSalt]

As much as I understand production costs and all that, I have to think FUNimation isn't stupid enough to think people would pay more than $500 for this, right?

...right?

[Spoofer]

They thought they had a shot at getting 1,000 Bebop fans to pay $570 for this:



https://web.archive.org/web/20180506013 ... bebop20th/

It is indeed good for fans' wallets that the mid and top tier options ($370 & $570) hardly attracted much support whatsoever. A couple hundred pledges for each, while the cheapest set got over 1,500 just in pledges (and likely far more in actual pre-orders). And it's probably a good thing that Sentai's Legend of the Galactic Heroes set is still up on Sentai's shop, rather than selling even 1,000 copies for one of OG anime's most beloved and requested series. That, and DBZ fatigue, is the only thing that might temper Funi's temptation to charge Ed's arm and Ed's leg. But it's still gonna be more than most of you want to pay, and if it's announced (as I think is more realistic) that these aren't remastered, I look forward to the PR fallout explosion that will certainly ensue. They're still likely to get the 2,500 pledges regardless. Bebop more than met its target, after all. As usual I doubt Funi will care a whole lot about DB purists' ire. It's the CN dub fans who made them rich, after all, and they know there are certainly enough of those to spring for this.

[KBABZ]

It is indeed good for fans' wallets that the mid and top tier options ($370 & $570) hardly attracted much support whatsoever. A couple hundred pledges for each, while the cheapest set got over 1,500 just in pledges (and likely far more in actual pre-orders). And it's probably a good thing that Sentai's Legend of the Galactic Heroes set is still up on Sentai's shop, rather than selling even 1,000 copies for one of OG anime's most beloved and requested series. That, and DBZ fatigue, is the only thing that might temper Funi's temptation to charge Ed's arm and Ed's leg. But it's still gonna be more than most of you want to pay, and if it's announced (as I think is more realistic) that these aren't remastered, I look forward to the PR fallout explosion that will certainly ensue. They're still likely to get the 2,500 pledges regardless, however. Bebop more than met its target, after all.

I'm concerned that Funi took the wrong lesson from that, where they're asking fans to unknowingly pledge for the most expensive version by withholding information from them. Like "AHA! The art book and statue means that this 300 episode set will cost $499!"