Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

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Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by coola » Sat Nov 09, 2019 11:15 am

Seeing LS screenshots on 30th anniversary topic and footage on Youtube, made me really sad they were canceled, while they were missing next episode previews, they were best DBZ looked so far, unfortunately, they were released by time market was oversaturated, we had Orange Bricks, Dragon Box last volume was just released and DBZ Kai still came out. Do you think if Funimation waited at least a year, would Level Sets sold well enough to release whole series? Or would people still find it too expensive, compared to Oragne Bricks?
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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by eledoremassis02 » Sat Nov 09, 2019 11:22 am

It might have? I remember when Vol. 1 came out there was a bunch of talk on how noisy the footage was. Plus a lot of people were not happy about the price point per episode.

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by SqueakyBoots » Sat Nov 09, 2019 11:27 am

I think in hindsight, had they waited until 2014 or 2015 when the new movies and Super started coming out, they may have sold better. Not that Funimation would know about those things in 2011 but still.

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by SuperSaiyaManZ94 » Sat Nov 09, 2019 11:28 am

I believe if they had waited until around 2013 or later once Kai (at the time) was finished and the Dragon Boxes long out it would've likely been received better, because being crammed right after the latter and former still being released concurrently on DVD and Blu-ray in late 2011 didn't do the release any favors. What a shame it happened like that, because if the Levels hadn't gone belly up and continued as planned i would've actually started buying them because the pics looked so good. Well, at least i have the Dragon Boxes.
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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by eledoremassis02 » Sat Nov 09, 2019 11:38 am

I think the other thing that killed the level sets was the numbering system. This was around the end of FUNi doing the part season sets. And Seeing that set had a Level 1.1 and 1.2 there is no doubt they would have released full level sets later down the road. I think some people were waiting for that as well.

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by SuperSaiyaManZ94 » Sat Nov 09, 2019 11:57 am

eledoremassis02 wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 11:38 am I think the other thing that killed the level sets was the numbering system. This was around the end of FUNi doing the part season sets. And Seeing that set had a Level 1.1 and 1.2 there is no doubt they would have released full level sets later down the road. I think some people were waiting for that as well.
Yeah, i'll bet season collections of the Levels would have come later much like how it was with Kai although there they started and restarted before even all of the Part sets were finished releasing on both formats.
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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by coola » Sat Nov 09, 2019 12:02 pm

eledoremassis02 wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 11:38 am I think the other thing that killed the level sets was the numbering system. This was around the end of FUNi doing the part season sets. And Seeing that set had a Level 1.1 and 1.2 there is no doubt they would have released full level sets later down the road. I think some people were waiting for that as well.
It is mentioned in video too, even when Ulitmate Uncut edition was released, companies already started releasing shows via Season Sets, rather tnan 3 episode per DVD format https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spii3SOhi0Y
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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by WittyUsername » Sat Nov 09, 2019 2:09 pm

How well did the Blu-ray season sets do?

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by KBABZ » Sat Nov 09, 2019 8:08 pm

SuperSaiyaManZ94 wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 11:28 am I believe if they had waited until around 2013 or later once Kai (at the time) was finished and the Dragon Boxes long out it would've likely been received better, because being crammed right after the latter and former still being released concurrently on DVD and Blu-ray in late 2011 didn't do the release any favors. What a shame it happened like that, because if the Levels hadn't gone belly up and continued as planned i would've actually started buying them because the pics looked so good. Well, at least i have the Dragon Boxes.
Agreed. Price aside, the big killer for the Level Sets was the fact that it came out so close to Kai, itself an HD release of Z. I'm not sure how that happened, but I suspect it was a lack of communication between Funimation and Toei so that the former didn't know what the latter was doing.

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by TheGreatness25 » Sat Nov 09, 2019 9:01 pm

I think that the Level Sets would be immensely successful if they came out the way the Season Set Blu-rays did. I know what my biggest reservation was: "Ugh, about a dozen episodes per set?" The series having so many episodes made it feel like it would take forever to collect them and also made me feel like a Level Set "collection" of more episodes (like the 2-in-1 GT green bricks or what ended up happening with Kai) was on the horizon. Joke was on me lol I was lucky enough to snag it early enough where I could get brand new ones for a normal price.

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by Tylerman29 » Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:42 pm

WittyUsername wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 2:09 pm How well did the Blu-ray season sets do?
Very well. Not Orange Brick levels(Still the best selling by far...still in stores over 10 years later), but the season Blu rays have been very successful for them.
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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Sun Nov 10, 2019 6:35 am

I think if Funimation waited until 2014 when the hype for Battle of God's was becoming real the level sets would have sold pretty well, especially if there had been no season Blu-Rays. It would have been plenty of breathing time for the people who bought the orange bricks and Dragon Boxes who weren't willing to douple or triple dip right away and some would have even bought them in the hopes their support would give Funimation the resources to licence Battle of God's from TOEI, and the MSRP would have probably been a bit lower than $34.99 per set.

After the backlash to the 30th anniversary set I'd hope Funimation would at least consider reaching out to Steve Franko to put 1.1 and 1.2 back in print, finish pressing 2.1 and 2.2 (which seem to have been completed) and continue making new volumes.
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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by TheGreatness25 » Sun Nov 10, 2019 9:53 am

Isn't Steve Franko the guy who did the orange bricks and told us how amazing they were in the first place? Why would that guy's name be involved in anything that we'd want?

I'm totally serious when I say that I feel like we've gotten as good as we're ever going to get with this series.

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by ABED » Sun Nov 10, 2019 10:22 am

More successful? Probably, but would the full series have been released? I doubt it. I just don't think the market was there to support it.
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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Sun Nov 10, 2019 11:26 am

TheGreatness25 wrote: Sun Nov 10, 2019 9:53 am Isn't Steve Franko the guy who did the orange bricks and told us how amazing they were in the first place? Why would that guy's name be involved in anything that we'd want?
From what I heard he had tighter time restrictions for the orange bricks but for the level sets he had more time to do the digital remaster and have his team restore it frame by frame.
ABED wrote: Sun Nov 10, 2019 10:22 am More successful? Probably, but would the full series have been released? I doubt it. I just don't think the market was there to support it.
Even if the whole series wasn't released it would have been great even to get a good portion of the run completed. A lot of people would have been delighted to at least have all the early Namek episodes that never had an uncut 4:3 release outside of the Dragon Boxes.
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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by WittyUsername » Sun Nov 10, 2019 3:45 pm

Tylerman29 wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:42 pm
WittyUsername wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 2:09 pm How well did the Blu-ray season sets do?
Very well. Not Orange Brick levels(Still the best selling by far...still in stores over 10 years later), but the season Blu rays have been very successful for them.
I see. In that case, the level sets probably would’ve done noticeably better if FUNimation had waited a bit, but considering the relatively low episode count per set, it would’ve been at an inherit disadvantage compared to the season sets.

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by SqueakyBoots » Sun Nov 10, 2019 4:09 pm

KBABZ wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 8:08 pm Agreed. Price aside, the big killer for the Level Sets was the fact that it came out so close to Kai, itself an HD release of Z. I'm not sure how that happened, but I suspect it was a lack of communication between Funimation and Toei so that the former didn't know what the latter was doing.
Kai had been out for over two years before Level 1.1 was released. I don't see how Funi couldn't have known about it since their own dub and releases of it were already coming out.

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by KBABZ » Sun Nov 10, 2019 4:55 pm

SqueakyBoots wrote: Sun Nov 10, 2019 4:09 pm
KBABZ wrote: Sat Nov 09, 2019 8:08 pm Agreed. Price aside, the big killer for the Level Sets was the fact that it came out so close to Kai, itself an HD release of Z. I'm not sure how that happened, but I suspect it was a lack of communication between Funimation and Toei so that the former didn't know what the latter was doing.
Kai had been out for over two years before Level 1.1 was released. I don't see how Funi couldn't have known about it since their own dub and releases of it were already coming out.
Good point, didn't think at all about that.

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by Robo4900 » Mon Nov 11, 2019 7:30 am

More successful? Yes, definitely, obviously.

In 2011, Kai wasn't even finished releasing, the Dragon Boxes were just a couple of years ago, the bricks were just a couple of years before that...
It was about the stupidest time Funi could have done it.
Here's how they should have done it:
No Dragon Boxes. At all. Just, don't do that, they didn't sell hugely well anyway, and they sort of filled the niche the Levels were aiming for, but they were a complete release.
And wait until a year after Kai is done before putting out the Levels. That would give time for people to get over Kai. (Worth noting: This is when they put out the Season BDs)

But realistically, the Levels were always going to be a slow burn.

Even at the best possible release time, the Levels were expensive, and 2011-2013 was really early for Blu-ray anyway, and with the Orange Bricks, and OG DVD singles, and Kai around, people were going to be hesitant, especially after the "Ultimate Uncut" DVDs were cancelled, which a lot of people still feel burned on to this day.

If Funi had been smart and skipped the DBoxes, put out the Levels in 2013, and stuck with them, they'd probably have done pretty well. And as time went on, and Blu-ray adoption got stronger, people would've probably picked up DBZ more.

But, DBZ is a 300-episode series, it's not gonna be cheap to buy this show properly. The Season BDs got around this by giving us a really good deal on buying a 300-episode show... Like the bricks, it was too good to be true, because it wasn't true; the way they gave us such a great deal was by giving us a really shitty presentation of it. And the bricks set that dangerous precedent, so people understood that to be how DBZ was released. And because this "Remastering" style is so cheap, it just makes so much more financial sense for Funi to do it in this shitty way.

So... Even if the Levels had had perfect timing, while they'd have done better, honestly I think Funi still would have given us a shit version anyway. Clearly, the guys up top don't care about giving the fans a good release, they're businessmen who have no concern for the art, they're just out to make a profit, and the way things have gone has made them far more profit than if they'd done things properly from an artistic perspective... So, honestly, I think this is always how it would have turned out, in the end.

I think, with better timing, maybe the Levels would have sold enough to hold the decision up to the point that they get up to Level 2, rather than just Level 1 (and hell, Level 2.1 was fully authored anyway, Level 2.2's remastering was allegedly already done, so it could've made a lot of sense). And maybe, just maybe, with Level 2 out, fan demand would be strong enough that maybe someday we'd get some kind of raw, un-remastered release to cater to people who won't stop demanding the Levels... But that's a very generous read. Realistically, the Dragon Ball fandom has an ability like no other to just roll over and take this shit, even when a better alternative is dangled right in front of our faces, on a blog post explaining why Funi chose to, yet again, do an unbelievably shitty release of our favourite show, so...

I think we were always doomed.

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Re: Would Level Sets be more sucessfull if Funimation wait more?

Post by coola » Mon Nov 11, 2019 11:09 am

My biggetst problem with LS, was tat they were once again missing next episode previews, for me, they are part of series and sometimes they have altered footage (SSJ Goku in Hell while beating Ginyu Force) thank god DBox had them (And DBGT Singles ;) )
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