The "Team Four Star" actors were blacklisted by Funi and Toei rumor

[Cure Dragon 255]

So recently Megami33 was cast as Momonosuke on One Piece. I want to examine just how much truth this rumor has if any.

[Matches Malone]

The actors themselves weren't blacklisted, I think rather their interpretation of DB was blacklisted by Toei from being in anything official, not Funimation who tried to get them into Kai.

[jaisonas]

IIRC Lisa Yamatoya from Toei US found out in the last minute that funi had tfs record some lines and immediately asked for them to be removed.

[kemuri07]

IIRC Lisa Yamatoya from Toei US found out in the last minute that funi had tfs record some lines and immediately asked for them to be removed.

Haven't they also voiced some parts in some of the games too? I feel like the relationship between tfs, funi, and toei is probably really complicated. Largely because TFS is so dang popular, that you can make the argument that they have had some impact on Dragon Ball's popularity, and that Funi and toei have to at least acknowledge that. I know individual Funi actors have different feelings about TFS.

[Dbzfan94]

I believe Kaiser voiced one of the fodder soldiers in Resurrection F, and had to go under a pseudonym to get around Toei

[TheGreatness25]

And yet, the guy that more or less did the same thing is currently the manga artist for the series. I understand it from Toei's perspective and they're clearly protective of their immensely popular property... even though they don't take care of it the way it could be taken care of. But still...

[WittyUsername]

Didn’t the TeamFourStar voice for #18 voice one of the competitors voice Dercori in the Universe Survival saga?

[Thanos]

The actors themselves weren't blacklisted, I think rather their interpretation of DB was blacklisted by Toei from being in anything official, not Funimation who tried to get them into Kai.

Good. Why should a company allow a fan product to have any purchase on the series proper?

I happen to really enjoy DBZA. It's genuinely clever and well written, absolutely. Yet, when it bleeds into official discourse (which it can, and has), absolutely not. I do miss a time when conversations about Dragon Ball didn't invariably devolve into 10 year old Abridged jokes. It's a good product with a cancerous influence--Sean Schemmel is a whiny prima donna but I don't fault him for getting annoyed.

Blacklisting the actors does seem a bit far, though. If they're genuinely talented artists of their own merit, it doesn't seem fair to blacklist because of their involvement. Hopefully you're right on that.

[kemuri07]

And yet, the guy that more or less did the same thing is currently the manga artist for the series. I understand it from Toei's perspective and they're clearly protective of their immensely popular property... even though they don't take care of it the way it could be taken care of. But still...

But different times and all that. AF was nowhere near as big as TFS is. I know there's that Sean Schemmel video floating around where he's sounds pretty damn annoyed when he's asked about TFS, and I think I get it. Never mind that I'm sure that he's probably been asked a wide variety of questions about TFS for years, but I think I can understand it from his perspective as both an industry veteran as well as being Goku for near thirty years. I think stuff like that gets a lot more complicated when you factor that stuff in.

It's why I prefer to see DBZA as its own thing, rather than being "better" than DBZ.

[TheGreatness25]

And yet, the guy that more or less did the same thing is currently the manga artist for the series. I understand it from Toei's perspective and they're clearly protective of their immensely popular property... even though they don't take care of it the way it could be taken care of. But still...

But different times and all that. AF was nowhere near as big as TFS is. I know there's that Sean Schemmel video floating around where he's sounds pretty damn annoyed when he's asked about TFS, and I think I get it. Never mind that I'm sure that he's probably been asked a wide variety of questions about TFS for years, but I think I can understand it from his perspective as both an industry veteran as well as being Goku for near thirty years. I think stuff like that gets a lot more complicated when you factor that stuff in.

It's why I prefer to see DBZA as its own thing, rather than being "better" than DBZ.

But everything related to entertainment is done to cater to its audience. If you see that a side project based on your work is so popular, why not embrace it? There might be money to be had there. I'm not naive to believe that the sole purpose of Dragon Ball -- or any project -- is to cater to fans. Obviously money is the ultimate goal no matter what it is. But fans' enjoyment is what moves the needle on earnings. I don't know, I just feel like Toei handled it a bit too aggressively.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I don't know if it's necessarily true that they were "blacklisted" exactly, but their relationship with other companies was strained as a result of the legally murky nature of DBZ Abridged. That's not me saying that either, that's Scott Ferichs (aka KaiserNeko) himself saying that. Here's a link to the written statement he provided for why DBZ Abridged was ending. And in that statement, he says this...

Our relationships with other companies have been strained by the nature of DBZA.

Fair-use exists in a nebulous area; even though we believe in it wholeheartedly, that doesn't mean there's no trouble between us and the copyright holders, and that tension leaks into the ecosystem in which we look to coexist with other companies. As writers, actors, etc.

We want to ease this tension moving forward.

So, does this mean they were blacklisted? Not necessarily. Between this statement and FUNimation pulling TFS's lines for the Cell Games reenactment video at the last second, though, it certainly suggests a level of discomfort on some level. For that matter, it's a level of discomfort among those involved on the business end of things, not necessarily the creative end. After all, Chris Sabat is a fan of DBZ Abridged and it was his idea to bring them in for both that and the video games.

[Matches Malone]

So, does this mean they were blacklisted? Not necessarily. Between this statement and FUNimation pulling TFS's lines for the Cell Games reenactment video at the last second, though, it certainly suggests a level of discomfort on some level. For that matter, it's a level of discomfort among those involved on the business end of things, not necessarily the creative end. After all, Chris Sabat is a fan of DBZ Abridged and it was his idea to bring them in for both that and the video games.

The biggest mistake Funimation made was trying to keep their involvement in Kai a secret from Toei. If you have to hide things from your business partner, maybe it's an indication you shouldn't be doing said things. I love DBZA, but Funi never should've tried to include their version of the characters in an official product. Fan parodies and official products should stay as far away from each other as possible.

[LoganForkHands73]

I agree with what most of you are saying. I like DBZA and TeamFourStar as people, they're obviously all really talented, but I'd rather they stay away from official projects. The most recent episodes of DBZA before the show went bust were seriously straddling the line of "parody" and fair use as they clearly became more invested in telling a coherent story with the original footage. Then you have all their merch blatantly using Dragon Ball characters' images. I'm definitely not a shill for Toei but I can't blame them for their hostility towards DBZA is somewhat justified, although their hostility for the people behind it is less so. Chris Sabat always showing them favour behind Toei's back was a bad move.

I don't mind the TFS in-jokes you see on every Reddit thread and YouTube comment section, hell I can't resist it myself sometimes, but it does get annoying when it becomes clear that that's the only version people are interested in interacting with, even though the original material is leagues better. Let's face it, no matter how widespread the joke already was within the fandom before TFS laid their hands on it, "Piccolo is a better dad than Goku" memes wouldn't be nearly as omniversal as they are now. I think TFS were at their best around the mid-Android arc, where we got genuinely quality lines like "You're either perfect or you're not me" and all the VAs really got a chance to shine. As great as the last few episodes were, I can't help but feel they got a bit carried away with the rapid-fire humour and try-hard attempts to be witty.

[Adamant]

I mean we ARE talking about someone who's essentially just stealing Toei's show and dubbing it for profit, giving Toei neither compensation nor a say in the matter. If I was Toei, I wouldn't want to reward them for this by offering them roles and exposure in the "official dub" either.

[Matches Malone]

I mean we ARE talking about someone who's essentially just stealing Toei's show and dubbing it for profit, giving Toei neither compensation nor a say in the matter.

They didn't profit off DBZA, at least as far as I know. I guess they did indirectly by becoming popular thanks to it.

[coola]

And yet, the guy that more or less did the same thing is currently the manga artist for the series. I understand it from Toei's perspective and they're clearly protective of their immensely popular property... even though they don't take care of it the way it could be taken care of. But still...

But different times and all that. AF was nowhere near as big as TFS is. I know there's that Sean Schemmel video floating around where he's sounds pretty damn annoyed when he's asked about TFS, and I think I get it. Never mind that I'm sure that he's probably been asked a wide variety of questions about TFS for years, but I think I can understand it from his perspective as both an industry veteran as well as being Goku for near thirty years. I think stuff like that gets a lot more complicated when you factor that stuff in.

It's why I prefer to see DBZA as its own thing, rather than being "better" than DBZ.

I wish that arrogant primadonna will be fired one day, he calls himself best English Goku, while in my opinion, he is not even in top 3, even Filipino English va from DBZ Movie 5/6 was better.

I might be wrong, but while TFS did provided episodes for free, they still sold merchandise related to DBZ, and that could be one of main problems for Toei.

[Yosheets]

Wow...

Toei blacklisting Team Four Star doesn't surprise me, but I truly expected better from Funimation.

[dragonmagico]

I mean we ARE talking about someone who's essentially just stealing Toei's show and dubbing it for profit, giving Toei neither compensation nor a say in the matter.

They didn't profit off DBZA, at least as far as I know. I guess they did indirectly by becoming popular thanks to it.

They had merch with dbz characters on them(ghost nappa tshirt anyone?) and a patreon that they used to be able to not have 'traditional jobs' while working on dbza

[Adamant]

I mean we ARE talking about someone who's essentially just stealing Toei's show and dubbing it for profit, giving Toei neither compensation nor a say in the matter.

They didn't profit off DBZA, at least as far as I know. I guess they did indirectly by becoming popular thanks to it.

There's been some threads about about the subject before, but IN ESSENCE they released fandubs of Toei's show for free, quit their day jobs and then put up a Patreon where people could "donate money you feel we deserve for reasons entirely unrelated to DBZA oh and by the way we don't have jobs so if we can't make a living off these donations we won't be able to regularly work on DBZA anymore".

So yeah. "Indirectly".

[Matches Malone]

I mean we ARE talking about someone who's essentially just stealing Toei's show and dubbing it for profit, giving Toei neither compensation nor a say in the matter.

They didn't profit off DBZA, at least as far as I know. I guess they did indirectly by becoming popular thanks to it.

There's been some threads about about the subject before, but IN ESSENCE they released fandubs of Toei's show for free, quit their day jobs and then put up a Patreon where people could "donate money you feel we deserve for reasons entirely unrelated to DBZA oh and by the way we don't have jobs so if we can't make a living off these donations we won't be able to regularly work on DBZA anymore".

So yeah. "Indirectly".

I can see why Toei never liked them, as I never knew this about them.