An observation on Dragon Ball's English-speaking fanbases.

[Raki]

So the next time that someone like me, or Onikage, or Adamant, or Captain Awesome, or Raki rip on something we think is lame or idiotic in the FUNimation dub… you can do one of two things. You can take it COMPLETELY the wrong way and play the “disrespecting dub fans” card… or you can realize the simple truth that no one here’s out to belittle you, no one thinks anything bad or less of you for your opinions, and perhaps maybe put this forum to its proper use; discuss and debate the matter. Be intelligent. Be random or kooky. Hell, be a complete wiseass for all I or most people care… so long as it’s always civil and courteous at heart where it counts.

Just as you type this destructive essay, it happenes again: http://community.funimation.com/tm.aspx?m=87285

[VegettoEX]

I'm having a REALLY huge problem with people dragging their own problems and arguments across forums.

It makes you look terrible, it makes Daizenshuu EX look terrible, and it's not helping fandom in any way, what-so-ever.

[Onikage725]

I'm having a REALLY huge problem with people dragging their own problems and arguments across forums.

It makes you look terrible, it makes Daizenshuu EX look terrible, and it's not helping fandom in any way, what-so-ever.

Heh, well I clicked the link and... Mike I think it just goes back to why we say your board is better.

You're mad that even the link was brought up. If straight up flames happened, you'd take action.

That thread has people personally bashing "Kunzite" for being "baised." If someone started directly attacking their forum members here, you'd shut that down and keep the topic on course. The internet has given everyone a worldwide voice, and the power to use that voice without any sense of respect whatsoever. You have built a playground for dedicated Dragon Ball fans, and you demand that a certain level of respect be observed in order to play here. Which is why this place is such a refreshing one to come to.

I'm not saying that thread/forum on FUNi is bad. I don't hang out on there enough to know. And that conversation on does swing around a bit. They get back on topic, and it's interesting to see opinions from dubbies that mirror some of what us subbies have been saying here. Oh, and someone eventually spell's Kunzait's name right!
Besides, if you really want to tick him off, just call him Malachite_83.

And c'mon, leave the FUNi and Atari guys alone. We all know the worse places (save for reading Youtube comments) are GameFAQs and the IMDB. Or basically any board where the community feeling is absent. With boards like that, topics are made on the fly, rapidly, and most of them get buried in hours. Both are so massive, with topics for each movie/game, that you rarely know who you are replying to in the long run. Both are also too large for mods to actively watch over, and short of being reported or committing a censor bypass, you can basically say whatever you want without repercussion.

Our forum (and others structured like it) tend to feel like a community. There are standards that are upheld, and intolerable behavior is not, well, tolerated. Go ask a question on the IMDB or GameFAQs. It's almost like tradition that for every 1 legit answer you must also receive 2-3 uncalled for flames.

[Captain Awesome]

How dare you make me reach outside my sanitary Daizex bubble..now I feel all dirty.

I don't read other Dragonball forums, because honestly, they depress me. I'm the kind of person that tends to try to correct people when I think they're wrong, or call them out if they're full of shit, but when I see hopeless odds like that, I just give up and let a little part of me die.

[Chrono Trigger]

Yeah the DaizenshuuEX forums are a great place. You get intelligent Dragon Ball conversation, accurate news, and everything is so neatly organized...but there's a catch...

[Captain Awesome]

Yeah the DaizenshuuEX forums are a great place. You get intelligent Dragon Ball conversation, accurate news, and everything is so neatly organized...but there's a catch...

And the catch would be what..?

Intelligent debate?

[Chrono Trigger]

The catch is you can ONLY talk about Dragon Ball. I guess that's obvious since it's a Dragon Ball forum and all but coming here is like living in a small town. You know everybody and most people are nice for the most part but it all feels so limited. A lot of you guys seem like really cool people and it would be cool to hear opinions on things OTHER than Dragon Ball. Even if it's just other anime. That's the only real downside to this place to me. (That and some people are just mean for no reason.)

[Captain Awesome]

Sorry, I misread your post.

I'm actually on the fence about having an "off topic" section, they tend to take over message boards, and I really don't want to see this board populated by people who hate Dragonball, and just hang out here for the witty banter.

[Chrono Trigger]

Exactly. It has to be hard enough for one person to keep people in line and we're only talking about Dragon Ball. It'd really be tough if there were even more things to talk about. If that makes any sense.

[NeptuneKai]

Sorry, I misread your post.

I'm actually on the fence about having an "off topic" section, they tend to take over message boards, and I really don't want to see this board populated by people who hate Dragonball, and just hang out here for the witty banter.

Believe me off topic sections never work for the better. Every single time the off topic section is the only thing members will post in and then we have minimal Dragonball discussion and a bunch of "LOL SO RANDUM XD" on Daizex which can't be good for its appearance or general health.

[Chrono Trigger]

I guess it's alright though. Sometimes if you're really sneaky you can slip an off topic comment in.

[VegettoEX]

I'd rather keep the discussion on the inclusion/exclusion of an "Off-Topic" forum out of this particular thread, unless it more specifically relates to the original topic at hand .

And I realize I'm stretching said original topic with some of my comments, but I believe they at least partially apply.

You're mad that even the link was brought up.

I'm not sure that I'm reading this properly, or if it's even directed at me. I'll try to respond, anyway!

I'm not "mad" that the link was "brought up". I'm not really "mad" any one way or the other. What makes me slightly upset is seeing unnecessary "turf wars" break out between members of forums that doesn't even necessarily truly speak for the masses of those boards in the first place (not that I think anyone ever actually could, especially with such diverse fanbases that DB forums create; it's impossible for there to be a "single voice").

I'm very much lately finding myself in a cross-roads of sort with regards to how I view the series, its fanbase(s), how I want to involve myself, what I want to cover, how I want to cover it, etc. At the end of the day, though, what it's all really boiling down to for me is pure shonen. By that, I'm talking about things like friendship, camaraderie, adventures, etc. That's what I want to see, and anything that doesn't fall in line with that is probably not something I really want to be associated with.

Additionally, I'm really-super-totally-seriously not looking for any kind of "praise" (is that the right word for this?) with regards to either the website or forum. I'm flattered if you all enjoy what you see/read/do/listen to here, but I stick by my comments that we are no different than any other site, and I fully understand that everyone could just up and go to someplace better at any point in time.

That's really why I want *everyone* to be ultra-shonen while you're here . If you choose to represent this board (again, not that I think anyone actually can, myself included) in another area, I absolutely expect you to act the same way while you're there.

[desirecampbell]

@VegettoEX, It's all about being shonen. I couldn't have said it better myself. (In fact, that's going in my signature).

[Kunzait_83]

b

[Raki]

I'm having a REALLY huge problem with people dragging their own problems and arguments across forums.

It makes you look terrible, it makes Daizenshuu EX look terrible, and it's not helping fandom in any way, what-so-ever.

MagicBox dropped that link to here in a discussion on the Dragonball section of Funi's forum. I only typed the thread that came from that.

[Onikage725]

@ Mike: That was aimed at you. And what I meant is basically what you said after

The whole nature of a turf war isn't something that could really go down here. I see it all the time on other forums. I'm not going to name names (and it isn't Atari, or FUNi, or either of the two I brought up), but it isn't uncommon for people at some forums to find not like something being said on one forum and flood that forum in retaliation.

Here, as you said, we try to keep a shonen attitude. And that's what it's all about, man. If you don't want praise for creating that, then...well...that's fuckin' praise-worthy in and of itself.

[Velasa]

I’ve still yet to hear a reasonable, airtight, less insulting explanation for why this is all these many years later beyond simply “FUNimation execs assumed that American kids are drooling morons”.

....I warn you right now this is going to be ugly. I thought a long time about wether to post this at all because it felt like things would explode, but decided for it because you said you wanted to know and the truth is just ugly sometimes.

I'm taking the guy who has this site at his word that it's a real interview. If I'm somehow wrong about this, understand that.

http://www.animecauldron.com/dbzuncenso ... rview.html

This interview first appeared on September 9th, 1999 at Steve Harmon's site, "The Vault."

And the section in question, dealing with the music.

Steve: Was the replacement of the soundtrack in the first two seasons a Saban decision?

Gen: The replacing of the music, was a FUNimation desicsion. With our own soundtrack, we could charge royalties for every second it's heard.

Steve: But the music itself? Who's responsible?

Gen: Oh, that was Saban. After we opted to go with our own music, we left the decision of how it was done to them.

Steve: Speaking of the soundtrack, why did you replace the Japanese opening with "Rock the Dragon?"

Gen: Well, one thing is, it's way too long. There are specific standards out there, and the simple fact is is that it just runs too long. When we chopped it up, it was very hard to get it into a fast paced opening that would catch the target audience's attention. The people we're trying to reach, American children, have a very short attention span. They flip through the channels pretty quick, and if you're show isn't flashy enough, then he's not going to stop and watch it. We felt we had to do something there to catch people's attention, so they'd watch the whole thing (the show), and see how good it is.

Steve: Is that the same reason the background music was replaced?

Gen: For the most part. In the US, audiences tend to like a more continuous BGM on animated series. It's kind of a rule of thumb to fill in gaps in the action with constant music to pace the action a little better. A big complaint a lot of people had with the Japanese music was that it took too many pauses. We used the judgement of our consultants, to make the show conform better to American music.

Steve: Were you pleased with the way Saban handled the BGM?

Gen: Well, as I said, we were strategically pleased with the replacement, but we had to change the "composer." We were not very pleased with the music for the first two seasons.

[Raki]

Every time I read that I think that DBZ could have been handled better had it not been for "Overlord Gen-sama". All the changes made were not necessary, and the franchise would have had a better reputuation with anime fans.

[Kunzait_83]

b

[Velasa]

I'm personally more insulted by the fact that their main motivation for removing the score was because by putting in some random thing they left to someone else to make they could charge for every second it was playing. Which was every second the show was airing. It hurts me.