This month I field questions about Comicpalooza Mega Man cartoon news (or lack thereof), NT Warrior streaming rights, and more!
1) Comicpalooza happened over the weekend... was there any Mega Man cartoon news?
In a word, no.
Man of Action - the creative force behind the new 2017 series - did indeed attend Comicpalooza. They held a panel Saturday morning about adapting comic books into successful television series, but no new Mega Man information came to light. I followed the panel as closely as I could from outside sources - alas, we've got nothing.
When can we expect new info, though? Well, the San Diego Comic Con is about a month away with Man of Action, DHX Media and Capcom attending. The Licensing Expo is another possibility; DHX Brands and Capcom both have booths. That kicks off tomorrow. I'll keep an ear to the ground.
2) Will Mega Man NT Warrior ever come to Netflix or Hulu?
From what I've been able to piece together over the years, Viz Media do not have the actual streaming distribution rights to NT Warrior in North America. Mega Man Star Force, currently streaming on Hulu, is a different story. When Viz picked up those rights in '07, they grabbed television and streaming. Remember; for a good while Star Force was entirely exclusive to the now-defunct Toonami Jetstream platform followed by Neon Alley.
Mind you, digital distribution licenses are in a constant state of flux. NT Warrior may one day arrive on Netflix/Hulu, but for the time being those plans are not in the cards.
3) Is the Archie Comic series really over?
Don't let the word "hiatus" instill false hope; the series is over indefinitely.
Not only is issue #55 permeated with an air of finality, but subscribers of the comic received this along with their final issue:
We've yet to hear a specific reason why the series was cancelled. However, speculation says it has a lot to do with Archie cutting their losses in a time of transition, opting to double down on their flagship brand and Sonic The Hedgehog. Mega Man was simply selling too little where ever sale needs to count.
The delay and possible cancellation of a few upcoming Mega Man trade paperbacks is another cause of concern, though this mostly relates to Archie themselves and not their faith in Mega Man. You can read more about what might be going on here.
4) What tier did you back Mighty No. 9?
I will be upfront: I pledged $250. The year was 2013 and it felt good slapping that down on the table. Inafune and co. did a fantastic job capitalizing on several emotions at the time, namely, desperation and a community-wide urge to "spite" Capcom. It worked. It truly worked.
The lesson I (and many others) learned is, when it comes to Kickstarter, you're not an investor. You're a fan, a patron, who wants to see a project come to fruition. Your pledge doesn't guarantee the final product will turn out as great as you imagined it. It's a gamble, a game in itself.
None of us could have anticipated the problems the campaign would face. We were charmed by Inafune's pedigree and fueled by vindictiveness. Come tomorrow, we will now face what our willing pledges bought us. You've got a new game and a lesson to go with it.
That's a wrap for this month. Keep sending questions through e-mail, Twitter or comments. Thanks to the wonderful AnnaMaria Coppi for the caricature!
One thing is for sure... Any more Kickstarter campaigns Inafune attempts in the future will likely end in failure, if he ever tries again anyway.
ReplyDeleteI regret backing it now, especially since it seems backers are getting the game late.
I backed $100 and got a cool shirt but the shirt isn't worth $70.
I'm sorry but: "All remaining issues in your subscription will be transferred over to our Sonic Universe title." Is that for real? I mean, that's just rubbing salt in the wound. "Hey we are truly sorry we won't do more comics, but just read this awesome comic we have been milking over the last years that has nothing to do with it!"
ReplyDeleteI seriously hope that's not what I think it is, either return the money on the extra paid issues or just give the subscribers a discount or ANYTHING ELSE.
Nope, that's exactly what they did. I have a huge subscription because of how their Worlds Unite bundle worked and they refuse to refund me or even stop sending the comics, so I now have a whole lot of Sonic comics I don't even want.
DeleteWow. Well I guess I'm happy it's at least Archie's fault and not Megaman's.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that at least leaves a fragment of hope that if they get their act together it may come back. Such a bummer though. I really want to get the rest of the volumes, but if they don't release them I guess I'll have to scavenge for the chapters.
I would hate to see them reboot it. If they pick it up again it had better just continue the awesome job Ian Flynn started.
I would LOVE TO see NT Warrior steaming somewhere! I watched it in japanese and was never really fond of what the engine dub did, but I would watch it! I doubt there would ever be a chance the original japanese version would stream anywhere. Or is there?
As for Mighty no. 9, I was never a supporter. From the beginning, Inafune spitting out a carbon copy of Megaman out of spite seemed like a recipe for failure. If he wanted to relive his glory days and give his fans something cool, I think there were other ways to do it. So yeah none of this surprises me.
Netflix lets you choose which dub and subs you want to listen to - for instance, you can listen to either the English or Japanese dubs of Sword Art Online, but only the English and Spanish dubs of Pokémon XY. I'd think that they wouldn't include the Jap dub, as it would be labeled as a kid's show and it contains some odd suggestive content. You can only hope for the best.
DeleteYeah something like Pokémon or NT Warrior are so edited that it's not even possible to seamlessly switch dubs for streaming. They are practically different shows once they are dubbed.
DeleteI'm going to keep a tiny sliver of hope that the Archie book may continue - I'm probably delusional, I know Archie's in the dumps, and I know Capcom is trying to push the 2017 series, but COME ON. They ended the series right before Mega Man 4, which they've been building up to since the fourth story arc. The series beats the heck out of their Sonic book - due in part to the fact that these games have been out for a while and the new characters are well written instead of having that fanfiction OC feel that most new characters in the Sonic series have. It was good for old fans and new fans. I still claim it to be the best printed version of Mega Man out there (I'll admit I haven't read much of Argia, but what I have hasn't proven me much). It'd be a waste not to continue it.
ReplyDelete"You were the chosen one!"
I'm glad I took up studying business and work as a high-level manager, albeit in a small company. I was able to quickly speculate that if Beck's design was this far removed from core principles, that the rest of the game would follow suit, as a symptom of both a dysfunctional team and end product-related mindset.
ReplyDeleteSadly, according to the early reviews we've seen so far including Protodude's reactions, I was correct and I wish I could do something to right this wrong.
In that spirit, I invite fellow Mega Man fans to check out Shantae: Half-Genie Hero! I will say that I backed it for $1,000, but that's -not- why I invite everyone to check it out. On top of being an action-oriented platformer with a sense of humor much like Futurama's, the reason I say to play Shantae is because one of the currently planned costumes for Shantae (not sure if it'll be unlockable or DLC) is none other than Patricia Wagon's uniform, which will give Shantae a blaster very similar to Mega Man's buster. And besides the excellent fangames that we've seen (Rokko-Chan comes to mind for me personally), that's the very closest new thing I've seen from the industry. Cave Story and Gunman Clive (granted to a lesser extent) also spring to mind.
And even still, Capcom's already mentioned Mega Man games in the works for 2017, so let's see what they have!
I pledged $60 to the Kickstarter. I can't say I'm as excited for a box mockup now as I was when it was announced
ReplyDeleteIt's been a wild ride, if nothing else
I haven't read a whole lot of the Archie Comics, but from what little I have read, I thought it was pretty awesome. One thing I especially liked about the series is that they gave a backstory and even a name to the Evil Robot, things that Mega Man 8 didn't bother to do (seeing as they completely wasted the character's potential). It's truly a shame that the series is completely discontinued. I would have loved for it to adapt the Mega Man 8 storyline so that Trio could make another appearance. Too bad it'll never happen...
ReplyDeleteMaybe if we beg hard enough they will bring it back. I'm super bummed it stopped too :( they sounded like they had so much more they wanted to do.
DeleteBefore you try it, don't make a change.org petition. That site has been used too many times for trivial and superfluous things that nobody listens to them. Do you really think Archie is blind to how many fans are out there?
DeleteOne thing that probably killed it was the fact that the issues are constantly being uploaded on YouTube. Even though I've bought all of the volumes released so far, I'll admit that I've read/watched Legends of the Blue Bomber and Worlds Unite online because the graphic novels were taking too long to be published and there's no way I would track down individual issues. No matter how popular something may be, if a good chunk of its fans don't buy it, it'll end.
I pledged $251 so I'm right there with you bud (went the extra dollar to ensure I made the tier, hadn't pledged to a Kickstarter before). Learned my lesson sadly. I'll definitely continue to back Kickstarters because I believe in indies but not at such a large amount.
ReplyDeleteI backed MN9 at the $60 level. I regret it, but the damage was done. I have accepted it and am more cautious at KS games. KS Board games, however, are on another level. The 2 I backed are giving updates at least once a month and hopefully will be in my hands by the end of the year
ReplyDelete*sigh* I'll miss Archie's Megaman. I guess I'll try to look forward to the new cartoon.
ReplyDeleteBut, hey. Glass half full. If it's terrible I can look forward to making fun of it!
Glad to see others who enjoyed the Archie comics. I loved Megamix/Gigamix as well but I thought the comics were quite good and an underappreciated bright spot for us fans in the last 5 years.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad to see the supposed "hiatus" looking more and more like an outright cancellation, but I'm really peeved that Archie is completely bungling the graphic novel line. They release 8 of them taking us to right before the X crossover, and then proceed to delay the 9th volume for over a year, still with no release date in sight. Then, just when you think their newly-announced Master Edition was going to reboot the line and finally allow us to collect all the issues, they cancel that as well.
I know things aren't looking too hot at Archie but I really hope they crank out the last few graphic novels before calling it a day.
And the thing is I got the Mighty No. 9 Signature Edition from Walmart because they shipped it out early. I still haven't got the backer perks yet lol
ReplyDeleteI don't regret backing MN9 ($60). I believe in Inafune, Comcept, and the Mighty Number 9 IP. Though I'll freely admit I'm not nearly excited for it as I once was. I'll get around to playing it eventually, but it's at the bottom of a long list of games I'm more looking forward to.
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking I pledged more to this game, but apparently I only gave $120. I don't regret it as I've enjoyed the demos for the most part. I hope many people have learned their lesson when it comes to Kickstarter and I never have to see such an overwhelming amount of negativity towards a product again.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sad that Mighty No. 9 isn't being received well. I'm sad that that means it probably won't whip Capcom into shape about making a new Mega Man themselves. I can just see their smug-ass faces saying "See? We told you Mega Man isn't popular." Ugh.
Huh, that's a perspective I don't see much in regards to this game.
DeleteIf the fact that fans raised so much more than the initial funding goal didn't send a message to Capcom, they weren't going to take any significant message away from the whole situation anyway.
DeleteIt showed that Inafune is terrible at managing money and making realistic goals with the research to make sure it's feasible.
DeleteProtodude... you and me both, when it comes to Question 4. I was ecstatic when Mighty No. 9 was announced! It was hilarious to see Inafune basically wave that middle finger around so cheerfully without actually doing so.
ReplyDelete... but then it quickly became obvious that sticking it to Capcom was all he wanted to do...
Welp, like you said: Lesson learned. Hah.
Same here. After the Beta, I thought it would only get better... Only it stayed about the same.
Delete