Funimation's 20th Anniversary Cowboy Bebop sets announced

[usamimi]

So Funi is going to do ANOTHER fancy Cowboy Bebop release, this time with the soundtrack on vinyl.

Oh wait, I'm sorry--they're doing THREE DIFFERENT SETS, and the one (ones?) with the most pre-orders will get made: https://view.em.funimation.com/?qs=f680 ... 015ab40d96

Not so sure myself about the one with the bookends....the mockup is just a photoshop of some official art, and considering how goofy American-made anime figures have looked in the past, I wouldn't want to preorder it unless I saw a prototype to see what they could actually do. But everything else sounds pretty good. I'm sure I probably won't be able to afford any of the 3, but man....I want those vinyls so bad lol.

[DKop]

I really want them to release the art books and vinyls separately but I doubt that will happen. I'm curious on the prices for these, I can do without the figure in that first set.

[SteveH]

I really want them to release the art books and vinyls separately but I doubt that will happen. I'm curious on the prices for these, I can do without the figure in that first set.

This.

That's just money they're leaving on the table. I know there's often licensing bullcrap that prevents such things from happening (see also the stupidity of Bandai/Emotion in Japan and the exclusive kit of the Yamato that was made for a 'high def' remastering of the first Yamato series. "this model was made exclusively for the sale of the DVD by Bandai Entertainment and Bandai Hobby cannot sell it ever as a stand alone kit")

I'm pretty sure Thinkgeek would commit to buying at least 1,000 units of Cowboy Bebop vinyl LPs in a heartbeat. Artbooks would sell well at Amazon. Funi is happy, Bandai/Sunrise is happy, fans are happy. But GREAT BIG NOPE.

Can no one see the lost income and say "hey, we should do this"? I think the animation companies (U.S.) are just so scared of really TRYING anymore, they just want the built-in safety of super expensive limited releases. You're killing your market guys. Killing any potential growth.

arrgghh.

[Fvlminatvs]

That's just money they're leaving on the table. I know there's often licensing bullcrap that prevents such things from happening (see also the stupidity of Bandai/Emotion in Japan and the exclusive kit of the Yamato that was made for a 'high def' remastering of the first Yamato series. "this model was made exclusively for the sale of the DVD by Bandai Entertainment and Bandai Hobby cannot sell it ever as a stand alone kit")

I'm pretty sure Thinkgeek would commit to buying at least 1,000 units of Cowboy Bebop vinyl LPs in a heartbeat. Artbooks would sell well at Amazon. Funi is happy, Bandai/Sunrise is happy, fans are happy. But GREAT BIG NOPE.

Can no one see the lost income and say "hey, we should do this"? I think the animation companies (U.S.) are just so scared of really TRYING anymore, they just want the built-in safety of super expensive limited releases. You're killing your market guys. Killing any potential growth.

Honestly, I'm not surprised. I think the thought process is that they'll sell to collectors only who are willing to pay these exorbitant prices because those are the people who fanatically purchased stuff in Japan. This is one of those marketing strategies that popped up in the mid-to-late 2000s in Japan. I agree that this strategy fails in the West because the markets are quite different here.

[DKop]

Ready for more bad news-oh welp, too bad. I hear from Forbes that the sets are gonna be about $500 a piece. So to own all, its $1500 for everything!

[usamimi]

The "Bebop Crew" box is $500, the "Boogie Woogie Box" will be $350, and "Bounty Hunter's Steel" will be $250, according to this article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarde ... 1d2b707d86

[DKop]

That makes more sense now. I'd expect the 250 to sell out way more than the other two if they all contain the same same artbook/vinyls in all the sets.

[SteveH]

The "Bebop Crew" box is $500, the "Boogie Woogie Box" will be $350, and "Bounty Hunter's Steel" will be $250, according to this article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarde ... 1d2b707d86

Annnd just repeat what I said earlier about killing the marketplace and not building new customers.

See, 'added value' is how you get people to do more than just stream or download your product. It's something tangible. Like booklets in single disc releases, or the cool extras Pioneer/Geneon used to pack in. (I'm still in awe of the papercraft Vanship model from Last Exile).

But even $250 is waaaaay above 'entry level' market. It's just dumb.

And seriously, selling the LPs and book separately? That means increasing production which means volume pricing which means cheaper overall. Producing, say, 500 LPs is somewhat expensive. Producing 5000 not much more. Lower price per unit means better chance of selling. That $500 set could be the $250 price, and that $250 set could well be like $75, and I think people WOULD bite at a $75 BD set including the series, the movie and LPs plus book.

So here's what I'm guessing. The cheap set will get the votes, but not enough to go thru with the solicitation. The company line will then be "gee, guess the fans aren't willing to show us the love" when the real takeaway is "gee, people really don't want to pay lots of money for physical media now".

I wonder how that $300 Speed Racer head is doing for Funimation? (and WTF I thought Sentai had all the Tatsunoko rights including Mach Go Go Go. huh.) There's a couple of shills as top reviews but a bunch more honest and brutal comments later.

So, in case anyone from Funi happens to see this: LPs and Book- great idea. Sell them separately from the complete set as well. Or sell the book and LPs as a bundle. Thinkgeek would snap that up in a heartbeat and THAT means placement in Hot Topic nationwide. THINK about that. Make some money.

Special wonder box: This is not 2002. Nobody cares about that, it is not a selling point. The discs will go on the shelf, the LPs will be racked with other vinyl, the book will go on the bookshelf and the fancy box ends up in a storage tote in the garage.

This is not Japan. The market just won't support $500 box sets. If you seriously believe the company can survive on sub-500 unit sales, well. Good luck with that.

[usamimi]

I should point out that Funimation's regular Cowboy Bebop set IS still readily available and cheap: https://amzn.to/2jeJkES

And the show is streaming on most major streaming networks now.

I'm assuming they're testing the waters to see how much of a market there is for High-End Collector's boxes like this. They've done some in the past, but never this nice. Doing one for Bebop is probably very safe, too, because it's a VERY popular show...Not to mention the fans that grew up with it originally are now adults who might have more money to spend. So I can understand why they're trying this out. (esp. with Sentai trying to sell those LOTGH Premium Boxes...I know some people who've already preordered them, and those are even MORE expensive than these.)

But yeah, I'm gonna be kinda bummed if the vinyl is only gonna be available in those box sets. If I wanted an artbook, I could always shop for the old Japanese ones on Mandarake or something, but they didn't do an LP soundtrack release in Japan so this might be the only version they ever do.

[DKop]

Well, lets hope Funi doesn't do what Bandai did on those Patlabor boxsets where they printed limited 10k in copies that NO ONE BOUGHT till years later when there 10 bucks on Amazon when people actually started to buy them (like I did for the first two movies, well worth it!). So its either these will sell well, or not sell well and flood the market and be marked down in a decade to less than 8 percent than what they were going for.