I know exactly what 4kids' next project should be

T

tooney.lune

New member
I can't believe I didn't think of this before, it seems so obvious now.

4kids has the mon-genre locked down so they don't need to bother focusing on those series anymore. If they want to grow their brand they need their own Dragonball. This is something they attempted to get with Shaman King and then One Piece and as we all know both failed miserably to accomplish this.

What they're looking for is a shounen style action/adventure series with exciting battles and lots of merchadising possibility. There's actually not a lot of those types of series left to pluck from Japan airwaves at the moment and I'm obviously of the opinion that they should completely stop looking toward pre-existing foreign series for their fix.

However they do happen to have good enough relations with Japanese studios to accomplish what I believe they should be doing.

Their next project should be a shounen style action/adventure Japanese co-production. If they lack ideas for that, I'm sure someone in Japan has some ideas for that genre (afterall, IGPX was an IG show concept before CN came along and asked to make a co-pro).

What do they get out of this? They get a series crafted exactly how they want it and a series they can market world wide and while they don't tend to care what otaku think no one would have a reason to complain as long as it was an original series.

Along with that they get a show more likely to interest kid audiences here. And that's precisely what they need now that they half a bigger stake in Saturday mornings than any other company.

You know I've always been a fan of "everybody wins" or "best of both worlds" solutions and believe it or not there may even be those types of solutions for the 4kids situation.
 
It'd still probably suck. Besides, isn't Chaotix their attempt at a co-pro?

4Kids still hasn't died yet and they probably should. No need to keep them living in failure and misery for any longer.
 
Considering Bratz and Winx Club were their highest rated shows, I'm surprised they dont try to do more girl shows (then again, Doremi and Mew Mew bombing probably scared them off from that)
 
Just because Ninja Turtles was watchable doesn't mean that 4K!ds has a clue how to make an original series. I guarantee without Peter Laird's input 4K!ds Ninja Turtles would suck too. A co-production would still have 4K!ds generic music, corny dialogue, and bad voice direction.
 
Exactly. I used to defend 4Kids to the hilt because, for as much as I disliked them releasing their acquisitions dub only and with relatively poor dubs at that, I always fell back on how wonderful TMNT was.

But look at TMNT, then look at Viva Pinata, TMNT Fast Forward, and Chaotic. Not saying those three shows are universally terrible, but there's such a tremendous gap in quality from them and TMNT, and I think it's pretty apparent that Laird was mostly responsible for how TMNT turned out. Not that I don't still give 4Kids credit for allowing Laird's input to the extent they did, but I highly doubt 4Kids could give us anything near the TMNT level on their own. And yes, I realize those three aforementioned shows are somewhat of co-productions themselves, but so much of 4Kids' involvement shows through in all of them I think they are great examples of what another 4Kids original would be like.
 
Currently 4Kids is only interested in shows which somehow pertain to games, hence the whole 'Game Station' makeover. There aren't too many girls games that would be suitable to be made into shows, unless someone's going to suggest turning Mary-Kate & Ashley: License to Drive into a series.
 
They seriously have a game with that title? You know, if they had a game called "Mary-Kate and Ashley: License to Kill" it might be pretty cool.
 
Well guys you have to face the reality that 4kids isn't going under any time soon. So this suggestion is more of a "keep them away from existing properties" suggestion more than anything else.

Granted Laird IS the reason TMNT was a quality production until Fast Forward but maybe a really good Japanese director could do the same thing for a co-pro with a Japanese studio. They COULD just produce it themselves but a co-pro is more cost effective and we're better off with someone helping them then leaving them to their own devices (the world has enough bad cartoons as it is).
 
Seeing as how they have the Game Station Moniker, I'd be shocked if they picked up Bomberman Jetters! If they did that, they better get help from Hudson Entertainment! Otherwise, I'll stick to the subbed stuff I watch on YouTube.
 
But then of course, Laird is also the reason why the show was cancelled abruptly, dispite actually being more popular than the 2k3 series with kids. I blame them for the writing, and the Fox censor people for having it toned down to the nub, due to their reaction with Nightmare Recycled and Insane in the Membrain.

Honestly, at this point, i want to say that 4Kids would look into the original version of Dinoking, Mushiking (look it up). Same exact show, but with bugs instead of Dinosaurs.

I don't see them grabbing anything too important, as they royally screwed up One Piece. and not just the edits. They pretty much didn't care about the show outside of the dub as well. Rotten time slots, canning it from their network after a season and a half.

So their next "big" project would probably be more reruns or some claptrap from Italy. The Japanese stuff is getting too expensive, and it's no longer worth it, since they wind up screwing something up so bad and sitting on the rights, older fans never get a chance to see a decent dub with uncut DVD's. Then they send them hate mail over and over.
 
Laird didn't get any version of TMNT animation canned so what are you talking about?

Fast Forward was canned because the toys weren't selling well enough.
 
If they want to do something like that they first need to find someone who understands the shonen code and how those series work. Without that no success.

It would end up like Chaotic, a pale imitation of hobby anime. Those who wrote obviously have no idea how to make a successful hobby anime.
 
You know, Sketch, there was a show with action that was a co-production of 4Kids and a major Japanese animation studio a few seasons back.

It had action, adventure, suspense, and strong characters. Based on an existing worldwide brand, it brought the franchise into the 21st century.

And it bombed . . . horribly.

The show was G.I. Joe: Sigma Six. It was the series that soured 4Kids' relationships with both Hasbro AND GONZO.

So, lessee. Toei doesn't like 4Kids. Gonzo doesn't like them. Right now, I can assume that Nelvana isn't too crazy about 4Kids decision to make DiGata Defenders online-only. Hasbro isn't too crazy about them. Nobody likes 4Kids.

Except Warner Bros, who's paying them a bundle to program their Saturday morning block next season to replace the one that's constantly beating the Fox block 4Kids currently programs (and will do so next season as well).
 
Sunrise and Sega still like 4Kids (hence, Dinosaur King)...

Microsoft co-produces Viva Pinata with them...

Mirage Studios and Playmates still work with 4Kids on TMNT...
 
That's because they're selling something.

That's because they're selling something.

That's because they're selling something.

See, 4Kids is first and foremost an advertiser. They don't care about the end product, only if the target group is watching the program and buying the products based on the shows. The reason they got into syndication was to help sell products for other companies, like Nintendo, SEGA, Hasbro, Live Nation, and others. Shows that sell products (that they get a cut of) will remain on the block and positioned in prime slots. Others tend to get pushed aside. You see more shows like Yu-Gi-Oh, Fast Forward, Dinosaur King, Sonic X, and Viva Pinata, all of which have strong merchandising behind them over shows like Ultimate Muscle and One Piece (a lot of the money went to Viz, the property's publishing holders, rather than 4Kids), Tokyo Mew Mew, Winx Club, or Cramp Twins (properties they don't outright own). If The Adrenaline Project had merchandising behind it, you'd bet your butt that it'd be on at a better time. I'm sure when DiGata's merchandise comes out in the States, it'll be back on-air.

To make a long story short (too late), if a company seems to like 4Kids, it's because 4Kids is selling something for them. Bottom line.
 
Actually, truth be told, he did. The toys weren't selling really fast, but they sold much better than the pathetic "Paleo patrol" line. One reason the toy line isn't in stores was that the retailors didn't feel the FF toys and the movie toys could co-exist.

But Peter pulled the plug saying when the last of the episodes were done, there shouldn't be anymore. Mainly due to fan complaining, and somehow, i don't think he liked the final project.



And 4Kids, as we all know is going to bungle the hell out of that. the CW sucks. Upn dragged down an entire network due to the fact no one liked their crap shows. other than WWE and the Chris rock thing, causing an alright network to combine with a weak, pathetic CBS company. Now they're the idiots behind the "take the money and run" Phenom.
 
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