Welcome to the Fantasy Zone
This Zone is dedicated to the lesser known elements of anime hosted by the cast of Victory Script.
What weapon is the best?
Who will win in this Death Battle?
Is this costume practical?
You name it, it's all covered here in the Fantasy Zone!
A passion project is the type of work the creator wants to do and goes against the norms expected by the studio who runs it, aka full creative control, however this doesn't translate to sales or even quality control in some cases, ask yourself if you value having your creation meddled with by your bosses or refusing it and missing out on eating for a few months until the next opportunity arrives.
There are a few case studies to examine.
1. Oban Star Racers
It's gone on record that the creator of cult French anime Oban Star Racers took it personally when the executives wanted the main character to be male, so said creator published the series under his own company out of spite, it found reasonable success but nothing ever lasting, I always believed this to be the closest thing to Star Wars pod racing.
2. Cans Without Labels
John Kricfalusi of Ren and Stimpy fame crowd funded to get his passion project off the ground Cans without Labels, not only was it dreadful, John himself was facing a harrassment lawsuit from a previous employee, it's a great example of the show runner not being the be all and end all.
3. Twinkle Nora Rock Me
Twinkle Nora Rock Me is infamous for being one of the worst anime of all time for the fact that it's creator really didn't know what he was doing, the animation is only a few frames away from being an expensive flipbook, his main reason for making it is, "I just wanted to draw my waifu"
4. Hazbin Hotel
Indie animation tends to be the purest form of creative freedom going and Vivziepop really nailed that with Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, compare that to Wish, Disney's disaster piece which if allowed more freedom could've been a magnum opus but Disney doesn't exactly have the greatest track record of such freedoms, Treasure Planet comes to mind.
5. The Thief and The Cobbler
No animated feature has had as much of a storied history as Thief and the Cobbler, it took from 1964 to 1989 to complete production as much of the issue revolved around finances as it proved to be extremely expensive, it would eventually get a release in 1994 but it was cut and cobbled together multiple times and beaten to the punch by Disney's Aladdin.
11 actors died before it finally got released and in the end, it's creator completely disowned it, a tragic example of how a passion project can spiral out of control.
6. Daicon III and IV
A group of teenage college students created two anime music videos for Nihon SF Taikai, Japan's national sci- fi convention, nicknamed Daicon III and IV as they were held in Osaka for the 3rd and 4th time in 1981 and 1983.
Daicon III features a young girl travelling through the lands encountering various heroes of sci fi and comics, Daicon IV features the same girl grown up in a bunny costume fighting said sci fi heroes including mecha and Darth Vader to name a couple.
In fact it's considered the earliest example of OVA, original video anime, some would even suggest that this is the birth of Otaku and anime as we see it today.
Those teenagers would later become Gainax responsible for some of the most legendary anime ever created.
So what have we learned? It's a mixed bag to be sure but it's a balancing act, think how different the world would be if Spongebob was made a kid instead of a young working adult, if Miraculous Ladybug was allowed to be traditionally animated 2D instead of CGI or if Sandland came out before Dragonball.
For every creator that gambled their house on the success of their show and succeeded (original 90s X-Men)
There's a creator who thinks Christian cartoons was going to rebuild a damaged reputation (Butch Hartman)
It's great to dream but if those dreams start weighing you down and start chipping away at your life then it's better to let them go, success is never guaranteed especially in a fickle industry like animation.
Today we return to fact hunt and we go all video game trivia.
1. Sims has it's own language
Creator Will Wright in order to avoid repetitive dialogue, created his own language for the Sims to speak in game called Simlish, there's a long list of phrases that get repeated frequently and are easily translated into basic dialogue like hello and how are you.
2. Sega made an acronym out of Eggman
Not that long ago, Sonic's official page showcased the picture above.
Evil Genius Getting Mad At Nature.
Makes way too much sense.
3. Sega had a dirty secret
The Sega game Dynamite Dux likely has the dirtiest secret in gaming history, hidden for 30 years, it's only accessible through a hex editor replacing a piece a code with the word dirty to get an R-rated opening sequence, it's too raunchy here but Youtuber Larry Bundy Jr has quite a long video on it.
4. Craziest Castle
Crazy Castle has more licenses for it's game than pretty much any other game.
Looney Tunes, Ghostbusters, Woody Woodpecker, Mickey Mouse, Garfield, Hugo the Troll, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Universal Studios.
5. Creepy Console Sounds
When the original PlayStation couldn't load a disc, it would let you know with two different jingles called Personified Fear and Fearful Harmony, the sounds were built in a way to ward off hackers from using fake discs.
This week I had to replace my overworked 8 year old tv with my first smart TV, over in the UK, we are offered a number of channels for free, the contents of said channels especially the animation section are unusual and I would like to share them with you.
He-Man and She-Ra
Perhaps most jarring are 24 hour streams of He-Man and She-Ra, both the original 80s series, no remakes; I've not watched either for decades and it's just as corny now as it was back then, one note on She-Ra and something I heavily criticised the remake for is the design.
Apart from She-Ra's facial expressions rarely changing, her original design is beautiful, then the remake comes along and it is hideous, if not for the remake's story being brilliant, She-Ra's remake would be terrible. He-Man's remakes will need their own entry to describe that disaster.
Voltron
At least Voltron has all three series on hand, classic, CG and modern remake, I'll definitely have to invest some time as this series needs commitment.
Yu-Gi-Oh and Beyblade
So far the only dedicated anime channel has two anime, all seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh and I assume all series of Beyblade but only G-Revolution has played, a rewatch of season 1 Yu-Gi-Oh was rough, particularly as I'm stuck with 4Kids dubbing while Beyblade is playing it's best season but it is the season with Daichi who I despise.
Mr Bean
A slight look at some British animation, Mr Bean's cartoon is based on the live action comedy of the same name, it lacks the comedy timing that only a live action could bring and there is more dialogue than necessary for what is a mostly silent protagonist.
Dennis the Menace
No this isn't the blonde boy troublemaker who is the bane of Mr Wilson's existence, but a boy in a red and black jersey and shorts with spikey black hair and a spikey black haired dog to match, no one knows who came first as both debuted in comics the same year.
Apart from UK Dennis having a much more dodgy history, the character is largely unchanged since his inception, a testament to his staying power as the Beano UK comic is last UK comic book still in publication.
Alvin and the Chipmunks
The CG remake takes much from the crazy popular 90s version making it one of the most faithful modern remakes of all time but modern music really doesn't do this remake justice however.
Rekkit Rabbit
The latest show from Totally Spies creator Marathon, features everything you expect from one of their shows, unintentional fetish fuel. The actual cartoon is about a magicians rabbit who causes mischief for his new owner after being saved from a magician, throw in actual magic and you have plenty of fun.
Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir
One show I'm glad gets played frequently is France's best cartoon since Code Lyoko and Oban Star Racers. Miraculous has lore that surpasses most modern anime, even on the level of it's shojo counterparts, it does better than them. A full review coming soon.
That's a number of highlights from the strange world of British TV, it's free at least.
Often overlooked in favour of it's more popular American counter part by Archie, Fleetway's Sonic the Comic had a few moments that need way more recognition.
1. Metallix is a bad ass name for Metal Sonic
Metallix was the name given to Metal Sonic and his other counterparts and they were just as dangerous as the Video Game equivalent, leading to the Brotherhood of Metallix arc where Metal Sonic served as the big bad.
2. Amy has her own Tails in Tekno the Canary
Amy Rose was designed with more heroic traits rather than the feminine traits she traditionally has in the games, this sadly makes her not only one dimensional but closer to a female Sonic as opposed to her own unique character but she's given her own Tails as a compromise in Tekno, a female canary with all the same traits as Tails but slightly older, this also means you can have Amy play as a substitute to Sonic in her stories and keep the same tropes as Sonic and Tails would.
3. Super Sonic is an evil entity
In order not to have Super Sonic be overpowered they made him a super evil chaotic entity that split from Sonic, it means they don't rely on it to solve major plot points.
4. The little animal friends are now characters
Like Archie, the animal friends that were nameless in the games have names in Fleetway, our heroes in this one are Rabbit Johnny Lightfoot, Pig Porker Lewis and Squirrel Robot Shortfuse to name a few, they bring their own unique spin to the story.
5. Bigger Rogues Gallery
There are way more than just Robotnik, a few highlights include, Megatox a sentient toxic ooze from chemical plant, Dr Zachary an Echidna made to be a foil for Knuckles and the Drakkon Empire, an ancient race not to similar to the old Echidna race in Sonic Adventure, even Robotnik's No.2 Grimer is a green skinned goblin like scientist that can be as sinister as his boss, but speaking of Robotnik.
6. The cleaned up Sonic and Robotnik back story
The backstory Fleetway went with is that Robotnik started as a kind scientist called Dr Ovi Kintobor, yes it's Robotnik backwards, and he got morphed into Robotnik through a combination of Chaos energy and a rotten egg, as for Sonic, he started as a regular coloured hedgehog until he tested super sneakers that turned his fur blue after shattering several speed milestones.
7. Mighty is a member of Chaotix
Mighty has always been the missing ingredient from Chaotix and having him there makes Chaotix complete.
8. Sonic is smarter at the cost of humour
This incarnation of Sonic is more heroic he's alot less 90s attitude than his other counterparts but he at least is alot smarter, he even has a disguise called Bobby Beaky.
9. DRAT does alot for world building
One thing that no series has shown is Robotnik having supporters, this is where DRAT comes in, Dr Robotnik Appreciation Tribe, what makes it funnier is that the boss is a rooster, giving an Adventures of Sonic the hedgehog feel. DRAT helps alot with giving Robotnik more weight as an evil entity.
10. Other Sega Franchises in comic form
Shinobi, Streets of Rage, Kid Chameleon, Eternal Champions, Golden Axe, Decap Attack, Marko's Magic Football, Ecco the Dolphin, Wonder Boy, Sparkster, Mutant League Football and Shining Force were all in comic form during Fleetway Sonic's run, it's a Sega fanboy's wet dream.
One of my fondest memories growing up is reading video game magazines.
Before the advent of the internet, we had all our gaming journalism through printed media, the hype would be screenshots and in depth reviews of each game with the most prominent ones certainly in my country, Gamesmaster and N64 Magazine.
Unlike today's reviewing media that's either deliberately pandering to sponsors, entirely biased based on certain social behaviours or just flatout boring, our team of wisecracking writers never took themselves seriously and usually wrote joke stories behind some of the games to hide the spoilers. Then you have Nintendo Power which needs it's own entry as well as Fleetway Sonic the Comic.
Nintendo Power had comics which has it's origins for Wario and Mario being childhood friends and when Peach crossdressed as Luigi bombing Bowser's castle.
Sonic's run in Fleetway was just as special giving some other early Sega properties a go around the same time as Sonic's prime in Archie.
There are some unique stories to come out of this as well which I'll display on my main page if you want to pick my next deep dive.
A brief summary of some memories there.