Top Gun

Funko Pops weren't a thing until 2011, when Soul Eater was closed to finishing its manga run, and the anime was a few years done by then. There sure as hell weren't anime Funko figures back then. Why are you so surprised that an over decade-old shounen that wasn't a behemoth like DBZ or Naruto doesn't have much in the way of modern merch? And now you're just throwing in ridiculous caveats with Fire Force. "Well yes, it has a bunch of merch, but it's not merch I'd want so it doesn't count!" It's still officially-licensed merchandise, and there's a bunch of it. Quit moving the goalposts.

Why did this need its own thread?

Dude, just take the L. As usual you didn't know what you were talking about.

You do realize that both it and Soul Eater probably have/had a shitload of merchandise in Japan that never made it over here because only a small handful of series ever get mainstream enough in the US to warrant a ton of Hot Topic swag, right?

He realized that the universe needs more Douche Rogue.

Not a surprise at all. Hopefully everyone affected gets their services restored as soon as possible.

Wooooooo. A bit bummed that we're not getting the other half of AssClass right away, but it's good to know that we will in the future. Also it's not hard to figure out why Toonami aired the first two seasons of Food Wars back-to-back but is giving AssClass a break in-between. Sentai had just announced the license for season 3 right around when the block started airing it, so it'd be good promotion for their release of the next part. I don't remember if they'd released season 3 by the time that season 2's run finished, but I think it was pretty close, and they may not have had the broadcast rights worked out at the time. In contrast, AssClass is a pretty deep catalog title for FUNi at this point, so there's not really anything that'd be promoted by continuing on with it immediately.

Shouldn't that be Hagakure's line?

Why the fuck did someone not blow Brady's knees out during the first game of the playoffs. What does it take for people to learn?

Yeah, VAs get paid an hourly rate, so if they don't have a lot of roles at the moment, they're not going to have much income. It's why a lot of VAs (at least those who are LA-based) tend to do a lot of video game or generic VO work, since those tend to pay higher rates. A lot of long-term FUNi actors also take on production and directing roles.

I'd love to find out who actually worked on this thing.

Some ol' monkey paw bullshit.

If it lasts more than 4 hours, call your doctor.

I'm kind of curious where this will go. The original series ended pretty definitively.

Exactly. The Toonami broadcast was severely hamstrung from the outset, much like the rest of the show's history on US television. The initial run of FUNi episodes on OG Toonami picked right up from That-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named at the start of Jaya/Skypeia, but it got cut off halfway through. Fast-forward several years, and the new Toonami run skips a few dozen episodes and starts with the next arc. I know they probably didn't want to start such a gargantuan property all the way back at the beginning, and I'm sure FUNi had a vested interest in promoting sales of the more recent parts of their release, but a neophyte viewer was going to have no context whatsoever for the characters or their relationships. It didn't help that they started off with the most filler-esque canon arc of the entire series, one that even a lot of long-time fans don't particularly like. Ironically, the preceding G8 Arc was filler that felt like canon and receives almost universal praise, and it honestly would have been a much stronger starting point to hook new viewers. I'm not sure what the solution was in terms of how to handle the series. Honestly it's the sort of thing that just about requires a daily timeslot, so that people can watch or DVR whole chunks of episodes at once and get caught up in something resembling a reasonable amount of time. But with how things went, I think most of the people who were watching were like myself, Toonami viewers who were already established fans of the series. The fact that it's done very well on streaming venues that have every episode from the beginning posted is proof that there are plenty of people out there willing to binge it.

Don't lie, we all know you're both there for /h/.

Red delicious apples should not exist.

Almost every Japanese popularity poll I've ever seen has at least one random motherfucker on it.

Well that was fast. Sweet. Damn, if they pick up everything they should this year, we're gonna have a good time. Final season of Titan, Gridman, hopefully seasons 2 of Dr. Stone and Promised Neverland...

Wild Horses never gets enough love. Actual orbital mechanics, a wonderful moment for a departed spacecraft, great stuff.

Does anyone think that Funkos look good? Like, anyone at all?

Can we at least move it down below DF? It's fucking with my click order.

"Soon (TM)" -- Eiichiro Oda

Get that Whopper nice and flame-broiled.

Honestly I'd pay for that last one.