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Well played.

I did too actually.

Just stopping by to say I appreciate this TMNT 1990 film reference.

The Straw Hats are much more treasure seekers than pirates. It’s kind of how they get away with being the heroes. They usually help people and they don’t pillage. The navy and the world government is constantly shown to be corrupt with a few exceptions among the leadership so naturally outlaws end up being the foil to their twisted ideals. There are plenty of pirates who act like pirates though. Many without any super powers. I suppose you could argue there is also more to being a pirate than stealing, at least in the romantic sense of what it means to live the life of a pirate. But from a marketing standpoint pirates sound more interesting than sailors or even world trekking adventurers.

Glad I wasn't the only one who thought of it.

I suppose G8 would have been a better start than Foxy. I honestly think skipping straight to when Aokiji showed up would have been the best place to start in the HD episodes. If Foxy wasn't so loaded with filler it wouldn't have been too bad of a place to start but it just feels like it drags on and on. If not for all the extra padding it would have been a short warm-up for the build story coming in Water 7 but because of that padding it quickly outwears its welcome. Then they have the stolen memories arc which does offer insight into the backstories of the characters but in a pretty obnoxious way. So while it would initially be perplexing for Foxy to be on screen for a moment when Aokijii arrives, that's over in mere moments and Aokijii leaves a compelling first impression. Being a long time fan of these characters I can't easily see things from the perspective of someone who has never seen any One Piece before but I don't think it's that difficult to pick up the show after most of the crew has been introduced. Starting back at Jaya might not have been a terrible choice either but starting back at episode 1 would mean taking 3.5 years to get to where Toonami left off in 2008. How much more disappointing would it have been if they started at the top and didn't actually reach beyond Skypiea? Water 7 overall is a fantastic arc but I'll grant you that major moments within it wouldn't have nearly as much impact for someone who hasn't seen the previous arcs. Maybe starting from the top would have succeeded and it would still be on today (and they'd be somewhere in Thriller Bark by now) but unless they swapped to the cropped HD masters (which are lousy in their own way) they would have ended up airing the SD episodes stretched to 16:9 for over 4 freak'n years. And that would have been pretty awful to see.

When did Netflix publicly compliment the performance of One Piece?

I honestly wonder if shows like Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing and Yu Yu Hakusho would be such fan favorites if they never aired on Toonami. And likewise for Bebop, FLCL and InuYasha on Adult Swim. If all those shows went under the radar in the early 2000s, would they have significant fandom in the US today? And let’s not forget both DBZ and Sailor Moon nearly died in syndication. By the time Naruto, FMA and Bleach were gaining momentum from fansubs, a cable broadcast was still helpful but arguably not necessary for a big shounen to become a hit here. That was even before simulcasts much less simuldubs. MHA has gained very little from airing on TV and arguably even DBS has gained little from airing on TV. Demon Slayer’s popularity has next to nothing to do with Toonami and One Piece gained interest after leaving Toonami. The only things that can potentially benefit from a Toonami broadcast are lesser known shows and originals. But Toonami still needs to balance that with some shows that casual viewers will definitely care to watch. Ergo DBS and MHA.

That's an oddly large drop in 18-49 for Demon Slayer after Shippuden. Funny how GSDB being a rerun didn't seem to affect it at all.

Never looked actually

To be more accurate the discord isn't at all official, it's the discord created by the Adult Swim subreddit (r/adultswim) but they do have some AS staff that pop in there. I only ever read /co but even that is a cesspool 95% of the time.

Unless there's some secret voice actors among us, that's gonna be a no.

They're such asshats in those threads. As much as I enjoy watching them practically tear their hair out over every little thing, the amount of righteous indignation they have about everything is insufferable. And on top of that they're often wrong about behind the scenes stuff but preach their interpretation of reality as the absolute truth. Like they were still going on about the bracket being rigged so Bebop would air.

And as proof they could have expanded... Attack on Titan's final season joins on January 9th and does expand the block. They could have expanded to 4am on January 2nd in order to air the final segments of Gemusetto and have Shippuden and Demon Slayer air from 3am-4am as they will be doing the following week. I'm starting to think Gridman might wait until February when SAO ends because they could slide Black Clover back on at 2:30 on January 16th with no muss and no fuss.

As per usual, Attack on Titan waits for no time slot. It makes its own when it is good and ready. I just wish the expansion was forward instead of later into the night. I think this could mean they'll wait until SAO ends to start Gridman and slide Black Clover into 2:30am on January 16th. Otherwise they'll have to shake up the line-up two weeks in a row unless they are sticking Gridman at 2:30am.

Gridman gets delayed for two weeks for reruns... ya'll could have just expanded the block.

Well that started out pretty well in 18-49s but sure didn't stay that way.

Those 4 co-productions are in iron-clad contracts regardless of who owns Crunchyroll. And Adult Swim has a fine relationship with SONY and FUNimation regardless.

Oh yeah, by all means, if they do run a marathon on January 2nd... give 'em hell.

I didn't mean to imply that AT&T thinks the pandemic will be over early in 2021 but right now there's a captive audience that's isn't even interested in subscribing and they're doing whatever they can to change their minds.

AT&T is trying everything they can to get subscribers for HBO Max before people are no longer stuck at home. They’re sacrificing blockbuster film revenue and pissing off basically the whole film industry to get people to buy into HBO Max immediately. They are throwing away probably half a billion dollars by putting WW84, Matrix 4 and those other films on their own service rather than waiting for theaters to be safe again or at least selling the rights to Netflix. I think if WW84 doesn’t get them a few million more subscribers then they’re gonna have to seriously rethink their strategy.

It’s got some good exclusive stuff like Close Enough, the new Looney Tunes and Ghibli movies but the service is nowhere near Netflix or Disney+ level. They should have waited until they had more content ready.

Crackle could use some new stuff

CN and Toonami are both playing Wonder Woman films to hype WW84 in theaters and on HBO Max on Christmas Day. It's the first of Warner's big budget films to premiere on HBO Max the same day as theaters. While it's possible there could be other HBO Max pushes for other stuff down the line, I expect them to be pretty rare. Hyping up WW84's same day release is a wise decision because if they cannot get people to sign up for Max for that highly anticipated film then they're not gonna have much luck convincing people for most of 2021. They gotta try everything they can to make that roll out a success. So frankly having Toonami air a few movies and having CN air the live-action Wonder Woman movie that same night is kind of the bare minimum of what they ought to be doing to hype WW84 for HBO Max. Like I don't think we'll see Toonami run an usual schedule to shill for the HBO Max same day release of Godzilla vs. Kong in May. But if HBO Max wants to sponsor the inevitable Memorial Day or 4th of July marathons, I'm all for it.

That's certainly an exaggeration. I know you don't like disruptions of your shows but this really isn't something to fret about.