May and June: American DBZ's Vital Months
by Sam Spencer

Originally Posted: 3 April 2000

-------------------------------------------------

In May and June of 2000, the faithful DBZ Otaku will get to see if DBZ reaches the acursed point of fandom that the evil empire of Pokémon has. As you know, Pokémon became huge BECAUSE of the card game. It wasn't the show or the Game Boy game. All the hype and collecting over the card game made those 150 little pocket monsters into the dreadnaught it is today. Simple proof of this is that my store, The CCG Galaxy, used to be able to sell the Edition 1 Boxes of Pokémon for $150 to make a 100% profit. To make a 100% turnaround now, I would have to sell each box for $1400. Does tis mean that a edition 1 foil Gokou card will book for $400 in a year? Not if a few conditions aren't meant. . .

Score can forget the gameplay. Though we would all love to see a fun DBZ Card game, it doesn't need to (and probaly won't) happen. When I called up Score, they said they were targeting collectors more than players. Belive it or not, this is genius (hey, the Pokémon card game pails in comaprison to Magic: The Gathering or Star Wars CCG, but it has sold more for the past year). What counts for Score (and US DBZ for that matter) is hype. Pokémon "Masters" must trade in their cards for DBZ cards so they aren't passé. FUNi and Score have to make all the 6-12 year olds of America eat, sleep, and breathe the Card Game. It has to be traded all around tje country at schools everywhere. But how does this happen? I haven't seen ANY ads for the CCG. Score and FUNi are NOT assulting the youth of our country like Pokémon did! DBZ is still confined to Cartoon Network, and that will be it's downfall. The Pokémon croud will hit DBZ at the comic stores, and a few will hear the about DBZ by word of mouth, but Pokémon will remain "Suppa Toy ichi ban!" So how do we get all the kids to act towards DBZ like rabid Pokémon fans (Do we really want this, guys?)? Simple. You biltz them. Hype them into the card game, and let it explode from there.

But wait! This isn't over! We've gotten to the conclusion that the CCG will either burst DBZ into a long 5 year American fad, or it will suck and keep DBZ at its current level of popularity. Let's just assume the Card Game works, the cards look cool, everyone's collecting it, etc. This could easily put 30 million American kids into the DBZ line (giving all us webmasters about triple our current hits ^_^). But if Pokémon just stayed in the boundries of the card game, it would have about half its current fandom. So what does DBZ do post card game? Movies. Yes, the movie. Movie 4 will come on a subbed DVD (I'll cover how important the subs are later) in May or so, but at this point in the Animé the Japanese already had Movie 5. So what can FUNi do for a Holiday relase? How about a Movie 5/6 theatre combo? They tie well together, and, well, all the new DBZ fans will go crazy. DBZ will then be at the point where Pokémon is now, and Pokémon will be in the garage with the Power Rangers, Beanie Babies and Ninja Turtles. Of course, there is a 6 month gap there, and if FUNi really wanted to do something like that, it would probaly take 12 months at least.

Of course, this time between movies and CCG's is where FUNi has to shine to keep DBZ alive. Nintendo did this with new games, and a DBZ game wont hit here until (just my expectation) April next year on the PSX 2. So what can FUNi do? The subbed DVD's, of course! Why not make some true otaku's out of the dubbies? I truely belive that FUNi will not fudge up (for once) the DVD. It they can make them anywhere near as cool as The Sixth Sense DVD (which you should run to Best Buy to buy RIGHT NOW), sub it WELL, and have something that will spart the intrest of a dubbie who just bought it to see "uncut" DBZ, this exposure will freak out a LOT of high schoolers and make a DBZ audience that spans 12 grades. Or, of course, a parent could see it and

A. Praise DBZ and inspire others to watch the Jap Sub

or

B. (Most Likely) Form Mothers Against Japan to capture Akira Toriyama and kill him.

In any case, the subbs should help DBZ if done right (please FUNi, please!)

So there you have it! If the DBZ CCG can pull 'em in like the Pokémon card game did, ad then FUNi can tide the kids over well enough to wait for movies or video games, Pokémon will die and DBZ will become the Kaioshin-sama of kid's TV. Or it can fudge up and remain on Cartoon Network until another animé can dethrone Pokémon (Gundam, I'm looking in your corner). So if you want to sacrifice your sanity to kill Pokémon, by all means hype DBZ to EVERY kid you know!

Contact: SSJ4Sam@aol.com