Why did they end the Cosmic Era?

The behind the scenes clusterfuck in Destiny kind of screwed any chances of SEED continuing.

Also the plastic model sales blew.

Morisawa got cancer

>>13708956
Because Destiny gunplas flopped.

>Q: Bandai President Ueno told us a new Gundam is being planned. Anything on this?

>A: A few days ago, we had company entry exams and many people came in for interviews saying they liked SEED. SEED fans are now entering the work force. Fans like them are important. However, maintaining the current status quo won't allow Gundam to survive another 10 years. We have to create new fans. The new Gundam is for that. We think we will gain new fans with a new Gundam that is neither UC nor CE. Constantly introducing new elements is what makes it Gundam.

>-SEED Producer Yasuo Miyakawa

>>13709036
Seeing as they constantly go back to UC that is bollocks

What they are really saying is the SEED fanbase isn't the one they are looking for in Gundam, they want to sell gunpla

>>13709058
It's funny reading interviews from the time where they're all "We want the SEED fans to support us 20 years from now like the fans of First Gundam."

It's downright hysterical they had to reanimate so much in order for the show not to look like shit on BD.

>>13708956
Because they finished it, they told the stories they were going to tell.

Shit doesn't have to just keep on going. If you finish a narrative then let it go, don't keep it around like a zombie

>>13709097
>Because they finished it, they told the stories they were going to tell.
Only because they had to burn all the plot into ashes in order to make up an ending. And the ending just couldn't be continued because they ran out of plot hooks.

>>13709087
SEED and destiny have really taken up a weird place. technically it is one of the most popular Gundams to this day and any game or crossover will have a Kira suit on the cover. But that they still aren't putting anything new out for it outside the odd gunpla every few years

Assram's Counterattack when?

>>13709097
>Because they finished it, they told the stories they were going to tell.
And yet they still made Destiny, not to mention Stargazer and Astray. UC can still continue without Tomino, but CE can't without Fukuda and his wife when others have done shit there so much better?

>>13709108
Actually, I've been seeing the Destiny a lot more in promotional materials over the Strike Freedom. It seems to be Kira in the Freedom, Shinn in the Destiny, and Athrun is nowhere to be seen despite Fukuda saying he's really the main character of Destiny.

>>13708956
Destiny fucked up the scenario for good.

We have to wait for Athrun's son to finish what his grandfather started.

>>13708956
But they didn't?

I mean, the main series is over, for now at least. Until they decide to revisit it some more the way they did with Wing via Frozen Teardrop.

But it still continues in MSVs and Astray side stories.

They know it's still popular; hence why you get games that feature UC and SEED so often in some form, but they're trying to recreate the success they had with other Gundams. Unfortunately, the only one to come close was 00, which also featured quite a bit of thought and effort put into its side-stories and MSVs, but that one was fully completed and ended, unlike SEED and the Astray stuff.

>>13710307
It died with stargazer. Reason being they discovered no one gave a shit about the seed universe if Kira wasnt on the character list

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>>13709087
>It's downright hysterical they had to reanimate so much in order for the show not to look like shit on BD.
There are dozens of shows from the same time period with the same problem, most of them they just do a super crappy Q-tec upscale and say fuck it because they don't care.

Stellvia for one looks absurdly fucking bad.

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>>13708956
Real Talk: The reason we don't get more CE is a bit complicated and is exactly the same reason that all the casual fans CE brought into Gundam is a terrible problem for Sunrise/Bandai.

First, go back to 1994. Starting with Victory it became very obvious that the "buy-in" to get new people interested in Gundam was far too high (a similar problem exists with Star Trek and, to a much lesser extent, Star Wars), with 4 full series and a bunch of movies all in continuity. Eventually oldfags move on and have actual live or whatever, so you need new blood.

So the solution was to make alternate universes. This had the potential to reuse plot points but draw in fresh new viewers. The problem, of course, is that you create a dichotomy in your audience:
Group 1: your new audience who are into whatever shiny new thing you produce.
Group 2: the hardcore fans who actually have watched everything. These guys are the ones who actually spend a good deal of money on your products.

AU has the problem of usually not being able to convert people from Group 1 (casuals, fujoshis) into Group 2. The thing is, it's been 14 years since Seed first aired and that's TWICE the amount of time that most media companies recycle the same material directed towards children. Despite being "popular" with casuals, they don't spend nearly as much money on the franchise as oldfags and quickly lose interest.

What's worse is that Sunrise was badly burnt by experimenting with other sci-fi anime premises. Almost no one but /m/ watched Soaring Cake Girl. It wasn't very good (and everything after the baseball episode was particularly ridiculous), but it had an interesting premise (badly executed) and suplex-ing O'Neill-type Colonies. The result is that Sunrise is very conservative when it comes to ideas for Gundam, so they just rehash old concepts into new AUs.

tl;dr: the "popularity" of CE is a curse because those 'fans' don't purchase model kits to the same degree as oldfags.

>>13710887
I'm not even going to read that wall of bullshit to tell you you're wrong.

Movie didn't come out on time because the creative staff wasn't available at the time. That's it. Bandai moved on with other Gudnam in the mean time, SEED got old and the hype died down after several years with no new major work. Period.

None of that shit in your wacky head canon when you 70,000 DVDs per volume for 13 volumes.

Retard.

>>13708956
Because Jesus Yamato is too OP to be stopped

SEED didn't and doesn't move gunpla. The kit quality was pretty crappy and the majority of SEED's fanbase were more interested in the characters than the robots, so the only particularly profitable gunpla designs are the things that Kira piloted.

That, and it's just too late. The spotlight's moved on. If there was a time to push forward with CE it was ten years ago, by now it's long past the point of being fresh and new.

>>13711175
SEED sold extremely well. It's just that it wasn't the things Bandai wanted to sell, which was Gunpla.

Figs? Sold fast, and sold plenty.

Music? Sold fast, and sold plenty.

DVDs/BDs? Sold fast, and sold plenty. HD Remasters made Top 10 across different lists twice; first for the SEED Remasters then for the Destiny Remasters. /m/ shat itself over how popular it still was despite little marketing for the Remasters compared to the original run.

Any and all official SEED merchandise besides Gunpla sold, and still sell. Hell, we had another Astray series not too long ago, and they're still milking it with the occasional Astray Red/Blue Frame variant.

So yes, Banrise hit all the right notes for a successful series, but not the notes they wanted to hit, in terms of Gunpla. To be fair though, it doesn't help that they didn't attempt to market newer and updated Gunpla during the Remaster runs; only a few new MGs of the original 5 GAT-X MS as well as a new Freedom (not sure if they even did a new Justice).

>>13710907
>Movie didn't come out on time because the creative staff wasn't available at the time.

Are you legitimately retarded? Did it ever occur to you WHY the staff wasn't available? If Sunrise had thought that the SEED fans were worth the investment then they wouldn't have sidelined it to begin with.

Dumbass

>>13711211
>Gunpla doesn't sell
>they're still milking it with more gunpla
Guy please, try not to contradict yourself immediately. You don't get 2.0s and Revives by not selling, and if nothing but Kira sells I don't know what the fuck that says about anyone that's not the main character in all the other AUs comparing MGs, RGs, and HG remakes.

>>13711458
Gee guy it's not like someone has ever put work on hold over their health before.

>>13711211
There isn't even a mg Justice to begin with, just a 1:100 NG.

I miss Lacus.

Not the tripfag.

>>13711495
>You don't get 2.0s and Revives by not selling, and if nothing but Kira sells I don't know what the fuck that says about anyone that's not the main character in all the other AUs comparing MGs, RGs, and HG remakes.

That's exactly why most AU's are ignored by Bandai in favor of UC. Because everything UC sells, including the million grunt variations that they love so much because they can reuse most of the mold and still sell it full price to get maximum ripoff of the Japanese Otaku.

Only Kira stuff sells, which means they sell Strike Freedom and SF and that's it. You can't milk that like you can UC. Which is why CE was mostly forgotten about outside of the occasional Kira MS release.

CE sold because of Kira, not because of Gundam, and Bandai doesn't like that. They want a fanbase that will buy all the models no matter which character pilots them.

>>13712284
Shinn's stuff also sells. There's MGs of the Force Impulse, Sword Impulse, Destiny and Destiny Extreme Blast mode. There's also the RG Destiny (that also comes in Heine colors) and the upcoming Revive Force Impulse.

Athrun is the one that's kinda shat on release wise. No MG Justice after all these years, no RG Infinite Justice and they passed on making a Justice Revive to go alongside the new Freedom.

>>13711495
The majority of the SEED Gunpla they made didn't sell for various reasons (one of those being they simply produced too much and oversaturated the market). But what few things did sell they're still milking. Kira's Strike, Freedom, and S. Freedom variants. Shin's Impulse and Destiny variants. Astray Red/Blue Frame variants.

So as a whole, SEED Gunpla didn't sell. We have proof of this with all those excess Gunpla sitting on shelves marked at 50% off or greater, as well as interviews mentioning some of the Gunpla that had lower sales than expected (like Buster, which was why they attempted a sudden defection with Dearka).

But among those, the few that did sell are still selling well.

>>13712284
>Only Kira stuff sells, which means they sell Strike Freedom and SF and that's it.
Of course that's wrong because they're still shitting out new Impulses and Destinys.

>>13712663
>So as a whole, SEED Gunpla didn't sell. We have proof of this with all those excess Gunpla sitting on shelves marked at 50% off or greater
Have you ever noticed that late series units from like every series besides like Try barely get shit? Bandai traditionally always floods the market with everything at the start of a series to see what will sell then culls unpopular lines and designs (usually meaning only the first few grunts announced before they realize grunts are selling like shit again get released). Sometimes they clearly go full retard with it, like how they realized they really should have made a 1/100 Gaia.

That's why there is no Katharon kits, 1/100 Trailblazer kits or GN-XIV, no Genoace O Custom, Adele Mk-II, Fawn Farsia, etc. There has never been a series without shelfwarmers.

>>13712663
>>13714360
By the way the infamous stacks of Gunpla were 1/100 Force Impulses. The fact they are still making Impulse Gunpla and there hasn't been a series 1/100 line since 00S2 (where they only did Gundams and tried to sell them with GN light up and colour scheme gimmicks after S1's presumably sold like shit) should probably inform you as to what part was the problem.

>>13714390
Besides IBO's new gimmicky one that will probably sell like shit too of course.

>>13714390
Trailblazer Gundams get left out because they are too different from each other. They all would need new frames and molds that would only get used once. The recent SEED and Wing MG kits all used the same base frame within their lines and can be used many times over nearly a dozen suits each. The Strike alone has like a dozen variants then you have the Buster and Duel with Stargazer variants. Wing has TV and EW versions for each suit. So 00 seems to have screwed itself over by trying to make the suits so different. Another thing is that Gaia is being put up against Reborns and the Leo. Think about that. Reborns, the final boss in 00 wasn't good enough for an MG and is being put up against the lowly Leo and the Gaia that they are going to try and pimp two kits out of.

>>13710907
>Movie didn't come out on time because the creative staff wasn't available at the time.
If there was a real interest on Bandai/Sunrise to make another CE series/movie, there wouldn't have been a problem in firing Fukuda and Morosawa in the same way Tomino was "moved aside" when Bandai finally adquired Sunrise in the early 90s and decided to create AUs. It's not like they "own" the IPs.

>None of that shit in your wacky head canon when you 70,000 DVDs per volume for 13 volumes.
Bandai is first and foremost a toy company. Their priority is always going to be gunpla sales, not DVDs/BDs.

>>13714764
I would feel seriously insulted if expect me to bother with the triviality of countering your shitty ass argument when you already did it yourself.

Every single person who bought GSD DVDs would need to buy like 25 Master Grades for Gunpla to match it in sales revenue by the way. Of course Gunpla costs a hell of a lot more to make and distribute than printing DVDs too. But nah I bet Bandai's executives sit there and go "fuck I would really rather we were making half as much money from Bandai Hobby as we are from Bandai Visual instead"

>>13714798
>Every single person who bought GSD DVDs would need to buy like 25 Master Grades for Gunpla to match it in sales revenue by the way.
You need to understand how Japanese corporate culture works. They're slow as fuck to innovate. That's the reason why Sony has crashed and burned against the Koreans over the past 15 years. If Japs were running Apple, they'd still be making Mac Performas.

The core of Bandai is making toys. Regardless of bottom line, that's where their minds are occupied in. Think about this: Bandai Visual/Sotsu made Bandai America (a wholly-owned subsidiary) compete in the open market to obtain the foreign licences for its anime. It's asinine management.

>But nah I bet Bandai's executives sit there and go "fuck I would really rather we were making half as much money from Bandai Hobby as we are from Bandai Visual instead"
Except, believe it or not, that's exactly how it is. Also, for all intents and purposes, Hobby and Visual are two different companies that happen to belong to the same holding.

>>13714798
Stop talking out of your ass. In December of 2003 Kenji Uchida laid out the following numbers about how well SEED actually did.

At that time, SEED's DVD releases were only up to volume 8. They averaged in at 94k, in terms of video SEED had sold 8 billion yen worth. Throw in another 4.5 billion for music, and 2.5 billion for publications.

Toy sales totalled 21.5 billion yen, roughly 59% of SEED's total sales that first year.

>>13714827
The main suits did really well in SEED, but the later ones didn't do as well. It's kind of ironic since I collect the old HGs and think the later ones improved a lot

>>13714827
There is a lot of problems with what you're trying to present there.

1) "Toy sales" includes a hell of a lot more than Gunpla
2) At that point the Gunpla had been on sale for 50% longer than the DVDs

It's also funny you bring this up because it's clear he didn't care about pushing Gunpla sales from the start
>"I recognized the new Gundam (SEED) has to avoid being supported by the normal Gundam fans, but rather strongly felt that it has to appeal to new fans in the 10's and the female popluation. Therefore, during the planning stages I requested for not a lot of mecha to appear or to make the character designs light."
Realistically speaking in SEED's case non-toy sales made up ~50%. For previous series they would have been barely worth mentioning. If there was some sort of actual problem with this business model they wouldn't have kept using it for the next two series, and they wouldn't have been the most successful TV series of the last 25 years.

The problem once again, is basically this. The "ideal" SEED fan was around 13 years old in 2002. Destiny ended in 2005, Stargazer ran in 2006, and ideally the movie would have come out by 2007 before 00 aired. Once 00 was running you're looking at that being put off until 2008 or 2009 and even if Unicorn wasn't there your audience is now almost all in their 20s and outside your target demographics. Gundam might be more mainstream than most anime but still the adults that actually buy Gundam shit are basically otaku.

And once they're otaku you may as well just sell them Nana Mizuki instead.

>>13715374
>And once they're otaku you may as well just sell them Nana Mizuki instead.
Gundam series with a female pilot named Ange Testarossa as the lead, and who's occasional song she sings off-duty also happens to be the OP1 and OP2 of the series?

>>13708956
>>13708956
It was the next UC. It got tons of manga.