Raiden no Kishi wrote: You may find this link interesting:
An Interview with Takahashi. Turns out that he was planning to make Duel Monsters/Magic & Wizards disappear like the rest of the games in the series - there for the plot, then going away for the next one.
That kind of supports what I was saying. O.o That he wasn't making the series for merchandising. It was just part of the plot, and was going to be like the other games in the manga. He didn't have merchandising in mind when he created it, it was just another story.
You said that storytelling should come first, and merchandising should come second. That's exactly what happened here. He made a story, people expressed interest in it, and then merchandise was made.
I'd say that this is exactly the same position Star Wars was in. Lucas made the Ewoks, kids expressed an interest in them, and then those Ewok movies and cartoon were made for merchandising purposes. Lucas didn't plan to make Ewok spinoffs, but fan response caused it to happen
Regardless, I find it incredibly hard to believe that a manga creator would decide to write a story about a trading card game without merchandising being a major consideration. A trading card game, Nate.
Yeah but remember, the trading card game was at first merely a small part of the plot. Yugi played all sorts of games before the second story arc. It wasn't until the fan response that he decided to focus on that. It still wasn't an instance of making a story for merchandising purposes. At that point, the merchandise didn't exist! What good would it be to advertise something that doesn't exist?
Again, if the card game came before the second manga arc, you'd have a very valid point. But as it stands, Takahashi did exactly what you said should happen. Have a story first, merchandising second.
Seriously. It doesn't make any sense from a storyteller's standpoint, which is what Takahashi is.
I'd say given that the manga/anime are about the various games that Yugi plays with people to toy with them, I'd say it makes perfect sense from a storyteller's standpoint.
I do know it came from the stone tablets and whatnot, but a worldwide kids' trading card game? That's just daft.
Silly Putty was invented as a cheap substitute for rubber during World War II because natural rubber was difficult to obtain from the East. However, the substitute was very bouncy and gooey - certainly not useful for a rubber substitute. But then a strategy was hit upon. Make it a children's toy! A synthetic product designed to help the war turned into a worldwide kids' playtoy? That's just daft.
people needing some sort of license to be able to wear a hat is ridiculous.
Heh heh, the one pretty good VG Cats comic. XD "DURR, DURR, HAT GO ON FOOT."
However, I again refer you to the idea of mythical creatures sealed into trading cards. Trading cards available to children. You could acquire them pretty much anywhere without so much as an age check. Do you seriously think that would EVER AT ALL POSSIBLY be reasonable? It's just ridiculous.
Well supposedly it's only the God Cards that have potentially catastrophic effects that can be created with them. There's only three of them but an item that could cause fantastic amounts of destruction like that would certainly get most world leaders interested I would think, while the rest of the cards would be pretty much harmless.
It's still a merchandise-based premise, being about a card game, and it's still a ridiculous premise that harms it as a story.
But it isn't a merchandise-based premise, it was a plot point that got overwhelming support from fans thus spawning merchandise, like I said about the Ewoks earlier. XD
Again, read the interview. I'd say the facts clearly support merchandising driving Yu-Gi-Oh! as we know it.
I'd say the facts clearly support the fans driving Yu-Gi-Oh as we know it, specifically the part where it says, "Originally, I'd planned to phase out that particular game in two episodes. But the reader response we got was enormous."
So y'all are still seriously discussing little kids' shows and whether or not the toys came first?
*Homestar voice* I know! Can you believe it? :p
I know. That's why I signed up here. It's like a verbal slaughterhouse on the other anime forums. With f-bombs all over the place. In the end, nothing gets solved or resolved. Sounds like Deviant Art.
