Post by Bluesonic1 on Feb 11, 2016 5:10:59 GMT -5
So I finally received my full set of 6 Dragon Booster toys today from one of Jakks Pacific series (Racing Dragons), and 1 toy from their other DB series (Dragon and Rider, Series 1). I haven't got photos yet, hoping to get some soon, but I thought I would give a brief review of them in context to something I read a while back about the DB series as a whole and what attributed to it getting cancelled.
A few users commented that aside from a commonly accepted opinion that DB was ahead of its time as well as marketed to the wrong audience (young teen/pre-teen boys), the marketing itself was also very poor. I had no comments to make on this as the only DB merch I had at the point was the full set of McDonald's toys, and well, there's not much to say about them- they're basic, and that's expected. But sadly I see now, that the little marketing DB did get, was extremely poor. I'm not gonna lie, the toys are pretty awful, even for a little kid to have. Of course I still hold high value to them as a collector and huge DB fan, but I very quickly understand why they never caught on.
The main issues these toy series have in particular come in two parts. The first being that the detailing is just atrocious. I can say this with a degree of confidence, being a toy and model kit builder & collector for many years now. The molds of these toys contained very little detailing (something I can forgive considering it was marketed to young children), but worse still was the lack of painted details and in most cases, even what little paint details it does have. A lot of the human rider from Racing Dragons in particular look like they've been painted by a 3 year old- paint colours overlap into different sections, like it's either had too much applied and run into areas it shouldn't have or it's had the section painted with a fat brush that overlapped into other parts it shouldn't have. This will make a lot more sense when the pictures come up; Dragon Booster himself is painted gold on a black seat, but some of the gold paint "leaks" into the black section. Likewise, this same series had no detail on the riders at all- if it wasn't for the dragon, you couldn't really say which rider is which unless you do some researching. Also, Moordryd for some reason was marketed with Red "Sabotaging" gear? From what it looks like, and the descriptions and pictures of all the Red gear currently described, I have no idea what gear he's using and it's certainly never appears in the show, much like Parmon's net launcher (what should have been Green Trapping gear).
The second issue to the above mentioned, is that while the toys have a terrible lack of detail, all the product and box art actually show very well detailed toys!! For example, in one series (Racing Dragons), Artha is shown with Beau and White Aero gear- the gear has details here and there just like the show, but on the toy itself is completely plain white. In the other series (Dragon and Rider, Series 1), where the characters and equipment are much larger, Parmon and Cyrano are shown with net launching gear (which I might add never really made an appearance in the show...) that is gunmetal-silver and with different coloured sections- the toy itself is a solid plain green (not even solid grey or silver which is the main colour show on the box...). Now, I'm no stranger to owning model kits that require extra detailing and painting- many of the ones I own are "pre painted" but in a general sense; they look good enough that you don't need to paint them, but true enthusiasts will get more out of painting those extra details. The difference is that these companies will write that on their products; "Photos are of a completed, painted sample. The actual product may differ." Many good companies will also strive to include out-of-the-box photos alongside detailed ones, and for the most part this applies to model kits (which already require assembly) as opposed to actions figures. Aside from the very deceiving images of the toys, maybe they were actually intentionally marketed as action figures that required extra detailing from the more enthused- which begs me to ask the question... weren't these supposed to be marketed for young children?? This kind of detail painting is not for teen/pre-teen kids (especially on the riders and gear, you need special magnifying glass equipment to be able to paint such fine details that are shown in the photos).
I very much agree now that DB was very poorly marketed, and that it had a decent role to play in its downfall. I think with the newer molding and casting technologies we have today, if DB were to see a reboot, these kinds of action figures could definitely be done properly and have a shot at getting somewhere. Likewise, considering the dedicated fanbase and that a lot of the fanbase are actually older viewers, and that there is a lot of customisability with regards to gear additions, I think the series would be quite successful in outsourcing merch to companies like Kotobukiya who could make much higher detailed model kits of dragons, their riders and gear, without having to be unnecessarily complex. So that people can better see where I'm coming from on this, here are 2 lines I know well from Kotobukiya in particular that have amazing detail but great simplicity- Metabee from "Medabots" and Zero from "Megaman Zero".
Wrapping this up, I do have to return to the fact that, aside from the terrible marketing already covered, this is still DB merch (which is hard to come by in general) and if you're a serious fan, it's still worth getting for yourself. There really isn't much merch out there and just to have a little DB something sitting on a shelf and staring back at you does feel better than nothing- and the gear the characters come with are pretty adorable if you're a fan of miniatures like I am. I'm glad I got them, especially so at a good price, but definitely don't kid yourself into thinking you're getting something amazing- they've very basic action figures at the most.
A few users commented that aside from a commonly accepted opinion that DB was ahead of its time as well as marketed to the wrong audience (young teen/pre-teen boys), the marketing itself was also very poor. I had no comments to make on this as the only DB merch I had at the point was the full set of McDonald's toys, and well, there's not much to say about them- they're basic, and that's expected. But sadly I see now, that the little marketing DB did get, was extremely poor. I'm not gonna lie, the toys are pretty awful, even for a little kid to have. Of course I still hold high value to them as a collector and huge DB fan, but I very quickly understand why they never caught on.
The main issues these toy series have in particular come in two parts. The first being that the detailing is just atrocious. I can say this with a degree of confidence, being a toy and model kit builder & collector for many years now. The molds of these toys contained very little detailing (something I can forgive considering it was marketed to young children), but worse still was the lack of painted details and in most cases, even what little paint details it does have. A lot of the human rider from Racing Dragons in particular look like they've been painted by a 3 year old- paint colours overlap into different sections, like it's either had too much applied and run into areas it shouldn't have or it's had the section painted with a fat brush that overlapped into other parts it shouldn't have. This will make a lot more sense when the pictures come up; Dragon Booster himself is painted gold on a black seat, but some of the gold paint "leaks" into the black section. Likewise, this same series had no detail on the riders at all- if it wasn't for the dragon, you couldn't really say which rider is which unless you do some researching. Also, Moordryd for some reason was marketed with Red "Sabotaging" gear? From what it looks like, and the descriptions and pictures of all the Red gear currently described, I have no idea what gear he's using and it's certainly never appears in the show, much like Parmon's net launcher (what should have been Green Trapping gear).
The second issue to the above mentioned, is that while the toys have a terrible lack of detail, all the product and box art actually show very well detailed toys!! For example, in one series (Racing Dragons), Artha is shown with Beau and White Aero gear- the gear has details here and there just like the show, but on the toy itself is completely plain white. In the other series (Dragon and Rider, Series 1), where the characters and equipment are much larger, Parmon and Cyrano are shown with net launching gear (which I might add never really made an appearance in the show...) that is gunmetal-silver and with different coloured sections- the toy itself is a solid plain green (not even solid grey or silver which is the main colour show on the box...). Now, I'm no stranger to owning model kits that require extra detailing and painting- many of the ones I own are "pre painted" but in a general sense; they look good enough that you don't need to paint them, but true enthusiasts will get more out of painting those extra details. The difference is that these companies will write that on their products; "Photos are of a completed, painted sample. The actual product may differ." Many good companies will also strive to include out-of-the-box photos alongside detailed ones, and for the most part this applies to model kits (which already require assembly) as opposed to actions figures. Aside from the very deceiving images of the toys, maybe they were actually intentionally marketed as action figures that required extra detailing from the more enthused- which begs me to ask the question... weren't these supposed to be marketed for young children?? This kind of detail painting is not for teen/pre-teen kids (especially on the riders and gear, you need special magnifying glass equipment to be able to paint such fine details that are shown in the photos).
I very much agree now that DB was very poorly marketed, and that it had a decent role to play in its downfall. I think with the newer molding and casting technologies we have today, if DB were to see a reboot, these kinds of action figures could definitely be done properly and have a shot at getting somewhere. Likewise, considering the dedicated fanbase and that a lot of the fanbase are actually older viewers, and that there is a lot of customisability with regards to gear additions, I think the series would be quite successful in outsourcing merch to companies like Kotobukiya who could make much higher detailed model kits of dragons, their riders and gear, without having to be unnecessarily complex. So that people can better see where I'm coming from on this, here are 2 lines I know well from Kotobukiya in particular that have amazing detail but great simplicity- Metabee from "Medabots" and Zero from "Megaman Zero".
Wrapping this up, I do have to return to the fact that, aside from the terrible marketing already covered, this is still DB merch (which is hard to come by in general) and if you're a serious fan, it's still worth getting for yourself. There really isn't much merch out there and just to have a little DB something sitting on a shelf and staring back at you does feel better than nothing- and the gear the characters come with are pretty adorable if you're a fan of miniatures like I am. I'm glad I got them, especially so at a good price, but definitely don't kid yourself into thinking you're getting something amazing- they've very basic action figures at the most.
I wonder if the forum should host a DB server? Not sure how lively that would be haha
