Thursday, April 29, 2010

Megas FAQ - The Anniversary Edition


(This pic makes me happy - check out the attention to detail: Mega-slushes, Coop with like six burgers, and they're at a Five Guy's Burgers - one of my favorite joints. Well done gents & Neko Sasuke Kun!)


In honor of Megas' upcoming Sixth Anniversary on May 1st, here's the answers to the six most popular questions that have crawled their way across the internets to my inbox.

Without further ado...

6. Where can I see Megas?

Officially, you can find both seasons for purchase and download on iTunes, Zune and Roadrunner. Unofficially, I know Youtube has all the episodes posted, but I think they' re cut into thirds. There also seem to be quite a few foreign sites that host full episodes, with varying levels of quality.

And I've heard from a number of fans that Megas seems to still be on the air in various countries across the globe - just not here in the U.S....because that would make all the other shows look bad...

5. Where's the Megas toys?

I was actually in a Toys R Us a few years ago, hunting for some damn Star Wars exclusive repaint that Hasbro was tricking me into buying for the sixth time when I overheard a distraught mom asking the customer service rep this very same question. And all I can tell ya, is what I told her, and I'm sure you'll be just as pissed - there really are none.

If you missed out on the online exclusive four-inchers, or the DC Direct statue you're pretty much out S.O.L. Jolibee put out a couple of items a few years ago with their happymeal-style promotions, and although they rocked, I wouldn't really class them as toys. (More like trippy cup lids).

Now should Megas ever be revisited, this may change, but as of right now - ebay, or making your own customs is the way to go.

4. How did the soundtrack come together?

We ran out of money. Simple as that. Our soundtrack budget was pretty much zero, so after we blew what we had on the opening theme, we were forced to use the Turner Library to pull almost all of our tracks and needle-drops - that's why you can hear "Megas" music on CNN, TBS, TNT, etc. Luckily, Turner owned a massive music collection that actually had a lot of great tracks - tracks that made for excellent robot-fightin' mood-music.

And no, there are no plans to release a soundtrack - although it would cost CN about two bucks to do it since they already own the rights to all the tracks...

3. Will there be a third season?

I've learned never to say never in this business - stranger things have happened, and although there has been some interest in revisiting Megas by a third party, it seems that CN kinda has their dance card full of robot shows currently. Also, since they own the rights, and hold all the cards, it falls to them if they want to do anything with Coop's little DIY project.

If it were up to us, we'd be well into our sixth season right now, and in fact when CN pulled the plug, we were writing a feature and roughing out a third season.

2. Where is my damn DVD/Blu-Ray set!?

Ah, yeah I get this question about once a week and the answer is - never. Or at least I don't know. Again, since the show is owned by CN - it is their call to either release the series, or not. And so far it's been not.

As for Blu-Ray, from what I recall, we actually did the second season in HD with the intention of broadcasting and releasing it in high definition, but obviously that plan fell by the wayside with our cancellation.

Not sure how much it would cost to put Megas on DVD, or BR, but with the whole market collapsing in on itself, it just might be a bad time.

But there is this guy who has a bootleg table at all the cons...

1. Why did you shut down Megas?

Truth be told, CN shut us down, and not the other way around as some fans have conjectured. As to why, the new brass didn't feel that we were speaking to the audience they were interested in reaching, even though we were actually breaking records - until they started moving us around.

Not sure if they ever did find that demo they were hunting for...maybe those live-action series did it for them?


That's it for now. This Saturday, celebrate May 1st as Megas Day - watch an ep, have six hamburgers, a mega-slush and creep out your pals with your giant robot trivia knowledge while vomiting on their shoes - just like Coop would!