Chapter 383 - 271: Recreating the Anime Effect

Chapter 383: Chapter 271: Recreating the Anime Effect

Zog clearly remembered his first-ever mini 4WD. It was a 15-yuan knockoff of the Victory Magnum, Xiaohao’s car from the anime.

’It would have been strange to find an authentic toy back then.’

’Who even knew Tamiya Twin Stars? Audi Double Diamond was my real partner.’

In Zog’s heart at the time, it wasn’t some shoddy, pirated product, but a long-coveted Divine Artifact.

Although, he had overpaid for this "Divine Artifact." You could actually get one for 10 yuan; the shop owner had ripped him off.

He had always thought the owner of the little shop by the school gate was a kind and friendly old man.

It wasn’t until he later heard the man had bought three houses that he realized the guy specialized in ripping off kids.

Overpaying was one thing, but what hurt more was that the Victory Magnum only survived for two minutes in his hands.

It was a pleasant evening, after he had finished his homework. He tore off the packaging and took out the brand-new Victory Magnum. It seemed to sparkle.

He installed two Huatai Batteries—Nanfu Batteries were too expensive for a little kid.

He carefully placed it on the ground.

Yes, the ground.

The Victory Magnum’s life was so short, and the mini 4WD anime was primarily to blame. It had utterly misled its young audience about how to play with mini 4WDs.

In the anime, the mini 4WDs could drive on tracks and on the street. They could accelerate, decelerate, turn, and even use Skills. The cars would race ahead while the kids ran after them...

’As if you could actually keep up with one of those things by running!’

His Victory Magnum, purchased for the "huge sum" of 15 yuan, shot off across the concrete floor. It couldn’t turn, of course, and slammed straight into a wall.

CRACK!

Lord Niu had a saying: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The wall was fine.

The car shattered into pieces.

Three weeks of allowance, gone with a single crash.

It was a perfect re-enactment of the Victory Magnum’s fate in the anime.

KNOCK KNOCK.

The sound of knocking pulled Zog from his sorrowful memories.

"They’re here," said Elsa.

"Oh, good. Have them come in."

The two brothers from the Ackley family, Hakan and Karaman, and the manga duo, Robben and Gallibelli, walked into the office.

"Elsa has already briefed you, right? I plan to make a toy called a ’mini 4WD’. We’ll need both a manga and the toy itself, with plans for an anime adaptation later on. The manga will come first. The toy will be released at this year’s expo, alongside our family car," Zog explained.

Robben was the first to raise his hand.

"Go ahead."

"What’s a ’mini 4WD’? And a ’family car’?"

"The family car doesn’t have much to do with you. It’s simply a car that an Ordinary working-class family can afford," Zog replied casually.

Easier said than done. The others were visibly astonished.

Neither horse-drawn carriages nor Magic-guided Vehicles were things an average working-class family could afford. The carriage itself wasn’t expensive, but the horse was.

As for Magic-guided Vehicles, they were the ultimate luxury item. The cheapest ones cost several hundred Gold Coins. Even for the two popular manga artists in the room, buying one would mean feeling the financial sting for a long time.

It was hard to imagine a world where cars were everywhere.

"When the time comes, cars will become a hot topic, which will generate buzz for toy cars as well. And a mini 4WD is a type of toy car that offers the fun of both track racing and hands-on assembly."

Then Zog asked Karaman, "Did you bring the toy Magic-guided Vehicles from your shop?"

"I did."

Karaman was carrying a case. He placed it on the floor and opened it, revealing several models of Magic-guided Vehicles.

"This is the model from William Workshop, this one’s from Cecilia Workshop..."

Karaman introduced them one by one.

Due to low demand and high difficulty of production, Magic-guided Vehicles weren’t mass-produced in large Factories. They mostly came from small, family-run workshops—the kind of business that might not make a sale for half a year, but one sale could support them for the next six months.

Similarly, toy Magic-guided Vehicles were also positioned as luxury items in the toy market.

They were handcrafted, highly detailed replicas of the real vehicles, used extensive Magic Alchemy Art, and could even be remote-controlled.

"These are their controllers."

Karaman lined up a row of completely different controllers on Zog’s desk.

"Why are all their controllers so different?" This pile of gadgets was completely beyond Zog’s expectations.

In order to study Feilin’s vehicle toys, he had tried out one toy Magic-guided Vehicle himself and had assumed all the others were more or less the same.

Karaman replied, "Because they’re meant to fully replicate the driving experience of a real Magic-guided Vehicle, and vehicles from different workshops are all driven differently."

The Red Dragon was speechless.

’The Magic-guided Vehicle industry is even more ridiculous than I thought.’

"In short, these are not toys for the mass market," Zog concluded.

"That’s right," Karaman confirmed. "And the only buyers are mostly adults, rarely children. Kids don’t really like this kind of toy. When adults buy them, they almost never play with them via remote control. They’re basically just display pieces."

"Good. So, putting price aside for a moment, why don’t they appeal to children?" Zog asked in return.

"Because they’re not cool enough?" Gallibelli answered, his tone uncertain. "That’s just my gut feeling, I could be wrong."

The designs of Magic-guided Vehicles, meant to suit the tastes of the nobility, all followed a stately and opulent style.

Their massive bodies and intricate carvings made them look completely devoid of any sense of speed.

"No, your intuition is spot on. For a toy to be appealing, visuals are the number one factor."

Zog then took out the sketches he had drawn.

They were of the Victory Magnum and the Hurricane Sonic.

The drawings weren’t detailed, but anyone who wasn’t blind could see the huge difference between them and the Magic-guided Vehicles.

The sharp lines and bold colors made them look like they were about to tear off the page.

Robben was immediately captivated by the designs of the two cars. "These look way cooler."

There was a sense of familiarity to them. The design philosophy felt a lot like the Mechanical Armor from *Mechanical Warrior*—practicality was an afterthought, and the main goal was to be as eye-catching as possible.