wait remember Magi Nation the animated series that was based off of a card game and had a
video game before the show would even come to be there's quite a bit here that went into this
Fantastical adventure with the show aspect feeling like the least talked about and the
most forgotten when it comes to it being in the cultural Zeitgeist but never fear I want to dive
into it all from its Origins to its expanding out into the show that it became we're gonna see what
Magi Nation started out as what it became and what happened to it well I wouldn't go that far
thank you Magi Nation from the most popular format of it being introduced to me was the animation
the show came out in Canada first on September 8 2007 and then a couple weeks later on September
22nd 2007 in the U.S it looked like a nicely made show that had all the elements of the other shows
surrounding it at the time that I was super into it had monster battles and magic and this feeling
of a grand Adventure so it definitely pulled me in initially I mean come on it has a theme song
that's catchy and it even has a whole middle mystery part like hey who's that creature but
in the world of the show we follow Tony Jones the most fake sounding name anyone could ever come up
with who is a kid from Earth brought to the Moon lands through the power of this ring necklace as
he is to be believed the final dreamer well I guess there is more than just one since he ends
up traveling with these two others he meets in the moon lands a magi Apprentice named Eden and a
shadow stalker named stragg if I'm throwing a lot at you right now I will explain these terms just
stick with me and maybe we'll get some McDonald's after this together this ragtag group must collect
dream Stones tame summon and use monsters known simply as dream creatures which rather than
catching them in some sort of device or logical way that shows how this function Works they kind
of just learn to trust you if you show that you're a good person to them then they'll just kind of
Aid on your cause then turn into these stones or gems that can be called upon for use later
it's not the most well thought out capturing and battling system but it works basically enough to
just get the creatures captured or stoned you know what befriended sounds better it's a nice
way of doing it a respect of the creature wanting to actually be with the Magi but it lacks any
um oomph or flashiness to it which while being more introspective comes off a lot
more lackluster and less satisfying in the end but that doesn't mean everything surrounding
just that bit is boring or uninteresting quite the opposite we follow a story surrounding this evil
Shadow Magi named agram voiced by Martin roach who was sealed away and locked within the 4 of the
moonlands for his evil ways because he is evil but what else do you do with an evil dude but thanks
to the strength of his void powers and persuasive Shadow manipulation he is trying to break free of
his prison with the only true adversary strong enough to defeat him being the final dreamer
ERS which is the one or or three that can sure dream the hardest or something seriously though
Tony voiced by Leon Smith is this teenage kid who isn't ready to become the hero this land
prophesized him as but through his time there and the friends that he meets along the way he's able
to really come into his own not being afraid to stand up against agram and do whatever it
takes to help the moon lands joining him on his adventures is Eden voiced by Martha Mac Isaac who
is from the Moon lands who not only is a great companion and friend overall to Tony being very
trustworthy but is the glue that keeps everything together on their Adventure as well as being an
ambitious Magi in training under Orwin a mentor figure that we spend some time with as well the
third member of the group is stragg voiced by Dan Patron who comes in handy on this adventure as a
shadow stalker being trained to directly deal with Shadow Magi to clear them out of the Moon lands in
general while he may have ties back to the Shadows through his bloodline he doesn't let that stop him
from doing what must be done often being the most focused and confident member of the group
The Creatures themselves do play a large role obviously in the show with more recurring ones
that are shown to be the main group's partner dream creatures like farak ooger and free but
not limited to only just seeing them with a nice variety of fun and imaginative creature designs
oh that's where the name comes from I get it now I'm learning the first season on its own
is pretty self-contained leaving season 2 to be this fun continuation of the show that takes the
series into some new territories and some cool new surprises to find and at least wrapping up
with an ending that doesn't just leave you on a cliffhanger wondering for the rest of your life
what the heck happened but as I mentioned at the start this show is not just a show it was built
upon the world of what both a card game and a video game built are around fiveish years
before this cartoon would come to be so let's explore what all that was because to understand
why this show exists and what it truly is we have to look at where it truly started
I imagine for all so first let's take a look at this the card game briefly since the card game
was technically the start of what this property would be really easily seeing the influences of
other card games and other franchises within the artwork style of the card and how it's played here
having this goal of essentially being a mid-tier level in difficulty and complexity compared to
others around it it's not as deep as magic but it may require more thinking than your average
game of Pokemon at the time releasing in October of 2000 this new to the scene card game was made
by interactive imagination or 2i with people who knew the space co-founded by Philip travel
who worked on the mechanics of the game and wanted to tailor them in a way that resembles
Magic the Gathering and Craig Richardson vonoy the other co-founder would play test the game
and make sure it was structurally sound along with professional game players to stress test
and curate it into something they would be more confident could work originally released under
the term limited to make the initial release a lot more special the set contain gained a
total of 190 cards and started the card series off with five regions which essentially are the
different gameplay styles to set up your tactics through attacking defense manipulation and denial
you and your opponent face off against each other with three Magi where you cast spells use relics
and summon these creatures to deplete the energy from opposing Magi to eventually win it's simple
enough to really pick up but deep enough to have fun with building a typing you Vibe with best
and working in strategies from there there was an actual attempt to make this a viable long-lasting
card game where after the original set came out and had a reprint in early 2001 there were four
expansions that ended up following that Awakening Dreams and Nightmares Dawn and voice of storms
with each set introducing more regions to the game the final expansion released in November
of 2002 meaning that the game lasted around two years and they did plan on releasing a fifth set
called Trader's reach as it was being worked on but never fully produced with other announcements
of a set called Daybreak and a new generation base set of sorts called second order but having
a potential focus on reworking previous cards with new artwork and updating them as the game
would grow to fit in the rules strategies and keep everything playable I always admire seeing
creators really support their card games as much as they can especially when it comes to stuff like
actual tournaments or at the bare minimum trying to support the community that is choosing to try
and support them 2i would help organize leagues in some tournament play that would also feature
earning some exclusive promo cards that only can be received at these events by defeating
someone who is representing 2i which makes them feel more rewarding more so than anything while
I was personally never big into the card game only somehow acquiring a few random cards here
and there over the last handful of years the card game had some balancing issues which could make
sense as the reason for some players dropping off of it and 2i wanting to revise some cards
with that second order set release the real big thing outside of the card game before we even get
to the show is the video game The Game Boy Color game of the same name it even pulled a Yu-Gi-Oh
no one came with cards inside well a card but it officially released in March of 2001 right
after the start of the card game as we follow this anime protagonist looking fella named Tony
Jones again the most fake sounding name anyone can ever come up with and a completely different look
from the show which I will get back to in just a bit he's a human who has been able to travel
from Earth to the Moon lands and looked at as this foreseen savior of the world where he must
take on all of the Shadow Magi that are in his way and face the ultimate Evil agram just like
the show would kind of eventually follow aggram here is using his abilities to enter the minds of
Magi on the surface from his residence in the core to manipulate them into becoming Shadow
Magi another easy enough premise to follow that makes the journey throughout the game interesting
enough but surprisingly the game features a lot of grinding as an RPG to get through it
as the main gameplay Loop consists of creature taming turn-based battling as the battles show
up as cards until you attack where you get some little fun animations the job of the game though
most importantly was to develop brand awareness with the game aim to bring more interest into the
card game itself but to give the game some genuine credit it on its own is a lot of fun the story can
be a bit generic in terms of the overall setup of the foreseen chosen one coming from Earth to this
other realm to save the day but the details from the graphic abilities of the Game Boy Color at the
time and how fleshed out The world seems it feels like a competently made shorter RPG experience
that is very much a fun time and seemingly very thought out in production feeling that a lot more
love went into the production of this game more so than just making it a marketing tool for the
card game The Shadow geyser dungeon-esque moments in the game do add a bit more fun and adjustments
to the battling gameplay offering you a bit more to do and feel like you're exploring more of the
world understanding the lore and finding all the secrets that the game holds sometimes though the
level designs can be a pain to navigate being either confusing in how to navigate or just not
being clear on the objective at hand so it's very give and take with what this game offers
but overall I'd say it's still a real really solid experience and a nice way to get into Magi nation
in general outside of either the card game or of course the show that would come years later but
when it came to the wider expansion of Magi Nation specifically bringing it to Japan they saw some
small but visually major differences for one Japan would get the Magi Nation game but now released
on the Game Boy Advance instead along with a complete rework of the main character gone is Tony
and hello is Dan a much more anime aesthetically created character that takes over anything Tommy
was on from being the main lead in the game to representation in the card game and even
a serialized Shonen digest manga series that would see a really cool manga adaptation of the property
just now featuring this Dan guy but that doesn't mean Tony was gone for good in fact in the puzzle
game Magi Nation Keeper's Quest Tony would be there for this us released game but it never came
out for the Game Boy Advance like it was trying to instead coming out for certain cell phones and
pdas stuff like that years later in 2003 a full-on sequel game to Magi Nation titled Magi Nation
invasion was in development for the Game Boy Advance to further the story of Tony and I guess
Dan in Japan but during development it was stopped and never finished at this point it seemed like
the end of the property the card game was done the video games were done and it seemed pretty radio
silent then after that a show would eventually be made out of the property which we basically
started going into as it would be a way to try and build from there a way back into the space
for awareness but essentially was a reinvention or reintroduction to capture a new audience with
a bit more Force this time similar to other card games or video games like this having a
hit cartoon to go along with their property cookie jar entertainment would get the license to this
property and really wanted to give the series another shot focusing on producing a show that
would last for two seasons with 52 episodes which is no small feat to do and wanted to re-expand
out into the larger world of merchandising and capitalizing on any hype around it while there
was no video game exactly like the original on the Game Boy Color cookie jar put focus into an MMORPG
that would be called battle for the moonlands in December of 2007 this game would go into a closed
beta phase to really test out everything with an official release in March of 2008 a month after
a small open Beta this was calculated by Cookie Jar as a part of their online on-air and on show
strategy wanting to have the show an online gaming experience and a physical one when it came to the
trading cards yes the trading card game would even make a comeback well at least it tried to in 2008
during the Run of this content strategy the card game was now in the hands of cookie jar as well
who wanted to release a new version of the Magi Nation card game but unfortunately this is where
the card game ended and nothing has come from its sense but we can see what differences there would
be in the look of these cards going for a more full-frame look to the artwork away from the
looking through a window sort of artwork it would have still retained a lot of the similarities to
the original card game but again nothing came of this as well as that MMORPG eventually closing
down thanks to not having a strong enough player base to hold up support on the game as well as the
other aspects of this property falling apart and ending but as far as the one thing that cookie jar
really wanted to push with this license how was Magi Nation as a show what did it offer in the
animation realm in terms of Storytelling adapting what source material was there while making some
significant changes to make a hopefully compelling story let's take a look I imagine Charmander
I imagine epic when we look at the show that would come years later there is one major difference
staring you right in the face Tony this is not this Tony Khan is the blonde hair and edgy late
90s early 2000s attitude and here is this brown haired typical quirky but determined protagonist
that takes the same name as the Tony we once knew and creates a whole new character essentially when
watching the show if you've never played the game then you got nothing to compare this to and to be
honest this is like a reboot in many ways wanting to start over with the story with Tony entering
the moon lands in a different way from the game meeting other characters to Adventure with feeling
more like a traditional Adventure Show or anime with three characters that travel around one
element that I think they were able to capture well in the show that reminds me of the game is
the way in which the characters learn and grow most times on their Adventures learning how to
be better at certain skills and tasks outside of just worrying about the creatures and bad guys the
video game really took its time to get you ready training you and teaching you things constantly
keeping a nice natural progression of what is happening the show to an extent of just seeing
these characters interact with one another and the others throughout the land really helps Drive the
camaraderie this group has the bonds that they build and their knowledge of everything this
world has to offer it may sometimes feel like information that outside of these characters
learning it feels really pointless to the overall plot and that is fair sometimes but I never really
minded it that much as I was enjoying these downtime more filler-esque moments in between
the larger story beats we get to dig deeper into the lineage of Tony where surprise the reason he
may just be here after all and be this great final dreamer along with the other two final dreamers is
that his grandfather was also a magi making his connection a lot more real and understandable
to this world in connection to the video games and what the card game set up for the lore of the Moon
lands and for this property I like how much this show tried to really tie back into it having use
of the Shadow geysers being these connections to the core where aggram is and seeing how he
has this power while even being sealed away and all the efforts that he goes through to get out
of there and cause unimaginable chaos while Our Heroes Have to gather all of these dream stones
that lead back to a final one supposedly being held by aggram himself or so at least we believe
at first it has a decent enough structure that likes to break the mold here and there with not
just wrapping up stories within the runtime but rather letting the stories breathe a little bit
having more of an impact especially when more serious moments happen throughout the show so
I appreciated that it respected me as an audience member enough to give me moments to ponder on or
speculate on making the experience revisiting the show a surprisingly really good time I can easily
see all the tropes that are here and that are present in every single other cartoon like this
for ones that have come before it to plenty that came after but I found the journey in
this specific show interesting enough that it has its own spin on these things and for that
kept me engaged with what it was offering it's not the deepest or most complex show but the
the lower surrounding it makes it worth to dive into especially with what's surrounding it from
the video game being a great and fun vessel to put yourself into the story of Tony to the
card game that is pretty cool saying that as someone who is a fan of collectible trading
and competitive card games and of course an exciting enough cartoon that is able to be
viewed and enjoyed with other programs along the likes of something like chaotic which this kind
of looks very similar to and that's thanks to dongwoo animation and entertainment fully
working on this series as an original production for them and having a hand working on the second
and third season of chaotic so I guess this shoe does fit there and again the show ended after 52
episodes throughout two seasons specifically because viewership was harshly declining as
well as ratings leading to a cancellation and it not even getting to finish airing the entirety of
season 2 on TV with the final 12 episodes being dropped online in 2010. in the end you can look
back to where it all started and still play into the Magi Nation card game but through through
the means of tabletop simulator online as there is still a fan base out there that is dedicated
to it and I love that the internet really can help bridge fandoms together like this whether
it's something bigger like Pokemon or something a bit more Niche like this and who knows anything
can come back these days and sometimes things do come back in different ways to make it more
accessible or to take it in new directions but fandoms do hold a lot of weight so being vocal
and showing your support for what you love truly can help make a difference more than it seems if
you're into card games video game RPGs based on card games or shows based on card games and RPG
video games then Magi nation is a multimedia property worth checking into even if it only
does you know all live in the past I do feel that there's a lot of fun to be had there in
a small yet active community that does a great job at maintaining what Magi nation was if you
watched played or collected anything to do with this series let me know your personal memories
and thoughts in the comments below thanks so much for watching like And subscribe later thank you