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 Super/real Robot Franchise Of The Week, A labor of love, for my beloved genre |
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 Feb 9 2009, 6:36 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
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Well, I made a promise a ways off that I would be more than an anime fanboy and just cover Japanese mecha shows. Today is the day I back up that promise. The year was 1983. For a long years, Japanese toy firm Bandai had a stranglehold grip on the market of small vehicles that turned into giant robots with their Machine Robo lineup. American toy company Hasbro wished to get in on the craze and during a visit to a Japanese toy show and decided that perhaps Japanese toy company Takara's own transforming robot lines might have a chance in the States. Buying the rights to distribute the toys in America, Hasbro decided to integrate the various lines into one to avoid confusion amongst buyers. Thanks to having good relations with Marvel Comics, they commissioned the comic company to draft up a story and names for the characters. To help spread the word, a television series and comics were made, along with other tie-in materials. The result was Transformers, which came out in 1984.
Now although the Transformers are self-aware, but they're still giant robots. I dare anyone to dispute this fact with me. And even though I'm wholly relying on Wikipedia, I better make this a good one, or P-Girl is going to kill me. And just so this doesn't kill me, I'm only tackling Generation 1 and Beast Wars and also covering a little bit about Animated. I am *not* getting into the Japanese continuity as a whole, because there are some things even Cthulhu dares not face. Anyways, the premise initially was pretty basic. Four million years ago, the planet Cybertron was home to the cybernetic individuals called Transformers. They ended up getting caught in bitter war between the more peaceful Autobots that wished for coexistence with other worlds, and the more militaristic and evil Decepticons. Their leaders are the still-iconic Optimus Prime and Megatron, who played the role of primary hero and villain respectively, or at least at first. The Autobots attempted to search for another world with a power source on board the Ark, however the Decepticons ambushed them in hopes of getting a decisive victory. The result was anything but. Both craft crash-landed on Earth, the Ark in a volcano, and lay dormant for all those hundreds of thousands of years. A chance volcano eruption awoke the Ark's computer in the year 1984, at which point it scanned for organisms so that the Autobots could go around without arousing attention. Catch is, it was not familiar with the notion of Carbon-based life and based these "disguises" off of machines. The Decepticons also awoke at about this time. Both sides ended up allying with humans as well, the Autobots becoming friends with the young Spike Witwicky and his father after Optimus Prime saved them and the Decepticons allying with the old Super Robot staple of the mad scientist, this time named Dr. Arkeville. Naturally the Witcky family were genuine friends with the Autobots, whilst Arkeville was planning on using the Decepticons for his own gains and to further his ambitions, eventually betraying them when Megatron's plans ran counter to his own. Because, you know, friendship and loyalty can't go with being evil. Blame Megatron and his evil ambitions. Anyways, the stories were usually episodic and the Autobots were nearly always victorious. To keep things interesting however, the Autobots and the Decepticons were always escalating the conflict (read that as introducing more characters for pushing merchandise) but the Decepticons also managed to score victories off-screen or through indirect battles, eventually seizing control of Cybertron. A movie was also launched in 1986, which took place in the distant future of 2005 where the Decepticons clearly had the advantage. In a brave charge, the Autobots attacked the planet and managed to retake it, Optimus Prime defeating Megatron in a duel at the cost of his life. This "Death of Optimus Prime" thing would be repeated a lot in many other continuities. It was also meant to be permanent, but parents were screaming Bloody Murder and their children were going to hang themselves, so he was eventually revived... LATER. Along with Optimus Prime, more than a few Autobots and Decepticons also bit the bullet, something that the writers couldn't get away with in the cartoon due to censorship rules. Anyways, that was not really the whole point of the movie, since there was also the revelation of the Quintessons, those that made the Transformers and Cybertron in the first place, and the villainous Unicron. Who was like Galactus, except a robot. And his name is an anagram of "Unicorn", and hence one of my friends can't take him seriously for that reason alone. How anyone cannot take someone seriously if they were ever voiced by Orson Welles (the man's last role, incidentally) is beyond me. Megatron is also revived by Unicron into the even more powerful Galvatron, and the Autobot Hot Rod eventually takes up the mantel (and Matrix) of Leadership to become the new Rodimus Prime and lead the Autobots. Season 3 picked up where the movie left off, complete with more space travel and visiting more planets than just Earth, which would be repeated in future series not related to the G1 timeline. It was also meant to have an entirely new cast until the designers realized doing so would mean discontinuing a LOT of models, so they decided that not all the main characters necessarily *had* to die. Optimus Prime eventually returned too to reclaim the "main character" chair from Rodimus. After that, in various stories you could count on the Optmius Prime character to die once, or at least get really injured and be put out of commission. Anyways, my memories of G1 are sparse because I rarely was able to watch it, and I was young. Now Transformers Beast Wars was a different thing altogether. And I can't find a good vid for its opening on youtube. Anyways, Beast Wars takes place in a bit of a weird time thing. The Autobots and the Decepticons have long since "upgraded" into being Maximals and Predacons, with another Megatron at the helm of the bad guys. Having information on a mysterious golden disc, Megatron plans to use this for evil on his ship. A group of Maximals are sent after him, let by the much more aggressive and not as upright successor to Optimus Prime, Optimus Primal. During a battle, the two ships get sent back in time, the Maximal ship deploying a bunch of Stasis Pods before crashing which contained underdeveloped Transformers. Over the course of the series, Stasis Pods would come down to Earth along with developed Maximals (or occasionally Predacons if the bad guys got to them first) and were used to introduce new characters. The transformation element was incorporated by explaining "raw" energon would cause the Transformers to short out if they were in their robot form for extended periods of time, so they adopted new "disguises" more for the sake of being able to function rather than having to hide. Since there were no machines, they based themselves off of nearby animals or at least the fossilized remains of them. Plot developments and interactions with the mysterious aliens known as the Vokk also helped change things up enough for Hasbro to be able to introduce new toy line ideas. Beast Wars was entirely in CG, which kinda worked since it was *entirely* in CG, rather than having the stupid idea of incorporating conspicuous CG with live-action or animated materials... something I curse Sci-Fi's b-movies and modern cartoons on both sides of the Pacific for. It also had Dinobot, someone I thought was really cool, and I curse myself for having missed the opportunity to watch the episode where he heroically sacrifices himself. Oh, speaking of that. Beast Wars had the guts to include genuine death in a kid's show and treated it with a great level of maturity. In some cases, it was merely to get boring or uninteresting characters out of the way (like Terrasaur and Scorpinok at the start of season 2) while other times it just came with the territory of making a war story. Nevertheless, at story's end, things were all patched up nicely and justice prevailed. And there was no Beast Machines. Ever. And even if it did somehow get to the drawing board, it would've been immediately canceled because people would realize its head writer deliberately disregarded the canon of Beast Wars and the character personalities because "He wanted to write his own story" and didn't want anything to get in the way. So yeah. Never happened. It did, however, have a number of Japanese sequels, which may or may not be worth your time watching. I don't know, because I haven't really looked into them. There was also the Transformers movie of 2007, which retooled some events and was generally considered a success thanks to making the transformations look believable and not campy. It included the return of a Witwhicky, called Sam because naming someone called "Spike" now seems kinda weird unless the guy reeks of awesomeness and kicking everyone's butt, along with the idea that Megatron crashed here more than a century ago and pretty much all technology in existence nowadays is thanks to reverse engineering him. They also got the original Optimus Prime and Megatron guys to reprise their roles, IIRC, which is a great homage to the original series. The military was also not completely useless and responsible enough to realize the Autobots were our allies eventually and helped them out. I saw it and I liked it. P-Girl also liked it, and my one friend gushed over it like a rabid fangirl before making a fanfiction idea of "Handlers" and "Frames", IIRC, that is currently spreading like a virus on fanfiction.net. She also went into Uber-Fangirl mode during the Superbowl commercial for the sequel movie. ANYWAYS, there's also Transformers Animated, which has a bit of a unique... animation style...
Naturally there was a bit of an outcry from the fan community due to this style, but the show has since redeemed itself due to intelligent writing. Well, that and having the awesomely large ham David Kaye who did Megatron in Beast Wars, Beast Machines, and the Unicron trilogy anime voice Optimus. This Optimus is also much younger... and wields an axe, no less. The axe is also a bit of an interesting thing. Most of the protagonists were not meant to be for combat, finding the fabled MacGuffin called the Allspark by pure accident and only then getting embroiled in the war against the Decepticons. Optimus Prime himself is a bit of a rookie leader and learning as he goes along as well and his axe is literally the only weapon amongst the protagonist arsenal initially intended for combat. His "subordinates" are all wash-ups that were just cleaning space bridges... and now they're suddenly up against the battle-seasoned and frighteningly capable Decepticon soldiers. The result is the quite reasonable and expected idea that in an all-out exchange, logic dictates the Decepticons would wipe out our heroes, so they usually only have to worry about one or two at a time instead. Even then, the fights are all uphill. Another thing that keeps the Decepticons as genuine threats is the inclusion of lots of human villains. This gives the show a bit of a superhero element to it, but when is that necessarily a bad thing? It seems to be doing well, and that's the important thing. Tragically, Transformers will probably never end up in a SRW game, or anything by Banpresto. This is mainly due to the fact that Takara and Bandai are still rivals to this day and the only Takara-related product that got in a SRW game was GaoGaiGar, which was made in collaboration with Sunrise, which in turn is owned by Bandai, which in turn owns Banpresto. But a man can dream though. And besides, the King of Braves GaoGaiGar has more than a few Transformers trappings in the designs of some of its robots. Oh, and Machine Robo? The series that was selling like hotcakes? Well, it's got its niche in history and a semi-decent first anime, but the rest of it is totally ignorable. Oh, how the mighty fell.
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Feb 9 2009, 7:04 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
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This was a truly nice piece, Morrigan, so I'm not going to kill you. (That, and I'm probably one of the more mellow ones, who knew a fanbase based on toys could be so scary?)
The best part of Transformers, in my eyes, is that it keeps renewing itself, while keeping the key part (Autobots vs. Decepticons) intact. They keep changing the balance of power (In G1 and Beast Wars, the stakes were equal. In the 2007 movieverse it was quite equal, but the Decepticons were obviously top tier (With the gleaming heap of pure death that was Megatron on top). And then came Animated, where the Autobots are basically screwed if you just look at sheer power. (Ultra Magnus, the highest Autobot leader seen up to date (And modelled after Thor, a freakin' GOD, was taken down by Starscream in one blow)
That's what I like; it keeps evolving into new things, leading in new fans while being quite nice to the older ones. (Transformers Animated is filled to the brim with shoutouts and homages to G1, Beast Wars and the Movie.)
And of course, you can't go wrong with Starscream, one of the best known animated traitors ever, if one of the lesser effective. (4 continuities and STILL not the big boss, that's gotta take special talent.)
But I'm ranting. Good job, and luckily you kept away from the 'RUINED FOREVER'! Trope. I hate that one.
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Feb 17 2009, 12:28 AM
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Cosmix Fairy
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Following up with my Transformers summary last week, focus will now be turned to the aftermath of the end of Transformers Generation 1. Takara's own anime shows tying into the Transformers continuity struggled to capture an audience and interest in the toys was slipping. Eager to prove they were not a one-trick pony (granted, that pony's one trick lasted for almost eight years), they contacted Sunrise Productions, creators of Gundam, and discussed making a new series. The result was the Braves metaseries, each show taking place in a separate continuity yet all possessing a few similar themes. The last of them was the genuine runaway hit, but I will at least briefly discuss the others.
The first in the series aired in 1990, and was called Brave Exkaiser. It is easily the most "Transformers-esque" of the franchise, which is a perfectly valid point. Takara literally took a number of Transformers toys that weren't selling well, revised and renamed them, and used them for this show. The premise involved the villainous robots known as the Geisters coming to Earth in search of various "treasures", with the Kaisers, a group of space policemen, following them. Unlike the Transformers, however, they were not designed to change in and out of two modes and had to instead possess vehicles. Exkaiser himself ended up possessing a family car, and his identity was quickly discovered. The young boy in the family grew to develop a strong bond with Exkaiser, creating a dynamic between the two that had been missing in Transformers. This would set a precedence in the Brave metaseries, wherein there would be focus put both on the giant robot hero and also a young boy, the two having a relationship which would vary from series to series, be it a brotherly, paternal, or just friendly connection. Exkaiser also drew inspiration from the old 1979 anime Future Robo Daltanius, having a lion's head jutting out of the chest of Exkaiser. This convention would carry over throughout the Braves metaseries. The next series, which aired immediately after Exkaiser with Fighbird.
Brave Sunfighter Fighbird took some of the conventions of Exkaiser and refined them. Once again, there was a space police force -although it was not in the same continuity as Exkaiser-, and once again, bad guys had come to Earth. This time, our hero ends up possessing a remarkably humanoid android who then combined with the airplane called the Fire Jet to become Fighbird. Fighbird and most of his friends also are supplied with combat machines to possess by a brilliant scientist, the nephew of which serves as the kid hero for the series this time. Fighbird was also less serious and had a great deal of humor at times, mainly dealing with Fighbird coping with interacting with humans. After which came Da-garn.
In stark contrast to Exkaiser and Fighbird, Da-garn put a *tremendous* amount of stress on its heroic boy Seiji, who instead was a bit older and was at home for extended periods of time without parental supervision. The robots were also not aliens this time, but in fact guardian spirits of the Earth summoned to oppose the powerful alien invaders. Seiji would actually lead them into battle and oversee their actions, essentially becoming more than a Witwhicky expy and required to pull his own weight. The alien generals themselves all took a page from Starscream's book as well, each plotting and having their own agendas meaning that although they might ally with their comrades for the sake of conquering Earth, they would do it only for the sake of their own agenda. Da-gar helped create the arc-driven Super Robot genre, meaning the stories weren't episodic and the villains weren't beat down every week. Battles could last several episodes on end, and were much more serious than those in Exkaiser or Fighbird by a wide margin. This would be inspiration for later installments of the metaseries. The series ended on a grimmer note, allowing a number of the protagonists to die a-la Gundam, but Da-garn was still well received and another Brave series was made, Gaine.
Brave Express Might Gaine, as you can see, includes lots of trains. Like its preceding series, Gaine built on ideas presented previously while bringing something new to the table; specifically character-driven plotlines. The machines themselves are advanced AI systems developed by yet another brilliant scientist, meant to oppose criminal networks that desire world domination. Like in Da-garn, the villains all have their own agendas and the stories include infighting amongst them. The little kid this time is Senpuuji Maito, the scientist's son, amateur crime-fighter, and railroad magnate... like Batman, in some ways. Like Seiji before him, he leads the robots into battle and does more than just stand around and cheer. However, Sunrise and Takara were getting into a bit of a bitter point in their relations, Sunrise finding new love for plots that didn't hinge entirely on stuff blowing up and big battles, and Takara wanting to sell more toys. Takara forced many characters to be introduced for no reason, and have pointless transformations as well. Sunrise got fed up with this all and lashed out, although they had also been bought by Bandai this time and it is possible that the demands from two toy companies at the same time pushed a few too many people too far. This culminated in an ending where Senpuuji discovers he and everyone he knows are fictional creations of an evil toy company using them to push merchandise, the final battles resulting in Senpuuji defeating his creators and defining his own existence. In spite of this... jarring criticism of Takara, the two still joined up to continue the franchise, this time with J-Decker.
Brave Police J-Decker was a step back towards less-dramatic storytelling yet still kept hold of some of Gaine's conventions, like the AI programs meant to defend humanity. Grade-schooler Yuuta Tominaga ends up meeting the police robot Decker and decides to be his friend. The informal interactions inspire Decker to take on human characteristics and develop a personality of his own. Yuuta soon joins the Brave Police force, helping out the other robots too as the battled the forces of evil. After that came the most popular Brave series up till that point, Goldran.
The Brave of Gold Goldran was... well, a *huge* step back in terms of seriousness, instead just being a very comical story with little plot but with a big sense of fun and adventure. The basic premise is three boys traveling around and awakening giant robots in crystals, known as Braves. Their principle enemy wasn't that dangerous or really evil, and the same went for his subordinates. This lack of a general plot helped kids keep track of everything, leading it to having the best television ratings among its young viewership. Anyways, after that came a radical divergence from the usual formula, Dagwon.
The year is 1996, and Ronin Warrior's popularity persuades Sunrise's developers to make a Braves series where there's a bunch of kids and they end up becoming the giant robots. A bunch of kids, recruited by the space police, are empowered to be able to turn into Dogwan to fight against intergalactic criminals that escaped to Earth. Though there were robots that would combine with them, they didn't really have much intelligence and there was no "bonding" motif like in the previous Braves. Anyways, by this time Evangelion was raping the premises of the Super Robot genre... and we needed a hero to remind us things weren't always dark and horrible... we needed... GAOGAIGAR!!!!!!!
The King of Braves GaoGaiGar was a return, after Evangelion's hellish portrayal of the battles against evil, to old-school dynamics. The heroes were courageous and good people, the villains were nefarious, and victory went to those with the willpower to claim it. It's the future! And a childless couple, on a winter night, run into a giant mechanical lion called Galeon and presented a young baby they name Mamoru. Mamoru grows up to be an ordinary kid, until one day during a field trip to a landfill, a mechanical monster known as a "Zonder", only to be saved by a red-haired cyborg named Gai Shishioh. Gai combines with the newly awakend Galeon before combining with a giant drill, a stealth bomber, and a bullet train, collectively known as the Gao machines, to become GaoGaiGar! Soldier of the Gutsy Geoid Guard, Gai is determined to defeat the Zonders who desire to take over the world. Mamoru is quickly shown to have powers of his own, freeing the "cores" of Zonders that are in fact human, and also supplying Gai with additional strength when his cybernetics went through a great deal of stress in the first few episodes. The GGG forces oversee actions from the sidelines, commanding and offering advice the the robots that do battle... and the robots are all pretty cool. There's the fire and ice duo EnRyu and HyoRyu, who combine together and serve a support and rescue role in the battles, the more intellectual and quiet Volfogg who serves as Mamoru's bodyguard, the powerful Goldymarg who transforms into a hand for GaoGaiGar so he can safely wield his hammer, the Engrish-spouting Mic Sounds 13th who attacks with sound, and the Chinese successors to the Ryus, FuuRyu and RaiRyu. The series had a large cast, as you can see, and that's just the robots. Mamoru also had a whole host of friends and school and there were plenty of people working at GGG as well. The plot and the characters ended up quickly going over the heads of little kids and resulted in low television ratings, but older viewers began in and the writers found their audience. The first 24-ish episodes are standard-fair, but after that point things improve greatly in terms of quality, returning to Da-garn's multi-episode battles. The series has some great battles, requiring a lot of strategy and everyone working together, and nobody ever seems to be really just "there". GaoGaiGar's DVD sales were phenomenal, enough to spawn several games, an inclusion into SRW in Alpha 2, side-story mangas, audio dramas, and a side-story. A de-facto sequel, Betterman, takes place in the same continuity and includes one character from GaoGaiGar (the older brother of one of Mamoru's friends), although is much more horror-themed. After that came an 8-part sequel OVA, GaoGaiGar FINAL, finishing off the story once and for all with a bittersweet yet still fulfilling conclusion. I've watched GaoGaiGar, and it is truly great. If you want something to cheer you up if you've seen Evangelion, go with GaoGaiGar. The story might start a little weak, but the writing *will* improve. And now, to finish this off, the attack exhibition of Genesic GaoGaiGar from SRW Alpha 3! WHOO!!!!
This post has been edited by MorriganAensland: Apr 12 2009, 7:33 PM
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Feb 23 2009, 4:35 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
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With this installment, I return to the world of Western works that include giant robots... and considering how close I am to covering G Gundam, I thought it would be appropriate to cover one of the stories that probably helped inspire it. It was a movie made in 1990. A movie called... Robot Jox.  Fifty years prior to the start of the movie, the world engages in a brutal nuclear war. The resulting destruction was so crippling that all-out war was hence forbidden by the world at large to provide the Earth a means of recovering its strength, no matter how gradually. The problems of the Cold War still exist, however, with the US-esque Western Market and the communist state known as the Russian Confederation. To avert the possibility of another nuclear war, all conflicts are declared to be resolved in one-on-one gladatorial battles. In giant robots. Giant robots, with motion-capture technology. Used to settle political disputes. So humanity doesn't resort to war again. Call me crazy, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to believe that someone at Sunrise had seen it and thought "We could make a Gundam story like this!" What's even more scary is that the two writers in charge had drastically differing views on how it should go. The main writer wanted a more serious story that would appeal to adults, the director wanting something trite and almost childlike. Thankfully, the producers stepped in and sided with the writer. G Gundam had a similar quirk, with the director wanting to tell a serious story with the producers wanting something trie and childlike, and the writers stepping in and (mostly) siding with the director. Anyways, those that pilot the robots are known as Jox, and their life is a dangerous one. To make sure they don't back down or run away if scared, each Jox's contract requires they participate in ten fights. However, this along with the tough life on the de-facto battlefield, makes many just want to get through those ten fights alive and get on with their lives. Our hero, a man named Achilles, is one of them. To date, the only jox that has survived his entire run is the now middle-aged Tex Conway, one of the people on Achilles's support team. Oddly enough, spectators still come to watch it like a form of entertainment. Achilles is considered the best pilot ever in the Western Market, but he just wants to end his career. He's gotten through nine matches, painfully watching from the sidelines as the other members of his team have been killed in battle against the Confederation pilot Alexander. There has been mentioning of a spy in the Western Market, leaking technical details for their machines to Alexander's support team and the Confederation in general, which the repeated defeats of the Market jox is attributed to. The Confederation's next target is reaquiring Alaska, with Achilles's final fight in his career being against Alexander. The battle initially starts off at a distance, the machines approaching each other and using projectile weapons before they are disabled for melee battle. The fight is fairly even at first, but during the close-range battle, Alexander uses a projectile attack, a Rocket Punch, which is an illegal move. The attack misses its mark and moves to hit a bunch of bleachers, Achilles using his machine to try to stop it only to get knocked back and fall on the bleachers. Lots of people die. This causes an uproar, the match being declared a draw and a rematch scheduled. Achilles, fed up with the lifestyle, still stand by the fact his match with Alexander was his tenth and he's entitled to retirement. This gets him a lot of negative publicity, but it also gives a Market scientist the opportunity to push his own line of "Gen Jox", robot pilots that have been augmented by genetic engineering. Athena, the star Gen Jox and the first female jox ever, his scheduled to fight in his place against Alexander. This news hits him kinda hard, and he worries she might die. Achilles returns, agreeing to one more fight, which infuriates Athena to no end due. Achilles meets up with his support team again, only to discover (along with Conway) that his new robot's deisgns are being kept under lock and key. Conway is furious about this, and we find out not too much later that he is the spy for the Confederation. Killing the robot's designer and claiming HE was the spy, Conway thinks he's home free. The day of the fight, Athena drugs Achilles and goes off to face Alexander instead. Against his new machine, she struggles badly and is eventually defeated, but Achilles steps in, first revealing that the designer recorder Conway killing him secretly, and also taking her place in the machine. Conway commits suicide and Alexander is disqualified, but the Russian jox refuses to stand down and continues dueling Achilles. Using a damaged machine, Achilles is at a disadvantage as he still tries to keep up with Alexander, managing to land some blows but unable to do serious damage. Eventually Achilles is forced to abandon his machine after it gets disabled, getting an idea when he spots Alexander's machine's severed arm (the only damage Athena did to him) on the battlefield. Hotwiring it, Achilles successfully fires it and destroys Alexander's machine with a well-placed Rocket Punch, but Alexander survives. The two of them then engage in an weary and undignified fistfight, each one injuring the other badly until Achilles finally gets Alexander on the ground, finally convincing him they don't have to fight to the death. I have to admit, the robot movements in 1990 are very well done for that time. Granted, not on par with the likes of Jurassic Park, but the machines moved around a lot and were not outlandish in their occasional transformation sequences. The story itself, like many around its time, was meant to humanize the Soviets and their communist beliefs; capable of being horrible people, but still people we should still try to reach out to and help. Alexander is the only member of the Russian Confederation we actually see on screen, and the only other villain was a member of the Western Market adhering to the capitalist idea of working with the highest bidder. I've seen some of the movie, but not all of it, and relied entirely on its wikipedia page for this entry. Special mention goes to Brian Clevenger of Nuklearpower fame for letting me know this movie exists, even if he doesn't know I exist. ^_^ Obviously, this has yet to appear in a SRW game, and probably never will. Boo-hoo.
This post has been edited by MorriganAensland: Feb 23 2009, 4:36 PM
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Mar 2 2009, 10:13 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
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Well, having been focused on American-inspired works for the past three weeks (The Braves metaseries was inspired by Transformers, after all) I think it's time to wrap it up with, without a doubt, the most recent and most amazing Western Super Robot show made in recent years, a show I was lucky enough to actually catch the pilot of when it was fighting for the right to get approved and picked up by Cartoon Network. A show that held nothing sacred on either side of the Pacific... MEGAS XLR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Megas XLR, drafted up by the creators of MTV's cartoon show Downtown after it got canceled, is an out and out comedy. The entire plot itself is fairly screwy, and granted it USUALLY sticks to a formula, it doesn't let things like that get in the way of laughs. The year is 3037, and humanity is waging a desperate war against the military might of the highly advanced Glorft. With the possibility of turning around the war in the present growing dimmer and dimmer with each battle, humanity decides to send the machine back into the future... only to send it TOO far back, into the year 1936. This machine, called the Mecha Earth Guard Attack System, or MEGAS, is left in a refuse pile until current-day slob and slacker Coop finds it and buys it for two dollars after being told "Everything in that pile is two bucks." Except he never actually PAYS those two bucks. Ever. Loving the idea of having a robot, Coop fixes it back up using lots of old video game controllers and replacing its missing head with an entire *car*... and just in time for one of the resistance members from the future, Kiva to arrive and demand it back. Unfortunately, the Glorft have since located its position in time and attack it, only for Kiva to realize due to Coop's RAMPANT modifications, he's the only one that can pilot it. After Coop uses MEGAS, or as he calls it, "XLR" (Extra Large Robot) to demolish the Glorft attack force, Kiva decides to at least try to get the materials to return to the future while Coop uses his machine for whatever, along with having fun with his best friend and fellow-slacker Jamie. The stories were episodic, but loved taking cheap shots at sci-fi culture of both Japan and America, often mocking various genres of anime and even specific shows, such as including look-alies for Brave Raideen and Sailor Moon along with a parody of one of the America-localized versions of the Ninja Science Team Gatchaman called the S-Force. They even managed to get Optimus Prime and Megatron's original voice actors to pitch in for one episode. MEGAS itself was, well... absurd, loaded with dozens and dozens of weapons such as the entire bow of the Yamato from Space Cruiser Yamato (Wave Motion Cannon included), an *inverted* version of Voltron's Blazing Sword (whacking the enemy with the "hilt" rather than the "blade"), and lots and lots of missiles. A running gag actually involved Coop having a button that would do whatever he wanted it to, and the show deliberately acknowledging it once with the button's label reading "The same button Coop pressed five minutes ago." The series tragically was canceled after two measly seasons and not even thirty episodes, but it is nonetheless well-remembered and loved, and is currently having a third season being told via comics thanks to DC picking up the license. Give the series a look if you ever want to watch something utterly silly... you won't be disappointed. And for those well-versed in giant robots and anime, it becomes all the sweeter. Unfortunately, it will probably never get a SRW appearance.
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Mar 9 2009, 6:04 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
Group: Members
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Joined: September 7 2007
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Update for some of Go Nagai's works are coming up. That being said...  This week, I'm covering a few of Go Nagai's lesser works... really the ones that there are wiki entries for. The first one I'm going over is Kotetsu Jeeg.
Kotetsu Jeeg, literally Steel Jeeg, came out in 1975 a few months after Getter Robo G started. It was the third Super Robot anime that Go Nagai had a hand in, and just like Mazinger Z and Getter Robo before it, it helped break new ground for the genre. Our hero is the young adult and ace car racer Hiroshi Shiba, son of a world-famous professor and archeologist. While his father is away on a trip, Hiroshi ends up nearly getting killed in an accident. On his deathbed, Hiroshi's father comes to his rescue after returning from a dig, working to rebuild Hiroshi into a cyborg. He then reveals to Hiroshi that when he was investigating some ruins of Japan's Yamata Kingdom (based on the real-life Japanese kingdom that started the process of uniting the country), he discovered a small bronze bell which held amazing powers in it, along with the fact mankind would soon be under attack. Queen Himika of the Yamata Kingdom (based off the real-life Queen Himiko and resembling Sister Jill from Go Nagai's previous work Cutie Honey), has since become a demon, waiting for a time to reclaim the Earth in her name. Supported by three generals and legions of Clay Phantoms, it falls on Hiroshi to save the day. Not by piloting a giant robot, but technically *becoming* one. Inside of Hiroshi's body, Professor Shiba has placed the bronze bell, enabling Hiroshi to turn into the head of a gigantic (well, compared to other giant robots not really) robot, which would then combine with various parts held together with strong magnets. This machine is called Kotetsu Jeeg. Professor Shiba's lab assistent and Hiroshi's love interest Miwa "Micchi" Uzuki pilots his support craft, the Big Shooter, which launches the other parts of Jeeg so that Hiroshi can combine with them. This gave Jeeg an interesting nature. Whereas if Getter Robo or Mazinger Z got trashed badly, it might mean game over for the battle, Hiroshi could continue fighting as long as Jeeg's head wasn't destroyed. Jeeg's body got totaled lots of times, but thanks to the fact replacement parts were always stored in the Big Shooter, that wasn't much of a loss. Jeeg also had specific parts to deal with certain situations, like the iconic Mach Drills that were Jeeg's primary means of flight. Anyways, Himika planned on summoning her master, which she accomplished about halfway through the series... only to be cast aside and defeated whilst Emperor Ryuma took over as the primary villain in the series. Jeeg still took him down in the end. I guess you could say Jeeg was the start of a new idea in Super Robot shows. Hiroshi was older and had to juggle his gig as the head of a giant robot with driving racecars, and a few of his friends from the track would pitch in on the battles as well... if only for comic relief roles a-la Boss and Boss Borot from Mazinger Z. The series, though not as well received as Mazinger Z and Getter Robo, still ran for 46 episodes and helped kick start the Real Robot genre by having a smaller robot (only ten meters... almost half that of Mazinger Z and the original Gundam) that relied heavily on support craft to match situations. It also started the convention of having Super Robots have an electromagnetic theme, which would carry over to the previously mentioned Combattler V and Voltes V, along with the lesser known Gakeen. Anyways, with the success Go Nagai was having with making Super Robot anime, TOEI commissioned him to make one for them that wasn't originally based on one of his manga (the case that had been with Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, and Kotetsu Jeeg). Go Nagai complied, and drafted up Daiku Maryu Gaiking. And no, Gaiking and Gakeen are too radically different series. Just wanted to throw that out there.
The title, literally "Great Demonic Sky Dragon Gaiking" is a bit of a misnomer. The Sky Dragon is not Gaiking, but the massive, skull-faced ship that the heroes operate from. This idea of having a mobile base everyone operated and traveled around on would also help inspire the idea of Real Robots, essentially the prototype version of the White Base from the original Gundam. Anyways, in Gaiking, aliens from the planet Zela are facing extinction as a black hole is gradually drawing their planet in. Desperate to continue the preservation of their species so they can continue military conquests, they set their eyes on Earth and decide to take it over, sending out the Dark Horror Army to do the job. The Dark Horror Army, however, is hesitant to attack when they realize that there are a number of people on Earth possessing strong psychic powers that could make all-out war difficult and costly for them. Instead, the Army sends out assassins to kill the psychics via subtle means. A number of them quickly realize what is happening, and begin work on a machine that can provide them the means of battling the Army. This becomes the Sky Dragon. However, there is also the issue of who to pilot the prime defender of the Sky Dragon, the machine Gaiking. Due to various mumbo jumbo issues, only people with a certain psychic trait can pilot them, and they're dropping like flies. The last one, a star baseball player named Sanshiro Tsuwabuki, is saved from the Dark Horror Empire's assassination attempt at the last minute, although a wrist injury he gets also ruins his pitching career. Deciding to pilot Gaiking, Sanshiro gradually develops his psychic powers, which are really quite similar to Gambit's from X-Men with charging things up with energy. Gaiking continues Go Nagai's tradition of giving the protagonist a demonic-looking machine, and Gaiking can also remove its facial covering to provide it with more weapons underneath. It maintained the Super Robot staple of the Rocket punch as well, and the series ran for 44 episodes. The thing about Gaiking that stands out the most, however, is that TOEI removed Go Nagai's names from the credits for the series. Naturally, Go Nagai was furious with this betrayal after he had been on such good terms with them, and got dragged down into a bloody, 10-year-long legal struggle to keep the right of Gaiking's creator. He won in the end though. The damage was done though, causing Go Nagai to close relations with TOEI for a long time and work with other studies, causing TOEI to look for new talent to take Nagai's place with making Super Robot anime, leading Tomino and Nagahama to pave the way with the likes of Zambot 3 and Combattler V. The last of the three 1970s works I'm covering is probably the least well known, Gloizer X.
Gloizer X was the first Super Robot series Go Nagai made for another studio, and it's really quite basic. It was just meant to be a simple story he'd throw ideas around while working on Mazinger and Getter Robo projects, since there were lots of crossover movies between them in the early 70s. That being said, it still got enough substance Nagai decided to make it into an anime in1976, and it fared decently. With Gloizer, it turned out a bunch of the Gaira aliens were hiding in the Arctic, were planning to take over the Earth. It seems all those guys wanted to do that. Anyways, they captured the brilliant Dr. Yan and his daughter Rita and forced Yan to make a machine they could use to spearhead the invasion and also counter any retaliatory strikes. Yan construted Gloizer, a giant robot in the shape of a jet that could assume a traditional Super Robot form when the need arose. Nearing completion, Yan managed to provide Rita a means to escape, at which she stole Gloizer and fled to Japan where she met Joe Kaisaka. Together, they decided to use Gloizer o battle the Gaira aliens. This effectively became the first time in Super Robot history that I know of that a woman had an equal standing with the hero, working together and sharing the piloting duties fifty-fifty. Magne Robo Gakeen, created by another director for TOEI later that year, took the idea and expanded it a little further. Gloizer never really stood out in Japan, which by now had become oversaturated with Super Robots and was gradually nearing the gritty end of the spectrum with Zambot 3, the original Gundam, and Ideon. However, it has a massive fanbase in Brazil to this day due to the fact it is the only Super Robot anime that aired there in its entirety. Voltes V also got a shot there, but tanked after five episodes. My other two series I am covering today are in fact remakes. In 2005, someone got the idea to do a reimagining of Gaiking, taking some ideas from it but taking the series in a different direction. This might sound very, very stupid, but remember that Giant Robo's OVA was a tremendous revision of the original story, and Dancougar also got a revised remake that bore little in common with the original but still was a success.
This remake, called Gaiking: Legend of the Daiku Maryu or sometimes just Neo Gaiking, replaces Sanshiro with a young boy named Daiya Tsuwabaki. Humorously, his voice actor also voices Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece due to the habit of having women voice young boys... but she also did Icy in the Japanese dub of Winx. Funny, eh? This remake also ditches the idea of psychic powers, at least as far as I can tell (I've only watched one episode since Nanoha's much more pressing). Five years prior to the start of the series, Daiya and his father were fishing on the ocean when a storm kicked up and monsters attacked them. The Daiku Maryu arrived and saved them, but Daiya's father went missing and many believe him dead. Daiya, however, refuses to believe that and has been training furiously so he can take his revenge on the monsters. His loudmouth nature causes him some trouble, many people thinking him an idiot for talking about monsters the way he does. Nonetheless, Daiya has put himself in phenomenal shape, capable of outrunning skilled sprinters at least twice his age *while* running uphill *without* warming up and *with* a heavy backpack. In contrast to the original, Neo Gaiking includes more than one Sky Dragon machine, each capable of making their own giant robots as well. Three ships in total, Daiku Maryu, Daichi Maryu, and Tenku Maryu, all are used by the protagonists (the latter two after defeating the villains for them), which adds an element of teamwork to the story. Anyways, it ran for 39 episodes, and once I get through Nanoha, I'll probably pick it back up again. And last and CERTAINLY not least is one of the most recent Go Nagai productions... a Jeeg sequel.
Kotetsushin Jeeg, or New Steel Jeeg OR Steel God Jeeg, is a bit of an AU sequel to the original Jeeg that changes a few things up but still works out well in the end. The story begins during one of Jeeg's final battles against Queen Himika during an all-out hellfest in the Kyushu region of Japan. The Japanese Self-Defense Force is called in to assist, but even then things look hopeless. During the battle, Miwa and the Big Shooter are shot down and then... a "miracle" happens, with a thick, impenetrable fog forming around Kyushu that somehow seals off the region, Jeeg, the remaining JSDF forces, and the Yamada Kingdom from the rest of Japan. Fifty years later, our story begins anew, focusing on hot-blooded Kenji Kusanagi, one of the star motorcycle racers of Shiba Industries along with his rival and classmate Kyo Misume. They are also good friends with a shrine maiden/cheerleader for their team, Tsubaki Tamashiro... Who just so happens to be a much older and mature Miwa's adoptive granddaughter. Hiroshi's very old but still living father taking a backseat for R&D, Miwa decides to take charge of the new Build Base, along with recruiting a new female JSDF ace and two other female pilots who narrowly escaped from the barrier only to find themselves thrown into the future. They all suspect that the Yamada Kingdom is not entirely gone, and their suspicions are correct. Another Clay Phantom attacks, with Kenji finding himself face to face with Miwa at the shrine, only to discover a motorcycle entrusted to him empowered with another of the bronze bells. With this, and Tsubaki and Kyo piloting a new Big Shooter, Kenji is able to have the motorcycle become the head for the new Jeeg which he can pilot. However, during his first battle, crazy stuff happens and causes the radius of the barrier to expand, drawing the Build Base and Kenji into the now hellish Kyushu. Very little time has passed for them, causing Professor Shiba to discover his long-lost wife and young daughter were in Kyushu during the battle... and whereas he's aged fifty years, barely a day's gone by for them. They also find a number of the parts and materials of the first Jeeg, and set about restoring them. Oddly, Hiroshi Shiba, the first Jeeg, is nowhere to be seen. The thirteen-part OVA chronicles Kenji's struggles to defeat the Yamata Kingdom once and for all, taking a number of steps that are a far cry from the nature of the original series, such as the revelation that Himika was in fact an alien and the bronze bells were in fact the power source of the vessel she was held captive on. This is arguably a case of doing in the wizard, but there's still a great deal of mysticism and awesomeness in the series, especially when Hiroshi does at long last return near the end of the series so we can get a double Jeeg smackdown. The series overall was pretty good, and my only complaint is the inclusion of CONSPICUOUS CG!!!! Oh, how I hate it. At any rate, it wasn't too bad. The OVA series was perfectly fine otherwise, including in it the old school Go Nagai perverse humor, some good fights, and top-notch songs by JAM Project. The story's presented in a way you can know next to nothing about the original Jeeg and still understand what's happening in this one, which is also good. Now, currently only the original Jeeg and Gaiking have been in Super Robot Wars games, although the upcoming SRW K will have the remakes of both included as well. Jeeg and Gaiking debuted in Super Robot Wars Alpha 2 and were also in Alpha 3. It is funny to note that Hiroshi and Gai sorta had a bit of a rivalry in the SRW little gag comics, with Hiroshi being sorta a loser since his cyborg form (although cool and demonic looking) seemed less impressive than Gai's shiny nature. Anyways... Jeeg's attacks in Alpha 3. Note he's voiced by the same guy that did Amuro Ray from Gundam. The Mach Drill thing gets done three times, just to let you know.
And here's Gaiking. Tragically, the only exhibition I could find had it as an AMV using the full length version of the Neo Gaiking song instead of the actual audio track from the game. Oh well, the sequence is still awesome.
This post has been edited by MorriganAensland: Mar 9 2009, 4:06 PM
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Mar 16 2009, 7:25 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
Group: Members
Posts: 3,850
Joined: September 7 2007
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Update time. Today's series is Super Machine Beast God Dancougar.
Dancougar came out in April 4, 1985 and ran for 38 episodes. It was considered a very successful and groundbreaking Super Robot show that received a number of follow-up OVAs that served as an epilogue, sequel, and also an image song episode. The series also broke traditional Super Robot rules and conventions that had gotten their start a few years later with Braiger; specifically the idea of a four-man team. Due to Japan's negative stigma and unlucky feeling towards the number, Braiger broke the mold of the usual five man teams (like Golion, Voltes, and Combattler) or three man teams (Zambot, Baldios, Ideon, or Godsigma), but it still just had one giant robot. Dancougar took it one step further and had four separate machines, first that resembled vehicles, which changed to become large mechanical animals, which changed into humanoid robots, and finally combined to form Dancougar. The premise was pretty basic: the alien Muge Zorbados Empire has taken over a great part of the Earth and is seemingly unstoppable. Allying with a still-standing Russian army led by General Ross Igor called the Jyunsenki Tai or "Cyber Beast Force" in English, the brilliant scientist Kotaru Hazuki constructs for machines, the Eagle Fighter, Land Cougar, Land Liger, and Big Moth (actually a mammoth) that can fight agaisnt the Empire's monsters. Piloting them are accomplished and prodigy soldiers, restructuring the Five Man band to be something else. Hot-blooded even more than Ryoma Nagare from Getter Robo, the chief hero is Shinobu Fujiwara, who is supported by the equally hot-headed redhead Sara Yuki, young but determined Masako Shikibu, and the quiet and laid-back Ryo Shiba. Helping them out is a former Austrialian military commander Shapiro Keats -who is engaged in a romance with Sara-, a young girl named Laura who is Masako's best friend and in the care of the Jyunsenki Tai, and Ross Igor's young and impulsive son Alan, who quickly finds him at odds with his father's strategies in the war against the Empire. Ross himself seems very harsh and unyielding in his orders, but in reality he simply understood the dire nature of the situation at hand and wanted to keep the Muge Zorbados Empire at bay long enough for humanity to recover from being conquered. During this time, Igor hopes to locate the Empire's headquarters (the moon), and launch a full scale attack to beat them back. Dancougar had a great deal of spiritualism to it, partly due to Ryo's mannerisms and beliefs. However, there was also a lot of Christian symbology included, the Emperor practically a villainous equivalent of God. In fact, Dancougar's name is made up of Kanji that, literally translated, would me "Suppressing emotions", a Taoist belief. Dancougar also broke ground in another way; the titular robot didn't even show up until nearly halfway through the series! Until that point, Shinobu and his friends had to fight in their individual machines and use teamwork to defeat their larger and more dangerous threats, and even then, it wasn't uncommon for Dancougar to break apart for an elaborate but effective group beatdown that was pretty fun to use in Super Robot Wars. Alan also eventually develops an eagle-based machine known as the Black Wing which just fought on is own in the series, but in various SRW games could attach to Dancougar to make it the even stronger Final Dancougar , although this was absent in the original series as Alan died and the Black Wing was destroyed four episodes from the end. The story reflects the grittier nature that the Super Robot series was going in after the various Real Robot series of the early 80s, with a few of the main characters dying and Shapiro Keats becoming a villain a short ways into the series. Shapiro also broke conventions because rather than being the scheming and utterly ineffectual human villain, he was one of the most dangerous threats to Dancougar and grew more and more ruthless with each battle against the heroes, causing Sara no small amount of distress. In the end, however, Shapiro was just a man and was anticlimactically killed by Sara with a mundane handgun. Emperor Muge Zorbados, however, was a much, MUCH greater challenge and required the combined effort of everyone to defeat, and even then it was an uphill battle all the way through. But the day was saved, the series was a great success, and spawned several OVAs that continued the franchise. Two years ago, however, a "sequel" to Dancougar was made although it had much more in common with the previously made Overweight God Gravion, another successful Super Robot series of the 21st century. This series, Dancougar Nova, ran for twelve episodes and changed a few things up.
First of all, yes, the main protagonist this time is a woman, Aoi Hidaka. She is obviously physically based off of Sara from the original Dancougar, but instead of being a soldier is instead an racecar driver and a part-time model. However, she quits being a racer a few episodes into this new series, Dancougar Nova, so she can focus on her piloting and modeling duties. Rounding out the team for this new Dancougar is the also female Kurara Tachibana, accomplished policewoman with an unshakeable belief in justice, homeless bum and laid-back drifter Sakuya Kamon, and straight-man Johnny Burnette who is in fact very intelligent and well-versed about dozens of subjects. The year is 2104, and small scale wars had sprung up all over the globe. A new Dancougar, stated to be built based on designs of an ancient guardian of mankind that defeated an extraterrestrial force (possibly this is the original Dancougar), is made to help bring about peace. This new series ran for 12 episodes, similar to the first two seasons of Gravion, and had an adventurous flair to it in contrast to the more serious and military feel of the original. Dancougar's support team consisted of a number of women as well, including a prodigy psychiatrist that was based off of Nadesico's Ruri, meaning a young, smart mouthed girl that was often times the most intelligent person in the room. Thankfully, her ability did not get blown to Mary Sue proportions like Ruri's did. The series does include, however, a machine similar to the Black Wing called the R-Daigun, in fact an enemy vessel at first, that helps unlock Dancougar's full power, similar to the creation of Final Dancougar in the Super Robot Wars games. Dancougar Nova was not as well received as the original Dancougar, but it still got positive marks from much of the anime community. Anyways, the series has certainly left its mark, appearing many times in Super Robot Wars games, particularly the Alpha series where it was present in all but Alpha 2, where it was explained that Dancougar had been assigned to a different military front. It also appeared in the Compact 2 trilogy, which was large and in depth enough to include the various OVAs of the original series, along with the prototype version of the original Alpha called Shin Super Robot Wars, the N64 SRW game, and the Game Cube game. Shapiro is often shown to be one of the most dangerous individuals in these games, succeeding in being one of the final villains if not THE final villain in Super Robot Wars F/Final depending on which route you take along with giving you utter hell in other routes. In both Shin Super Robot Wars and Super Robot Wars J, he strikes an alliance with the villains from Layzner, and in both cases this proves to be a soul-crushingly difficult tag team to overcome. Dancougar is also often considered a risky unit to use without properly upgrading it first, due to the fact its offensive capabilities are very impressive... once you beef up its morale. Its defense is also rather lacking at first, and it is nearly useless in terms of tanking. That being said, having access to four (later five once Alan joins up to make Final Dancougar) sets of Spirit commands makes Dancougar a very worthwhile machine to use as long as you work on reducing the problems its weaknesses cause. The long range of its best attacks arguably make it more useful than other "five man machines" like Voltes or Combattler V which are nearly useless at long range. Unfortunately, Super Robot Wars has yet to include Dancougar Nova in any of their games, but it is likely they will include it soon, considering they added Gravion into Super Robot Wars Z. This video mainly shows attacks of Dancougar and Final Dancougar, which means you'll pretty much be seeing all the same attacks shown twice. Note that Shinobu's voice actor is the same as the guy that did Judau Ashta from Gundam ZZ. Funny how things work out, eh?
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Mar 18 2009, 12:00 AM
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Butterflix Fairy
Group: Members
Posts: 1,093
Joined: May 13 2008
From: The Depths
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alright. time for me to get to work. Be warned this post is going to ruin everything about seed, and If I was to put stuff in spoiler tags/boxes, I'd probably have to put the entire post in one, so no go. Gundam Seed. I'm going to be splitting the entire thing into sections so that its easier for me to *ahem* 'express' my opinions. First up, Setting. okay, this is probably the only resemblance to the original Gundam is. the Earth Forces (aka the Feddies) and ZAFT (aka Zeon) have been at each other since the "Bloody Valentine" incident. What that incident is that the Blue Cosmos faction (think like the Titans from Zeta only more fanatical instead of cunning) nuked a PLANT. (PLANTs are hourglass shaped space colonies, which I think are stupid but I'll explain that later). the Reasoning behind the bombing of a colony? the difference between a Coordinator and a Natural. (which I'll get to later) This caused ZAFT to retaliate by slamming the Earth full of Neutron Jammers (Which I Utterly Hate, discussed later) which cause a world wide power shortage, blah blah blah. But there's a Third Party in this global war, Orb which is kinda like the Switzerland of "Cosmic Era" (Gundam term for this time line). the anime actually starts out like the original gundam (very slightly) having us watch the ZAFT soldiers infiltrate an Orb colony to do something or other. and while that starts it of it does a switch with the actual main character (should have been a small secondary character that dies a few episodes after his introduction) Kira Yamato going to help with some research into mobile suit movement. it basically plays out to ending with Kira facing his childhood friend (the leader of the ZAFT infiltration unit) Athrun Zala on top of one of the Five gundams developed by Orb. it basically ends with Kira being commandeered to pilot the Strike Gundam while the other four were stolen by ZAFT. from then on, its nothing but battles and crazy (not) fun times on the Archangel (the poor stand-in for White Base). Alright, now on to Technology. I have some serious BEEF with Seed's technology. first off I'll start with the Phase Shift armor (aka Plot armor!). its somewhat explained (HA!) as imparting an electric current through the armor of the MS thus lessening the impact of BOTH physical and beam attacks. Okay I can see it dampening the effects of beam weaponry, but physical? no way in hell is that ever going to happen. and plus if it lessens the damage taken then why don't we see the damage actually incurred in the fight? makes no SENSE! (probably going to be saying that a lot). its basically a plot device to make things interesting, only it fails because its not done properly. On to my favorite subject, the Neutron Jammers (and the things that negate them). Urgh, the N-Jammers are a wonder piece of technology that Negate (not subdue, there's a major difference) of the Nuclear reactions on the atomic level. while yes that makes things interesting, except if you've taken any science course involving chemistry and physics that is. something that could negate the energetic reaction of nuclear fission/fusion would probably also negate every other type of reaction as well. meaning that the oxygen wouldn't get to your brain, you couldn't digest food, and most of all it would stop every chemical reaction from taking place. meaning that such a technology would be really really deadly to anyone turning it on. the N-Jammer Cancelor (real original there, real original) basically negates the negator via ol' TV Tropes Standard A Wizard Did It. also it somewhat (not even close) explains the Zero system-esk (read as blatant rip-off) targeting and console set up. they don't even attempt to explain it other than it only effects a small amount of area. okay now that those two things are out of the time for the minor infractions upon my beloved genre of Science fiction (sub catagory Giant (real) Mecha). I hate that the only the colonies by Orb are the only ones that actually make sense. the entire PLANTs don't make sense because there's no artificial gravity so how can there be gravity in something stationary. On to the mobile suits, they are powered by BATTERIES! I don't care how advanced it is, there's no way a battery can sustain a mobile suit for the lengths that are (estimated) used for the battles. nothing can do that! nor can batteries power a beam rifle (that's what I'm calling it), to take out a (rough estimate) a 100 yard diameter chunk of a space colony wall and vaporize it. and when they finally give the damn things actual reactors (fission, and not Fusion) it just pisses me off! and possibly the final thing in the technology is the Super weapons. first up is the Cyclops system, employed by the Earth forces to wipe out a good part of the ZAFT forces a la Titans method of blowing up the base. only they leave good troops there instead of deserting the entire thing. its actually based on really hard science (Microwaves! w00t hot dogs anyone?) only they take it to a bit to the unrealistic side having people explode in a rather flashy manner as well as the mobile suits (the suits would probably just short out, not explode because of the BATTERIES!) I have nothing wrong with the actual weapon itself just how it was depicted and deployed. and now to GENESIS, a huge nuclear cannon (for those who've watched the Original Gundam, its kinda like the Solar Ray Cannon only nuclear powered instead of solar), and while in theory the idea of it is pretty sound, the actuality of its use is not quite right. GENESIS is supposedly a Gamma ray cannon, but acts more like the Charged Particle Cannon only a bit more larger area. finished with Technology, on to Naturals and Coordinators. basically some time ago in CE some guy revealed that he was a genetically altered human. he eventually termed what the genetically altered humans would be called Coordinators. as a hard core science fiction fan, there are somethings I can let slide, gene modification isn't new, but the way its shown is that Coordinators are like some kind of demi-humans compared to Naturals (and that explains that.). I can see modifying genes so that the heart, skeletal structure, and organ tissue don't degenerate in space, but It stops once people say the can use it to create the perfect singing voice, or enhanced reaction speeds past that of normal. (its really hard to mess with those things!) and having a Coordinator reprogram an entire Operating System for a giant mecha in under 10 seconds really beyond my suspension of disbelief. although later in the series the actually address that even the genes still get modified by being born in a natural way (aka from a mother's womb). however, this is not the case with two people who will be known when I get to them, because they are the only two to have been born in an artificial womb. anyways because after the initial thing of finding out of genetically modified humans there rose (as usual) a group of people who were opposed to the idea. this is basically the first faction of the Blue Cosmos (Titans, only less on suppression and more on outright killing). then there are the ZAFT equivalent (which are never given a name) that thinks all Naturals should be erased so that Humanity can move on. the only world power that doesn't subscribe to either of these screwed up philosophies is Orb. and now to Characters (and so much pain!) There are a bunch of characters that really shouldn't be in the series 'cause it just clutters it up and sometimes makes it hard to know who's doing what. and the fact that most of them are 2D personalities. so I'll only focus on those that really either stuck in my mind (mostly by how F***ing stupid they were or if they actually got some character development.) the rest are mostly just there to make it seem like there's a lot going on but it really isn't. first two up are the (Non)CHAR and his counter part the QUATTRO. Rau le Creuset and Mu La Flaga. Le Crumpet (my nickname for him since he just sits there like a crumpet, cause no one really eats crumpets) is supposed to be the Char of the series and fails horribly for most of the series. he doesn't have the respect of his subordinates, he rarely pilots his custom mecha (painted WHITE, such atrocities to the name of CHAR!), even his ambitions of world domination are quite apparent (Char was actually more subtle and actually quite good at keeping it a secret). Hell we don't even get to see his face at all during the series! every Char has had their face shown ONCE during their series with the exception of this guy. over all he's not really filling the slot as a Char but more of a cardboard stand in that falls at the most inappropriate moment. he only has one Char trait though, he's a Newtype. (its the Newtype Flash! how'd that get in the series? Newtypes don't exist in CE.) However there is only draw back, it only appears with his counter part Mu La Flaga, who is also a Newtype. (but he's okay because he's not a genetic horror modified human) La Flaga however is either supposed to be the Ryu (nope, not big and neither Hispanic) or the Quattro (not that either, wears purple, and is stuck in a support role and isn't a very good pilot) but to me he comes very close to Roy Fokker from Macross. he's mostly piloting aircraft (plains and stuff) for most of the series until about the end when Yamato gets his upgrade. (I refuse to call him Kira, for there's only one Kira) and even then he's not that great. there's more to talk about but I'm going to leave that to a different section. next up the Crew of the Archangel. they really suck and don't deserve this. okay now for the actual version. they Really do suck. mostly because its a bunch of people who really don't want to fight in the war, then they do, and then they just don't know what the hell goes on. the Captain ( Murrue Ramius ) is no Bright, not even close. she's very afraid of fighting and very reluctant to be a captain. her first mate (can't remember what her actual station was) is more of a battle maiden then her (Natarle Badgiruel {looks like Badgirl to me}) but she has her own faults. there are others but they're just there for cast filler. basically the crew of the other two ships (with a couple of people excepted for different reason) are mostly not-entities. now onto the Love interests. Cagalli Lacus clyne is the one that owns the Pink Haro. (F***ing PINK HARO!) she's a pop-idol for ZAFT Colonies, and yet she's very naive, at least in the beginning. Yamato starts falling for her when they pick her up from the wreckage of the colony that got nuked in the 'Bloody Valentine' Incident. and honestly she fits him, completely useless and way too idealistic. and in the latter 15 episodes she goes form naive to freaking La Resistance master. and that just irks me, because its just not really good plot development, and the fact that it felt forced. now to Cagalli Flay Allster, who I've dubbed Psycho-B****. She's the daughter of the Peace talks diplomat and she her self is very conceited and not really good as a character (with exceptions of here Psycho moments, those are pure comedy gold.) she basically tries to manipulate Yamato (via a good boinking, not going to explain that) into killing off every Coordinator after her father is killed by one of the enemy Gundams early in the series. then during when the archangel finally got to the Earth forces HQ she gets kidnapped during the resulting explosions by Le Crumpet. she then spends most of the rest of the series (until about the last 5) watching the war from a ZAFT ship. and when she finally gets back, she's now in the hands of Azrael (never a good name, who shall be explained later) who is part of the Earth forces, and she's holding the design plans for the N-Jammer Cancelor. (that incident is going to be covered later, once again) and thankfully episode 50 (final one) SHE DIES! Cagalli however isn't a love interest, at least thats not how she turns out to be, but I'm damn sure she was originally presented as one. he's head strong, tomboyish, a princess/daughter of Orb's leader, poor shot, cruddy at piloting any mobile suit (with one exception but that one is just NOT RIGHT.), oh and she's Yamato's long lost sister. born naturally, no gene modding. and for the life of me, I just can't get it out of my head that she's supposed to be a love interest, even if that is just wrong. it boils down to the fact that she shows up, has a very high interest in Yamato, and it just degrades from there. on to the other side, ZAFT people of mention (most of which I kinda like). Yzak and Dearka are two of the pilots of two of the stolen gundam units. I'll start with Yzak. HE IS VOICED BY DOMON KASSHU! which means he gets points for being hot blooded, has a sense of revenge, and the fact that he has a great sense of honor. the actual character stays with ZAFT because he thinks they're doing the honorable thing. while the character mostly stays the same for the series, I like him because of his resolve to fight to the bitter end. except for the ending part where he switches sides. that I like for a different reason (he Killed a Druggie! its not as bad as it sounds). he actually refuses to fight when ZAFT disables the Earth Forces after their Titan-esk plan, because he finds no honor in killing defenseless people. Dearka, I like him because out of the entire cast, he actually got a great amount of character development (something in this series that was lacking). he got captured before the Titan plan and basically got a couple of near death experiences from being at the wrong place at the wrong time. (tried to get killed by a knife and then immediately afterwords shot at by a gun). he learned that he wasn't just fighting some faceless enemy, but real people (unlike some people in this series). he did join the Archangel after they became traitors, but that's just part of his character development. thankfully Dearka and Yzak survive the series. now onto the Ramba Ral character. Andrew Waltfeld is introduced as a ZAFT specialist on ground based combat and actually thinks and plans things out. he's rather quite competent in his battle plans. and he does meet Yamato and tell him that in war you either kill or be killed to Yamato's face while pointing a gun at him. (should have fired right then and there.) he does have a wife (or lover, they didn't fully explain that.) and after a few tactical victories Yamato and Andrew have a showdown. Yamato wins (urgh still not happy about that.) and Andrew and his wife (I'll stick with that) die in the resulting explosion of their MS... at least for the better part of the series we think he's dead, like a good Ramba Ral character. he comes back, missing an eye and his left arm. and he's part of Lacus' rebel forces. ARGH, the Rals are not to be brought back from the dead! so he kinda lost some respect with me when he came back from the dead. few more before I tackle the biggie character offenders, the Antagonists. Muruta Azrael and Patrick Zala. for the better part of the series Patrick Zala (Leader of ZAFT's council) is considered the big bad because of his force of trying to continue the war with the Earth Forces. he's also considered the leader of the ZAFT elitist sect for erasing humanity. (especially during the ending.) he forces his son Athrun (cover him with Yamato) to continue to fight for the peace of the colonies until he finds out that his father is nothing more than an elitist bassard. (Bassard Gundam! sorry in joke). we rarely see him except when he's doing something to further his own goals. (aka the ending mostly) he's honestly still a 2D character, even for a villian. Azrael is basically the same as Patrick, only he's the leader of Blue Cosmos, and he's a major player in the Earth Forces. He's Bats*** insane to boot. he's willing to do anything to achieve his goal, the eradication of all the Coordinators as well as those who stand in his way. he's introduced with three other characters who are a slightly bit less insane (but insane none the less) that are basically cybernetically enhanced humans who's only purpose is to pilot the Earth Forces reversed engineered Gundams. (aka the Druggies!) he treats his subordinates like tools and is constantly underestimating his opponent's strength. when he rescued Psycho-B****, and got the plans to the stupid magic device, he forced the Earth forces (the few times they're smart) from instead of fixing the energy problem that they should use it on nuclear warheads and finally end the war. it didn't end well, especially since he got vaporized. such a fitting ending. The Druggies. best way to describe them are Berserkers with massive weapons. One is just a gundam made of guns, one is centered around beam control, and the final one is a transforming one (a bird) that has the ball and chain weapon. they honestly are just there to present a villain for the rest of the people. they don't actually have any good points about them and the only good thing that came from them is when they die karmic deaths. now I'm finally going to get to Yamato and Athrun. Kira Yamato is naive, idealistic (to an annoying degree), and rather cookie cutter when it comes to a protagonist. I mean he's just to generalized to ever be a good character. and no matter what happened to him, he just didn't change, EVER. even after his confrontation (face to face) with the Ramba Ral he didn't change. and the fact that he's just too damn perfect! (not in my view at least) there were so many times I just wanted to see Yamato fail and finally have to face the fact that he has to kill his opponents. (which never happened, sadly) he's shown to be very much to considerate to everyone. (NO!) he just comes off like to many villains I've read. which usually sets off klaxons in my head because no one can that considerate. and no matter what angle I look at he still comes off as someone who shouldn't be in a gundam story unless they're there to be broken. Athrun? carbon copy of Yamato. 'nuff said. I'll post the plot summery later because this is probably a boatload for most people to take in. the plot summery will hold most of the spoilers so you've been warned.
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Mar 18 2009, 2:44 AM
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Cosmix Fairy
Group: Members
Posts: 3,850
Joined: September 7 2007
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*whistles* Damn. When you go in depth... you go IN DEPTH! And I mean, this sounds like the absolute worst Gundam series ever made! I mean, even ZZ had Judau grow and mature, especially after Leina's "death". And Glemmy's personality switch might seem abrupt, but knowing what was going to happen with him, I could see him screaming every time he smiled early on... what with that line like "Everyone has to smile sometime." I mean, WHAT BETTER INSTANCE OF FRIDGE BRILLIANCE! And... a Char that doesn't even treat his subordinates well? That's just sad. EVERY Char's greatest weapon is his charisma, and Rau apparantly has none.
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Mar 20 2009, 4:28 PM
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Cosmix Fairy
Group: Members
Posts: 3,850
Joined: September 7 2007
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Now, as some of you may have heard with the discussions Asher and I share, we both loathe Gundam SEED whilst pitying SEED Destiny for being badly mangled when SRW Z showed how good it could be. So what way to redeem Shinn Asuka, the hero of Gundam SEED Destiny and sworn enemy of Cardboard Evil Heroes Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala then posting exhibition videos for HIM, where he beats those two jerks into the pavement? Shinn going on a rampage and showing those SEED jerks that a good Gundam hero needs to mean well but at the same time have flaws and strong emotions as he tears up the court with the Impulse Gundam. Kira stops an attack using Plot Armor at 3:05, but at the very end Shinn finally kills the jerk at long last. This vid includes the attacks of all the various modes for Impulse Gundam.
And then Shinn goes after Athrun and the Infinite Justice Gundam using his Destiny Gundam.
I am SOOOOO gonna love using Shinn in SRW K. His attack animations in that are top-notch.
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