American robots vs. Japanese mechas

[Jacob]

On on side are the Transformers, the droids of Star Wars, the battlemechs of Mechwarrior/Battletech, the gears of Heavy Gear, the metal monsters of tabletop game Legions of Steel, among others while on the Japanese corner are the Gundams, Patlabors, the EVAs, Voltes V, etc.

Which do you prefer? Why and why not?

If they battle each other who would come out as the victor.

Warning: Pure nerd stuff.

[This message has been edited by Jacob (edited 12-24-1999).]

[wolverine]

the star wars story was inspired by a japanese novel or comics that dealt with the battle of empires. and the jedi's were derived from the samurais.

ang layo yata sa topic... anyways, gaya-gaya lang ang mga kano. maski weird yung mga hapon, sila pa rin yung da best sa anime.

[Jacob]

Tama si Wolverine. George Lucas has admitted that Star Wars was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. The plots are similar: Princess with the aid of a grizzled samurai, aims the topple an evil lord. Jedi was obviously inspired by the term Singoku-Jidai, a time in feudal Japan when samurais, daimyos, ninjas where rampant.

[wolverine]

jacob: galing mo... :)

[Jacob]

wolverine: NERDS RULE!!!!!

[batang uliran]

Yup, I've seen Hidden Fortress and as you mentioned, that movie was the inspiration for Star Wars. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg hve not hidden their admiration for Kurosawa at all and Lucas was instrumental in Kurowawa's Kagemusha making it to the US movie market.

[Bakafool]

Hmm... Transformers is an anime too, so they're actually on the Japanese side. What I wanna see is the Iron Giant vs Eva 01. Sabay silang pwedeng mag-berserk. Oh... that info snippet on Georgy Lucas getting inspiration from Kurosawa is quite educational. Its pretty interesting to see the cross influences between the US and Japan, in that Lucas was influenced by Kurosawa and Osamu Tezuka was influenced by Walt Disney.

Heck ... even the Rockefeller center in New York is owned by the Japanese (Mitsubishi). The Japs are gonna rule the world I tell ya, hehe.

[tiffac]

Bakafool is right Transformers is an Anime too. Its right was only bought by an American company(forgot which).

Besides I don't think any American mecha's can take on any of the Japanese Super Robots Bwahahahaha!!!

Just like stealing candy from a baby. lolz!

[budsbunny]

mas mukhang delikado *** mga japanese mechas.

not to mention they look more stable and meaner.. diba?

american robots look like humans..

[onwils]

Who in the west can beat DAITARN 3 and Gunbuster? Squish!

[gamera3]

Since the 60's, Robo/ Mecha genre has invaded Japanese Market through toys and TV, satisfying their facination with robots and hightech gadgets. In the early 80's toy companies like Bandai and Takara introduced a lineup of toys transforming from robots into another form like vehicles and weapons. Among these are Diaclones, pre-Transformer robots and Machine Robo (created by Bandai with it's own anime- this was later on imported to the states as GOBOTS and asked Hanna Barbera to produce a new cartoon for it.) The market was soon saturated with a lot of concepts and ideas and TRANSFORMER (toransufuorumaa) by Takara was barely noticed.

1981/82(?) Hasbro of US got the rights from Takara to import Transformers, repackaging the toys and producing a TV series made for US, but done by Japanese Animators.
The 80's was a time where a lot of US cartoons were done by japs, Animation & Character Design as well. This task was done by Sunbow production (they're somewhat linked with Marvel Entertainment) The overseas Animation and design was done with Japanese Animation Studio partners like TOEI LTD. GIJOE (the first 2 seasons Duke and Flint times, also the Movies and Specials) were also done by Sunbow.

Anyways, The Transformers TV Show was later on "imported" back in Japan including the 2nd Generation (Transformer 2010 in Japan- The Rodimus Prime series) as the series became a sucess and the toys a worldwide phenomenon.

After the 2010 series (or 2006 in US), Takara branched out from US continuity as they produced a different toy lineup and Animation (Godmasters, Transformers V- also known as Takara Transformers with misleading translations)

>> So I guess the Transformers franchise is Both Japanese and American in identity

Did you Know:
in Jap, the name for Autobots are Cybertrons and the Decepticons, Destrons.
Optimus Prime is Convoy.

PowerMaster Optimus Prime is a different Transformer, a human kid actually, named JINRAI that merges with a robotic body to become the autobot commander in the Godmaster saga.