with mecha costumes coming out - what are the best robot/mecha tv shows in America?
By
BrandX,
Posted on: 2012-04-26 10:16 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
For some reason I've never really been a fan of any of the purely "American Mecha" shows, even before I was seriously introduced to any Japanese anime/manga related to Mecha. For instance I sort of found The Transformers annoying and boring long before Micheal Bay put his stink on it. *shrugs*
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Simply put: The Big-O!
It is one of my favorite Anime shows, period.
I'd put Gundam Wing in that list as well.
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Robotech (american and japenese versions, including the side timelines, tho Southern Cross is boring), Gundam Wing (never could get into the other Gundam series), Transformers and Big-O, come to mind.
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I am really liking what I see from Transformers Prime. Well done show. It's ostensibly a kids' show what with all the kid sidekicks but it can get really dark and visceral. The action scenes are beautiful and even though it draws some of its designs and concepts from the Michael Bay films it's unmistakably its own entity.
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Originally Posted by Xzero45
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So... how about Gigantor?
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Well, Robotech was my favorite show back in the day. Still is way up there, have the DvD set and watched it again not that long ago to see how it mesched up with The Shadow Chronicles. Amazingly well, actually. Really hope they make the sequel and finish it up. However, with Mr Macek's passing, I don't know if it'll get done. Really hope so, though.
As for movies and 'American' robots, I really like The Iron Giant. Damn thing actually got me to cry the first time I watched it.
And who can forget good ol' fashioned Cylons from the original series?
Nor is there no American Robot that's as famous as Robby the Robot
Actually... is it just me, or was America's 'heyday' of robots in the 50's-70's? (Even the Iron Giant took place in the 50's/60's time frame, though it's a modern film).
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I couldn't agree more.
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Originally Posted by Lycantropus
Well, Robotech was my favorite show back in the day. Still is way up there, have the DvD set and watched it again not that long ago to see how it mesched up with The Shadow Chronicles. Amazingly well, actually. Really hope they make the sequel and finish it up. However, with Mr Macek's passing, I don't know if it'll get done. Really hope so, though.
As for movies and 'American' robots, I really like The Iron Giant. Damn thing actually got me to cry the first time I watched it. And who can forget good ol' fashioned Cylons from the original series? Nor is there no American Robot that's as famous as Robby the Robot Actually... is it just me, or was America's 'heyday' of robots in the 50's-70's? (Even the Iron Giant took place in the 50's/60's time frame, though it's a modern film). |
Feels like it was....which is sad. I will agree about Iron Giant, that is a fantastic movie and recommend to anyone who has never watched it!
Personally I prefer Japanese Anime when it comes to Mecha (dubbed...subbed works when I want to read). Netflix surprisingly is fairly decent when it comes to Japanese Anime (I know I know Japanime...whatever!).....not "new new" stuff....just a bunch of it!
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Robot Wars. Said Robot and Mecha shows so it can include nonfictional shows.
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First I seriously dislike the term Japanimation simply because it's too easy to pronounce the word in a way that starts as a racial slur. This happens a lot more frequently than you would expect.|
Originally Posted by dugfromthearth
Japanimation counts if it was released in America - so Robotech anyway. But not straight anime.
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So I assume looking at your examples that it's OK to include anime as long as it's been televised in English in the US or does the plot also need to be severely rewritten like Robotech?
Well don't forget Gigantor. (Bigger than big, Stronger than strong). What little kid wouldn't like a radio controlled, nuclear powered giant robot that smashes it's enemies while getting tacit approval of the adults present?
Johnny Sakko and his Flying Robot - Old yes, circa 1968. And yes it is the original live action Giant Robo. Like Gigantor, a kid controlled nuclear robot of mass destruction. You can watch it on Hulu.
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Sad that nobody remembers the Mech Warrior animated TV series, I remembering enjoying that, even if the CGI is ruddy awful these days.
Remember Mecha doesn't just cover Gundam style Mechs it also covers other stuff...heck the Warhammer Mech was actually taken from Super Macross (which led to problems with Harmony Gold since they owned the US rights due to using Macross as one of the animes that made up Robotech, Bandai had given full permission to use the original designs).
Examples here of all the Mecha taken from anime but included in the Battletech universe
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And even though it's a movie and not a TV show, Robot Jox. Cheesetastic.
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Funny thing is i absolutly love giant robo, but the robots were the weakest part, the bat-nuts insane dub of the original, plus the over the top powers of both big fire and the experts of justice were great, but the robot fights were generally one sided and decided by who had the coolest gimmick, without even a show punch-up. Will have to check this out some day, as it probably had more even fights.|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Johnny Sakko and his Flying Robot - Old yes, circa 1968. And yes it is the original live action Giant Robo. Like Gigantor, a kid controlled nuclear robot of mass destruction. You can watch it on Hulu. |
that said, favorite giant robot show is robotech, i loved the organic designs of the invid from the third series.
megas xlr is a very funny send up of the giant robot genre and is reliably funny.
ols, gotta go with voltron, both series and even the cross over series. the ilions and vehicles were cool, but some of the robeast designs were amazing.
oh and i,too loved orbots.
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As I recall from watching the original Japanese anime series that would become Robotech, Macross suffered the least rewriting in comparison to the other two series. Southern Cross was perhaps the most cerebral but also the dullest of the three.|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
So I assume looking at your examples that it's OK to include anime as long as it's been televised in English in the US or does the plot also need to be severely rewritten like Robotech? Well don't forget Gigantor. (Bigger than big, Stronger than strong). What little kid wouldn't like a radio controlled, nuclear powered giant robot that smashes it's enemies while getting tacit approval of the adults present? Johnny Sakko and his Flying Robot - Old yes, circa 1968. And yes it is the original live action Giant Robo. Like Gigantor, a kid controlled nuclear robot of mass destruction. You can watch it on Hulu. |
Still Robotech is still a classic.
Gigantor, Johnny Sokko's Flying Robot, Big O, the assorted GUNDAMs, RobotJox (Crash and burn!), all classics in their own way.
Also since we are talking robots as well as mecha-suits, let's not forget Robby the Robot, the Lost in Space Robot (B9 I think was its name),
Also we could technically include cyborgs in this: so that would mean, ROBOCOP, the 8-Man, and Infra-Man also get added to the list. Also the Bionic Man and Bionic Woman and even Max the bionic dog.
edit: just hulu'd an episode of Johnny Sokko, the series hasn't aged well, IMO
For stricktly American Made mecha shows then definately, The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot and Megas XLR. Titan Maximum was also pretty good. I don't really count robots as mecha, as mecha implies having human pilots.
The original Gundam series, if you can stomach the dated graphics. Zeta, but for the love of GOD avoid Chars Counter Attack. Watch the Zeta movie for a happier ending. Stardust Memory is pretty good, so is War in the Pocket. 08th MS Team is probably my favorite of the Gundam shows, focusing more on the normal soldiers view of the ground portion of the One Year War. Your mileage may vary, but I can't really stand anything past Wing, though having seen some 00, SEED actually seems bearable now. If you want a weird combination of Fighting anime and mecha, you could always watch Mobile Fighter Gundam. Not my cup of tea though.
Evangelion, though uh...be careful of the last few episodes. EXO Squad like some one else mentioned. Big-O, and I think Macross/Robotech has been mentioned plenty.
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dang, I forgot that one|
Originally Posted by Kyasubaru
Exo Squad.
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that is my favorite by far.
In Bubblegum Crisis, the Knightsabers used hard suits while the police used bigger suits. The Knightsabers did have bigger suits that acted like an exoskeleton suit that they could fit over their hard suits. They all fight rogue robots called Boomers.
I think the Johnny Sokko dubs have slipped into public domain so we get an 9th generation tape of the series on Hulu.
Yes Macross was the least rewritten but imagine someone overseas took V, Buck Rodgers and Battlestar Galactica (the original) and merge them into a single series.
Knightsabers, ADPolice, etc are examples of power armor and not piloted mecha or Gundam size robot.
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Best north american "mecha" show hands down|
Originally Posted by Xzero45
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Beast Wars is sorta Mecha
I like Transformers Animated and Prime
! day ill need to watch Exosquad
Japanimation counts if it was released in America - so Robotech anyway. But not straight anime.
Transformers, Go-Bots, Voltron, Robotech?
my favorite by far was the Mighty Orbots. Sadly it only ran 13 episodes, but it was much smarter than the normal robot shows like transformers.
Robotech: The New Generatoin and Macross are great as well.