Forum - View topicAstro Toy with Rob Bricken - Sonic Diver Rei-Jin
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Craeyst Raygal
 Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
|
|||||
|
Omoikane, ridiculous is ridiculous unless acknowledged as such. Unless Sky Girls is some sort of fanservice laden parody (think Martian Successor Nadesico) then it doesn't get a free pass on having absurd design and will be called on it.
Don't think for a moment that Macross has been excused for its idiosyncracies, despite being one of the gold-standard franchises of mecha anime. It hasn't. However, I'm willing to lay money on the line that Sky Girls is missing a few redeemable features that Macross can boast. And, all in all, comparing Sky Girls to Macross or any other series in the elite club of mecha franchises isn't going to convince anyone that this isn't an overpriced and absurd-looking figure. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
fmagrave
Posts: 23 |
|
|||||
To be fair, Orbital Frames were designed for space combat, whereas the units for Sky Girls were meant for combat on Earth. One would think that the cost of adding feet to an Earth based machine would far outweigh whatever negatives that come from it. However, you're all missing the point. This is a loli riding a mech. It concurrently taps into two massive demographics of anime fandom, and through its synergy, creates a brand new (easily marketable) product. |
||||||
|
||||||
The Xenos
 Posts: 1519 Location: Boston |
|
|||||
|
Ah. Sky Girls. That's the one I do NOT like either. I confuse it with that Strike Witches. I haven't seen that, but I like the designs much better. They don't quite make sense with physics either, but they look much nicer and more solid.
Of course I really like the original series of Mecha Musume that I think Konami spun these off of. I highly suggest checking those figures out instead. No real story to them, just girls that the artist mixed with WWII era tanks and planes. The funny thing is that I really haven't gone for many of these 'moe' figures coming out of Japan, but something about the juxtaposition of WWII models and anime girl figures just seems fascinating to me. I love this series. A roommate of mine has even more of them and picked up two of the larger scale ones, about the size and cost of that Sky Girls figure. I've stuck to the 5 inch ones. |
||||||
|
||||||
Sticks
 Posts: 199 |
|
|||||
|
I do own the toy you've show and your right, there's not a whole lot to this and compared to other mecha toys and figures out there there's nothing really remarkable about it.... but to me, there's a reason I have it...
Up until 2006, I hardly ever saw much anime except what was distributed here in the U.S., and even then I had limited access to it and knew next to nothing about all kinds of anime. That's when I caught the OVA of Sky Girls by accident and thought it was a cool show, then when the series came out I stayed a loyal fan to the end. Later, when I heard they were toys coming out I had to get them (like any loyal fan would). To me, this series introduced me to all kinds of anime that are out there I never even knew that existed in Japan, and now I'm always anxious to hear what's the next thing coming out. Now I'm a fan of lots of shows.... Code Geass, Death Note, Shakugan no Shana, Haruhi Suzumiya, Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed.... too many to count. Compared to what I've seen of other anime since then, the show can't compare to what's been there before and what's coming out now looks much better, but I still can't say the show is bad and I'll always be a fan. If nothing else, the series got me into anime and having the toys from the show is more of a nostalgic thing to me then anything because it was the first "new" anime I ever saw from Japan. Even if no one else likes it, I'll still be a fan. I still need to get the other two figures in time. I guess every one of us "suckers" has a favorite show, I have a friend trying to get his hands on any and everything related to the old "Giant Robo" series... he's more obsessed then I could ever be.... 
|
||||||
|
||||||
Big Hed
 Posts: 1607 Location: Melbourne, Australia |
|
|||||
|
Read the column: laughed hard.
Laughed again 
Maybe next week Rob can bash a Strike Witches toy?
By fusing the might of mecha and loli, Japan has forged the ultimate marketing weapon! |
||||||
|
||||||
Ai no Kareshi
 Posts: 561 Location: South Africa |
|
|||||
|
I loved the article. Personally, I've only seen the preview OVA of Sky Girls, but even from that I had to wonder about the mecha designs. I'm not really into mechanical stuff, so it didn't push up my rage guage half as much as it did yours, but here I am still having to watch the series itself (or scrap it – I'll probably do the latter).
Excellent.
|
||||||
|
||||||
Ryusui
 Posts: 461 |
|
|||||
|
Only two things I'll disagree with you about.
1. The pointed leg design makes perfect sense if the machines are only meant for air (or space) combat. As for "why humanoid, then?", it's because a humanoid robot has something a jet, however spacey, will never have: six degrees of freedom. But yeah, even Exo Squad had the common sense to shield the freakin' pilot. 2. There is no such thing as "nuking the fridge". There is only "turning the awesome dial to 11". (Granted, there is a point where my suspension of disbelief throws in the towel...but it's when flagrant violations of common sense and physics are used to excuse fail instead of win. It's why I gave up on Fringe after that whole nonsense with the rapid-aging embryo.) |
||||||
|
||||||
|
omoikane
Posts: 494 |
|
|||||
The design is not that absurd, as other pointed out repeatedly. The show itself is a proof of concept when it animate those aerial battles for you. If you think it's ridiculous and then said you haven't watch the show, it seems a little disingenuous at best. I don't disagree with your opinion but your claims are directly addressed by the show. As an aside, in the show proper, the Sky Girl mecha can walk on the ground, but it does so like someone on stilts.
For people who care about the mechanical designs (which is what I was referring to specifically--do you even know what guardian form is for?) it is a defining elements of mechanical design. I agree that for casual "lol teh funnies" viewers of shows and not really fans of designs, nobody really cares. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
|
|||||
|
*ka-chink* Trying to write a curse-filled... *ka-chink* ...keyboard keys keep po... *ka-chink* ...replacing the fuc... *ka-chink*
I love it when people feel they've been shafted with the money they've spent in order to write a review or discuss their opinions. Usually, we get a bit more honesty from them, and Rob certainly didn't disappoint with his latest purchase. Not only did I learn the figure blows, but so too does the series.
I would have never purchased this, despite its coolness factor. Once a character is displayed with bendable joints, I'm off to look at the next figure. Having purchased FREEing's Shana figure, this just added proof that if it bends, it sucks and is a waste of money. When my goth Louise comes in this week, I'll make you feel better when I send you a quasi-review and photos, Rob. 
|
||||||
|
||||||
The Ramblin' Wreck
 Posts: 924 Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love |
|
|||||
|
I saw this and the first thing that popped into my mind was "Strike Witches".
I think it's the whole "Little girls flying pseudo-WW2 aircraft mecha not allowed to wear pants" deal. I can't say anymore because I haven't seen either series. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
luffyluffy
Posts: 7 |
|
|||||
|
Ironic, I just got myself a Krauser!
|
||||||
|
||||||
irishninja
 Posts: 344 Location: Seattle-ish |
|
|||||
The pictures in Rob's review reminded me of Mecha Musume as well, so I'll put in a "hear hear" to your recommendation. Those figurines are cool. 
|
||||||
|
||||||
Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
|
|||||
This brief exchange of words changes everything, chaps. I take it this is a subject which evokes certain passions amongst some. |
||||||
|
||||||
CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
|
|||||
I thought the pointy-footed mech in SRW were the most boring of all the mech in SRW. Why stilletto feet? Most people comprehend weaponry needs to be adaptable. Pointy feet just because it flies is stupid because once it flies over to a land mass it might have to land so the pilot can get out & perform bloody hand-to-hand slaughter or maybe some humanitarian rescue work. Or maybe just bail out some team members. The only thing I could see stilletto pointed feet would be good for would be exploring rocky surfaces (like say the ocean floor or an alien planet). Maybe swamp, but steep drop-offs could be trouble. That stilletto function could actually be served by the thing having pointed toed "feet" that it could adjust to tippy toe for said craggy rock walking, or the thing could have poles that come out of the bottoms of the feet for such a function so that it could stand at rest in a mech hanger on it's feet.
Guarding/protecting something?
Shu's Granzion was cool, although Bian's machine was incredibly cool looking. Not that it lasted long. And the gal's mech that looked like her was strange, but it was the ultimate step for a pilot to make. But really, is there a reason to make 18 foot tall machines to look like robots? Mech are really tanks or assault weapons & the amount of energy to move these mobile suits seems rather obscene for one lone operator which is why at least the combining robos make a certain amount of sense. The individual parts have funtionality, but they can be combined for a different functionality which is why in a battle setting these machines would likely look pathetically the same so that if pilot B is destroyed with the machine, pilot F has the same machine & can take his/her place. In other words, yes, all these different machines are made to appeal to the anime fans. Mech/Giant Robots/whatever are like cars or fantasy sports teams--something for the fans to drool about how cool it looks or argue over which could trash which other mobile suit/giant robo/whatever. |
||||||
|
||||||
Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
|
|||||
How is that ironic? |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group