×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
INTEREST: Seoul Erects an 8-Meter, 3-Ton Tobot Kia Robot Statue


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
bigcathead



Joined: 09 Oct 2004
Posts: 23
PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:14 am Reply with quote
Is that Gear Fighter Dendoh?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:33 am Reply with quote
I wonder what will happen to the statue of Deltatron in 2019? It would be really disheartening to see it end up in the scrapyard after all the hours of labor it took to construct it. Sad
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:48 am Reply with quote
bigcathead wrote:
Is that Gear Fighter Dendoh?


No it's not, although it does look similar.

Also, I didn't expect ANN to report on this since this isn't related to Japan or any mecha anime. As far as I know, Tobot isn't originated from Japan. But kinda neat for ANN to give Korean animation more spotlight.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
shosakukan



Joined: 09 Jan 2014
Posts: 290
PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 5:01 am Reply with quote
Bamboo Dong wrote:
Source: Gogo Communication via Otakomu]

Go Go Tsūshin and Otakomu say, "韓国が今度はトランスフォーマーをパクリ (This time Korea ripped off Transformers)," and "韓国が今度はトランスフォーマーをパクる!"
http://gogotsu.com/archives/2070
http://otakomu.jp/archives/197930.html

"This time" may be related to these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Gundam_V
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2013/08/ten_crazy_korean_cartoon_ripoffs.php
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2013/08/ten_crazy_korean_cartoon_ripoffs.php?page=2
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13540
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:37 am Reply with quote
This reminds of that Megatron in the latest Astro Toy column.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:39 am Reply with quote
shosakukan wrote:

Go Go Tsūshin and Otakomu say, "韓国が今度はトランスフォーマーをパクリ (This time Korea ripped off Transformers)," and "韓国が今度はトランスフォーマーをパクる!"
http://gogotsu.com/archives/2070
http://otakomu.jp/archives/197930.html

"This time" may be related to these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Gundam_V
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2013/08/ten_crazy_korean_cartoon_ripoffs.php
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2013/08/ten_crazy_korean_cartoon_ripoffs.php?page=2


Just to be fair, Itano Tomomi’s new single was accused of plagiarizing a song from Girl's Day, a K-pop girl group.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
reanimator





PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 1:06 am Reply with quote
I don't know how iconic Tobot is to Koreans, I think they should wait at least a decade or two for make a big deal out of it. Gundam had 30 years of history for its own statue. I can see that raising a statue of 5 year old animated robot character is just an expensive marketing scheme. It's not a celebration of cultural icon.
Back to top
rojse



Joined: 08 Sep 2010
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 3:30 am Reply with quote
reanimator wrote:
I don't know how iconic Tobot is to Koreans, I think they should wait at least a decade or two for make a big deal out of it. Gundam had 30 years of history for its own statue. I can see that raising a statue of 5 year old animated robot character is just an expensive marketing scheme. It's not a celebration of cultural icon.


The Gundam statue was an expensive marketing scheme too, which Bandai paid for and organized. The fact that the Gundam franchise has been around longer than Tobot doesn't really change that.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 1:21 pm Reply with quote
Gundam is something fans the world over wanted to see, strategic marketing maneuvers be damned. No one outside of Korea would have known about Tobot.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 1:44 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
Gundam is something fans the world over wanted to see, strategic marketing maneuvers be damned. No one outside of Korea would have known about Tobot.


Well it's true that Tobot is not well-known outside of South Korea, but Gundam (particularly Mobile Suit Gundam or UC Gundam) is not well-known outside of Asia. I believe Gundam Wing is the only Gundam series that was able to achieve mainstream popularity in the US and maybe worldwide. Mobile Suit Gundam couldn't replicate the popularity that Gundam Wing created, even UC Gundam got limited broadcast in the US when Gundam Wing got rebroadcast-ed several times I think many years back. But I agreed with rojse, this is just marketing, and nothing more.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 3:59 pm Reply with quote
No, you're just wrong, Gundam as a franchise overall is extremely well known internationally. Maybe Gundam Wing got the most exposure, but that doesn't mean the other series were ignored. Gundam is super popular despite what became of the TV broadcast. People aren't clamoring to buy BDs of Tobot.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 4:20 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
No, you're just wrong, Gundam as a franchise overall is extremely well known internationally.


Only to dedicated anime fans. It still niche, it's not a household name compared to Pokemon or Transformers. Geez, even Voltron is more well-known in the US then Gundam. Gundam Wing is the only one I know that is well-known (Gundam SEED did well in the US too). But Mobile Suit Gundam didn't do so well on it's US broadcast back in 2002 (it got cancelled due to low rating on Adult Swim/Toonami). If it's that popular then how come the cultural impact of Gundam is limited to Japan (and to some extent Asia) only?

If Gundam is that popular (or a household name) around the world then:

-Hollywood would've adapt it into a live-action movie like Transformer did (the G-Saviour film doesn't really count).

-All the Gundam console games (including Dynasty Warrior Gundam series) would've outsold Final Fantasy sales (or any Naruto Games) in the US if it was a household name. I never seen a Gundam game developed by a US studio when Naruto (ie: Rise of a Ninja, and The Broken Bond) and Dragonball Z (Atari had some DBZ games developed by western studio like this one for example) had games developed by western studios. I never seen a Gundam game develop by a western studio when DBZ and Naruto (both of whom are household name in the US) had that.

-We have a Pikachu float on Macy's Thanksgiving parade, but I don't see a Gundam float. But then again we don't have a Naruto or Goku float on Thanksgiving despite DBZ and Naruto being household name in the US.

Also if Gundam is so well-known around the world, how come Bandai doesn't have the Gundam statue do a worldwide showcase/tour? I'm sorry as much as I like the Gundam series, it's not a household name around the world and I don't know if it ever will. Gundam was shown in Italy first in 1980, yet it didn't cause the same cultural impact in Italy as it did in Japan (I never heard or seen a Gundam statue in Italy popping up nor Bandai wanting to showcase the Gundam statue in Italy, and I know I don't see Char custom items/merchandises catering to Italian consumers). As far as I was told from several Italian fans, Gundam is not a household name in Italy.

But however, I'm hoping Sunrise with the help of Right Stuf can probably make Gundam relevent again in the US. It's nice that Sunrise is taking the US market seriously. But Gundam is far from being a household name around the world.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:09 pm Reply with quote
So what if it's not as popular as Pokemon amongst normals, neither is Evangelion.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:15 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
So what if it's not as popular as Pokemon amongst normals, neither is Evangelion.


Like Gundam, Evangelion is only well known to dedicated anime fans. As far as I know, Evangelion is not a household name in the US (when it is in Japan). I would love to see both Evangelion and Gundam being a household name in the US, but it's not going to happen. Now I'm happy Evangelion 3.0 had theater screening in the US. But Evangelion 3.0 didn't even make a dent on the US box-office, so it still niche like Gundam in the US.

Also this is getting off topic, the article didn't even mention Gundam or Evangelion. So can we leave it at that.


Last edited by mdo7 on Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:17 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:17 pm Reply with quote
No shit I'm only talking about dedicated anime fans, but that's still a few million people internationally.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group