Do we need some OS Kaiju &/or Super Robots?

Hey guys. I've been working on a Mazinger pastiche (which is not going to be OS), and I was wondering if there's any need for a Super Robot like Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, Getter Robo or even Gurren Lagann in the Free Universe.
There's also no OS Kaiju (Kongzilla has an incorrectly phrased copyright notice). I'm sure that an OS Godzilla-type might be useful...

So what do you guys think on either count?

~~Yzz

I think we do! I've been looking at crappy korean anime films that are supposedly PD, but I'm not so sure they really are....there isn't really any PD sources for these, so we'd have to create them. I don't know much about the genre other than Transformers, Go-Bots, Robotech and Voltron. I honestly don't know what Mazinger is. But, I supose a generic-ish Voltron/Mega-Zord type vehicle might be a good place to start...

There maybe some PD godzilla types, but it could be fun to work on a new one...

I'm in the same boat as argosail: Not really my area of expertise, but I could probably contribute a little bit and it might be fun!

Should we also throw in a growing android/robot hero like Ultraman? Or what about a full-on "Power Rangers" type team?

I can contribute some kaiju ideas and I think I have a super robot somewhere in my old Comix material I could reformat for OS. I definitely intend to make the Elementalists OS, they're a Power Rangers-styled team that use giant elemental constructs rather than robots and use combo attacks like Mudslider Missile and Ultra Steam Blaster Punch!

argosail wrote:

I honestly don't know what Mazinger is.

Mazinger is to Super Robots what Superman is to Superheroes.

Behold, Mazinger Z!


And his successor (which I like abit more in terms of aesthetics/gimmicks), Great Mazinger!


The final part of the trilogy, UFO Robot Grendizer!


Getter Robo and its physics-breaking transformations (plus terrible video quality)!


Which where later homaged in the retraux Gekiganger 3!


If you're gonna dig, dig to pierce the heavens! Destiny-combining Gurren Lagann! Just who the hell do you think I am!


...

Anyway that's generally what I'm refering to when I talk about Super Robots.

~~Yzz

TTGL is one of my favourite shows ever. Expect a few expies to show up :p

Vagrant wrote:

TTGL is one of my favourite shows ever.

Likewise. I quote it pretty much every day.

~~Yzz

Thanks for the vids, Yzz! Great inspiration... and a fun trip down memory lane, as I remember watching Getter Robo in an American version as a kid.

Do you remember what anime this was, because I thought it was Mazinger, but apparently not. The pilot/kid would ride his motorcycle on a cliff over the robot's head, drive off the cliff, shout out "Fade In!" and somehow phase through the robot and into the cockpit.

I'm a blank on that on particular robot. Around what year did it air?

~~Yzz

Brave Raideen is the show you're thinking of.

Vagrant wrote:

Brave Raideen is the show you're thinking of.

Indeed:


~~Yzz

That's it! Thanks; I was sure it was Mazinger, so when I saw it wasn't... That would have bugged me for ages!

So, since we've got all those giant robo vids up, why don't we start there? The way I figure, based on my limited anime experience, the giant robo heroes fall into 4 categories:
1) The giant robot is always a giant robot,
2) The giant robot has a second configuration, and can go back and forth between them,
3) There are several smaller components (usually robots or vehicles) that make up one giant robot, and
4) There are several smaller components (usually robots or vehicles) that can make one of several giant robots depending on how they are configured.

So, which type should we work on? Right now I'm leaning toward number 4, but I'd be happy with any of them. Vote early and vote often! ;-)

I thinking either;

-A (1) as GoldenBard suggested.
-Three vehicles that can combine into a (one-mode) robot.
-Two vehicles that can combine in 2 different configurations (ala Getter Robo).

~~Yzz

Of course, we could always do TWO Super Robots...There are generally two types of antagonists in Super Robot;
Terrestial foes like dinosaurs, evil scientists, lost civilizations, eldritch horrors, etc. & Extraterestrial foes, who are like terrestial foes but FROM SPACE.

~~Yzz

Yzz wrote:

Of course, we could always do TWO Super Robots...There are generally two types of antagonists in Super Robot;
Terrestial foes like dinosaurs, evil scientists, lost civilizations, eldritch horrors, etc. & Extraterestrial foes, who are like terrestial foes but FROM SPACE.

~~Yzz

I recall reading that the original idea for Voltron was for 3 "teams:" the Lion Voltron (for far away), the Vehicle Voltron (for middle space), and a Robot Votron (for closer to Earth). So a military team that has two Robots--one for terrestrial and one for extraterrestrial--sounds like a great idea to me!

Some quick enemy ideas based on the concept:

Terrestial enemies;
Aeons ago, will most of humanity was learning to wear animal pelts and make primitive huts, there was a civilization that wore silken tunics and built crystalline spires. When the Creeping Ice threatened to destroy the world, they fled to the ocean and created a self-contained city within it.
Here, this mighty people languished for thousands of years...Until one day, when one man broke the strictures of the place and journeyed to the surface.
When he returned, he revealed that the Creeping Ice was no more! Now the Atlanteans send their mechanical horrors against the surface, desiring to seize the Green Lands once more!

Extraterrestial enemies;
Flying Saucers. UFOs. For years, we thought they were aliens. And they were...But they were really evil robots! The Star Devil Emperor sends his legions of UFObots forward from the edge of the galaxy to ravage worlds and bring tham under his heel!
But humanity won't have any of that!

~~Yzz

Nice stuff, Yzz.... I might make some minor tweaks to the terrestrial enemies, just to make them weirder. Suppose, instead of Atlanteans, the lost civilization was an older race of creatures, older than the dinosaurs even, who were driven underground by climate change (fungus beings or insectoid beings, perhaps?). They entered a period of dormancy, but have recently been awakened and are horrified to find a bunch of hairless apes in control of the planet...

I like your fungoid/insectoid idea, GoldenBard.

Okay now for an actual Robot idea...

Space Warrior Starizer:
-Starizer is based in space onboard the Galaxy Driver.
-The Galaxy Driver is a huge spaceship, almost the size of a small city. It belongs to alien refugees who came to Earth to request assistance against the Star Devil Emperor. It has minimal offensive capabilities but is heavily shielded.
-The only assistance Earth gave them were an outdated robot called Thundizer and a support group to help with maintence. The aliens upgraded Thundizer into Starizer.
-They also upgraded five of their remaining starfighters to combine with Starizer to form Space Warrior Novizer. Novizer is about twice as large as Starizer.
-Novizer can combine with the Galaxy Driver to form Space King Galaxizer. It cannot remain in this form very long due to the tremendous energy comsuption of this mode.

Thoughts?

~~Yzz

Hmm...Bard's idea reminds me a bit of The Inhumanoids from the 80's. I loved that series! The great thing about the inhumanoids was that they were sort of a race, but they had no common traits, except they were all really big and badass! I don't know how to logically explain the origins of such a race, but they'd be great robot enemies, living in their underground caverns and striking out to reclaim the surface.

Maybe they're all different because they rapidly evolve?

I love the UFO monster idea. Star Devil Emperor indeed!

Yzz, loving Starizer, but I think we might be looking at one too many "izers." Iwas laughing out loud by the time I read the third one...that might be too much cheese...on the other hand, maybe not...

Yeah, I'm abit unsure about some of the names too...The only ones I really like are Starizer and especially Space King Galaxizer (I think it has a good balance of cheese/awesome).

Alternately we could go Thunder Robo for Thundizer, Star/Space Robo for Starizer, Great Nova for Novizer, then Space King Galaxizer.

What do you think?

~~Yzz

By the way, here's the inspiration for Starizer/Galaxizer (Warning: Contains screaming);



~~Yzz

As long as you don't try to outdo TTGL for beyond-ridiculous robots I don't mind Starizer at all thoughh!

Yeah, I like the new simplified names better. I agree, Starizer and Space King Galaxizer are keepers. They sound like established characters.

argosail wrote:

Yeah, I like the new simplified names better. I agree, Starizer and Space King Galaxizer are keepers. They sound like established characters.

So we'd be going with Thunder Robo (Or can I suggest ThunderBot?), Starizer, Great Nova, and Space King Galaxizer.

I have to admit that I have a little problem with Space King Galaxizer...not the name, just the concept. If the ship is the size of a city, that means we're talking about a robot that big. As I said, I'm not an expert on anime, so if this is the norm for this type of thing, just ignore me. I'm used to thinking of these robots being 60 to 100 feet tall, not the miles we'd be talking about here...

As for the five ships to form Great Nova, I'm figuring one on each arm, one on each leg, and one on the head?

I wasn't thinking of Inhumanoids when I mentioned that, Argosail, but I can see the similarities now. Someone online once described Inhumanoids as "the closest thing to the Cthulul mythos you'll see on a Saturday morning cartoon." With what you said, I'm wondering in we can combine the two... Maybe a largely insectoid race that fell when overrun by some bizarre fungus. Over the centuries, the two merged into larger, more powerful, more bizarre forms.

GoldenBard wrote:

I have to admit that I have a little problem with Space King Galaxizer...not the name, just the concept. If the ship is the size of a city, that means we're talking about a robot that big. As I said, I'm not an expert on anime, so if this is the norm for this type of thing, just ignore me. I'm used to thinking of these robots being 60 to 100 feet tall, not the miles we'd be talking about here...

The height range talking about is generally more of Real Robot scale (things like Gundam use that range). Super Robots tend to hover around 100 feet at least. Gigantic mechs aren't common, but they do appear here and there: Getter Emperor, Diebuster, Arc-Gurren Lagann, Mazinger (a future version of Mazinger Z)...

The absolute biggest robots (to my knowledge) are Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann & Grand Zamboa (galaxy-sized), a future version of Getter Emperor (he's essentially a giant robot torso with a galaxy as his lower body), and Super Toppa Gurren Lagann & Super Grand Zamboa (universe-sized).

~~Yzz