Marvel Transformers Are Coming! Are You?

1/ In Japanese mecha stories its the Mecha who are the stars.

2/ FYI - Spiderman and the Hulk have been around a long time, much longer than Transformers and much longer than Jap.Mech.

To your points.

1/ In mecha stories like Gundam, etc, its the PILOTS that are the main focus of the storyline. The anime and comics deal with the human/humanoid personalities and the Gundam or mecha are, ahem, mere vehicles for the plot (no pun intended). The fact that the toys concentrate on the mecha is misleading. In Japan, there are also a large amount of pilot figures, costumes and even whole shows/media that only deal with the pilots themselves.

Also, many of the Gundam reflect the pilots that sit in them, with custom graphics, signature weaponry, altered faceplates etc.

This is only natural. Most people, when they wear armour or drive a vehicle, customise their armour etc to reflect their personalities, rather than amplify their physical features. Darth Vaders own armour doesnt look like his face. Its designed to be intimidating.

Thus, the Starwars mecha should have been designed to reflect the personalities of the pilot. They should use colours and exaggerated graphics and key physical features relating to the figure to reflect the pilot in an abstract way. Vaders mech could have looked fantastic, with key parts of his black armour mixed with abstracted forms taken from his Tie-Fighter to look really dark and "sith".

However, the designers, perhaps hampered by Lucas, copped-out and just made normal figures that morphed into vehicles, which looked silly in their "mech" modes as they didnt really look like mechs.

If you are not convinced, think of "pimp my ride". Do the designers make a car that reflects the rider, or do they just copy a photo of the driver onto the paintwork and then leave it at that?

2/ Japanese "mecha" came out long before Spiderman:

http://cdecas.free.fr/robots/history.php

"TESTUJIN 28" came out in 1953 (and Im not even counting Tetsuan Atom" which came out in the 20's), whereas Spiderman made his debut in 1962 (source: http://www.superherostuff.com/Biographies/SpideyBio.html ).

Actually I think the SWTF line captured the charachtor of the pilots well, Luke looked like more of an improvised design in both X-Wing and Snowspeeder it looks like a pilot suit but with some personal touches/patches what you would expect from a man placed in his situation. The Clones each match both their uniforms and their function, the heavy gunner/transport getting 360 guns on the wings and shoulders, getting dual rocket launchers. Commander Cody, looks like the cocky guy who takes out a mechs operation with the heavy gun and moves in for the kill with the pistol, the shoulder launchers and hip launcher only used in extreme emergencies. The Emperors mech white to reflect his purity, his face even more mauled and scarred to intimidate the wings forming a regal gown, but with guns on the hips to reflect the lethal nature of his position. Darth Maul, showy with skirting moving with the vehicle to reflect his own clothing in battle, the moves he makes adding motion to both distract and intimidate. Chewey and Han, Chewey looking like the hair a jungle growing through technology in much the way his race prefers bow and arrow to lazer, Han looking like himself, though heavily stylised giving him an arrogant edge...

1/ In Japanese mecha stories its the Mecha who are the stars.

2/ FYI - Spiderman and the Hulk have been around a long time, much longer than Transformers and much longer than Jap.Mech.

To your points.

1/ In mecha stories like Gundam, etc, its the PILOTS that are the main focus of the storyline. The anime and comics deal with the human/humanoid personalities and the Gundam or mecha are, ahem, mere vehicles for the plot (no pun intended). The fact that the toys concentrate on the mecha is misleading. In Japan, there are also a large amount of pilot figures, costumes and even whole shows/media that only deal with the pilots themselves.

Also, many of the Gundam reflect the pilots that sit in them, with custom graphics, signature weaponry, altered faceplates etc.

This is only natural. Most people, when they wear armour or drive a vehicle, customise their armour etc to reflect their personalities, rather than amplify their physical features. Darth Vaders own armour doesnt look like his face. Its designed to be intimidating.

Thus, the Starwars mecha should have been designed to reflect the personalities of the pilot. They should use colours and exaggerated graphics and key physical features relating to the figure to reflect the pilot in an abstract way. Vaders mech could have looked fantastic, with key parts of his black armour mixed with abstracted forms taken from his Tie-Fighter to look really dark and "sith".

However, the designers, perhaps hampered by Lucas, copped-out and just made normal figures that morphed into vehicles, which looked silly in their "mech" modes as they didnt really look like mechs.

If you are not convinced, think of "pimp my ride". Do the designers make a car that reflects the rider, or do they just copy a photo of the driver onto the paintwork and then leave it at that?

2/ Japanese "mecha" came out long before Spiderman:

http://cdecas.free.fr/robots/history.php

"TESTUJIN 28" came out in 1953 (and Im not even counting Tetsuan Atom" which came out in the 20's), whereas Spiderman made his debut in 1962 (source: http://www.superherostuff.com/Biographies/SpideyBio.html ).

If we end up with a Thor with robo-hair that turns into a Viking ship, though, that will be the suck.

No, that would be awesome! ^_^

Viking robot for the epic win...

Hulk still trying to come to terms with fact that he never able to use fine china without breaking it. Hulk depressed. If Hulk no move, Hulk no smash china.

They might be atleast fun kitbash fodder.

Need to see pics in order to form an opinion.

Marformers

I think this is stupid. Of course, I thought the Star Wars Transformers were stupid as well.

There is already an Avengers/Transformers crossover comic.

This Thread is useless without pictures.

This thread is going to be useless with pictures.

We won't see pics for about another week.

:tfsad

still no pictures? gah.

TTIUWP.

I am somewhat excited about this news. Personally, I think the SW TFs are terrible, though "robot" modes that don't have human faces, hair, etc are less so (for example Vader as the Death Star, or Grevious). However, what you have there is an Alt mode that must match up with a character, which is really quite limiting. With the Marvel TFs, obviously, the focus will be on robot mode, unlike the SW TFs. As long as the vehicle forms are passable, and we don't have goofy hair or stuff, they might just be awesome. Picture a Spiderman with robotic looking parts (similar to the Bionicle style Spideys released a couple years ago) that changes into a plane or something. That would be nifty. If we end up with a Thor with robo-hair that turns into a Viking ship, though, that will be the suck. We'll have to wait and see.