Put the big blue robot from 4048 Mech Lab and the big red dinosaur from 4507 Prehistoric Creatures in a small apartment and watch the hilarity ensue! That’s the idea behind “The Totally True Adventures of Dinosaur and Robot,” an ongoing series of weirdly funny cartoons. Behold (click for the full-size version):
Ask and ye shall receive! In my recent post on the alternate Exo-Force design by anime director and mecha designer Shoji Kawamori, I asked if any Japanese LEGO fans knew of any better pictures of a completed Van Force mecha.
Azumu (of LEGO-BINGO, who it seems is much more consistent about checking Brickshelf than I am) responded:
Regarding instructions for Kawamura-sensei’s “Van Force,” gabriel-san customized the model a bit and uploaded them:
http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=161353
There were a few places in the magazine that were hard to figure out, so it’s not a complete recreation, but I think it’s pretty much complete.
Thanks Azumu-san! So without further ado, here’s a bigger picture of Van Force:
Click the image (or the link Azumu-san provided) for the full gallery, complete with step-by-step building instructions! Awesome.
Oh, and those aren’t custom decals. Japanese LEGO specialty store Click-Brick handed out Van Force sticker sheets with the purchase of any Exo-Force set. Since The LEGO Company worked with Mr. Kawamori to design Van Force, I believe the sticker sheet is “official.”
Renowned anime director and mecha designer Shoji Kawamori (best known for his long involvement with the Macross series) was commissioned to create an alternate model for LEGO Exo-Force sets 7700 Stealth Hunter and 7701 Grand Titan. Instructions were available in Japanese action-figure magazine Figure King (フィギュア王 vol. 95, for those interested in trying to import it) and a special sticker sheet is available exclusively at Japanese LEGO stores Click-Brick. The alternate model is called “Van-Force.”
Naturally, the Japanese LEGO blogosphere buzzed with anticipation. Unfortunately, I hadn’t seen any pictures until fairly recently, so I waited to post until now.
Courtesty Japanese tech blog B-log Cabin TP:
I’m hoping one of our AFOL counterparts in Japan will take some better pictures and post them on Brickshelf as well. (And here’s a note to ask for that.)
日本のレゴファンの皆様にお願いしたいことがあります。河村監督の Exo-Force 組み替え「Van-Force」を作ったお方がいましたら、写真を撮ってアメリカの皆が見れるように Brickshelf にアップ出来ますか？お願いしま〜す！ m(_ _)m
Brickshelf user comic has posted a robot walker based on Hayao Miyazaki’s first film, Conan, the Boy of the Future:
Of course, Robonoid also looks a lot like “Steve” the ride-pod from Dark Cloud 2 for the PS2. I’d love to make a version of this that looks more like Steve and put an improved version of my Maximilian minifig in it.
Incidentally, “comic” also runs a blog called LEGO INC where (as “Ichigou”) he regularly posts stop-motion LEGO Star Wars movies. Cool stuff — and a blog I’ll be highlighting over on Pan-Pacific Bricks soon. ;-)
LEGO recently announced a new theme to be released in January 2006. The official Exo-Force Web site on LEGO.com lists the products, and includes an online comic.
It is important to remember that this is not a licensed theme like Star Wars or Harry Potter. This theme was developed by LEGO on their own. However, the theme is clearly inspired in no small part by Japanese animation (“anime”), including the sort of shows that feature people riding around in big giant robots, or “mecha,” like Gundam and Evangelion. The hero’s names are all Japanese, and a variety of Japanese characters appears on the mecha. The place names identified in the comic are also clearly Japanese, such as “Tenchi Bridge” (“tenchi” most likely means “heavan and earth”).
The official Exo-Force logo features four Japanese kanji characters, 特殊部隊, behind the English “Exo-Force:”
Seven katakana characters, トクシュブタイ, also appear on the red bar beneath the logo. The terms 特殊部隊 and トクシュブタイ are just two ways of writing the same thing — both are pronounded “tokushyu butai.” But what does “tokushyu butai” mean? Instead of creating a unique name in Japanese that corresponds to “Exo-Force,” it appears that LEGO is using the generic term for “special forces” (Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Delta Force, and so on) as the name for this new theme. (Incidentally, 飛行部隊 also appears on the right side of the red bar at the bottom of the page. Pronounced “hikou butai,” this means “air corp” or “flying squadron” or something… Similarly, the characters that appear on the mecha are essentially meaningless out of context.)
Reaction among English-speaking LEGO fans has been mixed, as the lengthy discussions on both FBTB and Classic-Castle.com show. In Japan, several bloggers have featured Exo-Force and commented on this new theme.
mumu remains fairly objective, but people who commented on this post question whether this theme will be popular here in the United States. On LegoWheels, muu wonders whether English-speakers will know what “tokushyu butai” means and states flatly that he won’t be purchasing these sets. Azumu (also of Brickshelf fame) calls the theme “half-baked,” saying, “Why not just go all the way and make Transformer or Zoid LEGO? … But I’ll buy them anyway — for the hair, dangit!”
Finally, Edge compares this theme to Manga Spawn and writes:
On pages 74 through 77 in issue 94 of Figure King, there is a special color section. I was shocked to find an interview with LEGO Japan! Apparently, this theme was developed in Denmark with the participation of a Japanese development staff member. (Despite that, the quality of this line…) They seriously want this line to be popular among Japanese AFOLs. LOL!
Other bloggers share Azumu and Edge’s sentiment. One blogger even called the use of all the Japanese text “idiotic.” They think the line is a bit dumb, but they really, really want the hair. A few Japanese bloggers certainly don’t represent the opinions of an entire market, but it’s interesting to see how closely the online reaction of Japanese AFOLs mirrors that of English-speaking AFOLs.
This is the saddest, cutest little Gundam I have ever seen:
EDIT (11/1/05): Moko has titled this creation “Gundam without vigour.” I assume this is a translation of the Japanese “Genki nai Gundam” (「元気ないガンダム」). The word “genki” can mean several things in Japanese, including “energy,” “spirit,” “health,” and “cheerfulness.” I think the last one is the most correct in this context, so “Depressed Gundam” or “Gundam with the Blues” is probably a more accurate translation. Hope that doesn’t sound too pedantic… I fault Moko’s dictionary. ;-)
