Retro Riding Robots...From Japan!

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Retro Riding Robots...From Japan!


A Japanese 3D designer has created a range of model kits based on a 1957 that never happened.

Alternate histories have always been cool, or will be cool, or might have been cool, had things taken a slightly different path, and with Fallout 3 currently rocking the Atompunk look, the concept of alternate histories is enjoying a resurgence, or will be, or... oh, nevermind.

The kits, created by Kazushi Kobayashi, a 3D artist for Japanese television, are from an alternate 1957 where robots have become the primary mode of transport. Looking like the lovechild of Half-Life 2's Dog and a moped, the robots seem to fill a variety of roles in this fictional 50s setting, from simple transportation to construction.

The exact details are a little hard to decipher, due to my inability to read either Japanese, or the internet translations thereof, but from what I can figure out, the kits are available in either 1:12 scale or 1:20 scale and cost around 28,000 Yen, or around £200/$300.

The kits don't appear to be available outside Japan, but damn it, they're really cool.

Source: Boing Boing [http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/17/robot-model-kit-chub.html]



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dekkarax

New member
Apr 3, 2008
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um...yeah, I think I'll just let someone else point it out.

Still, pretty good model, looks like 50s style fridges.
However, it makes me a bit mad at 50s science; WHERE WAS THE FUTURE YOU PROMISED US 1950s? YOU LIED!

:(
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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Something I've notice about Japanese mech designs, the pilot often seems to be located in the crotch. That one isn't as bad as Z.O.E's massive-erection-when-switching-flight-modes designs, but still...


...eh, maybe I'm just projecting.
 

AceDiamond

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Jul 7, 2008
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fix-the-spade said:
Something I've notice about Japanese mech designs, the pilot often seems to be located in the crotch. That one isn't as bad as Z.O.E's massive-erection-when-switching-flight-modes designs, but still...


...eh, maybe I'm just projecting.
well ok it's definetely crotch-regioned here but most of them are just located in the chest (Gundams, Wanzers from Front Mission, Veritechs, etc.)
 

FalloutJack

Bah weep grah nah neep ninny bom
Nov 20, 2008
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thenumberthirteen said:
Yeah... I really wouldn't want to drive around on a robot's dong
You realize...just about every Orbital Frame in Zone of the Enders games have seats there. And please...do I have to make the obvious pun about the place where the pilot sits?
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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fix-the-spade said:
Something I've notice about Japanese mech designs, the pilot often seems to be located in the crotch. That one isn't as bad as Z.O.E's massive-erection-when-switching-flight-modes designs, but still...


...eh, maybe I'm just projecting.
Well, I mean on a smaller robot like that, I'd think it'd just make for a better center of balance, no? Don't want to be too top-heavy.

Most of the mecha I can think of have chest-located cockpits, too.
 

Erana

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Feb 28, 2008
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Urge to pull out bucket and sponge... Rising.
Really, that thing looks dirty. Cool 'n all, but I have an urge to clean it.