- Author
- Sean O'Mara (Zimmerit)
- Published
- 25 January 2016
- Kind
- Short blog feature on a fan site, with embedded videos
- Original
- www.zimmerit.moe/live-action-mecha/
- Subject
- Making visual worlds
- Themes
- Invented worlds
What it is
Sean O'Mara runs the Zimmerit site about anime, manga and garage kits. The post surveys older Japanese live-action mecha promos and one film. It suggests cheap commercials may beat Hollywood adaptations.
What it says
- Most 1980s and 1990s mecha promos were cheap, often actors driving around with airsoft guns.
- Gunhed (1989) may have been the closest thing to a decent live-action mecha film.
- The Appleseed promo of 1988 has an impressive Briareos costume and EGA computer graphics.
- Nutrocker, a 1985 promo, sold on VHS and Beta for 9,800yen.
- Gunhed had a decent budget and an international cast. It did not quite live up to the hype.
- The post says William Gibson's novel Virtual Light has an armored patrol car nicknamed Gunhead.
What evidence it gives
The post offers the author's opinions and a few production facts. It links a fan site on Nutrocker and a Front Mission translation page. Videos are embedded rather than described.
Interests and limits
This is one fan's informal list. The post asks if it missed titles. Commenters name others, such as Robot Jox. The embedded videos were not viewed; only the post text and comments were read.
Connections
These links are this wiki's own reading, not claims the sources make.
- Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history. Ueda and Kaido edited footage to show managers a game running better than it did. O'Mara's promos also advertised worlds on budgets that could not hold them. In each, the film is an argument for what could exist.