mecha

To mark Sci-Fi Week on ComicsAlliance, Screen & Page tackles one of the great anime series of the '90s, and the show that brought the world's oldest "Real Robot" franchise to the West: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing!

It seems like whenever we start to become desensitized to the mix-and-match mash-up nature of popular culture, something new comes along to shock us out of our doldrums. Whether it's Phineas And Ferb crossing over with Star Wars, Hello Kitty teaming with KISS, Archie's hometown of Riverdale getting devoured by zombies, or Minions advertising in the produce aisle of your local supermarket, mainstream society has adopted a comic-con mentality where all things coexist and cross-promote at all times, whether or not the combinations make any logical sense. But even so, I don't think any of us foresaw a world where the stars of Toy Story would be reimagined as giant mecha-warriors, joining together to save earth from the kaiju threat of a mutated Trixie The Triceratops.

If you ever doubt that this world might be worth saving, consider the following: There is, right now, at this very moment, an engineer and roboticist in Japan named Kenji Ishida who is working on building a full-sized, drivable car that transforms into a humanoid robot that can shoot missiles out of its hand. If that news doesn't cheer you up (and make you at least slightly terrified) then really, I don't know what will.

For those of you planning on permanently relocating to Japan to take advantage of their readily available Kamen Rider churros and Attack on Titan deca-decker cheeseburgers, we have some good news on the job front! It seems that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is in need of some stalwart crimefighters to hit the streets, and to get the word out about their latest recr uitment drive, they'r

Ever wanted an action figure line that seamlessly combined 3.75" armored soldiers with transforming mechs in an alternate history where World War II never ended? Kit Lau and the Hong Kong-based Ori Toys did too, and will soon bring their vision of a toxic wasteland rife with war over resources to life with The Acid Rain World.

The greatest metafictional mecha warrior that never existed is set to spring from Crayon Shin-chan and onto toy shelves this June as Cantam Robo (a.k.a. Kantam Robo/Quantam Robo" gets the Super Robot Chogokin treatment from Bandai.

Bandai's spent most of the past four decades kicking out scores of action figures and model kits based on the numerous permutations of Go Nagai's Mazinger Z manga and anime, but later this year Threezero will get a chance to put their own spin on the super robot.

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Sanrio's Hello Kitty and Bandai's long-running die-cast Chogokin toy line are both turning 40 next year, so they're commemorating the occasion the only way that makes sense: teaming up for a righteous Hello Kitty mech action figure that, among other things, shoots rocket fists like Mazinger Z.