just asking, are the TF fandom separate from any sci-fi series that has robots, mechs, anything that originated from Japan, etc?, heck like Ironman, Pacific Rim, Mechwarriors, BattleTech, you name it, robots are cool!, robots are freaking awesome!,Tetsujin 28, Mazinger-Z, Gundam etc.
id say theyre different fandoms personally, piloted mechs are very different from sentient alien robots
um, Transformers aren't the only series that featured sentient robots, heck some predate TF in general, they came in all types, man made, alien made, alien lifeforms, bizarre earth origins, anything you can find.
Yes but my point is piloted mechs like pacific rim, fundamentals, Zoids etc are a seperate genre from things like transformers and go bots.
even sentient robots still fall under the mecha genre category, it doesn't matter if they are sentient or piloted, it makes no difference, what i am comparing is does the TF fandom differ from say for example, the Lego Bionicle fandom whom also revolves around sentient robots.
All shall fall under the mighty Mecha fandom empire! The transformers fandom is different to the mecha fandom in as much as any fandom is different to another fandom. Does the he-man fandom fall under the superhero fandom? Some mecha may appeal to transformer fandom followers, and some transformers will appeal to mecha fandom followers. But enough about Jetfire
Well sure. Transformers fans are nerds and geeks, and mecha fans are weebs and otaku. Certainly no reason you can't be all four though No seriously, if we're talking about comparing just TF fans then that's no different from comparing Gundam fans to Gurren Lagann fans or to Robotech fans, each show has very similar followings I'm sure. If we're talking American vs Japanese media though, then yeah both in design sense and storytelling there tend to be pretty big of differences.
I consider the Transformers as an Americanised mecha series like how Power Rangers is an Americanised tokusatsu.
Not really. Power Rangers is essentially the same concept with a different story. Transformers is radically reimagined from its source material. "Mecha" aren't even sentient robots by nature, and are almost always piloted. Transformers are machines, but sapient alien ones. The Bionicle characters are not robots. They're bio mechanical life forms inside a giant robot, but the characters themselves are not.
There's a degree of overlap but also they aren't the same fandoms. TFs, technically, are a space opera with alien (albeit heavily humanised) protagonists/antagonists. It's also a peculiar Frankenstein spawned from the Western comic company rolling with Japanese character designs but with the writers being used to utilise mostly Western comic book tropes in their writing.
Separate fandoms. Both in terms of the fandoms as subcultures and in terms of the genre concepts. Transformers look a lot like anime mecha due to Gundam's influence on the Diaclone designers. Conceptually though, Transformers isn't part of the mech genre any more than AstroBoy is.
Transformers is a blurred line of Western and Eastern concepts. It's Eastern mecha meets Western superheroes...with more Western leaning. Shogun Warriors, on the other hand, is Eastern mecha meeting Western superheroes...with more Eastern leaning with Kaiju. Really, with so much of 80's cartoons being animated in Japan or Korea, there were many blurred lines back then and it was delightful. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. and Disney started unifying their styles and Eastern influence declined in the 90's. Instead, we started getting anime dubs...which is probably better anyway as it is pure Eastern storytelling and what jumpstarted the anime fandom. But the blurred line era of Transformers, Thundercats, Sliverhawks and others was truly a magical moment that I just can't see ever returning again.
You made me so sad, yet this comment is so true. I feel like born in the 80s and been a kido in the early 90s that could at least put 2+2 together I lived the golden ages of my hobbies never to return.
It certainly was awesome. That's probably why I don't consider myself a "insert toy line" collector but rather just a toy collector in general. Transformers, GI*JOE, Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, M.A.S.K., Silverhawks, Thundercats, Robotech, DC Super Powers, Marvel Secret Wars, etc. I love it all. Heck, I've got Popples, Alf, Teddy Ruxpin, you name it. The 80's was an awesome time to be a kid.
He-Man is not a superhero. That's like calling Dave the Barbarian a superhero. Superheroes are based on comic books... He-Man is based on a toy line of fantasy characters. Anyway on the original topic, I think the fandoms are as different as the fictions themselves. Like Trekies are generally a completly different fandom from other Sci-fi fans. The only difference between fiction and fandom is there's a lot more crossovers in fandom than in the fiction. Some Trekies can also be Star Wars fans even though the fictions are completly different from each other. But then other fans might prefer one over the other. I know a few Transformers fans I've known IRL and online are also Gundam fans but personally I never got into Gundam myself. I don't just like any mechas, and I've tried to watch other things with Mechas, but they just seem kinda generic looking and the story just isn't as interesting. The only thing I've seen that actually seems similar to Transformers beyond just having giant robots in it is Challenge of the Go-Bots. Beyond that, nothing else has what Transformers does. If other people are into that stuff and Transformers, well maybe they like Transformers for different reasons than I do. If other people like that stuff but not Transformers then we obviously have completely different interests. And then there's going to be people outside the fandoms who know nothing of the fictions and just equate all mechas to beging the same thing just like people who aren't fans can't tell the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars... but they should really learn to read... it still annoys me that a lady in Wal Mart looking at Star Wars toys toys with Wars written in giant letters on the packaging still thought it was Star Trek. I'll give you some slack when the title isn't literally right in front of you but if you can't get the name right when you're looking directly at it, learn to freaking read. Speaking of people outside the fandoms getting confused... my aunt once got me the Magna Defender's zord from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy thinking it was a Transformer. To her credit she picked it up at a yard sale so no packaging to identify what it was and it is sort of a Transformer as that particular zord does change from a bull into a robot. There are oddly a lot of Power Ranger Zords who could easily be confused with Transformers... to the point where Hasbro now owning both brands makes me worry they could reuse some of the zords as Transformers characters. Red Dragon Thunder Zord has his own robot mode. White Tiger Zord always kinda looked to me like a G1 style Tigatron do to the blocky design fitting in with the G1 style of Beastformers and obviously being that Tigatron is a white tiger. Torca had a really simple transformation that was basically just stand up but it does transform from a turtle to the bulkiest robot ever. The Warrior Wheel could even be Scrounge, that Transformer who's known for transforming into a wheel. I could easily imagine the Pyramitas being written. Into a story similar to RotF except when they get to the sun destroyer it turns out to also be a Transformer. The Blue Centurian had his own zord that could very easily be repurposed as Prowl. The Turbo Rescue Zords all had individual robot modes as well as combining into a Megazord which could make them really easily be repurposed as the Protectobots/Defensor. The Silver Space Ranger had two zords that both transformed from vehicles into robots. Most of the zords only go from beast/vehicle to combined robot and I don't think they would translate well to Transformers but all the zords that do have individual transformations I could easily imagine being reposed as Transformers characters. We all know how Hasbro likes to repurpose figures they have access to, that's how the franchise started in the first place so now that they own Power Rangers I would not be surprised to see some zords appear as Transformers. Also to the person who said that Zords aren't sentient that's not entirely true. The Beast zords actually were partially alive, while the rangers did "pilot" them they were mildly sentient able to act on their own at times. It seems the rangers were only really needed to pilot the Megazord formations. The Green Ranger didn't even pilot the Dragon Zord at all, he just commanded it with his flute. He only ever entered the zord to form robot combinations with the other rangers. In lost Galaxy this is made even more clear as the zords had organic beast modes the Rangers would talk to and they had to actually tame the beasts to get them to turn into mechas. I stopped watching at this point as I lost interest after Zordon died and Lost Galaxy didn't do anything to bring him back. Power Rangers should have ended after Zordon's death. Anyway, I think it became a regular thing from that point on word that beasts were show up as organic looking creatures until the rangers tamed them then they'd become mechas. They weren't just mindless machines but semi sentient partners.
