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--- Gatchaman Vehicles (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=2478)
Posted by Xephon0930 on 17-04-2009 at 17:06:
Gatchaman Vehicles
The God Phoenix-A shame that it took me a long time to see it.The one God Phoenix I remember most is going to be mentioned later.But I digress. The first one just pours of awesomeness and nostalgia.The first one that started it all.It was the G-5 when not in use where Ryu takes naps in when off-duty.But when combined with the other G-vehicles,the ship had access to the double-edged Bird Missiles and the Fiery Sciene Ninja Firebird Technique.This was truly THE God Phoenix!!!
The God Phoenix 2-Now we all know that the sponsers of the series to where this abomination was born in had quite the choke-hold on the guy behind Gatchaman.They wanted to sell more toys to a wider child-based audience.Well this plan back-fired as the older fans hated it and that the second series was a bit too intense for most kids at that time.*JOE*It haunted the Gatchaman community for a long time and it is referred to as the "Chicken Ship" due to the awkward design.It even made its way to Super Sentai Go-onger!!!!!!
The Gatchaspartan-Now for all those of you who would like to disagree with me,let me at least finish this!!!I think that the Gatchaspartan is THE most underrated of the Gatchaman vehicles.It didn't exceed the expectations made by the original God Phoenix,but it was at least IMHO far better than the dreaded Chicken Ship I mentioned above.Why,you ask? First off,it was the first(and the last)Gatchaman vehicle to actually combine in a super sentai like fashion as the past ones just docked into the God Phoenixes as it seems.And two,I loved the attack Hypershoot,that despite the fact it was killing Ken,had a stupid name,and an even stupider way to attack with it(standing on the bow of ANY aircraft is suicide)it had points in originality.As opposed to recycling footage of the Fire Bird Mode.I thought this was the overlooked younger brother that just needs attention of all the vehicles.
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Posted by Transmute Jun on 17-04-2009 at 19:16:
I agree (although I know it's not the standard opinion) that the Gatchaspartan was a real improvement over the GatchaRooster. I was so happy to see the destruction of the GatchaRooster, and although the Gatchaspartan flies a bit funny sometimes, at least it looks like a ship! And you can make a decent argument that the pointed nose shape was useful for the Hypershoot. IMHO it would have made more sense for that pointed nose to be the weapon, rather than the Gatchafencer.
As for individual vehicles, I think the original G1 through G4 had a huge advantage in being able to transmute to civilian vehicles. I always thought it was a shame the others didn't do that.
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Posted by gatchgirl on 17-04-2009 at 19:26:
While the original is my favorite too. I agree with TJ, that the civilian mode of the vehicles really added to their appeal. IMHO.
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Posted by Ebonyswanne on 18-04-2009 at 12:01:
It was the way they transmuted into the G machines that made them so cool in the first series.
As for Fighter and the Gatchasparten... It has merits and yes the hypershoot is impression when in imagine it working IRL, and I could see the physically effects such a device would have on the user.
If a ship could come together from individual parts and form a proper working space worthy craft...and picturing it IRL...than it would be amazing.
I thought about this a while back... the shape of the Gatchaparten is Star Wars like since a lot of the Star Wars space carries have that V pointed design to them. Could the designers of the Gatchaparten wanted to create that kind of appeal to the audience?
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Posted by Xephon0930 on 18-04-2009 at 14:50:
The Star Destroyer anyone?
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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 29-09-2009 at 23:21:
How about some pictures for those of us who don't have even the fansubs?
(The Gallery could be expanded to include the characters from the various series and OAVs.)
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Posted by tatsunokofan on 29-09-2009 at 23:36:
Hi all!
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Try this thread here:
http://www.gatchamania.net/thread.php?threadid=2313&sid=
I hope that helps!
James
Posted by Transmute Jun on 29-09-2009 at 23:41:
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There is some good information here:
http://www.chronicsite.com/gatchaman/mechs.html
You can click on the links of the upper left to see each series.
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Posted by amethyst on 30-09-2009 at 03:38:
I haven't seen Gatch II or F, but I have seen nearly complete screencaps here:
http://reboekah.peregrine-intl.com/default.htm
Reboekah has almost the entire series screencapped for those of us who don't have access to the sequels. Heck, I'm still collecting the DVDs for the original series and am watching BotP online.
As for the vehicles, I like the look of the originals. The others looked more like the creators were caving in to trends rather than creating trends like the did in the first.
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Posted by Reboekah on 30-09-2009 at 22:23:
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Yup - Guilty!
I'm in the process of redoing the Gatch Fighter screencaps and updating the thumbnails....
<heh>
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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 30-09-2009 at 23:21:
Going out on a limb here, and deducing that the Gatchafencer was 'inspired' by Voltron or some other anime series. I recall that EVERY battle on Voltron ended with the damned mecha whipping out a giant sword to carve up the enemy machines. You'd think the bad guys would figure it out after a while.
It's not good when the merchandizing gets in the way of everything else.
Okay: Just looked at Gatch II mecha. BAD PAINT JOBS!!!! They might look okay if someone hadn't wanted to make them look like birds.
Gatchaman Fighter: 
The transformed vehicles in the OAV: Cool.
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Posted by gatchamarie on 01-10-2009 at 16:34:
UnpublishedWriter, correct me if I'm wrong but Voltron was produced and aired more than a decade after Gatchaman! I think Gatchaman inspired most of the other anime series that followed it especially those having a team of five youths and vehicles that join into one!
Reboekah, I thank you for providing those great screencaps that illustrate episodes of Gatch F ... my favorite series! Your work was my only refuge from the beginning when I sought for important clues on Gatch F and they are also as so now!
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Posted by tatsunokofan on 01-10-2009 at 17:18:
Hi all!
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Well, Voltron (Or, more specifically, Go Lion and Dairugger XV, the two series that were used to create Voltron) weren't an inspiration for anything in Gatchaman Fighter, since they weren't produced until after Gatchaman Fighter had finished airing (1981 for Go Lion, 1982 for Dairugger XV).
Regardless, the notion of giant robots carrying swords goes back to at least Great Mazinger in 1974. From that point on, edged weapons of some sort (Swords, axes, and the like) became the norm for robots. For the first few years, these weapons were but one part of the arsenal used by the various robots, as the writers mixed things up so that the robots did not continually use one weapon to defeat their foes.
That pretty much changed once Combattler V came along in 1976. In that series, the number of times Combattler V defeated his enemies without using the Super Electromagnetic Spin can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Since the series was a success, that pattern was followed quite closely in subsequent robots series like Voltes V, Godsigma, and Albegas, as well as the aforementioned Go Lion and Dairugger XV. It didn't take too many years for the notion of a robot always winning his battles by using a powerful sword to become a cliche.
Now, I would suspect that much of this repetitious pattern is the fault of the sponsors, in particular the toy manufacturer Popy. They were a major sponsor on many of the robot series. In the first half of the 1970s, the main sponsors for these shows had the right to examine and approve the stories in the series that they were sponsoring, and they would make note of items in the stories that they would like to see changed so that the show would be more appealing to their target audience. The studios would usually try to modify things somewhat to make their sponsors happy, but the final say on things was still with the studios.
By the latter half of the 1970s, the economic situation had changed so that the studios really needed the support of their major sponsors, and the sponsors knew it. Being one of the biggest sponsors for these shows, Popy used their position to "request" that studios use designs that they wished to use for upcoming toy lines, and to "suggest" that certain elements be emphasized in the stories -- for example, having the robot use that shiny sword that came with the toy in every episode. The studios knew that they pretty much had to do what the sponsor wanted if they wanted to stay in business, even if it meant stifling their creativity, so those robots used those swords in every episode.
By the time that Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter were being produced, Tatsunoko was in the same situation that studios like Toei and Tokyo Movie Shinsha were in, where the sponsors were in the drivers seat. Popy wanted bird-themed vehicle toys for the series, so Tatsunoko complied, and probably used designs that were at least partially created by Popy. R2-D2 was popular, so Gatchaman II needed a cute, merchandisable robot too, so we got Pimer.
By the time we got to Gatchaman Fighter, Popy had apparently tired of the bird theme, but certainly liked Star Wars! They probably presented the Star Destroyer-inspired design of the Gatcha Spartan to Tatsunoko as a fait accompli. Star Wars is also the obvious influence for the Gatchaman Fencer (Not Gatchafencer, by the way), allowing Popy to release their very own light saber toy without having to pay 20th Century Fox a licensing fee!
Popy would also be the place I would lay the blame for the repetitious method by which the Iron Beasts were destroyed at the end of so many Gatchaman Fighter episodes. It's not that the Tatsunoko staff didn't want to do something different, or that they were inspired by what they were seeing every week in robot shows like Dartanius and Tryder G-7, it's that they were stuck in the same Popy-controlled trap that the staff of those other shows were in.
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I agree wholeheartedly.
James
Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 01-10-2009 at 23:41:
Since my anime experience consists entirely of what shows up in this country, I had no idea that Voltron came along ten years after Gatchaman. The post-Star Wars anime invasion rather mixed up the chronology for me.
Too bad it didn't occur to the toymakers that letting the writers use their creativity (or what might be left of it after churning out scripts for who knows how many series) would be a boon for the toy lines. Shiny swords, cool electro-whips, or pole-arms for the arsenal. That's what accessories are all about.
And then, in the 1980s, we had the trend of cartoons based on toys. 
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Posted by Barrdwing on 05-10-2009 at 02:26:
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<muttermuttermutter> Don't get me started on those . . . .
Even as a kid, I could tell that those shows were only there to sell toys! Ugly toys, at that. What is it about the toy merchant connection that immediately drains a cartoon of anything resembling story development or innovation? Or, heaven forfend, character development? While it's true that some shows since then have managed to overcome that handicap and find a balance, most of the stuff I saw in the 80's was just awful. 
Posted by Madilayn on 05-10-2009 at 02:39:
When it all comes down to it though: it wouldn't be hard to get better than the GatchaChicken.
If there was ever proof that Zark was really involved in Gatchaman - the Chicken is it.
(apologies to those who are Zark's) 
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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 08-10-2009 at 23:22:
Barddwing wrote a BOTP fic in which a scientist is relegated to assisting Zark. At one point, after listening to Zark's self-serving rubbish, she's surprised that the Phoenix doesn't have an angry chicken head painted on it. (It's called 'In a Small Room', if you want to read it. I found it on Gatchfanfic.)
In-joke, BW?
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Posted by Transmute Jun on 09-10-2009 at 00:58:
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I'll go out on a limb, knowing Barrdwing, and suggest that it likely was. That fic also had other in-jokes, including the one about the '85 missing data tapes'.
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Posted by Barrdwing on 09-10-2009 at 04:01:
Yup, there are a lot of in-jokes in that story. I had fun . . . figured it would give folks a chuckle, and hopefully not earn too many of these 
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