Shipped overseas and repackaged in the ’70s and ’80s, the Japanese concept of “giant robots” has become a global phenomenon, the stuff of Hollywood films, video games, TV shows, and more. But back then, as much now, the art of big robots has bore witness to a range of global contributions, influences, and shared inspiration.
Take a quick trip back to 1984 and check out the latest SF3D Original kits from Nitto.
Parallel to the development of giant robot anime in the 1970s, Studio Nue’s revolutionary renderings of Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers powered suit changed the game, and in turn lead to smaller, more “realistic” powered suits appearing in the pages of manga weeklies and hobby magazines.
At the end of the gunpla boom, Hobby Japan and Nitto teamed up to release a direct-to-video short film based on Kow Yokoyama’s model kit and photonovel series, S.F.3.d.
In 1988, Kow Yokoyama and Makoto Kobayashi stood atop the artist and model making scene. Their illustrations and model work appeared in anime, magazines, video games, and a collaborative artbook called Two Factory.
The first part of a how-to series on painting with lacquer paints in a weathered, Maschinen Krieger style.
From the pages of SF Magazine circa 1985, a short interview with legendary illustrator and model maker Kow Yokoyama (Maschinen Krieger, Venus Wars).
A first-hand report (with plenty of photos!) about the Ma.K Tamagawa Meeting, an annual gathering of Maschinen Krieger fans and modelers.
Distributed exclusively to the model kit shops and retailers, the Hyper Dorvack Document helped sell Dorvack model kits using the design sensibilities of Makoto Kobayashi.
The creator of Maschinen Krieger kept busy in the ’80s by, among other things, penning a gritty sci-fi comic for a mostly forgotten video game magazine.
