Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: "Genre" screws up references
, started by Prime32 on Jul 16th 2011 at 7:01:35 PM
Should Power Rangers/Super Sentai even qualify?
The major reason I'd ask is because of their terrible win/lose record; normally, 1/3 through the season, combining two Megazords/gattai robos is required to beat the first primary cast villain, then the starting Megazord is outclassed by nearly every following monster of the week (& yes, that means most big bad keep around a "general" whose fighting skills are only about average compared to monsters of the week)!
I mean, isn't a "super" robots being defeated/overpowered supposed to be a rarity?
So... just wondering, would a laconic description of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gao Gai Gar, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, in order, be:
- Here's why the tropes don't work.
- Here's how you make them work.
- Who cares if they work, here's why you love them.
This section was inserted unilaterally, instead of the normal text. I am taking it here so that it can be decided on its own merits.
A super robot is a robot that performs the function of a superhero. Nothing else matters.
- Change shape in a way that is clearly impossible. Or even Unpossible.◊
- Gain or lose mass, including (especially) in the form of summoning weapons from nowhere.
- Gain power the more fired up the pilot becomes.
Can all be explained away with technobabble. Just about every single mecha featured in anime is physically impossible, and the ones that aren't usually have far too prominent a role to count.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Not sure if this is where it belongs, but it is claimed on it's trope page that Super Robot Wars is the Trope Namer, however, looking back at the original Mazinger Z, this trope is mentioned by name in the original japanese opening theme.
Edited by MetalKing1417