Patlabor Questions..

[Poonman]

The Ingram 1 pictures in the Revoltech thread started me off on another Patlabor kick... I was really into collecting the figures back in middle school but that was way before they brought any of the anime or manga over to the US.... I had all the Bandai kits, the big light up/sound robot and a couple issues of Hobby Japan that had some diorama scenes.

a few years later when they started translating the manga I got volumes 1 and 2 (I never collected the individual issues Viz used to sell... gotta read the stuff Nihon style, right?) but thats all I could find. did they ever release a volume 3 or 4 of the translated manga?

next I'd like to rent some of the anime... or maybe buy a DVD or two but whats the story on those?

I know there's movies... probably four or five of them right? i'm pretty sure they've all been dubbed and available on DVD but theres a TV series too right?

I guess I'd just like a basic intro to the whole series... I did a search but most of the past threads talk pretty specifically about each movie etc. so bear with me please.

finally, besides the kits mentioned above and the "cloth gear" and "labor in action" kits are there any other ones you guys have liked collecting? i'm all about the hard to find stuff so I may get into the SD kits or something. thats it for now.. thanks guys

[drifand]

Well, p-man

The translated manga was a flop. They never proceeded beyond Vol 2, which is a shame. IIRC, the orginal manga had 22 vols...

The anime is generally excellent no matter where you begin... very character driven and episodic, usually lighthearted comedy but with standout episodes filled with action and tension. I think the cheapest would be with the original (first) OVA. If you like it enough, you'll definitely follow up on the full TV series, followed by the 'New OVA'.

The films: I love all three but generally, the second (P2) is considered the 'best' because of its timely story (precedes actual cult gas attack in Tokyo), high quality animation and mature handling of charaters.

The first movie (P1) was also 'serious' in tone but had a fair bit of action as well, plus an intelligent thriller-plot.

The 3rd movie 'WXIII' is considered 'weak' because it is more of a side story occuring within the world of patlabor. Its timeline situates the story between P1 and P2. The deluxe release of this DVD included a 'bonus' - the Minipato DVD: a series of funny animated sketches in 2D/3D 'paper puppet' style, exploring inane themes from Patlabor... pretty worthwhile for any Patlabor fan.

As for collectibles, I've only pursued the more realistic offerings, and prefer toys over kits. I really like the detailing on the newer MG kits but the line-up is short and I had a terrible experience with the rubber shrouds on the older 1/60 kits. The SD figures are pretty cool if you don't mind 'cute'... :-)

Edited October 27, 2006 by drifand

[F-ZeroOne]

The Patlabor on TV series is perhaps one of the most overlooked anime around, and well worth investing in. I just wish it could have enjoyed the same quality of treatment as ADVs Gatchaman release... The New Files make the perfect follow-on, and feature one of the best-written anime episodes ever made, with Captains Goto and Shinobu finding themselves looking for hotel accomodation one rainy night...

I have the large scale (1/32) Bandai plastic Ingram toy. In many respects its a crap toy - a largely fixed lump of plastic that doesn't really do anything and lacks almost any detailing. However, it does have quite a presence, especially if you have other Patlabor toys in your collection - it towers over them!

Edited October 27, 2006 by F-ZeroOne

[Poonman]

Well, p-man

The translated manga was a flop. They never proceeded beyond Vol 2, which is a shame. IIRC, the orginal manga had 22 vols...

The anime is generally excellent no matter where you begin... very character driven and episodic, usually lighthearted comedy but with standout episodes filled with action and tension. I think the cheapest would be with the original (first) OVA. If you like it enough, you'll definitely follow up on the full TV series, followed by the 'New OVA'.

The films: I love all three but generally, the second (P2) is considered the 'best' because of its timely story (precedes actual cult gas attack in Tokyo), high quality animation and mature handling of charaters.

The first movie (P1) was also 'serious' in tone but had a fair bit of action as well, plus an intelligent thriller-plot.

The 3rd movie 'WXIII' is considered 'weak' because it is more of a side story occuring within the world of patlabor. Its timeline situates the story between P1 and P2. The deluxe release of this DVD included a 'bonus' - the Minipato DVD: a series of funny animated sketches in 2D/3D 'paper puppet' style, exploring inane themes from Patlabor... pretty worthwhile for any Patlabor fan.

As for collectibles, I've only pursued the more realistic offerings, and prefer toys over kits. I really like the detailing on the newer MG kits but the line-up is short and I had a terrible experience with the rubber shrouds on the older 1/60 kits. The SD figures are pretty cool if you don't mind 'cute'... :-)

thanks for the info amigo... now I get that theres the TV series and the films... but is there also OVAs? and "newer" ones like you mentioned or are those the films (but that contradicts what an OVA is I guess... *confused*)?

and thats a damn shame about the manga... truth be told I've also been more into manga than anime... I like that fact that it usually supercedes the animation and I can look at all the little details and stuff for as long as I want. just feels more "intimate" I guess.

you played any of the video games too? I know there were some pretty good ones for the Super Famicom but they were mostly RPGs and pretty hard to figure out if you don't speak japanese (like me).

Edited October 27, 2006 by Poonman

[drifand]

...with Captains Goto and Shinobu finding themselves looking for hotel accomodation one rainy night...

Oh yeah! LOVE is in the air. That was one hilarious ep! And when you've fully enjoyed the TV and OVA series, the humanity in P2 is all the more poignant.

[drifand]

thanks for the info amigo... now I get that theres the TV series and the films... but is there also OVAs? and "newer" ones like you mentioned or are those the films (but that contradicts what an OVA is I guess... *confused*)?

and thats a damn shame about the manga... truth be told I've also been more into manga than anime... I like that fact that it usually supercedes the animation and I can look at all the little details and stuff for as long as I want. just feels more "intimate" I guess.

you played any of the video games too? I know there were some pretty good ones for the Super Famicom but they were mostly RPGs and pretty hard to figure out if you don't speak japanese (like me).

Briefly, I understand the anime timeline to be like this (apart from the films):

1. First OVA

2. TV series

3. New OVA (aka 'The New Files')

And yes, I did play the Super Famicom games. I lived for the brief animated action sequences during the fights :-) Never could read the Japanese script but the gist of the story was simple: Stop the baddies, sometimes w/o guns etc.

[Poonman]

what are the names of the OVAs so I can do an ebay search or something for some DVDs?

[Penguin]

Just to further clarify drifand's list of the animation...

The first OVA is stand-alone. It serves as a great introduction to the characters and style of the subsequent Patlabor productions.

The TV series starts over from the beginning, ignoring the first OVA stories. Both the first OVA and the TV series begin at the same point story-wise... the loveable screw-ups of the SV2 2nd section get an upgrade to the latest in police labors, the Ingram, and new team-member Noa Izumi. The TV series fleshes out the characters and story more, and then continues on into more adventures. Basically, if you love the characters from the first OVA, the TV series gives you even more.

The Second OVA is a direct sequel to the TV series, and wraps up some lingering story lines from the TV series.

The first movie takes place between the TV series and the 2nd OVA.

The second movie takes place after the 2nd OVA, and basically wraps up the story of the original characters.

The third movie comes somewhere in between the first two, as drifand wrote earlier.

[Poonman]

OK cool... I think I can manage to track down the films and TV series on my own but if you guys know the names of the OVAs that would help. thanks

oh yeah and I noticed a bunch of "Limited Edition" sets on ebay for the various films and things.... any easy explaination of this stuff?

Edited October 27, 2006 by Poonman

[Mr March]

oh yeah and I noticed a bunch of "Limited Edition" sets on ebay for the various films and things.... any easy explaination of this stuff?

DVD sets that include a bunch of special features and books. The details are all on Amazon:

Patlabor Movie One Limited Edition DVD

Patlabor Movie Two Limited Edition DVD

Edited October 27, 2006 by Mr March

[Lynx7725]

The odd thing is, shortly after this topic came up, I went onto eBay to search for the Labor in Action. I've previously tried but it's actually fairly hard to find on eBay.

And guess what? I found ONE seller (whom I bought from before) selling at a reasonable price. Not cheap, but not overly expensive either. And yes, I got it...

[Poonman]

The odd thing is, shortly after this topic came up, I went onto eBay to search for the Labor in Action. I've previously tried but it's actually fairly hard to find on eBay.

And guess what? I found ONE seller (whom I bought from before) selling at a reasonable price. Not cheap, but not overly expensive either. And yes, I got it...

yeah I was watching that one too. but I'm pretty sure when my Revoltech comes it'll serve all my Ingram needs for a little while... atleast until I get the urge to start modelling again and get one of the MG kits..

[yellowlightman]

I love the Patlabor OAV and TV series, by far some of my favorite mecha series. I'm not a big comedy-anime guy, but I really liked Patlabor for some reason. The movies I'm not so crazy about, I like them for what they are, but they're not my favorites.

[Poonman]

any info you can give me on the OAV's would be great. thanks

[JELEINEN]

Just to further clarify drifand's list of the animation...

The first OVA is stand-alone. It serves as a great introduction to the characters and style of the subsequent Patlabor productions.

The TV series starts over from the beginning, ignoring the first OVA stories. Both the first OVA and the TV series begin at the same point story-wise... the loveable screw-ups of the SV2 2nd section get an upgrade to the latest in police labors, the Ingram, and new team-member Noa Izumi. The TV series fleshes out the characters and story more, and then continues on into more adventures. Basically, if you love the characters from the first OVA, the TV series gives you even more.

The Second OVA is a direct sequel to the TV series, and wraps up some lingering story lines from the TV series.

The first movie takes place between the TV series and the 2nd OVA.

The second movie takes place after the 2nd OVA, and basically wraps up the story of the original characters.

The third movie comes somewhere in between the first two, as drifand wrote earlier.

Just an addendum. The second OVA series was actually released as bonus episodes on the TV series LDs in Japan. It's not a big deal, but it does make somewhat of a difference in the Griffin story arc, which works much better when spread out like its supposed to be.

[Penguin]

any info you can give me on the OAV's would be great. thanks

US Manga Corps, who releases the OAV and TV series, labels the first OAV as "the Original Series" and the second as "The New Files".

Original Series

The New Files

B oth are released in single sets. The TV series is just named "The TV Series" and is released as 3 boxed sets.

[Poonman]

ah.. brilliant.

because they're titled "series" I was confusing them with the TV stuff.

compared to the art the films got the stuff on those DVDs is horrible.... looks like a totally different series..

[rikiryou]

I think I've mentioned this before (it's trivial stuff) but if you pay a bit of attention to the dialogue, you'll find out that the first movie actually isn't part of the TV series's universe at all i.e. the mention of Alphonse. The movie was also released a *tad* bit earlier than the TV series, so that sort of makes sense.

You got back into the series just in time Poonman, the MG kits recently got a re-release after some 4-5 years. :D Although I'm still contemplating getting more though, I only grabbed the Ingram 3 before. The rubber's still in good condition all round, except at the forearms although I think that's mainly due to it constantly bending and subjected to more stress as such.

[Poonman]

yeah back in the day I just had the regular Bandai kits and I never had a problem with the rubber... never owned an MG kit tho.

i can probably just look some pics up on this site or the web but what you guys think of those kits? my modelling skills are pretty low... haven't built a model in years.. but do they require much paint to make them look good?

[Poonman]

whoa.. so wait... after doing a little more research theres a Master Grade Ingram 1 coming out on the 31st?

just a re-release right? or a new kit? kinda ironic that my interest for this series has been rekindled... this kit has the lights in it, right? i've never seen that box art before... the old stuff I recognize instantly but not this one.

[gerwalk25]

The translated manga was a flop. They never proceeded beyond Vol 2, which is a shame. IIRC, the orginal manga had 22 vols...

DAMN!

No wonder I couldn't find more volumes and I have the two you mentioned. DAMN YOU VIZ, DAMN YOU!

[Poonman]

I'd also like to add that the Type X-0 is one of the coolest looking mechs ever and they should have made a MG kit out of it..

I forgot I had that one as a kid.... so cool looking. a lot more streamlined and updated looking than the Ingram 1.

[CoryHolmes]

My enjoyment of Patlabor was rather hamstringed by the fact that I saw the first two movies first, and expected the TV series that was released later (in my area, at least) to have the same tone and style. Needless to say, I was quite shocked by the amount of humour and sillyness. Not that it's BAD, mind you, but it's definitly different.

[TSP]

Sadly the live action movie never became reallity. Trailer on youtube

[rikiryou]

Yeah, that's a re-release of the MG Ingram 1. Basically Ingrams 1 to 3 (normal and Reactive Armoured) were released, and Griffin Aqua and Flight types. There was also the WXIII version of Ingram 2 which had a LED lighting system for the shoulder lights. Apart from those, there were also the IXTL (crab/spider tank thing from Patlabor the Movie 2) and Command Car EX Model kits which were the same scale as the MG kits if I remember rightly.

I had the old 1/60 Ingram 1-3 set with the interchangeable parts, didn't like the rubbers since they hindered movement. You pretty much don't get that problem with the MG simply because the joints have screws, so they're quite tight. My MG Ingram 3's right elbow joint broke though, probably because I screwed it too tight; but that's fixed.

Edited October 28, 2006 by rikiryou

[jonwayne]

whoa.. so wait... after doing a little more research theres a Master Grade Ingram 1 coming out on the 31st?

just a re-release right? or a new kit? kinda ironic that my interest for this series has been rekindled... this kit has the lights in it, right? i've never seen that box art before... the old stuff I recognize instantly but not this one.

this is a re-release of the MG Ingram #1 Alphonse. No it does not have the light up LED. and this one does not come with the shotgun.

this is the one with the LED:

http://www.hlj.com/product/BAN907022

[F-ZeroOne]

Sadly the live action movie never became reallity. Trailer on youtube

Wow. I'd heard a live action movie was planned, but never released they actually made a trailer. Can't say I like the Ingram redesign too much (if that is meant to be an Ingram), but still...

[Poonman]

so I watched the first movie last night.... lots of... talking.... but I liked it. the action scenes were great.

I also liked all the "Oshii" (director) touches like fish eye lenses and landscape shots of decrepit buildings and stuff. some of the music was like a "light" 1980's versions of what was to come with Ghost in the Shell.. droning, moody stuff. and what I got from the dialog was that it was a lot like Ghost in the Shell... the dubbed "Manga Video" version of that movie was earlier than GiTS (I think) and the voice acting and stuff wasn't as good but it was the same heady, technical, philosophical stuff that GiTS had. the dialog wasn't quite as good as GiTS but if I spoke Japanese and watched the original version with the original actors it'd probably like it more.

crazy to think this movie came out in '89 and the series was around in the mid-eighties... seemed like a solid mid-nineties anime... guess it was just ahead of its time.

so either way I'll probably buy this disk because I loved the Labor scenes then if part 2 is supposed to be even better I'll definetly order that one too.

back when I was a kid in middle school and had all the models I think I would have literally gone ape-poo if I could have ever gotten my hands on the anime... oh well, better late than never

[F-ZeroOne]

If anything, Patlabor 2 is even more talky than the first...

[the white drew carey]

Sadly the live action movie never became reallity. Trailer on youtube

Not really if that was the police labor design.

It almost looks as if the designers for the new Transformers movie took a hint from this for their redesigns. And that's not a good thing.

[Poonman]

could anyone offer up any more info on the MG kits? i've searched the web and theres surprisingly very little in the way of reviews, fan sites etc..

if anyone has any nice pics of any MG kits they've built or can just offer a mini-review on one that'd be great... I'm think of getting the re-release Ingram 1 or the Ingram 2 w/ LEDs and i'd like to know how nice of a kit they are and how much extra painting and stuff needs to go into them. thanks

[rikiryou]

http://www.geocities.jp/hetare_d_max/galle...or_INGRAM3.html

Here's one. I also have this kit, though all the normal (i.e. not Reactive Armoured) Ingram 1-3 kits are more or less the same except for their heads and shoulders. And that Ingram 2 comes with a shotty (we all know why ). Main gimmicks include the right hand's ability to extend and retract to reach the revolver cannon inside the right leg, which also has a gimmick i.e. when you open it the holder slides up a little. The hand misses the gun just slightly though, the body pretty much has to lean a bit either to the front or side if you wanna pull off a pose.

The stun stick isn't a gimmick unfortunately; they come with 2 types, one extended and one detracted, the latter easily inserted and removed into the shield. Oh, 3 pairs of hands: open, closed, and one for holding the revolver cannon i.e. your somewhat standard hand with ball-jointed thumbs and moveable fingers. The closed hands have a hole in the middle in which you can insert the stunstick, it's basically 2 parts combined. You'll have to remove them to place the stunstick in. The chest also opens up, too. A nice feature. The pilot can also be removed from the cockpit (provided you don't glue it in place) but it's a bit hard to reach inside to press it back in place.

The rubber could've covered some areas a bit more, but they do the job. Too bad the wire on the crotch isn't a gimmick. Apart from the shoulder lights, all other clear parts aren't coloured and this includes the 'eyes' but this isn't a difficult problem to overcome. Overall it's a pretty good kit, just don't expect it to be the Revoltech.

Edited October 29, 2006 by rikiryou

[jonwayne]

take a look at these past threads:

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...=12101&st=0

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...c=10202&hl=

And this website, lots of pictures, even though you may not understand korean:

http://old.rfdh.com/1026/mg/gri_f/ing_sp/isp.htm

here's mine:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/jonw...s/Shelf_4_2.jpg

All are unpainted. The shoulder LEDs on the 3 Ingrams are bought separately. I also aded LED into the head of the 2 Griffons. Connected to a power source that's why u can see those wires running around.

And as far as I know, the MG Ingram#2 with LED had not been re-issued yet. Maybe soon, but I can't find them selling anywhere at the moment.

[electric indigo]

Not really if that was the police labor design.

It almost looks as if the designers for the new Transformers movie took a hint from this for their redesigns. And that's not a good thing.

The "Live Action" Labor design was actually supervised by Oshii himself, propably executed by Atsushi Takeuchi, who's involved in most of Oshii's work. Nevertheless, it looks stupid.

-i-

[rikiryou]

Haha, it certainly does. Which is probably why they decided to scrap it since the results looked pretty dorky/didn't blend well.