Robocop is back

[BeyondTheGrave]

Don't care for the Bey-ified look either. The original design is Iconic; and while I wouldn't mind a re-imagined or updated look, what they've come up with looks more like some 3D hobbyist's "super-duper, extra kwel, mega armed, overly greebled, nobody-can-beat-me" fanwank pet project... like many fanmade starship designs one can find all over the net.

But it makes sense. They're taking a walking tank that's designed to search and destroy and re-purposing it for law enforcement. So when it decides to go nuts and shoot up everything in a hilarious manner. the audience will understand why.

Next everyone's going to complain he's not driving a 1985 Ford Taurus. But a 2012 Ford Taurus or Dodge charger or Chevrolet Caprice. Or which ever company is going give them car after car to destroy and shamelessly Showcase.

Edited July 9, 2012 by BeyondTheGrave

[Hikuro]

Indeed. Doesn't give the impression this is real. I about laughed at the aerial drone in the start. But I pissed myself laughing at the new ED-209. Can't wait to see what they came up with for Robocop......or I mean "RC-2000"......serious.....it doesn't sound cool unless you put 2000? Doesn't anyone know in hollywood, you put an X in there to make it official?

[mikeszekely]

http://omnicorp.com/

At what point did we Hollywood designer types decide that "futuristic" meant "glue on a drawer full of cutlery your ran through a blender?"

[areaseven]

Whoever they got as the new RoboCop should have a mime artist coach like Peter Weller did, because it ain't RoboCop without those movements.

[mecha2241]

LOL, I want to see what happens when these mechs hit the real streets of Detroit. If the thugs spraying their AK's or the random collapsing building due to arson and/or abandonment don't put a dent in their armor... the corrupt police, incompetent city council, and general "just don't give a sh!t population" will complete the act of mechanical destruction.

Soon the machines will develop sentience and do a sprint across 8 mile like everyone else!

I hate to admit this since I've lived in Michigan for 15 years or so, but aside from perhaps some new real estate, which I guess can be added to the "Green Zone" (Comerica Park & Ford Field), Detroit has pretty much stayed the same - small islands of "civilization" surrounded by an ocean of blight.

I moved away from the Detroit area about 15 years ago and yeah, that sounds like same place lived near growing up. I do miss the Devil's Night news coverage though...

[BeyondTheGrave]

Indeed. Doesn't give the impression this is real. I about laughed at the aerial drone in the start. But I pissed myself laughing at the new ED-209. Can't wait to see what they came up with for Robocop......or I mean "RC-2000"......serious.....it doesn't sound cool unless you put 2000? Doesn't anyone know in hollywood, you put an X in there to make it official?

X is for XTREME. Or a desperate cry for attention (example gundam).

[CoryHolmes]

Indeed. Doesn't give the impression this is real. I about laughed at the aerial drone in the start. But I pissed myself laughing at the new ED-209. Can't wait to see what they came up with for Robocop......or I mean "RC-2000"......serious.....it doesn't sound cool unless you put 2000? Doesn't anyone know in hollywood, you put an X in there to make it official?

What about the 6000 SUX? You know the one, 1.5 MPG and "An American Tradition"

[taksraven]

http://omnicorp.com/

I hate to speak the unspeakable here, but that design reminds me a LOT of some of the designs from Robotech 2 the Sentinels. Particularly the new designs they had for the new Destroid Monster and the new Battlepods that they put in Robotech Art 3. Eeewwwww.

[areaseven]

What about the 6000 SUX? You know the one, 1.5 MPG and "An American Tradition"

"Hey, no problem, Miller. You let the mayor go, we'll even throw in a Blaupunkt!" - Lt. Hedgecock

[azrael]

My gripe with the design is, for something that's suppose to go into combat, shouldn't the thing be less exposed? Seems like it has too many gaps in the plating around the legs and the arms. Does it really depend on it's armored topside that much? Or is there suppose to be a fear-factor?

[Omega Prime]

Whoever they got as the new RoboCop should have a mime artist coach like Peter Weller did, because it ain't RoboCop without those movements.

I have the sneaking suspicion they might avoid the 'Mr Robo' moves, especially since we have robots that are more approaching natural walk strides.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MnD7LqisBhM

[wm cheng]

That ED-209 is a very early concept illustration (yes, unfortunately from the same set of concept illustrators from so-cal as all of the recent movies...) - but the newer updated designs of ED-208/9 is much better looking (IMHO).

Unfortunately, I didn't have much to do with any of the mech designs on this one (except some various data port connections on the RoboCop suit itself - the bulk of the design work started while I was still on Pacific Rim), I'm working on the Lab in this one so far.

[Dynaman]

I hope they keep the mr robo moves in. During the original the "robo" movements became more fluid as he re-connected with his humanity. (I figure everyone has watched the original by now...)

[CoryHolmes]

Watched or memorized...

Obscure movie quote game! Who said, "Does it hurt? Does it hurt?"

[Greyryder]

I am not a fan of the "shard armor" look. Looks like somebody could wreck it, with a crowbar. That looks more like a Bushwacker battlemech, than an ED 209.

[GU-11]

Watched or memorized...

Obscure movie quote game! Who said, "Does it hurt? Does it hurt?"

That black guy in Bodicker's gang. Prince, wasn't it?

[CoryHolmes]

That black guy in Bodicker's gang. Prince, wasn't it?

Ding! We have a winnah!

[GU-11]

So...what did I win? A complete bluray set of that comedy series with the balding geezer and the chicks? I'd buy that for a dollar!

[PetarB]

7 degrees of Robocop:

I just watched Paul Verhoeven's Flesh and Blood again last night, and realised my wife does pilates with the wife of one of the main actors in the movie. Next time I chat to him I must ask him what it was like to work with Verhoeven back in the day... I dearly wish he'd start making movies again. Black Book was superb, but so long ago.

[Graham]

Yawn! Wake me up when they have an actual movie that I can buy/watch

for a dollar.

Graham

[Black Valkyrie]

Robocop craze all over again, Just ordered the Figma figure from BBS.

[Knight26]

I think that new ED-208/9 shows the biggest issue in special effects now, most of the artists have only done CG, they never wet their teeth on actual physical models and props, WM Cheng and a few others being the exception. Especially since the Bayformers more and more robots in movies have this half falling apart look to them because it "looks cool" but in reality it would never work. All those barely holding on spindly bits would fall off way too easily. The original ED-209 worked because when you looked at it you said, wow that is a nice solid looking mech, and all the parts looked real, it looked like something that could actually walk down the street. This new one I look at and can point out dozens of weak points in it's "armor" where a good shot could destroy it. The UAV is not as bad, but those lift fans don't look like they tilt enough to provide forward momentum, maybe there is another engine or the video just didn't show much they can move, but at least that UAV looks plausible. Things like this are what really make me fear a Macross live action movie, though the Yamato one sticking as close as they did to the human designs does give me hope, but I fear all transforming robot movies now will make all the bots look like bayformers until someone who has an engineering, or at least phsycial modelling, brain in their heads starts working on the mech designs again.

[Dynaman]

it "looks cool" but in reality it would never work. All those barely holding on spindly bits would fall off way too easily.

In reality, no humonoid armored vehicle is going to work, including our beloved older ones. A humonoid form is simply too ineffcient for purposes or making it armored, it maximizes the area needing armored while minimizing depth. The new ED-209 may be silly for other reasons, but I think this one is a case of looking at the past with rose tinted spectacles.

[Knight26]

Dynaman, as an engineer I understand that any walker tank/robot is not the best platform for a weapon system. There is an acceptable level of disbelief for such designs/movies but they need to be more solid to be realistic in appearance and to not have to stretch the disbelief too far.

[GU-11]

Dynaman, as an engineer I understand that any walker tank/robot is not the best platform for a weapon system. There is an acceptable level of disbelief for such designs/movies but they need to be more solid to be realistic in appearance and to not have to stretch the disbelief too far.

I agree. As unrealistic as "walker-type" tanks might be, the original ED-209 design at least allows the audience to suspend his disbelief to a degree.

On another matter, these designers simply fail to understand why Bay called for these super-complex "junkyard sculpture" designs for the transformers in the first place. Supposedly, he and his design team were shooting for a realistic look, in that the transformers are supposed to be ALIEN robotic lifeforms, as opposed to manmade. In order to get a more organic look, he wanted them to have a huge amount of moving parts to simulate the numerous bones, muscle fibers and tendons that make up a human body and allows us to move with such mobility.

The ED-209, on the other hand, IS manmade, and to "Bay-ify" it only destroys the believability of it.

[BeyondTheGrave]

I think the biggest problem is that its a bad picture of ed-209.

[VF5SS]

ALIEN robotic lifeforms

so then why are most of them patterned to look like human beings complete with lips, noses, and eyebrows :v

[BeyondTheGrave]

so they could show emotion.

[GU-11]

so they could show emotion.

Yup.

In any case, I was just repeating what Bay said in his commentaries. That was his intention; whether it worked out well or not is another story.

[BeyondTheGrave]

beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[PetarB]

so then why are most of them patterned to look like human beings complete with lips, noses, and eyebrows :v

Didn't one actually have a beard or goatee in the last movie? I just rolled my eyes at that....

[CoryHolmes]

That's how you knew he was evil!

[Dynaman]

The ED-209, on the other hand, IS manmade, and to "Bay-ify" it only destroys the believability of it.

Sorry guys, you are just getting old - and thus not liking the new stuff because the old stuff is "more believable", even when you know it was not believable. (don't get upset, I freely admit to being an old coot on any number of other threads around here)

The new transformer designs are the only things from the new movies that did not bother me. The first Tim Burton Bate Mobile was fine, the second looked like it was patterned off of doilies hanging off a lamp shade. Others like the second bat mobile more - neither was more "realistic" in any way. Same for ED-209, simply a matter of taste either way.

[GU-11]

Sorry guys, you are just getting old - and thus not liking the new stuff because the old stuff is "more believable", even when you know it was not believable. (don't get upset, I freely admit to being an old coot on any number of other threads around here)

The new transformer designs are the only things from the new movies that did not bother me. The first Tim Burton Bate Mobile was fine, the second looked like it was patterned off of doilies hanging off a lamp shade. Others like the second bat mobile more - neither was more "realistic" in any way. Same for ED-209, simply a matter of taste either way.

LOL! Yeah, maybe I am getting old. That said, I actually loved the Bayformers' design, and actually prefer it to the old-school G1 look.

By "second Batmobile," did you mean the Tumbler? Because in between, there Val Kimer's "radioactive Swiss-roll mobile," and George Clooney's "a bit of everything mobile." I actually like the Tumbler, and as far as I'm concerned, it looks great--in fact, I liked it enough to buy a 1/6th scale replica of it from Hot Toys.

The thing about the new ED is that looks too showy and ornate for a piece of law enforcement hardware, let alone military. All those metal shards and stuff would never be found on a tank or jet, or anything the army uses. Now I'm no military expert, but that thing looks like it breaks real easily, and seems like a bitch to maintain and manufacture.

Yes, the old ED isn't all that realistic either, but while you're watching the movie, it didn't make you think, "No way that thing would ever belong in the military or law enforcement agency." At least I didn't.

In any case, according to wm cheng, they've already changed the designs. So it'll either look less Bay-ish, or more so. Either way, we'll have to wait and see how the new ED looks.

Edited July 12, 2012 by GU-11

[VF5SS]

so they could show emotion.

you don't need human features to show emotion (like any of the TF's get enough face time do that anyways between all the Shia)

R2-D2 did that without only beeping