Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim'

[Bariaburu Faita]

Wow! I never knew the tensions were so high. It will certainly make me think twice about ever visiting Japan (being Chinese).

Please dont take it wrong, its about Japanese not liking the Movie Pacific Rim, not you. If you visit I will be glad to show you around the Kansai area. And the Tokyo guys would likely say the same. And we will all introduce you to Japanese who have no problem with whatever nationality you are.

[Twoducks]

To talk about something happier: yes, there are diecast figures planned

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153404868735648&set=a.173042355647.246685.144220565647&type=1&relevant_count=1

By Play Imaginative in their "Super Alloy" line

http://superalloyfigure.com/index.php

These are the guys making diecast heavy Iran-man suits in 1/4, 1/6 (directly competing with Hot Toys) and 1/12 scales as well as that diecast Jim Lee style Batman.

http://superalloyfigure.com/products-marvel.php#14

Videos on youtube of their DC and Marvel stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=play+imaginative+review&sm=3

[areaseven]

These are the guys making diecast heavy Iran-man suits in 1/4, 1/6 (directly competing with Hot Toys) and 1/12 scales as well as that diecast Jim Lee style Batman.

http://superalloyfigure.com/products-marvel.php#14

"Iran-man"?

[mechaninac]

"Iran-man"?

Insert off color, Persian targeted, joke here: _______________...

[wm cheng]

Please dont take it wrong, its about Japanese not liking the Movie Pacific Rim, not you. If you visit I will be glad to show you around the Kansai area. And the Tokyo guys would likely say the same. And we will all introduce you to Japanese who have no problem with whatever nationality you are.

Thanks, I didn't take it wrong - I just never knew there was any tension at all. I guess I'm kind of insulated here in Canada. It's certainly enlightening, I will ask Guillermo tomorrow if I see him to find out if he was aware of any of this - he certainly got treated well when he made his trip over to Japan.

I will definitely take you up on your offer if I ever get around to that part of the world!

[Jefuemon]

Wow! I never knew the tensions were so high. It will certainly make me think twice about ever visiting Japan (being Chinese).

Please don't take it wrong, its about Japanese not liking the Movie Pacific Rim, not you. If you visit I will be glad to show you around the Kansai area. And the Tokyo guys would likely say the same. And we will all introduce you to Japanese who have no problem with whatever nationality you are.

And you've got a guide if you ever make it up north to Hokkaido.

[slaginpit]

For frakks sake we really need to bring stupid small minded cultural bullshit politics into a thread about a great movie with cool robots fighting cool monsters sheesh And there I go stop thinking cynical for a moment to only be proven wrong

[DuelGundam2099]

What do they hate the Chinese for?

China gave America air bases for fuel during WWII, notably among their planes the Enola Gay.

Kaijyu being the spirit of the earth retaliating against nuclear weapon use by humans

I also think the alien kaiju like King Ghidorah and Viras represented the unknown of outer space (since the Space Race was going on at the time).

And Pacific Rim showing the usual American bias of nuclear weapons being the solution to save the world. That bit is also offensive to the general population of japan.

I actually felt the same way myself all the way here in America.

And Pacific Rim showing the usual American bias of nuclear weapons being the solution to save the world. That bit is also offensive to the general population of japan. Even nuclear power use for propulsion of the mecha is a bit offensive now due to fukushima.

Oh wow I was not aware of that.

[slaginpit]

China gave America air bases for fuel during WWII, notably among their planes the Enola Gay.

I also think the alien kaiju like King Ghidorah and Viras represented the unknown of outer space (since the Space Race was going on at the time).

I actually felt the same way myself all the way here in America.

Oh wow I was not aware of that.

Maybe the Japanese need to stop looking for their inner problems outwards and maybe a little more inwards. i.e. Lying how bad fukishima plants are and sending homeless people to clean it up. Hmm. Nobody told the Japanese to put Nuclear timebombs all along the costs aka the ring of fire.

Edited January 10, 2014 by slaginpit

[Bariaburu Faita]

My vote for which toy company to make Pacific Rim Jagers and Kaijyu would be Kaiyodo, in their Revoltech line. That would be relatively affordable, and have a pre existing horde of mecha and kaijyu to fight with in huge dioramas.

[slaginpit]

My vote for which toy company to make Pacific Rim Jagers and Kaijyu would be Kaiyodo, in their Revoltech line. That would be relatively affordable, and have a pre existing horde of mecha and kaijyu to fight with in huge dioramas.

NOPE. We need a thumbs down smiley. Revoltech has proved to be the ultimate crap in the collecting figures world. Its the poor mans toy. The plastic eventually looks like its melting. Nah I give it to Sentinel. Man look at what they did with the getters. No one has done such an amazing job as Sentinel to make a bunch of overly obese robots look so dam good.

[Bariaburu Faita]

NOPE. We need a thumbs down smiley. Revoltech has proved to be the ultimate crap in the collecting figures world. Its the poor mans toy. The plastic eventually looks like its melting. Nah I give it to Sentinel. Man look at what they did with the getters. No one has done such an amazing job as Sentinel to make a bunch of overly obese robots look so dam good.

well the sentinel costs 500% of what the revoltech version does, so naturally it is much higher quality. And sentinel still lacks others in its line to play with.

[DuelGundam2099]

Pacific Rim gunpla, 'nough said. I call Cherno Alpha.

[Bariaburu Faita]

Pacific Rim gunpla, 'nough said. I call Cherno Alpha.

excellent, even lower price, and higher number of possible fighting partners. Esp in 1/144 HG scale.

[slaginpit]

well the sentinel costs 500% of what the revoltech version does, so naturally it is much higher quality. And sentinel still lacks others in its line to play with.

Revoltechs are 50 bucks and Sentinels are 100. Do you know arithmetic?

Pacific Rim gunpla, 'nough said. I call Cherno Alpha.

Has to be PG

[Vifam7]

Who says a Japanese company won't make Pacific Rim figures? I can definitely see Kaiyodo releasing them as part of the Revoltech line. The Revoltech line has certainly been focused on Hollywood stuff lately.

As for the suggestion that the movie was unpopular in Japan... well if true, I'm quite sure that politics has little or nothing to do with it. I can think of more non-political reasons why the movie wasn't a hit at the theaters.

That said, the reviews on Amazon Japan (under the Blu-ray release) are very favorable towards the movie.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Vifam7

[Bariaburu Faita]

Revoltechs are 50 bucks and Sentinels are 100. Do you know arithmetic?

Has to be PG

http://www.hlj.com/product/KYD01135/Sci

http://www.hlj.com/product/SET88807/Act

and by checking places like mandarake you can find revoltechs under 1000yen. where the sentinel tends to sell at a premium above original retail price.

[areaseven]

I think Bandai should have a crack at doing the Jaegers in Super Robot Chogokin form. After all, they've started doing Hollywood franchises with the S.H. Figuarts Iron Man Mk. VI and War Machine.

[Bariaburu Faita]

Who says a Japanese company won't make Pacific Rim figures? I can definitely see Kaiyodo releasing them as part of the Revoltech line. The Revoltech line has certainly been focused on Hollywood stuff lately.

As for the suggestion that the movie was unpopular in Japan... well if true, I'm quite sure that politics has little or nothing to do with it. I can think of more non-political reasons why the movie wasn't a hit at the theaters.

That said, the reviews on Amazon Japan (under the Blu-ray release) are very favorable towards the movie.

It was my fault for bringing up the politics. I vote to drop it and just carry on with instead, which toy company anywhere in the world should make Pacific Rim toys, and why.

[Kelsain]

excellent, even lower price, and higher number of possible fighting partners. Esp in 1/144 HG scale.

Yes... 1/144... Mwahaha.

[DuelGundam2099]

Evangelion units are 80 meters, the concept art from the Rebuild movies confirmed this.

[Scyla]

So I finally watched Pacific Rim yesterday. I would've preferred to see it in a cinema but at the opening week I wasn't anywhere near a cinema and after that the movie was already gone. The good think is that way I could watch it on my TV in 2D. I don't like 3D because of various reasons.

Since I'm sure this thread discussed the movie a whole lot I keep my thoughts as short as possible.

So first and foremost I really enjoyed the movie but I have a few nitpicks.

1. Why no Japanese Jaeger?

2. Mako should have saved the day

3. I could've done without the explanation of the alien threat they should have handled the reason why the Kaiju attack differently or explain it more. The whole brain drift with the monster brain doesn't do it for me

4. It should have a scene where we see more city destroying goodness shot during day-time with the sun shining.

5. A scene where Crimson Typoon and Cherno Alpha show of their skills against some type 4 Kaijus before they are being ripped to shreds by the type 5 goons (they describe both Jaeger teams as so deadly but the could not deal with already known Kaiju power levels.... disappointing).

6. Since I have some kind of a color code fetish it would be nice if the Kaiju glowed in different colors (one red, one yellow and so on) to differentiate them more.

7. I find it strange that they can escape from the chasm with escape pods. When they start to close it I thought they are all off for a suicide mission.

8. I can't wrap my head around the pregnant Kaiju. A genetic engineered and cloned weapon that can give birth is something I honestly don't get.

9. I wish they would have screamed ROCKETO PUSH at some point of the movie

As I said it is a good movie but there where too many nitpicks to be a great movie. I really want to love it because it is something new and it is not a trilogy (yet) so it has a good ending for the story they want to tell.

As a side note putting the cockpit for a giant robot in the head is really stupid.

[EXO]

Maybe it was a Japanese Jaeger before but a lot of concessions being given to China right now due to the strong Chinese Box Office and funding. Hollywood is sticking a lot of Chinese actors in big blockbusters so that their audience will have someone to go see when the film opens there. And a lot of scripts are being changed so that China isn't seen as the bad guys... i.e. Red Dawn and Total Recall. I'm surprised they kept Rinko and didn't stick Zang Ziyi in there.

[wm cheng]

Yep, thats true.

[Mechapilot77]

I wanted to like PAcific Rim. i really did. I was excited for its release. I don't usually get tangled in political stuff, but what is in the film goes beyond political. del Toro did his best to cut out a lot of the more offensive stuff that was originally in the movie but he was polishing a turd and had to please the studio. I am not Japanese or even of Japanese ethnicity, but I was not only offended for them but was myself offended. Its another movie in the long history hollywood has of pushing its agenda. Let's examine some points about Pacific Rim.

1. It is a movie that "draws inspiration" from now classic Japanese genres of movies. Kaiju movies, robot movies, anime etc. However, instead of a tribute to those genres it makes no mention or reference as to the origin nor credits Japan in any way for it. There isn't even a Japanese jaegger team?

2. But wait you say, they put an ethnically Japanese actress in a big role. Yeah and while she is totally bad ass enough to beat down a generic horder of if you notice....all asian dudes in the training to see "who is better matched to whom". Oh and as it turns out she is best suited as a side kick to some good ol fashioned American dude. Oh and later he heroically saves her. Let's also remember...there is no logical reason why you need two people to pilot the jaegger. The reason give seems like an afterthought and excuse to show the world that the best mental "drift" match is good old boy white dude and "oppressed" emotionally helpless yet somehow badass asian girl.

3. So the movie is anti-asian? But wait there is a chinese team, shown as being heroic. I can only assume this is to draw chinese audiences, however when faced with the real danger they are all but helpless. And of course it takes 3 asian dudes to be able to pilot a jaegger when any two white folk will do. Lets not forget the random asian reference jokes in there...like the shop owner selling herbs promising virility. Oh and of course its also a front for some illegal activity too. This is the classic hollywood move of pretending to give an inch but then taking a foot. What is sad is the chinese didn't even realize this and spent $100 Million watching this garbage.

4. The solution to the threat evil ugly threat coming out of the Pacific was nuclear weapons! of course! Is it an analog to anything? hmmmm...... while we wouldn't think of nuking another country today because of both the humanitarian reason and the counter attack, this analog clearly is celebrating the bombs at hiroshima and nagasaki. they're less than human anyway right?

I thought "The Departed" ripping off infernal affairs was bad for not ackowledging that it was a remake. in fact the only reference to anything asian in "the Departed" is you guessed it...asian mafia people who need their little tiny mini uzi guns. pacific rim takes it over the top another notch using a derivation of a country's own culture to then rape said country and race of people with it. Like I said, i RAELLY wanted to like Pacific Rim but the above jumped out as all too obvious. Also if you ever see portions of the original script online...it was much worse in exactly the ways i'm talking about.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Mechapilot77

[Dynaman]

Mecha, you are REALLY pushing for items 3 and 4 in your rant there. It is like you were looking for reasons to hate the film.

[Kanedas Bike]

-b.

[wm cheng]

I didn't realize its so politically charged

I worked on the film for a year and didn't think I was offended (I'm Chinese). I guess you can read into anything, but knowing the writers and being present at some of the ideas meetings... there wasn't any hidden agenda at work (at least in my presence ) Crimson Typhoon needed 3 guys because it looked cool inside to differentiate it and it always had 3 arms since concept stage. The dual pilot system is a dramatic device, it allows what would otherwise be an inner monologue be voiced out with an opportunity for acting, drama and tension. From what I saw, the writers are usually cool guys, not really historian buffs or social psychologists - just some cool ideas got thrown out there and some sticked and some didn't. I don't know about the studios or if there's some hidden agenda, but its really not like that - at the end of the day, we all just want to get paid, enjoy what we are doing and the people we're with and go home to our families.

[EXO]

It's fun to discuss the behind the scenes of how these movies get made, even some of the way it works with different countries as long as we don't get into real politics. I missed some of what was said earlier in this thread so I'll let it go. Also, talking about how each country is treated maybe racial, as long as we don't get racist. Surely a movie like this that represents different nations, no matter how well or poorly, does deserve some discussion. Except for some few post, I think it's been kept pretty light. Thanks!

[Mechapilot77]

the thing about movies is almost nothing in them in unintentional. Its also conceived, reviewed, edited etc. almost nothing is "by accident". the most effective and insidious propaganda is the type you don't feel is propaganda. It just sort of floats in your head casually and influences your opinions without you realizing. Cynical or not I can see through any wool pulled over my eyes these days and i'm sick of it. I sat down to what I thought would be the most enjoyable movie of the year and left disgusted. it ruined a friday evening for me. I later rewatched it and analyzed why it was I had those feelings and realized it was no without reason.

[Kanedas Bike]

Thanks, I didn't take it wrong - I just never knew there was any tension at all. I guess I'm kind of insulated here in Canada. It's certainly enlightening, I will ask Guillermo tomorrow if I see him to find out if he was aware of any of this - he certainly got treated well when he made his trip over to Japan.

I will definitely take you up on your offer if I ever get around to that part of the world!

Pretty cool that we have a member that has an opportunity to work on projects like this, let alone have the availability (if this, that, or the other) to speak to the director and have conversations based on what's discussed on the forums.

Hopefully you do get to speak with Guillermo and have a casual conversation about the film, his experiences and what a small sampling of average movie-goers had to say about the movie.

-b.

[sketchley]

I didn't realize its so politically charged

A bunch of the stereotypes that Mechapilot77 are highlighting are not limited to this movie, and are endemic to all Hollywood films. For example, the depiction of Asians in "Pirates Of The Caribbean 3" was so terrible, that the film was (initially?) banned in China.

So, Mechapilot77, from the ensuing discussion, I hope you can appreciate that the problem isn't so much the film that ended up being made, but the executives who green-lighted the script, and approved the cut for release. [This is more apparent if one remembers that this is the same director who did "Pan's Labyrinth"]

[Silverstreak]

I wanted to like PAcific Rim. i really did. I was excited for its release. I don't usually get tangled in political stuff, but what is in the film goes beyond political. del Toro did his best to cut out a lot of the more offensive stuff that was originally in the movie but he was polishing a turd and had to please the studio. I am not Japanese or even of Japanese ethnicity, but I was not only offended for them but was myself offended. Its another movie in the long history hollywood has of pushing its agenda. Let's examine some points about Pacific Rim.

1. It is a movie that "draws inspiration" from now classic Japanese genres of movies. Kaiju movies, robot movies, anime etc. However, instead of a tribute to those genres it makes no mention or reference as to the origin nor credits Japan in any way for it. There isn't even a Japanese jaegger team?

2. But wait you say, they put an ethnically Japanese actress in a big role. Yeah and while she is totally bad ass enough to beat down a generic horder of if you notice....all asian dudes in the training to see "who is better matched to whom". Oh and as it turns out she is best suited as a side kick to some good ol fashioned American dude. Oh and later he heroically saves her. Let's also remember...there is no logical reason why you need two people to pilot the jaegger. The reason give seems like an afterthought and excuse to show the world that the best mental "drift" match is good old boy white dude and "oppressed" emotionally helpless yet somehow badass asian girl.

3. So the movie is anti-asian? But wait there is a chinese team, shown as being heroic. I can only assume this is to draw chinese audiences, however when faced with the real danger they are all but helpless. And of course it takes 3 asian dudes to be able to pilot a jaegger when any two white folk will do. Lets not forget the random asian reference jokes in there...like the shop owner selling herbs promising virility. Oh and of course its also a front for some illegal activity too. This is the classic hollywood move of pretending to give an inch but then taking a foot. What is sad is the chinese didn't even realize this and spent $100 Million watching this garbage.

4. The solution to the threat evil ugly threat coming out of the Pacific was nuclear weapons! of course! Is it an analog to anything? hmmmm...... while we wouldn't think of nuking another country today because of both the humanitarian reason and the counter attack, this analog clearly is celebrating the bombs at hiroshima and nagasaki. they're less than human anyway right?

I thought "The Departed" ripping off infernal affairs was bad for not ackowledging that it was a remake. in fact the only reference to anything asian in "the Departed" is you guessed it...asian mafia people who need their little tiny mini uzi guns. pacific rim takes it over the top another notch using a derivation of a country's own culture to then rape said country and race of people with it. Like I said, i RAELLY wanted to like Pacific Rim but the above jumped out as all too obvious. Also if you ever see portions of the original script online...it was much worse in exactly the ways i'm talking about.

And what about Australians? As an Aussie I'm highly offended by those TERRIBLE accents the Striker Eureka team had. It's so stereotypical of Hollywood. They are evil I tells ya! Evil!!! Edited January 11, 2014 by Silverstreak

[jenius]

But the Chinese team of triplets is said to be a terrific benefit that lets their Jaeger have an extra arm... it's not like they made it seem like three asians were needed to have the same level as the Americans. In fact, the Chinese were standing after the American Jaeger got beat down and retired.

If we argue against nukes being the answer, would "reaction" weapons have been okay? Essentially a weapon that used something science fiction to cause an explosion big enough to kill a giant monster instead of something actually referred to as a "nuke". Are we arguing that the answer should have been diplomacy?

[Uxi]

Nukes should have been the answer and you wouldn't have needed big giant robots. Submarines circling off the rift with nuke torpedos hitting Kaiju as they came out should have been just as effective. THEN send in the giant robots.