The Gundam franchise might be on the top of the ladder when it comes to all things mech in the anime world, but there are other mech franchises that are aiming to dethrone the Mobile Suit series. Patlabor originally premiered in the 1980s but since then, has unleashed quite a few television series and movies to help in exploring the futuristic tale. While the pivotable mech won’t be made available for everyone to purchase to have their own pilotable mech suit, the company known as MOVeLOT.inc is aiming to bring the mech suit to the real world.
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MOVeLOT.inc is planning to release a new pilotable mech next year based on the popular robot from Patlabor and here’s how the company describes the upcoming project, “We will create an environment where anyone can ride/create a ride-on robot, and create a world where a wide variety of robots can be created using ride-on robot technology. We will pursue the field of riding robots by creating and nurturing developers and passengers (pilots), planning/developing/operating riding robots, and producing existing riding robots.”
Patlabor: From Anime To The Real World
While details are scarce at present, MOVeLOT.inc is aiming to keep anime and robot fans updated before the mech arrives in 2024. Gundam might have a robot that can walk under its own power, but it seems as though Patlabor is aiming to one-up the mech franchise.
If you weren’t familiar with the Patlabor mech franchise, here is an official description for the series that has spawned quite a few anime projects since it first hit the scene in the 1980s, “In the future, advanced robotics has created heavy robots (“labors”) for use in a variety of functions: construction, fire-fighting, military, and more. However, though the robots are only machines, their operators are also only human—and humans sometimes turn to crime. Since a heavy labor unit can be a dangerous weapon, the police of the future are set to fight fire with fire, using advanced patrol labor units, “patlabors.” This is the story of the Second Special Vehicles Division, a motley crew of patlabor policemen and women doing their best to fight crime and live a normal life.”
Which anime mech suit would you most want to pilot in real life? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of mechs.
