TF/Evangelion crossover?!

[BWprowl]

Yeah, I don't even know.

Not sure what about that crossover is 'obvious' but, uh...yeah. At some point in the future everyone's favorite over-marketed toy commercial hacked together from concepts of previous robot lines will be crossing over with Transformers!

Not even sure how the two will mesh, but tangentially: Has TF ever had an entry that could be considered a 'deconstruction'? Costa's run of the comics had elements of that (and didn't go over well, as you can expect when you write to fans of a property to show them everything wrong with said property), and LSotW had some stuff too, though that was mostly deconstructing concepts of heroism and ideology, less anything specific to Transformers itself. Not that I'm expecting any of the ol' Evangelion thoughtfulness from a cash-in crossover like this, but it's interesting to think about.

[JediTricks]

Supa pass! "No thanks" to this all the way, never was drawn to NGE and then my friends who were said they hated the ending. Aren't the mecha there way, way bigger in scale than TFs though?

[BWprowl]

Supa pass! "No thanks" to this all the way, never was drawn to NGE and then my friends who were said they hated the ending.

The actual TV ending is, in fact, a complete nothing. I'm a huge fan of the 'proper' End of Evangelion movie though. I still haven't gotten around to watching the Rebuild movies.

Aren't the mecha there way, way bigger in scale than TFs though?

Yeah, the EVA units are building-sized. The ad does mention that "Optimus Prime sets his sights on an enemy much bigger than himself."

[Almighty Unicron]

This link will never be more relevant.

[Dominic]

Prowl clued me in on this last night. And, I just want to sound off real quick.


I saw "Evengelion" about 15 years back. (Honey Bear is a huge fan. Our trips to conventions typically included time spent at a bootlegger table and him picking up the latest VHS. The guy doing the subbing was behind the show's release in Japan, but he managed to keep pace and catch up with the series, actually staying ahead of legitimate US releases.)

It was not bad, but I did not like it as much as some other people.

Supa pass! "No thanks" to this all the way, never was drawn to NGE and then my friends who were said they hated the ending.

The ending is a clusterfuck. I have seen both. But, I forget which I saw first and which is the right one. I do recall Honey Bear, myself and a few others being annoyed that the two official endings contradicted each other. We were initially unaware that one was a feckless over-write of the other, and much time was wasted on trying to reconcile the two. (We considered the possibility of a "lost" episode that the bootleggers had missed.)

Not sure what about that crossover is 'obvious' but, uh...yeah. At some point in the future everyone's favorite over-marketed toy commercial hacked together from concepts of previous robot lines will be crossing over with Transformers!

The only thing obvious about this is that the only people who are going to jump for it are the hard-core fanboys of either property. This is likely to be more on the TF side than the NGE side, given the nature of both properties and the fan-bases. But, there are likely to be some NGE fans who will "buy anything".

The two properties do *not* mesh on anything beyond the most superficial (big robots) level. (What next, "Star Trek" and "40K?) But, I tend to think that this is only going to run on that level. As a friend of mine put it last night, "This is going to have all the plot of a colouring book." If they try to give it any depth, they will be opening up exactly the philosophical and theological cans of worms that Takara would do better to avoid.

"Transformers v/s the Heavenly Host" "Tranformers: Apostation" I dunno. These names are fun to come up with.

Has TF ever had an entry that could be considered a 'deconstruction'?

Scioli's upcoming TF/Joe book is likely going to be branded as deconstruction. And, Rieber arguably played up his TF/Joe book (the '03 book from Dreamwave) as a deconstruction.


Lewis Brooks is likely to get whatever product (content or merchandise) comes out of this. So, I can look over his copies.

[BWprowl]

I saw "Evengelion" about 15 years back. (Honey Bear is a huge fan. Our trips to conventions typically included time spent at a bootlegger table and him picking up the latest VHS. The guy doing the subbing was behind the show's release in Japan, but he managed to keep pace and catch up with the series, actually staying ahead of legitimate US releases.)

It's weird to think about watching Evangelion as it came out. On the level of reading Watchmen as it was being released in issues. So often we think of seminal works like this as being complete and always just being 'around', it's unusual to think about being there *as it was being released* and seeing it turn into this big thing.

The ending is a clusterfuck. I have seen both. But, I forget which I saw first and which is the right one. I do recall Honey Bear, myself and a few others being annoyed that the two official endings contradicted each other. We were initially unaware that one was a feckless over-write of the other, and much time was wasted on trying to reconcile the two. (We considered the possibility of a "lost" episode that the bootleggers had missed.)

The explanation I've always heard (and I believe this has some official capacity) is that the Movie ending shows the actual, physical act and ramifications of Instrumentality occurring, while the TV ending is just a manifestation of everything going through Shinji's head at the time.

Of course, the real explanation for the endings is that the project's budget had imploded so badly by the last two episodes that they were reduced to using cheap pen/pencil drawings and storyboards to try and put the ideas of what they were attempting to get across out there, and had to write it all off under the guise of 'Symbolism!' and so forth. Only after the runaway success of the series had effectively funded a movie were they able to fully animated what they wanted in the first place. So tl;dr the Movie ending trumps the TV one, if only because that's what it was supposed to be all along, uncompromised.

The only thing obvious about this is that the only people who are going to jump for it are the hard-core fanboys of either property. This is likely to be more on the TF side than the NGE side, given the nature of both properties and the fan-bases. But, there are likely to be some NGE fans who will "buy anything".

How familiar are you with what an out-of-control merchandising juggernaut Eva is in Japan? Because between the Asuka/Rei toilet-brush set and the crossover campaign with Schick razors, yes, NGE fans will buy *anything*.

If they try to give it any depth, they will be opening up exactly the philosophical and theological cans of worms that Takara would do better to avoid.

If I know my Japanese merchandising pushes, and I do, this is very likely to be some repainted exclusive figures and incomprehensible story pages published in magazines.

"Transformers v/s the Heavenly Host" "Tranformers: Apostation" I dunno. These names are fun to come up with.

"I mustn't transform and roll away... I mustn't transform and roll away... I mustn't transform and roll away... AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Scioli's upcoming TF/Joe book is likely going to be branded as deconstruction.

I'll wait to see if they actually do that, but it would only prove that the forces behind it don't know the difference between 'deconstruction' and 'weird, edgy story'.

[Dominic]

I definitely recall the ending being bungled on some level beyond poor writing.

You are probably right about this cross-over consisting of a few recolours and some vague story pages.

How familiar are you with what an out-of-control merchandising juggernaut Eva is in Japan? Because between the Asuka/Rei toilet-brush set and the crossover campaign with Schick razors, yes, NGE fans will buy *anything*.

I actually did not know about the merchandising juggernaut. I knew that they made a few creepy as hell bishojou (sp?) products of Rei and Asuka. But, I really did not think of "Evangelion" as a cash cow. Toilet brushes? Really? Considering Rei's origins, that is.....wow. Of course, the jokes to be made about making the German girl scrub a toilet are pretty funny.


I still want to see a (good) ongoing TF/616 Marvel cross-over that starts either from the early Marvel US issues or from the (really bad) TF/Avengers cross-over from '06.

"Transformers" would have more events changes ("All Hail Megatron" being more difficult in a 616 setting). But, imagine applying the "linear narrative" of TF to 616 Marvel? Granted, one of the most appealling things about this, (the linear narrative), could theoretically be achieved without a cross-over. But, Marvel would only let that happen in a side book. And, having TFs cross-over with Marvel would theoretically be enough of a hook to justify a side book.

[BWprowl]

I actually did not know about the merchandising juggernaut. I knew that they made a few creepy as hell bishojou (sp?) products of Rei and Asuka.

"A few", heh, get a load of this guy. Asuka and Rei probably have more statues made of them than any other anime characters, though Touhou and KanColle are doing their best to catch up. They extend well past depictions of them in plugsuits and casual clothes, going to ridiculous extremes like having them as mermaids, or in themed fruit costumes. I'm not making this up, these things are STILL being made.

But, I really did not think of "Evangelion" as a cash cow. Toilet brushes? Really? Considering Rei's origins, that is.....wow. Of course, the jokes to be made about making the German girl scrub a toilet are pretty funny.

I'm kind of surprised you've been able to avoid it, given I know you've perused some dealer-cons in the past. The titular mecha have had figures made as Revoltechs, Robot Damashiis, model kits, and everything in-between. Tons of ancillary merchandise from the expected like cell-phone covers and straps to ridiculous things like licensed cakes (I shit you not, themed after the LCL-solution the pilot pods used) to special razor holders (a byproduct of the aforementioned Schick collaboration). Not to mention dozens of official spin-off manga, novels, and games. Marveling at the ridiculous lengths of Evangelion merch is something of an anime-fan pastime.

[Onslaught Six]

Marveling at the ridiculous lengths of Evangelion merch is something of an anime-fan pastime.

Indeed. The announcement of this is more like, "Look what kind of crazy Evangelion crap they're shoveling out now!" than anything else.

Incidentally, on a fictional level: Gonna be a short fight, I'm not sure Transformers have AT Fields.