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Tokyo Robot News
We're not sure there are any publications that capture rabid, fan-boy obsession with all things "robot" quite like Tokyo Robot News. Without a doubt, TRN is produced by fans -- only fans could put so much love into their work.
review by Darren & Yappy,
August 2001
Also titled in Japanese Tokyo Robot Shinbun, this series of Keibunsha Mooks has been published a few times each year since 1999. Each volume is centered around a feature article and a glossy, fold-out Super Robot poster, but they are also packed with tons of other material covering robot-related toys, games, models, anime, designs, blueprints, interviews, and general otakuness.
You'll find obscure video game robot designs, too obscure to be printed anywhere else. You'll find careful, methodological cataloging of obsessive details. You'll find interviews with people who not only remember worthless minutia, but actually print it in a book.
It's the closest thing to Toybox in print. More so, in fact. TRN reminds us why women avoid us. You suck if you don't own these. Matt Alt doesn't own these. Experience a whole new level of rabid robot idiocy with TRN.
Volume 00-01, published Summer 1999, covers the "Three Sacred Emblems of Sovereign Rule": the sword, the shield, and the gun. With a graphic treatment involving lots of archaic kanji, we are taken on a visual tour de force of weaponry in the SR kingdom. This includes a table of Super Robots from 1972 to 1999 with weapons list.
Other articles include an interview with Ohkawara and a visual guide to Armored Troopers. The poster is an elevation of Gundam standing before his full weapons compliment.
Volume 00-02, published Winter 1999, covers the editors' thoughts at the turn of the millennium on the drill. Yes, that's right -- an entire magazine devoted to drill robots. Insane. Every incarnation of Getta 2, Brave robots, Machine Robo, Sentai robots, Time Bokan mecha: anything with a drill. It's complete with a table of drill mecha from 1957 to 1999.
Other articles include interviews with Katoki, a Chogokin Biography interview with Bandai captain of industry Murakami, and coverage of new Super Robots out at the time. The poster is a half-cutaway of Mazinger Z.
Volume 00-03, published Spring 2000, is all about the great HENKEI -- a study of how robots transform. Watch the henkei of all your favorite robots ... and a few you've probably forgotten about ... get sliced, diced, and analyzed. The editors go so far as to divide all henkei into nine general categories. Yes, this one comes with a reference table, too.
Other articles include another Chogokin Biography interview with Murakami, and other general robo-lust. The poster is a half-cutaway of Raideen shadowed by his hibernating "gold form".
Volume 00-04, published Summer 2000, opens with "The Genealogy of Crimson" -- a visual encyclopedia of red robots from Sazabii to Ropet.
Other articles include interviews with Izubuchi, and more with Murakami. The poster is a half-cutaway of Combattra.
Volume 00-05, published Autumn 2000, features the "Super Robot's Pilot Guide" -- covering the cockpits and control mechanisms of the robot kingdom.
Other articles include interviews with Kawamori, and yet more with Murakami. The poster is a half-cutaway of Zanbot 3.
Volume 00-06, published Winter 2001, is the grande bible of all Super Robots, featuring a "Readers Choice" of the 10 best Super Robots of all time, and the top 10 in specific categories (cutest, strongest, etc.). As published by TRN, the top 10 of all time are:
The "Best Ever" coverage is extensive, but there's still room for another Murakami interview. The poster is a half-cutaway of Gundam.
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