Well, if he feels he doesn’t have to explain it, I’m not going to explain it, either! That suits me fine, anyway…since, honestly, I have no idea how to explain it. O_o;
But it has a long track record in the transforming-robots genre, so there must be a sensible, logical explanation for it somewhere. We’ve all probably just not looked hard enough for it yet. Keep looking, everyone! One day…
But, yeah, I couldn’t wrap up the chapter without having a transforming robot sequence, could I? That would have truly been a wasted opportunity, given how closely the genre is related to the kaiju genre. And, hey, after all the mecha-kaiju was designed by the Professor – who surely wouldn’t want to miss the associated opportunity, either! I wonder how many industrial welding and cutting robots have secret transformation modes, just because the engineers couldn’t stop themselves. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was most of them.
So the mecha-kaiju transforms into an oversized, tricked-out handgun! Which is easily possible and plausible, of course, assuming you zoom in closely enough to spot the details…and ignore the big picture. >_> Really. Great art is best appreciated from a distance, they say – and great transformation sequences? The exact opposite. Best appreciated by looking closely at some not-clearly-defined piece of robot anatomy undergoing some sort of transformation…which surely fits somewhere into the massively complex whole, but don’t worry about the where and how. This close-up approach also facilitates the inclusion of stock footage, which is always good to cause feelings of familiarity and nostalgia in the audience, thus improving audience/movie bonding*.
And, yeah…the transformation sequence doesn’t use up any of the limited energy supply in the internal batteries, of course. Because if it did, it wouldn’t make any sense doing it right now, would it? So…uh…it gets its energy…uh…from .. special transformation-only solar cells and the pilot’s belief in himself and his friends**.
More on Thurs…uh, Monday!
*A crucial concept to Nolan Nobucks, since a recent market research study found that people were vastly more likely to watch one of his movies to the end if they were bound in some way. Massive chains got the best results, but even humble cabel binders considerably increased the average viewing time.
**That’s why it’s so slow.