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Ha! it is an anime: "What do you get when you cross the brain of a cat with an android's body?"

Hah, that's nothing. What about the space trains?

Sure. We got this. See why some of us prefer anime?

Anyway.. I would take the dates of the Japanese Anime's as the real deciding factor of which came first: 1981 for Lion Voltron; 1982 for Car Voltron.

http://www.absoluteanime.com/voltron/
http://www.absoluteanime.com/voltron/index-v.htm

Anyway.. I would take the dates of the Japanese Anime's as the real deciding factor of which came first: 1981 for Lion Voltron; 1982 for Car Voltron.

http://www.absoluteanime.com/voltron/
http://www.absoluteanime.com/voltron/index-v.htm

But the cartoon sucked. Always sucked.

OK, let's review...

Transformers was aired in 1984. Cartoons (anime or otherwise) with good storylines were rare, if not unique. After all, what was the competition?
He-man? Voltron? Mazinger Z (pfft) ?

Transformers was written for young, gullible kids. Yes, it was also made to sell toys, but what difference does it make with other cartoons of today?

Anyway, it was a show about good vs. evil. And the evil characters were REALLY evil. I loved the way Megatron planned the destruction of the autobots, he was evil, and i just loved that (well actually i hated him, but you get the point). We rarely see characters like him today. And remember, in 1984, kids weren't aware of conspiracies, and intensive drama was definitely taboo. We were children! We didn't have to worry about terrorism, drugs, or our best friend committing suicide. We just wanted to play, have fun, and watch some TV.

Call me naive, but it was a show perfectly adapted for our young, innocent mindsets. And we loved it.

I am too old, I never watched transformers on TV! I am waiting for captain future , or captain herlock or even a Grendizer movie, true old anime from the end 70s/begin 80s

http://www.absoluteanime.com/

Spoken like a true fan. Having a robot, giant or otherwise, is hardly an original plot device, so it's unfair to over-generalize and insult every other anime out there that has ever used a robot. Not only that, just because you use a giant robot doesn't mean your story's any good.

Mazinger Z was released in America under the name of Tranzor Z, so I'm sure quite a few people here know of it.

As for the Japanese, they like robots and therefore feature it in their anime, not the other way around. It's an interesting difference in culture; in the west, we're terrified of robots and create movies such as Terminator; in Japan, they view robots as potential helpers of humanity and then personify them (of course, the Japanese personify everything; it's a very animistic culture.)

Understood the Gundam reference.

Neon Genesis Evangelion was Hideki Anno's hommage to the mecha subgenre of Japanese with references and subtexts from Mobile Suit Gundam, Dubine, Space Cruiser Yamato, Macross, and even the school drama of Project A-Ko and Gainax's own Gunbuster.

Or even Chii