Finally, We Get to Watch 16-Foot-Tall Robots Battle It Out in Real Life

It’s finally here folks. After decades of anticipation and sci-fi dreaming, from Voltron to Pacific Rim to countless other cartoons and video games, we finally have two giant mech-suit robots fighting each other in real life. What a time we live in. But, well, it looks like we still have some work to do.

After years of breathless promotion and buildup from Megabots Inc. and their Japanese counterpart, Suidobashi, the two companies (that are trying very hard to make giant robot fights a thing) have finally created enough massive battle bots to put on the United States vs. Japan contest they’ve been promising.

In a recently released YouTube video, a series of massive bots face off with one another with massive metal fists, pincer claws, a giant chainsaw, paintball cannons, and even a drone, in a warehouse stadium full of crushed cars and metal barrels. Each of the robots stands around 16 feet tall, and is controlled by two pilots nestled inside like fighter pilots. In many ways, it’s the giant fighting robot future that generations of sci-fi fans have been hoping for.

Unfortunately, it may not have lived up to the anticipation. Moving around many tons of steel is a pretty slow process, so the fights look sort of clumsy. And the actual battles are pretty short. Combine that with commentators working overtime to make the action seem more bombastic than it is (as well as some regrettable staged antics), and the overall effect is rather underwhelming.

But still, anyone who’s been waiting their whole lives to see the dream of battle mechs come to life, your day has come. Technically, at least.