More than meets the – Eastern European car. A man was so inspired by the Lada Samara Diva that he completely trashed it, has the pieces crushed and chopped up, and welded them all into a very anime-looking (and very ripped) robot. I wouldn’t want to come across this bio-humanoid while traveling light speed through the asteroid belts of Alpha-Centuri 7.

In the past, Automopedia has taken a break from other forms of transportation, and the wonderful world of Car Sales / Advertising, giving you a look at transit in TV & Film. We’ve brought you the 15 Sexiest Scifi Ships, as well as Cartoon Cars & Their Real World Counterparts – but what about animated spaceships that influenced out square-Lego building imaginations (if you were a child of the 80′s). Have a look at our 10 Favourite Science Fiction Cartoon Ships and see how they stack up to you memories.

ExoSquad – E-Frames

Exo-frames were created by the humans of the Exosquad Universe in an effort to terraform and colonize Venus, Mars & to protect themselves from any possible aggression from outside of the Solar System. Originally, E-frames were humanoid exoskeletons, but after several decades of extensive development, non-humanoid “E-frames” vehicles based on the same technologies have been introduced. A common feature of all E-frames is a sophisticated neural interface that backups “normal”, manual steering: each pilot had to undergo surgical implantation of a “cyber socket” to the back of one’s neck that allowed direct control over the E-frame via a “cyber jack.”

Futurama – USS Planet Express Ship

As the Professor prefers to send the crew on dangerous missions in favor of higher profit margins, the Planet Express ship is well armed and quick. The ship is capable of travel faster than the current speed of light, after the speed of light was increased to allow faster travel. In addition to that, the Planet Express Ship is very durable – with abilities to battle enemies and be dragged underwater for as long as the gag needs it to be. Oddly enough, certain episodes indicate that Planet Express is a manual transmission.

Cowboy Bebop – The Bebop

The crew of the spaceship Bebop are a partnership of bounty hunters, called “cowboys,” traveling the galaxy trying to apprehend bounties. Jet Black is the owner of the Bebop, but has partnered with Spike, Faye Valentine & Ed. The Bebop itself is home to rag-tag crew & their smartest dog in the Universe, Ein. See you, blog cowboy.

Star Wars – The Clone Wars Gunship

Clone Wars continued the storylines hatched by the second three…I mean first three…Star Wars films. Clone storm troopers are dropped into battle zones onboard high-tech and extremely destructive Gunships. With laser torrents on each side and ion cannons to the front/rear your Anakin better get his running shoes on, or keep up on his lightsaber skills.

Transformers – Optimus Prime

According to the Animated Series: Optimus Prime began his life as a robot named Orion Pax, a mostly defenseless dock worker during the Golden Age of Cybertron nine million years ago, with a girlfriend named Ariel, and a best friend named Dion. At the time, a new breed of robot had recently appeared on the planet with new flight capabilities in robot mode that made Orion idolize them. Unfortunately for Orion, when Megatron, the leader of the new group of robots, approached him with inquiries about using one of the dock warehouses, Orion was swayed by Megatron, and he and Ariel were severely wounded when Megatron and his forces then attacked in order to claim the energy stored there. Searching for someone to help them, the time-displaced Aerialbots took Orion and Ariel to the ancient Autobot, Alpha Trion, who used them as the first subjects for the new reconstruction process he had developed — rebuilding the frail Autobot frames into battle-hardy configurations. With this reconstruction, Orion Pax became Optimus Prime, the first of the Autobot warriors.

Family Guy – Stewie’s Sperm Fighter

Isn’t it great how people record youtube videos off their television?! Yuck, anyway…In an attempt to keep Peter and Lois from having another baby, Stewie combines ideas from Star Wars & Fantastic Voyage – shrinking his sperm-killing ship and injecting himself into Peter’s body. The result? A full on slaughtering of Peter’s baby batter and a battle with his potential sibling, Bertram.

Voltron

Voltron was one of many late-70′s/early-80′s Japanimation cartoons to invade America. The Voltron Mech was made up of five units:

Voltron: Combination of the five lions. Voltron was once a sentient being in his own right before being separated into the five Lions. In the finale of the first season of The Third Dimension, Voltron was destroyed, but recreated in the beginning of the second season, and would go on to be reconfigured into Stealth Voltron whenever it passed into another dimension.
o Black Lion: Piloted by Commander Keith. Piloted by Allura in one episode. Unlike the other Lions, the Black Lion did not have a “closed” hangar. Throughout the series, it was assumed that the Black Lion’s hangar was located on the large tower fronting the castle, which was previously occupied by a winged lion statue which hid it. When the Black Lion was first activated, this statue crumbled apart to reveal it, and the Black Lion folded its seldom-used wings. In Voltron: The Third Dimension, it is shown that the winged lion statue literally morphs into the Black Lion when the lion is launched, meaning that this statue is nothing more than a disguised form of the Black Lion
- Red Lion: Piloted by Lance. by Princes Allura in one episode since Lance was using the Blue Lion to find the cure for the deadly flowers. The Red Lion’s hangar was located inside a volcano near the castle.
- Green Lion: Piloted by Pidge. Piloted by Keith in its first launch, before the Black Lion was recovered. The Green Lion’s hangar was located in a forest near the castle.
- Blue Lion: Piloted by Sven up to episode 6, and thereafter by Princess Allura (although Sven would return to pilot the Blue Lion on one more occasion in the second season episode “Who’s Flyin’ Blue Lion?”). Piloted in one episode each by Keith, Coran, and Nanny together, and a replacement pilot (who turned out to be an agent of Zarkon). Piloted once by Lance when he went off to a distant planet to find the cure by which to heal the Princess. Lance piloted the Blue Lion because the planet had a special magnetic field that only the Blue Lion could overcome. The Blue Lion’s hangar was located underneath the moat that surrounded the castle.
- Yellow Lion: Piloted by Hunk. The Yellow Lion’s hangar was located inside a cave located in a desert near the castle. In Voltron: The Third Dimension, its hangar was redesigned to resemble a sphinx-like form instead of an ordinary cave.

Thunderbirds

Who could forget Thunderbirds – a British mid-1960′s television show, which used a form of marionette puppetry dubbed “Supermarionation.” The series followed the adventures of International Rescue, an organization created to help those in grave danger using technically advanced equipment and machinery:

-Thunderbird 1 – Hypersonic variable geometry rocket plane used for fast response, rescue zone reconnaissance, and as a mobile control base.
-Thunderbird 2 – Heavy supersonic VTOL carrier lifting body aircraft used for the transport of major rescue equipment and vehicles.
-Thunderbird 3 – Reusable, vertically launched SSTO (Single Stage To Orbit) spaceship used for space rescue and maintenance of Thunderbird 5.
-Thunderbird 4 – Small utility submersible for underwater rescue.
-Thunderbird 5 – Earth-orbiting space station which monitors all broadcasts around the globe for calls for help and also manages communications within International Rescue.
-Thunderbird 6 – 1930s Tiger Moth biplane used once when the usual vehicles proved too heavy for the job, and only appeared in the movie of the same name. The title “Thunderbird 6″ is mostly honorary.

Thundercats – Lion-O’s Thundercat-Mobile

The Thundercats had a cat-shaped car, and panther-shaped fortress, and…well, ok everything was cat-like. I wonder what their toilets looked like…or did they use litter boxes? The Thundercat-tank appeared as though it could take constant bombardment from nuclear missiles, but wasn’t much a fashion statement – maybe Lion-O should have thrown some spinners on it?

Ulysses 31 – The Odyssey

Ulysses 31 was a Franco-Japanese anime series, which updated Greek and Roman mythology of Odysseus (known as “Ulysses” in Roman Mythology, and Ulysse in French, hence the name) to the 31st century. The series plotline describes the struggles of Ulysses and his crew against the divine entities that rule the universe, the ancient gods from Greek Mythology. The Gods of Olympus are angered when Ulysses, commander of the giant spaceship Odyssey, kills the giant Cyclops to save a group of enslaved children, including his son. Zeus sentences Ulysses to travel the universe with his crew frozen until he finds the Kingdom of Hades, at which point his crew will be revived and he will be able to return to Earth. Along the way they encounter numerous other famous figures from Greek mythology given a futuristic twist.

If you were a child during the 70′s, 80′s or 90′s then you were lucky enough to be raised by television. And thank Christ, because we had some damn fine cartoons to watch. Between Ghostbusters, Transformers and TMNT – you have to admit, viewers had some pretty sweet shows to check out after school and on Saturday mornings. Everyone has their favorite cartoon vehicle, just like their most beloved characters, and we just wanted to share our picks for Automopedia’s Classic Cartoon Cars. As a bonus, we included some real world counterparts of animated rides, along with memorable theme songs!

Mystery Machine – Scooby Doo

Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Machine took the pot-smoke-filled VW hippie van and turned it into a childhood memory. Didn’t it kind of look like the car wasn’t touching the ground, ever? It sort of hovered and bounced – maybe that was just the effects of Scooby Snacks. There have been a number of Mystery Machine Tribute vehicles produced, including one that picked up Jay and Silent Bob on their way to Hollywood to catch a chimp.

Ecto-1 – Ghostbusters

Who Ya Gonna Call? The Real Ghostbusters – who added “Real” to ward off any lawsuits by Bill Murray. The cartoon’s Ecto-1 had to be the coolest toy car based off a cartoon (based off a movie) of the 1980′s. Much like Scooby-Doo, Ghostbuster’s Ecto-1 has been honored in many forms both real and animated – though nothing beats an original.

Batmobile – Batman The Animated Series

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na BATMAN! Wait, wrong theme song. Batman: The Animated Series was a dark, film noir approach to the Caped Crusader, taking place in an art deco Gotham City. This Dark Knight’s Batmobile has come in various forms, but the animated attack car is one of our all time favs. Someone in the UK made a real life version, but honestly it looks like s***.

Mach 5 – Speed Racer

Go Speed Racer GO! Speed’s Mach-5 was a tricked out racer with the ability to jump, fly and hide a child and his monkey life partner in the trunk. Last year, Matrix directors The Wachowski Brothers created a CGI film based off the classic animation. The vehicles featured were stunningly beautiful, the plot…we’ll leave that for you to pick on.

Gadgetmobile – Inspector Gadget

The “Gadgetmobile” is a fully loaded crime fighting vehicle that includes a smoke screen, a siren, hilarious gas, the ability to drop a trail of tacks to blow out a pursuing vehicle’s tires, ejector seat, glue rockets, and a claw on the front. Inspector Gadget’s hooptie also has the ability to extend its wheels, and completely transform into the Gadgetvan. While the Gadgetmobile did not have a voice in the series, all 3 film versions of the Lincoln Continental Gadgetmobile is voiced by DL Hugley, Jaleel White & Bernie mac, respectively. This answers the age old question – what ethnic background is the Gadgetmobile?

Optimus Prime – Transformers

Optimus Prime is the commander of the Autobots, also known as Transformers, from the planet Cybertron who wage a war against the evil forces of the Decepticons for control of their home world. The original Optimus Prime transforms into a cab over semi truck. The truck’s cab transforms into the robot mode of Prime himself, with vast strength and armed with a laser rifle. Contained within his chest is the mystic talisman known as the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. In the films, Prime is a full semi tractor trailer – who appears in both real and CG-form. The image below is one of many fan created Optimus Primes popping up at auto shows worldwide.

Turtle Van – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Ninja Turtle’s Van (or Party Wagon, as it is sometimes referred to) is what the A-Team van would look like if it made sweet love to a tortoise. Fully equipped with a wide range of weapons and defense mechanisms, this transformed News Ch 6 mobile is piloted by TMNT-human counterpart/reporter April. Some hardcore fans have constructed their own Turtle vans, and it’s safe to guess they are about as geeky as this guy:

Honorable Mention – Biker Mice from Mars

Ok, so they’re not cars but motorcycles. And the series itself may be forgettable, but take some classic anime themes and mix it with a group of crime fighting, trashing talking, crotch rocket riding mice (from Mars, obviously) and you have the makings of a great half hour of not-so-educational television. Unfortunately, it looks like no fan has taken it amongst themselves to create a Biker Mice Chopper, the closest relation we could find is a classic children’s novel:

That’s right Ralph, go get em!