2023’s Wonder Festival in Japan will have a large-scale attraction for fans of Mobile Police Patlabor. According to an article in Mantan Web, Wonder Festival Winter 2023 will host a pretend “trade show” oriented around showing off and judging “Labors,” the mecha from the Patlabor setting. [Thanks, ANN!]
The trade show, which will take place on the Wonder Festival Winter 2023 grounds at Chiba’s Makuhari Messe event hall, is called “The 1st Makuhari International Labor Show.” It parodies the “Tokyo International Labor Show” from Patlabor. Mecha designed Yutaka Izubuchi will attend the show, and serve on a judging committee evaluating models to receive the Labor of the Year prize, selected from submissions taken between August and December 2022. The exhibit itself will display art and figures of Labors from the series. Mockup art seen on the WonFes 2023 website also includes what looks to be a life-size model of the AV-8 Ingram, the Patlabor used by the cast in the show.
Mobile Police Patlabor appeared in various forms since 1989, including direct-to-video OVAs, a TV series, several animated films, and live-action adaptations. The titular “patrol labors” (“Patlabors” for short) belong to Tokyo’s police, and are used to stop crimes using Labors. The anime follows the members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2 (SV2 for short). The SV2 is a ragtag unit with a poor reputation, but gains the use of the AV-8 Ingram, a highly advanced prototype Patrol Labor. The Ingram appeared as a playable unit in Super Robot Wars: Operation Extend.
Wonder Festival Winter 2023 will take place in Japan on February 12, 2023.
