28 replies to this topic

[Metal Gear (sting)RAY]

Who doesn't love enormous, elaborate robots and warmachines? These combat-ready constructions are objects of interest for a large subculture. Japan by far houses most of this interest, its own special genre of anime, video games and even hobbyist model kits; they even built a statue of Gundam in 2009 that attracted 4 million viewers in one summer! But mecha's gained a foothold in the Western world as well through Transformers, Bionicle and several niche franchises and localized animes, and is currently seeing a new wave of interest through the recent bombardment of Transformers media as well as a larger and more heavily marketed number of localized mecha games such as Front Mission Evolved and Armored Core V as well as home grown ones like the upcoming Hawken and Reign of Thunder.

While I haven't been a fan long, I've fallen in love with the design philosophy and complex yet elegant art and animation behind many mecha creations and would consider myself at the very least "mech-curious," but I made this thread because I can't be the only one here with this interest; hell, Sonic could even be seen as a relevant franchise for several of Eggman's machines. So favorite shows, games, any art you've made or hobbykits you've built- spill 'em.

[Solkia]

SRW:OG>Gundam

>:U

[King Sombrero]

I always loved the action shows and toys for these. I Have every Transformers Armada toys they've made, I also have some of the Megazords from power rangers as well. I've always liked Transformers and have begun watching Transformers Prime on the Hub channel. Gundam Wing was alright as well.

[Super Soniko]

Been a mech fan for a very long time be ut Transformers, Zone of the Enders or things mildly mech related like Samus' Chozo suit or obscure bullet storm rail shooters like Ikaruga.

i think the majority of my love comes from actual concept art of mecha things, and the overall design that makes specific mechs popular amongst the billions of generic giant robots out there, things like Jehuty and Anubis from Zone of the Enders stand out to me a lot more than a Gundam in my opinion.

There is no doubt about the Armored Core series playing a massive impact on my love for mech battles too, especially Armored Core 4's cover mecha "Ray Leonard" and For Answers "White Glint", there is just something visually appealing about it all

:Edit: i'm currently building a model kit of the main ship from the Dreamcast bullet hell game Ikaruga,



i also love Battleship Yamato (when it isn't fully mecha, but you know giant space ships are rad too) something about a World War 2 battleship being converted to a hulking space ship with a huge laser cannon built into the front is just badass.

Edited by Samus Aran, 02 March 2012 - 03:36 AM.

[Ekaje]

Loved giant robots ever since I was a kid. Watched G Gundam (never got into Wing though), Megas XLR, various Power Ranger series (was always more interested in the combining toys than any of the action figures or other things), stuff like that. Still enjoy shows with them, having enjoyed Gun/Diebuster, Gurren Lagann, and the MSG trilogy a short while back. I also just recently started watching GaoGaiGar and plan to start going through the Gundam UC timeline series soon.

Edited by Ekaje, 02 March 2012 - 03:42 AM.

[Metal Gear (sting)RAY]

There is no doubt about the Armored Core series playing a massive impact on my love for mech battles too, especially Armored Core 4's cover mecha "Ray Leonard" and For Answers "White Glint", there is just something visually appealing about it all

Armored Core's where it started for me too; I'm not really too keen on the gameplay itself (though I've only played the 4 series, and longtime fans don't seem so keen on those), but the aesthetics of battle and ability to create your own machine are what draw me in the most. Not to mention the always kick-ass intro sequences. Also, I believe 4's cover mech was Suplice, which was created by Rayleonard.

I never played Z.O.E., but I'm really looking forward to the HD collection; I've looked at some of the mech designs and they look phenomenal.

[Super Soniko]

Armored Core's where it started for me too; I'm not really too keen on the gameplay itself (though I've only played the 4 series, and longtime fans don't seem so keen on those), but the aesthetics of battle and ability to create your own machine are what draw me in the most. Not to mention the always kick-ass intro sequences. Also, I believe 4's cover mech was Suplice, which was created by Rayleonard.

I never played Z.O.E., but I'm really looking forward to the HD collection; I've looked at some of the mech designs and they look phenomenal.

just double checked and its
Ray Leonard 03-AALIYAH SUPPLICE


I think part of Armored Core's problem is you have to be pretty damn smart to achieve anything in game... the difficulty curve is staggeringly high and you have to take weight distribution, Ammo cashiers, CPU speed and lag and a ton of other stuff into account making every mission specially tailored to your mech's specifics and if you can complete said mission with your current set up, it doesn't help that the credit system n game is extremely demanding and if you pretty much play shit and score low ranks, you barely get any funds to upgrade your AC unit... its a game about giant fighting robots, but they add realism into the mix and damn is it Hard... it puts me off playing it sometimes, seeing the "Mission Failed" screen so much is disheartening lmao

another overlooked Mecha game similar to the AC series was Chrome Hounds, it was really good too, but also tough as nails.




and yeah Zoe of the Enders is a phenomenal series game and anime wise, Jehuty is fucking awesome so much so, he and Anubis finally warranted a poseable Revoltech figure



Anubis



Jehuty

something weird about Jehuty's cockpit literally taking the words from the horse's mouth...

Edited by Samus Aran, 02 March 2012 - 03:57 AM.

[Alexander]

Mechagodzilla is the tits.

[Mr. NinjaShark]

Getter Robo and Mazinger Z were Here





Everyone else is Smalltime


But yeah, I adore Giant Mech's be it now in Power Rangers/Super Sentai, Anime, Kaiju, I just Love that shit.

Among my favourite Mecha Related Series would be the aforementioned Getter Robo and Mazinger Z, Both considered classics and Both very Awesome in my Opinion, not to mention the Awesome Themes they both had in the Past (there is also TTGL, but that would be kind of a generic answer, still Love that too).

of course, I also Love Transformers (especially in Transformers Animated, Best Wars and the War for Cybertron series), and am Interested in Checking out Megas XLR and G Gundam sometime.


Also Super Robot Wars Love that series, only thing I hate is how Hard some of these games can be to patch to English, but hey at least there are Guides.

[VizardJeffhog]

Screw you guys.

GURREN LAGANN

Edited by VizardJeffhog, 02 March 2012 - 06:08 PM.

[Solkia]

NEPPU!

SHIPPU!


CYBASTER!!!

[Metal Gear (sting)RAY]

Screw you guys.

GURREN LAGANN

I actually just started watching this recently and it kicks so much ass. Kamina especially is at least seven different types of awesome. Eight if you count those sunglasses.

Edited by SuperStingray, 02 March 2012 - 09:16 PM.

[Mono]

The only cool robot thing I have is a Transformer guy who transforms into a tank. The only problem is no one can turn it into a tank.

THEY MADE IT SO COMPLICATED!!!!

Edited by Jay Rockman, 02 March 2012 - 09:21 PM.

[Nald From Never Lake]

Sora ni sobieru
kurogane no shiro.
SUPAA ROBOTTO
MAJINGAA Z

I LOVE GIANT ROBOTS! Fighting machines, built by man to defeat the evil forces of...well, evil. They have a body of steel, but the mind of a human being. I discovered my love for giant robots thanks to "Getter Robo: The Last Day", as the series is known in Italy. English speaking people may recognize it as "Getter Robo Armageddon". God, that day I was blown away. Then I (re)discovered Mazinger Z. But there is a mecha series that holds a special place in my heart, you know?

Ehm...But I didn't grow up with this opening.

Yeah, sillier, but still good.

You don't need a big budget to make a great series. And Yatterman / Yattaman is a sure proof of it. After all, Italy loves this series.
http://tvtropes.org/...=Main.Yatterman
Why? Watch the Live Action movie, and you'll know why.

Edited by Azure Nald, 02 March 2012 - 10:00 PM.

[Ekaje]

Speaking of Yatterman, that's one of the Tatsunoko series I wanted to look into after TvC came out, but unfortunately there are no English subtitles out there besides a few episodes of the 2008 series.

Edited by Ekaje, 02 March 2012 - 11:15 PM.

[Phos]

Let's talk about something a bit more obscure: "The Vision of Escaflowne". This is a strange one because I can't decide whether I like it or not. This series is constantly swinging back and forth between awesome and Narm (NO I DON'T KNOW WHY THEY KEEP IT INSIDE A GIANT ROCK). Anyway, it takes the comparably rare style of, rather than the mechs being evolutions of tanks or over the top sentai mechs, it instead presents them as an evolution of knight style armor.

Now let's talk about something completely different, somethat that I honestly cannot describe. It is a big budget (for the time) western made live action movie about mechs. It is completely bananas. I am of course speaking of "Robot Jox". No I don't know why the pilots undergo so much martial arts training when the most the robots can muster is straight kick. No, I don't know why tiny mirrors on the forearms are enough to completely defeat a laser. No, I don't know why... oh wait, I do know why they mix a distopian world with shallow stereotypes: Because the writer and director couldn't agree on the tone of the movie, so we got both, Blade Runner and Rocky, all in one.

[Swift]

Lil' Swifty's first Mech

For some reason I've always been more interested in the designs of bulky powered armor and chicken walker mechs rather than the more slender and humongous mecha. I'm not quite sure why though. I suppose it's the mass produced tank-like look as opposed to the more humanoid looks of the others, but that's just me.

This topic made me realize... I've never watched that many mecha anime at all, and I haven't played many mech or mecha games. I"m afraid I've never played an Armored Core game, never had a playstation... Though I've always been thinking of taking Mechwarrior for a spin.

Spoiler

And of course, I've got to find a ROM and play this game before I die.

[Phos]

I've always thought that it's because they're more grounded in reality. On that subject: Battletech! You know, the table top game that mechwarrior is based off of.

Would you believe that some of the oldest mechs from this franchise are blatant copies of designs from other anime? The most well known one is the Warhammer. They started out as blatant copies but wound up being officially licensed. As you can imagine, this issue keeps cropping back up every time the mechwarrior license has changed hands. Numerous artists have put their own spins on these designs, so their more recent appearances are pretty different from what they looked like then. You can see the full list here. Interestingly the Warhammer is probably the only one of the few of these mechs that is still seen in the games today.



Aha, what:

Edited by Phos, 04 March 2012 - 09:16 AM.

[FFWF]

I'm disappointed that nobody's mentioned The Big O yet. It's easy to dismiss it as another post-Evangelion existentialist mecha anime, but in design and plot it stands alone.

[Commissar Hurricane]

Patlabor is the series that got me interested in mecha, a division of the police that uses giant robots to deal with crimes and accidents involving giant robots.

The Vision of Escaflowne is another I watched around the same time and that I really enjoyed it back then.

I also enjoyed playing games like Front Mission 3, Zone of Super Robot Taisen 2 and Zone of the Enders Fist of Mars.