Mecha anime pet peeves...

[bluepencil]

Mech anime, where the laws of physics and common sense must give way to awesome.

You know what I'd like to see, a U.C. mobile suit (Not an over powered Gundam) designed by the Imperium of man during the Great Crusade. I'm just curious how that'd look and what it's use on the battlefield would be.

It would be nimble as fuck but ugly as shit.

It would probably look like some of the weird mobile armors/mobile suits Zeon first came up with when they could have just stuck with the Zaku II or mass-producing the Dom.

They already have them. They're called Warhound Titans. Height is close to the later-model Mobile Suits, and actually smaller than Char's Sazabi (25 meters tall!) or most of the funky Mobile Armors.

Although the twice as heavy Reaver Titan is more humanoid (and therefore, Gundamecha-like) in appearance.

If you want agile, you're going to have to go with Eldar Titans.

There are no smaller Titans or militarily viable mecha between the size of a Dreadnought and a Warhound because a Baneblade or Leman Russ/ Demolisher would smack the shit out of it. ^_^ Although, technically... there's the Sentinels; though not really larger than a Dreadnought. The Orks DEFINITELY have Stompas and Gargants in that size range, but then... they're Orks!

edit:

Hahaha. STOMPZ YOU! STOMPZ YOU ALL!

And thus, why the power of emo totally pales in the face of true sheer awesome. It's actually pretty surprising to look at the original Gundam series and see how it subverts the hell out of modern mecha tropes, despite being the one to set them in the first place.

 

[grant]

Etcetera, etcetera. Oh yeah, there is also the often popular anti-war issue.

Setting a few territorial skirmishes that are really saber rattling aside, Japan hasn't engaged in a serious war for decades. That's a long time to learn certain traits.
Interestingly some of the most devoted pacifists I know were former soldiers, especially Vietnam veterans.


You could take down a Warhound Titan by going after the legs.

 

[bluepencil]

.. aah, you could take anything down by going for the legs, so I'm unsure as to the point you raise? In any case, back to the main topic. It's an odd dichotomy that a genre that requires a war is one that's supposed to be anti-war in the first place, yeah.

What makes mecha so useful in such cases is, of course, distinctiveness. It's very easy to make the combatants of different nations unique and recognizable, while tanks have to conform to the basic sensible hull shape... it's only the turret that makes them look different. All considering though, the differences fade in the distance.

Compare Full Metal Panic's Soviet SAVAGE with the Japanese MISTRAL and the US BUSHNELL (apologies for the continued hotlinking).

Mecha makes it incredibly easy to see 'technological heredity'. However... Gundams start to look more and more like toys than war machines as the decades go by. Why?

... whaat have you bastards done to the rx-78-2?!

:huh!:

::shakes fist::

Smooth hulls mean strong hulls, fewer hard angles mean using less metal, and simpler designs mean faster construction. And in war, looking pretty should be secondary to making a weapons platform that can reliably kill the enemy and get it our there quickly. ~_~ So, yeah. Pet peeve: even if it's anti-war, a message is only really effective when it counsels against a believable war. Otherwise, it's just too easy to dismiss as escapist fantasy; it's too unreal for suspension of disbelief and character attachment.

Simple little factors, but they add up.

 

[Watashiwa]

My pet-peeve with Mecha shows has to be when original technology is stolen, and when applied by the enemy its a lesser efficient version of the original technology and yet is stronger than the original.

This has happened so much in Gundam 00 S2 its ridiculous.

At the end of Season 1 of Gundam 00, the schematics for GN drives were stolen and thirty Tau drives were created without TD blankets and given to the EU/Human Reform League. Making the drives less efficient and requiring recharges to function properly. And in the end of the season they were limited to that so they were less powerful than the True GN drives that Celestial Being had.

But then season 2 came along where in four years the Tau drives became modified Tau Drives. No need for recharging of expended particles and their power differential some how in those four years managed to equal those of True GN drives.

Then in Season II there was Exia-00. Twin-Drive technology. Two True GN drives in Fusion thus squaring the particle ratio and making the system overall MUCH MORE Powerful. The season started out with the once again balance of Celestial Being more powerful than the A-Laws who shall be refered to as A-LOLs.

Then came the innovators; human beings created from the ground up around the concept of genetically enhanced Nano-machine engineered beings. Coordinators or Newtypes if you will. They were supposed to be the counter to Gundams and at first they were because they had the advantage of having nano-machines in their bodies as cores of function allowing them to pilot suits far better than normal pilots. But then the balance once again shifted by Innovators suddenly being on the same pace as Gundam pilots. Equal footing, works.

Then the balance AGAIN shifted, this time on a technological scale which is my peeve. Tau-drives.

Less Efficient God Damn TAU drives became MORE POWERFUL than True GN drives. Especially with episode six or seven when the Garazzo GN-0005 with its Tau drive OVERPOWERED Exia-00 with two GN drives in Fusion.

work with me here;

Two Drives in Fusion were overpowered by a drive that was less efficient than it. By 1 drive.

What the fuck...

 

[grant]

.. aah, you could take anything down by going for the legs, so I'm unsure as to the point you raise? In any case, back to the main topic. It's an odd dichotomy that a genre that requires a war is one that's supposed to be anti-war in the first place, yeah.

I was pointing out that the Orks were shooting at the wrong part, not that I really expect better of an Ork. Frankly, its amazing that they chose to shoot at the Titan rather than charge at blindly and bite its metal feet.

My pet-peeve with Mecha shows has to be when original technology is stolen, and when applied by the enemy its a lesser efficient version of the original technology and yet is stronger than the original.

Come to think of it, how many Gundam series involve stealing a mecha? Zeta Gundam they steal three mecha. 0083 Stardust Memory they steal a Gundam armed with nukes (why in hell anyone would actually give an easily stolen mecha nuclear weaponry instead of keeping it in easily defended silos is beyond me), Gundam X the main character goes after the titular mecha (not sure if its stealing or not given the breakdown of the government), Gundam Seed Destiny they steal three mecha. Seriously, were the producers kleptomaniacs doing this as part of their therapy?

 

[A Curious Stranger]

That's a Gundam tradition. There's a reason why it's called Gundam'jacking.

 

[bluepencil]

And again, in another odd subversion - the original Gundam wasn't stolen. ^_^ As a prototype technology-testing unit, it simply lacked a pilot. It even had the manual in the cockpit.

True, it was ganked, but for all few hours and afterward Amuro was basically conscripted into it. THEN the trope holds true when he outright steals the thing in his moody phase. Then he gives it back and is punished for it.

... (why in hell anyone would actually give an easily stolen mecha nuclear weaponry instead of keeping it in easily defended silos is beyond me

They were going to test it out in a few hours. So why not just load the damn thing -in a few hours- when they're actually ready to test? Ungh. The idiot ball was necessary to drive the plot, yeah.