Correction: The missile spam is from Macross. The rule of cool wackiness from Gundam extends the further you go away from the original UC Timeline.

A little upset no shoutout to the Pacific Rim universe. Sure the sequel was a bit much but the original was a masterpiece.

I always considered armored core to be between Battletech and MSG. My favorite depiction of mechs by far.

Something to keep in mind: Japanese anime and manga were the origins of the "manned humanoid robot" trope in the first place. Previously, robots in sci-fi were seen as either a) autonomous units that moved and acted by themselves, e.g. androids or voice-commanded robots, or b) powered armor which wasn't nearly as common but still existed. 1972's Mazinger Z was the first to implement the concept of a humanoid robot piloted by a human inside of it as a vehicle. Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979 then introduced the concept of the piloted humanoid robot as a military weapon of war where the machines were mass produced and used for political conflicts. In fact, franchises like Battletech took a lot of designs wholesale from anime like Macross for some of their "iconic" designs (which lead to all sorts of legal kerfuffles since a lot of other American franchises at the time drew from the same anime sources). IMO, while Walking Tanks would be the easiest kind of mech to build, they're also the most pointless because a conventional tank would likely be far better at what they'd try to do - you're just adding the complication of legs for no real gain, like you're just half-assing being a mech. If you see how real world humanoid robots like say Boston Dynamic's Atlas moves, any humanoid piloted mecha seeking to become viable in the battlefield must posses at least that level of mobility and motility to be effective and be able to carve out a niche on the battlefield, i.e. they should be large armored infantry, not legged tanks. IMHO something like Titanfall's Titans would be the most realistically viable form of a large piloted mecha (if you the more exotic techs they have like energy shields): small and nimble enough that they're not sitting ducks compared to tanks, while large enough to be able to do stuff normal infantry can't.

I think there's also at least 3 size categories: Expanded power armor: The prawn suit/powerloader/E-Frame size range. May extend into Arm Slaves and maybe even Titans (Titanfall) Piloted robot: Strictly a vehicle. See Battlemechs, Mobile Suits, etc. Extending down into Arm Slaves or Titans(Titanfall) and up into Zords and smaller classes of Titan(40k). Walking City Center: Anything so large it classifies as a vessel. See medium and up Titans(40k), the SDF-1, some of the bigger things from Armored Core from what I recall, etc. Small end may be Megazords, no upper end apparently.

The main thing that I think makes a good mech focused IP is not realism, but plausibility. As long as they have some decent explanations for how and why the mechs work, then its fine. Suspension of disbelief can fill in the gaps. That's why I love Gundam and Battletech so much. They have enough realism and consistency to make sense internally, but enough fantasy to still be really fun. For example: In Gundam, the mobile suits were originally developed from construction vehicles that were used to build the space colonies. Then the original military versions were intended to fight big space cruisers. So being huge human shaped vehicles with huge weapons actually makes sense. Plus, having limbs actually helps them maneuver in space, the same way modern astronauts can. Plenty of real physics based concepts there. Then the fantasy is the Minovsky particles, which allow for ultracompact fusion reactors to power the mobile suits, and their powerful beam weaponry. They also explain why no one uses things like ICBMs or any other BVR guided munitions. Minovsky particles can jam all broadcast communications, like radar and radio. So close combat with manually aimed weapons has become necessary once again. And Newtypes. But that's a whole other thing. In my opinion, the most unrealistic thing about mobile suits is their size. Unless there is a very specific reason for them to be big, real mechs will most likely be small, probably closer to powered armor. Because the primary strength of a humanoid vehicle is agility and flexibility. And that rapidly diminishes as the size increases. All the necessary joints will be always very vulnerable, and the only real way to protect them is to simply not get hit. Making a mech an impenetrable walking fortress is never going to happen. That's what tanks are for. Which is why I think the mech type that is actually the LEAST realistic are walking tanks. Making a mech big and slow is just plain dumb. Because tanks already do that way better than a mech ever could. That's the main fantasy aspect of Battletech. Battlemechs are only tougher that anything else because the rules say so. I expect real mechs will be more like IFVs than tanks. Something designed to augment and support infantry, like the Tachikoma in Ghost in the Shell, or Landmates from Appleseed. Or, at the largest, the Titans from Titanfall. And like in those stories, they won't be general military units. They will be used by specialist groups. And they will mostly be used in urban environments, not open warfare, where their small size and agility will make them far more useful than heavy armor.

I'm surprised 40k didn't get a look in with Knights and Titans being both walking tanks and absolutely rule of cool in design "THE CATHEDERAL IS WALKING! AND IT HAS A PLASMA CANNON THE SIZE OF AN OFFICE BUILDING!"

>Gundam invents real robot and the "humanoid war machine" genre. >puts in other category >Macross serves as the bedrock of Battletech >Puts in different category than Battletech Wtf dawg

I think Lancer, the Mech RPG is a great blend of all the categories of mechs. It lets you hard focus onto any side of the spectrum you like or mix and match between the two. Plus the aesthetics and gameplay are just amazing.

I think that the Front Mission games deserved an honorable mention. As well as Armored Troopers VOTOMS since the mechs featured in that series, like the Scopedogs, were a weird compromise between powered armor and more "full sized" mecha.

I will say though that at the very least, Gundam tries to make its mechs make sense within the setting, especially in the UC timeline. Just look at 08th MS team that took this concept the furthest. Of course, there are exceptions such as SEED and G Gundam. Oh, and Gundam does make use of the whole rotating limb bit. Turn A Gundam really get's a lot of mileage out of this one. But seriously though, putting Gundam and Gurren Lagann in the same category is near blasphemous given that they are very different breeds.

"High heels on your mech, have fun with your femboy robot." As someone that has played every installment of Armored Core.... I took that personally. Light Bipeds have always reigned supreme.

Talking of 80's anime, Armored Trooper Votoms has probably the best representation of mech warfare of them all, with them being used as a main combat unit instead of highly specialized superweapons. Round Verniam Vifam is another gem for its time, another child soldier story, but with surprising moral and philosophical depth for a children tv show.

I personally dont like how you discount that it was essentially Gundam that defined the real robot genre. Yeah alot of Gundam is campy and silly but there's also a lot of series that take it seriously. I recommend 8th MS team

There is another division above what you list; there is the division between "Real" and "Super" Giant Robot/Mech settings. Everything you list would be Real Mech Settings, in that all of the mechs have no special resistance to damage and are moderately sized, where Super Giant Mechs are usually very much larger and virtually invulnerable to anything that isn't a similar scale mech or kaiju. Think Voltron, the Power Ranger Megazords, and (for a non mech and smaller example) the G1 Transformers, which canonically required atomic weapons to scratch their paint and alien tech to actually damage. Still, the Real Mech settings tend to be (relatively) more popular in the west, so it makes sense that they are what you focused on.

I love how most of these franchises lead to a Corporate dytopia in some way. Also so hyped for the AC lore dump!

Personally my favorite take on the concept of mechs is from 86 Eighty Six. The mechs in that series aren't humanoid, but instead are multi-legged vehicles similar to insects and coruscations, allowing to get full mobility in any environment while keeping armor and weapons at a low profile

These categories make no sense. How you lump all of Gundam together is crazy and then on top of that throw it in with Gurren Lagann is wild. Gundam was a break away from super robot shows not the pinnacle of it.

*Huge Gundam fan sheds single tear filled with both joy and pain* during Gundam section. Thank you for the down to earth description while still honoring the experience. So excited for AC6 and I've been really enjoying your battletech/Mechwarrior videos!

Macross is a great thing to look at for anyone newly into Battletech. Almost all of the original Battlemechs are lifted directly from there and two other 80's era anime.

Gundam was the first to do "real mecha" for it's mechs. Before then, it was stuff like super-robot, think of VoltesV, Mazinger, etc. Even then, the first Gundam still had some of that Super-robot DNA in it, mainly stuff like the core-righter and just the color-pallet for the Federation. Its a war-story disguised. The only exception for gundam leaning heavily into super-robot is probably Mobile Fighter G Gundam.

See what gets me is that Mobile Suit Gundam and Macross get it right by not treating their mecha, with some minor exceptions, as tanks but as Aerospace craft. This makes more sense than most others. Heck, even Heavy Gear trends this way when you compare the typical Gear loadout to an Attack Helicopter. Edit: To go along with that, you could also include Power Dolls Power Loaders in that category as well. Edit2: The glitch slide you mention is the Zaku hovering over the water inside an orbital space colony using thrusters. Edit3: Mobile Suits and Variable Fighters are more the third category than the 2nd. Rule of Cool fits more the Super Robot style shows like Gurren-Lagann, Evangelion, or Big O. Edit4: Battletech's Battlemechs actually move more like a Mobile Suit in the lore. Partially because 80s anime was the main source of inspiration. For example the subset known as the Unseen are literally designs that had to have artwork removed because they literally were the art of shows like Macross that caused legal disputes. Edit5: That said. I love Armored Core as it is a unique blend of the various types of mecha. (AC4 era definitely felt very super robot side of Gundam. AC4 felt heavily inspired by G-Wing, G-00, and G Gundam.) Edit6: Also go watch ID-0 on Netflix. It predates Gen:LOCK and explored a similar idea for its mecha but was so much better. And didn't get a disappointing second season.

Pretty clearly you have not watched Gundam 0080. The Zaku "sliding" above ground is in an O'Neill Cylinder, where gravity is artificially generated by spinning the ground at about 167m/s. You can simply hover off the ground and there's no gravity any more, other than the wall spinning to and away from you causing wind. The said Zaku also has a thrust to mass ratio of 1.03g, well enough for hovering even on Earth.

8:00 It should be mentionned that the Titans from Titanfall are some of the smallest mechas out there. Titans are around 20 feet tall or 6 meters. Battletech go from 9 meter talls for the light mech to 13 meters tall for the Atlas. Valkyries in Macross are 12 to 15 meters tall Gundams are 18,5 meters tall or 10 to 1 scale to an average human male

I think you did a huge disservice to Gundam. In Japan, it's sorta credited for creating, or at the very least popularizing, the Real Robot genre, the use of Mecha as an ordinary tool of war piloting a machine, with a specific focus put into the in-universe mechanics of the machines, as unrealistic as they might be. Prior to Mobile Suit Gundam, most mecha anime would be classified as Super Robot, these are your Gurren Lagans, Mazinger Z's, Getter Robos, these are all almost Superhero and Superhuman in fashion. Though you grouped them together in this video, they are actually quite distinct, and literally different styles/genre of Mechs.

You fool, It was the classic 80's Mecha that brought me here

your gundam hate, was uncalled for! "shun the non believer, SHUUUUUUUUUN"

6:45 Many Gundam mechs can hover above the ground with special jets. Those that are purpose-made for hovering (like Gundam's MS-09 Dom) usually have flaring leg armour and skirt-like parts.

For Gundam, I’d actually put it somewhere between rule of cool and humanoid war machines, but sort of leaning towards the former. Kind of like where Armored Core is placed. Gundam mobile suits are definitely over the top compared to the walking tank examples, but they’re also completely not on the same level of RoC absurdity that is *super robots* like Gurren Lagann, Voltes V, Getter Robot, and Mazinger. Gundam was influential back in the day for being so grounded compared to those kind of mecha, defining the *real robot* subgenre. Gundam tries (for the most part) to keep things more grounded, especially when you take a look at stuff taking place in the early UC timeline like 08th MS Team and MS Igloo. This of course differs depending in which Gundam timeline/series you’re looking at. Something from the later portions of Seed (like the Akatsuki at 4:50) and 00, and obviously everything G Gundam are much more towards the RoC super robot side of the spectrum. Basically, what I’m trying to say is lumping all of Gundam together and brushing it off as the same level as Gurren Lagann was a mistake here. It’s more similar to how Armored Core is described in this video. There are series that are more grounded, and then there are series that goes more towards the super robot end of the spectrum.

Gundam Wing brought up the controversial topic of drone type weapons as the real world drones were still in it's infancy

The big issue I have with this video, which I imagine took a lot of hard work to make, is the failure to include Armored Trooper VOTOMS. Along with the game Heavy Gear. Plausible sized mecha that one could compare to Iron Man's Hulk Buster suit. Large, but not ridiculously so.

I'm glad I saw someone else in the comments mention it but a big part of mobile suit and other "eastern" mecha survivability is their mobility, much like tanks and fighter aircraft in the real world. It helps to remember a lot of Japanese IP like Gundam but more especially Macross, Muv Luv, Yukikaze, and Ace Combat derive their design off of fighters and not tanks. This also makes the size of them more palatable when you realize mobile suits and the like are about as tall as modern fighters are as long, just boxier since they often fight in space and have to house a miniaturized nuclear reactor. For reference an F-22 is 18.9 meters long. However, as far as I know, the mechs from MechWarrior don't have any sort of active protection which makes it all the more baffling that not only are they as massive and slow as they are but that they also have massive windows instead of the periscopes you see on tanks and patlabors. If the materials were as strong as the rest of the armor then much more of the mech would be made of it to preserve pilot situational awareness but that largely doesn't seem to be the case either. Not to say Gundam doesn't have examples of this (Turn A) but that's not the norm as it seems to be in Mechwarrior. It's too bad he didnt mention or doesn't seem to be aware of any of the aforementioned Japanese real robot IP or others like gasaraki, 86, and heavy object.

Glad to hear Macross mentioned, even if you only brought up the original. Macross Plus and Macross Frontier are both worth looking into if you can find them

This man hasn't seen a single gundam series, or any mecha anime for that matter.

Need to have a distinction between "real robots" which rely on realism/plausibility and "super robots" reality breaking, kaiju slaying robots. Also needs to show how the Gundam franchise's interpretations of mechs varies heavily between each show.

Genuinely having an aneurysm at you putting Gundam and Gurren Lagann in the same category.

what's really cool about armored core is how fast and maneuverable you are not only depends on the parts you buy but also on how good you are at the game, like even if you give a really good endgame mech to a new player they would probably move around as if they were in a ''tank on legs'' but the more techniques you learn the more you can do, like learning to use overboost to turn get your aim on an enemy instead of turning around in place, or learning to use boost hopping to more efficiently spend your energy, watching a beginner play and watching someone experienced play is like looking at 2 different games

that Titanfall 2 time jump level was my second favorite sequence of any game only falling short by the supremacy of the Cigar Maze TAKE CONTROL

Armored core literally starts out with you being at long range taking slow pot shots with huge cannons and missiles as basically a walking tank and then accelerates to dancing around the battlefield as an invincible deus ex machina where the only weapon fast enough to keep up with you is a SWORD. (For those of you armored core 4A fans, I’ve killed CUBE/fragile with moonlight). It definitely deserves the title of best mech game ever made.

So you didn't watch any Gundam anime at all? There's a distinction between real and super robot, and you just missed it entirely. There are the super robots full of hot-blooded young men whose mech's power correponds to the loudness of their screams, and real robots which are machines of war that are treated the same as any tank or plane yet fulfilling its own niche.

Blud really just lobbed in Gundam to a super robot show like gurren lagan, like I get you don't like flashy mechas but know your roots

VOTOMs needs more love.

This video is all over the place. Gundam together with Gurren Lagann? Really now?

Few things to consider with Gundam that those with zero knowledge of it often mistakenly assume that will lend a bit more credence to it's significant realism compared to a shockingly large amount of mecha media: Universal Century, the original Gundam timeline, is VERY much grounded in reality in it's beginnings, with mobile suits being made out of essentially weaponizing humanoid colony construction machines that used the limbic system to maneuver in space. Early gundam is very slow, plodding, and grounded, and being in space later on(in UC) makes significant sense, since the entire crux of the series is about the independence of space colonies! Also those aren't lasers! Not even CLOSE, they're particle beams, which means that energy can be disrupted or deflected, using flashy coatings like shown at 5:00, though that's also from SEED, an absolutely not realistic series that has almost nothing to do with the original show.

I'll leave a list of notable mechs in Sci-fi for those of you that care: 1. Mazingers (Mazinger Z) 2. Getters (Getter Robo) 3. Variable Fighters (Macross) 4. Mobile Suits (Gundam) 5. Evagelions (Evangelion) 6. Battlemechs (Battletech) 7. Titans (Titanfall) 8. Jaegers (Pacific Rim) 9. Armored Cores (Armored Core) 10. Wanderpanzers (Front Mission) 11. Vital Suits (Lost Planet) 12. Frame Arms (Frame Arms) 13. TSF's (Muv-Luv) 14. Assugly Cans (Hawken) 15. Armored Troopers (AT Votoms) 16. Knightmare Frames (CG) 17. Orbital Frames (ZOE) 18. Arm Slaves (FMP) 19. Golems (Break Blade) 20. Ingrams/Labors (Patlabor) 21. Armored Shrikes (Blue Gender) 22. Heavy Gears (Heavy Gear) 23. Hounds (Chromehounds) 24. HIGH-MACHS (Gungriffon) 25. Aquarions (GOA) 26. Combat Armors (Dougram) 27. Tactical Armors (Gasaraki) 28. Gunmen (Gurren Lagann) 29. Metal Armors (Dragonar) 30. Gardes (Knights of Sidonia) 31. Yunboros (Gargantia) 32. Battle Frames (Project Nimbus) 33. IFO/LFO's (Eureka Seven) 34. Herculans (Earthsiege) 35. Virtuaroids (Virtual On) 36. Mechanaughts (Exteel) 37. Kataphrakts (Aldnoah Zero) 38. Megadeus (The Big O) 39. 40. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. I'll keep updating this list (probably, probably not) Ps: Why do i have a feeling this comment section will turn a battleground of morons arguing about which type of mech is the best?

Rule of cool is not a mech type, its an aspect of a show. If it look cool enough, you suspend your belief. A Gundams blocky mid section to totally impractical, as are most of that type. Super mecha like Mazinzer or Reideen use tech way above normal.

a huge thing people seem to forget is that tanks were kinda specifically designed to have low ground pressure, and can deal with muddy and soft terrain very very easily for the most part. Leggy tanks would be such a downgrade in that department, the arms of humanoid mecha would be essential to add another level of mobility and functionality to justify no tracks

You’re acting like Gundam isn’t 95% of the reason this genre has grown and thrived. Don’t knock it so easily.

Legged mechs like those in the 86 anime seem the most realistic to me, but likely only in either a post apocalyptic world with terrible terrain or in a lower gravity environment where you need the ability to both move and hold onto the terrain

Battletech Chromehounds Steel Battalion Mobile Suit Gundam Armoured Core Metal Gear Solid Metal Fox Chaos Zone of the Enders War Machines Lost Planet Gun Metal Future Cop L.A.P.D Pacific Rim Robot Jox Heavy Gear Super Robot Wars Titan Fall Macross Code Geese Power Rangers MechaGodzilla Iron Giant This is just a small sample of the best stompy robots I love.

I have 4 main classifications my self. Walker/Walking tank: Pretty much exactly what he said. Stuff like Star Wars walkers or 2242 walkers. Mechs: Battletech. More like a giant humanoid war machine, but kept more inline with a realistic military setting. Mecha: This is basically the rule of cool category he described. Where the mech is like an extension of the user. Where they move and fight like the laws of physics aren’t real. Western Mecha: Rule of cool mechs. Just brought back enough to not have a universe where children rise to the level of literal gods. Think Titanfall.

"Bam, high heels on your mech. Have fun with your femboy robot." You got me with that one I swear to god, you got me.

I'd like to see an Armoured Core that progresses from the Muscle Tracer style units, into Normals and finally endgame you get the NEXTs or equivalents. That'd be cool in concept at least.

Ummmm, mobile suits are humanoid war machines. Some of the gundams are a little more in the super robot category. But for the most part, the gundam franchise is in the same category as Armored Core, real robot.

Man my boy out here misrepresenting Gundam hard. It's more based in the Humanoid war machine camp but definitely strays into the Super Robot rule of cool thing not too uncommonly.

Sad there was no mention of VOTOMs, which is arguably halfway between Humanoid War Machine and Walking Tank. They have VERY clear limitations and are often referred to as Steel Coffins.

Japanese mecha = fast paced and western mecha= chunky slow tanks

Bro,you didn't talked about the super robot subgenre,the one who popularized the mecha genre in the 70's. mazinger and getter robo are the big names in this subgenre,and the big name in live action is super sentai AKA power rangers in the west, transformers is basically the hybrid of this and the real robot subgenre (the subgenre that you talked mostly in your video)

My favorite is the small economy size. Armored Trooper VOTOMS/Heavy Gear sized. VOTOMS are 100% ammunition based because they're too small to mount huge reactors. And they're small enough to actually use concealment behind a single story house. They also work along side more conventional armor, MLMS, and VTOLS. They're about the largest scale mechs that could practically be fielded. Though honestly a quad with the same chassis size would have been even more practical. Anything bigger would be a missile/artillery magnet. Another good design that is wildly unlikely but would be a pain in the ass to actually face down are the spider like Juggernauts from 86. And its low enough to avoid being automatically turned into scrap.

I like how he goes from "I can tell you the exact intricate reason for why theese big metal stompers exist" to "realism? What are that?"

For the “rule of cool” mechs, an entire sub genre is there for ones that are literally just super heroes. The Super Robot genre. Which is where the ones that throw galaxies are from. So those are their own beasts entirely. And they range from tiny small robots that are the size of human children (Astroboy and Mega Man) to hulking leviathans taller than entire galaxies. (Tengann Toppa Gurren Lagann and Demonbane) And even one that canonically killed everything in the Mech/Mecha/Giant Robot genre. (Shin Mazinger Zero. God I hate this one) It’s where all the wacky shit is and I love it for that. You even have more grounded ones too like King of Braves GaoGaiGar. A show where the mech takes a lot of beatings from giant monsters and other mechs but keeps fighting. The costume mechs from old live action media are usually always super robots as well. (Giant Robo, Mechagodzilla, and the Megazord.) And before anyone says anything, Evangelion is more of a real robot show masquerading as a super robot. Even though I wouldn’t even call it a mech either. If you know you know.

People that are thinking that development and practical deployment of future mechs is highly unlikely are not paying attention to current developmental progress of mecha and robotics... Sooner or later military will figure out how to practically and successfully deploy mecha on battlefields...

one thing that is often missed about the Titanfall Titans (what the mechs are called. Titans. go figure, when they deploy, the Titan is falling, hence the game name...yeah) is that they were originally used as tools of farming, construction and general labor on the Frontier before war broke out there were never any tanks on the frontier because it was meant to be a peaceful colony away from all the Earth drama, so adapting these big, sturdy machines into tools of war actually has a degree of realism that would move it on the scale a bit closer to the Waling Tank style, as the devs to make an attempt to explain it and it isn't all that implausible, all things considered source? Titanfall 2 opening cutscene you can clearly see Titans being used for general labor on a rather fertile and peaceful farm looking place

Ah I see your understanding of mobile suits is a bit lacking. They are a lot more grounded than you think 🙂

_Imagine humanity can finally ride a giant robot in the year of 2090, but by that time we all here already old or die._ _Yup, we all born to late to explore to earth & born to soon to see a giant (the real one) robot._ _Right here right now we all living in the entertainment era._

You forgot to mention Zone of the Enders, am sad :(

4:40 my favourite thing about this is the gundam gusion remake full city, whose melee weapon is a giant pair of scissors

I really don't like how you portrayed Gundam in this video. Before Gundam all mech media was pretty much campy super heroes but in robots instead of spandex. Gundam shows mechs as mere weapons of war and focuses on the conflict itself. The main character Amuro Ray doesn't kill kaijus with the power of friendship but humans and he knows it. The war changes him, he gets ptsd and one of the best moments in the show is when his mother breaks down when she sees him shoot a man without any remorse. But I guess its all just hee hoo stupid robots go brr because they have human proportions.

Categorizing Gundam and Gurren Lagann in one class doesn't make sense considering the former is a Real Robot while the other is a Super Robot Also all of the mentioned Mechs fall into Real Robot category meaning they all share the same emphasis on the destruction of Mechs and how it can affect the pilots performance and they're all either bipedal/tripedal/quadrapedal/threaded moving arsenals

0/10. Youre ignoring the actually genre to boil it down to nothing. This was made by someone who is dismissive and just another hater who never bothered to watch the genre but instead watched voltron 30 years ago and called it a day. 6:55 the gundam doesnt win the war, the whole point is how the gundam cant win but you know who does? The thousands of tanks, jets and ms that are used by the federation.

Tbh, I want mecha universe that'a mix of Macross & Titanfall & Code Geass. A mobile transform mid to small size mechas that could move dynamic & fast based on its transformantion, to negate the OPness. This can make air battle scenes so much more intruiging with it as fast as Ace Combat, meanwhile ground level can be pretty mobile like a soldiers in the battlefield. The smaller size also make sense for the appeal of realistic military mass productions & give relevancy to other military vehicles like tanks & battleships.

I feel like the "Rule of Cool Robots" category is its own spectrum altogether, there certainly are mechs that fit in the category as-is which are still on the realistic end, like Patlabor. On the other end of the spectrum you get your Evangelions and Gurren Laganns, with Gundam and Zone of the Enders somewhere in the middle depending on the specific show/game.

"Child soldiers were war-winning wonder weapons" Me: What are you talking about? Lynn Minmay is not a child soldier. She's a teen idol.

I usually think about it this way: -Legged Tank Mechs are interesting to think about, but usually boring to watch -Hype Machine Mechs are interesting to watch, but usually boring to talk about -Mechs in the middle often end up being far more intriguing than either of the extreme That doesn't apply to the setting or story as a whole, but when it comes to the mechs themselves, this is usually what I've observed to be the case

FYI BattleTech mechs are seriously less walking tank than MechWarrior would have you believe. Assault mechs can do handstands in controlled environments, they crouch, they go prone, they rip their enemy's arms off and use them as clubs Gears of War style... and they're a bit smaller than people expect, too. Like medium mechs are 10 meters tall. Now imagine that thing jogging around, bobbing and weaving to avoid fire, amd you're getting closer.

I think the best example of how a "walking tank" mech should be done are the Scopedogs from VOTOMS, they're big, bulky mass produced machines utilized in political conflicts but they're also able to zip around the battlefield like an Armored Core, giving them a justifiable excuse for why they're used instead of normal tanks.

I can't believe he didn't talk about THE mecha movie of the last decade, Pacific Rim. There is no sequel in ba sing se

5:30 No, there's a much simpler reason as to why... *laser*. Its gundam seed destiny. It just works that way.

Why is this guy adding "Real Robot" and "Super Robot" in the same genre? Gundam is mostly real robot while Getter is in super robot. It's like adding Pacific Rims and Transformers into the same genre.

I think you should have included the super-robot type, units ranging from being able to destroy entire armies onntgeor own to being able to destroy entire universes, like Mazingers and Getters.

Walking tanks have their purpose alongside humanoid machines, but they’re not really tanks in a world with options. They’re artillery. The walking tank archtype can be fitted with more heavy weaponry than most nimble, mobile machines, and can reposition to more tactical positions as the battlefield changes. They get hosed when their pilots can physically see their targets but long-range strikes, combined with the ability to dump multiple guns in a tactical “alpha strike” more than make up for a lack of mobility in combat.

While not mechs, Outlaw Star did a number on what I would accept as reasonable. For anyone not in the know, they strapped arms onto their space ships and then gave them knives and axes and uzis. The in-universe reasoning is that these were largely civilian or commercial spaceships that happened to have arms that were then taken and modified by pirates, and ones with arms tended to survive longer. So they now have grappler class spaceships with katanas and pistols. If you learn to accept that then sure, that robot is immune to lasers because it's gold

If anime has taught us anything, wars are won by robots driven by child soldiers.

What category does ZOIDS fall into? Basic Info: Animal robot that can be piloted Semi-sentient that can be found in the wild with no pilot Units can have physical, laser, electric, ranged and close combat weapons Can have equipable/swapable parts Has a "food" that acts like its energy source In some cases can undergo evolution

I'll have you know the Zaku diaper is an important part of its design, it allows it to operate in space for long periods without needing to vent its exhaust!

Oh, just going to point out the ARMA of mechs, M.A.S.S builder, its the game where you can make any mech, it functions like a gundam, but you can make it look like mecha Godzilla

What about Zoids or Beast Mechs?

even though i get the section about the "rule of cool", Gundam and Gurren Lagann have quite the distance between them imo

8:27 the concept of an "aircraft with legs" is something they are working on in real life, imitating how little birds take of and land in any terrain and almost in an instant is somethig they want to replicate with the decent IA and robotics we now had. And in the military, pilots are more often to pilot a hawk/wyvern animal like machine,than a flying humanoid one.

I'm surprised we didn't touch on the traditional divisions of "real robots" vs "super robots". Despite some glaring exceptions, Gundam is usually categorized along side Armored Core and Mechwarrior/Battletech as "real robot". Macross is also considered "Real robot" in some respects while Gurren Lagann, Getter Robo, Giant Robo, and Mazinger Z are considered "Super Robot". If we're using "Walking tank", I would think it'd be a division of "walking tank" and "humanoid".

>Puts Gundam and Gurren Lagann in the same category (A Mech and the other, a Robot with super powers which is a genre of its own called Super Robot) I've heard enough, I shall take my leave.

TITANFALL MENTIONED WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

You forgot the "A cathedral covered in guns" school of mechs.

"an entire america's worth of weapons" best thing i've heard all year

Honestly. Does anyone really need a pretense to nerd out about armored core? Opinions; I love mecha! However, an exo armor would be a much more functional set of kit.

Tell me you don’t watch gundam without saying you don’t watch gundam

I always like discussions about realism in mecha because the whole concept is so outlandish from the get-go. Obviously everyone has their own standards, but once you throw out the square-cube law and the maintenance headache that is actuators you might as well go wild. To me the realism of a mech is built on its setting rather than form factor; when they're treated like machines rather than something else.

This is the first I’ve heard of Armored Core and I love mechs! Thank you.

I know a lot of people have already said something similar, but I really don't think your categories are very efficient, categorically, and I don't much care for your take on what qualifies as what. The only distinctions between walking-tank and humanoid-warmachine you gave were basically size and if they punch each other, for example. Meanwhile, anything even vaguely fanciful got lumped together into what effectively counts-as the more common "Super Robo" category. There's a pretty significant difference in the way the technology and tactics of something like like the original 1977 Mobile Suit Gundam and Aura Battler Dunbine are represented, but you lumped all "80s Japanese Mecha" into one category. What's more, while it's full of "beam gun" and the mechs don't move like something Boston Dynamics developed, a lot of the Universal Century puts a good bit of effort into explaining how it's technologies work, and there's often cases of mechs and super ships being totally undercut by on-foot military operations. Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War In The Pocket has about as much to do with Shin Tetsujin 28 as an ant does a light bulb, but they're both "80s Japanese Mecha." To use a specific example from the video, there's technology originally developed on the Doms where a combination of vector thrusting and hovercraft-adjacent technology allows them to skim across the surface of the ground; just like a few feet off of it, so they can slide and boost around without having to step or stumble. This isn't just represented by a booster on the foot, but the legs have these wide skirts that hide additional boosters and engines and fuel that's used to facilitate this functionality. It sounds like bait, but google Rick Dom Foot, and you'll see what I'm talking about. This tech was compacted down into less functional, but more streamlined variations over the course of the One Year War, which the Zaku you used as an example where you asked "how is it [clip-gliding]?" The trade-off being that it can't do it as long as a Dom can, and is less stable. Yeah, that's a bunch of non-sense, but the effort is there to explain how the suits work, and how this is all technology and not space-magic (until like 10 in-setting years later when they also develop space-magic, but that's besides the point). The Akatsuki Gundam (I had to google it; it's the golden one) certainly has a much more nonsensical gimmick, but it is a trick/gimmick-suit from a B-list Alternative Universe Gundam series; it's a horrid representation of the franchise, let alone the entire genre. I'm not one to gatekeep or discourage involvement in any hobby, but it truthfully feels like you've made a video about a genre/trope that you don't actually have very much experience with. That's not really an issue in itself, but you speak of it so factually and confidently; with the overtones of someone who's explaining a subject like a professor, yet as is too often the case, it is a professor that's only about 30% familiar with the subject they're lecturing you on. Also, why the apostrophe? I've never seen Mech spelled that way before. It's short for Mechanical too, so if anything the apostrophe should be on the other end, shouldn't it?

“The robots are wearing diapers” with a zaku, my brother in zeon, the z’gok is way sillier