/m/

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/m/ is the Mecha board on 4chan. While the board is used primarily for television, movies, games, books, etc. about giant robots and cyborgs, it can also be used as a general science fiction board. Star Wars, Star Trek, Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Stargate, 2001: A Space Odyssey, West World, Heavy Metal, Futurama, The Terminator, Godzilla, Battlestar Galactica, Mega Man, Sonic The Hedgehog, Doctor Who, creepypastas about haunted machines, all of it qualifies as /m/.

Because of this, traditional games can also be considered /m/-related topics; Fantasy is generally not seen as /m/ due to the dearth of fantasy giant robots, with the notable exceptions of Escaflowne and Dragonmech.

Culture

/m/ is one of the slower boards on 4chan, much slower than modern /tg/ while still faster than /po/ or /diy/. While their aesthetic preferences seem to mostly resemble Tau, in terms of behavior they act more similar to Necrons, maybe even the Sons of Malice chapter. Because anything mechanical qualifies as /m/ it is harder to post off-topic threads compared to other boards; derailing threads is much easier than other boards due to /m/'s seeming inability to filter trolls and avoid the bait. Combine these two factors and it comes as no surprise there is little initiative from moderators when rules are broken.

While no board is a stranger to flaming and trolls, /m/ has a serious problem with samefagging and because of the board's below-average traffic this has a disproportionate impact on the board's culture. At times, it is hard to tell if a flame war is legit or just one guy talking to himself. The most discussed franchises on the board are Gundam and Kamen Rider. Anons usually refer to each other as /m/en. Gong by JAM Project is their unofficial theme.

Major Moments Of /m/

Due to 4chan archives often ignoring /m/ much of its history is lost to time and screencaps.

2004
The earliest recorded instance of /m/ is in August 16 of 2004 (http://tanasinn.info/wiki/Complete_History_of_4chan) Note that this not the known date of the start of /m/, just that saved threads reveal /m/ existed during that time. There are multiple theories on what lead to the creation of /m/: That the board was created to get Gundam Seed destiny discussion off /a/ (theory that neglects the fact /m/ existed before Destiny started airing in October,) That /m/ was created in anticipation of Destiny, that /m/ was created after a 'we want our MTV' style campaign that involved flooding /a/ with Gunpla while asking for an /m/ board, or that /m/ was created simply because there an /m/ board on the Japanese image board that was the inspiration for 4chan. At this time there isn't evidence for any of the theories.
2005
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny ends, bringing much rage. Questionable animation, excessive recaps, and bad writing lead it to be considered the poster child for bad mecha anime. Through a series of forced memes and astroturfed events, some claim that Valvrave the Liberator is the new poster child of bad anime, but many still claim Destiny continues to hold onto that spot.
2006
Code Geass captures a broad audience on /a/ and mainstream anime sites owing to it's shameless hamminess, plot twists, animation quality, and tragic tale of revenge. Despite the show containing mecha, it received a much more muted response on /m/ and received far less discussion when compared with other sites.Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 was released, a video game that united fans of robots from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. While seen as bloated to many, it was a celebration of the genre beloved in spirit. Rips of the CG were made available, and this lead to an unfortunate period of time where the board was covered with RP threads.
2007
Perhaps the most relevant event to 1d4chan, and /tg/ is the creation of /tg/. Many on /m/ feel that /m/ had a large part to play with the creation of the board. In 2006 and early 2007 there were many 40k threads on /m/, usually with a request for the creation of /tg/. Often OPs would post threads such as about Tyranids, knowing the organic race fell out of /m/'s mechanical purview. Other threads during this time included threads about game mechanic particulars, and way too many '40k is better than gundam' threads. Any protests were met with 'well moot should make /tg/ so we have somewhere to go'. If these threads played any role in the creation of /tg/, only moot can say. Regardless due to these threads there was a short lived hostility between /m/ and /tg/ including a now forgotten meme that Warhammer 40k belonged on /y/. This early antogonism is mostly forgotten. The 1997 hit anime

The King of Braves GaoGaiGar was licensed in the US, and is warmly received.

  • SageGaiGar: A parody of GaoGaiGar made of 4chan memes was constructed, until the board-tan designs this was the board's unofficial mascot.

SaiGAR 2007 began. (See https://www.lurkmore.com/view/GAR for more information about SaiGAR) During this time, several /m/ characters were overrepresented in the contest, with the final round going down between Guts from Berserk, and Master Asia. In conjunction with the airing of Gurren Lagann, SaiGAR was one of the events that led to /m/ being 'discovered' and resulted in the board becoming more active.

Hit anime Tengen Toppa Gurenn Lagann brings renewed interest in classical /m/ to the board and results in an influx of newfags from various boards owing to it's quality of animation, writing, and overall bucking of the trend by returning to hot-blooded pilots, humanoid robots moving fluidly without regard for mechanics, and cosmic conflict touching on deeper themes. In addition to TTGL, shows like Kotesushin Jeeg, Dancouga Nova, and Gigantic formula to much less fanfare. Gundam 00 aired later in the year, taking TTGL's place as the most talked about event series. Many discussions ensued, as did many shipping threads. Similar to TTGL, the board was covered with 00 threads.

While only one Code Geass episode aired in 2007 (The finale was delayed due to Sunrise shenanigans, it is still worth noting that this is when serious discussion of the show began on /m/ in large volume. Some owe this change due to the change of board culture through the new population brought in by the previously discussed events.

2008
Super Robot Wars Z was released and was praised for having many mecha anime of the 00s, high quality art and animation (for the time), a solid cast, and put smiles on the faces of many Gundam SEED Destiny haters. Iron Man was released, cementing an unofficial brotherhood /m/ had with /co/.
2009
Kamen Rider Decade airs, and becomes the next big event show. As Decade was a cross over show featuring every Kamen Rider show since Kuuga, this ignites interests in the older shows. The board is covered in toku threads with the topic creating most of the threads on /m/. Eventually Gundam takes it's place back as the most discussed topic. Owing to the rising popularity of Kamen Rider and other such shows featuring rubber-suited heroes and villains, debate rises over whether tokusatsu is /m/ or not. Former 4chan owner moot declares toku /m/ following the opening of /q/, and mods begin temp-banning anyone claiming otherwise. "Toku is not /m/" remains a popular troll phrase to this day.
In an unforeseen consequence, declaring Toku /m/ results in some people arguing non-Japanese "toku" series such as Doctor Who to be declared /m/ as well. Some argue this leads the gradual broadening, and some would say degradation, of /m/ from Mecha board to general sci-fi board. Others point out that /m/ of previous years had threads about Power Rangers, Star Wars, and Tron and that /m/ was always a Sci-Fi board.
Bandai celebrates the 30th anniversary of their flagship franchise by erecting an RX-78-2 Gundam in Tokyo. /m/ loves that their most discussed franchise has achieved such national acclaim.
2010
Super Robot Wars L got released, noted for having the most bizarre cast list in the franchise to some. Iron Man 2 got released and was liked by /m/ more than most people.
2011
Mazinkaiser SKL was released, /m/ enjoyed it despite it not being a sequel to Shin Mazinger Z. The OVA was praised for action, easter eggs, and the soundtrack.
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE is announced in July 2011, purporting to tell the tale of three generations of war. The released designs and first trailer are seen as so child-friendly that mass butthurt ensues and the series is declared "worst Gundam ever" on both sides of the Pacific. While the series is well-animated and has innovative mecha design, the character designs remain controversial throughout its broadcast, and the writing is seen as somewhere between "lazy cliche" and "terrible." Low ratings result in the series becoming the biggest commercial failure in the franchise's history, with video game and gunpla sales at such low levels that the line was cancelled. Following revelations that the series' writer deliberately ignored plot holes on the basis of "nobody cares in video games where things come from, so it won't matter in anime," debates on whether AGE or Destiny were worse become much more common on /m/.
2012
Aquarion Evol, the latest in the cult Aquarion franchise, is widely mocked on /m/ and /m/'s Japanese equivalents, more so by general anime shippers. Noticeably bad/Disney fairy tale level writing, terrible character development, retcons of previous series, and bestiality make Aquarion into the butt of many jokes; despite this it still has a vocal fanbase reminiscent of oldfags that love obscure stuff (and Shoji Kawamori fans). The show continues to be spoken of negatively by others, despite efforts of some to claim other shows are worse.
Eureka Seven: Astral Ocean suffers a similar fate. Announced as a sequel/AU to beloved anime Eureka Seven, Astral Ocean suffers from noticeably bad writing, terrible character development, retcons of previous series, and numerous plot holes brought about by a literal retcon gun wielded by the main character. Strangely people that didn't care for the first series enjoyed this one and it gets praise for mech and monster designs.
2012 is also notable for the release of GOTHICMADE, a brand new animated movie created by noted mecha designer and mangaka Nagano Mamoru, of The Five Star Stories fame. A prime example of his obsession with control over his franchise, it has not been released outside of theaters to this day. Nobody on /m/ knows anything about it except that it is to blame for the redesign of all the Mortar Headds into tall, willowy, triple-jointed monsters.
Rinne no Lagrange emerges as a cult hit, mostly liked by shippers from /u/.
2013
Widely considered to be the straw that broke /m/'s back, which broke the board into autonomous groups of trolls trolling trolls.
  • Only four notable mecha anime that year, three of them literally aired within a few days of each other in April with Gundam Build Fighters being the fourth. The big three consisted of: Majestic Prince, Valvrave The Liberator, and Gargantia. Gargantia and Majestic Prince were both considered best for different reasons, the former for production design and story elements and the latter for entertainment value in action and comedy. Valvrave on the other hand was loaded with problems which almost single-handedly shifted the board and arguably the worst part of the year. The things considered wrong with it warrant its own article, but the main points include:
    • Nearly everyone involved with the show was a professional in the industry, expectations were very high.
    • The main character being a massive beta male even by beta male standards.
    • Every single episode had either some major plot twist or shock value for the sake of it. Every. Single. Episode.
    • The first half was filled with unnecessary fanservice, slow pacing, little action, and bad comedy. Seriously if you hate ecchi this can be cringe inducing.
    • Background characters suddenly drive the plot starting with the sixteenth episode.
    • Episode 10 has a sexual assault scene, because the attacked girl consented /m/ debated whether or not it was rape. For four months straight. Topics on /m/ could reach over three hundred posts in two hours from this which was considered insane for a board this slow.
    • The second half was insulting to the audience for various reasons, being increasingly worse with each episode although at this point some were just glad it amped up the action scenes.
    • Every female character was either fap fuel for the sake of it or insanely hated while every male character died, allowing for sexism across the board.
    • The underdeveloped faction saved the day during the credits. No, you didn't read that wrong, the guys who are known only for being the major enemy of the main antagonists, making fighters, and whose only character representative was a cowardly politician won while the protagonists accomplished next to nothing and was almost wiped out, making them bigger losers than dark elves or warriors of chaos on their worst days.
    • "The Curse of Valvrave" became a forced meme to describe all fallout that occurred after it aired, no thanks to a demotivational poster that became the most reposted picture in /m/'s history clocking in at 1013 reposts before the archive deletion of 2015. Most on /m/ do not consider this to be organic like 'more like infinite shit' another forced meme where at least the person spamming it created a new thread. The 'curse of valvrave' demotivator was instead spammed in unrelated threads on the bottom of page 10. When the thread was bumped off, the spammer repeated the trick. (See https://desuarchive.org/m/thread/11612606/#11620090 for an example) This allowed the spammer to get the image multiple reposts over a short period of time. Because of these methods many see this as 'cheating' but in general it serves as an example of the autism this series inspired, as well as the astroturfed nature of much of the 'controversy' surrounding Valvrave. Starting before the show even aired a troll used the intense rage generated to raid /m/ on a regular basis who was given the nickname Valvrager around 2014.
    • The seventh episode was a "coming out" moment for gag fetishists on the board too soft for /h/ or /d/, essentially "gagfagging" which took over several livestream threads.
  • Influx of posters from other boards thanks to the release of Pacific Rim including many trolls the board was not used to that brought in the broadening of what could be defined as /m/, eventually turning it into what is now the general sci-fi board.
  • /m/-esque shows Vividred Operation and Symphogear G aired, both attracted severe dislike from moralfags, asexuals, people that dislike ecchi (which is uncommon in mecha anime), and /m/en that disapproved of /a/ culture. For the latter it lead to one guy literally making generals only to delete them, unintentionally framing a janitor, and generals being off topic with samefagging filled mainly with menstrual jokes. Because of mods rarely doing their job when they bothered to clean up the messes this was jokingly seen as favoritism. Two years later he came clean and did it out of depression. Speaking of which....
  • Depressed people made their depression public and continued throughout the year. Mostly happened in the spring, but it still gets remembered.
  • Build Fighters debuted the Beargguy-San which became the target for a series of forced meme macros with the term "Beargguy Mother Fucker". The troll that made the macros eventually revealed he role played out of boredom, but something that was supposed to be cute got out of hand. The primary macro eventually became the third highest reposted picture before the archive deletion of 2015. Even TVTropes references these macros.
  • The sole Super Robot Wars game to come out that year, UX, was on the 3DS, which was region locked, which prevented the vast majority of the board from playing and not even bother. Despite supposedly selling decently it is seen by trolls as an example of the worst entry of the franchise despite the generally liked cast. This also started a trend where English speaking fans stopped bothering to give information of the new Banpresto Originals which still plagues Z3, the Lord of The Elemental sequels, and BX to this day.
    • The sequels to Super Robot Wars Z were spread between 2011 to 2015, guess which year was the one nothing came out from there.
  • Kamen Rider Wizard was airing which is considered by fans to be the most boring entry in the franchise to date, it did not help that the successor series, Gaim would be written by Gen Urobuchi who is seen as a mixed writer for a good chunk of the board. This was not helped by the annual Kamen Rider/Super Sentai crossover that year, Super Hero Wars Z, was considered a tremendous disappointment to pretty much anyone that was not a fan of Space Sheriff Sharivan.
  • Go-Busters was revealed to have had the lowest in toy sells in the Super Sentai franchise since Timeranger, it was a favorite among Sentai fans for going back to its semi-dark and spy minutia of the early days of the franchise while giving it a military-esque aesthetic which appealed to military otaku and jimmie rustling memes.
  • One good thing did happen that year though, /m/ tells Christmas stories as MS paints.

Current /m/

After 2013, /m/ essentially became a chaotic board with nearly every side attacking each other, some of which stopped watching anime that was airing due to the intensity called "Valvrave Fallout", and trolls (now called XRagers depending on what is the target) were quick to try and find anime worse than Valvrave, several titles included Daimidaler, Aldnoah.Zero, Cross Ange (its livestream threads also hijacked by gagfagging), Gundam: Reconguista in G, Gundam Build Fighters: Try, and Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans, Captain Earth, the usual favorites of Gundam 0080, Turn A Gundam, and Zeta Gundam. Because of /m/'s now divided culture it was essentially ancient Pre-Alexander The Great era Greece: a bunch of territories barely united and unafraid to recruit mortal enemies just to piss off the neighbors. The three Gundam series mentioned above are often trolled as just as bad, maybe even worse, than Destiny and Age now. The board became so disjointed that on Easter 2016, the day Iron Blooded Orphans finished it's first season, twenty four joke threads, negativity threads, and desperate "please don't be upset about the ending!" threads littered the board (to be somewhat fair to /m/ ever since its Toonami airings, IBO has been slowly detested by /co/ and regular Toonami viewers. Said Gundam series has gained such notoriety that a forced meme about purging space rats has become the most reposted image on the board since the 2015 archive deletion). In August 2016 the 4chan banner contest had /m/'s turn, resulting in one guy submitting forty percent of the banners submitted which featured macros and memes reviled by /m/, demonstrating how rampant samefagging was on the board. It also doesn't help that new Mecha anime that air are barely talked about due to a lack of interest or low quality, which doesn't help at all. /m/ also has the misfortune(?) of being a "slow board", and so moderation is low (with some people believing that a mod/janitor is one of the trolls).

Any hope?

/m/ has been fixing itself (extremely) slowly, likely because Nurgle is hogging all the best robot toys from Tzeentch. Kamen Rider Ex-Aid as seen as the current Gundam substitute in uniting the board's love for long franchise and action scenes, neither of which Iron Blooded Orphans does well and even /co/ is agreeing with them. Battlefleet Gothic Armada was seen as likable and entertaining. One of /m/'s underrated gem mecha series, Zegapain, is returning to public spotlight to the shock of what few fans it has. Super Robot Wars V has been getting a large amount of attention due to being the first mainline game in English (with an better English translation then the last OG game). Pacific Rim 2 is in production. Super Robot Wars BX was warmly received by 80s and 90s mecha fans. Aquarion Logos, whether on its own merits or imitation Demonbane meme status is one of the few mecha anime of the decade that is liked even if Anime News Network found it too complex (it isn't).

Recently, more improvements have arrived. Some generals now recommend filtering known tripfags, and even the ones who don't filter then berate them, which makes some less of a problem, and some to leave completely while keeping the ones that are actually liked. People are now actually discussing shows usually being hated on by trolls, tired of their antics. /m/ has a chance of being good again, but it will take shitloads of times.


Emperor help them if Khorne feels like putting on his rage-induced version of a puppet show.

... Or not

Since the dawn of 2017 Gundam fans remained divided and more vicious with Iron Blooded Orphans receiving praise from so-called establishment sources like ANN and MAHQ, whether be it legit criticism or just anger issues; needless to say Slaanesh ate all those tears like pretzels. This has lead to so many in-fights that gundam rivalries alone make up a quarter of the anime and manga fandom rivalry page on TVTropes. Super Robot Wars V was very liked by some of the board, but shitposting got intense mostly from Cross Ange haters. Ex-Aid fell out of favor after its Christmas episode killed off Kamen Rider Lazer, devolving into a weird hybrid of Kamen Rider Gaim and Drive that, for no known reason, stopped playing the opening theme the entire second quarter. Right before IBO finished airing a strawpoll for "worst gundam entries" achieved over 560 votes on /m/, somehow making it worth the attention of the Japanese news blog website Yaraon; the Cosmic Era timeline was still number one while IBO had a moderate second place with G-Reco in close third. Since Turn A and War in The Pocket were included and had votes, /m/ became (justifiably) sad now that Japan thinks foreigners hate those. Since then similar strawpolls were done, the most notable being one with only IBO and SEED Destiny, the later winning by a 20 point margin. Depending on your thoughts this was either "yes our least favorite is still the worst" or "oh shit, IBO might actually dethrone it for the title of worst gundam in a year or so"; Japan was far less kind to IBO than western fans including death threats, getting the government to stop reruns and edit the home releases, digging up behind the scenes information (spoiler: it was a mess and the creative team fought a lot), and flaming the likes of which even Age never received. After this poll a new meme cropped up calling /m/en fake gundam and/or mecha fans for not aligning with specific opinions. In mid April the meme briefly changed from "fake and real" fans to "left wing and right wing" fans, but the mods (for once) stopped that idea mere days into its efforts.

From Russia With Chemo

Most of 2017 and early 2018 took its toll on /m/ in various ways: Tokusatsu subs became stagnant, the infamous Trigger studio had the only mainstream mecha series in a while, Kamen Rider Build was divisive, the new Gundam Build Fighters Battlogue and Gundam Build Divers received mixed reception, Anime News Network continued degrading classics, and all progress came solely from licensed releases which, while good, had limited appeal. In April of 2018 the subbing group Anonymous Russian Rippers (ARR for short) arrived on /m/ to offer fansub opportunities by asking people to edit their subtitles. While there was vocal (possibly Skaven) resistance, like tyranids the board ate it up without hesitation. The result lead to anime that had fansub progress stopped for years being picked up and finished in the course of months. Nearly a dozen anime were finished if not outright subbed from scratch during this. ARR considered themselves as the "chemo saving /m/". Strangely enough fansubs were starting up again around this time (Daikengo was finished, Dancouga: Blazing Epilogue was finished, Spielban was done over the course of weeks, Goranger was finally complete in its 84 episode entirety, Kamen Rider X was still subbed albeit a glacial pace, Ultraman Ace was done, and Jiraiya and Blue SWAT started up) and licensed releases got ballsy (Shout Factory releasing Jetman,DiscoTek releasing Juspion, God Mars, Voltes V, and Govarian (among others), and Toku-TV releasing Gridman and Mirrorman). ARR was responsible for unedited releases such as Dorvack and New Tetsujin 28 which were debatable crabsticks. In 2018 /m/ discovered the Italian sub group AnimeShinigami which secretly fully subbed Psycho Armor Govarian, God Mazinger, Acrobunch, and Jushin Liger in its entirety; despite errors translating from Italian to English it really was a /m/erry Christmas. Despite the sparse year, /m/ got some for the board to watch including Shinkalion, Unit Pandora, Gundam Build Divers, Mazinger Z Infinity, Tiramisu, Cutey Honey Universe, and Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory. Zoids Wild may have been included, but as of December 2018 fansubs halted on episode 7.

/m/ memes and language

  • Char clone: A term derived from Char Aznable, references lolicon/pedophiles who wear fancy masks.
  • "I came here to laugh at you": A line spoken by Char in cult classic Zeta Gundam.
  • "I'm just an autistic child": An out of context quote from Camille in Zeta Gundam.
  • "Puru puru puru puru": Catchphrase of Elpeo Ple from ZZ (Double Zeta) Gundam.
  • Newtypes: Gundam term for space telepaths, think psykers without magic/mental attacks.
  • Ryusei: A term named after Ryusei Date from Super Robot Wars, references robosexuals.
  • "It's orgone/getter rays, I ain't gotta explain shit": A joke referencing orgone, a metaphysical sci-fi energy source used in Super Robot Wars J and Captain Earth/getter rays, another sci-fi energy source used in Getter Robo. (/m/'s equivalent to "it's magic, I don't have to explain anything").
  • Rider Kick: Flying kicks used by Kamen Riders as their fatality.
  • "This is all Decade's fault!": A running gag from Kamen Rider Decade, /m/ adopted it as a joke term to refer to inconsistencies in Kamen Rider continuity and to a lesser degree other Toei tokusatsu.
  • Go Nagai: The Gary Gygax equivalent /m/, everything made by him is considered /m/ no matter how far from being mechanical said thing is.
  • Yoshiyuki Tomino: The George R.R. Martin of /m/. Anime News Network has a massive hateboner for his dialogue to the point of translating articles out of context.
  • "Get your Obari on!": A phrase on anything animated that goes from looking normal to super shaded, usually in a cool sword pose; based on the animation style of legendary animator Masami Obari.
  • Tomatoes: Comes from The Big O, used to describe overly complex symbology lacking any meaning or context.
  • Pineapple Salad: Originates in Super Dimension Fortress Macross, /m/'s equivalent of a deathflag. Has been subverted in subsequent entries of the series.
  • "Cool mouth, does it talk with dialogue?": /m/ equivalent of "Here's your (you)". Usually followed up with mouths being compared to cherry ice cream (seemingly smart, but not really). Eventually revealed to be a humorous reference to the Duran Duran song Rio because half the board was alive in the 80s.
  • Snapfag: Derogatory term for gunpla builders that build gunpla straight from the box without any customizing.
  • Shoji Kawamori: An angel to some, a demon to others. /m/ is not sure whether he is like Graham McNeil or Matt Ward. The guy is mainly known for creating Macross, but his other projects get mixed results. Normalfags find him too weird, critics find him too unstable, intellectuals find him hysterical, shippers find him rage inducing, and those that see him as a genius/artist are in the vocal minority. He has his own studio, Satellite, and has no problem creating unconventional shows to a fandom that supposedly whines about creative stagnation (anime fans). The problem? He is one of those people whose writings are so culturally specific they are difficult to translate outside of their home country (sometimes it's too Japanese for even the Japanese, Aquarion Logos anyone?). Tzeentch would be pleased with how drawn it out his trolling can become.
  • The "Undefeatables": Every large fandom has "who is strongest"/powerlevels debates like Goku vs. Superman ones. /m/'s undefeatables is a small pantheon consisting of Getter Emperor (Getter Robo Arc), Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Gurren Lagann second movie), Elder God Demonbane (Demonbane), Full Possession Shurouga (Super Robot Wars Z3), and Aquarion Logos (Aquarion Logos). Never start a power level discussion on /m/, it is usually declared over when one of these guys is mentioned. (Actually you should never start a power level discussion on /m/ since powerlevel threads are stupid.)
  • Super Hero Time: Airs on Sunday mornings in Japan, Saturday afternoon in the United States, the time when new Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, and Precure episodes air with subs coming days later.
  • Crabsticks: A term from a badly translated sentence in the first episode of Mazinger Z by Doctor Hell, references bad translations.
  • JAM Project: A Japanese rock band that performs opening theme songs for many mecha anime and tokusatsu, among /m/'s favorite musicians.
  • TV-Nihon: A fansub group /m/ dislikes, due to the prevalence of lengthy translator notes, grammar errors, and untranslated terms.
  • Ein Graze: /m/'s only favored part of Gundam IBO, their equivalent of Skarbrand who is rumored (by no one) to train fallen /m/ characters in Mecha Valhalla.
  • "Must be a Gorgom plot": In reference to the main antagonists from Kamen Rider Black, usually the titular hero finds out the villains are behind a plot through very broad and bad deduction skills. It eventually became the tokusatsu community's equivalent of the "Must be aliens" meme.
  • "Mods are dead, post Ginguiser": Ginguiser is an old 70s robot anime and one of many to have few subbed episodes and no adaption into Super Robot Wars titles. Because of this, low quality animation and out of context images are posted to be jokes pared with the "It's magic we don't have to explain" view. Then a few episodes were actually subbed and /m/ gave it a chance, the meme now barely qualifies as low quality bait threads.
  • Leos getting a high grade: Leos are the main cannon fodder grunts from Gundam Wing, a high grade gunpla kit is the most demanded kit from the gunpla threads that seems unobtainable. There is also one guy that likes Thielva from Gundam Age, but nobody takes him seriously.
  • Super Robot Wars Boob: A old joke name form the DS video game Super Robot Wars L since most of the anime in the crossover game were ecchi (meaning heavily perverted).
  • Sho Hayami: The /m/ (and possibly Japanese in general) equivalent to Steve Blum. He voices robots, manly men, and manly robots. Even when he's playing a nerd like Max from Macross his lines are loaded with testosterone. /m/ almost never gives a fuck about seiryuufagging (voice actor fanboying), they make an exception for him.
  • Real Robot and Super Robot: Because not all machines are equal this term helps separate aspects of mecha culture. Real robots are anything that looks like they came out of BattleTech or non-psyker robots in 40k, generally produced by a military or are so basic/ground in realism they have a perception of being realistic. Super robots are the exact opposite, usually bigger with more flashy weapons/powers and hold the monopoly on dividing into smaller robots, magical properties, or transforming into something other than vehicles. Some mecha shows have a debatable real or super status because of technicalities/meshing aspects from both (Dancouga and its remake Dancouga Nova, Dai-Guard, Tetsujin 28, Dunbine, Evangelion, Escaflowne, Nobunaga The Fool, Comet Lucifer, Gargantia, Eureka Seven, etc).
  • /m/aaya Honey: A fan nickname for Cutey Honey Universe due to this version of Honey voiced by Maaya Sakamoto aka the female equivalent to Sho Hayami.
  • Monsha Posting: A minor meme in 2018 that involves posting a smug face of the Gundam 0083 character Monsha, usually accompanied by the poster proclaiming something is not /m/. Could be serious, could be a joke, but is likely the latter.

/m/ Essentials

Want to get into /m/ culture but have no idea where to start? Here's a beginners guide. Short answer: Any anime that appeared in Super Robot Wars, preferably from the Alpha and Z games. Long answer: Check out several sub genres, the most common lead ins being listed with similar titles you can watch if you end up enjoying them.

  • Any anime created by Go Nagai. Literally, any, does not matter if it is subbed or not. Mazinger and Getter Robo are the most talked about though. God Mazinger had production issues so expect that to be the black sheep of the bunch.
  • Gundam, Universal Century entries are the most recommended, but if you watch at least four shows and at least one movie you're good to go, just don't fall for memes. Just note that every entry has fans and opponents, just because you don't see a faction does not mean they do not exist.
  • Armored Trooper VOTOMS, 80s vintage cheese, manly as fuck, and plenty of hard science. Other similar anime include SPT Layzner, Metal Armor Dragonar, Heavy Metal L-Gaim, Panzer World Galient, and the Appleseed franchise.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion, for the more artistic folks or those that like mysterious settings. Other similar anime include Big O, RahXephon, De:Vasady, Zegapain, the Eureka Seven franchise, Betterman, Argento Soma, and Star Driver.
  • Hades Project Zeorymer, the most essential for /m/ OVAs with short episode lengths. Other similar anime include MegaZone 23, DanGaiOh, the Iczer trilogy, Madox 01, and MD Geist 1 and 2.
  • The Vision of Escaflowne, most prolific fantasy mecha anime out there. Other similar anime include Aura Battler Dunbine, Nobunaga The Fool, Ryu Knight, the Aquarion trilogy, Comet Lucifer, and Brave Raideen.
  • Gravion, manly and Obari as fuck! Just a warning: Not for the faint of heart, Klein Sandman confirmed for fabulous justice. Other similar anime include Godannar!! (because one exclamation point is not manly enough), Linebarrels of Iron, Viper's Creed, Majestic Prince, Combat Mecha Xabungle, Great Dandaioh, Dai-Guard, and Daitarn 3. Super Robot Wars Original Generation: The Inspector is recommended only for the manliest of men (or if you've done a lot of homework and want a celebration of the genre).
  • Gunbuster and its sequel Diebuster, loaded with space adventure and action (when it gets around to it). Other similar anime include Space Runaway Ideon, Heroic Age, Martian Successor Nadesico, Vandread, God Mars, Angel Links, the Macross franchise, and Galaxy Whirlwind Braiger (which has been compared to Cowboy Bebop).
  • The King of Braves GaoGaiGar and its finale FINAL, kid friendly version of manly and fitting for those that grew up with TransFormers. Other similar anime include other entries in the Yuusha franchise, Zoids, and Gear Fighter Dendoh.
  • Zambot 3, classic super robot cheese with darkness. Other similar anime include MOSPEADA, Dancouga, Orguss, Steel Jeeg, the Robot Romance trilogy (consisting of Combattler V, Voltes V, Daimos, and as a fourth spiritual member Daltanious), and Space Warrior Baldios (Beware: It's the darkest anime mentioned here).
  • Neo Human Casshern, the original 70s version, it will give you a solid feel of how /m/ likes their tokusatsu and "small" mecha anime. Other similar anime include both the original Tekkaman and its remake Tekkaman Blade, Hurricane Polymar, Samurai Flamenco, Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos (beware the atrocious subtitles), the Guyver franchise, Overman King Gainer, and Raideen The Superior. Concrete Revolutio also gets mentioned, but there is a steep divide as to whether or not it is a cultural artifact or a tremendous mess (the first half especially), proceed with caution if you decide to try it.
  • Code Geass, a good entry point for those that like genre mixing with their mecha with science babble and ridiculous twists. Other similar anime include Full Metal Panic!, Cross Ange, Blue Gender, Giant Gorg, the Fafner franchise, Buddy Complex, Heavy Object, and Unit Pandora.
  • Gargantia, an extremely atypical mecha story the focuses more on world building, but have lots of mecha elements. Other similar anime include M3: The Dark Metal, Aldnoah.Zero, Neo Ranga, Blue Submarine No 6, Heroman, and Lagrane: The Flower of Rin-ne. Dancouga Nova gets special mention because the tone shifts rapidly from real robot to super robot setting which is extremely rare.
  • Megas XLR, the most praised western cartoon on /m/ for being choke-full of robot action, comedy, monsters, and other /m/ minutia. Other similar cartoons include the TransFormers franchise, the Voltron franchise, Hulk and The Agents of SMASH, Exosquad, Sym-Bionic Titan, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, and Heavy Gear are all western cartoons featuring giant robots.
  • Legend of the Galactic Heroes, the long running 100+ episode space opera is highly praised on /m/. While not strictly a mecha show, it gets the Science Fiction pass. Other space opera shows mentioned favorably on /m/ include Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (which recently appeared in SRW V in it's 2199 incarnation), Captain Harlock, Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars, Outlaw Star, and Vandread.

For the war gamin' crowd

While the listings above would help most people looking to get into the genre, war gamers understandably may want something more in their element. The following mecha titles deal with at least one of the following: Real robots, mechs that come off production lines, heavy use of military strategy and/or vehicles (tanks, choppers, jets, mobile projectile launchers, submarines, battleships, etc.), very detailed in the fictional science department, or would be easy to integrate with homebrew wargaming. Dougram, VOTOMS, and Macross are not listed because those were the big three anime franchises that inspired BattleTech; Gundam is so huge it deserves its own page.

  • Ideon: The antagonist faction uses a fuck load of ships with some ground vehicles and basic mech variety, Earth forces also have some futuristic vehicles for self defense. Downsides include an absurdly overpowered titular mecha, most mecha are 100 meter range yet have paper armor like reverse AT-ATs, and if you didn't like Starkiller Base from The Force Awakens you might be turned off by the final battle.
  • Xabungle: Every mecha counts as a real robot and deals almost entirely with mercenaries, vehicles are limited to hovercrafts and land ships (as in giant boats on land). Downsides include factions being gang levels of small for the most part and it breaks the fourth wall every few episodes, definitely not for nit and gritty.
  • Acrobunch: The antagonist faction has smaller clans to give it diversity which includes their mecha, mecha aside from the titular Acrobunch are real robots that consist of grunts and a commander, and the Earth forces use a variety of vehicles and actually pose a threat. Downsides include an ending that makes Evangelion look sane and one of the commander mecha got destroyed by simply being knocked over. That is not a joke.
  • Dunbine: Very real robot-y with lots of neutral giant monsters that serve as random hazards, medieval themed, political thrills, advancements in technology, and has useful vehicles. Downsides include mecha being absurdly overpowered when out of their setting thanks to their Aura Barriers (so overpowered even one basic mooks can level cities like Las Vegas and tank conventional weapons) and melee focus may turn off those that favor long range weapons.
  • Orguss: Transforming flying robots with basic designs that focus on projectiles and ancient robots that hate humans later come into play. Downsides include the titular mecha is a little overpowering, the setting can turn off people that prefer more realistic scenarios, and the sequel heavily favors super robots until the titular mech goes into action.
  • L-Gaim: Heavy on world building, variety in mechs, weapons, and vehicles, and the titular mecha is not overpowered. Downsides include designs that are more pulp fiction heavy rather than realistic despite being a real robot series, vehicles are hardly given any respect, and the main villain may put off those wanting realistic world building.
  • Patlabor: Police mecha that stop construction worker mecha from doing crimes with military mecha sometimes attacking; all mechs being fairly realistic. Downsides include a lot of comedy that can be hit or miss and a lot of random monsters in an otherwise realistic setting, one of them even being the main antagonist of the third movie.
  • Dragonar: Basically an early Gundam series without newtypes, lots of space combat and reasonable mech variety. Downsides include very few vehicles outside of super weapons and can be more heavy with comedy than early Gundam.
  • Nadesico: Earth and Mars against colonies from Jupiter's moons, heavy focus on ship to ship combat, basic mech designs, and strategies are frequent. Downsides include the second antagonist faction in the movie being a bit too small, the first antagonist faction uses super robot designs which can turn people off, and the idea of boson particles allowing for force fields and teleporting during combat may come across as unnecessary.
  • Full Metal Panic!: Lots of mechs that are mostly realistic, focus on mercenaries, lots of variable weapons and equipment, strategy is heavily used, and actuall has underwater combat. Downsides include black box technology (mostly the Lambda Driver) is a bit unrealistic and until season 4 it heavily mingles high school life with military aspects.
  • Code Geass: Mecha variety, strategy is heavily used in most fights, and there are several nation factions. Downsides include color coating may get on the nerves of others, very heavy on melee combat over long range weaponry, and /m/ has been divided with the fights once flying capabilities were included.
  • Viper's Creed: Basic mercenaries versus rogue AI, realistic motorcycle mecha against bug mecha, and strategies are used. Also /m/ complains about the lack of rule 34. Downsides include a lack of variety in mecha and factions and it is more cyberpunk than military themed.
  • M3: The Dark Metal: Basic transformable robots with lots of world building and is respectable toward mecha that are not used by the main character. Downsides include being more of a horror series featuring real robots versus monsters, science is played loosely, and a lack of faction variety.
  • Buddy Complex: Same as Dragonar, an offbrand Gundam series without newtypes with mecha variety and lots of world building. Downsides include color coating can be off putting and uses time travel which can confuse people.
  • Aldnoah.Zero: Heavy on strategies, features real robots versus super robots, and heavy on the fictional science. Downsides include the main character might come across as too smart and vehicles hardly get any respect.
  • Heavy Object: Basic shapes as mecha rather than humanoids, acting more as mobile fortresses, and features lots of world building and is heavy on fictional science. Downsides include most of the focus being two goofballs sabotaging mechs rather than mech fights and vehicles are hardly used.
  • Active Raid: This is a joke, Active Raid is awful.
  • Unit Pandora: Transformable robots that fight cyborg animals and loaded with Warhammer homages. Enough said.
  • The Cost of Smiles: Real robots limited to only a handful of types, main upgrades involve thrusters, landships are present and environments come heavy into play. Downsides include the first episode does not reflect the rest of the series and minor mecha variety gives it less depth than most real robot anime.

Non-/m/ stuff /m/ likes

Believe it or not most /m/en have non-/m/ interests. Most of these that come up are big Hollywood blockbusters to remind them what American special effects look like. General rule of thumb: If Rotten Tomatoes hates it someone on /m/ will counter them. Give them enough time and they can theoretically completely counter something like the Plinkett reviews of the Star Wars prequels (which has been done). Most of these movies are either the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a creature feature, and one of those special effects heavy movies that come out in February (the remake of Clash of The Titans, Jupiter Ascending, Gods of Egypt, The Great Wall, you can tell they find Rotten Tomatoes exceptionally cringy). Other movies /m/ enjoys are Syfy Channel originals and Asylum mockbuster titles since they echo a low budget charm similar to tokusatsu complete with various types of monsters. /m/ also favors pulpy 20th century comics, mostly the non-politically correct ones because they go for whacky ass sci-fi elements. In terms of television, surprisingly /m/ has a high tolerance for reality TV such as Hell's Kitchen, Hardcore Pawn, Storage Wars, and even Mystery Diners. Of all the stand up comedians, Carlos Mencia gets the most mention, possibly some correlation with Mazinger shows getting broadcasted in Spanish countries or because stomachs raunchy humor, but nobody ever bothered asking why. Non-/m/ video games are never really mentioned, the closest that gets mention is the Sly Cooper franchise which even then has robots and vehicles as well as connections to Jak and Daxtar and Ratchet and Clank which are both heavily /m/. As for anime...

  • Jin-Roh, a high budget animated movie that is considered honorary /m/ despite minimal mechanical elements. Other similar anime include Nausicaa in The Valley of The Wind, Castle in The Sky, the Twin Angel franchise, Witchcraft Works, Hell Target, E.Y.E.S. of Mars, Akira, Straight Jacket, Trigun, Riding Bean, Gunsmith Cats, Najica Blitz Tactics, Scrapped Princess, and Nadia: Secret of The Blue Water. Inukami! could be considered in this category since legendary voice actor Sho Hayami is in it, but it appeals to haremfags, furries, and Nanoha fans so proceed with caution if you try it.

In a Fantasy Perspective

While usually grounded in science fiction, /m/ can fit into fantasy settings although while normal boards have enough to be Hive Fleet sized they're more akin to Genestealer Cults in sense of scope. Aside from standard steampunk machines and automatons, /m/ can be seen as having an elemental affinity to Earth: rich in resources, sturdy, made up of different things, and when they get pissed everything gets fucked over like an earthquake. In terms of standard fantasy archetypes they can easily be seen as dwarfs or mercenaries (why not both?).

Gallery

  • Aquaion Logos aka The Emperor of Man as interpreted by /m/.

    Aquaion Logos aka The Emperor of Man as interpreted by /m/.

  • Keroro Gunso aka The best gunpla builder known to /m/ankind.

    Keroro Gunso aka The best gunpla builder known to /m/ankind.

See Also

External Links

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