Editing Mecha

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''Not to be confused with [[Macha]].''

Mecha are typically GIANT ROBOTS normally operated by bags of flesh. Thought to have originated in Greek myth with Talos, but it's the Japanese that revitalized the concept. They needed something to fight off Godzilla and company.

They come in two types: Real Robot and Super Robot. Where "Real" involves mechs which are ostensibly realistic in operation, (see [[Battletech]], Mechwarrior) "Super" are built to kick reason to the curb and do the impossible. The super type predates the real type by about 10 years or so, first popularized by Go Nagai's manga, ''Mazinger Z'' in the early '70s, whereas the Real variety has its roots in the now-prolific Gundam franchise, which started at the dawn of the '80s.

This topic can be further discussed at [[/m/]].

Usually seen in the following sizes:
* Power Armour. This fits over the body of the pilot. Size dependent on the species of whoever's wearing it.
* Small. About the size of a car or SUV. Appleseed presents these nicely. [[Warmachine]] warjacks usually scale into about this size. Also see [[Dreadnought|Dreadnoughts]]
* Medium. About the size of a smaller building (15 to 25 meters). See generic Gundam or Macross mechs. ASs from Full Metal Panic and [[Warmachine]] warjacks can be this big. A Reaver Titan fits into the higher end of this category.
* Large. Size of a 20 story building. Think Eva Units from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Jaegers from Pacific Rim.
* Huge. Stuff north of 200 meters and rising. [[Titan|The largest Titans]] fit the bill nicely. Also the three tallest experimental units in Supreme Commander or Battle Macross (~1200 meters) which dwarf both Titans or any real man-made structures. Protoculture is a hell of a drug.
* XBOX HUEG. Anything larger than Huge would go here. From moon-sized to the size where you can toss planets and and even galaxies with ease. Examples includes, Getter Emperor (which is evolution incarnate) of Getter Robo, Unicron from the Transformers, Mata-Nui from Bionicle, and the titular Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (<s>It actually is about the size of our sun. The misconception comes from the fact that the final battle was happening in super spiral universe, where everything is powered by emotions. So basically if the heroes thought that this battle would decide the fate of entire galaxies, they fought on galaxies. The size of mecha is proved when antispiral mecha is shown to have an earth sized planet on it's head which could not be seen if mechas were truly galaxy-sized</s> The databooks have confirmed it's size to be 10 million light years tall, one hundred times the size of the Milky Way).

Then there are various sub-types:
* Mechanized. Typical giant robot made from [[METAL BOXES|metal]].
* Flesh. They are usually called "bio mecha" and are made of fleshy bits. See Eureka 7 or Neon Genesis Evangelion. Or early Attack on Titan, but it became shit after blatantly ripping off Code Geass at the very end. Not [[Tyranid]] Bio-titans, however, due to lack of pilots.
* Will powered. Mechs powered by raw fighting or other such fiery emotion. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is the go-to example. Sometimes present in Code Geass. Some Gundams, especially those with Pychoframes. Could theoretically fit the bill for [[Eldar]] Titans and Wraithlords, and on the same note Warjacks. This type is more often implied than directly stated. More likely to be of the super variety.
* Combiners. These mechs are composed of various other mechs. See Power Rangers and Voltron. See ALSO GaoGaiGar. Also more likely to be of the super variety.
* Transformers. Mechs that have two or more forms they can switch between. See Macross and (durr) <s>Transformers</s> [Transformers are sentient robots, not mecha. They have passengers, not pilots.] for examples. Can be of either the super variety or the real variety.
*Syd Mead. TURN A. GUNDAM.

== A dying genre in Japan, yet still thriving in the west ==
As you can see, from Battletech to Transformers. Most of these franchises are mainly from the west. Even long running Japanese franchises like Gundam and Super Robot Wars rely on the western fanbase to recoup their costs in the west. "But 1d4chan", you say, "what about,,,,,", yeah stop right there. The genre is all but dead on the Asian side of the Pacific. With only the big franchises Super Sentai(the show butchered into Power Rangers) and Gundam earning any profits within Japan at all (the former due to popularity with kids despite several seasonal flops, sometimes two in row, while anything Gundam hardly comes cheap). Even the most recent as of when this article was made, Voltron: Legendary Defender, primarily focuses their attention on the western side of the fandom.

There a few reasons for this. (Mostly male) Japanese Otaku's tastes have dumbed down since the 2010s, turning away not only from mecha but science fiction all together. As they prefer fantasy, slice of life, and waifus over sci-fi and anything else that reminds them of reality. 

In short, Japanese Mecha is dying because it has nothing that appeals to the current generation of Japanese Otaku:
*No waifus.  
*Sci-fi protags who aren’t 10 year old school girls.
*No high school.
*No isekai 
*No swords. 
*No flashy Shounen style combat
*Not enough sexualization 
*No children to sexualize (aka doesn't cater to lolicons/pedophiles)
*TLDR: Japanese Otaku are morons with tastes that range from basic to lower than shit. 

There have been efforts to try and get the female side of the anime fandom interested in mecha by adding a few pretty boys into the cast like Gundam Wing/IBO or focusing on romance instead, but most of these efforts outside of the major franchises have failed.(Eureka 7 is only success in the latter.) Resulting in flops. So Japanese companies have given up trying to hook women into the genre. For the foreseeable future, the western fandom is pretty much the ones holding the Mecha genre up on their own. The only reliable source of revenue for most mecha franchise IP’s now are plastic model kits. Even then, that’s also not an exclusively market either due to model building of characters also taking off and subsuming some established players like Gunpla (plastic Gundam models) producers.

== Mecha Games ==
Mecha in tabletop games are usually implemented as vehicles with fluff about arms and legs. A reskin of Steve Jackson's [[Ogre (Wargame)|Ogre]] describes it as a giant robot, but the rules are no different than when it was a giant tank. Some games have the fluff baked-in so strongly it's hard to think of their mecha as mere tanks-with-arms.

* [[Battletech]] by [[FASA]] (now by [[Catalyst Game Labs]]) , the ur-example of tabletop giant robot wargaming.
* [[Robotech]] RPG by [[Palladium Books]]. Famous for introducing the idea of MDC, hit-points used only by mecha that are different from the SDC hit-points used by people, and having handguns(!) that could switch between SDC/MDC. Palladium lost the rights to Robotech which means the license has now been handed out to two different companies starting in Summer 2019.
* [[Rifts]] also by Palladium. Okay, so Rifts is a little bit of everything, and that includes Giant Robots and Power Armor. Nearly every major setting has some kind of mecha, with certain books being shameless mecha showcases. 
* [[Mechaton]] by [[Vincent Baker]]. Build unwieldy monstrosities out of LEGO blocks, pit them against each other.
* [[Mekton]] by [[R. Talsorian]]. Absolutely <s>batshit</s> [[Awesome|awesome]] RPG that goes all the way up to Demonbane levels of crazy.
* [[Gundam Senki]] by [[T.O.Y International Inc/Aspect]]. It uses a licensed version of the [[Mekton]] Zeta system with some modifications, namely with suit stats. Released in Japan in 2000, it has not been officially translated to English and remains in limbo, however fan translations do exist.
* [[Heavy Gear]] by [[Dream Pod 9]]. They're supposed to be exosuits, but might as well be midget-mecha.
* [[Jovian Chronicles]] also by [[Dream Pod 9]]. Where Heavy Gear operates more like the anime VOTOMS, Jovian Chronicles is their attempt at Gundam (specifically Zeta Gundam). Was originally a Mekton setting.
* [[Gear Krieg]] again, by [[Dream Pod 9]]. A [[Weird Wars]] game where modular tigers and shermans with legs battle and pulp is forever.
* [[Gamma Wolves]] by [[Osprey Games]]. A post apocalyptic Earth sees "frames" of various look and make duke it out for whatever garbage they can get their smelly, irradiated hands on.    
* [[Battle Century G]] by Gimmick Man. Tabletop RPG that focuses on cinematic feel with a tension gauge, which gives everyone bonuses to offense, essentially turning the game into rocket tag as the fight goes on. 
* [[Strike Legion]] includes frames as part of its quest to be every soft science fiction cliche at once.
* [[Lancer]] by Massif Press. The sorts of mechs you make are quite bizarre in both form and function, but the setting gives a feel more in line with Titanfall.