The Motorpool: MECHA

Mecha. One of the most iconic futuristic war-machines in popular media for the last four decades, and one of the major foundations of Japanese Anime. Since the mid-1970's, Anime featuring the giant piloted robots has been imported to America, injecting the imaginations of viewers, including me, with futuristic battlefields populated with mecha, and helping form such spinoffs of the Japanese giant robots, like Battletech and Exosquad. Mecha has expanded pass the days of cheap models and badly dubbed cartoons dumbed down for American audiences, to become featured in American movies, like the upcoming Pacific Rim. For me, Mecha has been a lifetime investment in imagination and has lit up dreams since watching the first Gundam Anime series and of course, ROBOTECH. So, here it is, the mega-blogpost on mecha, the history, examples, and of course, the reality of using these humanoid war-machines on future battlefields. This blogpost will most concerning the larger examples of combatmecha, like those featured in ROBOTECH, Battletech,and Mobile Suit Gundam.

What is Mecha? What is the difference between Mecha and Armored Power Suits?

Mecha or "meka" (メカ) is the Japanses world for Mechanical, and is a board term for all manner of vaguely humanoid robotic devices, which encompassed everything from automotive robotic workers, to Honda's Asimo, to the giant robotic war-machines popular in Battletech, Transformers, and ROBOTECH. But when it comes to cataloging Mecha in the wider scope of futuristic war-machines, we can place the word 'mecha' more in the vain of bipedal or even hexapod piloted war-machines that are much larger than the human crews that control them, think more along the lines of modern main battle tank on legs. Often the word mecha and armored power suit are mixed up and used interchangeable. To work out the differences, I've made up three classes of these types of futuristic battle armor:

• CLASS-I: The Armored Power Suit, close to the body of the wearer, think Iron Man
• CLASS-II: This is the in between class of humanoid battle armor, think Avatar AMP suit
• CLASS-III: The full on humanoid 'giant robot' mecha, think Gundam or Battletech     

The Wide Range of Mecha Designs
For the most part, this blogpost is considering the giant humanoid robot type mecha that roam the battlefield like jolly Green Giants with guns, which is the standard of classic mecha of manga and anime. However, as seen in ROBOTECH, Battletech, and other works, mecha can be all shapes and sizes. From the the nearly-organic shaped fuchikoma of the Ghost in the Shell, to the spider-walking-tank variety. So, why the wide range of mecha designs? Since battlemecha are not real...yet...writers of manga and anime attempt to set themselves apart from the vast array of giant robot works that flooded the market in the 1980's.
A unique design was one way of setting your anime/manga, and increasing the sales of your plastic model for years, or getting your name out there as an artist. Rare is the world of military mecha is those based on the same design principles as designers created a new armored vehicle or attack jet fighter. One of the few designs put through the ringer was the AMP suit from AVATAR. According to research, it seems that James Cameron designed more of the most realistic APS/Mecha seen in any type of media.


The Brief History of Mecha\

There have been legends from the Greeks and the Indian cultures of metallic warriors, but nothing as concrete as what came to fashion the beginnings of mecha. In 1880, the legendary Jules Verne wrote, what now would be concerted streampunk, a book called The Stream House. This book featured a controllable stream-powered robotic elephant. It is more likely the much better known 1898 War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and its Martian tripod piloted war-machines forged the the beginning of mecha in the popular culture, certainly leading to the metal-machine-aliens popular in the 50's and 60's.

When researching this blogpost, I pulled out some of my old anime books from the 1980's, several of them, including Mobile Suit Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, cited not War of the Worlds, but the founding classic of MSF, 1959's Starship Troopers for the invention of mecha as a manned war-machine.
The manned military robotic humanoids from Japan we know and love today it is believed started in 1956 with the Japanese anime series Iron Man #28 as known as Gigantor here in the states. How could we forget the another grandfather of mecha than came to us in 1974: Mechagodzilla! Unlike Mechagodzilla, the 1972 anime series Mazinger Z, where unlike previous Japanese series, the robot was not controlled by a small boy via remote control or were some type of metal monster, but inside the robot, like a tank or aircraft. Some of the mecha from this series made it here via the Mattel Toys Shogun Warriors line, that also mixed the mecha from another series, Getter Robot. That 1974 series is credit with origin of the smaller-robots-combining-to-form-a-super-robot phenomena. Some of these early giant-robot-defending-the-earth series were package together under the title of Force Five, and aired on a few stations around the US, one of them was in Dallas, where I was able to first start watching mecha anime.

What would real push mecha into the military machines we know was the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam. These series displayed a more realistic space war between two human government during space colonization, and had the main character and mecha placed firmly into the ranks of a future military organization. It is hard to overstate the importance of Mobile Suit Gundam, because it took the mecha into space within a believable military organization and forged an iconic standard that allowed other anime/manga creators to work from. One of the first series to use this new template was the 1981 mecha 75 epsiode series, Fang of the Sung Dougram. With the success of mecha on TV and as a line of toys/models, allowed Japanese companies to develop mecha intense shows, including Macross and Armorer Trooper Votoms, and also created the exporting market to the US. Gundam coupled with Star Wars, fueled the giant robot boom of the 1980's, where hobby and comic book stores began selling Japanese mecha toys and models, and caused Harmony Gold to air their re-dub of three separate anime series in to ROBOTECH in 1985, filling my life with overwhelming joy.

Much like Mobile Suit Gundam but to a greater extent, ROBOTECH forged new mecha fans, and created demand for mecha toys, comic books, and TV shows. Seeing the money in mecha, American companies leapt onto the bandwargon and put out cartoon series and toylines like Robotix, the Revell Robotech Defenders model and comic line, the Mighty Orbots and re-dubed Voltron: Defenders of the Universe. But none was more famous than Transformers. All of this added up to an explosion that rippled throughout the 1980's, however, Japanese mecha products fell on hard times both here in the states and in Japan. What saved mecha from going out here in America was the invention of Battletech,original called Battledriod, that combined lifted mecha designs from ROBOTECH, the Fang of the Sun Dougam, and some sites claim Crusher Joe. 

Younger readers may not realize that when Battletech came along, there was no real outlet for us that watched ROBOTECH, there was no computer or console game to wage computerized mech combat. Battletech's success allowed mecha and its fans to have an outlet for their geekdom, and spawned American creations, Exosquad in 1993, and even their own animated series in 1994. While the Japanese series were less common in the States, the Japanese would depoly one of the most sucessful mecha anime of all time in 1995, the Neon Genesis Evangelion. According to some sites, Evangelion, re-energized the giant robot genre in Japan, spurring new series development. One of the more exciting developments in the history of mecha has been the invention of CGI SFX which has finally given us some badass live-action mecha in major Hollywood films like Avatar and Matrix. With the continued progress of of CGI SFX, we can expect the to more complex and realistic mecha coming out. The future is bright my friends... 

The Advantages of Mecha

-Fear

Ancient lore often contains stories of giants that roam the earth, from the Nephillim, the Titans, to the Jotun, and all of these were forces to be dealt with. The reason for these myths to use giants is the common human fear of anything larger than us. Look at the scary deep sea creatures, the Loch Ness Monster, the Great White Shark, and the Giant Squid. One of the effects of fielding combat mecha, would be fear, causing infantry and civilians to abandon their positions, flooding the local area with running troops and civilians, bogging down any armed response. After all, if I saw an Atlas mech head my way on the battlefield, I would run away before I pissed myself.

-Highly Mobile Weapon Platform

If we take the examples from popular mecha, thee things would be loaded to bear with all manner of weapon systems. From Gauss cannons, machine guns, lasers, and scores of missiles to deal death to anyone unlucky enough to get in their path.Plus, given some of the other positive aspects of having a bipedal walking tank would allow for that firepower to be used in terrain and conditions inaccessible to a tank.

-Maneuverability 

The biological human form was developed over millions of years of evolution on this world for concrete reason rooted in natural selection, and could one of the best reasons to base the combat mecha on the humanoid shape. Plus, it allows users of the mecha to be more familiar with the movement of such a power and giant machine if it was model after a system you have been using your entire life. This allows the mech to more intuitive than a tank or a helicopter for moving around the battlefield.     

-Interactive Ability 

Given the humanoid form of most mecha, and even some of the more insect-like war-machines, especially the fuchikoma there is a greater degree of the machine's ability to interact with its locate environment. I came up with this positive of classic mecha design when watching the second episode of  ROBOTECH: Macross, when Rick Hunter uses the VF-1 hand in gerwalker model to rescue Lynn Minmay (really wished he hadn't done that). If you think about, a tank, APC, or even a Humvee, cannot use arms to load gear, help get itself unstuck, or grab a wounded soldiers from in the line of fire, but a humanoid mech can.







-Terrain/Environmental Adaptation

While researching this topic, I am across a few forums discussing one of the major positives of combat mecha would its ability to adapt to changing terrain and/or environmental conditions more readily than a tank. If we examine the conflicts in Afghanistan. Vietnam, and Iraq, most armored vehicles were barred from widespread deployment. In Vietnam and A-Stan it was due to the bad conditions, where it was the lack of roads and jungles in the 'Nam, it was the mountains, hills, bad roads in Afghanistan.

While most of the pool-table terrain of the deserts of Iraq lend itself to mechanized warfare, cities like Baghdad were difficult to maneuver for the M1 Abrams down the clogged and narrow roads, then there was the IEDs. Specially designed mechs in various leg configurations could traverse difficult terrain, allowing for mechs to use their firepower for close fire support. As seen in ROBOTECH and Citytech, mecha could use building and other urban terrain features closer to foot soldiers to wage war in manner very different from armored vehicles.  I just hope future engineers figure out stair climbing mastery for mechs.

The Disadvantages of Mecha

-The Legs

Any mecha has one big weakness, the legs...the Ewoks taught us that. Mechs are only as strong as their joint/leg armor, and one good clean shot could bring down billions of high-tech military hardware. Some websites content that designers would reinforce the leg armor to the point of being virtually impervious to most anything, or that the legs would be too difficult to hit in a real engagement. I call bullshit on all of that. I was trained in Jeet Kune Do, and my sifu taught me that no matter how hard you pump iron at the gym, you knee is going to buckle if I use my sidekick, and the same is true of a battlemech. An infantryman with a Gauss gun or portable railgun could play the role of an anti-mecha sniper, target the knee joints and take down the badass mech by shredding the leg systems.

-Maintenance

Real-world mecha similar to ones seen Battletech or the Knightmare Frames, would require a complete technical team to keep these gods of war in the field. Combat mecha would require similar maintenance times equal to an modern attack fighter or tank, and similar facilities, only much larger. That could be a major issue with deployed mecha to off-world battlefields, one could hope that mecha repair facilities would be already on-site, or the dropship itself, like the Battletech examples, would be the repair facilities.Even to refit and reloaded the mecha would require specialized scaffolding and power equipment. For example, the three-barreled GU-11 55mm cannon used on the ROBOTECH Veritech fighter would be similar in weight to the A-10 Warthog's GAU-8 cannon, about 690 lbs, which requires special equipment to off-load it to perform maintenance and reload.

Few series devoted time or energy to show this side of a war with mecha. During the writing of my own MSF novel, Endangered Species, I made the tech crew important and valuable part of the story, because while all of the glory goes to the wild-haired pilots, the true heroes of the mecha would be the techs. Some minor repairs Given the advancements in nanotechnology, I would think that most mecha would sport something like our own lymphatic system, where a flow of nano-machines are circulating at all times to perform basic repair functions.

-Limits of Robotic Technology

As it was said in BLADE RUNNER, reaction time is a factor, no more so than during combat. Modern robotics has come along way since the 1980's wheeled robots I saw at Tulsa Radio Shacks, today we have robots like Honda's ASIMO that are venturing closer to the vision of Isaac Asimov. But could the movements of a giant robotic combat armor react quick enough to survive on a battlefield?  Could future scientists and engineers develop technology to allow for mecha capable of lightning fast reacts and kung-fu?
The best example of bipedal robotics is of course, Honda's ASIMO, which took engineers 20 years to get the bipedal locomotion and balance right to allow ASIMO to walk. Giant 60 foot tall mecha would even more complex in terms of balance and synchronizing the various hardware and software systems to perform, and preventing the damn thing from falling down.

While unmanned ground vehicles are about to take their place along side combat infantry in both defensive and offensive operations, they are mostly controlled and wheeled. Some robotic workers, like those in automotive plants have the react time to wield while chassis are moved along, but those are under specific conditions and designed for specific tasks. What I worry about with mecha, is that human input commands, even from a neuro-interface, would not translate quick enough to allow for combat-rated mecha, especially the ones seen in ROBOTECH or Battletech, where these war-machines are controlled more like a vehicle and not a armored suit.

-Transportation to the Battlefield
When you look at the 1:1 Gundam statue in Japan, you see the issue with transporting these 60 foot war-machines to distant off-world battlefields. Then there is the issue of transporting the mecha from ship-to-shore, not to mention, getting back up to the FTL transport vessel when the fighting is over. These mech drop ship and/or recovery starlift vehicles would be massive, and expensive, just look at the Battletech universe use of massive spherical dropships to deploy and support mechwarriors. This is one of the many advantages that APS units have over the giant Class-3 battlearmor in a spacefaring military organisation. 


-Power Supply

Mechs similar to the ones featured in Battletech and Gundam are vast complex machines that would require massive amounts of energy to not only move on the battlefield, but also to fire next-generation DEW and KEW systems under battlefield conditions. Examining the current vehicles that would be proximate to the scale of 60ft mech would be along the lines of the Caterpillar Mining Truck and the M1 Abrams. Those metallic mining truck beasts run on a 3500 horsepower turbocharged diesel engine, and the M1 Abrams MBT uses a 1500 horsepower multi-fuel gas turbine engine that normally runs on military JP-8 fuel. So, could mech pilots fuel up their giant robots at the local Quicktrip with diesel? No, not on the scale of the classic battlemecha, those types of power systems are for the Class-1 and Class-2 battlearmor. Fossil fuels and fuel cells would not be able to supply the steer amount of energy needed to allow a Class-3 battlearmor to fight and run all of the systems, especially bipedal locomotion. What we are talking about is nuclear power, and since the Mr.Fusion units have not been developed, we are talking about mounting a fusion or even fission reactor inside a mech frame in the range of 30-60 feet. There two issues with that: weight and thermonuclear explosions.

Nuclear power was experimented with for use on aircraft and tanks, but it proved impractical due to the amount of weight, safety issues, and shielding needed to protect the crew. All of this added up to a nuclear airplane being too heavy to fly, not to mention if the damn thing fell out of the sky. Mecha would face the same issues, unless, future technology allows for micro cold fusion generators, Protoculture matrix, or even a Mr. Fusion. The simple addition of a nuclear reactor in the belly or groin of the battlemech would add enormous weight, not to mention the cooling systems, shielding, and armor to protect the fusion core for weapons fire. We also have to think about safety of the pilot, their squad of mecha around them, and the local surrounding. Can you imagine a nuclear explosion inside a urban combat zone if a mech was taken down? It could single-handed bring victory to the enemy, and wipe any hiding civilians in the city. Talk about a PR nightmare. Some websites I've checked out talk about using larger radioisotope thermoelectric generators, due to their usage in unmanned space exploration, like the currrent NASA Curiosity Mars Science laboratory rover. However, RTG have a limited power output, a few hundred watts, which would not work on a combat mecha.  

Powering a battlemecha the most critical stumbling blocking these war-machines being a reality.

-Size

 In the summer of 2009, to mark the 30th anniversary of Gundam, a 1:1 scale statue of the iconic RX-78-2  was constructed in Japan. This gave the best example of the real real-world scale of a 60 foot tall combat mecha. It is astounding how massive these combat machines would be. As I was writing this blogpost, I passed by downtown Fort Worth right off I-30, right near where I work, and I could not help but imagined the Gundam battlemecha stalking around the buildings of Fort Worth and Dallas, and it would quite easy to spot (and target) something of that size. Giant robotic war-machines would be easy spotted in most situations, after all, not all battles are going to occur in downtown Tokyo, especially in off-world colonies,where the mecha cannot take cover behind the nearest office building.
But would this size be a benefit to the military organization that fielded them or a hazard? This size would also make difficult to transport disabled  units back to a repair point or to cross over larger, deeper bodies of water, because as everyone knows, mecha don't swim, they sink. Personally, I do believe that the familiar armored power suits that are either close or slightly larger than the wearer will be the mecha fielded for future wars. They seems to make more sense that the giant robots of Anime/Manga, within a scienfic and military sense.

-Weight

Often not talked and frankly overlooked, is the steer bulk of these battlemecha, and how this would impact their performance on the battlefield and interaction in that environment. Real-world mecha that is 40-60 feet in height and weighting around 50-70 tons could be a danger to itself if it misjudged the ability for a bridge, raised highway, soft terrain to support its weight. If the mecha misjudged and became trapped, it would be target for everything in the region, not to mention the headache of digging out the mecha from its quagmire...and no Warn winch is rated for dragging out a mech.  


Transformable (Henshin) Mecha?

I was a kid during the heyday of the original Transformers cartoon/toy line, and yes, I had them, but I loved the Henshin mecha of ROBOTECH much more. During this time, brother and I attempted to build transforming mecha out of our Legos, which proved difficult, would it also prove difficult for a real-world combat battlemech? Impossible might be the better world for it. The issue for real-world transformable mecha is why and how. The complexity of having a massive object like a combat mech swap around its interior and exterior systems in a flow mechanical ballet that could be done on the battlefield during combat is mind-blowing. The needed joints, gears, computer control system, flexible components and body shell simply would be too much for a combat-rated vehicle. Just imagine the maintenance on something like that! If you watch some transformable mecha scenes in anime, they tend to happen in conditions were it seems gravity not long exists. A mech would have to supported and stable during the entire process, and free-falling while transforming from jet to walker would be suicide.

Then we come to the question of why? My thoughts is that some mecha, if we indeed built them, could have swrappable components, much like the omni-mechs from Battletech's clans. Where a few changes could allow a mech to handle different situations based on threat and/or terrain. When it comes to massive combat crewed robots morphing into tanks, cassette players, and jets, I'm not so sure. Cost would be one thing holding back that development, plus the added needless complexity of mechanics behind this process. Imagine a gear or motor breaking down during this transforming sequence...the pilot and mech would be completely screwed. When I played the PS2 game Battle Engine Aquila, I marveled at its beautiful design, and the simplicity of its switch from attack jet to walker, but then I thought about the pilot. Attack jet pilots are a rare breed, and the military spends millions and years to train them to fly those very expensive planes and it seems mecha would be the same process. If we were to have mecha that transformed from jet-to-tank, like the simple Land-to-Air Mech from Battletech, then those pilots would have to trained to perform both tasks, one as a pilot, another as a tank driver.
During research for this blogpost, I read forums were the possibility of transforming mecha was discussed, and the consensus was that it was pure fantasy, like mecha that runs on faith or built from Adam's rib.            

Organic Technology-based Mecha?

One possibility mentioned around the Internet for overcoming some of the technologically shortcoming mentioned above is the use of organic technology. This could fuse man and machine into a single, more coherent system, rather than pilot and machine, much like the Triolian Bioroids in ROBOTECH: the Masters or the angel fighting mecha from Evangelion were all based organic (techno-organic) technology. This use of biotechnology extends to the 2005 War of the Worlds tripods, the Striders from Half-Life 2, and the Bio-Armor suit from Guyver.

The issue is that real-world organic technology is still in its infancy, so I cannot comment if the technology would viable for combatmech construction. Evangelion triggered the more current crop of mecha anime, like Knightmare Frames from Code Geass, Broken Blade, Gun X Sword, and Rah Xephon seem to fashion their mecha more after organic designs than the previous classic series. FWS will discussing organic technology in more depth in the future.

Future Military Application of Mecha

According to most sources for the use of mecha on the future battlefield, it fits somewhere in the ranks of the gunship, main battle tank, and even mobile artillery platform, but how would a future military field these giant robots, or would they even bother?

Too many Sci-Fi creators and fans seem to operate under a false belief: these walking tanks are the end-all-be-all of futuristic combat. One element that sci-fi works that feature mecha-only seem to forgot about that most all exoplanets colonies would be similar to  LV-426, where the entire world has maybe one or two major colonial sites, not massive cities like Macross or Tokyo. This would cause these heavy mecha to need some sort mobility. After all, mecha would be slow crossing vast distances especially if the terrian changes radically, all while exposing themselves to enemy artillery and air power, increasing the chance of mechanic breakdown, and higher energy consumption.

It is unlikely that the massive war-machines would be used on the scale of the tank or APC or a gunship. It is more likely that the smaller cousin to the mech, the armored power suit, will appear on future off-world battlefields or even the walking-tank,similar to the Star Wars AT-TE. Simply put, the military, as a rule, does not set out to construct military machines bigger than they need to be. This is not some dick-measuring contest or the battlecruiser race of the early 1900's, the modern military set size requirements for for manufacturer, and making it bigger than someone else is not a requirement. It could be possible for a military or alien invasion force to use walking giant as a psychology weapon designed to scare the utter shit out of the civilian population, clearing the way for occupation. 

Killing Giants...Bring Down the Mech\

Way too many sci-fi works depict the battlemech has the ultimate in tool in future wars, and that anyone not in a mech, is fucked. Is this true? would mechs be the end-all-be-all of future wars? No. Everything has a weakness. Tanks were once thought to be the king of the modern battlefield. But, as we have seen, planted roadside bombs can and will take out their tracks, even if you just have axle grease, plastic explosives and socks.

The thin armor on top can be attacked, such as the Swedish BILL missile used to destroy MBTs.Even the big bad tripods from War of the Worlds were nothing without their fancy energy shielding. In future wars were mecha like what is seen in Battletech are deployed, we will see infantry-based heavy weapon systems, like the standard-issued big gun, portable missile systems, EMPs, and even computer attack-viruses that all will hunt the mech on the battlefield, especially dense urban terrain. One of the better examples of this tactic was when Kyle Reese was planting explosives on the tracked Hunter-Killer in the original Terminator film. Besides the infantry anti-mech hunting teams, future armies will deploy gunships, UAVs, and even armored vehicles especially outfitted for the task of kicking metallic ass. I can see mecha, especially the jolly green giant size, being the focus of a great deal of hostile attention, much like what was said about the main battle tank during the Cold War. Everything on the future war-zone will take a shot at the mech.

The Mecha Pilot

Japanese Anime is stuffed with wild haired male teenagers and equally young girls with flowing hair, both piloting these massive war-machines to defend Mother Earth one last time against an alien horde and looking damn cool while doing it. Sadly, this would not be the reality of these pilots if and when future armies deployed battlemech. First off, mechwarriors would not be some 16 year old high school student with non-reg hair. Sorry. Realistic mecha pilots would fall somewhere close to modern attack jet pilots, especially those that fly the A-10 Warthog. Due to the complexity of the battlemech controls and the amount of information flowing to the cockpit, the task seems suited to attack jet pilots, marking these types of soldiers more elite, highly trained, carefully selected, and more highly educated than what has been shown onscreen.
This would match up with the rarity of mecha in a realistic future military, due to the cost, complexity, and battlefield role of mecha, which would not be the standard offensive tool of any army, that would still belong to some sort of tank-like vehicle and/or the infantry, possible in APS gear.
Another issue that mech pilots would have to overcome is the "god-mode syndrome". Going into battle with a multi-ton, weapon-clad armored titan that can withstand all manner of punishment and is impervious to most small-arms instills a sense of superiority, even god-like ability to wage wreck and ruin on infantry and smaller vehicles. I originally read about this in the Citytech manual, where a battlemech goes chasing after some running infantry and runs smack into ambush.
Another element to the life of mecha pilot would be the way that they control their battlemech and receive data. Often mecha control systems parallel developments in current technology or what is in vogue. Back in the 1980's, most mecha was featured with isolated control rooms, packed with monitors, buttons, and a view-screen. This depicted battlemecha being more akin to a fighter with similar control systems, ROBOTECH and Battletech are good examples of this. By the 1990's, VR visors were more common, like in Ghost in the Shell that gave the pilot a 360 degree view inside along with HUD-like information all in La Forge style!  The more rare types of control systems are where the pilot and the machine are symbolically linked. The mere thought and/or nerve impulse inputs are used to control the war-machine, much like the ROBOTECH: Master Bioroids, and this can make the reaction time in these types of mecha very quick. One thing that anime and manga got right about mechwarriors...they would be cool.

How Much?!

It has been estimated that using current technology, a battlemech on the order of the 60 foot tall RX-78-2 from Gundam would be around $725 million dollars for the base model, and it would be able to do even close to the amazing feats of technology and combat seen in the series. $725 million....wow, better not wreck one.





Examples of Real-World Mecha

The John Deere/Plustech Oy "Timberjack" Walking Forest Machine 

One of the best examples of the mecha that we grow up with is this insect-looking vehicle, the Plustech Oy forest walker. This Finnish company developed an honest-to-Kobol walking pilot mecha around 1998. The key of the design was not to mimic Japanese mecha, but maneuverability over the conventional forestry equipment and less environmental impact. Since the development of the Forest-Walker occurred prior to internet as we know today, little digital information is available on why this vehicle was not developed for mass sale. Sadly, Plustech Oy was bought by John Deere and killed this little mechanical wonder. However, the prototype in resting in a forestry museum in Finland.


The Sakakibara Kikai "Kid-Walker" 
This little Japanese has manged to turn out two real-world mecha, one was the 2005 walker, and now they have the Kid Walker. This is more of a mecha rollerblader, the 'feet' have wheels that provide the basic locomotion. You can buy one for about $20,000, but the company envisions these being a rental for the end of the world...or something. Could be useful for a bully problems but not for childhood obesity.

The Kuratas KR01 from Suidobashi Heavy Industry

Life intimidating art should be the motto for the Kuratas KR01 four-wheeled, driveable mecha from Suidobashi Heavy Industry. At 13 feet tall and armed with twin Galting Airsoft cannons, the KR01 is just this side of the ED-209, and features a claw-like hand. The driver can control this mecha via a smartphone remotely or inside the chest cavity of the vehicle. There is no word on what SHI hopes to do with the KR01 besides make me drool, could this be a real-world crowd-control mecha armed with pepperball guns? There was a model in police livery at the perimeter event. The man behind the KR01 is a lifelong mecha fan, and previous forged a 1:1 statue of the VOTOM APS. Officially, the Kuratas is an art piece...with gun.Want one? You can have one in your choice of colors and options for $1.4 million please, in small bills...and no the sexy model in the helmet does not come with it. Pity.  

The BigDog from DARPA/JPI/Boston Dyanmics

While the mechs above are impressive, nothing compares to the BigDog, a joint project between DARPA/JPL/Boston Dynamics. It is simply amazing to watch this four-legged robot traverse rough terrain, and correct itself after being kicked.  The three foot long, 240lbs gas-powered BigDog is presently being explored by DARPA to be the prototype base platform for the Legged Squad Support System (LSSS). the final test of this system is a 20 mile trek with 400lbs being carryed and a 24 hour time limit.  The vision by the US Army is to use the LSSS in a role similar to the old MULE, a highly mobile, low-profile, cargo hauler that can keep up with the troops.


Video of BigDog's test run

Where the hell is my Mecha-fighting live-action Movie?

While Japanese anime and some western animation works were okay, geeks like me that grew-up with mecha want nothing more than to see these war-machines on the big screen. I've been asking since childhood, where the hell was my live-action Battletech film was?
There have a few Japanese live-action films that feature cheez-whiz level effects on mecha, namely the 1974 Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and the children's TV show, Giant Robo of the 1960's. When compared to the anime or manga, the live-action bordered on mockery and something fit for MST3K. The first really great mecha-like creation in mainstream filmes was in '86, when James Cameron put the mecha-like Power-Loader into ALIENS, and is just one more reason why ALIENS is one of the best movies of all time!

There have been a few serious attempts to bring fighting mech to the screen prior to widespread usage of CGI, Robot Jox and Gunhed are primary examples. I can remember renting Robot Jox in 1990, and expecting to see something closer to Battletech but received a work closer to the old Japanese monster movies. Robot Jox was set in a post-nuclear world were direct combat was forbidden between the two major political blocks, and instead they solved their issues with giant robot combat gladiator-style. That movie still gives me nightmares. Other movies in the style of Robot Jox would haunt us for most of the 1990's. Then came hope with the the more APS-styled APU in final two Matrix films, the AMP suit from Avatar and the Bunny Mech from 2011's Sucker Punch. The issue for me is that all of these films use mecha closer to Class-1 and Class-Two, none are the Class-Three that we are discussing here.  

There is hope for finally seeing a true giant robot mecha on the silver screen, Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Pacific Rim will feature massive mecha called Jaegers. It seems from what little information there is, these Jaegers were created to fight giant monsters, similar to the ones from Japanese films. I had hoped this would be a very film, but after seeing the scale of the mech, and the basic plot, I'm officially disappointed. Why are there few mainstream films that contain giant robots and trend more towards the armored power suit? My guess would be usability for the filmmaker to show the mech within the environment of the film and APS seem more believable to an audience. 60 foot robotic suits would have difficult to swallow in Avatar. So, I guess I will wait on the Battletech film awhile longer...sigh...

Where the hell is my Mecha-Fighting Simulator?!

Okay, I can accept that I'll never join the US Mecha Corps, use my badass 60ft metal killing giant to squish Taliban in Afghanistan, but where the hell is my mecha-fighting cockpit simulator?! There have been several attempts at bring mecha combat into the arcade setting over the years, and it is an odd twist of historical development, that the video-game generation (mine) coincides with giant-mecha anime/manga, fueling the market for these games to take my money. In 1990, Virtual World Entertainment with FASA, developed Battletech arcade centers where players mounted a mech via a VR cockpit, and battled sixteen other others hooked into these simulator pods. With the pace of computer technology, these mech-combat VR centers began to close in Japan, and die off in the states. One of these was in Dallas during the 90's, and I begged my parents to let me go and blow my money when we used come to Dallas from Oklahoma, but they always said no...tears.

During the late-90's and early-2000s, there was VR pod Mechwarrior game that was seen in the hellish Chuck E. Cheese centers and some arcades, there is little information on these, and I did play this game a few times, and was never impressed with it, especially once MechWarrior came out for Xbox.
The most recent examples of these mech combat VR-pods is the Kido Senshi Gundam: Senjo no Kizuna cockpit pod simulators in Japan and Hong Kong that is based on the Gundam universe, and is epic in its graphics and control. The other is here in the US, with the updated VR pod system from the 1990's Battletech centers, the Tesla II Battletech cockpit simulator pods. Virtual Worlds and MechCorps Entertainment put these VR simulator pods on tour to nerd/geek hotspots, like the Dallas's own anime Con, A-Kon, which I missed this year...my wife said no.

The closest we gamers ever got for our home-consoles was the 2002 Xbox Steel Battalion with it's uber-cool light-up 40 button, three pedaled $200 controller. I had visions of becoming Roy Fokker with this thing, but when this game came out back in the day, I had a small kid, a wife in college, and I was lucky enough to eat everyday.
By the way, you can rent these Battletech cockpit simulator pods for your next guy's night out. Beer, wings and mecha...what could better?

Some of my Favorite Examples of Mecha

Battletech Universe

The promise of mecha military science fiction combat is one that has eluded most works that have attempted to capture it. Something is always amiss, its hard to describe fully, but while research this blogpost, I felt that when re-examining mecha-based productions. However, that is not true of Battletech. Somehow, this American pen-and-paper RPG game that branched out into video games, novels, toys, and a cartoon series that started off stealing anime mecha designs, became the best example of giant robot combat. Battletech did something right with both the story and the mecha itself.
 For example Most of the mecha designs in Fang of the Sun Dougram, were simply wasted in the series, but in Battletech they were each fully developed, used by various players, and evolved over the length of the game. For example, I loved and used the Thunderbolt heavy mech, but it was also from the Robotech Defenders as 'Gartan', and the 'F4X Ironfoot' from Fang of the Sung Dougram. The design was able live on beyond its original incarnation.making them much grander, and giving each a personality, beyond the original anime. Then the basic story and history of the Battletech universe is better than most anime or manga, save for a few Japanese mecha productions.

Dynamo Joe (First Comics 1986-88)

Much like Battletech, the Americans out-write the Japanese and turn in one of the most original far-future MSF tales of giant mecha being used in a space war against aggressive aliens. Of course, if there was no Mobile Suit Gundam or ROBOTECH, then there would be no Dynamo Joe. The "Joe" is a massive 60 foot nuclear-powered robot-suit developed by the Alliance, a military tri-alliance against an invaded alien that uses organic technology. Let it be said, Doug Rice is a genius, and his military sci-fi comic of the mid-80's is still one of the best giant robot comics around, and story period. It is a crime against humanity that Dynamo Joe has been most forgotten. If there was to be a giant robot MSF movie made, this such be the story they use. It is that good.




ROBOTECH

Anyone that reads this blog knows how much I love ROBOTECH and its impact on me as well as Anime in America as a whole. However, I do have a bitch about the way that the ROBOTECH series treats the other, non-transformable, mecha, called Destroids. Most of the background mecha were the basis for the original Battletech games, but in the anime series are they treated like gnats, dying quickly, and not seem to making much of a difference in the defense of the SDF-1. But, the Veritechs are treated like gods or porn stars, able to intercept and kill legions of battlepods. For a long-time player of Battletech, I was always insulted  by the treatment of these great mecha designs. The worst, was the poor treatment of the MAC-II Monster destroid, this thing, according to the stats, could lay down that hate, but is seen mostly being easily wiped out by an battlepod. I am thankful that FASA used the ROBOTECH/Macross mecha designs to give them some dignity.   

The Sentinels from the X-Men Universe

While I was never a big fan of the X-Men, my brother collected the comic for years, and I read them from time to time, always enjoying the Days of Future Past storyline. At the time I read these, I was watching ROBOTECH, and the Sentinels seemed a prefect addition to the X-Men universe. But, it is only now that realize how long these mutant-hunting robotic giants have been around, 1965, which makes them one of the oldest mecha-like designs.

The Gundam Universe 

The science fiction community as a whole got lucky that 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam was the archetype of the military science fiction-space-opera-giant-robot-war series. Due to its story, iconic mecha designs, and complex war that often was a grey area on who the real enemy was. Also, Gundam was the beginning of so much great anime to follow.  

Fang of the Sung Dougram

While this 75 episode future war epic was not broadcast in the US, the various war-mecha were relabeled into Revell Robotech Defenders model line, a two-issue DC comic, and the original battlemech for the Battletech RPG. The plot is interesting, the show opens with a woman standing next to a rushing battlemech, and the show is an entire flashback to the war of independence on an Terran colony named Deloyer, a member of the Earth Federation. Due to an election, a dictator favored by the Earth Federation, who allow his iron-fist rule over Deloyer. The Governor's son and others form a rebel group using the prototype 'Dougram' mecha, that was the 'Shadowhawk' in the Battletech universe. The aim of the group was to not only expel the planetary governor, but to liberate Deloyer from the rule of the Earth completely. While the mecha and basic plot were interesting, I was unimpressed when I watched a few episodes online, coupled with the poor mecha combat  and rather cartoony scenes.       

LINKS:

 

Thread on why we would make mechs 

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?380556-Theory-Why-would-we-make-Mecha-s&s=a3db4a200ee4979497229f5a304566e0

Thread on Mecha Practicality:
http://www.animeforum.com/showthread.php?89372-Mecha-practicality

Mecha site:
http://www.mahq.net/

Another Mecha Site:
http://www.gearsonline.net/

Essay on Battlemech Technology
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Essay:_BattleMech_Technology

VIDEOS:

The trailer for Mechwarrior 5

Some kick-ass combat footage from Macross Zero

Promo-Video on the Kuratas KR01 Mecha (warning: Mecha Porn!)

Alan Parson Project song I, Robot music video