Mecha March – What’s in a Design?

Hello everyone and welcome to my Mecha March collab. I wanted to do something for Mecha March this year and I dragged poor Scott into my silly plans but I would like to think it’s his fault for being utterly delightful and indulging my whims! Yeah Scott, that will teach you to be such a lovely person!

So the idea here is this: I sent Scott a bunch of Mecha pics without any context and he did the same for me. Now we are going to try to infer something about the robots, their utility and the worlds in which they were created based entirely on their designs. Scott does have an advantage over me since he’s something of a mecha expert and aside from having much more examples in his head to base himself on, he can also probably just recognize the pics I sent. I also saw one familiar robot but we’re both going to do our best to pretend we know nothing!

Or you can just go see Scott’s post. Oh wait, even better, you can read both!!!

So let’s start with the fun.

Kitty Mecha

So I have no clue who this is. Nuh-huh…no way….

Ok, so the first things that jump at me are 1- this looks like a kitty and 2- those bright eyes and ears. Eventually, my eye also takes in that red orb in the chest at just how itty bitty that waist is. Damn!

So let’s take them in turn. There doesn’t seem to be any practical point to having a bipedal cat-looking robot. It’s not like this is a more aerodynamic shape. Although most cats are faster than me so maybe I’m wrong… No, wait, not when they’re walking on hind legs. As such, this must be a purely aesthetic choice. If I based myself on what I know, this robot was either built by people who look like cats cause people like to reproduce copies of themselves. Just look at any Sims let’s play. Or it was built by people who worship cats. Not a super far-fetched theory.

The eyes and ears are so bright so this robot was expected to operate in the dark at least occasionally. And the lights are all concentrated in the top of the robot so I expect the cabin is around there somewhere.

Now a big red ball at the chest could be a power supply but why leave it so exposed? It would be better to nestle it somewhere in the middle of the machine. Unless it generates a lot of heat! Are we looking at an atomic robot here? Maybe one that could create a really large boum should it explode?

Finally, it has an hourglass shape which would be super impractical if it was expected to operate at normal gravity.

Let’s put it all together now, fitted to work in relative darkness, shaped in an unfriendly to gravity way, enormous power supply that could leak radiation. What does that all equal: Space Robot. It’s supposed to be in space. Also, it was built by ancient Egyptians and they always have some type of alien/space connection. So ancient Egyptian space robot. Awesome!

Mysterious Trio Meecha

OK, I really don’t know these guys at all. They are not identical but have enough similarities in their design to realistically be connected. So, these are not mass-produced but rather individually made, probably by the same people though. They use the same type of chemical batteries and general design. Also, they do all have individualized colours. Like something you can customize on fancy cars. I’m willing to bet that these guys are made to order for their specific pilots.

But like fancy cars, they can probably be driven by others as well.

I can’t help but notice that each of them seems to have someone standing on top. And they don’t have any visible controlling means. No wheels or sticks or anything. That means they are either telepathically controlled, controlled entirely through pedals (which never happens but could be cool) or self-driving (in which case who do you sue if one hits you?). In any case, I imagine they don’t have much range of movement or precision.

Those nice lights sure look good on camera however, I doubt they make it easy to see in the dark. So these are made by a technologically advanced society that has enough resources to have a luxury industry. And they seem expensive, exclusive but of limited practical use. These are the flashy robots millionaires buy their kids to show off on social media, aren’t they? They’re flex robots!

Also, two out of three have tails and I’m not sure what to make of that…

Imposing Mecha

Now, this is a design meant for use on the field! Large body with plenty of space for a solid engine, a good power supply maybe even a cooling system. Even and balanced. A bipedal mode that is likely very slow but capable of maneuvering a lot of different terrain types and creating minimal damage to the surrounding. Articulated arms which can serve to accommodate a slew of different attachments.

The outer casing seems very solid and thick, and there are minimal articulations. On top of that, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of lights on the outside. So it’s pretty obvious what this robot is.

Designed for power and variety rather than speed or maneuverability. Obviously meant for use during daytime hours, or to put it in another way, during work hours. This is obviously an industrial manufacturing robot. In fact, the one in the picture is clearly used by the lumber industry but I would assume the axe can be switched out for a variety of tools allowing it to be useful in all sorts of tasks.

Moreover, the bipedal motion means that it won’t completely destroy the terrain and can get around environmental regulation when construction or manufacturing work needs to be done in protected terrains. Smart!

Fairy Mecha?

Last but not least there’s this fairy robot? Are those wings or is it leaking fuel? Id those are wings there is no way the delicate structure can support such a massive robot in flight, is there?

I’m at a lost here. I wanna say this is a magic robot? The wings are a completely different colour scheme and material… wait, it seems like there not even part of it, doesn’t it.

Scott tried to trick me. This isn’t a mecha at all. It’s a flying soldier in composite armour, isn’t it? That makes more sense, I guess. A species of insect winged people, who also can’t fly because those wings aren’t supporting anything at all but keep them as they are let’s say secondary sexual organs used to attract mates, and use this type of full body armour. The picture is taken from an odd downward angle but that guy is just standing around on the ground.

In fact, it’s not even military armour, it’s like a hazmat suit or something. You can put the wings in because it’s uncomfortable and they might get bruised which would lead to all the other fairy people making fun of this poor dude so the suits are designed accordingly.

Well, that was not cool of Scott, trying to trick me like that. We’re not even competing or anything. Scott is lovely but you gotta keep your eye on him.

OK, so how did I do? 100% correct on everything. That’s pretty awesome.

It was also a lot of fun. Mechas can sometimes seem all the same at first glance. If you’re super far away. But it can be a lot of fun to think about what went into creating those designs. Also, Scott seems to have sent me caps from some crazy shows. I want to see the flex culture anime. Don’t forget to go check out Scott’s side of the collab. You’ll have a great time!