Mecha! Love 'em or Hate 'em

[Superfluous Crow]

I agree with Ghostman that it is mostly their humanoid form that ruins them for me. It's like you just took a human, turned him into a robot and timed their size by a factor 100. Sometimes they even have human weapons timed by a 100. It's... silly. Sorry. Although i'm not going to call myself an expert on the subject; this is just my primary reaction to them. That being said, giant robots can have their place and i like some of the giant d&d constructs: the eviscerator and warforged titan amongst others. Those are the ones i can think of anyway. And yeah, tripods are cool-ish.
Also, i like power armors and exo-skeletons of a small size. Although they can seem sorta awkward in fantasy sometimes depending on design. (hmm, wearable golem? I think i was actually working on that idea as an artifact for one of my first settings)

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

I agree with Ghostman that it is mostly their humanoid form that ruins them for me.

So you prefer mecha based on things like animal designs, ala Zoids?

[Stargate525]

Iron Mans armor is a type of power armor (would be along the lines of more fantastic types, not that realistic).

Except that this type is what will, most likely, become reality in the future. It's small, self-contained, doesn't encumber the wearer, is no more easy to target than a normal soldier, and powerful.

[Llum]

Iron Mans armor is a type of power armor (would be along the lines of more fantastic types, not that realistic).

Except that this type is what will, most likely, become reality in the future. It's small, self-contained, doesn't encumber the wearer, is no more easy to target than a normal soldier, and powerful.

I didn't mean its size, I meant its capabilities. Stable flight with a man shaped body is ridiculously difficult. Also the energy requirements for hand lasers is as far as I can see, completely impractical anywhere in the remote future.

About the size your spot on, they already have prototypes of something a little bulkier right now that enhances strength.

[Wensleydale]

I agree with Ghostman, I much prefer the non-humanoid robotic forms. I do like the idea of 'Power Armour' in a lot of ways, but not to ridiculous sizes. The size of a Warhammer 40k dreadnought is about as large as I'm usually willing to go. The AT-STs from star wars (y'know, the two-legged walker-type things) as well as the AT-ATs were pretty damn cool, too. But I don't like the big robot-shaped anime-connected stuff that usually springs to mind with mecha, mainly just because the lack of realism annoys me.

[Superfluous Crow]

I agree with Ghostman that it is mostly their humanoid form that ruins them for me.

So you prefer mecha based on things like animal designs, ala Zoids?

Hmm, okay, let me rephrase, i'm bothered by the fact that they try to look like anything but big robots. A tank wasn't built to look like anything, it was built in that shape because that is a practical shape for a tank. Giant robots shouldn't resemble anything. It's the scale issue again, you can do the same process to animals: making robot copies and making them 100 times bigger. If there is a reason to have giant robots, then they should resemble nothing but that. In zoids defense though, i haven't seen it and therefore this comment is purely based on mental imagery of giant robotic animals)

And i've also heard that the military has been working on a functional exo-skeleton prototype for their future force warrior project (i think that's what it's called).    

As an anecdote of unusual use of mechas i just remembered that in a small setting called Amerikkka (comical game about the US disbanding into various groups of extremism,) the Papal States had access to mechs called Cardinals for some obscure reason...
(by the way, is there any real difference between mech and mecha?)

[XXsiriusXX]

While not really a fan of any Japanese mecha media I was a really big fan of a cartoon called exo squad. The mechs ranged from body armor, to 15 foot tall walkers. The story was rather good; it involved humans fighting to liberate Venus, Earth, and Mars from their own genetic creations, the neo-sapiens  

[Llum]

There's no difference between Mech and Mecha. The word is interchangeable.

Personally I use Mech to refer non human looking walking vehicles, like an AT-ST. I use Mecha to refer to very humanoid vehicles like Gundams.

The military and other various people have been trying to make mecha for the last fifty years or so. *Everyone* wants one. The oldest that comes to mind is some GM built in the late fifties early sixties.

[Superfluous Crow]

Well, if that's your definition i, personally, like mechs and dislike mechas.

[Nomadic]

Well, if that's your definition I, personally, like mechs and dislike mechas.

Agreed (with exception to power armor, but then again that is more of a third class then part of either one). And yes for big stuff I like the steampunky and totally inhuman looking constructs (the tripods from war of the worlds).

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

If those are the definitions than I choose mecha over mechs (with mecha including non-human yet recognizable as a life-form, such as the animal mecha of zoids).  Big unrecognizable machine = impersonal.    Recognizable shape = more personal.

[Superfluous Crow]

Not to start an argument or anything, but why should a big robotic machine be personal? In my opinion the exact idea with something robotic is that it should be exotic, inhuman, and dead/mechanical. If you try to make your machines resemble life you might as well have life.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Fixed.  (If you'll note my first post on this thread I did say that I thought vehicles were impersonal.)

[Nomadic]

Ok I will give zoids a point... it was pretty dang awesome... though not practical at all (which is why you don't see the army pursuing mecha design... just powered exoskeleton type mechs). That's probably why I like my big impractical mecha to be steampunk... easier to hand wave those.