History Main / AnimalMecha

* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf: The Tiger Prowess'': The Tigbot King, the large robotic tiger powering the amusement park, is controlled by one of the villains near the end to attack the goats and wolves.

* Some of the Team Rocket mechas from ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' such as the Meowth balloon and the Magikarp submarine.

** Non-villainous example in ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasNewDinosaur'', with the Time Police agent Jill piloting a submarine mech shaped like an Ichthyosaur in the Cretaceous Seas. His mech is in fact introduced scaring away a ''real'' Ichthyosaur.

** Non-villainous example in ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasNewDinosaur'', with the Time Police agent Jill piloting a submarine mech shaped like an Ichthyosaur in the Cretaceous Seas. His mech is in facv introduced scaring away a ''real'' Ichthyosaur.

* In addition to the ubiquitous {{Spider Tank}}s, ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' has Jigabachi anti-tank helicopters that are built like wasps, complete with a large [[https://ghostintheshell.fandom.com/wiki/Natural_Enemy?file=2sac4x02.jpg rear-mounted gun]] on a section that can swing forward. It gets somewhat funny when Section 9's Tachikoma mini-tanks decide the rogue AI-piloted Jigabachi they've been assigned to deal with are their natural enemies and get cold footpads.
-->'''Tachikoma''': "Umm... Mister Batou, can we go home? We have [[INeedToGoIronMyDog upset stomachs.]]"
-->'''Batou''': "What stomachs?"

* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': All the machines are based on animal species, including extinct megafauna like the t-rex. Striders startle like horses, grazers gallop away like deer and use their rotor-blades to charge, and so on. Moreover, these animals work together in their own ecosystem, which coexists with the ecosystem of organic life: grazing robots convert plant matter into efficient biofuel, which is transported by armored robots to their factories for redistribution, and scrapping robots pick up the remains of destroyed robots so their resources can be recycled. Near the end of the game, we get an explanation for why the animal shapes are so prevalent: [[spoiler:GAIA, the artificial intelligence in charge of re-terraforming the Earth, mourned the loss of many ancient animal species, so she designed her machines to emulate them]].

** The Maximal and Predacon factions from ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' and ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines''. They started off as MechanicalLifeforms wearing animal skins to shield them from fatal levels of energon, but the robot / animal divide started blurring with the Transmetal upgrades. By ''Beast Machines'', the Maximals are all completely techno-organic: they still have a "beast mode" and a more humanoid one, but Optimus points out that the animal / mecha line no longer applies to them.
--> '''Cheetor:''' So, what are we? Robots or animals?
--> '''Optimus Primal:''' Both and neither.

* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': All the machines are based on animal species, including extinct megafauna like the t-rex. Striders startle like horses, grazers gallop away like deer and use their rotor-blades to charge, and so on. Near the end of the game, we get an explanation for why: [[spoiler:GAIA, the artificial intelligence in charge of re-terraforming the Earth, mourned the loss of many ancient animal species, so she designed her machines to emulate them]].

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' features the Divine Beasts, a set of four giant {{Magitek}} elemental mecha designed to aid the hero in fighting Ganon. They are Vah Ruta (elephant, power over water); Vah Rudania (lizard, power over fire); Vah Medoh (bird, power over wind); and Vah Naboris (camel, power over lightning). Unfortunately, the last time they were used, Ganon's evil took control of them and turned them against Hyrule. Link has to find a way to regain control over them so they can be used properly this time around.

*** The Franchise/TransformersAlignedUniverse stablished that all beast mode Cybertronians are descended from Onyx Prime, one of the first Thirteen Primes. The consistency of this within its universe is... Loose at best: ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' had Shockwave experiment with what would be the setting's versions of the original Insecticons and the Dinobots, which affected them mentally. ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' makes Cybertron more of a MulticulturalAlienPlanet: Insecticons are a different race from the humanoid bots, and Predacons are yet another, long extinct but clones made from remains by Shockwave. It's hard to know where Airachnid fits in, but it seems she's similar to the beast-bots of G1, the movies, and Animated, her spider mode doesn't make her different from her fellow 'cons. In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots'', the main cast simply scanned dinosaur animatronics to get dinosaur beast modes, and become more savage as a result until they learn to control themselves. And then many of the Decepticon criminals in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' (the 2015 sequel to ''Prime'', [[NamesTheSame not the aforementioned]] ''Car Robots'' dub) have either animal-based robot modes (humanoid or otherwise), beast alt-modes, or both, explained to be various different sub-species of Cybertronians, and of course, there's a Grimlock in the main cast, who's still a Dinobot in this show, but is a separate individual from the ''Fall of Cybertron'' Grimlock. Confused yet?

* The Miniclip action game, ''VideoGame/Commando3'', has an elephant mecha as it's first boss, which will repeatedly use it's tusks to ram the heroes.

Animal mecha are, simply put, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin mecha built in the shape of animals]]. They are usually modeled after creatures considered badass, especially [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs dinosaurs]], [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]], predatory beasts ([[PantheraAwesome often big cats]]), and [[GiantFlyer birds of prey]].

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' has had them since their start: Dinobots, Predacons, Insecticons, and many of Sounwave and Blaster's cassettes in ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'', among others. They generally transform from an animal form, referred to as "beast mode", to a humanoid robot, but some have animal-shaped robot modes instead of humanoid ones (such as Trypticon and Sky Lynx). Grimlock, leader of the Dinobots, is currently pictured above.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' has had them since their start: Dinobots, Predacons, Insecticons, and Terrorcons in ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'', as well as those cassettes of Soundwave's, among others. They generally transform from an animal form (often referred to as "beast mode") to a humanoid robot, but some have animal-shaped robot modes instead of humanoid ones. Grimlock, leader of the Dinobots, is currently pictured above.

*** ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' has only Laserbeak, but ''Anime/TransformersEnergon'' has a different take: The only animal-based bots are the Terrorcons, just sentient enough to take orders. There are ''hordes'' of them in each variety, and they are able to eat raw energon and form Energon Stars, this show's version of usable, processed energon. And then there's giant-even-by-Transformer-standard Scorponok, technically a Terrorcon but quite smarter. ''[[Anime/TransformersCybertron Cybertron]]'''s got a planet full of them, the Cybertronian colony Jungle Planet's inhabitants are all beast-bots.

*** The ''Franchise/TransfomersAlignedUniverse'' stablished that all beast mode Cybertronians are descended from Onyx Prime, one of the first Thirteen Primes. The consistency of this within its universe is... Loose at best: ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' had Shockwave experiment with what would be the setting's versions of the original Insecticons and the Dinobots, which affected them mentally. ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' makes Cybertron more of a MulticulturalAlienPlanet: Insecticons are a different race from the humanoid bots, and Predacons are yet another, long extinct but clones made from remains by Shockwave. It's hard to know where Airachnid fits in, but it seems she's similar to the beast-bots of G1, the movies, and Animated, her spider mode doesn't make her different from her fellow 'cons. In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots'', the main cast simply scanned dinosaur animatronics to get dinosaur beast modes, and become more savage as a result until they learn to control themselves. And then many of the Decepticon criminals in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' (the 2015 sequel to ''Prime'', [[NamesTheSame not the aforementioned]] ''Car Robots'' dub) have either animal-based robot modes (humanoid or otherwise), beast alt-modes, or both, explained to be various different sub-species of Cybertronians, and of course, there's a Grimlock in the main cast, who's still a Dinobot in this show, but is a separate individual from the ''Fall of Cybertron'' Grimlock. Confused yet?

*** The ''[[Franchise/TransfomersAlignedUniverse]]'' stablished that all beast mode Cybertronians are descended from Onyx Prime, one of the first Thirteen Primes. The consistency of this within its universe is... Loose at best: ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' had Shockwave experiment with what would be the setting's versions of the original Insecticons and the Dinobots, which affected them mentally. ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' makes Cybertron more of a MulticulturalAlienPlanet: Insecticons are a different race from the humanoid bots, and Predacons are yet another, long extinct but clones made from remains by Shockwave. It's hard to know where Airachnid fits in, but it seems she's similar to the beast-bots of G1, the movies, and Animated, her spider mode doesn't make her different from her fellow 'cons. In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots'', the main cast simply scanned dinosaur animatronics to get dinosaur beast modes, and become more savage as a result until they learn to control themselves. And then many of the Decepticon criminals in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' (the 2015 sequel to ''Prime'', [[NamesTheSame not the aforementioned]] ''Car Robots'' dub) have either animal-based robot modes (humanoid or otherwise), beast alt-modes, or both, explained to be various different sub-species of Cybertronians, and of course, there's a Grimlock in the main cast, who's still a Dinobot in this show, but is a separate individual from the ''Fall of Cybertron'' Grimlock. Confused yet?

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' has had them since their start: Dinobots, Predacons, Insecticons, and Terrorcons in ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'', as well as those cassettes of Soundwave's, among others. They generally transform from an animal form (often referred to as "beast mode") to a humanoid robot, but some have animal-shaped robot modes instead of humanoid ones. Grimlock, leader of the Dinobots, is currently pictured above.
** The Maximal and Predacon factions from ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' and ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines''. They started off as MechanicalLifeforms wearing animal skins to shield them from fatal levels of energon, but the robot / animal divide started blurring with the Transmetal upgrades. By ''Beast Machines'', the Maximals are all completely techno-organic: they still have a "beast mode" and a more humanoid one, but Optimus points out that the animal / mecha line no longer applies to them.
--> '''Cheetor:''' So, what are we? Robots or animals?
--> '''Optimus Primal:''' Both and neither.
** Each continuity tends to have a few characters with animal alt-modes somewhere.
*** ''Anime/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' (''Car Robots'' [[DubNameChange in Japan]]) has its own Predacons. They transform into more alienesque cyborg animals than the animal mecha of years past. Though aside from Megatron, whose design was all-new, these Predacons were recolors of ''Beast Wars'' Transmetal 2 toys (specifically toy-only characters [[NoExportForYou not previously released in Japan by Takara]]).
*** ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' has only Laserbeak, but ''Anime/TransformersEnergon'' has a different take: The only animal-based bots are the Terrorcons, just sentient enough to take orders. There are ''hordes'' of them in each variety, and they are able to eat raw energon and form Energon Stars, this show's version of usable, processed energon. And then there's giant-even-by-Transformer-standard Scorponok, technically a Terrorcon but quite smarter. ''[[Anime/TransformersCybertron Cybertron]]'''s got a planet full of them. Jungle Planet's inhabitants are all beast-bots.
*** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' has two types - there's a difference between a normal Cybertronian who happens to walk on four legs instead of two and a techno-organic, which is similar to ''Beast Wars'' - these bots have actual organic matter as part of their construction. They're not as physically strong as the all-metal bots, but like ''Beast Machines,'' there's power they have that others don't. In ''this'' universe at least, it's why you can blow Waspinator apart ''and'' why that won't stop him, and where Blackarachnia gets her webbing and venom. The ''bad'' news is they suffer from FantasticRacism; Blackarachnia would do ''anything'' to be [[spoiler: Elita-1]] again, even though she got Wasp(inator) to participate in her experiments by listing the reasons her new form is objectively better than her old. On the other hand, the Dinobots are robots who are shaped like dinosaurs, and the same presumably goes for the animal-form citizens we see among Cybertron's civilians in season three.
*** In the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'' there's no difference between a robot shaped like a dude and a robot shaped like a razor-sharp feline CyberCyclops, and ''don't'' think the only variation we see is two legs versus four. The many non-standard designs seen in ''[[Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen Revenge of the Fallen]]'' especially brings the ''alien'' part of "alien robot" to the forefront like no other TF property before or since.
*** The [[Franchise/TransfomersAlignedUniverse'' stablished that all beast mode Cybertronians are descended from Onyx Prime, one of the first Thirteen Primes. The consistency of this within its universe is... Loose at best: ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' had Shockwave experiment with what would be the setting's versions of the original Insecticons and the Dinobots, which affected them mentally. ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' makes Cybertron more of a MulticulturalAlienPlanet: Insecticons are a different race from the humanoid bots, and Predacons are yet another, long extinct but clones made from remains by Shockwave. It's hard to know where Airachnid fits in, but it seems she's similar to the beast-bots of G1, the movies, and Animated, her spider mode doesn't make her different from her fellow 'cons. In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots'', the main cast simply scanned dinosaur animatronics to get dinosaur beast modes, and become more savage as a result until they learn to control themselves. And then many of the Decepticon criminals in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' (the 2015 sequel to ''Prime'', [[NamesTheSame not the aforementioned]] ''Car Robots'' dub) have either animal-based robot modes (humanoid or otherwise), beast alt-modes, or both, explained to be various different sub-species of Cybertronians, and of course, there's a Grimlock in the main cast, who's still a Dinobot in this show, but is a separate individual from the ''Fall of Cybertron'' Grimlock. Confused yet?
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* Dinobots, Predacons ([[WesternAnimation/BeastWars not those]]), Insecticons, and Terrorcons in ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'', as well as those cassettes of Soundwave's, among others. They generally transform from an animal form (often referred to as "beast mode") to a humanoid robot, but some have animal-shaped robot modes instead of humanoid ones. Grimlock, leader of the Dinobots, is currently pictured above.
** ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' and ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines''. They started off as MechanicalLifeforms wearing animal skins to shield them from fatal levels of energon, but the robot / animal divide started blurring with the Transmetal upgrades. By ''Beast Machines'', the main cast are all completely techno-organic: they still have a "beast mode" and a more humanoid one, but Optimus points out that the animal / mecha line no longer applies to them.

*** ''Anime/TransformersArmada'' has only Laserbeak, but ''Anime/TransformersEnergon'' has a different take: The only animal-based bots are the Terrorcons, just sentient enough to take orders. There are ''hordes'' of them in each variety, and they are able to eat raw energon and form Energon Stars, this show's version of usable, processed energon. And then there's giant-even-by-Transformer-standard Scorponok, technically a Terrorcon but quite smarter.
*** ''[[Anime/TransformersCybertron Cybertron]]'''s got a planet full of them. Jungle Planet's inhabitants are all beast-bots.

*** In the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'' there's no difference between a robot shaped like a dude and a robot shaped like a razor-sharp feline CyberCyclops, and ''don't'' think the only variation we see is two legs versus four. The many non-standard designs seen in ''Revenge of the Fallen'' especially brings the ''alien'' part of "alien robot" to the forefront like no other TF property before or since.
*** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' makes Cybertron more of a MulticulturalAlienPlanet. Insecticons are a different race from the humanoid bots, and Predacons are yet another, long extinct but clones made from remains by Shockwave. It's hard to know where Airachnid fits in, but it seems she's similar to the beast-bots of G1, the movies, and Animated: her spider mode doesn't make her different from her fellow 'cons.
*** Many of the Decepticon criminals in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' (the 2015 sequel to ''Prime'', [[NamesTheSame not the aforementioned]] ''Car Robots'' dub) have either animal-based robot modes (humanoid or otherwise), beast alt-modes, or both. And, of course, there's Grimlock, who's still a Dinobot in this continuity.

* ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'': The Flying Octopus, Comicbook/DoctorOctopus' aircraft looks like a... flying octopus.

* In ''Fanfic/FarceOfTheThreeKingdoms,'' Shu transports their supplies in [[EverythingsBetterWithCows robot cows]].

* ''VideoGame/GearHead'' Zoanid mecha -- including the [[GameBreaker Fenris]].

* ''Animation/{{Mechamato}}'': [[RobotBuddy MechaBot]] has the ability to transform everyday objects into high-tech devices, and some of them being animal-like contraptions such as the [[SpiderTank Mechaspider]] and Mechamonkey.

* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'': This version of The Rhino is a giant mechanical rhinoceros machine rather than a [[TheBrute Brute]] with SuperStrength like his original counter-part.