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That's not what Rule of Cool means. Rule of Cool simply means that something unrealistic is done because it's cooler that way. Mechas themselves are Rule of Cool, because there's no good reason why you'd want to build one in the first place.
Mecha will never, ever, ever, ever become a military force. And I"m saying this as a huge mecha fan.
Here's a super realistic scenario. Somehow, some private contractor gets a mecha made, it goes into battle, then someone shoots an RPG at its leg, it falls down, and the pilot dies and all the money is wasted and everyone goes back to tanks and helicopters and jets.
Mecha aren't going to be competitors to tanks. Ever. The geometric requirements completely wreck any chance they stand. The only way you can give them tank comparable armor is to make the Gundam sized. Anything smaller will have thinner armor on most of the limbs simply due to having to fit the mechanisms inside of it. The best you could do for something smaller is small arms proof it. Any sort of anti armor technology is going to tear through mecha armor. Well, unless they add really good active defenses, but I've never seen even one show that used them unless it was a force field.
And if you're trying to point out that it works in stuff like War Hammer 40000, WH is about as soft as Star Trek. Seriously, if you're shooting for hard scifi, it's just bad. Hell, Full Metal Panic is harder than anything that uses a powerfist I've ever seen, and it's got a Green Lantern Ring.
edited 1st Sep '11 9:13:34 AM by Deboss
Fight smart, not fair.![]()
At the very least, very simple robotics and things like Powered Armor for soldiers isn't far off.
edited 1st Sep '11 10:02:41 AM by Clawshrimpy
I also doubt mecha will ever catch on in the military. I they did, they would probably look something like the Tactical Armors in Gasaraki. That show has more realistic mecha than any other mecha show I've ever seen.
Fangof The Sun Dougram kinda has the same issue with me, I think it's freaking amazing and I want to just finish it, but it's probably something I'll never re-watch because it's 75 episodes long
Gasaraki at least is only 26.
edited 1st Sep '11 6:17:02 PM by Clawshrimpy
I think FLAG has a faster pace and more action than Gasaraki but don't quote me on that. It's a lot softer as far as tech is concerned if you feel that transforming mecha are softer than single form mecha by default.
The issue with Real Robot series is that they rely so heavily on Internal Consistency. Once a series sells you on its own brand of realism everything else will seem far out by comparison.
edited 1st Sep '11 6:21:29 PM by Recon5
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Haha, yeah Dougram is a show where the plans and the infantry stuff play a bigger role than the robots. and it's 75 episodes long.
Which is probably why Takahashi made VOTOMS only 50 and put a teensy bit more focus on action.
I think this has been what I've been trying to get across. Sure, VOTOMS is not realistic, but it doesn't have some of the more obnoxious things that bother me in other Mecha shows I guess..... at least until CASE IRVINE came along.
edited 1st Sep '11 7:41:02 PM by Clawshrimpy
FLAG is better than Gasaraki so far. While I found that the mechs were fairly realistic, I found their overall tech laughable (the missile shoving it's way through tank armor had me laughing in my seat).
Yeah, the real point of the Real Robot Genre is the consistency. That's why everyone I know like harder scifi, the general lack of Ass Pull Reverse the Polarity solutions.
Fight smart, not fair.Small-arms proof powered-armour style eeems like it might be a decent use in specialized situations, but that's pretty much the only use I could see for mecha.
And 40K isnt half as hard as Star Trek (which says something) I mean, this is the universe that has stuff powered by daemons :p
"No, the Singularity will not happen. Computation is hard." -Happy EntMy problem with Powered Armor is that it's only good for increasing lifting strength. You've still got fleshy muscles under that armor, making any sort of speed augmentation impossible without ripping apart the wearer.
My point being that if you want absolute realism, don't expect a Powered Armor to fill a mecha's role for spectacle.
Yeah, except a "realistic" Power Armor wouldn't be able to withstand sustained fire like that, and they'd be too slow to dodge the impending RP Gs. They'd be stuck with cover tactics like all the regular infantry.
If Powered Armor is only good for increasing lifting strength, it could be useful in helping soldiers carry around all of their personal gear, at least making them faster.

Hmm, maybe just a theory, but maybe Takahashi was against melee combat in VOTOMS in the first place, and the executives didn't like that and made him put, something, anything, in. Fangof The Sun Dougram didn't seem to have very much in melee fighting at all, and also supporting the theory is how many silly things Takahashi ended up putting in Blue Comet SPT Layzner (tons of beam weaponry, a Super Mode etc. all probably executive demands due to how stubborn he was during VOTOMS and Dougram.) Judging from the controversial last arc that led to it's cancellation, Takahashi must have HATED working on Layzner.
edited 1st Sep '11 6:25:29 AM by Clawshrimpy