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THIS WEEK IN MECHA (thread): Generic Mecha Names!
Gundam introduced the idea of mecha being treated as generic war machines. This new genre is now called 'real robot'. I'm going to (non-exhaustively) talk about the generic names mecha have had in anime that came after!
Gundam introduced the idea of mecha being treated as generic war machines. This new genre is now called 'real robot'. I'm going to (non-exhaustively) talk about the generic names mecha have had in anime that came after!
1979 - Mobile Suit Gundam
In Gundam, Mobile Suits were originally designed for space combat, based on civilian Mobile Worker machines used to build space colonies. Btw, a 'Gundam' is simply a type of Mobile Suit, not the generic term for the mecha in-universe.
In Gundam, Mobile Suits were originally designed for space combat, based on civilian Mobile Worker machines used to build space colonies. Btw, a 'Gundam' is simply a type of Mobile Suit, not the generic term for the mecha in-universe.
As space fighters, Mobile Suits came with several advantages: their internal reactors produce the fictional Minovsky particles as part of their energy generation. These particles make MS invisible to radar, making it harder for ships to shoot them down.
Due to the distances in space combat, their giant size is not an issue. Additionally, Mobile Suits are much more manoeuvrable than traditional space fighters due to their AMBAC system that allows for fine, extremely fast manoeuvring in zero-g.
I'll add some more later, quite excited to tell you what makes all of these mecha different from each other! Also note: I won't include any mecha anime where the mechs don't have a generic name, like Orguss.
