Poll: "Real War" Robots or Action/Fantasy Robots?

[Paragon Fury]

So I'm curious; do you prefer your giant robot shows/movies/anime to be of the "real war" variety or do you like them to be more the "Super Machine"/Fantasy/Action kinds of shows?

What I mean by "Real War" is that instead of having special powers/super powers etc. the robots are instead treated as if they are regular parts of a military, with maintenance, weaknesses, roles etc. often working as a single part of a larger combined arms force etc. as seen in shows like 08TH MS Team or MSG: 0083 etc. In essence, they're not super heroes themselves.

Spoiler

Or do you prefer the "Super Robot" style, where the mechs are basically super heroes/fantasy and are basically the characters/heroes themselves, a la G Gundam, Gundam Seed, Macross Frontier etc.?

Spoiler

Personally, I've always preferred the "Real Robot" style, though I can have fun with the Super Robot style as well.


Also, doing my duty as a Paragon Fury thread;

(NSFW below)

Spoiler

MECHA GIRL ACTIVATE!

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Totally real world war, because whats the point of giant robots that can hop around, shoot lighting and pull a Sailor Moon?! They need to be big, clunky and realistic, like the Mechwarrior stuff. I always felt why bother having the giant robot if it never feels giant and moves like a Sayan/Ninja/Superhero? Just skip the robot and have the superhero.

So yeah, realistic all the way.

Also titanic boobs again huh? And those seem more like girls in barely there power armor than giant robots with ballistics. This is a much better mecha girl

Spoiler

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

What Silentpony said.

Anything that is like these please:

But for the "Awesome robot that fights like a DBZ character" I really like the Orbital Frames:

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

snip

No image reference of a "realisic-ish" mecha from Warhammer 40k like the Imperial Guard Sentinal and the Space Marine Dreadnought?!

Who are you and what have you done with Silentpony?!

 

[Fox12]

Real war robots all the way.

But for the "Awesome robot that fights like a DBZ character" I really like the Orbital Frames:

I always liked the designs, but I could never get past the fact that they all have massive dicks

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Real war robots all the way.

But for the "Awesome robot that fights like a DBZ character" I really like the Orbital Frames:

I always liked the designs, but I could never get past the fact that they all have massive dicks

That's Kojima for you Even the "female" ones have dicks:

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

snip

No image reference of a "realisic-ish" mecha from Warhammer 40k like the Imperial Guard Sentinal and the Space Marine Dreadnought?!

Who are you and what have you done with Silentpony?!

You got me! The changeling empire will never fall!

All serious, I'll give you the Sentinel. Totally should have posted it. The Dreadnought I'm a little more iffy about, simply because its a giant coffin with a bio-engineered super solider, sometimes with magical powers, sometimes with nightmarish memories passed down genetically to the point they go insane. So...yeah, realistic-ish.

Also this, because it was so cool:

 

[Saelune]

Military. I never was into Super Hero robots, other than I guess the original Power Rangers, though I had little interest in MegaZords.

I love Gundam UC, and loved Chromehounds.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

snip

No image reference of a "realisic-ish" mecha from Warhammer 40k like the Imperial Guard Sentinal and the Space Marine Dreadnought?!

Who are you and what have you done with Silentpony?!

You got me! The changeling empire will never fall!

All serious, I'll give you the Sentinel. Totally should have posted it. The Dreadnought I'm a little more iffy about, simply because its a giant coffin with a bio-engineered super solider, sometimes with magical powers, sometimes with nightmarish memories passed down genetically to the point they go insane. So...yeah, realistic-ish.

Also this, because it was so cool:

I see where Blizzard got the idea of the Protoss Dragoons/Immortal:

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I'm pretty easy either way, as long as the mecha matches the setting, I'm pretty chill since both have excellent visual design.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

Oh for sure. Of all the inspirations from 40k, the Protoss dragoon is one of the least subtle. As far as I can tell the only differences is Protoss don't eventually go crazy being interred, and 'Agoon'

Also to give superhero robots their due, I do like the occasional Gundam. And I classify those mobile suits as more fantasy because they move super fast, and half the time they have some sort of love/passion/hope based secret super power that somehow wasn't in the blueprints, but was triggered by an angsty 14 year old.
Oh and they're practically indestructible.
I mean Gundam Wing is basically just Mecha Justice League.

 

[WindKnight]

Both, though as rule I prefer 'real' robots.

And honestly, Macross is more of a real robot type than 'super robot', some of the... weirder uses of music aside. heck, in the clip you use, what you're showing is a transforming warship, not a mech and its very much treated as a piece of military hardware.

 

[Lorpo]

Its a damn hard question, I'd say I love all mechas but then I think of crap like Gurren Lagann and realize that I am in fact a mecha racist. "Real" mechas for me after all.

 

[Zhukov]

"Real" robots please.

The other ones look like cheap plastic toys.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Real robots.

The entire concept of building a humanoid robot for war (note, just for war, Pacific Rim is okay) is stupid.

 

[lionsprey]

Super robot style for me. if you are going to do something as silly as building giant mechs for war you might as well go all out.

 

[Bobular]

If it has robots then I'm sold.

Whilst I love both, I have to say I prefer stories based around real robot style. I like that they are grounded somewhat in reality, well as grounded in reality as anime gets.

Spoiler: With that said, behold awesomeness

I also don't count those mecha girls as mecha the same way as say a Gundam, I kinda don't really consider it a mecha unless it has some form of a cockpit, but I know a few people who disagree with me.

 

[Thaluikhain]

On the one hand, "real" robots make more sense, but on the other the idea makes little sense to begin with.

The usual, popular designs for those types of robots deliberately aim for things that makers of real war machines try to avoid. Modern tanks try to have low profiles, and the weapon as close to the top as possible, so they can hide easily and fire with most of the hull concealed. They have a small surface area to volume ratio which means they can be armoured all over without being too heavy. Tall, spindly biped robots with chest high guns actively avoid that.

 

[Erttheking]

I like both designs, though with some preference to realistic, but I really do prefer mechs being treated as military hardware and them not soloing entire armies because they're just that good. I like how Armored Trooper VOTOMs approached it. The main character uses the same suits as everyone else, sometimes with a few more guns strapped on than is normal, and he goes through several over the course of the series, as they commonly get damaged or destroyed.

Although those SEED Gundams really rub me the wrong way design wise. Too much random shit sticking out. I mean look at the original Gundam

Spoiler

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/gundam/images/9/99/Gundam.jpg/revision/20100323024929

Nice simple design.

Now look at the Freedom Gundam from Seed

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https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZBMLar4kLlo/maxresdefault.jpg

Can someone please streamline that shit?

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Given I weened my fetish love of robots and mecha from Shirow and the like, I've got a preference for details over Gurren Lagann-esc does-whatever-the-hell superhero-replacement robots.

I mean, either is good based on the story you want to tell, but using Gurren Lagann as an example: the mecha were a visual shorthand for a proxy vehicle powered by willpower and fighting spirit. That the mecha were also robots was inconsequential. They could have been Green Lantern rings or magical constructs or stands or mystical ki techniques and you could have told the same story.

Meanwhile, while you could tell the same war story or police story without the more realistic mecha, you're still using equipment designed for the same purpose. Granted, usually with some handwavy BS like having Patrol Labors (police robots) to deal with stolen construction mecha or a special, damage resistant alloy making certain robots tougher than others. That and using mecha in a war story gives us a proxy for the intense physical and psychological damage a prolonged, harrowing conflict can have on a person without having a Game of Thrones-ian body count.