Recently I saw someone start a thread on the RPG.net forum, with the title “Why are mecha silly?”. The person in question was of the opinion that not only were mecha not silly, they were plausible, and went on to list reasons they thought so.

Of course, all of those were swiftly debunked by posters, but I think the thread kinda got away from the main point after a while. So I thought I’d write a bit about this subject here.

The thread’s title had a bit of an unfortunate framing, because it started from the premise that mecha are silly even though its opening poster didn’t think so. A better question to ask might be “Are Mecha Silly?”

My answer is somewhat nuanced, but it can still be summed up as “No”. Giant robots are definitely cinematic, but they’re not inherently sillier than any other cinematic trope. It’s all about the context.

I’m using “mech” and “mecha” here to mean a humanoid (or at least legged) piloted machine that’s used in about the same role as an armored fighting vehicle or tank. Non-combat versions are usually used as heavy construction equipment.

These are some of the traditional excuses for mecha: Legs make them able to handle any terrain type better than wheels or threads. A humanoid form makes them more agile and versatile than traditional vehicles. Something about the specific technology used to build them makes them better weapons than traditional vehicles (this last one varies per setting).

None of these would hold up under scrutiny under a strictly realistic setting. While some people are building smaller autonomous robots and experimenting with load-bearing skeletons, building a giant mech is still far beyond us and the general consensus on that seems to be that it’s not worth the effort. Better to work at improving the specialized vehicles we know than worrying about leg movement and the ground pressure exerted by two giant metal feet.

As you get more cinematic mecha become a better fit. An “action movie setting” that makes you accept some people do the impossible because they’re just that badass shouldn’t have a lot of trouble selling the idea that sometimes tanks have legs. Full Metal Panic in its more serious moments is a good example of this. The show itself is silly most of the time, but the robot fights are trated in a more serious cinematic manner.

Science fictional settings have more leeway than contemporary ones, because the same classical excuses are still valid and it’s easier to assume that the practical engineering concerns have been solved in the future. A lot of the Gundam shows are in this territory, as are many other similar franchises.

And that’s just the shows that even bother to offer up excuses! You see, there are two main “sub-genres” of mecha shows. The ones that bother to think about excuses and to insert their mecha into a wider military context are called “Real Robot” shows. The original Mobile Suit Gundam back in 1979 was the first of these.

The other side of the coin are “Super Robot” shows, who don’t even bother with that. Sometimes a 12-year old kid just inherits a fifteen story tall robot from his dad, and flies that robot out of the secret hangar at the bottom of his swimming pool to fight space monsters. Super Robot shows date from the early seventies, and their overall aesthetic is closer to that of a gold or silver age supers story than “proper” science fiction. They require the same kind of suspension of disbelief. If you can accept Superman, you can accept Mazinger Z.

Whether Real or Super, no type of mecha is inherently silly as long as you place it in the type of story it was meant to go in. Just like any other cinematic trope.