Mechanista in G

So there's the Lfrith, and then there's the LFRITH. Y'know? I've been swayed by the argument that the XGF-01 and the XGF-02 represent entirely different trees of design- two houses, alike in dignity, or somesuch. So if you want the Aerial, and its predecessor the XGF-02 Lfrith? That's a different episode we'll do someday. Today, it's all about the 01, and its strange children. Two of them made all...

The age of the gunner is over, the age of the gunner has just begun. By listener request, Dylan and I dive into one of the most OG of machines in Gundam- the original Zeon tank, the Magella Attack. It... never achieves anything of note, besides perhaps being turned into a gun for a Zaku. But still, the Magella is foundational to Zeon design, and just a fun guy besides. You can find a  video versio...

Sometimes it's just one robot! That's ok. We all deserve a break sometimes. …Of course, we didn't take one, we just recorded a second ep immediately after this one, and I'll get that edited in the next day or two. But in theory we're allowed breaks! The Neodu is cool and I hope the next Build show, whenever that happens, gives us a fun variant of it. You can find a  video version  of this podcast...

I assume it's a portmanteau of "gallant" and "valiant?" Obviously neither of those have an E in them, but it's a language thing. In Japanese an E sound makes more sense there. All I have is my theories, because I've never seen this show, and I'm on the pod with two people who have a lot of thoughts about it. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline Media’...

This is our ninth SD Gundam episode, and I've already made all the jokes or cute wordplay. And some of y'all are like "oh were those supposed to be clever, before?" so I'm REALLY on thin ice. What I'll say then is that there's a real shortage of documentation of our final unit in this ep, and I am proud of us for being the ones to step up and do the work when others aren't. You can find a  video v...

Don't get a big head, folks. It just makes for a bigger target. Unless it's sufficiently up-armored, in which case maybe it's fine? Then again, I believe the "Danger Melon" that we're discussing today ended up in a fight against Chirico Cuvie, and such fights kinda only go the one way. But don't spoil for me, I don't actually know the answer to how it went! I guess it's POSSIBLE someone beat Chiri...

Gundam 00's Human Reform League are not about flashy designs. They're very utilitarian. And y'know? Of the three factions, they're the only ones who get CLOSE to achieving something against Celestial Being on their own. Perhaps that practicality really makes a difference. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline Media’s Patreon ! If you want to find us on Bluesky, Dylan...

The (Part 1) up there is a combination of my inherent anxiety-driven pedantry and a bit of a goof. I... don't think we'll ever do more Star-vaders. We probably shouldn't have done them in the first place. I goofed. But you never know, and so I feel the need to leave room. But in so doing, it's also like putting a gun on the table. It's a threat. We can always do more Star-vaders if I decide to be...

As far as angels go, this one appears to be willing to lend its wings to the devil. ...Cuz it's like the "throne" class of angels? Yeah idk I was hoping it would sound cool, but I think it's a bit too tryhard. But doesn't that just mean Michael Trinity would appreciate it? That boy was one hell of an edgelord. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline Media’s Patreon ! I...

In fairness, the first half of the episode IS cleanup. It's only after the initial set that I just start making Dylan look at random mobile suits we haven't covered. I suppose in theory I'm spoiling an eventual Gundam Eight episode, but c'mon. It's more fun this way. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline Media’s Patreon ! If you want to find us on Bluesky, Dylan is&n...

Surpass the AGE. ...Ok, maybe the Adele isn't literally a better performing machine than the AGE-1. But it MIGHT be. And it's definitely a better LOOKING design. Yeah I made some enemies with that statement but not that many. There aren't that many AGE shooters out there period. It's ok. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline Media’s Patreon ! If you want to find us o...

Gundam SEED is really just a tide of gundams. Like, whatever you think about the show's quality, you can't deny that it just introduces so, so many new gundams, significantly more than previous shows. And they can't all be winners, especially when you have legendary designer Kunio Okawara chained to his desk as he begs to be allowed to go home. No, Okawara. No. The episode comes out in three days,...

Our blessed Deloyer, their cursed Side 6. Our glorious corrupt governor, their wicked Federation president. Our great X-Nebula, their primitive Minovsky particles. Our heroic Dougram, their brutish Gundam. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline Media’s Patreon ! If you want to find us on Bluesky, Dylan is  lowpolyrobot.bsky.social  and Six is six.scanlinemed...

Once again, we head into the SD mines! We see the range of modern SD- acceptable but unimaginative, wild and ostentatious, and sick as all get out. The Three Kingdoms cannot contain all this adaptative swag, not by half. Frickin' BLACKBEARD is here, for crying out loud. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline Media’s Patreon ! If you want to find us on Bluesky, Dylan i...

As similar as Starfleet's designs are at first glance, not all of the Federation's ships are created equal. And I'm sorry, but we just don't care for the Intrepid -class starship, or its most iconic representative, the USS Voyager, all that much. Still, it's always fun to talk about the odd and intriguing specifics of Star Trek. Even if we're very, very tired. You can find a  video version  of thi...

With Dylan ready to make their personal pick, our show moves into uncharted territory: 1980s dungeon crawler RPGs! It's Squaresoft (now Square Enix)'s first RPG, it's a Mika Akitaka design, it's Cruise. Chaser. Blassy~! Come enjoy a design that's far more fleshed out than it needs to be given the hardware it's for- and a number of reinterpretations besides. You can find a  video version  of this p...

If Dylan wants another week to think, Dylan gets another week to think. We will instead see what the dice have in store... and oh, it's a dead end! Well, that's fine. The Wuxia is cool, and we have other things to talk about besides. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline Media’s Patreon ! If you want to find us on Bluesky, Dylan is  lowpolyrobot.bsky.social &nbs...

We have to spoil ourselves every now and then around here. Sure, one can argue that Avatar Skeith is a mecha. There's a way to make that case. But that's not why we're suddenly talking about .hack on this show. It's just because I want to, and my friend Dylan is kind enough to humor me. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline Media’s Patreon ! If you want to find us on...

The armor? Great. Love the armor. The fingers, oh. Those are fantastic. And great colors all around. But, uh, what are you swingin there, bud? Are you swinging... a weapon that's been broken for a few hundred years? That wouldn't be that hard to fix, at least by giant robot standards. Hmm. Hmm. I see. Well. We all make choices. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline M...

Entrust your fate to the big, mechanical hands of the cards. Listener CrossZeta made a very efficient request, because we'll probably be rolling Cardfight Vanguard designs for years without rolling out (given that they're only a percentage of the requests anyway). Then again, maybe not- it's fun to tackle one-offs, but we're trying to tackle lines of robo, and there may not be that many lines with...

It's been a while since we've had an episode about a single machine with no variants or upgrades. And one so deserving of them, too! I get that the appeal of the Bael is elegant simplicity. But the Bael exists! Let's have a Bael High Mobility, or a Bael Cannon, or a Bael Full Armor! I know that's not how IBO designs are built or named. I don't care. I just like seeing cool designs be iterated on,...

It's not our first tokusatsu mecha, but it might be our most charming. King Joe (great name, by the way) is coming at us straight from Ultraman, a combining robot that proved an instant hit. I love the way having to have a real dude in a suit affects the design of toku robots. Personality is an inevitable consequence. You can find a  video version  of this podcast for free on  Scanline Media’s Pat...

Maybe the red I see is not the same as the red you see. And maybe I first encountered the G-Arcane in Gundam Versus for the PS4 and haven't thought about its color scheme since then. Dylan's right about some things, wrong about some other things, but it's always a good idea to reexamine your assumptions. You never know when you might decide something you've thought for almost a decade is wrong. Yo...

Sometimes you do it for the boys. Sometimes you do it for the 'Gram. And sometimes? You do it For the Barrel. Today we discuss the designs of a Gundam AU that, I don't wanna tell tales outta school, but might possibly have been so badly written that its mechanical designer walked away in the middle of the project. It's a shame, because that designer was clearly one of the few parts of this project...

Alright, alright, get your jokes out of the way. This manta ray lookin' dude is one of SEED's design successes, so I won't have you teasing them too hard. Expect the usual SEED issues- line art errors, slightly nonsensical weapon details, an element here or there that would improve the whole design if it were simply removed- but the GOOhN's alright with us. You can find a  video version  of this p...