Mechanista in G

We're closing out the last of the major GAT-X suits this week as we return to normal coverage, and the loving(?) arms of the Cosmic Era. What's so strange about the Aegis is how much of it is abandoned going forward in SEED. True, the Freedom has very little Strike in it, but there's the Strike Rouge and Noir, and the Impulse is a clear successor, etc. The Aegis just... happens. And then SEED trie...

A promise unforgotten. It was a bit of work, and it's a bit clunky, but we are here to talk about warframes as promised. The designs themselves are of course very cool, but they also prompt a difficult question: if mecha don't have to be big, and they can be organic, where is the line drawn? Is a warframe a mecha? Is a person being possessed a mecha? But in truth this is pedantry: we know a mecha...

Make Good May, Week 3! This time, it's a different sort of Make Good, as we pick two requests that have been languishing unrolled on our list for some time. We start off with a First Gundam Friend that wasn't- the Agg, who never made it into the show because Char had other ideas. Then it's into Warhammer 40,000 as we look at the mecha of the Tau! You can find a v ideo version of this podcast for f...

They say "don't start with a showstopper," yet in the world of transforming mecha, the designers of Super Dimension Fortress Macross did exactly that. The Valkyrie set off a trend of mecha that can transform into planes, but nearly all the designs it inspired are inferior to this perfect, classic original by Kazutaka Miyatake and Shoji Kawamori. Then again, maybe it was only a showstopper for othe...

With this episode, we're beginning the Month of Make Goods! It's time to clear all the red in the Mechanista ledger. And we're gonna start with a toku friend we rolled many months ago. He's been very politely Standing By, and now our responsibility to cover him is Complete. ...it's what the belt says, i tried to make it work, i don't feel like i succeeded. You can find a v ideo version of this pod...

How do mobile workers, including our Construction Mobile Suit here, play into "mobile suits have never brought happiness to anyone" as a statement? Well, to examine this, we must first consider that the word "work" is right there in "mobile worker." And I think, personally, it's impossible to have fun at your work. I hate job. Therefore it fits! You can find a v ideo version of this podcast for fr...

Like that Michael Mann podcast? Hey, welcome to a Joke I Made For No One. This is our second ever Gaia Gear episode, and perhaps our last one, unless something happens to surprise us. In the far future of UC Gundam, very little has changed. I guess they call them Man Machines instead of Mobile Suits now, that's different! Also they don't have to worry about them being animated, so there's lots of...

FINALLY. It's time for my one of my favorites to take center stage. I actually mean both the pilot AND the machine! The Astraea Type F is sick! Fon Spaak is unwell! Together, they're just so much fun. Let's talk some really cool 00 side designs, including some really cool ones that only exist as models! You might not even know some of these. You can find a video version of this podcast for free on...

It's Wear O'Clock! We're diving back into the AGE-1 to talk about a whole bunch of PSP-exclusive suits for this... suit. We also have some unimportant Build variations, and then it's time to return to an unfinished task. Bush's Best await. Also? Damn, the Legendary Gundam is coooooooool! You can find a v ideo version of this podcast for free on Scanline Media's Patreon ! If you want to find us on...

Might this be the most intricate mobile suit family tree outside of UC Gundam? I honestly think it might. Gundam AGE is a big blind spot for me, and also just a strangely big thing in general. It's not well liked. At all. But Level 5 and Sunrise went so in on it from the start that even with how quickly it became clear the show was not catching, there's just a ton of material for it. That almost n...

This should have posted two weeks ago! It slipped through the cracks somehow! My sincerest apologies. Accusations that I "did this on purpose" because I "hate Seed" are absurd, because obviously it wouldn't have occurred to me to self-sabotage like this regardless of how I feel about Seed. Mu La Flaga stars in: a gundam that wasn't built for him, but Seed is too misogynist to let a woman keep a wi...

What a great time it is for Boeing, as they spectacularly fail FAA investigations, a whistleblower calling out their scummery dies under Totally Believable Circumstances, and the door on one of their planes flies off on takeoff. Not... like the way the plane itself flies off, the door popped off the plane and- I mean you get it. I am not foolish enough to believe that Boeing is unique in its villa...

The dice are here for Allelujah Haptism in 2023! Only a handful of episodes after the Kyrios, the Arios's time has come! Ok, so it's obviously a less cool design. But! There are some things here, especially once we get into variants and the like. Did you ever want a plane that was a big switchblade? ...Ok, fair, I think all of us would answer "no." But just think about it for a sec! ...Still no? Y...

"Heroes on both sides" in spades this episode as our heroes are split basically evenly between noble and sinister. Don't "um actually" me with Diaochan, she's a hero in the book but in SD Gundam Sangoku Soketsuden she's a villain. But dang, that Kunoichi SD... my box with that kit is literally on my doorstep right now and I want to finish this before I go grab it. So byyyyyye! You can find a video...

Even the original designs from crossover series have their own successors and design lineage! The Gespenst hasn't gotten any new variants in a while, but that's ok: the torch has been carried on by designs like the Alteisen, the Weissritter, the Wildsch- oh, sorry. Forget that last one. Not today. But the point is, design never stands still. Though I don't think any of these can do an Ultimate Ges...

Personal Troopers! We've already done the Huckebein, but that friend isn't the OG. The Gespenst here, piloted by our friend Gilliam Jaeger, is how it started. And how it's going? Well, that's next episode. You can find a video version of this podcast for free on Scanline Media's Patreon ! If you want to find us on Twitter, Dylan is @lowpolyrobot and Six is @sixdettmar . Our opening theme is the Ha...

I really hate that you pronounce the acronym A.G.W.S as "eggs." It's repugnant. The machines themselves are designs that range from cool to excellent by designers like Junya Ishigaki and Kouichi Mugitani, so why must you give them such a bad name?! Sigh. Well, let's talk about some friends already, eh? You can find a video version of this podcast for free on Scanline Media's Patreon ! If you want...

Is the Angel Halo the most wild weapon in all of Gundam? I certainly think in all of Tomino Gundam, where the competition is MOSTLY guns of various size. Well, and stuff like the Adzam Leader and such. Tomino does love to electrocute and microwave pilots, sometimes at the same time. Anyway, the Shy-Tarn is a Zanscare mobile suit that's neat but has nothing that special about it. You can find a vid...

They got bought! The Mini was a popular enough design that BMW took an interest, and ever since 2001, the German manufacturer has been in charge of the iconic British car. Have they done right by the design? Well, no. Have they done worse than any other car designer in the 2000s making their stupid Allcars? No. It could be much worse. You can find a video version of this podcast for free on Scanli...

The Calamity War of IBO lore must have been kinda dumb, right? Like, ok. I have to give this another sentence so the preview doesn't spoil the show. But there were railgun archer lines, samurai, wild (???) mobile armors attacking any and everyone, one hundred and EIGHT different Gundams running around with weapons like pliers and box cutters, tons of pilots were physically plugged into their mobil...

It feels wrong not calling it a Mini Cooper. Just "Mini?" It feels off. And too bad, because it's correct: John Cooper stole the thunder of Sir Alec Issigonis, noble designer of the British Motor Corporation Mini, and we're not going give him credit until his name really does take over. But to be honest. To be honest? This car is kinda meh. You can find a video version of this podcast for free on...

Why such long model numbers, Seed? Are you perhaps compensating for how empty your worldbuilding is? You don't need such tricks, you actually have just a fun design this time! Gundam so rarely messes with quadrupedal machines, and the BuCUE is a pal. I'm not sure why it has so few weapons though.... If you want to find us on Twitter, Dylan is @lowpolyrobot and Six is @sixdettmar . Our opening them...

Lots of Gundam shows and movies start from going "here's our new spin on the RX-87-2." But few are brave enough to give us their take on the Guntank and, yes, the Guncannon. F91 has that courage, and with a seasoned Kunio Okawara behind them, it even makes a dang good Guncannon and Guntank. They're freakin' sick. If indeed this had been Only The Beginning, I wonder if we would have eventually gott...

The thing is, it's not that I dislike super robots. I just want some design elements to sink my teeth into! The problem with super robots is often they handwave any details, and paint in broad brush. Just give me details that don't make sense! There's no WAY all these weapons fit inside the Big O- and that's fine! It's sick! We should all aspire to be so rad. Here is a link to a Google Drive folde...

In my mind, the Kyrios is the least of the four main Gundams of 00. I probably still believe that after our episode, but I was definitely selling the Winged One short. There's a lot to love about this design, including a cool flight mode, a sick double-barreled beam machine gun, and a special Sickos Only shield weapon. The angel is in the details, sometimes: when you really stare and squint you se...