Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha



"Console RPG Cliché #54: "There are always giant robots. Always.""

"Relena: Why was the Romefeller Foundation so set on using mobile suits anyway?

Noin: Because people have a tendency to fear large machinery but at the same time they have a strong admiration for it."

- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, itself not an example of this trope

Simply put, this is when a work is not about Humongous Mecha, but throws one or more in at some point(s) anyway. Why? Because giant robots are cool, duh!

Note that perhaps no work absolutely needs mecha, but some works still center around them, especially a Super Robot show. This is when you can throw out the mecha and still have most of the work intact. But it wouldn't be as awesome, right?

Sometimes this comes from adaptations where mecha is not in the original work. This could apply even to classic works. Just put the works in a futuristic setting, and you can throw in the giant robots. A sort of Recycled WITH MECHA!

Compare Rent-A-Zilla, Instant Awesome Just Add Dragons.

Anime and Manga

 * In Axis Powers Hetalia, Sealand asks Japan to making him like a power ranger and Sealand randomly becomes a Super Robot Mecha with a rocket punch. He has to call Iceland to get the fist back because The Rocket punch just kept going straight to Iceland and Iceland's head was in the way so it couldn't come back.
 * Soukou no Strain, which is based off of A Little Princess.
 * Gankutsuou, based off of The Count of Monte Cristo.
 * Another "mechanized" classic: Samurai Seven, based off of, obviously, The Seven Samurai.
 * The Big O might fit this, if, repeat if, you think the other elements could stand on their own. Even if you don't, there are some episodes in which it feels like they shoe-horned a giant robot fight in even if the episode didn't call for it.
 * Laputa: Castle in The Sky has not a trace of Humongous Mecha until about halfway through the movie.
 * Happens in the last episode of Kaiba.
 * The final battle of the School Festival arc in Mahou Sensei Negima throws in mecha just for the heck of it. And Gundam references. Plenty of Gundam references.
 * Burst Angel. 'Course, 90% of the the plot is things they thrown in for the hell of it, so it doesn't stand out too much.
 * Some fans of Kannazuki no Miko argue that the entire god-mecha thing is unnecessary.
 * Code Geass is a tale of war, oppression, supernatural powers and Black and Gray Morality. It also has mecha as a primary weapon.
 * The manga version of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion follows the same plot as the anime, except the Knightmares are non-existant. Instead, they wage war using way more realistic weapons (infantry, planes, VTOL-crafts, and ships. Kururugi Suzaku is seen piloting a VTOL-craft (an armed helicopter) most of the time).
 * Also done in the writers's new anime, Guilty Crown. It's a story that takes place after a major viral outbreak deemed Lost Christmas. Japan sacrificed its independence in exchange for stability and an eventual vaccine. Now, ten years later, things are under control. GHQ, the international organization charged with maintaining Jpan's stability has diverged form their original goal ad has developed a new Phlebotinum known as the Void Genome, that grants its user the power to draw weapons from people that reflect their personalities. After terrorist group bent on liberating Japan steals this weapon, it winds up being accidentally bonded to Ordinary High School Student Ouma Shu. And in this story of friendship, strife, and action filled with these fantastically animated weapons... Are Conspicuous CG robots that have no real purpose in the main story.
 * In One Piece, Mr. 3 creates one for himself out of candle wax. It's more dangerous than it sounds.
 * The finale of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's first season had Precia summoning an army of Mecha-Mooks, including a Humongous Mecha or ten. Though considering all the mecha references in Nanoha, it's more surprising that there aren't more.
 * A few years prior, the same director had Kyosuke Date go a few rounds with giant machines in SoulTaker.
 * Now and Then Here And There, an anime about cruelty and child exploitation in an apocalyptic world where the majority of civilization has hit a technological regression, adds in mechas when they're entirely unnecessary. Doesn't stop the show from being terribly tragic, but sort of contradicts the Dark Age atmosphere.
 * Soul Eater is best described as a supernatural-themed Fighting Series. Towards the end, however, there's one fight scene where it manages to pull off this trope in the most absurdly hilarious way possible. And yes, it was indeed awesome.
 * Basquash is street basketball in giant robots.
 * Magic Knight Rayearth. Although the mecha are cool to look at, they don't particuarly do anything that the Power Trio couldn't do on their own aside from scaling up the fights.
 * In the High School comedy I My Me Strawberry Eggs old lady Lulu has a motorbike that transforms into a humanoid firefighting mecha. There is no valid reason for this other than Rule of Cool.
 * This is pretty much the entire shift for Idolmaster Xenoglossia where it was just a talent show sim in its original form.
 * In Naruto, one of Pain's bodies is inexplicably some sort of Hollywood Cyborg, with rocket boots, a Rocket Punch, Macross Missile Massacre deployed from his other arm, and a laser beam from his head.
 * Red Garden: Dead Girls (OVA), Because being hundreds of years in the future isn't interesting enough, Gonzo decided it was time to add some mecha. Looking back on the TV series beginning episodes, one could never imagine this is how it would all end.
 * Full Metal Panic. Time: present. Location: Siberia. Scene: a jeep fleeing with two passengers, one of them a victim of illegal Soviet experimentation. As they are nearly safe, a Hind appears and blows away the jeep. The survivor is about to get shot by the Hind's chaingun when suddenly a HUGE knife flies out of the forest and impales the heli. Enter the protagonist in an M 9 E mecha using equipment that shouldn't exist for about 50 years. Seconds later we are treated to a scene of mechas jumping around like ninjas. Note again: this is the present, not the future.
 * The reason for the weird ubertechnology is gradually revealed in the manga and the original novels. And yes, it's VERY plot-relevant.
 * Even though Ghost in The Shell has Spider Tanks, actual mechas are very rare and rather on the small side. The lobby fight in the first season of Stand Alone Complex is already awesome, but when the mecha appears on the scene, the awesomeness instantly goes critical.
 * Not exactly a mecha, it was just a fairly large suit of Powered Armor
 * In Buso Renkin, most of the titular objects take the form of weapons. The boss of the Alchemist Army has his take the form of a giant mecha, which amplifies other weapons and abilities that are used by its other pilots.
 * Quite literal in Hanamaru Kindergarten: Tsuchida's puppet show is a fantasy fairytale...up until the handsome prince summons his giant robot, which the children think is awesome.
 * Air Gear has had a couple of these lately, starting with Caesar and Nina's AT Armors. Hell, soon enough even Kaito gets to pilot one
 * In Zettai Karen Children, one of the characters ES Per powers involves making toys real and fighting with them. Guess what he tends to fight with? (hint: it's a toy model, starts with the letter 'M' and ends with 'echa'). Aside from pure awesomeness factor, there is no justification for this.

Comic Books

 * The Sentinels.
 * The giant Batman / Superman composite mecha created by one of the many people that go by Toyman. This particular Toyman is a Japanese teenager, so it's at least understandable.
 * A version of this character from the future later appeared in Teen Titans piloting Grendizer.
 * In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 comics, Dawn (by now a giant) goes on a rampage through Tokyo, stomping on vampires and generally causing mayhem. The vampires counterattack with a Humongous Mecha version of Dawn with a Godzilla-esque tail and the two of them battle it out in the middle of the city, with Andrew giving tactics advice from a helicopter overhead.

Fan Fiction

 * This Warrior Cats fanfic declares that the only way Warriors could possibly be more awesome would be if the cats piloted giant mechs. And so they do.

Film
""Its a Transformer!"
 * When Spaceball 1 became (Drum Roll) Mega Maid.


 * Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, and the two video games modelled after it.
 * The mecha powerup is pretty useless in the Genesis version, though, since you can't save little girls with it in effect.
 * Even though Starship Troopers is based on the back cover of the novel that originally introduced the whole concept of Powered Armor, it and it's sequels have little to do with the original, and thus don't have the armor. Then the third movie "introduces" mechs just for the cool of it.
 * The first three Terminator films were conducted at the human scale. Watch the trailer for Salvation, however, and... suddenly, giant robot!
 * Particularly glaring because the future has motorcycle robots and flying robots. Why bother with a giant mecha?
 * Because in Salvation, Skynet was specifically enslaving the survivors, not just wiping humans out to the last. Not yet anyway. It was a mix of Shock and Awe and, given that it was programmed by humans in the first place, a bit of thematic flare. Besides, Terminator 2 also showed us the Hunter-Killer machines, which came in two flavors: 20-foot tall tank with a semi-humanoid upper torso and VTOL laser-armed gunship, so it's not like "bigger is better" wasn't already on their minds.
 * Sucker Punch. That is all.
 * All Star Wars films since The Empire Strikes Back have added walkers such as the AT-AT and AT-ST. The Phantom Menace even introduced Transforming Mecha (specifically, droid starfighters which could shift into walkers when needed.)
 * The new Gullivers Travels movie has a giant mech.
 * Wild Wild West. Dr. Loveless' giant steam-powered Spider Tank.

Live Action TV

 * The Doctor Who episode "The Next Doctor" has a giant Steampunk Cyberman trampling through 19th century London. Later on, a reason is given why it wasn't in the history books.
 * Super Sentai and Power Rangers. Let's face it, they don't need to include the Make My Monster Grow part every episode, but nobody's really complaining about the giant robots the Rangers pull out in response.
 * The entire practice of including Humongous Mecha in Sentai series began with the Japanese Spider-Man. I probably don't need to tell you that the original did just fine without a giant robot.
 * The first two Sentai series, Himitsu Sentai Goranger and JAKQ Dengekitai, had no super robots, just Gerry Anderson-esque vehicles, and the latter was not very successful - it was the introduction of super robots into the show with Battle Fever J that distinguished the show from the dozens of other Henshin Hero shows at the time and made it a Cash Cow Franchise.

Tabletop Games

 * "Yeah, Bob, I like the sound of this game where you play the solar-powered demigod, but do you think there's any way we could get, I don't know, giant magic suits of power armour into this? Except we can't really call them that, so...warstriders, yeah that's a good name. Warstriders."
 * "People beating the crap out of Cthulhu Mythos creatures is becoming a bit too common... What do you guys say we do it with mecha, and make a tabletop RPG out of it?"
 * "Hey, guys, I just had this awesome idea. Let's make a huuge golem out of flesh and bones, stat it up, and let nercromancers possesses it with Magic Jar!"
 * "All the action and adventure of World War II -- with mecha!"
 * Warhammer40k - because what's a massive, apocalyptic battle with without skyscraper-sized mechs that can level cities with a single shot?

Video Games
"Crypto: That is seriously messed up."
 * The titular Metal Gears could be anything, really, considering the themes of the games otherwise are unrelated to giant mecha. They do make for awesome boss battles, tho'.
 * Especially in Metal Gear Solid 4
 * In a nice bit of lamp-shade hanging in the book of the first game, Snake reflects that Otacon even gave the thing sound effects to sound like a dragon. It doesn't get much cooler than that.
 * Of course, Otacon is a Hollywood Otaku who got into robot engineering for the sole reason that he wanted to build Humongous Mecha like in Anime. Of course he is going to want to snazz it up. His commentary in MGS4 suggests he and the rest of the engineering team sneaked in a lot of little features like that, just because they had the oppertunity.
 * The Knights of the Holy Lance in Persona 2 are what happens when you throw this on a pot with Stupid Jetpack Hitler. They were supposed to have actual personalities and be feminine.
 * Warmech from Final Fantasy I.
 * Starcraft: The Goliath (and to a lesser extent the Dragoon) could've been a more normal tank-type vehicle, but that wouldn't have been nearly cool enough. The sequel adds even more.
 * The first Destroy All Humans game's second to final boss. Behold!


 * Also, the titular mecha of Big Willy Unleashed for the Wii.
 * Mystical Ninja starring Goemon: The giant mecha fights kinda came out of nowhere, and the game would probably have worked just fine without them. But is anyone complaining? Hell no! Goemon Impact is made of win!
 * The one-on-one duel between Sparkster and Axel Gear in Rocket Knight Adventures is fought in giant possum-shaped mecha.
 * Command and Conquer suddenly introduced the Titan and Mammoth Mk II in Tiberian Sun.
 * Final Fantasy IV had the Giant of Babil.
 * Final Fantasy V had the Omega Weapon as a Bonus Boss. And it had an upgrade for the Bonus Dungeon.
 * Fallout 3 features Liberty Prime, a giant robot who memorably spouts anti-communist propaganda in battle (making him a literal Propaganda Machine.) A particularly egrarious example, as Fallout 3 takes place in a post-apocalyptic Scavenger World where the realistic odds of anybody getting a functioning giant robot are astronomical. The guy is just so damn cool though, that's he's become a Memetic Mutation.
 * Dark Cloud 2 has Steve the Ridepod, Maximilian's upgradeable fighting robot.
 * Live a Live devotes an entire chapter to buildup of piloting a giant robot. And it was awesome.
 * The Jak and Daxter series has a line of mass-produced (in the distant past) Precursor Robots, used by the minuscule ottsel Precursors for much larger-scale tasks.
 * Dealt in Lead The Cavalry + Mecha = Mech-cavalry. Awesomeness ensues.
 * Gradius games get Cool Ship all over the place as it is, then Gaiden has to go and throw in the Metal Gear-esque Big Ducker boss, which is a huger version of one of the series' staple Mooks. WITH ROCKET SKATES.
 * In the Wii A Boy and His Blob,
 * In No More Heroes 2 Desperate Struggle, one of the bosses is an all-American football player backed by a squad of cheerleader assassins. He pilots a mech shaped like a football. Luckily, the player character (an Otaku) just happens to have a full-size working replica of the mech from his favorite Super Robot show lying around. That's the kind of game this is.
 * When Otaku Surrogate Sanae saw the titular Hisou Tensoku of Touhou 12.3: Hisou Tensoku, she immediately assumed this trope. Oh sure, a Humongous Mecha would look out of place in a Magical Land with a Fantasy Kitchen Sink, but as Sanae says, it's a Magical Land with a Fantasy Kitchen Sink, so why wouldn't there be giant robots? Naturally, the fandom ran away with this..
 * The Ride Armor from Mega Man X.
 * Welcome to Wild Arms, an RPG based on the wild west complete with horses and steam-powered locomotives. Your Chocobo for the game is a 30-foot tall, ancient, walking death-machine. Enjoy!
 * In Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, the titular hero summons a steam-powered robot through the ancient, mystical ritual... of Tea Time.
 * The Pokémon Golett and Golurk are very largely based upon golems, though they incorporate Humongous Mecha into their design as well. In particular, they're capable of using Fly without any sort of wings.
 * The Civilization series has always been relatively realistic, so some fans were incensed when the most recent iteration allowed players to build Giant Death Robots. This became much less of an objection once it was clear that by the time players had sufficient technology and resources to build them, the game was pretty much over already.

Webcomics

 * Operator: Take World War One. Add mecha. Add a bionic Sharingan. Then forget the WW 1 part.
 * Adventurers: "Since when did we have giant robots?"
 * The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob--Bob fights a giant robot lion for no apparent reason.

Web Original

 * The Whateley Universe is arguably one of the settings where despite the best efforts of human and mutant engineers, giant mecha canonically just plain don't work. (Power armor exists, but is much more to human scale.) And yet, during the big Halloween 2006 battle, perpetual school project Tiny Tim gets a personal Crowning Moment of Awesome once it's been brought to the surface -- not under its own power, mind -- by demonstrating that while it may not be able to walk worth a damn, at least some of its guns are quite operational...

Western Animation

 * The Mecha-Streisand episode of South Park.
 * Re Boot, but was justified, as it was in an episode parodying Power Rangers.
 * Family Guy. When Peter bans cripples from his restaurant, they come together to form "Cripple-Tron" (which, ironically, can walk).
 * When Peter becomes the producer of Lois' directorial debut of The King and I, Peter drives Lois so insane that she just gives him the director's seat out of frustration, and he eventually writes the role of Anna into a (male) sword-welding mecha when the previous actress drops out.
 * Parodied in Phineas and Ferb with Norm, the Giant Robot Man, a killer robot with the personality of a mild-mannered white-collar suburbanite.
 * Played relatively straight with the tree houses that turn into giant fighting robots in "Tree to Get Ready".
 * "A Hard Day's Knight" has a fight between a fire-breathing robot dragon and a mecha in the shape of Queen Elizabeth I, which has laser eyes.
 * The Fairly Odd Parents: Timmy's Dad made a mecha out of his car to battle his next door neighbor.
 * The titular character of Dexters Laboratory builds plenty of them.
 * Then the one time Dexter is in Japan, everybody has a Mecha from the school bullies to the teacher of the class.
 * In a Power Rangers parody, the water tower in Animaniacs becomes a Humongous Mecha.
 * In Batman the Brave And The Bold, the Batmobile can transform into a robot!
 * A Golden Age Lex Luthor pastiche (on an alien world where Bats had Superman-esque powers due to the environment) voiced by Clancy Brown had Raygun Gothic evil robots. It was even more awesome than it sounds.
 * Teen Titans: In the Teen Titans Go comic adaptation, the various vehicles used at different times by the cast can combine into a robot. We do not see this every day, and of course their cartoon and mainstream comic counterparts get along just fine without it.
 * The original G.I. Joe cartoon managed to have giant robots made of water.
 * While M.A.R.S. Industries in G.I. Joe Renegades would like to introduce you to their new line mech-suits, complete with Unstoppable Rage feature.

Real Life

 * There is real-size Gundam in Japan. It was finished in July 2009 and put down in september. Then it was put up again in July 2010 but with a beam saber. Oh, and it also moves a little bit.
 * The 2011 earthquake collapsed it.
 * Sumqayit, Azerbaijan. Polluted almost to the point of unihabitability, post-Soviet city-factory. Not cool at all? Think twice.