Mecha-Mooks: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:Battle_Droids_2_6155.jpg|link=Star Wars|rightframe|Not squishy anywhere.]]
 
 
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== Anime & Manga ==
* The multitude of (live) enemy troopers who would get mowed down in most episodes of ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Anime)|Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]'' were [[Macekre|recast]] as [[Ridiculously -Human Robots]] in some of its various US incarnations (e.g., ''Battle of the Planets'').
* A subversion is featured in ''[[Texhnolyze]]''. The creepy white [[Death Ray]]-wielding Shapes appear to be Mecha-Mooks, but are in fact humans who have (voluntarily or otherwise) undergone full-body Texhnolyzation. Their heads, concealed beneath [[Cyber Cyclops|monocular faceplates]], as well as the rest of their organs, stuffed in a green cone in their chest, are all that remains of their original bodies.
* A subversion of this trope are the Pacifistas in ''[[One Piece]]'' {{spoiler|as they are cyborgs modified to be human weapons by the evil World Government, and they are anything but as just one of them took the Straw Hats everything they had to beat just one pre-timeskip.}}
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== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Classic (TV)|Battlestar Galactica Classic]]''. The Cylons were originally meant to be aliens in body armor, and were rewritten as robots to appease the censors. The remake calls them Centurions, and actually, they die at the same rate as fellow "skinjobs" a.k.a. the humanoid models. A similar fate seems to be with Raiders, until {{spoiler|it is shown, through Starbuck, that they are biological beings}}. Regarding Centurions, it turns out that {{spoiler|they have a personality and some degree of authority once they are freed from restrictive modules}}.<br />In the end, the Rebels {{spoiler|let them go off and find their own destiny, despite worries that they'll come back and try to destroy humanity. They think not, as they will most likely remember being freed and left to their own devices, rather than fighting their way out of slavery and still living with a plausible threat.}}
* About half of the time, the [[Mooks]] in ''[[Power Rangers]]'' are robots, including the Cogs (though the Putties of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|Mighty Morphin]]'' were actually golems). Robot or not, however, ''Power Rangers''' mooks are almost never shown to be killed, instead teleporting away once they have been incapacitated. ''[[Power Rangers Operation Overdrive|Operation Overdrive]]'' changes this, however, with a nearly unprecedented level of mook destruction, and at least one of the two sets of mooks are indeed alive. Quite a few Rinshi in ''[[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]]'' got reduced to purple dust, too. ''[[Power Rangers RPM|RPM]]'' goes back to having more durable grunts.) The same courtesy is seldom extended to the [[Monster of the Week]].
** In a bit of a retcon, Divatox's mooks in the ''[[Power Rangers Turbo|Turbo]]'' movie were quite clearly humanoids in fish-styled armor (we even see several of them with their faceplates off), but for the series, they've been downgraded to a non-humanoid fishlike race. The "tron" in "Piranhatron" suggests they're Mecha-Mooks, but they make squishy sounds when hit.
** The majority of Mooks in [[Toku]] tend to be either Mecha-Mooks or else mystical beings, rarely humans, except in cases where they disguise as humans such as the ''[[Metal Heroes|Space Sheriff]]'' trilogy.
* The Robot Santas from the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Runaway Bride" were robots under the control of the Queen of the Racnoss. They also appeared in "The Christmas Invasion", although there they were working by themselves.
** Also, while the Doctor might pay lip-service to [[Wangst]] over killing those poor defenceless rampaging armies of death that are Cybermen and Daleks, imagine the difference if organic beings were killed off in similar numbers. [[Fridge Logic|Despite the fact that, under the armour, they are organic beings.]]
*** For the record, he ''does'' regret killing even Daleks in some episodes, especially when said Dalek may be the last of its kind. This is in spite of them being [[Always Chaotic Evil]] by design. The Cybermen, while organic underneath, have had their emotions and feeling removed because of the constant horrific and intense pain their existence entails. It could literally be seen as putting them out of their misery.
** The Second Doctor fought [[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S6 E1 The Dominators|the Dominators]] and their army of Mecha Mooks, the Quarks. The spiky-faced little dudes seem to have made an impression: when the Time Lords put him [[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S6 E7 The War Games|on trial]], the Doctor mentions the Quarks alongside the Daleks and Cybermen in his list of cosmic evils who need to be fought.
 
 
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** Though in general the original ''[[Jonny Quest (Animation)|Jonny Quest]]'' series [[Moral Dissonance|didn't have many problems killing off human Mooks]] as long as it wasn't ''too'' graphic, like the two frogmen crushed by the leaping motorboat in the title sequence.
* The original ''[[TMNT 1987|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ]]'' cartoon turned the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage (Comic Book)|original comic's]] Foot Ninja into a robotic army with unlimited numbers. In the Turtles' first battle with the Foot, they were evenly matched with the robot ninjas until one of them was sliced open. Then began the dismemberment.
* Heavily subverted by ''[[Samurai Jack]]'': although he only ever cut the Mecha-Mooks (or [[Demonic Invaders]]) with his sword, they always seemed to be [[Ridiculously -Human Robots]], either outside or internally ("veins" and "bones" in the interior of a roach-robot Jack cut in two, for instance). This allowed the show to get away with the [[High-Pressure Blood]] trope and other extreme scenes of carnage, because [[Symbolic Blood|it was just oil]]. ''Really.''
** Additionally subverted in one episode in which an episode is told through the perspective of a mecha-mook, and his very real, very human emotions are made painfully apparent to the viewer. Then he fights Jack and gets cut up like any other robotic malcontent.
** Also averted at least once. Jack strikes several people with his sword in the episode where the bounty hunters team up to beat him (and one gets blown up), and they're not revealed to be robots afterwards...
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*** There's also the Terrorcons from the five-part pilot, robot zombies whose on purpose in unlife was to get gloriously dismembered by Optimus Prime and Ratchet.
* ''[[Duck Dodgers]]''
** The regular Mecha-Mooks, the Martian Centurions, are something of a subversion in any case, being [[Ridiculously -Human Robots|Ridiculously Human]] [[Punch Clock Villain|Punch Clock Villains]].
** In an episode, due to [[Applied Phlebotinum]] Cadet is transformed into a gruff, testosterone-fueled, hulking [[Action Hero]] and viciously blows up two enemy fighter ships.
{{quote| '''Dodgers:''' Uh..., those were just ''robot''-piloted ships, right?<br />
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[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Mecha-Mooks]]
[[Category:Trope]]