What are Mecha?

Science fiction is full of robots, strength amplifying armor and a wide variety of military machines. Mecha or Mech's are a hybrid of all of these. The term Mecha comes from Japanese anime. In Japan the term is used to describe virtually any sort of mechanical device from cars to copy machines. In western science fiction though it refers to legged piloted machines that can be conceptually traced back to the martian tripods in H. G. Wells War of the Worlds. Although many mecha are depicted as humanoid this is hardly universal. The Imperial A.T.A.T.'s from the Star Wars series can be defined as quadrupedal mecha. Although robots such as those portrayed in the “Transformers” franchise are aesthetically similar to many mecha the latter are portrayed as piloted by an organic operator rather than being autonomous. The similarity is no accident, many of the toys that started the first generation of the “Transformers” actually started out as toy mecha in Japan it was only when Hasbro imported them that a story line of them being sentient alien machines was created. Many mecha in anime are the result of joint marketing efforts between animation studios and toy and model makers. In American game and tie in fiction original designs (those not based on something imported from Japan) like those in the Mechwarrior or Heavy Gear settings, start out solely as the product of game company artists. Although the American originals may start out as game illustrations they usually have miniatures based on the artwork and sometimes toys or models.
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