41st post celebration!

... at which point the Prince and the Pauper both picked up their Martinis and had a sip, resulting in the Pauper shouting "Wait a minute, this isn't a Martini!" Everyone had a hearty laugh, except the Prince, who ordered the poor person shot.

(Since I forgot a 100 list thing last post (I was drunk, lay off!) I'll put two in this post.)

• 5. When I was young, I had to get checked out by professionals twice to see if I was 'special'. Yeah, that's a line that gets the ladies rollin' in!
• 6. I have never used a pick up line. Hell, I've been too shy to even be the one to initiate most conversations. Yet they often seem to spring up.

Since I've been watching the anime recommended to me by a friend recently, I figured I'd dedicate this post to the wonderful topic of giant robots. In general, among various mediums there are three forms of robots. There are the 'real' robots, the 'super' robots, and the 'mystic' robots. Each of them, from a writing position, have their own special advantages and disadvantages.

Real robots are the type that're restricted by some forms of 'genuine' mechanics. The most obvious example are Battletech robots. They have their own rules for combat, and mostly cannot act outside of the realms of possibility for ten meter tall mechanical constructs. They still suffer from limited movement possibilities, although they do move far more impressively then any modern human construct of the same type could.

The primary advantages of storytelling with the real robots is that they allow human error, since they can be incorrectly wired, have mechanical faults, and are generally fallible. Also, since they're all constructed from similar basic principles, you won't have many situations were one lone prototype is capable of destroying billions of mass production models of supposedly similar specs. They follow simply understood rules, wherein a few basic presuppositions are understood. Heavier = better armour and weapons. Lighter = faster. That sort of thing. Their fallibility means that in appropriate cases, supposedly outclassed foes DO stand a chance, and there are few situations of "Oh, well the Gundam's here, let's all just go home."

The primary disadvantages are that since everything relies upon similar rules, the commonly used dues ex machina idea so loved in stories of all forms fails. If a Regiment of Battlemechs are slowly advancing through your city, destroying everything they come across, then any Dues Ex Machina to save you had better be another bloody regiment! You sure as hell aren't going to get any kind of small team of supermechs showing up and saving the day, which does limit some dramatic possibilities. In addition, unlike other giant robot styles where things are a little fuzzy, in Real mech types then everything is understood very well, meaning there isn't much wiggle room for "what can beat what" barring extremely lucky shots.

Super robots are the type commonly used in many anime shows. The scientific principles behind them are left deliberately fuzzy, often calling upon some super energy source that is never explained properly. The weaponry can vary from machine guns to heavy energy blasters (often in the same show). All this adds up to allow for immense differences between the potential abilities of two similarly designed models, often skirted around simply by saying "This one is a mass production model, while this is a specially designed experimental model"

The most obvious advantage of this method of story telling is that it allows the actions of the few (the main characters) to have major and dramatic effects on the world as a whole quite easily. The super powerful robots piloted by the heroes can show up as the true saviors of an entire planet, taking out many times their number. These fuzzy rules allow for enormous lengths of author alteration. It's impossible to say which particular model of robot is better then which other model outside of a direct battle between the two, since their capacities vary so much, and without specific explanations on what-does-what, there's no real basis for the authors interpretation to seem implausible. Perhaps most obvious is that this sort of ruleset allows the author to give an OBVIOUS reason to focus upon the heroes of the story. They have the awesome f-ing good robots.

The diadvantages are just as irritating, however. When the heroes robots are so ridiculously overpowered, the only real way to offer any sort of genuine challenge is to give the villains equally (or even more so) powered robots. This in turn reduces any 'grunts' involved in the battle to a level below useless. And if that's the case, well there's no drama involved in ANY battle if it's "Super robot versus army of grunts". This really lowers the tension, especially compared to the Real Robot style, in which EVERY battle can (but, let's face it, probably won't) end in peril.

Finally the Mystic robots. These are your Voltron style machines, completely non-understood 'magical' (or ridiculously technologically advanced) robots, sometimes placed among more 'mundane' robots to make their incredible capacities stand out even more. They have completely unexplained capabilities (such as merging into a more powerful robot, or just somehow being miles ahead things that should, by all rights, be comparable to them) and often interact with their pilots through a form of mental or spiritual interface.

This style of story appeals to younger viewers, more often, but in that way it works quite well. It doesn't overburden the story with meticulous details, and always leaves the good guys able to 'power up' their machine should they be in severe danger of some sort. Plus the mystical element adds an element of the unknown to the machine, giving it a layer of uncertainty. Maybe it'll pull out a super weapon never before seen, this episode. Or maybe due to events barely understood it could be heavily underpowered.

The most obvious problem with this method is, quite simply, the characters are obviously VERY rarely in any form of danger. Plus it requires an enormous amount of suspension of disbelief to think the characters just always happen to leave powering their capacities up to full to the very end of the story every single time. If I was fighting for my life, I'd go for overkill every single time, just to be sure. Finally, and this is a matter of personal opinion, but this type of giant robot just feels like a cheat. It feels like just another stage of "Character gets more powerful to defeat powerful opponent." You could substitute 'uses giant robot' with 'grows in size', 'activates power amulet' or 'charges up magic weapon' into the story line and it would look no different. It's not really any kind of Giant Robot, it's just a story vehicle.

So, hopefully that enlightened you a little on how much spare time I have.