Mecha Pilot's Guide pg. 1-3

AKA Mech Research III- Anyway, thought it would be helpful to ask Otaking to show what the operational experience could be like for a pilot. This is also to gain an understanding of the realistic vs fantasy elements.

There's more pages coming, but in the meantime I'll let Otaking explain his approach!
-Producer Maki

Hello! Paul here. So, I've been modelling and designing the cockpit and figuring out how it all works. Even if we don't see the characters using every switch and button, it's still nice from a world building perspective for us to know what they all do. More pages to come, explaining how to walk, aim the turret, perform boost moves etc.
I watched a lot of technical videos on planes and tanks this week!

Please note that the images above are really basic CGI renders. They'll look properly 1980s anime OVA shaded in the actual film! I built my cockpits for the TIE Fighters and X-Wings the same way for the Star Wars project, then hand shaded everything. The aim as always is for everything to look hand-drawn.

This cockpit is a double-seater, with the driver/gunner at the front and an electronic warfare officer seated in the back, working all the radios and transponders, flying drones and working the maps and all around making the mech as invisible to enemy detection as possible (while also confusing enemies, sending false signals, making them think something's behind them etc).

The machine itself is pretty slow when walking - 35kph cruising speed, 80kph top speed and 110kph if you really push the engine and risk damage. This is still faster than modern tanks though, I believe..?
I wanted it to be someone slow and plodding to evoke that cool power fantasy of seeing an AT-AT walker from Star Wars. A real unstoppable force.

Of course , it does have a boost mode too, so it can "skate", Zaku-style for extended periods of time, as well as pulling off some pretty slick dodge maneuvers. I wanted a balance between the cool factor of a big heavy mech and a maneuverable, agile machine.

So it'll be a mix of walking over unstable or rocky terrain, and skating over relatively flat ground. It depends on what terrain our protagonists find themselves in!

There's always the debate between "real" robots (Macross, Gundam, Patlabor) vs "super" robots (Mazinger Z, Getter Robo). I obviously want this to "feel" real, so leaning 90% real robot style (no "press super button to instantly break the sound barrier and win"), with a few concessions given to having fun with it (boosting, jumping, maybe even having a heat blade for close up slashing).

We may yet streamline our actual mech design to make it look cooler. Are you all already super attached to it, or would you be OK with seeing a more agility-oriented build?

Either way, a cool mech is one thing, but whether the film will be fun to watch or not will come down to the story and the characters!

-Paul