1. Mecha are Always Awesome
Finally, for all the changes the Jaegers bring to the mech game, they still acknowledge their gundamanium roots and Gatchaman genealogy.
To answer what’s undoubtedly on your mind — no, there are no rocket fists for the mechs, a la Gigantor, as that would make no sense from a design stand-point. To make a fist shoot out and fly back into place would not only require an on board AI for the fists, but tons of rocket-fuel.
What we get instead are rocket-propelled elbows! It still gives you the satisfying impact of a rocket fist, but with no messy clean up or additional fuel tank loading, and it’s one of those things you’re just surprised no one has thought of before.
Actually, I think they had something similar for the mechs in Big O! Except it was more of giant propeller forearms there, and the mechs there were reluctantly called Mega Dueces…Just makes me think of what happens on a Sunday morning after a night of jaeger bombs, sake bombs for the sake of alcoholic symmetry, and a chipotle chaser.
Speaking of design flaws, y’know what always bothered me about Gundam in general? The fact that they make gigantic proportional assault rifles for the mechs, rifles that use giant, Shaq sized bullets for ammunition. That would mean a single bullet would cost the equivalent of a basketball center made out of precious fictional space metal. So while Pacific Rim doesn’t have giant dumb robot guns, they still throw in giant chest-mounted robot missiles, ones that require a team of engineers and an industrial-sized hangar to reload.
As if these homages and adaptations of mech staples weren’t enough, in an example of perfect casting that is only outshined by Patrick Stewart’s head as Professor Charles Xavier, the on board A.I. for Gipsy Danger is voiced by Ellen Mclain, otherwise known as the passive aggressively cruel A.I. Antagonist from Portal, GLaDOS. As awesome things go, this is like finding out that you can’t go to the Ellie Goulding concert for your birthday because she’s shown up at your door to wish you a dubstep-mixed Happy Birthday.
Mind you I tried to keep this article majority spoiler-free, so I’m just scratching the surface of this iceberg that turns out to just be a partially frozen humanoid exosuit, so what do you think? Is the drift system a hokey gimmick or the new standard of mech piloting? Would an American Jaeger just be a giant red, white and blue mecha Eagle? Do you still wish for giant Mech-proportionate assault rifles? Then would you kindly let us know in the comments?
