AaltomiesRobot anime, mecha, and the Transformers
For a good thirty years or so the Transformers fandom has been arguing whether their beloved franchise belongs to the mecha genre. On the surface to the general audience, this seems like a petty in-group fight but scratching the surface shows that the defining term is contested and has been an issue within other fandoms and groups elsewhere.
Mecha is a Japanese term, usually a shorthand loanword for mechanical. While the term has existed at least since World War II, the first public mention of mechanical designers in Japanese media can be found in 1972’s Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, crediting Mitsuki Nakamura and Kunio Okawara. This is generally considered the genesis, which in the Golden Age of Japanese animation in the 1970s saw considerable growth.
If we follow the trends that define these mechanical designs in that era, we see giant, often humanoid, machines controlled by people, be they human, alien, or something in between. Using Mazinger Z from 1973 as an example, we have a mechanical giant controlled via an aircraft on its head. The opening theme song declares it a super robot, which would become a genre definer in itself. Later shows would mimic, copy, and be inspired by Mazinger Z over predecessors in the genre, like Tetsujin #28 and Astroganga. However, super robot was a catch-all term for some time, basically encompassing all these shows that were financed by toy companies to sell the latest toys. The Chogokin toyline started with Mazinger Z toys by Popy, and the Japanese toy industry (and children) was swept by these metallic toys.
Mazinger Z’s successors, from Getter Robo and Super Electromagnetic Robot Combattler V all the way to the decade’s end with Mobile Suit Gundam and The Invincible Robot Trider G7, show that Japan’s genre was robot anime, not mecha.
Robots of course don’t always exactly apply to these mechanical giants. Robots are automated machines, which can act as they are programmed to, though they can (and often must be) guided by an external control device. They can be autonomous or semi-autonomous, e.g., vacuum cleaner robots are usually able to find their own charging stations. Self-driving cars also fall into this category, as they move on their own, but something like an automatic transmission car doesn’t, as it requires direct control within the vehicle by its driver.
As such, the term robots doesn’t seem to apply to robot anime, but popular culture has already adopted the term to describe these fictional machines as such. People know the difference and can articulate it to varying degrees, as we are able to tell the difference between fiction and reality. The pop-culture image of a robot is that of a huge hunk of metal walking about, whether a pilot is present is largely inconsequential. We could candidly say that only nerds get stuck on this while the majority of society doesn’t really care to make a point about the difference.
Nevertheless, while the genre may be robot anime, these piloted mechanical beings got the term mecha at some point. The loanword was, and sometimes still is, applied to whatever mechanical contraption people have at hand, be it a toaster or something else. The term organically evolved and was applied to these piloted mechanical things. However, there were no written rules about this.
We should also look at where the 1970s robot anime stemmed from. The 1950s and 1960s tokusatsu boom had started to wane, but Japan still loved giant monsters. As that genre changed, it introduced monster battling. Giant monsters defending the Earth from other, more evil giant monsters and aliens. It’s not hard to draw a line between this and having a human in a giant robot fighting similar monsters, something that would define the whole monster-of-the-week paradigm most robot anime would work under.
Mazinger Z’s enemy force was the Mechanical Beasts, creatures of all forms and shapes made of metal and powered by nuclear energy. Great Mazinger would face Battle Beasts, Mycenaean cyborgs made from organic parts installed in mechanical frames and controlled by implanted brains from Mycenaean Warriors. In the same series lineup, Grendizer would face the Vegan Empire’s Saucer Beasts, made from Vegatron Ore and powered by the radiation the ore emitted, just as varied as their predecessor enemy forces. They were a mix of piloted mecha and brain-implant cyborgs.
All these three enemy forces in the original Mazinger TV continuity had the term mecha applied to them despite their appearances, inorganic/organic status, or whether they had a pilot. This was because in general parlance the term was widely applied to these fictional mechanical things, just as it was applied to real-life things. However, with the popularity and continued success of robot anime, the term mecha evolved to refer to fictional giant machines foremost. As a genre definer, the Japanese have adopted mecha in some form to exist alongside the more popular and widespread robot anime, as that fits the cultural landscape much better as a descriptor and the way the genre has evolved since Tetsujin #28.
The term mecha first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1978, defining it as “In anime, manga, etc.: a giant armoured robot, typically piloted by a person or creature inside the robot itself.” Here we see pop-culture in action, where the term is defined as a robot that’s being piloted, while a robot is described as a machine controlled by a computer to perform automated jobs. These two don’t mix with each other, unless we take into account the pop-culture influence and accept that a robot can be a general mechanical contraption that’s either automated or directly controlled.
However, the first movie example the Oxford dictionary’s website uses is that of Terror of Mechagodzilla, which is a robot externally controlled by a device inside the cyborg Katsura Mafune. It’s an odd choice, but a perfect one to illustrate how mecha in English parlance stems from its Japanese origin and mixes things up.
When mecha entered the English lexicon is lost to time. I assume it crossed the ocean sometime in the 1970s with Japanese television and toys, supported by the fandom that existed at the time. The term would find more popular use in the 1980s and 1990s as Japanese popular culture spread across the world, though in Central European countries, which dealt with Japan directly rather than importing content from the US, they followed the Japanese nomenclature. It’s impossible for me to pinpoint any exact event or person who can be credited with coining any of these terms per se, as they’re the natural growth of cultural exchange.
BattleTech is an early example of adapting Japanese mecha into American culture. Back in 1984, FASA licensed rights to use pre-existing mecha designs from various Japanese works through Twentieth Century Imports (CTI) rather than making their own. CTI was importing Japanese models of numerous shows, Crusher Joe, Fang of the Sun Dougram, and Superdimensional Fortress Macross, to name a few. BattleDroids was a success and would be renamed BattleTech to avoid issues with George Lucas.
However, CTI likely lacked the legal rights to license any of these designs. FASA sued Playmates in 1993 due to Exosquad’s animated series’ mechanical designs looking similar to BattleMechs and lost. At the same time, Playmates was licensing Robotech from Harmony Gold, who then sued FASA for the use of designs Harmony Gold had directly licensed from Studio Nue and Tatsunoko. FASA ended up settling the lawsuit in 1996, likely because they lacked the proper rights to use the designs, and thus they were removed from the game and became the Unseen. While the BattleTech designs have changed to more unique designs, there are still a handful of BattleMechs that were lifted from anime, like the Atlas being a traced Scopedog.
The reason I’m covering BattleTech in this very short fashion is because the game’s term “mech” is specifically for its own setting, in which all of these robots are piloted. Much like the Transformers fandom, the BattleTech fandom has made arguments from time to time that “mech” is a descriptor for a utility, realistic machine, typically piloted, while “mecha” is for the more fantastical machines seen in Japanese media. Justification within BattleTech’s fiction for the BattleMechs is very similar to so many Japanese takes on giant pilotable machines. The supposedly realistic take BattleTech has is in its rules for calculating damages and movement, though this is not different from any other tabletop game that uses simulation as a game design approach, Japanese or American. However, in recent decades the argument seems to have toned down to some extent, with less fervor to distinguish between “mecha” and “mech”.
So, by the late 1990s, the English-speaking world seems to have adopted the term mecha as a genre descriptor that corresponds somewhat with the Japanese robot anime, but not exactly. The English term is both a descriptor for a genre and for these giant robots clashing with each other, and ultimately becomes even more expansive than robot anime.
By the mid-2000s, 4chan had spun its /m/echa board out from /a/nime due to the amount of Gundam and other robot anime being posted and discussed there. Not too long after that, /m/ went through its own internal argument over what mecha meant and what it should encompass. Some would use the Japanese meaning in its general form, including Kamen Rider, Warhammer 40,000, and Space Pirate Harlock as all these shared mechanical elements from cyborgs and powered armors to spaceships and robots.
On its face, this is laughable, but considering these were mechanical things people on the board wanted to discuss, some found their place. Warhammer 40,000, however, was largely rejected as a whole, which contributed to the creation of the neckbeard board /tg/. Some anons wanted the board to stay purely about the robots, the mecha, rather than allow bugmen there. Arguments went left and right, echoing past Trukk not Munky in some manner, but as things stabilized, anons largely agreed tokusatsu would be allowed on /m/ as an honorary thing. In a way, the board became about Japanese science fiction with a very heavy leaning on giant robots, with an occasional thread about Western media fitting the general categorization.
That general categorization seems to be the downfall for the term though. Whether it’s through misunderstanding mecha and robot, everything that has some kind of mechanical design seems to have been thrown under that label at some point by some fan. If they’re an influential fan, that has expanded. Still, at the same time, shows that are under the Japanese robot anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion are not mecha in genre because the pilotable giants in question are biological in nature rather than strictly mechanical. Similarly, some argue whether or not Outlaw Star is mecha because it has a spaceship with grappling arms.
The thing we also need to note before moving into Transformers is that mecha is a dirty word, a slur for some people. It denotes a show that’s about the robots, with little character development or even story and mainly focuses on selling toys. Shows like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Code Geass have fans arguing that they’re not mecha either, as their focus is not on robots. However, they have just as much focus on the robots in the shows as some of their contemporaries and predecessors. Sometimes the argument is that the robots in these shows are mostly in the background and could be exchanged with generic military or fighting vehicles or similar without changing the story in and of itself. The same could be argued about numerous other shows as well, including Mobile Suit Gundam, where the Mobile Suits could be, e.g., fighters or some other fighting vehicle without changing the core of the story.
I find this argument weak, as taking out giant robots and replacing them with whatever would have a large impact on the story’s visuals and design. These things are just as much part of the overall world as any design selection. Neither of the two aforementioned examples are alone in their genre; Gurren Lagann is very much a traditional super robot show at its core, while Code Geass is Gundam with Clamp paint on it. These arguments about whether something is or isn’t seem to stem mostly from people who don’t really wander out of their comfort zone when it comes to media and end up making excuses about why they would enjoy a genre that they malign.
After laying all that out for context on how robot anime, robot, mecha anime, and mecha work, I should define the terms. My aim is to give one clear definition for each. These are my takes, so you’d know where I’m looking at things with Transformers.
I think we all can agree that robot anime as a genre definer is any animation work that has robots as part of their main component. Examples would be Code Geass, Escaflowne, Patlabor, and Medabots. Ghost in the Shell would be an example of a work that has robots, but they’re not the main component, but rather part of the cyberpunk genre. The main component would require the robots to be the main vehicle, designed to drive things to a certain extent. This could be a Mazinger Z-like lone warrior, or a part of a military force like Knightmare Frames. Thus, it becomes a sort of umbrella term for a wide variety of shows, but exclusionary enough.
Robot in this context would be all the mechanical things that aren’t some sort of vehicle. For example, a car wouldn’t be a robot, and neither would a tank. A cyborg, any vaguely humanoid mechanical thing, or an industrial robot would fall under this, as the term needs to be vague enough to encompass pilotable biological beings with some sort of mechanical element to them. Shows like Fight!! Iczer-1 have Iczer-Robo, which is constructed via fusion of biological gestation and cybernetics, and would be a robot in this general term. While I don’t like this to be this general, I must acknowledge how general pop-culture views most things vaguely mechanical as a robot of sorts. Something that’s equipped, like armor, wouldn’t be a robot though.
These two lean on the Japanese use for the terms more than anything, similar to how the two following base themselves on what the English-speaking netizens tend to use. Because there is no true authority deciding in this matter (no, I don’t consider an almost fifty-year-old definition with a contradictory example valid), we need to take cultural and regional uses into notion. However, I’m going against that and trying to fit a larger view together, with one asterisk.
Mecha (insert media) is a wider term, encompassing any media form that uses mechanical things as a main point for the story or setting. Thus, we allow the technology of things to determine whether it is mecha in genre. It would still require some sort of mechanical thing or a pilotable vaguely humanoid thing to be extant in the work as a major element. Star Trek wouldn’t qualify, as those are not in the show’s main focus. For Star Trek, the setting has a focus on spaceships, which are a more general science fiction concept than what mecha looks for. To use Code Geass as yet another example, it qualifies because it does have Knightmare Frames as an important part of its setting.
Mecha then would be, modified from the Oxford dictionary, an armoured robot, independently acting, or piloted or influenced by a person or creature. By not determining whether or not the mecha is controlled from inside or outside, we allow leeway for Giant Robo and Tetsujin #28. I find it necessary to change the stricter determiner typically piloted as that trips all the mecha that are autonomous. This modification also allows the Oxford dictionary’s Mechagodzilla example to fit in better. By allowing independent actions, we’re allowing cyborgs like Kiryu to be counted as mecha. I can’t define mecha as built either, as in media there are clear examples of mecha that have been brought into existence via magic or other means.
Here’s the huge asterisk here. This is when talking with the English-speaking audience. When using mecha within the Japanese-speaking sphere, it should have that “all-machine things” coverage. Thus, when talking about, for example, the mecha in Star Trek, this specifically means the mechanical designs of the show, all the ships and whatnot.
Where does Transformers fit in? Well, it clearly has robots as per the first of the four, and consists mostly of animated works with robots, so that’s two out of four. Whether or not Transformers as a property is mecha media, I have to consider its nature as a science fiction work.
Some argue that it is straight up mecha because it leans heavily on its Japanese history with the toys. However, despite Diaclone serving as the source for most of the Transformers toys, none of the lore is found in the legacy. Whatever form the ‘bots took is irrelevant to the fact that Hasbro and Marvel created the story around the Transformers property. It’s the same thing they did with G.I. Joe prior, just with toys from elsewhere. However, as Transformers as a property was imported to Japan, it gained its own continuity with numerous comics and changes due to the localization. Then we have the Japanese Generation 1 and Beast Wars cartoons that have no relevance in the American continuity. Despite the US, and through that the rest of the world, importing Japanese shows Car Robots, Micron Legend, Super Link, and Galaxy Force, the property is still at its core American. Hasbro goes hand in hand with TakaraTomy nowadays with the toys, often leading to both sides doing their own things and leaving Europeans outside the UK hanging empty-handed. However, the main, big stories have historically come from the English side of the deal.
The big question is in the last part: Are Transformers mecha? The Oxford definition doesn’t make any marks on how a mecha can be brought into existence. In the Transformers’ case, it was originally evolution on their planet in the comics, replaced later by being creations of Primus, a god. In the Generation 1 cartoon, they were slave robots that overthrew their creators. Each new continuity would alter these, but Primus as a creator god is the most common. Whatever origin story we use, Transformers are fully sentient beings and don’t fit the typically piloted part. We can take note of Super God Masterforce and Headmasters here, where Transformers fit the bill better, but these are more exceptions that make the rule.
I don’t think it really matters if a mecha is alive or not. We’ve got examples from properties predating Transformers that have alive mecha that do not have pilots, like the Battle Beasts from Great Mazinger. Arguably, the titular Ambassador Magma is also a living mecha, magically forged from gold by the wizard of Earth. However, the term mecha has never been applied to him, as he dates before the genre took flight. Ambassador Magma defies being defined as a robot or mecha because of this. However, P Productions, the company responsible for the Ambassador Magma series, categorizes him as a giant robot due to his appearance and mechanical abilities. The Osamu Tezuka Official Website used to agree with this definition replacing it with Rocket Human nowadays. This supports my definition for robot well. However, Japanese fandom and even some of the other official materials call Magma a robot-like hero. It seems the Transformers fandom having an issue with their robots being alive is similar to that of Magma’s, meaning should Transformers as a whole be put into a similar category of robot-like heroes?
I would argue against this on the basis that both Hasbro and TakaraTomy extensively use the terms robot and mecha in their promotional and in-universe materials. The standard form names are Robot Mode and Alternative Mode, so there’s a clear definition there. This follows the pop-culture definition for robot largely globally, but we should also acknowledge that this is mostly just playing to the general optics. In no manner are Transformers’ Cybertronians robots by strict definition of the word, as they’re neither programmed via computers nor controlled externally by some other device. The fiction uses tons of human technology equivalents though, as that’s what we as readers and viewers can easily grasp without needing extensive explanations of what’s what. Ratchet complaining about his aching servos is an easy shorthand for his joints aching, or how Memory Drive is an equivalent for your hard drive as both are mechanical data recording devices.
In appearance, and how it’s marketed and sold, Transformers would qualify as mecha if we go by the general terms. If it quacks like a duck and all that. I’d argue that there’s no real argument to be had when it comes to how we could define the property or the characters in Japanese usage, mecha included as they are mechanical things. However, as the property is American, I had to consider what that side of the pond thinks first. The distinction as used by the American fandom has three approaches in general terms.
First would be the one that splits Japanese mecha and American mech (as defined by BattleTech) differently, where American robots are more utilitarian and war machines compared to the Japanese ones. This of course ignores that Japan has the most realistic take on mech/a, but that’s part of the argument. This is more about the design and aesthetic of the things. In this view, Transformers would be its own genre, which isn’t actually the case as the Brave franchise exists. Another would be Machine Robo, G1 Transformers contemporary franchise in Japan, which too had sentient, living machines.
Second would be that all properties with mechanical things count as mecha. This is a loanword of the Japanese mecha in its more expansive form, something I would argue against as this use of the term is about thirty or forty years behind. It also encompasses too much too widely, as I’ve argued above. A definer that counts your toaster in the same category as a tank is useless, but I do understand the core reasoning. Both are mechanical, which is enough for some.
The third one that I’ve seen used for mecha is exclusively for pilotable machines. Doesn’t matter if the mecha is alive or not; if it doesn’t have someone piloting it, it’s not a mecha but a robot. I can understand the approach in this too, as that’d make a split between independent robots and directly controlled robots. Giant is sometimes also a genre and type qualifier, giving a certain image about the media. Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot may be the term codifier, as the robot in the series is Giant Robo, which is the series’ original name. In this view, Giant Robo wouldn’t be a mecha as it is not piloted, but a robot as it is externally controlled and in the original series gains sentience.
To me it seems the English-speaking users can be roughly split between those who want to use American terms and those who want to stick with more Japanese definitions. The small irony here is that neither seems to be exactly accurate in their usage, leading to a lot of variation between communities and groups, sometimes overlapping or using different terms for the same things. Trying to introduce nuance in this discussion leads to nerd fights in comic book shops, which isn’t a bad thing as that shows the enthusiasm in people.
If we distill this down as much as possible to its core components, whether or not a mecha is piloted or not doesn’t matter. Even the Oxford dictionary has the word typically in there and uses Mechagodzilla as one of the examples. Robot and mecha are largely used as synonyms with each other with the latter giving too much leeway. Some argue that mecha is so encompassing that it’s a general umbrella term for anything that has a mechanical element, meaning cyberpunk would fall under mecha because it contains exploration of technology and has all kinds of robots. This makes mecha useless as a term, because what’s been described are ideas and concepts widely found in science fiction. Mecha don’t necessarily need to be part of science fiction though, as nothing should prevent fantasy from having giant robots as well. Fantasy itself doesn’t exclude the usage of technology and elements that could be found in science fiction. SF is a sub-genre of fantasy after all. The 1980s were full of fantasy that had strong science fiction vibes to it, including the early Ultima games. This in turn influenced Japanese media, hence why fantasy comics like Magic Knight Rayearth have that mix to them.
I think I’ve covered the major arguments and laid out some of their bases. I’m sure I’m missing something people will have issues with, and the rambling nature and constant changing of terms doesn’t help.
Let me answer the question: Is Transformers mecha? In short, yes. The Transformers franchise and the Cybertronians in fiction are atypical mecha, non-piloted robots.
Then what makes them robots? Popular perception and how Hasbro and TakaraTomy sell them, as well as terms used in the stories, make them mechanical beings and thus robots in how pop-culture uses the term. They are, after all, robots in disguise. Even when talking within the terms of the fiction, Cybertronians have been constantly called with mechanical or similar terms as other robots and mecha.
I don’t draw a distinction between robots and mecha from a cultural, aesthetic, or use perspective. That’s why we have the terms super robot and real robot to further describe these things, with, e.g., BattleTech falling strictly in the real robot side of things. Transformers often depicts actions and feats that exclude the Cybertronians from being realistic. A few of these are Mass Shifting and their main gimmick, physics-defying form changing. This is very clear in the Japanese-made media and there is no contest if we count them equally valid as Western-produced materials (remember the whole Super Robot Lifeform thing?). Splitting the terms between what’s US-made and what’s Japanese-made seems rather racist, as genre definitions aren’t exactly split between countries. They can take different forms depending on the culture and its media, but the general definitions apply.
Which is why I argue mecha is not a good definition. I use it too as a general shorthand for robot media and robots found in these media, as I recognize the wide use of the term. It’s not universal though, as I’ve covered. It should be limited to use in robot media, and as such would encompass certain kinds of mechanical entities, living or not. This is also why I fully understand why Transformers might not be counted as mecha, because the pilotable part is a damn good qualifier, something that makes a clear statement of things.
Transformers is the exception that makes the rule.
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