"Single best Mecha design" Topic

Battletech, Robotech, CAV, Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles, Gear Krieg and other games have given us tons of interesting mecha designs over the years.

What's your favorite single mecha design?

That's a tough one, but I'll go with the Kodiak Destroyer from Heavy Gear.

Tomahawk from Robotech.

The Valkyrie from Gear Krieg.

Madcat from Battletech.

Gundam.

it would be helpful if people could include pictures, all the more so because many Battletech & Robotech mecha are identical in appearance but not names.

Here are some of the ones people mentioned

Tomahawk from Robotech (aka to Battletech fans as the Warhammer)

Kodiak

Madcat

Stryderg

Official design: Battletech Marauder
link

My design: Battletech Catapult (6 LRM20's, move 8, pretty well armored, 50 or 60 tons). Paired up with a Locus for scouting and bringing the rain!

Monster Mk II Destroid (Super Dimension Fortress Macross)

Ooh, any number of the early Doyousha/Nitto Dougram kits.

For this poll, I'll say:
Battletech Goliath / Dougram Crabgunner

Man, that's actually a tough call!

I mean, the Valkyries (and the other Variable Technology Fighters) from Macross/Robotech are badass incarnate, though improbable in the extreme.

Of those, well, my favorite is the VF-4 Lightning III:

If limited to non-transforming mecha, that's still a tough decision.

I like the Robotech Tomahawk/Battletech Warhammer. In fact, that's probably my favorite mecha in that size class.

If you step down a bit in size, you get to the Arm Slaves from Full Metal Panic. Those are ~8.5m tall and around 10 tons.

M9 Gernsback:

But those are still awfully big, tough to hide something that big except behind a 3-4-story building.

About the largest 'realistic' mecha I can see working is the Tactical Armors from the anime Gasaraki:

The Tactical Armors are ~4m tall, give or take half a meter. The various Heavy Gears from Dream Pod 9 are about the same size.

And then you get to the most reasonable mecha: Landmates, from Masamune Shirow's Appleseed:

A Landmate is small, the pilot sits in the bottom of the torso with their legs extending into the legs of the landmate:

Landmates are probably overall my favorite.

My favorite is the Valkyrie.

It was my gateway mecha. Before Macross/Robotech I thought that the "giant robot" concept was silly. Then one morning, before church, I caught a segment of Robotech (Bye, Bye Mars) and I was blown away.

The Valk is an amazing piece of imagination. It is a beautiful design and has such a realistic feel. I don't think any other mecha even comes close to this amazing machine.

However, being a former tanker, I have to admit that the Tomahawk does hold a place in my heart too!

Oh, forgot to show the thing in Battriod configuration!

And Gerwalk of course!

None of them … they just make big targets !

Scope Dog from AT VOTOMS…

… not necessarily a massive mecha but a piloted, mecha suit nonetheless :) .

It's hard to choose, there's just so many good options.
First there's the absolute classic Roiquonmi Glaug Battle Pod/Marauder.

I've also always had a fondness for Zeon's aquatic mobile suits, and the MSM-07E Z'Gok-E is my favorite of those. link
Then there's the Japanese version of Battletech's Ostsol, or any of the Japansese Battletech designs really. link
It's almost a spaceship, but I must mention the AMX-002 Neue Ziel, my favorite mobile armor. link

I like this one, but I'm biased since I designed and sculpted it!

EVA-01 is my favorite mech, but not really one for gaming.
I've always been a fan of the Panther light mech from BattleTech. I like the idea of a lance of light mechs jumping in and out of cover and slashing larger mechs to shreds with their PPCs (heavy energy cannon) appeals to be me.

The Warhammer is my favorite but the Monster from Macross (and the variable one from Macross Frontier gets extra credit) is awesome as well. Finally the entire aesthetic from VOTOMS is cool.

ED-209 ;-)

Warhammer/Tomahawk and Marauder.

Also Locust.

@Mechanical Horizon: Yeah, that is a pretty cool beast!

Home made.

Mr. Freeze

Optimus Prime

Kitbash

I am always partial to Heavy Gears and Landmates because of their size being a bit more "realistic". but I would love a human sized Female Zentraedi Power Armor.

Variable fighters are the single gretest mecha design in history imo.

I mean this was a thing that actually plausibably transformed and you could get it as a toy and it looked good in humanoid and fighter form, the toy actually tranformed just like in the show.

Compare that to Transformers where the vehicle usually looked good but the robot looked like complete crap in real life. Often you had to remove parts to get it to transform, also it was usually completely out of scale in one form.

The variable fighter is a piece of design genius and Kawamori's only great achievement.

He's coasted on its reputation ever since. Unfortunately he's not as good at directing or producing or coming up with further ground breaking designs. He's kind of a one shot wonder, but that is his legacy.

Also …

Variable fighters are the single gretest mecha design in history imo.

I mean this was a thing that actually plausibably transformed and you could get it as a toy and it looked good in humanoid and fighter form, the toy actually tranformed just like in the show.

With careful hunting, you can still get plastic models that transform, too. New production plastic model kits.

Beware the later Macross series, like Frontier. Those models are awesome, but the kits are a pain in the butt to build and make transform.

Dougram.

I'll throw in a few ones I really think are noteworthy that haven't seen mention yet, in no particular order:
The Jenner
link
The Blackjack

The Battlemaster

The Stone Rhino aka the Behemoth

The Vixen

The Commando

The Chameleon

The Locust

All of those are Battltech mechs and several of them are in their unseen configurations.

Crossbone Gundam X-2

For powered armor, I've been partial towards the SAMAS

If we're going all the way down to powered armor, I'm going to have to vote for the MADOX suits.

Atlas Mech

I like my Atlases!

How about ACGUY or Z'Gok?

I love that one Louie !!!!

Acguy is love.

Just a 4chan meme, but I probably shouldn't explain it. It's NSFW.

oh I nearly forgot another favorite of mine: the 3050 version of the Trebuchet:

link