Kaiju-Mecha: Why wage war against the Wrath of the Cosmos?
🤖🐱🐉 10 lesser-know projects about BIG robots and monsters
“A being of immense psychic power, it uses strange telekinetic energy to levitate and manipulate its environment. But despite this, it seems to more often choose a different strategy. Almost parasitic in nature it will latch onto the skull of a chosen host and take over its body. Within days it can steal a lifetime of knowledge and memories leaving little more than a husk when it departs.”
description of Tetrak from our narrative expansion collection: Nethermorphs
Hello Fellow Fleshbags,
Let’s escape to the past a little…
This red robot-looking thing was the first toy I bought with my hard-earned pocket money.
I only recently realized that the cool gadget I’d purchased was a Power Rangers Micro Red Battlezord Set. (Forgive me, Hungary was still young in the global cultural circle back then.)
After that, my fascination with toys, and my pocket money, declined rapidly. Nonetheless, I still found these giant machines and their colossal monster counterparts infinitely cool.
I mean, a radioactive dinosaur destroying cities? Godzilla (1998) was meth for my nerdy kid brain.
In 2007 the start of the new Transformers franchise, and in 2013, Pacific Rim revived my love for giant robots and monsters. Oh, man, Hollywood does take advantage of our childhood nostalgia…
And just a week ago, I finished Neon Genesis Evangelion, the pinnacle of the genre for many kaiju-mecha fans.
Now I wonder, why did these machines fascinate me, and seem to excite us continuously? What idea lies below the protective hard shell of these gigantic warriors?
Why do we keep going back to the kaiju-mecha genre?
They are simply fricking cool, right? Well, yes, but I don’t think that would be enough to sustain the kind of fandom behind the clash of colossi.
It is not like one franchise governs all there is to the genre.
It is an intercontinental, cross-cultural love that unites people on Earth and beyond. Arguably as much as the hatred for mosquitos.
Maybe I got carried away there.
There must be something more to it though, I feel it in my guts.
What lies beneath?
What else is also common in humans? We could answer this question in a million ways, but for the most part we fear the same things.
We are soft bags of flesh, plopped into existence, onto a tiny speck of warm dust filled with light in the ocean of freezing cold dark nothingness.
And there’s not much we can do about it.
But we fight anyway.
The core of kaiju-mecha stories, including Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Godzilla, Pacific Rim and even Power Rangers revolves around existential themes.
Mainly: survival in a chaotic universe, and the consequences of humanity's technological advancements.
Gundam and Godzilla
In the world of Gundam, the mechas, or Mobile Suits, represent more than just tools of war—they are almost divine figures in a battle between gods.
Much like mythological heroes wielding divine weapons, Gundam (or EVA or Jaeger) pilots often carry the fate of civilizations on their shoulders. The themes of honour, sacrifice, and destiny are woven into the narrative, reminiscent of ancient mythological tales.
Gundam Mobile Suits echo the gods of old Japanese legends, such as Susanoo, the god of storms and seas, who wreaks havoc but also becomes a hero.1
Kaiju monsters are typically used as symbols of natural disasters or cataclysms beyond human control.
From Godzilla’s depiction as a metaphor for nuclear devastation to other kaiju representing storms, environmental destruction, or cosmic threats like aliens and such in Neon Genesis Evangelion.2
So what?
The epic battles in the kaiju-mecha genre hijack our imagination, perhaps because they mirror our internal conflicts between innovation and tradition, chaos and control.
The existential dread reflected in these colossal battles offer a lens to explore how humanity grapples with forces beyond its control—both natural and technological.
They capture a sense of awe and terror about the future, while encapsulating a critique of human hubris.
The Kaiju-Mecha List
Let’s observe out of curiosity and the love to learn or even mimic like Omnimorphs.
🎨 Drawing: Evan Cagle
I’ve been a big fan of Evan Cagle’s work for a long time now. I was always drawn towards unique styles for comics, and something about his way of illustrating scenes and characters really appeals to me and feels like I could recognise his work quite easily.
Some of my favourite comic covers by him were made for Detective Comics, featuring Batman, but also his black and white ink artworks, which I believe were made on clay boards (note to self: I should try that out as well).
Additionally, I’ve been following the release of Dawnrunner, which he co-creates with Ram V, that from just the previews includes some awesome Kaiju vs Giant Mech fight scenes, which I immediately had to pre-order, and can’t wait to get my hands on them.
Dani
🎨 Drawing: Davey Perkins
There are many artists who try to emulate the classic anime style, but most of them feel either too similar to what we’re used to or they just don’t look like it at all. I think Davey Perkins does an excellent job at creating a similar vibe, but he also sprinkles it some of his own style and solutions for illustrating characters.
I also love his mood images, like the currently pinned one on his Instagram of the monitor. But the reason I decided to include him in this newsletter is his latest post “Strider-04” of a mecha head, which feels like something from Evangelion.
Dani
🎮 Gaming: Project Lazarus
Project Lazarus is a game with a fun mech twist on the awesome and highly addictive survival gameplay loop championed mainly by Vampire Survivors. As other notable titles in its genre, it features crazy isometric bullet hell action where upgrades snowball into total chaos and satisfying ultra-violence.
Huba
🎮 Gaming: ARMORED CORE™ VI FIRES OF RUBICON™
There’s no mech game compilation without mentioning the Armored Core series. It is the hallmark of the mech sim genre, and also one of the oldest franchises developed by From Software, who in the past decade reached god-tier status in the industry with the Souls games and Elden Ring. Much like their other games, Armored Core VI features snappy combat mechanics that offers the kind of brutal but fun fine-motor challenge that gamers love.
Huba
🎮 Gaming: The Riftbreaker
Riftbreaker is a mech survival action RPG, with lots of high-octane action and base-building mechanics to make things even more interesting.
Huba
❔ Your art: Leave a comment
This could be the part where we recommend your favorite artist, developer, or maybe even you FOR FREE. If you want to fill in this place with your suggestion (for absolutely free, of course), send a link in a reply to this email or comment below.
🎥 Movie: Transformers One
It may stray a bit from the previous serious takes, but it certainly fits the genre’s metallic side. We are looking forward to the fresh take on this classic world.
🎥 Movie: Kaiju No. 8
If you have slept in on this exquisite piece of anime, you are not alone. I have just found it and was intrigued by the interesting twist of the idea of kaiju. The TV series is based on a successful manga, so at least we can believe that the story has depth to it.
🎥 Movie: Colossal
A fun take on the kaiju side starring Anne Hathaway**,** with surprising deeper meanings behind Hollywood jokes.
🎥 Movie: Monsters vs Aliens
Maybe it’s a surprise, but I genuinely enjoyed this DreamWorks adaptation of the genre. It’s goofy, funny, well animated.
🎥 Movie: The Host
If you are into scary-funny and want to see the young Bae Doona (Cloud Atlas, Sense8) definitely check out Bong Joon Ho’s (Snowpiercer, Parasite, Okja) early work.
Did we miss something you think must have been in the kaiju-mecha list?
Tell us in a comment, so we can all geek out over it.
Time to escape to your world of creativity and build!
Adrián
Scribe of the Omniscient
👁🗨