On RPG Campaigns/Settings I Would Totally GM

[As-Yet-Nameless Mecha Setting]

My vision for this setting is as follows:

One part Dune (Space politics, feudal domains, long-standing rivalries, bloody plots in the night)

One part A Song of Ice and Fire (as above, but with less mysticism and even more GRIMDARK and trolling)

One part Gundam (for the giant robots, naturally)

I freely admit, this setting is totally just my fiction fetishes rolled into one sexy package full of gritty violence and PTSD.  I do love the idea of giant robots not just as weapons of war, but as ancestral symbols of authority (The Five Star Stories, Knight Titans in the old Warhammer 40,000 Epic fluff).


System of Choice: Probably Rogue Trader, either using the internal vehicle rules (in Into the Storm) or, more likely, doing a partial homebrew system for the mecha (possibly based on that of Adeptus Evangelion, though I'm not familiar enough with it to feel terribly comfortably to saying with any certainty that I like its mecha combat rules).  I have been meaning to take a closer look at Heavy Gear, and I could probably cull some fun rules and tables from Mekton, if it came down to it, even if I'd prefer not to grapple directly with its rather '80s rules.


Bleach

This may sound like a weird one because I frequently disparage Bleach, but roll with me for a second.  Bleach is a mediocre to bad story set in a really cool, fairly fleshed-out universe with reasonably consistent but not overly restrictive or arcane, or full of exceptions created purely for the purpose of creating exceptions (cough*NASU*cough) rules.

Besides that, for all the plot of Bleach lacks, its characters are pretty cool, in generally, and set some pretty creative precedents for powers.  The fact that Bleach would lend itself very well to an easy mission-based setup (Soul Society and the Thirteen Court-Guard Squads were basically built to provide structure for roving bands of adventuring PCs who hunt Hollows, deal with ghosts' problems, get up to shenanigans in the mortal realm, etc) is just gravy.  It's relatively low on my list of things I want to run, to be sure, but it's still nice to know it's out there as a possibility.

System of Choice: D&D 4th Edition, probably.  In Bleach, stuff pretty much just happens - martial techniques and magic usually work as intended (though they may not be effective against a given target, they WORK), so DH/RT/DW/BC's systems that operate around a fairly high failure percentage and spells going wildly and hilariously wrong run a bit counter to the setting.  What's more, zanpaktou limit levels (Shikai, Bankai), powerful kido (spells), and other techniques fit far better with the Encounter Power/Daily Power dynamic than DH/RT/DW/BC's high-failure-but-infinite-attempt* model for magic.

Finally, nobody ever dies in Bleach.  Just like in D&D 4e.

As an alternative, I would consider Deathwatch or Black Crusade (since Battle-Brothers and Heretics are far less subject to the high failure rate than Explorers and especially Acolytes), but for the above reasons, I think these systems fit a bit less well with the setting.  Interestingly, Orpheus could work very well for Bleach simply based on how much thematic (and thus mechanical) overlap there is between the two settings.  But Orpheus is kind of a rules trainwreck, and what's more, just doesn't have the raw breadth of content that I'd like to see for Bleach (which D&D 4e probably exemplifies best - each class has assloads of options for powers, further opened up by multiclassing, etc).  I'd consider looking at Geist: The Sin Eaters, the spiritual if not direct successor to Orpheus, but that said, I'm generally not a fan of the way World of Darkness handles dice, even if New WoD is less broken.

*(infinite until you get eaten by daemons)

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Despite lacking any real giant robots, Avatar is hands-down my favorite TV series, and I'd love to run a campaign set in the Avatar-verse.  As such, I think it hardly needs an explanation for why I want to run it.  That said, I will expound a bit more, but I'll keep it brief:

-Avatar's timeline is COLOSSAL, judging by how many Avatars statues were in the Eastern Air Temple.  What's more, the Avatar, the one of the few lore characters who spans this timeline can (and indeed, must, many, many times) die, meaning that nobody (excluding a few Spirits) is necessarily protected by causal plot armor.

-The series opens many doors but leaves many potential plotlines untapped.  In other words, free content for side-quests, if not the whole campaign.

-I want to make up my own horrible new abomination animals.  Shark-Bees, anyone?

(Edit: KillHammer beat me to this one, apparently.  I must grant props where props are due.)


System of Choice: This one would be a lot of work no matter how you slice it, because I like the idea of using D&D 4e's power scheme for Bending, but, unfortunately, because of the way powers are tied to classes, it would really mean creating at least four whole new classes (which would not be available on the Character Builder - no small downside), balancing them, creating feats and items to support them, etc.  Realistically, I would probably handle this by simply working with players to create appropriate powers for their characters as they needed them, but even that would mean a fair chunk of extra work that usually isn't necessary.

I would actually pretty strongly consider trying to find a new setting that had specific rules for custom-created powers if I had concrete plans to run an Avatar campaign, since this would allow me to leave new powers almost entirely in the hands of the players.

Ork Trek

Rogue Trader.  But everyone plays an Ork.

"Spoice.  Da foinal frontier.  Deez a' da voyagez of da Kill-Kroozah Dedkrusha. Da mission: to WAAAGH new woilds, an' ta seek out new loife and KRUMP IT GOOD!"

System of Choice: Rogue Trader.  Duh.


There are others, of course, but these are the ones I felt like about writing about right now.

-Stormshrug

On Bullsh*t

I'll be honest, I'm only posting this here because I don't care to create an account at an image-hosting site but I want to link it somewhere.  So another thought is churned out from the roiling sea of my mind and washes up on the shores of my blog, forlorn and without particular reason to be here.

Created for use in a conversation here, if anyone is curious (and for my own bookkeeping).

-Stormshrug

On OH SH*T I F*CKING KNEW IT

HTMC recently sent me a link to some photos of Gainax's building's walls.

Wait for it...

I SUCCESSFULLY PREDICTED THAT THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE ANIME WATCH OTHER COMPANIES' ANIME.  THIS IS AN ACHIEVEMENT IN PROPHECY FOR THE AGES.

But seriously, I'm calling smug and insipid "Called It" rights when there are some Star Driver references in the next Gainax Super Robot series that I grudgingly watch and then incessantly whine about.

-Stormshrug

On the Anatomy of a Great Fight

What do I say when I mean a "Great Fight?"  Here, I really do mean something beyond the literal definition of the phrase.  I'm not just talking about a good fight (that I might, colloquially, call a "great fight,") I'm talking about a once-or-twice in a series, book, or film (usually - some series really do produce many such "Great Fights")  fight.  A fight that makes you think about what it is that makes it so good.  Or makes me think about that, anyway.

As a caveat, I should add: not all fights need to be or even should be "Great Fights," necessarily.  But I do think most fights in fictional media are improved by inclusion/exclusion of most of the elements I discuss here.

Mild spoilers for Broken Blade and Star Wars IV: A New Hope.  Seriously, though, if anything about A New Hope can be spoiled for you and you're reading this blog, you should go watch it instead.

1.    It should be pretty.

This is both highly obvious and highly subjective, so I’m not going to delve into it at great length.  For me, “pretty” in animation means fluidity, relatively high detail, and high motion.  In written works, it means that the prose (or poetry) should be pleasant to read in addition to conveying on its content clearly.  In film, it means that I should be able to see what the f*ck is going on (no Bourne-style combat shaky-cam, no unlit night-fights).

This is probably also the category people are going to differ over most often.  That's fine, since it's an entirely personal, subjective artistic experience.  This fact does mean, though, that what constitutes a "Great Fight" is necessarily going to differ person to person, to some extent.  I would be surprised to find, however, that most people do not determine great fight scenes based on this personal, subjective experience (if anyone does disagree, I'd be very curious to hear about it).

2.     It should be technical.

This is the portion in which I get to be a bit of a fight-snob, but it makes me very happy when strikes are well executed and have actual, clear targets, and blocks are used at all (and, again, make sense given the strike thrown).  Spells and energy attacks should be used in a ways that make sense, but should not be constricted to a single, obvious use – after all, strikes can be used in a myriad of ways (as blocks, as feints, against terrain).  In gun fights, people should use cover, take advantage of unexpected angles, and generally abuse terrain to the fullest.  Creativity and the ability to do unexpected things should be an asset, and not an afterthought.  Neither the enemy nor the viewer should see all tricks coming.

Combat should not be static, and creativity should be rewarded (or, at least, have the possibility of paying out).  Perhaps my least favorite combat trope is the Beam O War.  In anime, this is a production company’s way of saying “we want to show that they’re struggling, but we don’t actually want to animate people DOING things, because that’s expensive.”  The Beam O War reduces combat to a single element, and a literal standstill.  It’s like a static grapple, except that a static grapple almost inevitably ends with one person doing something clever to change the situation – whereas the Beam O War is simply won by whoever has a bigger stick.  If it has to happen, it should be resolved quickly.  But what the Beam O War illuminates for me is that I really hate static combat.  In a fight, people (or mechs, or whatever) should be moving, because when they aren’t moving and being creative, they aren’t doing anything interesting.

Technical also includes the realm of visible damage.  Damage should not only be shown in some way (clothing damage, bullet-holes or burns on giant robot armor, actual injuries), but it should be cumulative and consistent.  Yu Yu Hakusho is, by all accounts, a pretty darned good series, but I found myself seriously peeved when the main character had his arm broken during a fight, and then proceeded to use that arm for the rest of the battle.  Was the arm really broken?  Was the breaking sound and x-ray shot of the bone snapping just for dramatic effect? 

People and objects should show damage, and damage that has been shown should have some sort of impact on the fight.  One of my favorite elements of Broken Blade, simple as it is, is that Delphine, despite its impressive toughness and heavy armor, almost always shows damage where it has been shot, even by the mooks who it tends to plow through in droves.  It’s a little thing, but it goes a long way.  No matter how tough your armor is, it should show at least a scratch from a bullet or a plasma rifle, and though these scratches may be trivial, they show something important – it is not that the attack was useless, but that it did not happen to penetrate.  If someone is completely unscathed after being hit with an attack, even aesthetically, you know the attack had no impact at all.  Whoever made the attack essentially wasted his or her time.  But if there are burn marks, bullet-scratches, or other small cracks, then you know that the target is just well-armored, not some deity, immune to explosions and the sullying effects of soot alike.  Unless the target of the attack really IS a deity, or has some other sort of unnatural protection, it shouldn’t appear that they’re merely protected from aesthetic damage by cheap attempts to drum up tension or a lack of budget.

It's another minor issue within technicality, but if one participant is screwing around, being excessively conservative, or otherwise holding back far more than is reasonable during a fight, it should either be a key personality point for that character or else it should be happening for a reason.  Unless the character is the sort who gets extreme pleasure out of saying “I am not left handed!”, he or she should start out using the right hand.

As an addendum to that, people should learn from fights, current and past.  If a character regularly faces the same sort of enemy, he or she shouldn’t use attacks or weapons that haven’t worked in the past if other options are available.  Basically, this could be called the “don’t be Power Rangers” rule.  At least once, a supposedly intelligent character should bust out the Megazord early, just to save time for when the monster inevitably grows to kaiju size.  It did it the last fifteen times, it’s probably going to do it again.  Similarly, characters should be REWARDED for such intelligent behavior.  I hate perhaps nothing more in combat scenes than the same tactic failing time and time again, only to succeed when tried for the eighteenth time instead of the seventeenth for an inadequately explored reason like "really wanting it to work."

3.    Something meaningful should be at stake for both parties.

I initially wanted to say “the outcome of the fight should be in question,” but I realized that this is slightly misleading.  With even the tiniest bit of narrative “metagaming,” the outcomes of many fights become obvious.  Obi-Wan can’t vanquish Darth Vader in A New Hope.  They face one another too early in the film, and their character archetypes dictate certain rules about their interactions.  A total victory for Old Ben Kenobi simply isn’t in the cards, and the audience knows it.  But the fight can still be meaningful, because Obi-Wan doesn’t need to win the actual combat to fulfill his objective.  He is, essentially, stalling for time – and he succeeds.  Thus, the dramatic tension is shifted from “will Obi-Wan defeat Vader” to “will Obi-Wan distract Vader for long enough for the rest of the cast to escape.”  Vader, in turn, does not merely have to kill Obi-Wan to win, he has to do it quickly, and what’s more, he has to realize that he is under a time limit.  Because of these conditions, the old Jedi’s failure ceases to be a forgone conclusion*, and the tension is preserved. 

This is really key for a great fight.  That may seem to be obvious, but obviously, it isn’t, because it so often is a neglected element.  When Broken Blade 5 was adapted from the corresponding manga material, I enjoyed it, but was left feeling somewhat disappointed at the end.  After reading the manga, which handled things quite differently, I realized that it was because almost none of the fights should actually have happened at all in the anime version.  Rygart should have just run away from Borcuse, since there were no villagers left to save by the time he arrived.  Rygart should have just retreated from his fight with Girghe, because his squad couldn’t afford to lose TWO members at that critical juncture.  In the manga, he had compelling motives not to retreat from both fights, but because these elements were cut for time, the whole affair became a shaggy dog story.  A shaggy dog story with beautiful and dynamic fights, admittedly, but they still felt frustratingly shallow compared to their manga counterparts, where Rygart had something at stake.

At some point, I will probably revisit this topic, since there's more depth to it than I dealt with here, of course.  A case study of fights I really like (or even a single fight) might be a good post for the future.

-Stormshrug

*I'm going to nip any arguments about Star Wars specifics in the bud and once again clarify that while the exact outcome was not necessarily obvious, my point is that it was clear that the old mentor was not going to get to kill the main (so far) villain all on his lonesome half way through the movie.

On Why I Cannot Sympathize with The Protagonist of Linebarrels of Iron

[First-Episode spoilers for a show that I cannot recommend to even the most die-hard Mecha fans]

My potential enjoyment of Linebarrels of Iron was kind of doomed from the start.  It filled a checklist of things I didn't like (super robot, bad CG, a ridiculously unlikeable main character, shitty Gundam Seed-style character designs, cliche'd Eva ripoff plot).  

But I was starved for Mecha during one of the Broken Blade/Gundam UC lulls, and the mechanical designs are really nice...

 

 

So, despite my trepidation, I decided to take an ill-advised crack at the show.

However, no matter how doomed it was from the start, I pretty much dropped it because, at this moment, I knew that I'd never be able to relate to the main character.  When faced with the following situation after having a giant robot and a magic nudist land on him:

He took home the naked chick AND LEFT BEHIND THE ROBOT!  Who does that!?!

Also, the show is poorly animated.

-Stormshrug

On Sai Mecha

Alternative Title:  Giant robots occasionally drag me back to the blagosphere.

I have been busy, of late, and while I have composed a few blog posts in the last month or so, I haven't posted any of them.  This is a different problem I have.  I blame the fact that I've been writing papers for class on Manga with the energy I use for blag posts, but that's a transparent excuse.  Maybe I'll convert one of those papers to a post, when I've got some time.

However, I would find myself derelicting my duties if I failed to blather on about my top 15 mechanical designs from anime ad-nauseum when everyone else is doing it (and HONOR is on the line).  If I didn't vote and something like the Strike Freedom won, I'd be pretty  sad  pissed.  So here are my top fifteen nomination picks (in semi-coherent order) for Sai Mecha:


1.  Escaflowne (Vision of Escaflowne)

 

The Escaflowne is one badass machine, and when I was twelve, I liked few things more than watching it fight.  Every time I rewatch the show that's still true.  I still love watching it in battle, even if there really could have been more of those in Vision of Escaflowne (especially the second half).  I like the way the show makes clever use of its transforming qualities (and it turns into a dragon, how badass is that?  That's almost as awesome as a robot samurai who turns into a dinosaur (and then turns into a reference to Hamlet!)(Beast Wars Spoilers)).  I like its imposing, regal aura on the battlefield.  I like the organic elements of its design, and the way it groans and creaks like a thing almost alive, and steam flies from its vents as it rages its way through hordes of enemies.

It's hard for me to split nostalgia from my current aesthetic appreciate of the Escaflowne's design, but that's all right.  You never forget your first time.
 
 2.  Eltremus/Eltemus/Artemis/Whatever we're calling it this week (Broken/Break/whatever we're calling it this week Blade)

Sleek frame, angular corners, and a cool head.  Off to a good start.

Believably powerful prototype used by the antagonists.  Cool, I'm listening.

Realistic drawbacks to high-performance capacity.  That's neat.

Red Girge custom colors?  Be still my heart.

3.  Toudou Custom Gekka (Code Geass)

A classic 'Ace Custom' version of a mass produced mech, the Gekka Custom strikes the perfect balance of ostentatious detail and ridiculous custom weapons (not to be outdone by his subordinates and their chainsaw katanas, Toudou wields a ROCKET POWERED CHAINSAW KATANA) without going entirely overboard.  I like a lot of Knightmare Frames a fair amount, especially the way they are treated as semi-believable weapons of war (in the first season), but in terms of design, most of them are merely 'cool,' and not 'list material.'

But the Custom Gekka gets on to the list.  Unlike most prior Knightmare Frames in Code Geass, it is not a refitted Britannian piece.  As such, it stands out visually from the Sutherlands, Gloucesters, and Burais (and custom versions thereof) that have dominated the battlefield to this point.  It has a much more organic profile and much sharper edges than the boxy KMFs we had seen so far, introducing an interesting visual contrast between the factions.  It is one of (though not the first) Knightmare Frames built, and not just converted, with the aesthetics of the 'Black Rebellion' in mind, and of the KMFs of that generation, it is easily my favorite.

4.  MS-018 Kampfer (Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket)

Once upon a time in the winter of U.C. 0080, a mildly intoxicated Zeon soldier with a thick Russian accent laid waste to a Federation task force (and base) single-handedly armed with a prototype Kampfer and a flask of what I can only assume is vodka.  He was able to do this because of three things:

(1).  The element of surprise.  The Kampfer was constructed by the commandos aboard the colony they were infiltrating.  TACTICAL GENIUS!

(2).  He brought guns to a gunfight.  The Kampfer used almost exclusively heavy, anti-mobile suit weapons for the job, and only once failed to bring the target down in a single shot.  Even that time (against the RX NT-1), Misha used *extremely gratuitous* firepower on his target.

(3).  He never needed to reload.  Out of ammo?  Drop gun, pull out next gun.  REPEAT.  DO NOT STOP UNTIL EVERY MOTHERF*CKER IS DEAD.

I like the Kampfer because it's a break from the norm for Zeon.  It isn't a mass-produced fodder suit deployed with an anti-light armor weapon that can barely scratch the Gundam's paint, and it isn't an absurdly impractical prototype mobile armor that looks like a shark or a crab or a killer Pac-Man or a glaringly obvious Oedipus complex or a Big Zam (actually, I think that the Big Zam is kind of charming, but that's neither here nor there).  It's a high-performance mobile suit that trades in durability for guns, guns, swords, bombs, and more guns.

Yes, in the end, the Kampfer (and Misha) weren't enough to take out a Gundam 1v1.  What people often overlook is that they had to steamroll an entire Federation detachment in an orgy of destruction that would make many Newtype aces blush just to get to that fateful fight.  SOMEBODY in Zeon engineering got something right with this machine, which is essentially the Mobile Suit equivalent of one of those high-caliber rifles you can disassemble and hide in the secret compartment of a suitcase mostly filled with your classy business attire and vodka for martinis.  Only when you get it out, the gun has more guns hidden in it.

It's a pity that only one saw action, and without a Newtype pilot at that.

5.  MSN-001A1 'Delta Plus' (Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn)

I like the Hyaku Shiki because it's *almost* a Gundam.  Just like Char is *almost* a good person throughout Zeta Gundam.  But for the Hyaku Shiki, some things are off (in interesting ways), so it falls just outside that definition.  And in the end, Char's still kind of a dick.

But the Hyaku Shiki isn't getting a spot on the list, because of a certain hot little number from Unicorn called the Delta Plus.  It has a few things in its favor.  It drops the unwieldy and rarely useful Hyper Mega Particle Bazooka and spends those points on a Wave Rider mode, giving it improved versatility and semi-believable atmospheric flight capabilities.  And I admit that I like me some transforming robots.  It drops the trademark gold anti-beam coating (which always struck me as a bit ostentatious, if impressive) for a sleek gray coat.  The Delta Plus knows that it doesn't need flashy colors or oversized guns to draw attention to itself.  It isn't compensating for anything.

6.  Hyukelion/Hykelion/We need to agree on some names for this show (Broken Blade)

Say what you will about robot cloaks, but I like them, at least aesthetically.  The cool thing about the Hyukelion, though, is that its robot cloak is functional.  Most of the machines in Broken Blade stick quite closely to the human form - head, torso, two arms, two legs.  And the Hyukelion appears this way - until you get close enough to find out how terrifyingly it defies this unspoken aesthetic rule of war.  The Hyukelion is Borcuse/Phorcys' murderous pragmatism given form - it too takes on the form of a monster (the extra, unexpected "arms" hidden beneath said robot cloak) when needed.  And the cloak, and the deadly secrets it hides, make the Hyukelion one ominous motherf*cker, and a great mech for a such an unrepentant villain.

7.  Vardant (Linebarrels of Iron)

I read a bit of the manga, and it was lackluster.  I watched a bit of the show, and it was UNFORGIVABLY AWFUL.

I still love several of the mechanical design, but especially this one.

Impractically large number of swords?  Check.
Samurai armor theme?  Check.
Single horn?  Check.
Mono-eye (mounted in the chest)? Gravy.

It's like Senbonzakura and Eva Unit 00 got together and made some kind of abomination offspring.  THE BEST KIND OF ABOMINATION!

8.  GP-02A 'Physallis' (Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory)

So, this may seem an odd pick, but I really like the GP-02 for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost, it's a Gundam-type mobile suit, but it was designed with a specific and sinister purpose - delivery of a tactical nuke.  This comes out in the design, both practically and aesthetically - it possesses a villainous flare that just isn't present in most Universal Century Gundams.  The heavy tower shield, the large pauldrons, and the sheer size of the feet all make sense for what it is - a specialized artillery piece that has to survive its own deadly attack, but also give it a sense of mass - of gravity - that isn't present (but contrasts wonderfully) with the more traditionally 'heroic' GP-01 (and GP-01FV/B).  It's a bit reminiscent of the Quin Mantha/Kshatriya in this regard (and in regard to the Pauldron Wings), but unlike those two, it also integrates the traditional 'Gundam' elements in recognizable ways, which creates an odd and compelling contrast.  I love the skull-like design of the head.

Another interesting contrast in the GP-02 is that it is equipped with two kinds of weapons - small, defensive ones (Vulcans, Beam Sabers), and A GODDAM NUKE.  Given that one of these is kind of a one-shot deal that takes significant time to set up, it means that the pilot has to play defensively most of the time.  This works out well for Stardust Memory, and lets it get away with having relatively inexperienced, non-Newtype protagonists go up against veteran war heroes without being slaughtered instantly.  The GP-02 isn't really equipped for anti-Mobile Suit combat, and given its role (essentially, nuclear sniper), this makes sense.  It is built to get one job done (and it does).

And finally, it has PAULDRONS, which means that it's important.

9.  NT-1 'ALEX' (Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket)

The 'ALEX' is probably my favorite incarnation of the 'classic Gundam.'  It's a couple of things - a more detailed design used for animation, the fact that, unlike many Gundams (looking at YOU, RX-78-2) it takes visible damage from just about everything, the lack of lots of "hey, shoot me!" red in the color scheme.

But mostly it's the wrist-mounted gatling guns.  Yes, there's no space for those guns in those wrists.

I don't care.  They're WRIST MOUNTED GATLING GUNS, and it's all worth it for the look on the other pilot's face when they come popping out, spitting a zillion rounds of hot metal death per second.

10.  RX-0 'Unicorn' (Unicorn Mode) (Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn)

I'll be honest, I'm not that big of a fan of Destroy Mode.  It isn't bad, but other than the oversized head-fins it isn't terribly visually distinct from the 'classic Gundam.'  Also, it's kind of overpowered, but that's a different matter.

The Unicorn Mode, however, I really do like.  In this mode, it is actually quite unique-looking, picking up the best elements of the EZ-8, moving the 'eyes' into a slim 'visor,' and adding the 'horn' that becomes the head-fins in Destroy Mode.  All three of these things make it visually distinct from other Gundams.  The different face (mostly featureless) evokes a different feel, and the horn tempts the animators to show the Unicorn in profile, which (because of their "v-shaped" head-fins) is often an awkward angle for traditional Gundams.

11.  VF-25 'Messiah' (Ozma Custom) (Macross Frontier)

DAT HEAD.  I'm not usually a big fan of the heads of Valkyries, but Ozma's is totally awesome.  Naturally.

Suddenly, missiles.  Missiles everywhere.

12.  MSN-04 'Sazabi' (Char's Counterattack)

I'm one of those people who got into the franchise a bit out of order.  For most, Char's iconic machine is the red Zaku II (thrice as fast!).  For many other, his iconic mobile suit (and personality depiction) come in Zeta Gundam, with the Hyaku Shiki.  But I saw Char's Counterattack first, and that Sazabi is, to borrow a phrase, "one badass mother."  It's equipped with something called a "Beam Shot Rifle."  From its name (and uses in the film), this appears to be some kind of terrifying Beam Rifle/Shotgun Hybrid ideal for ruining the day of zombies and Jegans alike.

But the Sazabi isn't just about impressive firepower.  CCA's Char is a politician - whether he likes it or not - and so he rides in style.  The Sazabi invokes the great machines of Zeon's past (Zaku II, Gelgoog) while embracing the future of Mobile Suit Tech (Funnels, psychoframes, escape basketball cockpits), and it does it while covered in bulky, imposing armor.

Of course, putting bulky armor on things can go a bit too far, I suppose.

It's worth noting that this spot very nearly went to the Sinanju, a wonderful update of the classic machine.  The extension of the shoulders into the wing-like fronds is a nice but not overly ambitious touch, and the head is pretty pimpin'.  It just looks so wonderfully disdainful sometimes.

But I've got too much Unicorn stuff on here already, so for lack of a clear favorite between the two, the classic wins out this time.

13.  HAVWK (FLAG)

I love this mech.  Transformable and versatile, practical.  Difficult to use, but still effective enough that you can believe that people would WANT to use it.  The gatling gun nets it a +1 awesome, if a -1 to real-life practicality.

But I almost* invariably hate CG robots in animated works, and this one was only passable.

It would have been higher if not for that.

14.  AMS-129 'Geara Zulu'

I like Zakus, and permutations thereof, a lot.  However, the Geara Zulu has something the standard Zaku lacks - a creepy WWI-style gas mask! 

15.  Evangelion Unit 01 (Berserk Mode) (Evangelion, End of Evangelion, "Hey, give us more money"vangelion: The Movie, etc, etc)

The only biological weapon on the list (unless the Linebarrels thing is biological, but I truly don't care enough to find out), and one of only two Super Robots (Hi again Linebarrels!).  An extremely memorable profile (that I like, and is echoed in many other designs, like the Unicorn*), and the absolutely feral countenance it assumes when the gloves (restraining bolts) come off help to move this abomination against nature and God from 'another quirky Gainax thing' to 'List-Worthy death machine.'  When Unit 01 enters its battle-rage, reason loses its grip not only on the pilot, but on reality itself.  Inexplicable things start happening, and the animation style often shifts slightly.  And the Eva's hunger is so palpable you can almost taste the blood in your mouth.

*(Exception: Macross Frontier.  No clue how they did it, but they made me actually like the use of CG robots in an anime.)
**(Come to think, the Unicorn "breaks" out of its armor when it enters Destroyer mode and begins to use the pilot merely as a conduit to channel emotion so that it can go on a rampage and slaughter any Newtype unfortunate enough to be in range, and it's somehow connected to a prophecy about a step in human evolution that could bring about the end of the world... hmm...no, it's probably nothing.)

-Stormshrug

On Rumors of this Blog's Demise

They are highly overstated.

I love it when you find an obvious variation on a meme that nobody has done.  Unless somebody has, in which case I sure feel stupid.

Anyway, I would post a review of the Macross Frontier movie, but frankly, HTMC has it covered.  The only things I have to add are that it was gorgeous, which is redundant but cannot be overstated, and that Alto somehow became even more of an utterly ricockulous pilot from one training montage than he did from the entire war against the Vajra in the series.

Oh, and Ozma is still my hero, as he is responsible for the SMS 'initiation' scene, which is perhaps the best part of the film.


-Stormshrug

On Conversion Ideas

Well, here's an old post I've had simmering on the back burner for a while (read: I wrote half of it and then forgot that it existed for two weeks).

Warhammer 40k lends itself a bit too well to bringing in out-of-universe ideas, characters, and hell, entire armies.  Much as with D&D (or really any RPG worth its salt), you can easily throw together a stat block for just about anything.  However, Warhammer 40k is such an 'everything including the kitchen sink (which also wants to kill you)' universe that, for most science fiction and fantasy military forces can be translated without even having to draw up new stat blocks.  Generally, the less changes I have to make, the greater a success I consider conversion attempt.  It's easy to draw up stat blocks in 40k (they're rather simple), but it's hard to FIND statblocks for every single thing you want to represent.
Every time one of these ideas for a new 'count-as' army takes root in my mind, I end up doing something very dangerous - namely, I consider starting YET ANOTHER army.

A few bouncing around in my head:

Gears of War (Imperial Guard)

The relatively obvious but still inescapable 'Gears of War' IG army, based around the 'Straken Mob in a Vendetta' close combat strategy.  Colonel Straken as Marcus, Commissar Yarrick as Dom, a Techpriest as Baird and a Ministorum Priest with Eviscerator as the inimitable 'Cole Train.'  Straken's command squad as an attached team of Redshirts (perhaps the various Carmine brothers).  Slap it all in a King Raven (Vendetta or Valkyrie) and do exactly what you do in Gears of War - rush in and beat your enemy's face into a pulp.  A few squads of Veterans in Chimeras would round out the army (and, you know, let you hold objectives), as regular COG soldiers in Centaurs (or other APCs).

"Scratch one grub!"

Code Geass (Tau)

When I first watched Code Geass, my immediate response was 'Knightmare Frames ARE Crisis Suits!'  The right size, appropriately armed and armored, highly mobile (but not 'fighter jet' mobile) - admittedly, there are plenty of mecha that would fit these qualifications, but Code Geass is one of the few mecha series I've seen where the focus is as much strategic as tactical.  Most mecha series consist almost purely of dogfighting - which is quite enjoyable, so long as it's well executed.  But, as I've mentioned before, I'd love to see another series with a greater focus on the commanders, and the strategies that win battles in addition to the Ace Pilots who dominate the battlefield.  So Code Geass lends itself rather well to Warhammer 40k more generally.  In this particular case, I freely admit that I did cave in and tweak the codex a bit - nothing terribly substantial, but the ability to mount an Ethereal in a Crisis Suit is long overdue for the Tau anyway, and I couldn't very well have Code Geass without some rules for the Geass itself.  If I ever manage to recover said 'Codex Geass' (hurr hurr) from the depths of my old, very possibly fubar hard drive, I'll probably do a post on it.  I've also modeled about half of this army, and done some paint work (though some of it needs to be redone, and I suspect I'd want to touch a lot of it up, given that it was like two summers ago).


Mobile Suit Gundam (Imperial or Eldar Titans)

Ah, the holy grail.  How to get a Mobile Suit into Warhammer 40k.  Imperial ground forces fit the Earth Federation and Zeon ground forces quite well (since Mobile Suit Gundam is heavily based on World War 2, and so are many Imperial Guard armaments, this is no particular surprise).  For Mobile Suits themselves, however, it's a toss-up between Warhound Titans and Eldar Phantom Titans.  Both are roughly the same size, they're roughly equally resilient.  The Warhound Titan has more choices for armaments, which I like, but the Phantom Titans have superior close-combat skills, an 4+ Invulnerable 'Holofield Dodge' save, and the ability to 'Jump' 36" and then make an assault, as compared to the much more sedate 12" move range of a Warhound Titan.  Perhaps the answer is simply to decide on a case-by-case basis.  As to fielding a Phantom Titan alongside Imperial Forces, well, it's Apocalypse.  You can field 80 Orbital Strikes and nothing else if you feel like it.  I'm not overly concerned about balance.

1 Warhound Titan + 18 Land Speeders with Multi-Meltas = Kshatriya with Funnels

Thanks for letting me borrow the Funnels, Ghostlightning.

Also 1950~ points.  But it's totally worth it for the Funnels.

(Incidentally, Mr. Flask, I've realized that even though you hate everything good  America, you communist! everything not comedy (or so you claim, though I can see through your LIIIIIIES), Funnels are basically psychically controlled robot BEES with frickin' laser beams.  Just thought you should know.)

I feel like Codex: Chaos Daemons also opens up a host of new possibilities in this direction.  Alucard Khornate Daemon army, anyone? (Yes, Alucard would comprise the entire army).  One big, nasty Daemon surrounded by lots of Flesh Hounds, Bloodletters, etc.  Another series I recently picked up on, Nurarihyon no Mago, provides a large and mildly militarized organization of highly diverse demons.  Could be interesting for many of the same reasons as the Armycard, but provide a less uniform modelling experience.

Anybody else thought of any good conversions in this vein (that is to say, repurposing armies.  Though I'm always interested to hear new stat-blocks, too)?

-Stormshrug

On Passive Characters (with Giant Robots)

I've recently watched a fair bit of mecha anime, mostly 'Real' Robot (which should, let's be honest, called 'slightly less willing suspension of disbelief required robot') stuff. Upon reflection, I think I've figured out my number one peeve with the genre.

I hate passive characters.

I don't mind them in theory, but every time I see one these days, it bugs me. It doesn't annoy me enough to stop watching the show, but it does reduce my enjoyment of the series. Perhaps it's because they're just so overdone in the Mecha genre. Amuro Rei, for all he is a one-man turning point in the One Year War, is basically a passive protagonist for all of the original Mobile Suit Gundam (interestingly, he is much more empowered in Char's Counterattack, largely because he's no longer just an elite grunt, but is now a veteran officer with the authority to give orders and even provide advice to his commanding officer, Bright). He's probably also the root of this whole problem, though he is FAR from the worst example. He gets orders, he carries them out, he angsts when things go poorly and people (that he cares about) die. He never really does anything that he wants to do, except in rare circumstances - all decisions are made for him. And he's a soldier, so it makes sense, as his only real choice is "follow orders or don't, and accept THE CONSEQUENCES (read: getting Brightslapped)."
















(Tim Flanagan of Deviantart shows us THE CONSEQUENCES. With Domo!)



For Mobile Suit Gundam, it works. It's a war story, and however talented he may be, Amuro is a grunt, fundamentally. If, as a relatively low-ranking member of the military, he did have too much agency, my willing suspension of disbelief would probably be destroyed. Not that this has ever been a problem in the Gundam franchise (ZZ Gundam Spoilers).

I don't think the 'realistic' use of a passive protagonist in Mobile Suit Gundam (a kid swept up into a war, essentially drafted into service) would bother me at all if not for the fact that so many 'real robot' (and those that blur the line) mecha series thereafter copy the pattern AND that the pattern allows writers to be eminently lazy.

Writer 1: What should our passive protagonist do this week?

Writer 2: You're kidding, right?

Writer 1: Yeah, I am. Shit writes itself!

Here's my complaint: what does a passive character do? Nothing, definitionally. Hence, if you've see one passive character, you've seen every passive character. The the dramatic tension shifts from "what will he/she do" to"when will he/she do something?"

The reason some archetypes can be functionally overused but still entertaining to watch, I think, is that they DO different things. The Trickster archetype is perhaps the best example of this. Yes, people who screw with other people are an ancient and time-honored tradition. A good trickster, however, will still do unpredictable things, and hence keep the audience guessing, even though the audience is intimately familiar with the archetype. A passive character can't be anything but passive without violating its nature, however. To paraphrase a great line from Avatar: The Last Airbender: "You see [somebody do] nothing once, you've seen it a million times."

Now, most passive characters eventually become more active, but you can tell when that's going to happen by simply watching their romantic arc. As soon as a single love interest is determined and in danger, GOGO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. But main characters who are passive for 3/4ths of their own series still piss me off, even if they do eventually get better.

The series that stand out as the strongest to me tend to avoid quagmire of inactivity. The characters are empowered to act on their own, and in doing so, develop meaningful and relatable personalities and relationships. This extends beyond giant robot series, of course, but since passive protagonists are so hard to avoid in dealing with the genre, those series that DO give their protagonists more agency tend to stand out. Such agency doesn't necessarily mean winning the war singlehandedly, isn't precluded by standing orders. Vision of Escaflowne is still one of my favorite series, and although it has problems to be sure, lack of action on the part of the protagonists wasn't one of them. Macross Frontier was the same in many ways. Alto does what he does because he wants to or because he feels obligated, but ultimately, most of the decisions that he makes are his own. Through his decisions we learn who he is as a person. Interestingly, Alto is in a position where he too is a grunt in the scheme of the war, but even though he generally obeys orders, it is always clear that he has a will or his own, and that is what motivates him to act. We see it to some degree on the battlefield, but perhaps even more in his daily life. The type of passive protagonist that bothers me is just as detatched from the daily things as from their orders. Some of the Gundam OVAs capture this, too, particularly 0080: War in the Pocket, which centers on a Zeon infiltration team interacting largely with neutral forces, where their decisions have great weight not just regarding themselves and their enemies, but also the (relatively) uninvolved civilians. Bernie isn't so different from Amuro - a kid, essentially swept up in a war he has little personal investment in, acting under orders. The odds are even more stacked against him, too. But Bernie does things - he reaches out to other people, he makes his own decisions, he takes the initiative. He struggles with the standard passive protagonist question ('should I fight?'), but he also goes on to deal with a more interesting question ('how should I fight [these ridiculously insurmountable odds]?').

Code Geass features ludicrously empowered protagonists, and I think it was a breath of fresh air for me (particularly at the time - I hadn't seen Macross Frontier yet), and in the first season, it does it without sacrificing action (Escaflowne occasionally falls into this trap, particularly in the second half). By placing important characters in positions of command or independence within their respective military structures, it let them make meaningful choices on the battlefield.


I think I'd like to see another series that focuses on the battlefield commanders, someday. Special Operations and R&D Teams are a decent way to get around the military command structure's dampening effect on a character's options when faced with difficult choices, but so is simply embracing said structure and then heading for the top.

-Stormshrug