I'm sure you've all had the thought of writing a mech themed story whether big or small. If anyone has any tips please share them for all.

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1. Keep scale in mind, it's the number one thing I always see screwed up in Giant robot story's.
If you've got a skyscraper sized mech it's gonna likely weigh several tons, so any movement it makes could encure lots of damage.

2. Avoid technobabble, I was just watching some season 1 megazord battles of the original power rangers and the technobabble didn't add anything. Try to be simple and concise with information, and if you do need technobabble for whatever reason, make it short and not often.

5539045
Thanks for the info. I lean more towards Iron man if you call that a mech or gundam. And I do find some techno talk does help the story. For example in the newest Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans they used a system that puts great strain on the brain. Side affects are but not limited to blood coming from eyes and nose and possible death.

5539164 Iron Man isn't exactly what I consider a mech. Possibly falling under a "mech suit", but there are still massive mechs that go under that name.

When you look at the genre of mechs in general I find size doesn't matter. After all in some cartoons they are suits like Iron man while others are actually tiny robots like the size of a shoe. So I don't really think size matters.

5539325 don't be fooled size DOES matter (wink wink)

The Iron man armor is better classified under Powered armor and there are differences, not just in size but in use.

A Mecha is operated like a tank or jet, the pilot sits in a cockpit and operates passively.

Where as a set of power armor is wrapped around the user and requires active participation.

Don't try to lump them together, you're only limiting yourself and annoying others.

5539686
Nice joke

And while I can agree size does matter you also need to take in the reason behind the mech. For example there are some mech stories where the large rectangular tank like ones are driving and controlled by a suit. Even in Ironman there were scenes where Tony stark wasn't in the armor and controlled it remotely.

5539704
Robots =/= mechs.

The following image is useful for this, as it has heavily armored(possibly powered) infantry, heavy exosuit powered armor, a "mini mecha" walker and a quadruped mech.

There are generally two subgenres most mech-based stories fall into:

1. Slightly Realistic stories featuring relatively small mechs used by a military. Basic laws of physics are acknowledged. This is where you find Gundam, Metal Gear Solid, and BattleTech.

2. Fantastic stories featuring all sorts of people controlling mechs the size of mountains, never bothering to excuse the physics. This is where you find Voltron, Pacific Rim, and Gurren Lagann.

Most stories involving mechs can use a lot of the concepts pioneered in these two subgenres. That said, they often have trouble overlapping, so deciding on a consistent style and tone is important.

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5539045
Here's a tip: don't use 's for plurals. The plural of "story" is "stories", not "story's". Apostrophe-S is for the possessive form of the noun ("something which belongs to the noun"); not the plural form ("more than one nouns").

5542918 I apologize for my grammar, this tablet is awkward to type with and it's autocorrect is crap

5538982

I've been interested in mecha for a long time. While I haven't written a story for the site so far, I might have more useful info I can pass on.

I'd say that Salnax has a strong point; generally speaking there are two broad 'genres' that mecha fiction falls into.

1: The 'Real Robot' genre which is where you'd find things like Gundam, Battletech, Macross and Armoured Trooper Votoms. In these worlds, the mecha are treated more like military vehicles and equipment. They're mass-produced in factories and used by various factions. They usually use recognisable weapons, such as autocannon, missiles, lasers, and the like. If they do have exotic abilities, then they are usually treated as part of the background technology, and have some form of consistency and pseudo-scientific explanation, that makes giant robots possible in the setting. Minovsky Particles in Gundam and Overtechnology in Macross would be examples of this.
There may be the occasional powerful 'prototype' mecha that has more abilities than the rank-and-file machine, but they still need maintenance, and will still use regular weaponry too. Also, in Real Robot stories, the machines tend to get damaged, destroyed and require regular maintenance too.

2: 'Super Robots' are the counterpart to Real Robots. These are more your kind of robots like the Megazord from Power Rangers, the robots from Gurren Lagann, Mazinger, Voltron and others. Unlike the Real Robots, they're more like giant metal superheroes. They often use abilities that are like magic or super powers, and have flashy names for their attacks and equipment. They tend to be the one and only machines in their setting, or one of a small number. Often they have fantastical origins, such as being built by a single scientist or similar non-government group, or bought to Earth by aliens or something along those lines. They usually fight a 'monster of the week', rather than an enemy army or nation, and can often be 'summoned' by the hero (or heroes), and have an elaborate (stock footage) launch or combining sequence, if they're made from multiple smaller robots or vehicles.
Super robots don't often tend to be damaged or seem to require any kind of maintenance. If they do take damage, it tends to only been in service of the plot, and as a precursor to an upgrade, rather than as part of the routine of combat.

There are works that straddle or blur the line a bit; Evangelion is a strong example of that. The Eva units are shown being repaired and rebuilt frequently, and are surrounded by a lot of Real Robot tropes, but show a lot of Super Robot abilities, as does the setting itself with the Angels being monsters of the week.

You mentioned Iron Man in your earlier comments; Tony Stark and others with similar suits fall under the concept of 'Powered Armour' as others have mentioned. There are loads of examples of this in fiction and sci-fi. Some have built-in weapons and equipment, others just act as a suit that gives the wearer access to increased physical abilities and advanced sensor equipment. Others are even more fantastic, and make the wearer into some kind of superhuman superhero, with all kinds of amazing abilities.

I would also argue the point that size does matter too. The size of your machine in question does change a lot to how it relates to its' surroundings. The bigger it is, the more collateral damage it will cause, and the more distant the people inside it will feel from their surroundings. Bigger machines won't be able to take advantage of cover by ducking and diving around the terrain around them. They'll also need more materials to repair, more space to be based in and hide, and have more internal volume. They'll also take correspondingly larger amounts to damage or destroy than smaller machines (ludicrously advanced technology aside). Also, if you're trying to write more of a real robot type story or setting, larger robots require more suspension of disbelief and made-up reasons to exist than smaller ones, as physics comes into play.

I think the key things to remember if you're writing or creating fiction involving mecha is to have a clear idea of what the mecha in your story are going to do to influence the world around them, and how big a part of the story are they? Are they common-place and everyday, like automobiles or aeroplanes, or are they new or even unique technology? Are they used in combat, or are they for working roles only (like in Patlabor). Have they replaced other machines, or do they have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. And if they're Real-type robots, remember to keep them consistent; introducing new abilities and constantly heaping them on top of other ones makes them stray into the territory of super robots.

If they're super robots, why is there only one, and why can't anyone else use it, and where did it come from? Who or what is it fighting against, and why don't conventional weapons work against this enemy. And what does this enemy want, and why?

More than anything, I'd say do a lot of research, and have a clear idea of the style and tone you want to employ when you write your story.

5557122
Thanks for the clarification on the types and categories. I had an idea for an IRL book in which a small rebellion uses mechs to free their country.

5557431
No problems, glad you found the infodump useful.
That sounds like a solid plot for a novel to me; it has a lot of potential and I could see it as a gundam-like story, just more terrestrial than in space. Love to see what you come up with.

I was thinking dystopian society where water and food are rationed out in small amounts. While the rich and wealthy can have as much as they want. Needless to say main character gets into trouble when he tries to steel some water from a private tank. Ends up running away so his family doesn't get dragged into his problems and comes across a small group of people that think the same as him but refuse to fight as their leader tells them it is wrong.

5557686
Quick question when does power suite turn into mech suit? And this question is for everyone. When doesn't a powersuit turn into a mech suit?

5559136
It can be a matter of semantics; the mecha in Gundam are called 'Mobile Suits', but the in-universe explanation for that is because they're scaled up from the armoured space suits originally used to build the colonies and work in space. They're quite clearly mechs and not powered armour.

I'd say the strongest definition of when a powered suit becomes a mech is when it gets too big to 'wear' it by using your limbs to actuate it's movements, i.e., when your limbs inside whatever you're wearing/driving don't define its' movements, and you have to use controls instead.
That kind of correlates with size, as it becomes impractical past a certain size to have the pilot/operator/wearers' limbs connected directly to a tens-of-feet tall machine.
I think Landmates from Appleseed are about the biggest 'Armour' I can think of, and they're about twice the size (roughly) of an average human. They have 'slave arms' that control the main larger arms' movements, and the wearers' legs rest inside the suits' larger legs, which follow their movements.