Ideal Giant Robot Pilot

[Sidewinder]

As noted here, otaku often have strong opinions on giant robots, and those who pilot them. So fellow otaku, what kind of person do you want in a giant robot's cockpit? Who do you want to protect your homes and families from the Monster-of-the-Week?

[Mr Bean]

Where's the Coop option?

[Sidewinder]

Where's the Coop option?

I've yet to see Megas XLR, so I can't say, but from what I read on Wikipedia, I'm assuming he's "Teen who jumps into the cockpit, at his own free will, while a battle rages around him. Hot-headed, will beat up anyone who accuses him of being a whiny bitch," even though he's older than the targeted age.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Oh man how can you be a Giant robot fan and NOT watch Megas yet? It doesn't just spoof other Giant Robot shows, it spoofs almost all of anime in general. It fantasticlly silly and funny and Coop is without a doubt both the most inept and awsome pilot ever.

As for ideal pilot? Well that changes from the given situation, usually the best ones involve anything with "Destiny" because lets be hounest, rarely in Giant Robots does pure skill mater.

[Samuel]

Combat veteran who is neither insecure nor cocky.

[Zixinus]

Combat veteran is better, but can still be subject to problem of PTSD.

My vote among those listed? The fifth, he sounds like he knows business, takes care of his own, knows what he's doing and knows what to expect in the battlefield.
This from someone who doesn't watch giant robot anime.

[Formless]

Someone who has trained with their equipment at least as extensively as an air force pilot before being sent into combat, has a combat doctrine planned out by professional tacticians/strategy experts with intel on what kind of enemy force they will be up against, a competent regular military with similar intel and combat doctrines to support and work with the the mecha piloting hero on missions, and who is mentally prepared through their training to do what it takes to accomplish their mission(s). Also, they should have at least one backup pilot with similar training who subs for the main hero every so often so they both have field experience with the equipment. You know, be prepared for the inevitable injuries or sick days that will crop up during whatever campaign the robot will see action.

Basically, I want a professional soldier, not one of the usual hotblooded hotshots, emo teens, or cantakerous old bastards that are the norm in fiction.

(IIRC, one of the things the US air force realized during WWII was that their ace pilots were far more useful when they were training new recruits on all the little tricks they learned rather than on the front lines showing off.)

...

Oh, but that's only if giant robots were real, of course. If we're talking about the ideal character for a giant robot show everything I just said can go right out the window. Flawed characters make for better drama, and there is no one best way to handle that.

[Sidewinder]

Oh man how can you be a Giant robot fan and NOT watch Megas yet?

I usually rent the anime DVDs I watch, from local comic book stores. By the time I got cable TV, Megas XLR was off air.

[Mr Bean]

Where's the Coop option?

I've yet to see Megas XLR, so I can't say, but from what I read on Wikipedia, I'm assuming he's "Teen who jumps into the cockpit, at his own free will, while a battle rages around him. Hot-headed, will beat up anyone who accuses him of being a whiny bitch," even though he's older than the targeted age.

Megas is near impossible to find outside of torrent sites now-adays (It never got a DVD release I can recall, Amazon shows nothing) but it was a great show which had a number of great episodes and was a Comedy that happen to also occur in a giant robot show.

Coop is... special



Special in a special kind of way.

[Sidewinder]

At the time of this post, there are 12 votes for "Combat veteran, he's cocky, but with good reason. He doesn't act recklessly- to him, each risk taken is the 'same shit, different day.' Tends to babysit younger pilots," none for any other option. Yet anime studios continue to make teenagers- who are thrown into the cockpit with zero combat training, as if piloting a giant robot is as easy as riding a bicycle- and child soldiers the protagonist of their works. Just out of curiousity, what are the nationalities of those who voted? (I'm assuming none are Japanese.)

I'm Chinese-American.

[Formless]

Boring old american with the ethnic roots of about a dozen different European nationalities. He matched my description of a professional soldier the best of all of them. But again, flawed heros are better in fiction. It should be noted that the more realistic the show, the less often you see kid heros in general. I think its a matter of the age group the show targets, not a cultural issue if that is what you are getting at. You can just as easily ask why Batman is paired up with (pre)teenagers like Robin and Bat Girl. The younger demographic likes seeing a hero their age that they can relate to.

[Sidewinder]

I think its a matter of the age group the show targets, not a cultural issue if that is what you are getting at. You can just as easily ask why Batman is paired up with (pre)teenagers like Robin and Bat Girl. The younger demographic likes seeing a hero their age that they can relate to.

Batman provided each Robin with comprehensive training on "How to be a Caped Crusader," before he allowed the Boy Wonders to accompany him on the streets. My problem is the anime studios keep putting untrained teens in giant robot pilots, and then throwing them to the wolves, while thinking these untrained teens will magically become ace pilots through such on-the-job training- Ikari Shinji is a prime example of this, a de facto kamikaze pilot, who suffers because NERV keeps treating him like a real kamikaze pilot.

[Serafina]

At least Shinji had a good justification other than "he is just better than anyone else for some reason": Not only the nature of the EVAs, but he was also a part of a secret plot - and his combat style was based around rage-induced berserks, so a mentally unstable kid is actually good at that for a good reason.

But yes, i would go with a "professional soldier" - you can add plenty of dramatic backstory to that template.
If i can't have that, i'll take my lesbian-powered magic flying machines instead

[Simon_Jester]

At the time of this post, there are 12 votes for "Combat veteran, he's cocky, but with good reason. He doesn't act recklessly- to him, each risk taken is the 'same shit, different day.' Tends to babysit younger pilots," none for any other option. Yet anime studios continue to make teenagers- who are thrown into the cockpit with zero combat training, as if piloting a giant robot is as easy as riding a bicycle- and child soldiers the protagonist of their works. Just out of curiousity, what are the nationalities of those who voted? (I'm assuming none are Japanese.)

I'm Chinese-American.

I think the uniformity of preferences on this site may say more about SDN than it does about giant robot TV shows...

[Formless]

Batman provided each Robin with comprehensive training on "How to be a Caped Crusader," before he allowed the Boy Wonders to accompany him on the streets.

Robin and Bat Girl are not the only characters you can find like this, though, they just were the two that I came up with off the top of my head. There are tons of examples in western literature, cartoons, and film that have kid heros. Harry Potter, anyone?

Also, training or no training, Robin and Bat Girl are still kids. In real life, there is no way Batman could justify working with them to bring down criminals.

My problem is the anime studios keep putting untrained teens in giant robot pilots, and then throwing them to the wolves, while thinking these untrained teens will magically become ace pilots through such on-the-job training- Ikari Shinji is a prime example of this, a de facto kamikaze pilot, who suffers because NERV keeps treating him like a real kamikaze pilot.

Evangelion is kind of an outlier, though. It was intentionally skewering the cliche' of the pre-teen giant robot hero with innate talent by showing how badly said line of work would damage the kid's psyche. Also, while Shinji was untrained in the first episode, the very next episode made a point of showing him in a training exercise and Asuka had extensive (albeit off camera) combat training.

There are also counter examples-- IIRC Gundam and other "real robot" shows tend to have heros in their twenties and otherwise appropriate ages. Nor is it just Giant Robot shows that like to have child heros-- Magical Girl shows like Nanoha almost exclusively have child and teenage heros, as does every Poke'mon game out there.

In fact, the manga/anime industry makes no secret that they aim their productions at different age/gender groups. There are Shonen series aimed at (pre)teen boys (which covers most giant robot shows), Shojo series aimed at (pre)teen girls, Seinen series aimed at older males, and the rarely seen in the west Josei series aimed at older women. In light of that, I'm not surprised they would generally tend towards having heros of the same age as the audience doing things the audience fantasizes about doing themselves, even if it seems WTF when you are older.

[Spekio]

I don't see a Kamina option.

[Zixinus]

Just note on the choice: the way I see it, the choice isn't "which would you like to see roboting a giant robot in an anime" but more like "which one is the most sane choice to pilot an extremely well-armed, highly dangerous vehicle"?

The reason, for example, that choice 6 is less preferable is because it shows that choice 5 is NOT anti-social: that is not something you want in a soldier. A lone, armed man fighting a war is a lunatic, not a warrior. Even snipers always work in two. You want a soldier that can work with others, not a lone wolf.

[HeadCreeps]

Internal conflict is probably my favorite part of giant robot animes. All of my favorite characters that I can think of off-hand are either from the first category or last.

Fei from Xenogears is in my opinion another effective example of the first category, but I don't remember if he fits the age group.

I dislike the "perfect" aged veteran as anything but a side character or a movie character because the character becomes boring if exposed for longer than a short while. Roy Fokker is cool, but I don't want him to be the main character.

[lord Martiya]

I dislike the "perfect" aged veteran as anything but a side character or a movie character because the character becomes boring if exposed for longer than a short while. Roy Fokker is cool, but I don't want him to be the main character.

As a main character I'm with you. As my defender... He's the best. Especially if the Roy-like character used to be Type 3 or 4 and matured without losing his edge (like Maximilian Jenius or his wife in Macross 7. Mentors, cocky but with reason, and when they fight they're nigh-invincible).

[VF5SS]

I vote for Chirico Cuvie. 18 year old ex-special forces who barely smiles and makes the ladies swoon because he's attractive.

[HeadCreeps]

I dislike the "perfect" aged veteran as anything but a side character or a movie character because the character becomes boring if exposed for longer than a short while. Roy Fokker is cool, but I don't want him to be the main character.

As a main character I'm with you. As my defender... He's the best. Especially if the Roy-like character used to be Type 3 or 4 and matured without losing his edge (like Maximilian Jenius or his wife in Macross 7. Mentors, cocky but with reason, and when they fight they're nigh-invincible).

If we're not talking about main characters, then we're missing quite a huge amount of categories. An effectively done antagonist of various types, especially when it's not a predictable one and especially if it's not evil for the sake of being evil, is the most interesting character in a story.

[fgalkin]

So fellow otaku, what kind of person do you want in a giant robot's cockpit? Who do you want to protect your homes and families from the Monster-of-the-Week?

A friendly advanced self-aware AI, if you please.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Darth Tedious]

I'm surprised you didn't list Ayanami Rei as an archetype for option 7. She fits the description perfectly.

[Havok]

I'm gonna nitpick. Luke Skywalker didn't graduate from military academy. He also isn't over confident, nor does he try to 'show up' anyone.
Also, no one gets drafted into a military academy.

[Lusankya]

Which category would Buzz Aldrin fit in?