Who else is writing/drawing their own /m/ material? How did you

I used to write my own /m/ story but I made it about bio-armor instead b/c it allows things to be more compact.

Those questions are also why I switched.

I've got a few.

One of them is a radically different take on Captain Marvel/Shazam where Cap is actually a giant robot Billy summons with a watch-like device. Mary is his older sister who rides a motorcycle and has her own giant robot. The main bad guys are the Seven Deadly Sins with Wrath being the head of them all. Well, until Sin itself shows up that is. The story takes place in a sem-post-apocalyptic world. Like, part of it is ruins but other parts aren't.

>>13508069

There's three options really

1. Necessity: War is fought in an area where other equipment is not or cannot be brought there for practical, logistic or political reasons.

2. Innovation: The machine has made other combat machines obsolete based on a paradigm shift. The only decent one I've ever heard was using a Man-Machine Interface where it becomes too cost-effective and training-light because a recruit can get a socket in the back of their skull and go to war in a hundredth of the time since they spent the last 20 years learning to pilot humanoids.

3. Fucking Magic. Go with this one, it's safe, easy and effective.

>>13508069
>space_retro_robot

holy shit that filename

>>13509536

Isn't that the powered armor from Section 8 anyway? I don't think 2009 qualifies as retro just yet.

>>13508069
>How did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?
Originally, the aliens built mechs because the animals on their planet are absurdly tough and bastards with a variety of dangerous abilitie, and they needed an edge to deal with the more aggressive predators. Eventually, of course, they became tools of war.

>What types of mechs do you use and what size? Humanoid? Skyscraper size?
Semi-hominid(digitigrade leg structure, think Metal Gear Rex with arms). Fairly small, Knightmare Frame sized.

>>13508069
>space_retro_robot_widescreen_wallpaper.jpg
What the fuck?
>reverse google labels it as Halo Reach
WHAT THE FUCK.

SECTION 8 WAS A GOOD FUCKIN GAME. IT DON'T DESERVE THIS.

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>>13508069
>Who else is writing/drawing their own /m/ material?
A space opera and a gundam type thing set in Jovian sphere
>How did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?
In space opera, they are ceremonial champions who duel in front of their armies to decide the battle.
The Jovian thing is multifuction part spacepod, part spider mech, part humanoid mode core of a larger booster vehicle.
>What types of mechs do you use and what size?
FSS/Gundam size metal knights for Opera.
Smaller Victory Gundam sized for the Jovian.

I'm trying to find a way to get paid to draw them, like turning the cast into traps, or lesbians for niche appeal and tumblr high-jinks.

>>13508069
>How did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?

Special alloy and power source discovered; allows the creation of machines that have more armor and firepower than tanks, while rivaling the speed of jets, while having the mobility of a human.

>What types of mechs do you use and what size? Humanoid? Skyscraper size?

5-ish meters tall are most common. A few 50+ meter sized ones. At least 2 planet-sized ones for space to fight planets and punch out asteroids, etc.

I thought of a story but I haven't written it down. I mostly just draw stuff. pic kind of related, idk what it's from but it's the most similar thing I've seen to the "main" robot.

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>>13511824
fucking shit

>>13508069
Its based off getter robo. Instead of 3 ships, its 3 individual robots that can combine into a greater robot. The story explanation is the robot is humanitys guardian deity that came from a parallel universe

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>>13511765

Expensive special alloy seems to be the best way to go for human sized mechs.

>>13511851

Dwayne Dibney?

>>13511878

Specifying an expensive new alloy that allows it just seems to implicitly leave open the question of why that alloy isn't being used on other, better weapons like tanks and jets frankly. Either not answering it at all and just having the characters act like it's a normal and efficient weapon regardless or coming up with a bullshity science reason like minovsky particles seems like a better way to me. That or coming up with a psuedo-magic reason like Eva and RahXephon use, where only this one specific weapon can combat a new enemy because reasons.

>>13508069

>How did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?

some wacky error resulted in an ordinary small fighter class warship getting equipped with high power thrusters and a single large cannon. Long story short things worked out, and the idea developed itself out into humanoid robots. The kicker is there is only a small unit of them because each one serves as the respective governments "flagship" contribution to the force. They are suited up with tons of high tech and have crazy specs, all for the sake of each government trying to win the proverbial pissing contest against the others.

>What types of mechs do you use and what size?

Usually around small skyscraper size. Each one has its own unique thing, but all tend to be humanoid in appearance. I made it work because the plot has just about every species look humanoid due to the interference of some grand all knowing mysterious species thats no longer around (allegedly)

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>How did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?

I didn't.

>>13508069
>How did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?
Ancient aliens. Both times, with the civilization of the first part fulfilling that role for the civilization of the second part. And only the protagonist's species uses them, at first. The humans who show up to fight them use conventional space/aircraft, the third species that shows up to fight the first two's alliance use fish-inspired mobile armor-type machines, and the Borg-knockoff that sends the remnants of the threeway alliance Ideon-ing is adapted to space combat in their biological forms.

>What types of mechs do you use and what size? Humanoid?
Humanoid. Or, anthropomorphic dragonoid. 15 meters tall.

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>>13508069
I write short stories, a lot of which end up robot related.

Recent ones include:

- Tropical island set stories with high-tier KMF / 00 style MS robots and a space elevator
- Action sequence involving a girl in a hardsuit type thing fighting an android sniper (pic related)
- Oshii-esque monologue about transhumanism by a cyborg narco cop
- Series of stories about bratty kids meeting a Brave style AI

Also more tenuous I have a novel that needs proof reading about a kid who races Wipeout-style hover cars.

Generally I don't try too hard to justify the robot stuff because I don't want Frodo shit, it is there because I want it there.

I've been running a mech-centric Stars Without Number game. Most of it takes place on a death world with a dense, toxic atmosphere, so powered armor is pretty much the only way to A) not get eaten by the Bugs and B) breathe. From there, sticking death rays and chainsaws and other killy know-wots is just logical.

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>Who else is writing/drawing their own /m/ material?
I'm doing a reimagining of the Cosmic Era, in the vein of Battlestar Galactica, Yamato 2199 or The Origin
>How did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?
Multipurpose vehicle for combat both in space and inside the colonies, with armor and payload much larger than regular space fighters and more maneuverability than capital ships. One vehicle eases logistics, design and training of pilots.
>What types of mechs do you use and what size? Humanoid? Skyscraper size?
Mostly humanoid, but there's also a quadruped model, a tank with mecha upper torso (think Hildolfr) and a more "abstract" one (think Elmeth/Alvaaron). Only one unit has atmospheric flight, and that one is more of a gunship with barely any armor (think Aries). Conventional units like tanks are still capable of engaging mecha with a certain degree of success, especially on Earth.
I haven't decided a "standard" height yet, but I'm pretty sure they're going to be taller than 4 meters (13 ft, height of ATs in Votoms and KMFs in Geass) and not beyond 13 meters (40 ft, height of Kataphracts in A/Z).
Main inspirations in this regard are Patlabor, Gasaraki, the FMP! grunts, Walken/Leynos, MADOX, Gungriffon, plus Geass and Aldnoah/Zero

>>13511893
Well human sized mechs would be cheaper to manufacture than tanks. Then you can have them used as infantry. Human sized mechs can go places that tanks can't and can do things that tanks and jets can't. Jets and tanks cause a lot of collateral damage that a human in a suit can control. I think Halo went went a good approach for the SPARTAN program.

>>13508069
I did back when I was in middle school. The concept was that there was a gigantic space war involving six races, three on each side, and each one had their own preferred methods of combat.

The generic humans had power armor that they would often use, and the head of the opposing side extensively used mechs of all sorts; power armor, transforming ones for different situations, gigantic mobile fortresses that packed obscene firepower with the twist being that that race was MACHINES
I was an autistic child.

>>13508069
Writing Gundam fanfiction and Battlefleet Gothic fanfiction if that counts. Also continually playing with an idea for using powered suits in Jupiter's atmosphere by gas miners that live in giant zeppelin-submersibles.

>>13511824
>I mostly just draw stuff.

Got a DeviantArt or other showcase for your drawings, co/m/rade?

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>>13518325
I don't but I can take some pictures. The one on the left is the oldest, so I don't think it looks as good as the two on the right. The two on the right are of the same machine. I practice when I can but I can tell I need improvement.

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>>13518325
I consider this the "cleanest" of those 3. I made it to figure out the height I wanted for the "main" machine.

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>>13518325
This is the one that I'm the most proud of, even though it isn't done. Everything looks like the 00-ARETHA from Armored Core because I really like it's shoulders and head.

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>>13518325
This is the oldest one. It's basically a scaled up version of the first one. I think it looks ok but I feel like the legs and arms need to be bigger to match the shoulders and torso. As far as the story is concerned, they would be piloted by one person, but in a back room (unknown to the pilot) would be another person trapped in the machine to assist in movement, control, balance, etc. I finished M3 yesterday and it's pretty much the same thing.

>>13508069
>did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?

(a)the heroes are fighting ayylmaos- the good guys fighting them are using mechs as a result of adopting the alien threat's tech.

(b) discovery of a real light bullshit metallic material/composite that enables the construction of ridable humanoid mechs that that are nimble and do not sink into a hole in the ground when they're standing upright.They're still silly and impractical to be used as weapons of war so they usually end up as either leisure sports equipment for richfags or construction tools.

(c) similar to explanation (b) but at this time the world got fucked sideways by a bigass war and the story is set in post- apocalyptia. The mechs that were originally intended to use as tools of reconstruction are now refurbished and used as weapons by the survivors that live day by day battling each other or bigass mutants and other wicked shit unleashed during the last war.

>What types of mechs do you use and what size?
humanoid and Aesti-sized.

>>13508069
Kind of, I'm not writing anything concrete, but I have ideas I put together for a setting that could be used in a VN or short story or something.

>How did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?
A robot fell from the sky like a meteor in the past, found by a boy who used it to protect the Earth from invaders. Put simply, a literal super robot series happened in their reality that inspired the nations that could afford it to finally explore space and build their own giant robots. It was a Robot Renaissance, of sorts. Of course, it's never that easy.

>What types of mechs do you use and what size?

The robot from space was a technicolor wonder which towered over skyscrapers and surmounted impossible odds weekly.

Early prototypes of human-made robots were shoddy, small, and animalistic in design, not a whole lot like the robot that inspired them. Later designs came closer, albeit with many flaws. Hey, you have to start somewhere.

>>13508069
I have two concepts I'm working on, one Super Robot, one Real Robot.

For the Super Robot one, large, humanoid mechs are formed by combining 5 vehicle bots (which have replaced cars in this universe). The technology was given to Earth by an alien race seeking refuge from another alien race that had nearly wiped them out. The mechs were mass produced in anticipation of a massive invasion by the bad aliens, but it turns out the good aliens had time-travelled back in time to give us enough time to prepare for the invasion, and they overshot, so the invasion wasn't due for another 30 years. By the time the error was caught, we'd already mass produced the base bots, so the sport of MMMA (mecha mixed martial arts) was invented. (Think G Gundam with Voltron-type mechs instead of Gundams)

The Real Robot one is basically a Gundam type story, but with humanity having ventured much further into space. The mechs evolved from construction bots used in building space colonies. League Proxima and the Cygnus Republic are warring superpowers vying for control of the old Earth Empire. Between them are the Alliance Worlds, which had joined with the Cygnus Republic in breaking away from League Proxima, but are now trapped between the two powers.

Crazy grandpa.
It's by far the most logical reason for mecha existence.

>>13508069
>How did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?
Setting is on a colony world seeded by generation ship. Originally the intent was to not have any weapons on the new world, but territorial skirmishes and wars of independence start out as soon as people expand. The main source of "armoured" units are the large, bulky space suits originally meant to do complex repairs on the original ship, and thus were built to take small hits at an appreciable fraction of c.

>What types of mechs do you use and what size?
Humanoid but bulky as fuck, a bit bigger than a Scopedog.

>>13522874
I will use this if I ever bother to make an /m/ story. Love it too much not to.

I have plans for a comic, but I need to practice my art a lot more and I just haven't had the time. I'm hoping some time next year I can get it going.

Without getting in too much detail, all military mecha will be some form of spider-tank, which I think is reasonable enough to not require some specific justification. The only humanoid mecha will be literally a vanity project built by a guy who just loves mecha fiction.

I'm still waiting for someone to write/draw an /m/ story where all combat is sized-up versions of Big Dog hipchecking each other.

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I make mecha flash animations inspired by OVAs like Gunbuster and Getter Armageddon. Low quality in comparison, but it is fun practice, just copying stuff from a cool scene or a webm I find.

As for explanations for anything in the universe, there are none. It is just a few minutes of action sequences with barely a story

>>13523582
>combat is sized-up
how big?

>>13523647
Unfinished one:
http://www.fastswf.com/UUl-OxI

>>13523710
neato

I recall suggesting a few years back for a story ideas thread that a group of revolutionaries desperate for weapons re-purpose some construction mechs in to combat machines for use in a quick strike scenario i.e. that they want to stage a precision attack on a large city targeting government forces in order to stage a coup and they have no tanks or planes or what have you, so they take some construction mechs and use their jackhammers, rivet guns or whatever as weapons.

Which I realize is basic mech101, but staging it as a race against time was my suggestion. They have maybe 12 hours to stage their coup and get shit done against the cops before the army arrives with some much better weaponry than they can field and at that point they'll be facing a losing battle. The construction mechs would offer some degree of advantage over the army in that they'd be able to shoot around corners and maybe have some way of scaling buildings (presumably slowly) but the army would have the advantage once they come in force to put it down.

I also think mechs would actually be a decent fantasy colony defense platform, because jets would simply be too fast. A colony is only a few miles long so a jet will fly it's length in seconds even at a fraction of it's normal speed. Which is handy in that you can get to any point fast, but makes for a cramped and presumably dangerous environment if you're being aimed at since you'll really have nowhere to hide. A mech would offer the advantage of legs over a tank, which in the confines of a colony would mean that you'd be able to jump up, boost a little and then align to the gravity of the other side of the tube and come down on a distant point much faster than normal. It gives a maneuverability that a tank can't match, though it still has a larger profile which probably offsets it. Plus you can run a mech around the outside of it in a zero-g envinronment where a tank would be less effective due to a smaller arc of fire or something I guess?

>>13508069
An Aliens fanfic in which power loaders are weaponized against xenos and preds and continuously being upgraded with scavenged engineer technology.

Why are humans and aliums fighting over the vast galactic distances? I mean, once you have FTL, haven't you won physics? Can't you claim any necessary materials from asteroids and manufacture the rest?

>>13526053
Manifest destiny doesn't care about necessity.

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Had a story in my head.

Short version. They did because energy is abundant and they have an objective benefit to using them over say a tank or drone.

The mecha I like to envision have some type of objective benefit to using them. In one particular story I made them transforming jet type mechs (yeah like macross) with more maneuverability as well as the power of a ground tank.

Thing is mechs will never not be pretty stupid unless we find some new type of energy source, the ideal mecha would use up so much power (if you want it to move anything like they're fictionally shown to) that it's pointless not to use something more efficient.

Still, I prefer Japanese "real robot" fantasy mecha then more boring western interpretations which usually end up being another version of a tank (maybe bipedal). Humanoid mecha will always appeal to me more but I understand how far fetched it is. AT some point you just have to go with "they built it because they felt like it"

I"m currently working on a short story about a little utility robot (think wall-e) who looks up to the giant robot guadian of its city.
It's due in 6 hours

>>13526229
Good luck

>>13508069
I have a fantasy /m/ setting I've been working on and off on for years.

The short of it? Feudalistic politics with magical robots powered by song, which is how magic manifests in the setting. Mechs are symbols of the nobility to flaunt wealth, but require mage co-pilots to keep running. Think FSS mixed with Macross 7 and Escaflowne, and you have the idea. Romantic high fantasy with mecha and feudal politics.

>How did you explain the reason people started using mechs in the first place?
Originally, they were crafted to fight eldritch horrors from beyond space-time that predated the universe. They work because magic in the setting is slightly altering the composition of the universe, while staying in the same basic form of something found in nature (ie, a humanoid mech works because it's a human scaled up). Effectively, imagine the universe as one long song- magic works by altering the tone of a note a bit.

Mechs are now used to flaunt wealth by nobles, mostly. While used in castle sieges during warfare (because chances are, the castle will have their own mechs), it's far more common to see them used in dragon-slaying and knightly duels.

>What types of mechs do you use and what size? Humanoid? Skyscraper size?
Mainly bipedal, generally standing about 16-18m and requiring a single mage's song to power. These are the most common to see, and usually have elaborate decorations and paint jobs to help flaunt the wealth of whatever house owns it.

Other frames like quadrupeds and serpentine mechs exist as curiosities and such owned by more eccentric nobles. The problem there is that mages are actually somewhat rare- designs like that often times require more than one mage to power, which is a resource problem. Essentially they exist because they look cool.

I'm not sure what the hell to do with this as a setting, since I can't figure out a decent story to introduce the setting to readers. I've considered making it a /tg/ game, but I dunno/

>>13526283
This sounds cool. Opening a story is incredibly hard. I'd say it's my hardest part of writing. That and trying not to repeat words and describing scenes. Writing is hard.

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>>13526299
It's a mix of that and the fact I can't figure out a way to introduce readers to the setting at all. Everything I've come up with tends to assume they've read my setting notes.

The closest I've gotten is having someone whisked away from our world to the fantasy setting like Narnia and Dunbine and all that. Was thinking the person would be some sort of musician to keep with the setting's music theme.

The other ideas to bring the reader into the setting were to write something from a squire's perspective or to have there be in-universe texts prefacing chapters a la Dune.

>>13528613

Why not start by having a newly knighted character entering a duel with his squire? Have him be an outsider in some fashion, as in, a guy who normally wouldn't be a knight but became one by right of some ostentatious deed, either something actually heroic, or a stroke of luck that he took advantage of or what have you. Maybe an eccentric noble decided to train him in relative privacy away from the other normal guys for his own purposes, part of a long con political maneuver or something.

So this dude that's an outsider and really only superficially familiar with what's to be expected at these things has finally done his training and is now seeing the reality of inter-noble jousting, politics and other mechs and magic for the first time up close and personal.

If you're writing a fantasy work then new readers are always going to be a little lost at first because everything is potentially new. So long as you introduce the fantastical elements at a good pace without overwhelming the reader with babble it's fine to have them be a little lost. It can even work to the advantage if the main character is supposed to be lost a little on it all too.

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I drew a mecha fuel truck for /k/

>>13530419
Kawaii

I would personally roll with mechs being improvised combat vehicles, the key is common hardpoints.

A spaceship would have a few repair pods to repair the ship. Such repair pods are modular, able to use a variety of tools, and since the hardpoints are common with the hardpoints of proper combat vehicles, you can strap on a cannon or two on a repair pod.
And since the repair pods are often used as makeshift control units in cases such as a gun turret with its controls destroyed, they can be loaded with various software to operate other stuff once the necessary cables are plugged in.
The combination of the ability to take practically every weapon thanks to common hardpoints and the ability to run the

At one point, a ship successfully used a team of repair pods with weapons and boosters to fight off pirates, and news of it spread quick so pretty much everyone knows about it. Someone had the great idea of "Repair pod Conversion kits", which is pretty much strapping existing equipment onto a repair pod to let it fulfill another vehicle's role at first. And then it starts selling like hotcakes once news of more successful attempts at fighting off pirates spread.

As time went on, the conversion kits start including special parts like landing legs that can take a high speed landing, complex articulated arms, etc. But the commonly used kits often have the high speed landing legs, the booster packs, and various other parts depending on the customer's purpose. Such converted pods look more like a robot than a repair pod, so they were called mechs.

Basically, instead of having spacefighters onboard your unarmed civilian ship to fight off pirates(The costs of maintaining a spacefighter is significant), one can opt to temporarily convert the repair pods on board the ship with the conversion kits available, and use them to fight off pirates.

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>>13528647
Oh, shit, dude. I never considered that- that's actually a pretty damn solid idea. I'll have to use that once I get back to working on the setting.

Thanks, anon.

>>13530419

It's most charming, but wouldn't a spherical tank be a little more easy to manage?

>>13526283
>the universe is one long song and magic is altering the song
Reminds me of Ar tonelico. You might want to check out how their magic works.

>>13530661
I've had the first game for a few years now. Been meaning to play it, but haven't booted it past making sure it booted up at all.

Skimming wiki shows I had a few similar ideas, though. Neat. I'll have to do a run through if it sometime soon.

>>13528613
>>13530637
One idea a lot of people don't consider is In Media Res storytelling. There's no necessity to explaining things to the audience, just shove them in the middle of things and let them make inferences.

>>13530651

probably, but I just thought the idea of a gas truck on legs was funny.

>>13530714

Also I like the idea of a desperate logistics pilot in one kickboxing a proper mech's shit in because they don't realize how agile and strong it is when it's not carrying around like 40 tons of diesel.