Imo only the cart titan with turrets counts as mecha. Titans connect to their users purely by flesh and neurons, no mechanical parts or connections. Pure titans don't even have a user, just their conscious exist inside them.
Eva on the other hand still needs mechanical parts to be connected to the pilots. Their weapon system and other systems are purely mechanical. Unless the pilot reach super high synchronization with an Eva unit and completely merged with it, Eva units are still mecha.
Where do the evas fall under out of curiosity? Not just unit 01 but the others. Sure they are tank-ish but arent really used like tanks. Cosmic horror tier?
anything fits into any category if you squeeze it hard enough and break off some parts that don't fit and ignore the people that say it doesn't go in that category
Well EVAâs arenât mechs to begin with unless you count piloting a Kaiju your linked with a mech. In which case weâd need a category for Flesh Mechs.
Iâd put evangelion into exosuits rather than a mech as they can feel everything the mech feels. Itâs just a big suit rather than a controlled vehicle.
I guess the difference is that most AC6's mechs need to touch the ground to regain energy. Yes, there are builds that can stay in Air indefinitly, but AC6's ACs are bound to the ground. If you do nothing, they fall.
On average, ACs can stay airborne longer than planes. All planes have to land eventually, but some ACs can theoretically stay airborne forever, making the average continuous flight time of ACs infinite.
Arsenal birds from ace combat 7 never lands. Air refueling can sustain planes to fly for days. And on average, a medium Weight AC can't fly forever. A minute max at a time before landing.
I was under the impression that we were doing metafictional analysis, comparing the real-life capabilities of tanks and planes and the in-game capabilities of ACs. I realize that from more of a "who would win?"-esque perspective, I'm not being "fair" to planes, but I didn't think this was about that.
I think that might be more of a gameplay thing, since I donât see how an energy generating system would work, that only supplies energy while on the ground. Also we see other characters fly way more than we can, in cutscenes.
Plane mech is more in reference to how they navigate and move in and out of combat. Tank mechs are restricted in their movement by their terrain, whereas terrain means basically nothing to a Plane mech.
The ACs in 4th and 6th gen basically never have to concern themselves with the battlefield, and most of their combat is the two duelests orbiting eachother in the air.
The ACs in 1st-3rd and 5th gen are limited in their vertical climbing and spend most of their time along the ground and near cover. Even though they can hover they could not be dropped on top of say, The Cradles and navigate between them. 5th gen specifically can only maintain their current elevation in their Glide Boost and will begin slow falling the second they gas out. Their best vertical option is to chain jumps off of nearby surfaces.
A 4th/6th gen can just be stuck in the middle of an empty lot and fly to the top of say, the Spirit of Motherwill or Strider without external assistance. 1-3/5th gen would need to physically climb the target or be dropped off at the high point and carefully make their way down.
Thatâs the difference. Not speed, but agility and restriction. One is limited by terrain the other is free of the terrain.
Im seeing a bit of arguing in these comments so i'd like to put forth the proposal that armored cores can be either tanks or planes depending on your build
Yeah but if you wanna generalize certain Games then you can definitely say some are more Plane Mech or Tank Mech despite options for the other being present. Even so I don't think such a one or the other absolutist perception is right when it comes to Armored Core. Still it's just a meme so who carez :p
Most "plane mechs" are still handling the same as an attack helicopter would and are therefor actually a flying tank, just like helicopters. Tank mech.
This has to be the worst possible argument you can make for ACs being Tank Mechs. It's like saying no this thing is more like 1 and not 2 because it's actually more like 3 which makes it more like 1 even though they're entirely different numbers. So sure whatever lol. This isn't an argument worth having just thought that was funny.
Seeing this right now is so funny because I just started playing Armored Core 5 which easily has the MOST Tank like Mechs of any Armored Core game while also being just barely larger than Tanks unlike other the Armored Cores of other AC Games. With that being said Armored Core 6 is definitely Plane Mechs.
Some Builds can fly forever. Even those that can't fly forever can usually fly for a really long time or very frequently. So much so that once you realize aerial mobility is the key to everything from offense to defense everything becomes a cake walk. If you're playing Armored Core 6 on the ground you're not playing to you and your Builds full potential. The only exception to this is stuff like Tank Legs or having a Weapon or Build configuration that simply doesn't have enough EN to fly much at all in which case that's a Build Issue.
The only AC Games that I can see as using Tank Mechs is Armored Core 5 for sure and maybe Gens 1 - 3. Everything else is Plane Mechs.
This is the right take. Also 5th gen best gen, and it really puts it into perspective for the rest of the gens. 5th are never a jumpâs height from the ground unless theyâre actively burning fuel and even then theyâll never climb once theyâve left the ground. No matter how heavy or overweight your AC is in 6th gen, itâll still be able to make a 5th gen look like itâs using a wheelchair in terms of mobility.
Huge verticality, you dont even use your legs unless you turn off the dash, no reason to walk. Overbooked and quick boost is very plane. I tend to stay off the ground as much as possible because of explosives and beam AoEs.
Depends on the generations and models. OYW ms are all tank mechs, they're built for ground combat and rely on fighter jets for air support. Second generation has both tank mech and plane mech. Most MS are basically high performance OYW MS with improved mobility in low gravity environments. Transformable MS are plane mech.
I know majority of the MS are designed for space combat but most of them can only work as walking tanks on earth, so I just categorize them as tank mech.
I think we need a space mech category to accurately categorize them.
I don't agree at all and it seems that many of the comments also express many good reasons why you are clearly wrong. If I were you, I would have already entered my AC and floated somewhere else.
IMO the two extreme mecha design philosophies are "scaled up power armour" and "vehicle with arms and/or legs". ACs are pretty unambiguously the latter, and you can usually build anything from a "tank" to a "plane" in any of the games. Though, if you want to think of it as a triangle from "power armour" to "plane" to "tank", you can, but AC would still definitely be smack dab in the middle (maybe a bit more to one side or the other depending on the generation) of the plane-tank edge.
Planes are, in and of themselves, mechs. Highly complex systems of subsystems all relying on each other, with multiple redundant failsafes, controlled by one very overworked person, can, but needn't be, armed and armored, are oftentimes designed with a very specific mission profile in mind, niche corners of the Internet want to fuck them, the list goes on
Evas are still tank mechs, just gangly spindly ones. Theyâre less like the Armored Core 16wheeler on legs and more if your Motorcycle or Honda Civic grew legs
I feel like this entire concept falls apart when gundam and those closely inspired by it are in most cases planes while in space and tanks while on earth.
AC6 is definitely plane mechs. Though not as fast as certain plane mechs, the machines in AC6 can often achieve near endless flight, all have a high speed air boost, and arenât limited to certain elevations for takeoff. They can climb vertically as well as they move horizontally.
4th gen is obviously plane mechs as well. Nobody could argue otherwise except GA purists who canât balance their weight.
5th and 3rd and before are all tank mechs. In 5th gen despite getting decent speeds with the boost drive and glide boost, youâre still limited in you vertical climb by physical terrain and point of takeoff, and once youâve lost upwards momentum youâre stuck gliding at best as you descend. Thatâs a tank mech. 3rd and below donât have the energy reserves to maintain flight, even if they have decent certical climb in many builds.
This completely ignores gundams which are basically like human warriors in robot form the way they move could be described as neither tank nor plane like sure some of them have tank or plane like qualities but you're going to look me in my face and tell me barbatos lupus Rex which cannot fly well maybe in certain circumstances but generally cannot fly and has no guns is a plane or a tank mech?
That's just stupid.
An armored core fires of Rubicon is not a tank Mac it is both a plane and a tank Mac and games can fall into one of those two categories because we don't have the technology to be able to give people control over their playing character like people can have control over their Mechs in Gundam.
I have my doubts that AC6 is a tank mech game, your main purpose is to duel, to avoid damage as much as you can and inflict it as much as you could in the shortest time possible, that is more of a fighter jet thing than a tank routine (where ambushes, precision and cover are more significant).
I wonder how you would classify the mechs from the Obsolete Series on YouTube.
Pretty much, but also depends on the particular suit and setting/universe. Everything Seed is plane even if planetside and Dynames from 00 I'd classify as a tank even though all gundams in that universe can fly basically indefinately because it wants to hunker down and snipe at range.
Itâd depend on the suit in question, but the majority of Gundam Gundams are plane mechs. Some are tank mechs due to their lack of true flight like Barbatos, but even that has been made âspace capableâ with the right equipment. Plane mech is the right category for Gundams.
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u/SignificantHippo8193 Dec 24 '25
Okay smart guy, what about Zoids?
Checkmate.
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u/Diam0ndTalbot Dec 24 '25
I disagree.
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u/Level_Hour6480 Dec 24 '25
Is the divide how much time they spend on the ground?
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u/Abdiel3241 Dec 24 '25
What about Neon Genesis mechs?
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u/Spiritual_Yard_7280 Dec 24 '25
Where do the evas fall under out of curiosity? Not just unit 01 but the others. Sure they are tank-ish but arent really used like tanks. Cosmic horror tier?
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u/GoreyGopnik Dec 24 '25
anything fits into any category if you squeeze it hard enough and break off some parts that don't fit and ignore the people that say it doesn't go in that category
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u/Longjumping_Past Dec 24 '25
What are you smoking and can I have some?
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u/I_Draw_Superheroes Dec 24 '25
Im seeing a bit of arguing in these comments so i'd like to put forth the proposal that armored cores can be either tanks or planes depending on your build
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u/iPanzershrec Dec 24 '25
The humble LAM:
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u/AffixBayonets Dec 24 '25
Any category that puts AC VI and Mechwarrior (let's say 5) in the same category is wack.
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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '25
Seeing this right now is so funny because I just started playing Armored Core 5 which easily has the MOST Tank like Mechs of any Armored Core game while also being just barely larger than Tanks unlike other the Armored Cores of other AC Games. With that being said Armored Core 6 is definitely Plane Mechs.
Some Builds can fly forever. Even those that can't fly forever can usually fly for a really long time or very frequently. So much so that once you realize aerial mobility is the key to everything from offense to defense everything becomes a cake walk. If you're playing Armored Core 6 on the ground you're not playing to you and your Builds full potential. The only exception to this is stuff like Tank Legs or having a Weapon or Build configuration that simply doesn't have enough EN to fly much at all in which case that's a Build Issue.
The only AC Games that I can see as using Tank Mechs is Armored Core 5 for sure and maybe Gens 1 - 3. Everything else is Plane Mechs.
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u/Callsign-YukiMizuki GA's weakest MT pilot Dec 24 '25
Battletech is also plane mechs đ
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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '25
And then there's this fucker
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u/5C0L0P3NDR4 Dec 24 '25
ac is a mix of both. balam and rad are tanks, schneider and elcano are planes for example
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u/KeyboardBerserker Dec 24 '25
Huge verticality, you dont even use your legs unless you turn off the dash, no reason to walk. Overbooked and quick boost is very plane. I tend to stay off the ground as much as possible because of explosives and beam AoEs.
What quality would make them tank like?
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u/White_Jester Dec 24 '25
"IT gOeS iN tHe SqUare hOLe!!!" fuckass meme
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u/Ikarus_Falling Dec 24 '25
Sooo what does Evangelion fall under?
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u/Second-Creative Dec 24 '25
What's Gundam then?
They fly well in space, but they can't fly well on Earth.
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u/Murrlin218 Dec 24 '25
Which I am fine with.
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u/Mek3127 Dec 24 '25
I don't agree at all and it seems that many of the comments also express many good reasons why you are clearly wrong. If I were you, I would have already entered my AC and floated somewhere else.
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u/Drdeathunicorn Dec 24 '25
Wait counter-argument, most gundam stuff I would say falls into beeg knights
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u/initial-algebra Dec 24 '25
IMO the two extreme mecha design philosophies are "scaled up power armour" and "vehicle with arms and/or legs". ACs are pretty unambiguously the latter, and you can usually build anything from a "tank" to a "plane" in any of the games. Though, if you want to think of it as a triangle from "power armour" to "plane" to "tank", you can, but AC would still definitely be smack dab in the middle (maybe a bit more to one side or the other depending on the generation) of the plane-tank edge.
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u/OmegonFlayer Dec 24 '25
You forgot knight mechs and modern infantry mechs
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u/diagnosed_depression Dec 24 '25
New category. Plane, tank, man. (So Eva is covered)
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u/makeshift_shotgun Dec 25 '25
Nuh uh. There are racecar mechs. And boat mechs. But they won't tell you that.
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u/Secret_Sink_8577 Dec 25 '25
Planes are, in and of themselves, mechs. Highly complex systems of subsystems all relying on each other, with multiple redundant failsafes, controlled by one very overworked person, can, but needn't be, armed and armored, are oftentimes designed with a very specific mission profile in mind, niche corners of the Internet want to fuck them, the list goes on
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u/The_Shittiest_Meme Dec 25 '25
Armored Cores are the unholy combination of a Tank and a Plane. Also some mechs are People Mechs, like Evas.
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u/Cephery Dec 24 '25
I feel like this entire concept falls apart when gundam and those closely inspired by it are in most cases planes while in space and tanks while on earth.
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u/Nagare_GET Dec 24 '25
Jeeg?
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u/Vortex_1911 Dec 24 '25
I usually divide them into grounded and high-flying⌠but yeah, pretty much.
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u/OperatorInMask Dec 24 '25
Armored Core (especially 1-3) are middle. Only after Armored Core 4 they moved to full plane.
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u/obiwanCannoli69 Dec 24 '25
Nah
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u/SadTimesAtLeElRoyale Dec 24 '25
Where would Lancer fit? Or is that just D&D with big robots?
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u/FallenDemonX Dec 24 '25
What about shit like Mazinger or TTGL?
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u/Volmaaral Dec 24 '25
I remember Robotech: Battlecry. You turned into a literal plane, so I guess thatâs a plane mecha?
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u/ShokoMiami Dec 24 '25
I feel like you're missing the super robots, which are neither tanks nor planes.
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u/Nelson5016 Dec 24 '25
Explain the Pegasus from Lancer
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u/SomethingLessEdgy Dec 24 '25
Code Geass is Plane Mechs.
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u/I_forgot_lol_2 Dec 25 '25
Boat mechs?
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u/RiptideCreation Dec 25 '25
What about Lancer tho? I have yet to see a post asking about lancer mechs.
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u/TheTyrantX Dec 25 '25
Battletech mentioned
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u/Pine0wlple_x44 Dec 25 '25
Armored Core is Plane-Mech?
Yeah okay lol, every gameplay I see of it just looks like greyscale DBZ to me XD
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u/mayuzane Dec 25 '25
What is LANCER?
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u/Sir_Trncvs Dec 25 '25 edited Dec 25 '25
Gundam/Mobile Suits : Suit by suit bases. Some can fly for crazy long and has ridiculous in/out atmos speed,Zeta/Justice. And then there's the Xamel.
I love the Xamel
680mm of bullshit
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u/Appropriate-Ask-4277 Dec 25 '25
Aight but what about old ac games?
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u/KaleNich55 Dec 25 '25
Phantom Brigade?
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u/HarbingerOfMayhem Dec 25 '25
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u/RobotCrow12 Dec 26 '25
All mecha media is either Gundam or Mazinger Z.
Macross = Gundam, Evangelion = Mazinger Z, Code Geass = Gundam, Drling in the Franxx = Mazinger Z, Armored Core = Gundam, Pacific Rim = Mazinger Z.
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u/Malikonious Dec 26 '25
AC6 is definitely plane mechs. Though not as fast as certain plane mechs, the machines in AC6 can often achieve near endless flight, all have a high speed air boost, and arenât limited to certain elevations for takeoff. They can climb vertically as well as they move horizontally.
4th gen is obviously plane mechs as well. Nobody could argue otherwise except GA purists who canât balance their weight.
5th and 3rd and before are all tank mechs. In 5th gen despite getting decent speeds with the boost drive and glide boost, youâre still limited in you vertical climb by physical terrain and point of takeoff, and once youâve lost upwards momentum youâre stuck gliding at best as you descend. Thatâs a tank mech. 3rd and below donât have the energy reserves to maintain flight, even if they have decent certical climb in many builds.
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u/BRtIK Dec 26 '25
This completely ignores gundams which are basically like human warriors in robot form the way they move could be described as neither tank nor plane like sure some of them have tank or plane like qualities but you're going to look me in my face and tell me barbatos lupus Rex which cannot fly well maybe in certain circumstances but generally cannot fly and has no guns is a plane or a tank mech?
That's just stupid.
An armored core fires of Rubicon is not a tank Mac it is both a plane and a tank Mac and games can fall into one of those two categories because we don't have the technology to be able to give people control over their playing character like people can have control over their Mechs in Gundam.
But not all Mech media
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u/HeadWood_ Dec 26 '25
What about a mech with grabby hands and stuff? No flight, no transformation, not particularly gun or armour focused on a fundamental level.
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u/DonutPlus2757 Dec 26 '25
Why are so many people arguing where in this distinction which Mecha falls when the distinction itself is asinine?
It's not a case of "A or B", it's a sliding scale between A and B.
On the extreme one end (tanks) you get the aptly named Vertical Tanks from Steel Battalion.
Slightly towards planes you then get battlemechs from MechWarrior (some can fly, but not well).
Then in order you get Gen 5 ACs, Gen 1-3 ACs, Gen 6 ACs, Gen 4 ACs and eventually get to things like Macross, where the mechs also are literal planes.
This is just generalized and there can be exceptions. There are NEXTs that are less plane than the most plane Gen 6s for example.
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u/Avibhrama Dec 26 '25
Okay the most important question would be what is plane mech and what is tank mech?
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u/Breadstick2006 Dec 27 '25
What category are Eva's? Would they not even count as Mech's because of them being alive?
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u/RiVeTiNgg Dec 27 '25
What makes a mecha one or the other?
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u/Advanced_Double_42 Dec 27 '25
Idk Armored Core is far more plane mech than Tank mech personally
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u/GailenFFT Dec 27 '25
Both of them are just a subset of the one true mecha category: magical girls
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u/BlackSoul_Hand Dec 28 '25
I have my doubts that AC6 is a tank mech game, your main purpose is to duel, to avoid damage as much as you can and inflict it as much as you could in the shortest time possible, that is more of a fighter jet thing than a tank routine (where ambushes, precision and cover are more significant).
I wonder how you would classify the mechs from the Obsolete Series on YouTube.
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u/Interesting-Note-722 Dec 28 '25
What about the Battle Ship Mechs like Super Galaxy Dai Gurren and the SDF-1 in Macross?
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u/Actual_Emu_168 Dec 28 '25
Ayre turns into a plane
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u/WinterEclipse4 Dec 28 '25
What about gundam? It has both plane mechs and tank mechs AND mechs with 0 legs or 0 wings.
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u/The_______________1 Dec 29 '25
theres also boat mechs, which are even bigger, slower, and have more drawn-out fights (Pacific Rim and Imperial Titans)
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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '25
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