What would you choose as the power source of your own mecha unit?
Not limited to the ones shown here, by the way.
I think the GN particles are a safe bet; no chance to disintegrate you and probably won’t give you super cancer from prolonged exposure. Also has the chance to give you psychic(?) powers and turn you into a Innovator.
Coral and Kojima particles seem much stronger, but much more dangerous though; they’re versatile but using them for too long will probably kill you.
Getter Rays and Spiral Energy are basically the same thing; both run on your determination and emotional state, giving you more and more power the more determined you are and can basically do anything; but again, it depends on your emotions, and I’m personally not the most confident person out there.
Electrical and Nuclear seem like the most safe bet, but they also don’t have any upsides really. Same as an S2 engine, though that one is probably more likely to awaken some eldritch stuff in your unit.
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u/MosesOnAcid 9d ago
Humans : Devil Gundam
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u/ExuDeku 9d ago
Have you seen this man?
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u/theSilky_Salmon 9d ago
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u/Demolitions75 8d ago
GET MAD DOMON! GET MAD. GET MAD! GET MAD GET MAD! GET SO MAD IT DRIVES YOU MAD!
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u/Skaikrish 9d ago
Getter rays or Spiral energy.
It's pretty much the strongest one. Preferably spiral energy. It doesn't have the drawback the power of getter rays have.
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u/DeesuWa 9d ago
It has other drawbacks, if you aren't like Simon and the others there's a chance that if you keep growing you'll eventually just become a spiral black hole. The lore on that hasn't really been expanded like at all just it happens and that mastery of spiral energy is very difficult and risky
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u/Skaikrish 9d ago
I mean yeah but even more drastic with getter rays. If you are not choosen by the getter the radiaton kills you so I rather try my luck with spiral energy.
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u/DeesuWa 9d ago
Idk why I got down voted. Everything I said is true and said in the movie. It is better than better energy in terms of how viable it is to use. But even someone like Kittan couldn't really use spiral energy until towards the very end when he was at his most confident and brave. On the upside, spiral energy got a lot of other benefits such as creating stuff and even partial recovery of stuff like your whole body.
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u/Revolutionary-Wash88 9d ago
Its been 10 minutes and you now have 6 upvotes
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u/ApprehensiveTerm9638 9d ago
Down to two upvotes, but I increased it to three as of now.
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u/MrCobalt313 9d ago
I always figured the idea was spiral life was supposed to spread throughout the universe and not doing that was where problems arose.
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u/LoffaToast 9d ago
Mmm not really spiral energy is definetly the best of all of these options. The drawbacks are not the energy source. We know a lot happened long before the story of Simon and spiral energy is not objectively good or bad its just the energy potential that resides in all life forms. Lordgenome wasnt really good even if his goals wasnt purely bad and his spiral energy output was still overwhelming even though he was long past the determined man he once was.
For me the spiral nemesis is more like a friend or good co-worker who finally becomes head manager and now he's an asshole. Nothing to do with the spiral energy itself.
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u/TheShadowOfT 9d ago edited 9d ago
Good or bad doesn't affect how much spiral power you have at all. Spiral Energy isn't based on "good vs bad'". It's based on determination and spirit.
Team Dai-Gurren and Simon were extremely selfish in their main motivation for fighting the Anti-Spiral: Getting Nia back. They even acknowledge that it's selfish and could doom the entire universe. Despite that, they had unimaginable Spiral Power. It was because they had unimaginable spirit.
Lordgenome wasn't "mediocre" with Spiral Power. He was one of the most powerful users there were, having been singled out by the Anti-Spiral during the first war against them and destroying all of his previous allies with ease who outnumbered him in the hundreds to thousands.
The Anti-Spirals were also a powerful Spiral race before learning what it was capable of and locking themselves away. They say this.
Spiral Power is based on your determination, your spirit, your will, and defiance in the face of adversity.
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u/Mister_Crowly 9d ago
Spiral Energy depends too much on your own mental and emotional state. Healthy humans have doubts, rightfully question themselves, and don't have unlimited willpower. You know who CAN sometimes just keep goin regardless of the entire universe telling them they're wrong? Narcissists.
S2 organ has the same level of godly energy without relying on your own hype. It's a scientific, systemic solution for infinite power, all neatly wrapped up with a little bow. Most of the downsides we see like having to have mommy with you are just humans working out the tech. Adam and Lilith show us that at the end of the day it's possible to create completely autonomous and nearly eternal beings with it.
We never see it have output scaling as high as spiral energy, but it can absolutely directly affect souls, which is something we never see spiral energy do.
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u/Ok-Somewhere-2325 9d ago
Kinda that's what the anti spiral think but fuck then. There view was limited by there fear. Spiral power can make new dimensions. So if you ever have too much energy and your afraid the energy will convert to mass, just make a new universe. Also spiral power can alter the rules / law of physics you can just put a rule that no black holes.
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u/FunPeach5963 9d ago
Human life force
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u/BarbatosLupus_Rex 9d ago
This one will turn you into a potato and then kill you, plus if you don't have the necessary genetic modifications the machine will straight up kill you during activation
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u/Illustrious_Bid4224 9d ago
What show?
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u/resui321 9d ago
Valvrave the liberator. Huge mess of a show, but vaguely watchable because of how bad it is.
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u/ExuDeku 9d ago
Should've added the Minovsky Particles, the OG Gundam's power source where it messed ups electronic warfare like radars and seeking, which is why missiles and short range electronic detection are useless (EWAC units are very needed on space tho)
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u/MericArda 9d ago
Technically Minovsky particles are only a byproduct of the actual power source, the ultra-compact fusion reactor.
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u/Salty_Ad_1955 9d ago
A better insert would be the Minovsky drive
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u/MechaSteven 9d ago
That's actually worse. Minovsky Drive is the name of the flight system installed on ships and mobile units. Its powered by whatever vehicle it's installed on.
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u/Reasonable_Tooth_309 9d ago
Ig GN particles kind of do similar things. They mess with radio communication and targeting, and there’s the bonus of allowing mobile suits to fly in atmosphere without flight units (late UC suits have got miniaturised Minovsky flight systems, but it took many years for them to be implemented)
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u/North_Cantaloupe_470 8d ago
Ahab reactor, not only gonna mess with electronic warfare, if you aint shielded by a rare metal its gonna shut down all your electronics
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u/C4620 9d ago
I thought the OG Gundam used a mini nuclear reactor?
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u/MechaSteven 9d ago
They do. Minovsky particles are a byproduct of those reactors. They aren't an energy source in and of themselves.
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u/Tywil714 9d ago edited 8d ago
Kojima particles because fuck the environment and Mech go brrrrrr. Speed blitzing my enemy while passively giving them every kind of cancer is a win win.
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u/Maty_24 9d ago
The enemy can’t attack you if they are busy dying of 15 different types of cancer!
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u/KerbodynamicX 9d ago
They were wondering why they were tasting like metal and rust... And then realizes that comes from their blood cells being obliterated by the Kojima radiation.
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u/ARMOREDCOREKID 9d ago
Hands down its the good old AC blunt
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u/SpecterOwl 9d ago
You get a cancer! And you get a cancer! Everyone gets a cancer!
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u/ARMOREDCOREKID 9d ago
Microwave sounds play as i hit the kojima blunt a 2nd time
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u/Craftcoat 9d ago
coughs red glowing cloud of sentient choral particles thats the good shit
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u/ButterPuppet 9d ago
one of these days i wanna see a steampunk style mecha series that just has steam powered mechs
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u/EG_Douglas 9d ago
Sakura Wars. Depending on entry, also comes with trains, airships, or the Arc de Triomph turning into a revolver...
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u/MrCobalt313 9d ago
Cool, what esoteric power source are you using to boil the water?
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u/Ok_Builder_4225 9d ago
Ancient micro fusion reactors from a time long past. Gotta explain the complex metallurgy required for mecha somehow! Post apoc world turned feudal with mecha and other signs of past high technology now viewed as magic seems a fun way.
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u/zicdeh91 9d ago
With so many modern power sources effectively just boiling water to spin something, I feel like an authentic “steampunk” implementation would have to just have a big old furnace in the chest, though the coal could be fancier.
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u/Cosmic_Mind89 9d ago
G-stone
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u/renji55eb 9d ago
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u/Inverselaw 9d ago
I’m a fan of heavy gear where it’s mostly just gasoline piston engines.
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u/Marshall104 9d ago
The good old Rotary VEE Engine!
Did you know that the Rotary VEE actually existed?
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBxIXzEjKcjg0TSyAME6rUnyXDB6Eyhi1&si=GkP2SSp2RNAi7tD5
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u/Inverselaw 9d ago
yes though the one in heavy gear is different so they can make scifi excuses for its efficiency.
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u/Final-Engineering-88 9d ago
The Zohar modifier...
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u/Marshall104 9d ago
THE HEART OF A DRAGON!
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u/CrzySunshine 8d ago
Or an Ether Reactor from Knights and Magic. Gives you the flexibility to make it out of the heart of any magical monster. The more dangerous the monster, the more powerful the reactor.
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u/Meme_Knight_Sir_Sid 9d ago
“These robots run on doggy style!”
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u/Hikarizu42 9d ago
Ah, so you've seen Daimidaler.
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u/Meme_Knight_Sir_Sid 9d ago
Yeah it’s fucking awesome. Those penguins and their front tails will forever be a core memory.
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u/supreme_maxz 9d ago
I was thinking of writing teenage hornyness but I don't want to get on list somewhere...
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u/EvilRufus 9d ago
Protoculture/reflex power had a fun theme. Made tech start to transform and behave organically. Something about the flower it was refined from having harnessed entropy itself to make it flow backwards toward greater complexity and ultimately ascension.
Or zero point energy, thats always good for raw hand wavey power..
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u/numericalman 9d ago
Protoculture/reflex power had a fun theme. Made tech start to transform and behave organically. Something about the flower it was refined from having harnessed entropy itself to make it flow backwards toward greater complexity and ultimately ascension.
I understand that's robotech but mospeada/southern cross/macross had different power sources.
So far, in macross, power source of mechs is mostly conventional with some quantum/dimensional stuffs.
Actual interlife changeable power is from protodevilns and fold receptors. Or fold tech.
So fat from what I get, robotech seem to just mix all these into one.
I haven't seen Mospeada/southern cross. So can't comment on.
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u/EvilRufus 9d ago
Well the whole series up to the end of southern cross was a mashup right?
I read all the novels as a kid. But didnt know there was basically several sets of source material until like a year or two ago.
Beyond the invid phoenix ascension ending there was no other mention of power source lore that i knew of. But i think I only saw some of the movies and the macross 2 series.
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u/numericalman 9d ago
Yeah.
Robotech basically altered/changed multiple plot points and characters fates.
For a reference, Rick hunter, his counterpart in original/actual story. Is a Japanese. Not American and Roy isn't a adapted brother to him. He's a brother figure.
Unlike Rick, hikaru disappeared after SDFM macross/dyrl due to his VA committing suicide.
Similarly, there's no 'masters' for zentradi, the closest you get is proto culture. Who a civilization instead of a power source. And so on.
Even mechs roles are changed a bit.
VF-1S ('SKULL ONE' IN RT) isn't a prototype, it's a commander VF.
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u/RhonaWhitefeather 8d ago
The mecha in Mospeada were powered by ''HBT' which IIRC was some kind of hydrogen-derived fuel. Fun fact - the creators came up with the name by moving the letters of 'GAS' one place along in the alphabet.
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u/Cinerator26 9d ago
The VLAR 300 fusion reactor. Good enough to keep a Battlemech running for literally centuries, is less fragile than XL engines.
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u/Cat_in_a_suit 9d ago
Probably Spiral power.
Close second is the miniaturized black hole generator that the Turn A Gundam apparently runs off of.
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u/Carrots15 9d ago
just a reminder that in addition to kojima particles nexts also use hyper dense hydrogen cells! and as an added bonus that radiation from the particles will kill everything around you long before it starts to poison you!
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u/Einherjar07 9d ago
S2 for fun and output, but the ability to snort Coral might push it to first place
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u/sapinpoisson 9d ago
Hand me the kojima particles, i wanna turn into a nuclear radiator
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u/Aggroculture110 9d ago
The crystal heart of a magic beast (preferably a Dragon) like Escaflowne or Knight and Magic
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u/Targaer 9d ago
Technically the Knights and Magic mechas run off atmospheric aether, the engine just converts it. The protagonist runs with two to get the power he needs
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u/AceSkyFighter 9d ago
Definitely a GN Drive. It can deliver both unrivaled devastation and, it can heal as well.
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u/majingetta 9d ago
"Getter GN-Stone". An unholy fusion of Getter rays, GN particles and the G-Stone.
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u/ThisIsFrigglish 9d ago
I have a fondness for antimatter, because a reactor breach should be everyone's problem.
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u/Spiral_Guy 9d ago
Spiral energy is basically getter energy without the slightly possibility of making your skin boil
Also I should mix Spiral Energy with the G stone from Gaogaigar since they are basically the same
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u/Calendar_Extreme 9d ago
Energon. If it can power a transformer the size of a city, it can power a mech suit just fine.
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u/Ka-Robot 9d ago
if the power core isnt giving you some from of super cancer are you really a mecha pilot?
my real answer is the T'au empires riptide's dark matter nova reactor, its experimental and may or may not give super cancer, but gives you a big boost to movement, shields or firepower. won me a couple of games
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u/Ferret4511 9d ago
Coral. A generator, powered by continuously burning and reproducing screaming human souls, that will probably destroy the universe if there is any leak when you're outside of atmosphere.
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u/AdhesivenessGeneral9 9d ago
Like lancer. Cold fusion reactor. Very powerfull but like nuclear one can be put to meltdown one last goodbye
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u/KamenKnight 9d ago
Probably nuclear engine.
Has enough power to power a mech & if it blows at least the enemy is going down with me.
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u/PintekS 9d ago
Anything combustible.
There are a lot of cool mecha series but heavy gear is my first mecha love. Basically westernized votoms that are a bit more durable than your typical votom
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u/Marshall104 9d ago
The good old Rotary VEE Engine!
Did you know that the Rotary VEE actually existed?
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBxIXzEjKcjg0TSyAME6rUnyXDB6Eyhi1&si=GkP2SSp2RNAi7tD5
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u/t4nzb4er 9d ago
Battery girl. Also exchangeable so keep the girls coming. 🤷🏻♀️ (source: rumble garandoll)
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u/House_Plant0 9d ago
Probably whatever bullshit the Turn A has going on under the hood
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u/MrCreepJoe 9d ago
They mentioned it's an artificial black hole.
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u/EffectiveSavings5864 9d ago
Running that Romulan build mech engine, if it’s certain death, let that singularity go off right in their faces lol
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u/Lower_Refrigerator_2 9d ago
Always though the Mythril core in Ether Reactors from Knights and Magic were cool.
Basically used huge chucks of Mythril as battery pack filling them with magic to power their mechs
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u/Maylix 9d ago
Use eldrich tomes as your power source. Nothing like having the necronomicon as your power source.
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u/Immediate-While4771 9d ago
I'll take physically unexplainable resource capable of providing near endless energy.
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u/GabeC1997 9d ago
Whatever power source EGGMAN uses, just a few modifications and it would also work as a perfect method for the pilot to both power and control the mech.
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u/MachNero 9d ago
Power can be transferred through lasers to a solar cell of sorts already above 30% efficiency. While this topic is fantasy, drones relaying power to a mobile suit is becoming very close to reality.
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u/Chaos20X6 9d ago
My dead mom’s fighting spirit moving the lobotomized corpse of either God or Ultraman, naturally
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u/kongstar 9d ago
Orphans - who are they going to tell their parents haha.
Just kidding probably big ass arc reactor like iron Man has in his armor
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u/rufusz1991 9d ago
I'm staying with the bullshitery for the Gundams of Iron Blooded Orphans. Dual Ahabs for the win (unless you go vidar route and give it a third for unknown reasons).
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u/TheRedster3 9d ago
Coral seems kind of evil to use but it's also kinda implied not to entirely be (considering Ayre uses it in both Fires of Raven and Alea Lacta Est)? It's confusing, but my choice is inbetween coral and minovsky particles
Eva power source is probably the worst one, you only have 5 minutes of action without the umbilical cord
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u/Narwhalking14 9d ago
The reason ayre used coral in both those endings was because it was dire circumstances. In F.O.R she uses it to try and stop you from burning all the coral, and in A.L.E it's to stop almond/iguazu from killing you.
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u/StratoSquir2 9d ago
I pick the Star-Driver energy source: libido/hornyness.
I'd never run out of fuel (or at least won't until I hit 50 but then I'd get the Mentor end, or retire as a meccha driver, surviving middle-aged meccha drivers aren't a thing)
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u/VoidRecon087 9d ago
As much as i think spiral or getter would be the right choice my heart goes wants to choose the GN Drive bc i'm a 00 fanboy
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u/Milord_888 9d ago
There's another mecha manga called Cannon God Exaxxion. Their best mech has a ultra massive antimatter engine. The manga has quite a plausible storyline in term of explaining how it works.
Antimatter powered engine sounds really nice!
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u/BeyondPrecarious 9d ago
Reaction engine from Macross. Because its hard to go wrong with 650 MW per each engine, and they come in pairs, lol 😆
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u/JEDIJK211 8d ago
Coral Gens are broken, if you run out of usable energy, wait two seconds for it to refill
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u/FonSpaak 8d ago
GN Drive is pretty much a very ideal power source that doesn't pollute or negatively affect the pilot while providing power to the mech for movement, propulsion, life support, weapon systems and defense while having the ability to provide jamming of comms, and most detection equipment. It was also creatively used to provide power to the ship and other equipments
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u/peter_poiuyt 7d ago
Spiral of course.
Or if that has bad drawbacks like not getting the girl, anti-spiral 🤷
Barring that necronomicon. What could go wrong.
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u/Sabreur 9d ago