Top 10 Coolest Movie Mechs
It's 2024, where are these in real life?! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Movie Mechs. For this list, we’ll be looking at the coolest giant robots that appear in feature films.
Transcript
00:00Humans have asked us to play by their rules.
00:04Well, the rules have just changed.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo,
00:10and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 movie mechs.
00:14For this list, we'll be looking at the coolest giant robots that appear in feature films,
00:18whether driven by a pilot or alive on their own.
00:21Stomped on any interesting buildings lately?
00:24Tell us what you'd do in your very own mech suit in the comments.
00:28We're going for the breach, Mr. Beckett.
00:30We're going to strap a 2,400-pound thermonuclear warhead to strike his back.
00:50We're not saying these robot suits are the most practical way to fight the robot apocalypse.
00:56If they were, you'd expect them to have, well, any kind of armor protecting the pilot.
01:01As it is, they're basically grittier-looking versions of the power loader from Aliens
01:06that someone strapped a couple of giant guns to.
01:13And those guns run out in, like, two seconds.
01:16So if you pick one of these up on the second-hand mech market,
01:19you better love yelling,
01:21RELOAD!
01:22RELOAD!
01:23And yet, despite all of their clear design flaws,
01:26there's something undeniably cool about the way they move.
01:30Maybe it's the textured mechanical clunkiness of the design,
01:33or maybe we all secretly wish we had a giant pair of robot arms backing us up.
01:38Got it!
01:44Number 9. ED-209, RoboCop
01:48Dead or alive, you are coming with me.
01:50RoboCop paints a satirical image of a grim future for the city of Detroit
01:55where street crime is running rampant and evil corporations control the city.
02:00But one prediction that mercifully didn't come true
02:03was the one about robot police officers roaming the streets.
02:07What did you think?
02:10That you were an ordinary police officer?
02:13You're our product.
02:14Sure, RoboCop himself might have been alright,
02:17but his competition, the ED-209,
02:20didn't subscribe to such petty notions as compassion
02:24or not shooting an entire boardroom full of people to death on a whim.
02:28It may have been a big, slow, awkward chicken walker,
02:31but it had more than enough firepower to wipe out any obstacle
02:35that stood between it and murdering anyone it wanted.
02:39Except, inevitably, for stairs.
02:48Number 8. The Megazord, Power Rangers
03:05Let's get this out of the way.
03:07Is the Megazord as cool as Voltron?
03:09Depends on who you ask.
03:11But there's one advantage this giant robot made of smaller robots has
03:15over its animated rival.
03:17It made it to the silver screen first.
03:24And that's gotta count for something,
03:26because if you want to see a fully realized Hollywood version
03:29of the perfect visual metaphor
03:31for combining each teammate's fighting spirit
03:34into one huge punching machine,
03:36your only source is the Power Rangers movie right now.
03:46Does it make a lot of sense?
03:48Is it even remotely clear how five people would work together
03:51to power something like this?
03:55Absolutely not.
03:56Is it cool, though? Undeniably.
04:05Number 7. The Hulkbuster Suit, The Marvel Cinematic Universe
04:15What do you do when you have a problem?
04:17Talk it through?
04:18Make a pros and cons list?
04:20Well, that's not what Tony Stark does.
04:25He makes a specialized high-tech suit of armor to deal with it.
04:29And with the Hulk being the biggest problem of all,
04:32that required his biggest suit ever.
04:36The Hulkbuster does everything a regular Iron Man suit does.
04:40Repulsor beams, flight, super strength.
04:43Just bigger, louder, and more expensive.
04:46Also, it had that cool hydraulic jackhammer fist feature.
04:57Maybe the best advantage it had over the other mechs on this list,
05:01aside from that sweet Marvel branding,
05:04was the ability to repair itself on the fly
05:06using parts flown in by autonomous rockets.
05:09Let's see ED-209 do that.
05:13Let's do something.
05:20Number 6. Power Loader, Aliens
05:24Ripley, I'm scared.
05:27Me too.
05:28It may be a glorified forklift,
05:30but there's a certain blue-collar kick-ass attitude
05:33that comes with using a piece of construction equipment as a weapon.
05:37Like the Matrix mech suits,
05:39there's also something cool about the way the pilot sits in a harness
05:42with the arms and legs running parallel to your own.
05:45The Power Loader isn't a vehicle you ride in.
05:48It's a superpower you wear.
05:50Get away from her, you bitch!
05:52And unlike the Matrix suits,
05:54it's not a piece of military equipment.
05:56So it actually makes sense why it's not armored.
05:59In fact, it has a roll cage,
06:01which, ironically, might make it safer.
06:09Ripley!
06:11Number 5. Optimus Prime, The Transformers Franchise
06:15Autobots. Lockdown is hunting us.
06:19And humans are helping.
06:21We need to know why.
06:24So how do you make a giant robot even cooler?
06:27Well, what if it was also a truck?
06:30Brilliant! It's so marketable.
06:32It just seems obvious in retrospect.
06:34Then give that talking truckbot a couple of inspiring speeches
06:38to deliver in the inimitable baritone of Peter Cullen,
06:41and you've got a hit on your hands.
06:43Get to the escape pods.
06:45There are other Autobots scattered across the galaxy.
06:48We must reach them if we hope to survive.
06:51Ride at the intersection of cool cars,
06:53sci-fi action and reassuring father figures,
06:56otherwise known as the golden trifecta of kid appeal.
06:59And then, what the heck,
07:01how about we paint some flames on him?
07:03Just for a victory lap.
07:04Maybe a giant sword if we're feeling crazy.
07:07You defend my family.
07:12Or die.
07:14Number four.
07:15AT-ATS.
07:16The Star Wars franchise.
07:18All right, boys, keep tight now.
07:20They're big, they're slow,
07:21and they're internationally famous
07:23for falling over immediately in their first on-screen action scene.
07:27Detach cable.
07:29Cable detached.
07:37But despite being easily overcome
07:39by a few hundred feet of dental floss
07:41and a can-do attitude,
07:43the AT-AT walker has become a staple
07:45of the Star Wars expanded universe.
07:48You can take advantage of their big guns
07:50and, frankly, impenetrable armor
07:52in dozens of video games.
07:54You can buy a die-cast metal statue of one
07:56to put on your mantelpiece
07:57along with your mom's china figures.
07:59Maybe it's the sense of ominous inevitability
08:02you get from their ponderous approach.
08:04Go for the legs.
08:05It might be our only chance of stopping them.
08:06Or maybe it's because they kind of look
08:08like a big, slow, kind of clumsy dog.
08:11But for some reason,
08:12AT-ATs are where it's at.
08:24Number 3.
08:25The Iron Giant.
08:26The Iron Giant.
08:28See?
08:29I told you it was a big hoax.
08:31Dad said the demon...
08:32Give me the binoculars!
08:33What? What?
08:34Hey, there it is! I see it!
08:36What if you're looking for a kinder mech?
08:39A gentler mech.
08:40A mech that, yes, eats solid steel for breakfast
08:43and definitely has as many giant lasers
08:46as any other entry on this list,
08:49but won't use them?
08:50Well, good news.
08:52Against all odds,
08:53the Iron Giant takes all of the incredible violence
08:56out of the giant robot genre
08:58and still somehow makes it better.
09:00You know, words, blah, blah, blah, like that?
09:03Can you do that?
09:04Blah, blah, blah?
09:07Bet you didn't think a 50-foot iron war machine
09:10could make you cry, did you?
09:12Well, you were wrong.
09:13You stay.
09:17I go.
09:25No following.
09:28You may have shown up hoping for an alien invasion,
09:31but you left with a powerful message
09:32reminding each of us
09:34that we can't choose what we look like,
09:36but we can be who we choose to be.
09:39I love you.
09:57If you saw Godzilla vs. Kong,
10:00you might know Mechagodzilla
10:02as a terrifying skeletal dinosaur
10:04that looks like an animatronic character
10:06with the skin ripped off.
10:12And that's fine.
10:13But if you ask us,
10:14there's just no substitute
10:16for the lovably goofy-looking version
10:18from the 70s.
10:19Complete with finger missiles and rainbow I-beams,
10:22they just don't make these city-wrecking super robots
10:25the way they used to.
10:30There is one thing we could do without, though.
10:33The nails on a chalkboard shrieking sounds
10:35this makes the whole time it's fighting.
10:37We get that giant robots are supposed to be loud,
10:40but do they also have to be shrill?
10:48Before we unveil our top pick,
10:50here are a few honorable mentions.
10:52The Exosuit, District 9.
10:55For that lightning weapon
10:56that pops people like water balloons.
11:01The Amplified Mobility Platforms, Avatar.
11:05For looking like a power loader
11:07designed by the art team from Gears of War.
11:15The Omnidroid, The Incredibles.
11:18For being a big spidery bowling ball of death.
11:22Uh-oh.
11:23Veritech Fighters, Robotech, The Movie.
11:26Is it a robot? Is it a plane?
11:28Is it kind of an awkward hybrid of both?
11:31Yes.
11:32Wow, this gizmo can see through walls.
11:34The Sentinels, X-Men Days of Future Past.
11:38For being the all-time champions
11:40of hide, seek and destroy.
11:42And in less than 50 years,
11:44the machines that we've built
11:46are going to be the machines of the future.
11:50The machines that have destroyed
11:52so many of our kind were created.
11:55Before we continue,
11:56be sure to subscribe to our channel
11:58and ring the bell to get notified
11:59about our latest videos.
12:01You have the option to be notified
12:02for occasional videos or all of them.
12:04If you're on your phone,
12:05make sure you go into your settings
12:07and switch on notifications.
12:11Number 1. Gypsy Danger, Pacific Rim.
12:14I think this guy's dead,
12:16but let's check for a pulse.
12:18Okay.
12:19In any other movie,
12:20the other Jaegers from Pacific Rim
12:22would have been instant classics
12:24all on their own.
12:25Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon
12:27are expert-level mech designs,
12:29but as it is,
12:31they're almost reduced to background status
12:33by the star power of the movie's central robot,
12:36Gypsy Danger.
12:37Oh my God.
12:41Look at her.
12:43Gypsy Danger.
12:45The combination of stylish design
12:47with a textured, utilitarian feel
12:49doesn't offer up the same clasp of cannons
12:52and giant swords as other movie mechs.
12:55It also makes them feel solid and real,
12:58even while it makes them look unbelievably cool.
13:01All right, Mako.
13:02Get ready, this is for real.
13:12Not to mention the brilliant messaging
13:13that it takes cooperation to make it work.
13:16It's a delicate balance,
13:17but darn if Guillermo del Toro's
13:19doctorate thesis in mecha movie making
13:21didn't pull it off.
13:23Today we are cancelling the apocalypse!
13:46AVAILABLE NOW