Editing /m/

/m/ is the Mecha board on [[4chan]]. While the board is used primarily for television, movies, games, books, etc. about giant robots and cyborgs, it can be used as a science fiction board. ''Star Wars'', ''Star Trek'', ''Ultraman'', ''Kamen Rider'', ''Stargate'', ''Marvel'' and ''DC Comics'', ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''West World'', ''Heavy Metal'', ''Futurama'', ''The Terminator'', ''Godzilla'', ''Battlestar Galactica'', ''Mega Man'', ''Sonic The Hedgehog'', ''Doctor Who'', creepypastas about haunted machines, all of it qualifies as /m/. Because of this /m/ related things can also include traditional games, Warhammer 40k being the most well known on the board; Fantasy is not seen as /m/ though beyond Imperial cannons and whatever Dwarfs cook up.

==Culture==
/m/ is one of the slowest boards on 4chan, even slower than /tg/. While their aesthetic preferences seem to mostly resemble [[Tau]], in terms of behavior they act more similar to [[Necrons]], maybe even the [[Sons of Malice]] chapter. Because anything mechanical qualifies as /m/ it is not as easy to get off topic as most boards. Combined with these two factors and it comes as no surprise there is little initiative from moderators when rules are broken. While no board is a stranger to flaming and trolls, /m/ has a serious problem with [[Fags of 4chan|samefagging]] and because of the board's below average traffic can influence the culture with enough time. Because of this it is hard to tell if a flame war is legit or just one guy making his own conversation. The most discussed franchises on the board consist of ''Gundam'', ''Kamen Rider'', ''Power Rangers/Super Sentai'', ''Mazinger'', and ''Super Robot Wars''.

==Major Moments on /m/==
Due to 4chan archives often ignoring /m/ much of its history is lost to time and screencaps.

*Mark of Destiny: In 2005 ''Gundam SEED Destiny'' ended, while little is known of what transpired on the board then, the reaction was unpleasant and it was considered the worst mecha anime until ''Valvrave The Liberator''.
*The First Influx: In late 2006 ''Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann'' and ''Code Geass'' aired, most oldfags were originally newfags starting from this point. During its run, the 1997 anime ''GaoGaiGar'' received US licensing which pleased many older users, making the series borderline worshiped by /m/ until other Yuusha shows were fansubbed.
*The Toku Wars: From 2009 to 2012 /m/ debated whether or not tokusatsu was /m/ due to the shows having many mechanical elements. Eventually moot declared it /m/ with the mods temp-banning people that claimed "toku was not /m/" which is a popular troll catchphrase on the board that has endured to this day.
*Gundam Statue Rises: Bandai celebrated the 30th anniversary of their flagship franchise by erecting an RX-78-2 Gundam in Tokyo. /m/ loved that their most discussed franchise gained such iconic status.
*Gundam Age's Announcement and Airing: July 2011, one of the most violent and cringe inducing moments from the board, ''Gundam Age'' was announced. The released designs and first trailer was seen as so kid friendly it sparked mass butthurt that declared it the worst thing ever. As the show aired from October 2011 to 2012, the negativity was so severe it is speculated to have contributed to Japanese boards to not support Age, eventually resulting in it being the biggest commercial failure in the franchise in TV ratings, home video sales, and gunpla apparently to the point where the line was canceled. Until G-Reco it caused a massive divide on the board whether or not Destiny or Age was worse.
*Aquarion Evol's Airing: An anime series that started in January 2012, ''Aquarion Evol'' was a sequel to the mixed received ''Genesis of Aquarion'', but the franchise is known for being extremely successful in the pachinko market. This left a bad taste in the collective mouths of many /m/en in the writing department, seen on a similar level to Destiny in terms of staff favored writing, especially toward the main heroine who was nearly universally disliked on both sides of the Pacific (something even Destiny's characters couldn't achieve). Combined with the Age drama and Eureka Seven: AO disappointing fans of the first series it set the stage for what is essentially /m/'s worst year.
===2013===
/m/ doesn't have a set name for what transpired, but it could essentially be considered /m/'s civil war, [[Malal]] was proud. What made that year so awful?

*Only four mecha anime that year, three of them literally aired within a few days of each other in April with ''Gundam Build Fighters being the fourth''. The big three consisted of: ''Majestic Prince'', ''Valvrave The Liberator'', and ''Gargantia''. ''Gargantia'' and ''Majestic Prince'' were both considered best for different reasons, the former for production design and story elements and the latter for entertainment value in action and comedy. ''Valvrave'' on the other hand was loaded with problems which almost single-handedly shifted the board and arguably the worst part of the year. The things considered wrong with it warrant its own article, but the main points include:

**Nearly everyone involved with the show was a professional in the industry, expectations were high
**The main character being a massive beta male
**Every single episode had either some major plot twist or shock value for the sake of it. Every. Single. Episode.
**The first half was filled with unnecessary fanservice, slow pacing, little action, and bad comedy
**Background characters suddenly drive the plot starting with the sixteenth episode
**Episode 10 has a sexual assault scene, because the attacked girl consented /m/ debated whether or not it was rape. For four months straight. Topics on /m/ could reach over three hundred posts in two hours from this which was considered insane for a board this slow.
**The second half was insulting to the audience for various reasons, being increasingly worse with each episode although at this point some were just glad it amped up the action scenes
**Every female character was either fap fuel for the sake of it or insanely hated while every male character died, allowing for sexism across the board
**The underdeveloped faction saved the day during the credits. No, you didn't read that wrong, the guys who are known only for being the major enemy of the main antagonists, making fighters, and whose only character representative was a cowardly politician won while the protagonists accomplished next to nothing and was almost wiped out, making them bigger losers than [[dark elves]] or [[warriors of chaos]] on their worst days.
**"The Curse of Valvrave" became a meme to describe all fallout that occurred after it aired, no thanks to a demotivational poster that became the most reposted picture in /m/'s history clocking in at 1013 reposts before the archive deletion of 2015. Starting in 2014 a troll used the intense rage generated to raid /m/ on a regular basis who was given the nickname Valvrager.
**The seventh episode was a "coming out" moment for gag fetishists on the board too soft for /h/ or /d/, essentially "gagfagging" which took over several livestream threads.
*Influx of posters from other boards thanks to the release of ''Pacific Rim'' including many trolls the board was not used to that brought in the broadening of what could be defined as /m/, eventually turning it into what is now the general sci-fi board.
*/m/-esque shows ''Vividred Operation'' and ''Symphogear G'' aired, both attracted severe dislike from moralfags, asexuals, people that dislike ecchi (which is uncommon in mecha anime), and /m/en that disapproved of /a/ culture. For the latter it lead to one guy literally making generals only to delete them, unintentionally framing a janitor, and generals being off topic with samefagging filled mainly with menstrual jokes. Because of mods rarely doing their job when they bothered to clean up the messes this was jokingly seen as favoritism. Two years later he came clean and did it out of depression. Speaking of which....
*Depressed people made their depression public and continued throughout the year. Mostly happened in the spring, but it still gets remembered.
*''Build Fighters'' debuted the Beargguy-San which became the target for a series of macros with the term "Beargguy Mother Fucker". The guy that made the macros eventually revealed he role played out of boredom, but something that was supposed to be cute got out of hand. The primary macro eventually became the third highest reposted picture before the archive deletion of 2015. Even TVTropes references these macros.
*The sole ''Super Robot Wars'' game to come out that year, ''UX'', was on the 3DS, which was region locked, which prevented the vast majority of the board from playing and not even bother. Despite supposedly selling decently it is seen by trolls as an example of the worst entry of the franchise despite the generally liked cast. This also started a trend where English speaking fans stopped bothering to give information of the new Banpresto Originals which still plagues ''Z3'', the ''Lord of The Elemental'' sequels, and ''BX'' to this day.
*''Kamen Rider Wizard'' was airing which is considered by fans to be the most boring entry in the franchise to date, it did not help that the successor series, ''Gaim'' would be written by Gen Urobuchi who is seen as a mixed writer for a good chunk of the board. This was not helped by the annual Kamen Rider/Super Sentai crossover that year, ''Super Hero Wars Z'', was considered a tremendous disappointment to pretty much anyone that was not a fan of ''Space Sheriff Sharivan''.

===Current /m/===
After 2013, /m/ essentially became a chaotic board with nearly every side attacking each other, some of which stopped watching anime that was airing due to the intensity called "Valvrave Fallout", and trolls were quick to find a current anime worse than ''Valvrave'', several titles included ''Daimidaler'', ''Aldnoah.Zero'', ''Cross Ange'' (its livestream threads also hijacked by gagfagging), ''Gundam: Reconguista in G'', ''Gundam Build Fighters: Try'', and ''Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans''; ''Captain Earth'' is sometimes considered, but the mascot squirrel, Pitz, is (somehow) too well liked. That and the amount of porn from the anime. Because of /m/'s now divided culture it was essentially ancient Pre-Alexander The Great era Greece: a bunch of territories barely united and unafraid to recruit mortal enemies just to piss off the neighbors. The three Gundam series mentioned above are often seen just as bad, maybe even worse, than ''Destiny'' and ''Age'' now. The board became so disjointed that on Easter 2016, the day ''Iron Blooded Orphans'' finished, twenty four joke threads, negativity threads, and desperate "please don't be upset about the ending!" threads littered the board. Said Gundam series has gained such notoriety that a macro about purging space rats has become the most reposted image on the board since the 2015 archive deletion. In August 2016 the 4chan banner contest had /m/'s turn, resulting in one guy submitting forty percent of the banners submitted which featured macros and memes reviled by /m/, demonstrating how rampant samefagging was on the board.

==/m/ memes and language==
*"We came here to laugh at you": A line spoken by Char Azneble in ''Zeta Gundam''.
*Ryusei: A term named after Ryusei Date from ''Super Robot Wars'', references robosexuals.
*Char: A term named after Char from early ''Gundam'' titles, references lolicon/pedophiles.
*"It's orgone, I ain't gotta explain shit": A joke term to orgone, a metaphysical sci-fi energy source used in ''Super Robot Wars J'' and ''Captain Earth'', used as a joke to explain scientifically impossible shit (/m/'s equivalent to "it's magic, I don't have to explain anything).
*"I'm just an autistic child": An out of context quote from Camille in ''Zeta Gundam''.
*"Puru puru puru puru": Catchphrase of Elpeo Ple from ''ZZ (Double Zeta) Gundam''.
*Newtypes: Gundam term for space telepaths, think [[psykers]] without magic/mental attacks.
*Beargguy Mother Fucker: See 2013 above.
*Rider Kick: Flying kicks used by Kamen Riders as their fatality.
*Go Nagai: The Gary Gygax equivalent /m/, everything made by him is considered /m/ no matter how far from being mechanical said thing is.
*Yoshiyuki Tomino: The George R.R. Martin of /m/. Anime News Network has a massive hateboner for his dialogue to the point of translating articles out of context.
*"Get your Obari on!": A phrase on anything animated that goes from looking normal to super shaded, usually in a cool sword pose; based on the animation style of legendary animator Masami Obari.
*Tomatoes: In reference to ''The Big O'', used to over simplify metaphors in a (usually) joking fashion.
*Pineapple Salad: In reference to ''Macross'', /m/'s version of a deathflag.
*"Cool mouth, does it talk with dialogue?": /m/ equivalent of "Here's your (you)", likely a reference to episode titles in ''Soul Eater''. Usually followed up with mouths being compared to cherry ice cream (seemingly smart, but not really).
*Snapfag: Derogatory term for gunpla builders that build gunpla straight from the box without any customizing.
*"This is all Decade's fault!": A running gag from ''Kamen Rider Decade'', /m/ adopted it as a joke term to refer to inconsistencies in ''Kamen Rider'' continuity and to a lesser degree other Toei tokusatsu.
*Shoji Kawamori: An angel to some, a demon to others. /m/ is not sure whether he is like [[Graham McNeil]] or [[Matt Ward]]. The guy is mainly known for creating ''Macross'', but his other projects get mixed results. Normalfags find him too weird, critics find him too unstable, intellectuals find him hysterical, shippers find him rage inducing, and those that see him as a genius/artist are in the vocal minority. He has his own studio, Satellite, and has no problem creating unconventional shows to a fandom that supposedly whines about creative stagnation (anime fans). The problem? He is one of those people whose writings are so culturally specific they are difficult to translate outside of their home country (sometimes it's too Japanese for even the Japanese, ''Aquarion Logos'' anyone?).
*The "Undefeatables": Every large fandom has "who is strongest" debates like Goku vs. Superman ones. /m/'s undefeatables is a small pantheon consisting of Getter Emperor (''Getter Robo Arc''), Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (''Gurren Lagann second movie''), Elder God Demonbane (''Demonbane''), Full Possession Shurouga (''Super Robot Wars Z3''), and Aquarion Logos (''Aquarion Logos''). Never start a power level discussion on /m/, it is usually declared over when one of these guys is mentioned.
*Super Hero Time: Airs on Sunday mornings in Japan, Saturday afternoon in the United States, the time when new ''Kamen Rider'', ''Super Sentai'', and ''Precure'' episodes air with subs coming days later.
*Crabsticks: A term from a badly translated sentence in the first episode of ''Mazinger Z'' by Doctor Hell, references bad translations.
*JAM Project: A Japanese rock band that performs opening theme songs for many mecha anime and tokusatsu, among /m/'s favorite musicians.
*TV-Nihon: A fansub group /m/ likes to hate on because a solid chunk of the board has an irrational hatred for translator notes.

==See Also==
*[[Board-tans/m]]

[[Category:4chan]]