Image by KoshaVinka
"They didn't try to duplicate a dragon with metal and cable, like the old Thran would. Rather they started with a dragon and built outwards until the machinery replaced the dragon entirely."
— Ashnod, The Brothers' War
Although most people think of Mecha as being giant machines, some Mecha are made of biological material rather than metal. These Mecha possess many elements of a typical Mecha such as wielding massive weapons, fighting giant monsters, and being piloted. One could argue that they are essentially Kaiju who are controlled by a person rather than having their own will.
How characters pilot these Mecha can vary. Sometimes it might possess a typical cockpit either because it was built in or because the mecha itself created one for the pilots. Other times, the Mecha will be something a character transforms into or summons, with any damage that occurs to the Mecha not reflecting onto the pilot.
Being made of biological material, it is not uncommon for said Mecha to be alive in some sense. In these cases, while the pilot typically controls the body, sometimes the mecha can take control away. In these cases, the pilot usually has to come to some kind of understanding with the mecha in order to fully control or work with it.
In terms of capabilities compared to conventional mecha, biological mecha don't have a universal set of abilities, but there are some that are particularly common. A Healing Factor of some sort is a common power due to the fact that they need to be able to restore their biological parts. Sometimes they can absorb or fuse with other living beings or their parts to gain their powers. In some cases, a biological creature might fuse with a mechanical mecha to grant it new abilities.
In some stories, Mecha being biological creatures might be known from the start, while in others, it might be a plot twist. In the latter, the creatures might seem like a typical mechanical mecha, but is later revealed to secretly be a biological creature or to have a mixture of biological and mechanical parts. In some cases, part of the twist is that the Mecha was essentially enslaved by a group of people trying to harness its power, and like many stories about humans controlling inhuman forces, it will often result in the creature being Turned Against Their Masters after it gains control.
Sub-Trope of Organic Technology and Living Weapon. See also Living Ship, which is the spaceship counterpart, and Bio-Armor, the Powered Armor counterpart. Can sometimes overlap with Mechanical Lifeforms and Animal Mecha. Compare Puppeteer Parasite, the parasitic counterpart. Also compare Ghost in the Machine. Compare/contrast Robeast, who are sometimes made of organic parts, but are not piloted, being essentially robotic Kaiju, and are usually villains, unlike this kind of Mecha which can be heroic. If the biological life form is actually a mecha designed to look organic, then it's a Mobile-Suit Human. The inverse would be Brain with a Manual Control.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Attack on Titan: The Shifters' Titan forms function like this, as rather than transforming into their Titan form, it functions more like a large, armored suit that covers and protects the shifter. Technically all Titans are like this, except the "pilots" of Pure Titans are rendered mindless by the transformation, and those "piloting" Abnormal Titans show some sign of intelligence. The reason going for the nape kills Titans is because that's where the "pilot's" head and spine are connected.
- Aura Battler Dunbine: Aura Machines are made from the body parts of various giant insects native to Byston Well. Unlike most examples, Aura Machines are made from dead matter. In addition, rather than using an external power source, they are instead powered by the pilot's "Aura".
- DARLING in the FRANXX: It's revealed that the Klaxosaurs were originally a humanoid race that created cybernetic mechas to fight alien invaders. Over the course of evolution, the pilots ended up fusing with their mechas (the males assimilating into a human-shaped "core" and the females merging with the mecha body), creating the bio-mechanical Klaxosaurs.
- Getter Robo vs. Devilman: Devil Getter is a fusion between Getter Robo, a Combining Mecha, and Devilman, a completely organic superhero, using a demon's ability to fuse with any other matter.
- Jushin Liger: The titular Liger itself is a giant biomechanical armor that The Hero summons and merges with and pilots via motion capture.
- Kaiju Kamui: Shidou Yamato, a Japanese Air Force pilot, is the first test subject in a kaiju-pilot weapons program. Utilizing neural-link technology for aircraft piloting, Yamato connects with a neutralized kaiju named Kamui through a cockpit implanted inside Kamui's brain and uses Kamui to fight enemy kaiju.
- Knights of Sidonia:
- After assimilating Shizuka Hoshijiro, the Gauna spawn multiple organic Guardians — complete with human-shaped "pilots" clad in Bio-Armor. One of these pilots is disconnected from her Guardian-type Gauna and captured, later being impregnated to birth Tsumugi and Kanata. Another called GA-490 — codenamed the Crimson Hawk Moth — goes on to become a major antagonist, serving as the nemesis of Nagate Tanikaze.
- Tsumugi is a Chimera—a human/Gauna hybrid—birthed from the captured Ena pilot of GA-489—created as a clandestine bioweapon to counter the threat posed by the Crimson Hawk Moth. She is mostly humanoid and as tall as a Guardian mecha, and has an organic cockpit in her body where a pilot can sit—though she's fully autonomous and sentient. She falls in love with Nagate and desires to become human, a wish that is more or less granted in the finale when her consciousness is implanted into GA-490's Ena pilot.
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam: The Devil Gundam is the result of a project that combined organic science and technology, intending to create a "living" Gundam which can repair itself and evolve. And evolve it does — taking on larger and more varied forms, eventually growing to the size of an entire space colony. What's more, the pilot is not in control of Devil Gundam, instead acting as the core life unit to support its organic functions. It's strongest with a female core, since they have the biology to create new life.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Eight: The Gundam Zirius is mechanical in design, but is able to absorb alien biomatter to regenerate its own armor and empower its weapons.
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1982): The first God Warrior skull shown in the manga has a cockpit with buttons and joysticks inside, although no reference to them being piloted is made afterwards.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: While the Evangelions look like giant robots, in actuality they are cloned, lobotomized angels that are implanted with human souls, which allows pilots who have a connection with a given soul to pilot them, and have mechanical parts attached in order to keep them from going berserk.
- Overman King Gainer: The Overmen are biomechanical giant robots, built on lost technology from before the cataclysm. They have engines that work like muscular tissue, and have shown signs of consciousness including memories and personalities. As a neat detail, views of the pilots inside the cockpits often look like they're sitting in the ribcage of a giant human skeleton.
- SSSS.DYNɅZENON: Gagula, the final Kaiju, can be considered this, as unlike every other Kaiju which was controlled remotely by the Kaiju Eugenicists, Gagula was born from a Kaiju living inside of Simuzu and grows from his body, being controlled by him alone in its first form. It eventually merges with the other Kaiju Eugenicists to achieve a more powerful form that they all mutually control. For bonus points, Gagula even looks partially mechanical.
- Versus (2022): Diganazal's Burst is the Chimera Suit, a Humongous Mecha she assembles on the fly from the countless specimens she's collected for her experiments. Capable of using the abilities of all its component organisms, Diganazal can custom-tailor a strategy to handle any enemy.
Films — Live-Action
- Avatar: Avatars are mindless bodies made from combining Na'vi and human DNA, grown by human scientists. The human is then able to control their avatar body through the use of machinery that synchronizes the pilot's nervous system with that of their avatar body's; due to the way this works, it can only be done by the person whose DNA was used to create it (or an identical twin, as was the case of Jake in the first film.)
- Godzilla:
- Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla's adaptation of Mechagodzilla, a.k.a. Kiryu, was built using the skeleton and DNA of the Godzilla who was killed in 1954. While the manned crew is initially able to pilot it, Kiryu is able to remember its past life and goes berserk the first time they use it against Godzilla.
- Godzilla vs. Kong: Apex Cybernetics built a Mechagodzilla that uses King Ghidorah's skull to handle most of the mental work required for Ren Serizawa to remotely pilot the machine. Once Mechagodzilla is properly activated, Ghidorah's personality takes over the systems, killing Ren via High-Voltage Death (or Mind-Reformat Death in the novelization).
- The tripods in War of the Worlds (2005) are implied to be partially biological in nature, with an organic element that sucks up humans that it has captured, presumably to feed on their blood. As such, when the invaders begin succumbing to disease, one of the signs is the tripods themselves growing sickly and uncoordinated before collapsing.
Literature
- The Beginning After the End: The exoforms are Mini-Mecha created from the remains of powerful mana beasts, whose power allows non-mages to fight on the same level as the most powerful mages. For example, the one Claire pilots possesses feathers and talons, making it look like a humanoid griffin turned into a mecha.
- King of Kings: GaoGaiGar vs. Betterman: One of Rakan's abilities, Pectofores Sanctus, allows him to combine multiple living organisms into one, however he can also use this ability to combine living and non-living matter. He mainly does this by combining himself and other Somniums with Brave Robots to act as weapons and armor, which eventually leads to him combining Betterman Cataphract, a fusion of six Somniums, with Gaogaigo and Gaogaigar to form Musuo Gaogaigo and Musuo Gaogaigar respectively.
- Nemesis Saga: The Gestorumque are biological mecha engineered by the Aeros to facilitate their conquest of the Multiverse and are controlled by pilots called Voices — who can even merge with the Gestorumque to become one with it. Although they are capable of autonomous thought and movement, Gestorumque tend to be largely feral without a Voice to direct them. Examples include Nemesis Prime and her half-human clone Nemesis; Nemesis Prime's offspring Karkinos, Typhon, Scylla, Drakon, and Scrion; the Cthulhu-esque Lovecraft and Xenomorph-esque Giger; and the gestalt Ashtaroth.
Live-Action TV
- Power Rangers Dino Fury: In "The Nemesis", Void Queen gathers all the Sporix and fuses them into a gigantic organic Zord called the Nemesis Beast, which she pilots in an attempt to destroy the city of Pine Ridge. The showrunner, Simon Bennett, even pointed out that Void Queen is controlling the Zord via a "meat cockpit".
Tabletop Games
- CthulhuTech: The Engels are giant bio-mechanical cyborgs, who are Benevolent Abominations summoned by the NEG and encased with armor to prevent the more mind-shattering parts of their visage from being seen by the average soldier. They are explicitly an homage to the Evangelion units.
Video Games
- BloodRayne 2: One type of late-game Elite Mooks are vampires wearing a kind of organic Mini-Mecha suit with Rayne's Mad Scientist brother Xerx being fought in a much larger version.
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach: In the climax of the game, the heroes storm The Beach, with the crew of the DHV Magellan fighting off against the swarms of enormous Beached Things. Eventually, Deadman helps the crew possess and synchronize with one of them, resulting in a combined "Magellan Man" (their Cool Ship serving as the new "head" of the BT's body), enabling them to successfully fist-fight the hordes.
- Extreme Meatpunks Forever: The giant robots piloted by Brad, Cass, Sam, and Lianna are made of exposed muscle and bone instead of metal and plastic.
- Heroes of the Storm: One of D.Va's skins, D.Va the Destroyer, redesigns her Mini-Mecha into a creature based on the dragon Deathwing. Outside of metal armour around the body, it looks entirely biological. D.Va is growing out of the cockpit from the waist down while in Mech Mode, although she just looks like Deathwing's human visage while in Pilot Mode.
- The Titan Dweevil, the Final Boss of Pikmin 2 is organic despite having an entire arsenal attached to it. Louie, who you're trying to save, sits on top and is implied to be the one controlling the Titan Dweevil. Louie later pulls this same stunt again as the overt Final Boss of Pikmin 4, though the Ancient Sirehound is less a mech and more a literal giant, angry attack dog on Louie's leash.
- Super Robot Wars Y: Downplayed with Dynazenon Relive, which is a mechanical mecha that has a microscopic Kaiju controlling it, which allows the Kaiju Eugenicists to control the Mecha by using their Instance Domination to control the Kaiju inside of it.
Web Animation
- Gilded Guy: In Gildedguy and the Dragon of Mar, the titular dragon operates like this, being an organic being that Mar Controls from the inside, though how much control he truly has over it is questionable.
Western Animation
- Family Guy: Parodied in "No Meals on Wheels", when Peter refuses to allow Joe and his handicapped friends into his new restaurant, Joe and the other wheelchair users form "Crippletron", a Humongous Mecha made up of the various wheelchair users that, ironically, can walk.
- Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart:
- One episode has the Sky Pirates contort themselves into a single creature known as "Hossaffasnakearang" to better defeat Mao Mao and company. They fail anyway.
- Orangusnake himself. He's composed of two people: Coby, a cobra that forms the head; and Tanner, an orangutan who acts as the body.
- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: After being banished to Beast Island, a dangerous place that the First Ones used as a dumping grounds for their experiments with biomechanical Magitek, Entrapta builds a mecha that initially appears to just be a robot with a cockpit inside its head but is revealed to be just as biomechanical and alive as the First Ones' creations, being capable of autonomous movement and even having a mouth to roar with.