I think I’ve made it clear that I’m not a big fan of mecha shows but Megas XLR is one of those mecha shows that I find myself enjoying. In the future Earth is at war with this alien slug menace known as the Glorft but Kiva a hot red-head mechanic has modified a giant robot known as Megas to travel back in time to the point where the Glorft invaded Earth and change history. But due to an attack by the Glorft, Megas gets sent way too far back in time (the 1930s to be exact) and is discovered in 2004 in a New Jersey junkyard by a guy named Coop a lovable amateur mechanic who likes video games, wrestling, and eating. He repairs Megas and makes all sorts of modifications to the robot that when Kiva comes to get it she’s unable to pilot it leaving humanities only hope in the hands of Coop and his lazy and selfish friend Jamie.
I think what makes this show great is that they do everything a normal person would do with a giant robot at his disposal. Coop treats Megas like a regular car. Instead of just using it to conquer the world he would much rather have fun with Megas and cruise around with it. Coop is also just an average guy. He doesn’t look or sound like your regular protagonist in a mecha show, he’s fat, out of shape, clumsy, destructive, short tempered at times, and just basically the incarnation of everything guys love but he’s still a good guy who will save the day. Which is ironic because usually he causes more damage and destruction than the actual villains in the show. Hell, he destroys the city in almost every episode. In fact most of the times he’s the one responsible for bringing the villains to Earth which makes the show even funnier. My two favorite episodes in the show is the third or fourth episode where he and the others are trying to get a slushy on a hot summer day but this crazy alien robot R.E.G.I.S that keeps speaking in the third person keeps causing havoc and destroys all the slushy machines in the city and every time Coop defeats him he just rebuilds himself and comes back stronger than ever and at the end of the day their battle destroys the whole city. The other episode I liked is when Coop has to return a video to avoid paying a late fee but an intergalactic wrestling promoter seeks revenge on Coop and forces him into a battle royal against some of most deadly fighters in the universe who want to take Coop’s title. Throughout the whole episode Coop is worried about paying the late fee but at the same time he wants to hold on to his title so he keeps fighting.
The action was very good, impressive even for a mecha show you can tell the creators of the show were having fun making each episode and got creative. They did all kinds of parodies and shout out to other mecha shows such as Voltron and Transformers and even anime shows such as Sailor Moon. There was even a Mr. T robot that is hilarious. Another shout out they did was against MTV under the disguise of Pop TV. One of the running gags in the show was that in every episode they would destroy something Pop TV related whether it be a billboard, satellite, anything that had Pop TV on it wound up destroyed in the episode. This was the creators’ revenge against MTV. Before they started Megas they had another show called Downtown which used to be on MTV until it got canceled after its first season. Luckily Downtown still remains alive in Megas through the frequent appearance of Goat who was a character in Downtown and is actually a good friend of Coop and the gang. In fact he’s the one who sold Megas to Coop in the first place. The show also had good music which lean heavily on rock and roll which I liked. On top of that the animation was good you can tell the animation was influenced by anime shows but they still keep it American. The cast has very realistic bodies and look like anime characters. The show also had a great cast of characters everyone in the show is likable. Coop is the lovable goofball, Jamie the cowardly, greedy, and self-centered friend who will always stick by Coop no matter what, and Kiva the hot mechanic who is smart, independent, and skilled in combat they didn’t just make her another pretty face they gave her a character. Thank you. The Glorft is also good, they’re quite menacing but at same time funny and are the perfect villains for Coop to fight against. What else can I say about the show? It had good cast of characters, a fun story, good action, was just an all-around awesome show and one of my favorites.