Can a mecha be considered a character?

[LesserSarcasm]

You are a biological computer controlling a meat exoskeleton while driving a calcium rich bone mecha are you a character.

 

[Fairemont]

Id say no, a mecha cannot be a character on its own. If it has on board AI, that may be a character. The mecha is like a tool the hero weilds more than a character itself. However, they tend to have a bit of an identity, so it's like a soft character in a way.

 

[Guavaleiro]

Absolutely!
We humans have the tendency of giving character to objects, when a bond exists between the user and it's tool some form of characterization usually takes place, just think of the endless stories that exists of sailors and their ships throughout history. Mechs, specially in Japanese media do take center stage at the work( mainly for marketing purposes ) their design, name and other characteristics have to be distinct like the characters, however, that doesn't always happen and in some stories they are just simply another vehicle in the setting, were their "characterization" would come more from the world building of that story.

Of course, there are iterations where they are sentient by themselves, either being straight up lifeforms( the Cybertronians from Transformers ) or by having an advanced AI capable of thought ( BT-7274 from Titanfall ), which makes them not characterized objects, but straight up characters, being part of the cast or maybe, like in Transformers case, the main cast themselves. There also instances where sentience appears to them trough more "esoteric" means, in these kind of stories their sentience is hinted at, but not always explicit, it usually involves some Sci-Fi Technology or straight up Magic, although their characterization usually stays in a more "characterized object" stage rather than becoming a character, but there are some that become characters later on, like the Getter Robo and the Mazinger Z, both mechs have this Fictional energy source that somehow makes them evolve from a construct to a thinking entity.

 

[Piisfun]

If it has 'personality' then I would say yes.

Edit: It doesn't even need to be an AI personality. It could be just a humanizing trait you give yo it. Like its pilot talking to it (even though the Mecha is just a machine) and giving him personality of its own. Idk how to explain it lol

This is defintely the case. Having played The Riftbreaker, where 90% of the character interactions are conversations between Riftbreaker Ashley and the AI of her mech, Mr. Riggs, If the mech has a personality, then it is a character.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Devil Gundam is an obvious example.

But if your criteria is that it needs to be piloted to be a mech then that makes it a bit more nebulous but I can still see some examples.

An example I can think of for that is the titan legions and knight houses in warhammer 40k. In their lore the machine spirit is often a distinct entity that the pilot interfaces with, with can even causes changes in the princept or knight’s personality to better match that of the robot.

To go even further there is the chaos knights/titans in which the pilot and the mech through the blessings of the ruinous powers have merged and become a single entity.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

Just like a truck has character to some workers.

 

[Navillus]

I believe anything can be a character-nya.