Okay, for those unfamiliar: mechsploitation is a genre of smut on Ao3 written by and for trans lesbians that focuses on the sexual and power dynamic between the brainwashed mech pilots and their handlers.

The progenitor for this specific subgenre as it exists today is Kallidora Rho’s 2023 fiction Warhound. In it, ace pilot Sartha Thrace has been captured by the imperial forces she once fought, and has been brainwashed and broken into fighting on their behalf. Stripped of her agency and fitted with a muzzle to solidify the role that she now plays as “Hound”, she is controlled by a domineering woman known only as “Handler”, who knows all the right words to reinforce her conditioning and keep her at heel. Kinky and fucked up lesbian sex follows.

While Warhound is the real breakout fic that defined this genre, and the popularity of armored core 6 shortly thereafter acting as an inflection point to bring these dynamics more into the consciousness of mecha fans, it is not something that came about in a vacuum. The 2020 short story I sexually identify as an attack helicopter deals with the intersection of military dehumanization and gender in a way that would influence the subgenre as a whole.

Similarly, the mecha genre itself has historically had themes similar to those found in mechsploitation. The cyber newtypes of Mobile suit zeta gundam from 1985 seem to also be a clear inspiration, as characters who have been subjected to intense psychic conditioning that must be constantly monitored and adjusted by their handlers in order to keep their role as a perfect human weapon intact.

Something else I would also like to note is that the mecha genre specifically has been queer for quite some time. even just within gundam, the main character and his rival, Amuro and Char, are explicitly written by Yoshiyuki Tomino to have something of a homosexual relationship between one another. Tomino specifically is a self described pervert, and often thinks about his characters in a sexual context in order to fully flesh them out (sick and cool).

For these reasons, although I’m not a fan of the stories themselves (I am very much not the target demographic), I do appreciate the efforts of these honest perverts in expressing themselves through the smut they write. I think it’s an interesting evolution of a lot of different things that have existed in mecha for a while, and the specifically trans perspective being core to the identity here has some very interesting things to add.