M2001A2 Mechanoid

The M2001A2, nicknamed the bunny or the owl by troops is a relic of a previous era, still used heavily by the United Earth Colonies Self Defense Forces and many other factions thanks to its rock solid reliability.

While mecha had been deployed by military forces in the past, the M2001 series was the first to have a truly humanoid features such as full hands with opposable thumbs, the reason for these somewhat impractical additions was a now largely forgotten war fought by earth against a race of giant arachnids, who found the human form extremely repulsive, while this race couldn't comprehend the fundamentally mammillian morality or emotions of earth, or why their attempt to exterminate the human race by eating its children could even be a bad thing to do, the sight of hundreds of giant humanoid figures setting fire to their nest-worlds and shooting everything that moved was seared into the minds of the survivors and there was not a single other recorded attack in history.

The M2001A2 remains relatively unchanged since adoption and shares many traits with its waddling ancestors, being tank-like and moving at a methodical pace. It is powered by a diesel engine and is crewed by two people, one functions like a tank commander and will use the top hatch to scan their surroundings. A single person can control all functions of the mecha, but often leg movement and arm movement will be shared between the two, so they are able to give their full concentration. Reactive armour was retrofitted to protect from high explosive weapons.

The main armament is a revolver-type cannon which fires 40mm rounds at a high RPM and feeds from a 100 round belt drum, spares are carried on the backpack and reloaded with the aid of two additional arms. A pair head mounted 7.62mm machineguns are used for close range anti-personnel defence. Grenade launchers for chaff or smoke countermeasures are mounted on top. Some carry a handgun for backup at close range, as some more modern mecha and biomechanoids can easily outmaneuvre them and overpower them in melee, despite this, it remains formidable and even overkill in the territorial disputes of the colonial era