Tachikoma are AI-controlled spider tanks exclusive to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. They're best described as four-legged walker-roller hybrids about the size of a small car, painted middle-blue, equipped with an array of sensors and weapons. Each one runs on individual artificial intelligence but shares the same memories as its counterparts—they synchronize every night, which means they wake up knowing everything the others experienced, leading to some funny identity confusion.
Design & Build:
The machines have four eyes: three on the "head" and one underneath, each with three pinholes probably used for triangulation. These eyes are surprisingly expressive for chunks of metal, often going full anime with emotional looks. Physically, they've got four legs and two arms. They can walk normally or throw on speed using wheeled footpads—apparently they're street-legal, at least in the Ghost in the Shell world. The wheels are omnidirectional, so Tachikoma can move in any direction. They're genuinely impressive movers: they can jump huge distances, stick to walls and ceilings, engage thermoptic camouflage, and rappel using adhesive string launchers from their arms. They even shift their weight around corners while driving and can briefly roll onto two legs to squeeze through tight spaces or dodge obstacles. Their movements were modeled after jumping spiders, which explains the unsettling grace of how they move. Stand Alone Complex Episode 2 basically exists to show off all of this.
Weaponry:
Standard loadout includes a 7.62x51mm light machine gun in the right arm, a secondary hardpoint in the snout (usually a 50mm grenade launcher for both explosive and gas rounds, though it can swap for a six-barreled 12.7x99mm Gatling gun), a universal cybernetic connector on an extendable prehensile cable in the left arm, and built-in thermoptic camouflage.
The AI Personality:
What makes Tachikoma stand out in a government special forces unit is their childlike artificial intelligence—unexpected and hilarious in context. They're professionals in the field, sure, but they're also curious, joyful, active, and generally goofy. The nightly synchronization thing is the source of most of the comedy: since they all share the same memories and consciousness, they often struggle with knowing which unit they actually are, leading to a lot of the comic relief in the series.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
