Hmm, should we create a buchi_holes tag? It is a distinguishable visual design element, and both Pixiv and Nico have equivalent tags under ブチ穴 ("Buchi Holes") and イヅブチ穴 (Izubuchi Holes), albeit not well populated.

I always thought they were holes for deep and short bolts that couldn't be seen. That would make the bolts inaccessible from enemy attacks, which in turn would ensure that the armor plate doesn't get blown off from the bolts coming undone. I had seen toys and devices that were made that way as an observable manufacturing process in real-life, too. Regardless of what imaginative technical intention the artists had in mind, they are a cool detail and add to the heavy-industry aesthetic of mecha and whatever else (Guilty Gear weaponry was where I actually started taking the inspiration for the buchi holes).

When I was a kid, I'd make designs for swords and shields that assumed that they'd fasten plates that way, and would have "dem holes" at every polygon corner, if not a triangular formation of three (just remove one hole apiece from each row on the same side in the example above, and that's what I'd do). Knowing that there was a cultural name for them is great trivia, though.

Saphyr said:

I always thought they were holes for deep and short bolts that couldn't be seen. That would make the bolts inaccessible from enemy attacks, which in turn would ensure that the armor plate doesn't get blown off from the bolts coming undone. I had seen toys and devices that were made that way as an observable manufacturing process in real-life, too. Regardless of what imaginative technical intention the artists had in mind, they are a cool detail and add to the heavy-industry aesthetic of mecha and whatever else (Guilty Gear weaponry was where I actually started taking the inspiration for the buchi holes).

When I was a kid, I'd make designs for swords and shields that assumed that they'd fasten plates that way, and would have "dem holes" at every polygon corner, if not a triangular formation of three (just remove one hole apiece from each row on the same side in the example above, and that's what I'd do). Knowing that there was a cultural name for them is great trivia, though.

Now that you mentioned it, I've seen Ingram drawn with short bolts visible in those Buchi Holes before. It does make a lot of sense.

(Not sure if official art has them drawn that way though.)

NNescio said:

Now that you mentioned it, I've seen Ingram drawn with short bolts visible in those Buchi Holes before. It does make a lot of sense.

(Not sure if official art has them drawn that way though.)

Some model kits have those bolts too. Though I'm not sure if it was in the original or they redesigned it later.