Combining Mecha/Playing With

Basic Trope: A Humongous Mecha composed of a number of smaller mecha.
 * Straight: Aldous, Bernard, and Charlie combine Alpha, Beta, and Gamma to form the invincible Omega Supreme!!
 * Exaggerated: Aldous, Bernard, Charlie, David, Edouard, Francis, Gemmy, Helena, Ingrid (ad nauseum) combine Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, (ad nauseum) to form the invincible Omega Ultimate!!
 * Justified:
 * The mecha are designed in a way that if part of Omega Supreme is destroyed, that part can detatch without causing more damage to the rest of the systems.
 * Aldous is an Ace Pilot, Bernard is a master marksman and fencer, and Charlie is intimately familiar with Omega's systems. The combination lets them each focus on their best talents without dividing their attention between tasks.
 * Inverted:
 * A Humongous Mecha is a part of an absolutely ginormous mecha in orbit.
 * A Humongous Mecha can mass-produce Attack Drones.
 * The Humongous Mecha was specifically designed to split up.
 * Subverted: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma have obvious linkage systems, but they're redundancies from a scrapped project.
 * Double Subverted: When they're in a pinch, the chief engineer digs up some code that allows them to combine.
 * Parodied:
 * Breadbot, Pepperonibot, Tomatobot, and Cheesebot combine to form the invincible Extra-Large Pizza Delivery!!
 * Several drunken teenage drivers get into a horrible four-way car crash. However against all odd this causes all of their cars to fuse together into an awesome giant robot. They are elated and take their new giant robot for a drive and get into another accident.
 * Instead of something cool-looking and badass, the combined form is just the individual mecha welded together into what vaguely looks like a new one.
 * Deconstructed:
 * Aldous begins to lose his independence because he has to trust his copilots so much, resulting in self-esteem problems and attempted suicide.
 * The combined mecha is Awesome but Impractical due to requiring too much setup time and losing versatility.
 * The combined form either requires all three pilots to work in unison, which is awkward at best, or reduces two of the pilots to passengers while the third controls the whole thing, something apt to create resentment.
 * Reconstructed:
 * Bernard and Charlie convince Aldous that his mecha is an essential part of the whole and he returns with a vengeance.
 * The advantages of the combined form outweigh the disadvantages, particularly when the individual mechs have bought time to combine.
 * The combinedd form allows there minds to "meld" together for a short time, making them even better in combat.
 * Zig Zagged: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma are not designed to combine. However, with a blowtorch and the power of GAR, the engineers figure out a way for them to combine...but it wasn't designed to do so, and stalls.
 * Averted: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma do not combine.
 * Enforced: "Having the mecha combine would really show The Power of Friendship for these characters."
 * Lampshaded: "Is this the part where we combine?"
 * Invoked: "We designed your mecha to combine, because that's really super awesome."
 * Defied: "The chief engineer designed your mecha to combine, but we nixed that because they'd see it coming."
 * Discussed: "Why would they design the robots to combine, rather than just build one big robot? Budget cuts?"
 * Conversed: "Five robots? Yeah, these are definitely gonna combine by the end of the episode."
 * Played For Laughs: Beta, piloted by Token Girl Barbara, is one of those Ridiculously Feminine Robots. The Alpha + Beta + Gamma Transformation Sequence looks like Three-Way Sex.
 * Played For Drama: The combined form is very unusual and difficult to control, and arguments break out between the team on how to use it.

Pothole! Return link joke! Self-reference! COMBINE TO FORM THE LINK BACK TO Combining Mecha!!!