Another one grapples with the perennial question. I think Coburn is just not looking at the whole thing from the most profitable angle.
Fig.1: A primitive mecha in flight.
If I may borrow from myself:
But if done right, mecha provides interesting possibilities. My personal favourites would be the ace and power multiplier. They were provided by air forces, especially during the WWII, in the real life, so they are realistic. Anyone with a martial arts experience knows how a stick multiplies power of an adept user, but is dangerous for an inept one. More sophisticated weapons tend to magnify this effect. This is how Galland’s Experten, [Richard] Bong, [A.I.] Pokryshkin, and [Saburo] Sakai came about. These people were fascinating. All mecha needs to do is take this a bit further [].
The downside to this approach is, it splits mecha into more awesome, like 08th MS Team, and not so awesome, like Xenoglossia with its girlmecha. But it's only natural. Mecha as a class is just too wide, like the anime itslef.