theplasticwerks

Man, even the main character's name is Tian (sky/heaven)...

Wizkids briefly folded a few years ago, taking the game with it. Wizkids is now back, but MWDA is not. Officially dead, but people are still playing.

If ugly wins the war, ugly ain't so bad.

And you thought they were cranking out VF-1s like they were going out of style At some point very soon, we're going to have an RX-78-2 in every scale (if we don't already), plus any other scale Bandai will make up...

Rubbing alcohol or window cleaner (a la Windex). Should take that marker right off without messing up the plastic.

Revolving joints EVERYWHERE! Parts alignment might get tricky But kidding aside, I'm interested in at least seeing how it gets pulled off. Proportions in the ad seem a little spotty. Tailfins look weird!

Xevoz, from Hasbro. Also from Hasbro, GI Joe SIGMA 6. Not obscure, but tend to be underrated. I just love the bold styling of the figures, plus the flexibility of customization.

Most of the people at Catalyst, and in fact, right now any of the BattleTech/MechWarrior properties are headed by the same people that started the game or who have been with it for a long time; even Jordan Weisman worked on both the MechWarrior: Dark Age CMG as well as the upcoming MechWarrior game. Of course, there are a few new faces, but the universe and franchise have pretty much stayed in the same hands since its inception. CGL knew what they were getting into because they were there in the first place. Legalities have a way of sneaking up on you, though...

Ayup. Well, we still have a few left to us...

There's another thread for that. That's because it's not a Warhammer. It's a Hammerhands, a predecessor to the Warhammer This is the 25th Anniversary art you seek: This is for the 25th Anniversary BattleTech Box Set - the one with minis and rules and other fun things. It's also the first new piece of art featuring an Unseen 'Mech

Occam's Razor: CGL asked to license the designs, and the owner of the property said yes (probably after much wrangling). HG can't really do much if they don't own the rights and a higher power decided to license them out (see: Macross Frontier toys). Herb Beas (the BattleTech line developer...and by the way, it's "BattleTech" again, not "Classic BattleTech") is keeping mum about how he and the gang pulled it off. I don't think we'll ever know, but it had to have been a hell of an effort. Right now, as far as the BT fandom knows, they rights to the artwork exists - publishing old stuff and making new stuff. Since Iron Wind Metals is effectively a separate entity no one knows if the miniatures will go back into production. The new MechWarrior game features a Warhammer that draws very heavily upon the "Unseen" (which they are not any longer) but is still its own design, which says to me that Smith and Tinker may not have the license either (that, or they just decided to reinterpret the designs - their Atlas doesn't look like the classic Atlas either - then again, we don't know how long any of these companies has been sitting on any news). My personal answer: don't question it...just accept, enjoy, and throw a snicker over to HG.

And remember, MechWarrior 4 will be free to download very soon!

You are sorely mistaken. This is an Awesome.

Fluff is actually a pretty widely-used term, so there's no stopping it now...

...Which one? While rules for using them are being updated, and they still effectively exist, Land-Air 'Mechs (LAMs) have simply fallen out of favor and fashion in both real-world (game) and universe. Not to mention the Nova Cats found them such abomination that they destroyed the factories...the art wasn't updated for Project Phoenix. Fortunately, the new license eliminates the necessity of redesigning them, so they've always looked like Gerwalk VF-1s. Fluff is essentially all the little details that make a story complete (in BattleTech for example, notable design flaws in 'Mechs, notable pilots, various successes and failures of certain weapon systems, etc). Also generally used to refer to the "behind-the-scenes" fiction of a given universe. In Macross, a VF-1 Valkyrie is an aerospace fighter that can transform into a giant robot. This is all we need to know. But if you look into it a little bit, you can find the manufacturer who made the engines, and their exact output specifications. That is the fluff - it makes the VF-1 a little more well-established and "real". The concept of the DYRL OAV can be considered fluff (it's an otherwise inconsequential movie made within the universe!). If we knew Capt. Global's eating habits, they'd be fluff. Fluff is also a sticky, delicious marshmallow-flavored spread invented in Somerville, MA.

I'm just going to come out and say I've always been a much bigger BattleTech fan than Macross fan when I say the following: Look what we can do now!

*Points at every Valkyrie kit and toy, ever* I bet it will be the movie homage to the VF-1D - Alto picks it up from Gilliam, does his thing with Ranka, gets his 25F later and we never see it again...

Some shorty named Victor stole the limelight. Adam Steiner was last seen on the throne of the Lyran Commonwealth.

Check out the latest Three Panel Soul! http://www.threepanelsoul.com/comics/133.png

BattleTech combat is not at all like modern combat. The basic premise of BattleTech is "Feudalism...IN SPAAAACE!" - MechWarriors, although using modern equipment, are the mounted knights of the era, including the perks of titles, land, adulation, women, and hereditary "armor" ('Mechs), typically private citizens called into service by their Successor Lords, although there are regular militaries as well (which seems to be more the case in the latter years of the BT universe until the Dark Age). The universe was built for romantic giant robot cavalry charges, not orbital railgun potshots from the other side of the planet. Besides, which of those is more fun? Also, giant-robot-physics aside, 'Mechs aren't really supposed to explode that spectacularly - RPG sources say the explosion should just be big enough to vaporize the torso and kill the pilot. But Rule of Cool always prevails.

I questioned the Atlas-C myself (the weapons config doesn't seem to match anyhow). I think it can be retconned into being a command 'mech (if the Atlas-C is unfeasible, the Atlas-K is definitely not doable in this period) with a redesignation when the K, C, and CM models rolled out. I believe in the S&T interview it was said that the Kuritans would have taken down the satellites over Deshler on their way in, so the gropos are stuck with line-of-sight and whatever else they can get to help. There's no reason 'Mechs can't carry various probes and things like that without needing to be mentioned in the TROs (many 'Mechs have toilets, but you don't see that accounted for in the numbers, do you?) as they simply supplement the existing targeting system - like Kai Allard-Liao's use of seismic sensors in BoK: Blood Legacy, there's no real advantage to an alternative targeting system that needs to be factored into the game aside from a houserule, and just because it's never appeared in a TRO doesn't mean it can't exist. That's more of a player thing. In real life, when confronted by a shooter, it's probably in your better interests to prevent him from shooting again than rendering him immobile but still able to fire (remember that until MW3, you weren't dead until your torso was cored!). But it's not. XBox AND PC. In fact, Piranha would like to have support for both in multiplayer. Yes indeed, but as far as the fandom knows, this currently only applies to the original artwork that will be published in the 25th Anniversary book. No one ever said Catalyst, et al could use the designs anywhere else - this means we still might not get the original minis back, or have the Unseen featured in games. In fact, as far as we know the licensing only went to Catalyst Game Labs - Smith&Tinker is its own entity, and the Warhammer and company have always existed in BattleTech even after the rights to the original art were lost, so there's no reason it can't be included in the game. Even if all we had was the Project Phoenix Warhammer, it could still be in the game without a problem. The S&T/Piranha interview can be found here.

We've got our Unseen lineart back, too. All of it. It's a good time to be a BattleTech fan

Well, no one is supposed to be fighting in cities in BattleTech (Article V of the Ares Conventions) which is why we've never seen too many of them in the games (MechAssault notwithstanding), although the conventions have been known to be tossed away at will. That jumping giant robot from the teasers looks too much like a Jenner for this not to be a MW game. Either way, it looks promising, and I hope to high heaven there's a toy line involved.

Oh, man: Transformers in Pearl Harbor?

Michael Bay beat you to it