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Jesse Owens defeated [Redacted] on his pair of 2 legs (then died of a miserable life filled with racism, God bless America!)
Bruce Jenner... honestly, I can only think that because he's a white dood that managed to win something during the 80s when the society is undergoing drastic change, and sorta revive a little bit of that "white pride." (Not saying that BTech creators are racist, but Bruce Jenner was that big during that era for probably that reason, and BTech creators probably just piggy backed that.)
Ok, that much we all know. (by now)
But, the hidden implication is what made these naming scheme so clever.
One of the biggest problem with sci-fi universes is that they all like to imagine some future that seems to have no connections with the present. A few do, but brings the problem that they aren't imaginative enough to write a lore for what might happen in the near future.
what I mean by,
Sci-Fi Type A: complete lack of mention of present events. future events occur independently.
Sci-Fi Type B: only mention present events for future past tie-ins. For example, Dr. Who, for someone with a time machine, he sure only likes 90s London. Star Trek, few references here and there, always talking about current authors and artists.
Now, Btech is squarely in the Type B category, not that I am going to critique it's lack of imagination to make up some athlete in the year 2050. But more in depth in a lighter view that:
Had Btech been created today, how different would the naming scheme be?
For sure, I don't think Jenner would be called "Jenner" anymore. I can totally see "Owens" just because... well, the whole [Redacted] thing. But rather than Jenner, I totally see a runny mech be called "Bolt" instead.
Or maybe a consensus best of the super meta amphibious assault mech being named "Phelps,"
Or maybe the diversity factor, and rather than continue with the Euro-Mediterranean Gods, we have names like...
"Gilgamesh"
"Shiva"
(PS. I bet most of you only know Kintaro as the free NCIX mech, rather than a popular Japanese folklore hero)
"Saber"
"Lancer"
"Rider"
(O wait, sorry, those are just fate/stay characters)
"Jordan"
"Magic"
"Manning"
"Brady"
"Koufax"
... maybe, right? since in this century, we idolize sports star so much.
Though I think "J", "Diddy," "Beyonce" might be going too far to name mechs....
My point is, our mechs might be all sort of different. And that's something interesting to think about. What can you perceive as a possible mech with some modern tie-ins?
Edited by draiocht, 02 February 2017 - 08:48 PM.
word filter circumvented
