27 replies to this topic

[Fez Findie]

MogCarns, on 06 July 2012 - 08:26 AM, said:

Hell. I still have the 1st Somerset Strikers Sourcebook, where they had to make up game rules for all the crap in the cartoon, and fix the lore they mangled.

The CGI in the cartoon was REVOLUTIONARY at the time. It is only cheesy now because CGI gets dated so quickly.

They toys were also state of the art at the time. The entire series had launching projectiles, as opposed to only one or two "projectile shooting models" of existing toys, and they had hit plates that caused the Mech to eject or explode, rockemsockem style.

I watched this cartoon a while back, might rewatch it again soon. Liked it for all its flaws which were to be expected, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been at times ^^ They weren't being all too happy-go-lucky types and things could go so wrong for the 'good guys'. Its also established in-universe that this cartoon is a anti-clan propaganda series loosely based on real events, which I find really nice. At least Adam Steiner and some other characters appear in other fiction later.

Besides, I like that they did at least explain the CGI with "enhanced imaging", giving an in-universe explanation for the sudden different look as opposed to just acceptin' it. And the grids and such. They did obviously do their best to try to make the mechs seem like these big-*** warmachines by proper sound effects and camera angles and putting them in a CGI enviroment, even if it looked primitive but at least allowed a lot of room. How can you not love the Mad Dog passing over the camera in the intro, that just looks awesome ^^ (the theme music helps too)

Contrast with, as much as they had their excuse, to something like the CGI creatures in Kevin Sorbo's Hercules or such, where they were pasted on the scene, not having as much liberty nor feeling of weight on the monsters.

Edited by Fez Findie, 20 August 2012 - 07:13 AM.

[Buda]

Besides the revolutionary 3d rendering for that time, I found it discouraging -for the hardcore BT fan- due to It's poor quality and badly reviewed content (hence its name on the BT opera: poorly reviewed holovid series by Tharkad Broadcast Company). Yet was funny to se an Mauler driven by an FedCom 'Mechwarior, an weird Summoner (D, maybe), solhama units on the front and "lieutenant" clans warriors.

[Aescwulf]

Around the time aired I was too interested in watching Robotjox once a day and playing(taking apart) my dads old transformer toys and watching some of the episodes XD

I feel like an outsider by saying that I didn't experience battletech as a child.

[Gunner1]

its a cool show and i still watch it from time time on youtube, had some some of the toys but my nephews and nieces got a hold of them and either lost parts or whole mech. I have seen on ebay people still selling used or new though.

The show came out in the 90's that i know cause my family and moved to AZ and i was in the 6th or 7th grade at that time

Edited by Gunner1, 20 August 2012 - 07:54 AM.

[Stephen Pershaw]

My friends and I actually bought several of the toys and then used tape measures re-scaled the miniature rules and had battles in a huge dirt lot using bricks, rubble and dirt for buildings well rubble, and hills, tumbleweeds and other such plants for trees/forests and such, and had a BALL! it was great fun and, was more immersive using larger models than on a table.

[juxstapo]

yes.... and I had a chunk of the toys as well..

but played with the Exosquad/Robotech crossovers more (using them as Battletech mechs of course).

Hey, y'know? Unseen man...

[TarkaTarquol]

I never even knew this existed until I saw this thread. X3

Possibly as sad as it is, the only exposure to the BattleTech universe... has been MechWarrior Online. All the talk of the Clans just flew over my head and I was more caring about the gameplay. I've read some lore and the like, but never really got into it that in-depth.

Watching the cartoon made the Clan deal make a bit more sense. X3

[juxstapo]

Get novels. Quickly. Submerge yourself in the depth of this universe. (Very much more so than the cartoon)