Horseman, on 25 March 2019 - 07:37 AM, said:
Canon mech scale is given as 8 to 14 meters.
What did we learn today, class?
That's right: artistic depictions are not valid scale reference unless explicitly stated otherwise.
7 to 16, according to 2018's Battletech Battlemech Manual (try to say that 3 times fast).
Though Battlemechs have been in the fluff as 6 meters tall, such as the Firefly (but if you look at Firefly, its more long than tall).
Agreed though. Artistic references are known to exaggerate in order to create emphasis such as emotional or otherwise. For example, there was a novel in which the narrating character (as it was from the character's perspective rather than an omniscient one) suddenly faced an Atlas out of nowhere... he described it as 39 meters tall..
Later, when he was no longer terrified because he was no longer in danger (as an orbital shot took it out), he seemed baffled in how it shrunk to only 14 meters (which is still taller than the more common 13+).
(Keep in mind that's including the 3100s where they do get bigger with the more than 100 ton mechs.)