Check out my new Battlemech

<A HREF="http://www.plustech.fi/images/videot/PlusjDown4_6.mpg" target="_new">movie</A>

Flame not, lest ye be phlegmed.

armour the cab and slap on a couple 30mm vulcans...

Flame not, lest ye be phlegmed.

what's what?


Flame not, lest ye be phlegmed.

Battlemech/Robotech was the first(I think) popular "big walking robot tank destructothon" system
see also Mechwarrior, Heavy Gear, and the movies Robot Wars and Robot Jocks.

Flame not, lest ye be phlegmed.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by starbucksaddict on 08/07/02 10:48 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

Just to clarify and expound for Simon5...

A Battlemech (also known singularly as a mech and plural as mechs or mecha) is just a big freaking robot. Specifically, a Battlemech derives from the game BattleTech, publised by FASA.

To my knowledge (and someone please correct my if there are any earlier) BattleDroids and Robotech tied as the first 'big robot' combat games. BattleDroids took it from the standpoint of a tactical battle game. Robotech took it more from a role-playing-game standpoint. They were both book-based games using maps, paper, pencil, and dice. They both came out vertiually at the same time, and both licensed some of the same artwork from the same artist, and thus both ended up with some very similar looking mecha.

BattleDroids was later renamed to BattleTech. FASA, the owners of BattleDroids/BattleTech then came out with an expansion (or completely new rule set, depending on your point of view) to turn BattleTech into a role-playing-game. This was titled MechWarrior.

Later, Robotech pressed their ownership of the artwork that both BattleTech and Robotech used at the very heart of their games. FASA, already severely struggling financially, didn't even try to contest it even though they had what was undeniably a water-tight case simply because they couldn't afford the cost of defending their rights to the artwork in court. FASA reprinted their BattleTech books without the affore-mentioned artwork. (And strangely, also removed all of the Mechs based on that artwork instead of just giving them new appearances that didn't pose any legal problems.) The loss of the mechs that were the true heart and soul of BattleTech marked the end of BattleTech, as the game system only struggled and staggered in convulsive death throes from that point on, until finally, FASA sold their BattleTech devision to a company which has not as of yet actually done anything with it. (To my knowledge. Again, please correct me if I'm wrong and something further has actually been done.)

Plenty of other games (both computer-based and book-based) came afterwords with a passion. Such include Mekton and Mekton-Z, Heavy Gear, Metal Tech, Battle Drome, Earth Siege, blah, blah, ad nausium. Basically, the general public just really liked the concept of big freaking robots, especially when rendered anime-style. Some had AI. Some were organicly-piloted. Some were seven feet tall. Some were seven stories tall. Some were seven miles tall. (SLDF-1 anyone?)

And, as always, movies and cartoons (specifically anime, though there are some more mundane) have been enjoying mecha for quite some time because big robots just look cool and span through time from Voltron and Robot Jocks to Project A-Ko and Bubblegum Crisis. (Yes, I intentionally threw in hillarious examples.)

If you want to know more about mecha, it would probably be difficult <i>not</i> to find more detailed information in a google search.

And why have I given so much useless arcane information? I think it's because I'm insane.
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<A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/171.htm" target="_new">The corpse you find may be your own.</A> - Black Mage

I thought it was a six legged freak or spider.

<i><font color=blue>The only difference between 200 fps and 300 fps is the blink of the eyes.</font color=blue></i>

They say those things are better for the environment cause unlike bulldozers and other vehicles they don't leave big tracks everywhere. It's supposedly supposed to leave tracks like deer and teh like.

<b>Agent</b> <b><font color=green>81</b></font color=green>

It describes <A HREF="http://www.plustech.fi" target="_new">this</A>.

Flame not, lest ye be phlegmed.

Yup, they really are handy in woods where only selected trees need to get chopped.

My watercooler contains so much water that the moon has influence upon it .

Wicked!

It's about bloody time someone <i>finally</i> started any real research into the field. I was afraid that I would have to become a billionare just to develop one myself! Heh heh.

Too bad their web page is still pretty lacking in content and painful to navigate.

<A HREF="http://www.nuklearpower.com/comic/171.htm" target="_new">The corpse you find may be your own.</A> - Black Mage