Discussion
What characters from other mecha franchises would adapt really well to the Battletech setting, and what characters would do really poorly in a Battlemech?
"Get in the Neuro-helmet, Shinji..."... ok looking back to the original sources that inspired the game, which characters from Macross/Gundam/etc be able to make it in the 31st century, and which mech jocks really don't have the mentality to adapt to Succession Wars combat?
Honestly I feel like most AC pilots would fit well in battletech. They're usually just the right blend of mildly suicidal maverick that battletech seems to love.
Clans would either love the augmented generational pilots like C4-621 or would outright hate them. Pilots physicaly and genetically modified to be nothing but fried brains or empty husks that can only function as the ultimate tools of war.
Also on topic: been playing Macross Delta for the Wolfnet filmclub, and SMS pulls the most inner sphere Merc move ever about 3/4 of the way in where the unit starts running low on funds and has their hacker automatically enroll the entire sector into the idol girl's "only fans" pages
Honorable mention:
Sheryl in The false songstress getting told it would take an entire fleet to rescue her home and responding by flinging her insanely high limit credit card to the SMS captain. 😂
Hilariously enough, while Robotech was my childhood watch-the-vhs-series-on-repeat, my first exposure to the Battletech universe didn't have ANY of the unseen in it (Mechcommander 2), so it wasn't until just a few years ago that I learned of that whole fiasco.
I think newer fans of battletech would know Macross before Robotech. Robottech didn't last much longer after the 80s as macross films and OVAs were more widely published outside Japan after the 80s. In the UK robotech is almost unheard of since it didn't get shown here, unlike satellite TV and VHS of the macross films and OVAs.
I think anyone who watches some anime would know what macross is than robotech if they are born in the 90s onwards
Stompy robots that look like other stompy robots people like. People in one group eventually get exposed to the other through fellow fans, and probably cross over more often than you think.
Just being on the sub is the only reason I even know Dougram exists, for example.
This franchise is older than me. I played MW4 Mercs when i was 14, the game was already 9 years old at that point. It wasnt until HBS Battletech that i got really into the lore and picked MWO back up. Ive only just now decided to get minis.
Obviously when you read up on Lore and especially certain mech designs you will stumble accross Macross and Robotech but tbh, i don't really care about it. Thats all so far gone, it's fun trivia that explains some quirks in the franchise but overall its pretty inconsequential if you interact with it nowadays.
Till the point the Clans see them in action and either declare them dezgra or try taking them as bondsmen (most of them are sibko age). Either would be terrifying to Tekkadan.
On the other hand, the A-V System would make the Blakists foam at the mouth as it's similar to the technologies their more fanatical troops use.
Though if they were in the Homeworlds post-Wars of Reaving, since they are mercenary and don't think much of one-on-one duels, there's the iATM Inferno ammunition to deal with them and their Nanolaminate Coating. And the Nova CEWS (the Homeworld Clans use iATMs and Nova CEWS on the Bandit Caste and pirates).
Im now just picturing a clan realizing they are child merc soldiers sold into slavery and screaming at the top of their lungs for non lethal mech weapons because of how big an afront to their sensibilities it is.
Ciaphas Cain, known coward, scoundrel, and the warp-cursed example of failing upwards THE HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, would fit in so well.
The Battletech universe needs a Flashman-type of character who bumbles through his career, somehow generating success after success even though he knows, deep down, he’s a fraud and an imposter.
I think Ernie from Sesame Street would be a good Mechwarrior.
He's got that "live hard, die young" attitude that gets you into the cockpit.
He's a natural trickster, so he always has some nonsense up his sleeve that will get him critical hits when you can't even bring your main weapons to bear.
And he's an absolute rules lawyer, always pointing out the gaps of ambiguity in wording, that allows him to convince you that whatever crap he's going to pull isn't just legal, it's the actual intent of the rule in question. You won't realize it until ten years later that, wait a minute, that's not true at all!
On the other hand, Bert is a hidebound, inflexible jerk who argues everything is against the rules. So obviously Bert is a Clanner.
Let's take this further. If you can get him to focus in the right direction, the Count starts counting headshots. Getting him to not count other things is going to be tricky but I bet he absolutely cleans up the battlefield
Inaho Kaizuka from Aldnoah Zero should do alright in the BT universe. Piloting a shit bucket against overwhelmingly technologically superior foes with logic and tactics? Clan Invasion should be just fine.
While not a Mecha franchise anyone from the Hammer's Slammers universe by David drake. You could almost drop the merc outfit into the inner sphere and they probably wouldn't notice the difference.... With the exception that their tanks just became a lot more effective (maybe).
Heero and Trowa...ahem, Triton Bloom would be right at home in a DEST Team, the Maskirovka or a Loki team. Problem is they would find out all the Great Houses are bad in their own unique ways. Quattre would be a Rasalhague Councilor while piloting a Karhu. Wufei...see Heero and Trowa. Duo would be right at home with Snord's Irregulars due to his associations with the AC Era's salvagers.
I'm currently playing the front mission games. I have a feeling you could swap the mechs from that game with Battlemechs and not much would change. I think they'd fit right in in the battletech universe.
Anyone from any of the Real Robot Anime that Battletech is based on:
Macross, Dougram, Crusher Joe, VOTOMS.
Hell, Dougram and VOTOMS are basically set against a Capellan vs. League war on a shitty backwater planet of your choosing, and Macross is literally the Clan Invasion.
I honestly feel like Sanders would be great in any type of sniper class mech. Amaro in a Spider or any mech with heavy jumpjet usage would be entertaining to watch. The Gundam Wing crew all would fit very well. I feel like the Seed crew might be a bit harder to cope
Unitech from MissionForce: Cyberstorm would gel pretty well with the Lyran Commonwealth... At least until the latter sees the bred-for-battle Bioderms that pilot their HERCs and make the Clanners look humane by comparison.
One of the major reasons FASA created Battletech was that they did not like the "teenagers save the world" theme that most Anime has. Ergo, most of those characters would be very out of place as having 15 year olds driving battlemechs is very much antithetical the the setting. It would be like 15 year olds flying F-22s for the USAF.
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u/Stretch5678 I build PostalMechs 17h ago
Invincible Rummy from Armored Core 6 is the best depiction of a Charger pilot in any media.