In keeping with my tradition of putting stuff here for my own use, here are some of my favorite mecha artist’s pages. I may come back through later and add in stores, this was just me tossing something up there.
Pixiv: Captain 06 – Battletech and Nuetech, with a side in realistic military and flying lolis without pants. T-TA – Mech redesigns, mostly of Nuetech, and a little fanart Mecha Fighter – Renders, multiangle. Good sculpting reference. S. Shimizu – Largely conventional 3/4 lineart, but a wide range of subjects and decent references
Deviantart Alex Iglesias – AKA Flyingdebris. Doug Chaffee’s replacement for covers. Anthony Scroggins – AKA Shimmeringsword Dave White– Mecha Master Kristian Borg – digital art of BT Eric Ou – Tanks and other fun things Mike Jackson – Sourcebook artist with a side in covers and card art Justin Nelson Bad shading, good fundamentals. Did the Re-Re-Reseen primitives.
Busy doing some casting and cleaning for an order while this plays in the background.
Now that the MegaMek guys have uploaded the Battle of Stanrey maps, I think I’m gonna have to paint up some of my Dougram Unseen to run Stanrey and Kalnock. A copy of BoS went up on eBay a couple weeks back, but I didn’t have $180 to spend on it, even if it does come with nearly thirty models and the single coolest mecha game accessory in human history.
To wit: A periscope with a little control panel and cockpit frame, for determining line of sight
The Takara “Battle” games bear a superficial similarity to Battletech; hexmaps, similar scales, and of course the units available. They are much simpler, however, especially in the realm of tracking damage, and are clearly designed with younger gamers in mind. In Japanese, the books are written at roughly a late grade-school level, including still using “helper” kana with the limited kanji present – which actually makes them pretty easy to translate, a task I’ve had on the back burner for months now They were briefly imported to the US, and a full translation was floating about for a while on the Wayback machine . I also believe the BT guys never even saw a copy of one of these games.
For those of you not familiar with the series, on the other hand, it’s blatantly one of the formative influences on Battletech. For starters, it’s the source of the “holy Trinity” of Mediums (Wolverine, Shadow Hawk, Griffin), as well as the entire reason Quads exist in the game. Although I kinda doubt Jordan’s fad-chasing ass ever actually watched an episode*, the models’ box art (which was part of what inspired them in the first place) provides a window into the universe of the show. I can’t help but think the scavenger ethic and starkness of the Succession Wars was influenced by the lonely desertscapes and mauled mecha adorning the boxes; the characters on the show definitely influenced the image of the Battletech ‘verse’s population. Look at that clip up there if you haven’t already, then flip through anything from the early years and tell me if the outfits don’t look just a bit similar. Compare that to anything Macross has to offer and I think you’ll agree that the Big D and Crusher Joe had a lot more to do with BT’s design ethic.
The atmosphere of the show is a damned near perfect fit for a resistance group somewhere in the Drac March, just trying to break off and live their own lives. Repairs are hard to come by, the ‘mech is more valuable than any of the characters, and it’s a hard fight for everyone involved. Basically, all you have to do is substitute a capital world elsewhere for “Earth” and call it a day. As far as plot goes, the military district governor is executed by the local Tai-sa for not persecuting local malcontents effectively enough, igniting a localized guerilla resistance that in turn winds up setting off the entire planet. The handful of rebels with a ‘Mech are the focus, with the new governor pushing everything he can find at them. And, of course, as is the case with most of the games, the kid with the ‘Mech is minor nobility keeping his head down. Though the show hasn’t (as far as I can determine) ever actually been licensed, there are some very good fansubs floating around out there. I strongly recommend the show to any fan of Real Robot series (which is to say, if your favorite Gundam is 08th Mobile Suit Team or0080: War in the Pocket, you’ll probably love it), and to any fan of the Succession Wars era of Battletech.
Natasha says: Watch it or GTFO. And we don’t want to piss her off, do we?
As a bonus: Watch the finest mecha fight sequence ever animated (from 08th Mobile Suit Team, the best of the Gundam shows). If that music doesn’t get your blood boiling, then you have no blood to boil.
Dougram isn’t that good, but damned if it doesn’t come close a few times. And Dougram lasts for 75 episodes, where 08th is a shorty OVA..
(images used without permission for educational or parodic purposes. No challenge intended to any trademarks, living or dead, yadda, yadda. IP lawyers: please DIAF, you’re one of the things poisoning the world right now)
*It’s possible, however, that more than one of the devs did see some of the show, though this was in the era of “script parties”, where you’d watch a raw show and read off of a xeroxed script/translation script someone had set up for you. Usually both were at least third-generation copies, which made things interesting..
I’m back and alive, albeit in some pretty impressive knee pain. I still have some stuff to do from this con, but I honestly woke up around 2 PM and I had errands to do, so ain’t shit happening today.
Highlight: Meeting several really awesome people in the industry – the behind-the-scenes people, not the “stars” – and from other cons. I also talked briefly to the developer for the upcoming Robotech Miniatures game, after which I have been lusting for months. I’m actually getting a social calendar put together for the upcoming weeks (not something one usually takes away from an anime con..), and enhancing a few friendships I’ve meant to strengthen for years. I got to help out a Make-A-Wish family, and bring smiles to the faces of dozens of people. I may be an introvert, but smack me and call me Shirley if I don’t like helping others.
Bad things? I missed my favorite part of the convention because of a Bad Thing happening elsewhere, and my own panel was.. well.. pretty lame, albeit fun. It boiled down to about 25 of us sitting in a room meant for 150 shooting the shit and spamming catchphrases. Then again, that’s not that far off from the regular content of the panel, and everyone seemed to have a good time (unlike some of the more “scholarly” panels we’ve done). Also, bronchitis combines poorly with a CPAP machine.
Spoils: Boxed set of Slayers seasons 4 & 5, and of Lost Universe, both of which I’ve been meaning to pick up for years. Still can’t believe I’ve left my favorite series in the lurch for so long, even if my wife hates it. Maybe LostU will change her mind. Should probably start with the chicken suit episode..
Picked up Sapphire, my first Pokemon game that’s not a third game or a “red”-side version (Yellow, HeartGold, Platinum, and Black/Black2). The cartridge had been cleaned completely out, so there’s nothing stopping me from restarting right now, and restart I have. Torchiccing it like a boss. I also grabbed a cheap copy of Advance Wars Two. I’ve heard good things about the series for so long I figured I might as well. Won a Young King Ours promo item (B-5-sized Asuka report folder) from the Dark Horse Evangelion panel, and got the autograph of my favorite translator yesI’manerdstoplookingatmethatway. Other than that my purchases were mostly food, buttons, and a couple gashapon (including my second bloody chase figure of Destiny Gundam, which I hate. Gave it away to a friend). The Macross ones were slightly too large to use for N-scale BT, more’s the pity, but they’re still pretty cool.
Food: AWESOME. I finally FINALLY FINALLY found a restaurant in downtown that serves fish and chips and doesn’t huck shrimp into the deep fryer – doesn’t even have the shit inside the building – so I can eat one of my favorite foods without hugging my Epi-pen. And it’s good, too. The fries were great, fried chicken tasty (wife bought it, we shared), and they know their way around a mac and cheese. Beer’s merely okay, but I can give up good beer for excellent food. Had an excellent burger at the Taphouse too, although the bacon-wrapped Jalapenos were shite – undercooked, huge, and unseeded.
Now the fun really starts as far as convention work goes. Even though we can’t actually do anything about next year until the elections happen, this is when the real feedback comes in. Not the usual “your staff are mean” or “why didn’t you pay attention to my awesome guest suggestions” or “I can’t understand what a policy is and I’m illiterate, how dare you enforce your rules? I’m special!” stuff, but “well, shit, THAT didn’t work at ALL”. Also, politics. I hate them, but sometimes it’s necessary.
Secondly, it’s time to start going through our policies with a fine-toothed comb. There is a lot of infelicitous phrasing, not to mention at least one outright and horrendous typo, and some concerns about potentially conflicting policies. I know the majority of attendees never actually read them*, but it’s still important to keep them straight.
*look, I work the Q&A email box, and 95% of the questions are shit that is clearly stated in the policies, on the “Schedule” page, or on the “registration” page.
I also have a presentation to give on the con itself and the anime fandom in general.. to a room full of old rich people on the Eastside, in about two weeks. So time to start writing that.
Lamentations of the Flame Princess
I use elements from this system pretty heavily (see the Free RPGs page for more), and also write bits for it now and again.
The Blood of Prokopius
An Orthodox gamer, with very similar sympathies to mine and a willingness to let religion actually intrude into his gaming – in a positive way.
B/X Blackrazor
Another JB from Seattle, goes to the same gamestore I do, yet we’ve never met.
Dungeons and Drawings
An ongoing art project, well worth the read. Their Peryton is amazing.
The Alexandrian
Good game analysis, some interesting house rules.
Age of Dusk/Prince of Nothing
Euro-troll and general git. I like his reviews and sense of humor. Following the “three posts bookmarked/saved” rule, he must be posted.
10' Polemic
I’ve shared his articles three times, he gets a spot. Them’s the rules. Lots of creative ideas and setting tweaks.
The Last Gasp Grimoire
This dude writes Fritz Lieber’s fever dreams, and sometimes draws them. Occasionally NSFW. Much excellence lies hid within.
Friends
The Battletech Reader
Home of TRO:3063, an (awesome) fan-project I helped bring to life. The blog is “dead” but the art is still there
My tumblr
Following the Great Purge of 2018, I’ve stopped posting here. My twitter ought to be easy to find..
Doc Schott's Lab 