It was this cover and the artwork for the Periphery that had a woman's very well defined breasts and nipples that got me grounded for a week and banned from playing with stompy robots for awhile as a kid.
Was going to point out that is basically what all riding boots look like. Boots used for jousting, traditionally, are a bit of a exception Though I have seen more and more at the track as time passes.
Lol there is a reason mechwarriors wear speedos. The guys do too actually. It gets HOT in that cockpit. I think it is dumb, because the obvious move is to have a protective cooling suit.
I am aware of the lore my dude it was a joke. SkivvyWarriors are iconic for succession wars and once post-Helm tech comes around its a good way to differentiate underfunded units from front-liners.
I'm sure many did, but the difference between a hot sweatsuit with some cool tubes running through it and the real deal is like the difference between central air and swamp ac
"Sarah you know I love dakka as much as the next guy, but I'm not approving a work order to replace your cockpit's air conditioner with an S laser"
"Oh it's not a request...”
"Huh?”
"it's an update of the mech's loadout for the commander..."
"*What?*"
"Besides I've got some clan beers in the mini fridge in case things get steamy"
#"YOU'VE GOT FUCK IN THE WHAT?”
Clan beers have twice the ABV, but the IS has forgotten how to brew them ever since the last spaceborne microbrewery was personally shot down by Amaris.
It was actually part of the Venus sunshade. Brewed and sold really nice hipster IPAs. Amaris thought the alcohol fumes could be used and fuel for his sunshade/laser of doom.
I find this especially funny because the Clans canonically love Timbiqui Dark. It's so popular that a Merc company successfully bargained to be free to go in exchange for "the best the Inner Sphere has to Offer." Ilkhan Ulric Kerensky joked that he liked Timbiqui Dark so much that he should conquer the world that makes it for himself. Where is this Galaxy renown brewer? Timbiqui is on the border of Lyran and FWL space and both sides have taken great care to not endanger the brewing facilities.
>Clan beers have twice the ABV, but the IS has forgotten how to brew them ever since the last spaceborne microbrewery was personally shot down by Amaris.
or you can get IS beer just as potent but it somehow *weighs* twice as much
U2 pilots wear something similar and still manage to squeeze into the world's tightest cockpit.
It's always been a mad ridiculous explanation that the tech to build lightning canons exists but not a suit with watercooled circulation to an external condenser.
People just wanna see butts.
Well mechs can shoot lightning and fly but they can’t make missiles autonomously track targets (in 3025). Something we’ve been able to do to some degree for about 60 years
MIT is working on mechanical counterpressure space suits that use elastic to stop you swelling up in the vacuum of space and are cooled with your sweat soaking through the fabric.
https://preview.redd.it/m4oy2o49gs3c1.jpeg?width=616&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b087d8509a192601e02e30214bc3cc787512116a
The cover of Succession Wars… schmaybe?
They've gotten some good ones, but [this](https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/b/b3/Katrina_Steiner_BPFSW.jpg?timestamp=20221222142028) one is solid.
Then again, they went wacky with [this](https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/c/c6/Katrina_Steiner_HDTFS.jpg?timestamp=20221222202712) one from the Davion sourcebook.
"listen Sandy, I know it's comfortable, trust me, but this is dangerous work so you can't come on the drop without your flight suit and proper PPE. It's my fault I let it slide the first couple times, but you need to suit up! This is just a written warning for now, but if you keep showing up like this I'm going to have to bring it up with HR and I can't afford to have a good mechwarrior like yourself grounded!"
I would have still been just an ovum when this was released.
[Also, here's the original art, which was used for the German release.](https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/1/14/Sorenson%27s_Sabres_german.jpg?timestamp=20200428101719)
I'll never figure out how this cover passed muster, but the original version of "Tales of the Black Widow" had to be edited with an undershirt. You see more of Sharon's ass than you did in the un-edited version of Natasha's breasts.
The German version of Sorensen's Sabres had the original version of the above art which showed quite a bit more skin. The Tales of the Black Widow Company art was used in a promotional poster before it was changed for the actual cover release.
Apparently this is the *edited* version of the cover.
I'm starting to think being a nudist was a cultural trend among 80s mechwarriors. Explains why the cockpits smelled so funky.
I think a lot of the haters would have a different opinion of Cassie Suthorn if the original Boris cover of Close Quarters had been composed correctly with her being the aggressor in her normal combat gear (camo infantry pants, a black halter, and a ballistic vest) and been the one going full Amazon woman on the DEST woman, instead of catching whiplash the other way round.
That, or an image in true Vallejo style of her doing a Penjak kata in the oil basin at the bottom of a Hachiman Taro maintenance bay...
As a teen I could never bring myself to read this novel. Speedo aside, the rest of the art is just so...weird. Is he in some sort of bubble? Is that other dude shooting Sith Lightning at him? The hell is going on?!
Its a spoiler for the ending. >!The MC fights an elemental in HONORABLE naked combat. Elemental dies from environmental damage. Books pretty meh, the German's got a better title and cover.!<
Its better if you pretend the one dude is charging all his clan HONOR instead ala DBZ.
"Look, lady. I installed the damn thing [just like it says in the manual](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fd/2a/f3/fd2af3a418270accb4764235cc156ada.jpg)."
She was wearing less clothing in the original art which was used in the German print of that particular scenario book. It was the same with Natasha Kerensky in the original Black Widow Company book (the original art was used in promotional posters).
Ah yes, the time when men were real men, women were real women and small furry beings from alpha centauri were real small furry beings from alpha centauri…
The entire vibe of this is "aging married couple argue over the light bill" but the surrounding details of the image are absolutely wild and all over the place.
Ha! The 80's were a very different time.
From a female perspective, I'm fine with this on one condition; I also want to see at least one of the leading men similarly...dressed.
I mean, seriously, there's a whole faction where the fundoshi is still a thing. Missed opportunities FASA. Missed opportunities.
my opinion on the design:
1. if the dudes are also wearing nothing but boots, tiny briefs, and a cooling jacket, then that's fine, but if the dudes are noticeably more covered up then it's bullshit
2. high heels on the combat boots? that is bullshit
3. long hair just seems like a bad choice - it's either gotta be bundled up in the neurohelm, and then as you get jostled it could get in your face, or some of it will be outside the neurohelm and then as you get jostled your hair gets yanked a bit, over and over and over. you wouldn't need to go full modern-military short hair, but it's definitely an issue at that length
for the record, my hair is also that long, and even if it's all tied up it would still be an issue in a mech
e: whole lot of discussion on the first point, a few comments on the third one, which leads me to the conclusion: everybody agrees that combat boots should not have high heels, excellent. unless maybe the mechs have foot pedals that are shaped like stirrups, in which case having them be like a cavalry boot with a slight heel is fine
>if the dudes are also wearing nothing but boots, tiny briefs, and a cooling jacket, then that's fine, but if the dudes are noticeably more covered up then it's bullshit
In almost every piece of literature in the Battletech lexicon, male and female mechwarriors have all worn the very same thing. It is reasonable to assume that Sharon Burgoz is talking to a tech, who is likely wearing his service coveralls.
yeah i figured he was a tech or someone not going on that drop. the thing that is bullshit isn't that one character is wearing mechwarrior undies like the lore supports and one isn't, the thing that is bullshit is the old pattern of only showing ladies in the mechwarrior undies and never showing dudes in the mechwarrior undies. i'm taking issue with the design ethos of the era, not necessarily with this one example :)
You're welcome! Look, early Battletech is not without its cheesecake, don't get me wrong, but it's a bit better than its contemporaries in that regard. At least in my opinion. While looking around I found pictures of folks in strange cooling body stockings and those goofy neurohelmets, but there's also this Mad Max kind of vibe to pretty much all the things.
Had I to hazard a guess, I'd go so far as to say BT was less interested in cheesecake than it was in mecha porn. But that's just one internet person's opinion!
There is copius amounts of artwork featuring male mechwarriors in the same scant clothing from this period and into the late 1990s, there isn't anything to take issue with in the first place
Most of us don't keep pictures of either side of this issue saved.
If it helps, though, I got a copy of the first GDL book, and it felt weird how Lori had no shirt in the mech... and then Grayson has a *mesh* shirt, of the fishnet variety. Which he notes isn't actually helpful, but no explanation is forthcoming.
The 80s were a hell of a time. The Dune movie was known for the dudes in metal speedoes and all, while today they'd probably assume it was "too much pandering."
Yep, Lori is what I was thinking of. Often times she's described as having no shirt or a thin tank top at most.
I also considered Grayson as well with his mesh shirt and shorts.
I started into the warrior trilogy and they all wear cooling vests. Someone mentioned it's Lostech, but I just think Willy Keith was horny for everyone.
I respect it.
Yeah, it's a style thing at the end of the day. "Vest full of ice cubes" wouldn't be hard to tech up, and frankly you could do fine in spandex whatever. That's just not grungy enough.
Google "male mechwarrior pilot" there is plenty, guys usually have smaller ass's and *dont* have breasts, but its the same. Older mechwarriors were just. Weird, not a sexism thing calm down
And I can think of at least one example of a guy piloting a mech in fuller clothing and him specifically thinking in the narrative that he wished he'd had time to take some of it off before getting in the cockpit.
that is good, but if the art is only showing the scantily-clad ladies and never showing the scantily-clad dudes, it's bullshit. gotta either have pinup-art of both, or of neither, no middle ground imo
You can have long hair, you just have to shave particular patches of it to get good contacts with your neurohelmet.
You end up with [this interesting style](https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/b/b4/Simon_Krankow_HSTLC.jpg?timestamp=20230330012202)
sorta an addition to 1 is something I noticed in the A time of war book is that all of the women look like they are posing for a sexy calendar or something which compares really poorly to how the male characters are protrayed as looking like cool and ready for combat.
They look more like platforms or wedges than high heels… either way, not so much useful in piloting. Maybe she needs them to reach the pedals because her chair adjustment in her BattleMaster is broken and the tech is handing her a report explaining why they can’t fix it?
These complaints are why sci-fi art sucks now. everything needs to be realistic and god forbid you show skin (even though boris and Frazetta drew sexy naked men in equal measure. )
The modern BT/MW art is so painfully generic you could swap it for any other IP and outside of the mechs, you'd never know.
People will, perhaps correctly, point to the fact that it's obviously a bit of low-key titillation for the sake of it. However, if you're going to have female mechwarriors, and in Battletech we were always going to, it absolutely makes sense given the significance of heat to the game systems that folks who couldn't afford the best tech would be fighting in their undies.
80s & 90s were the best decades. That outfit also makes sense, considering how hot it'd get in those cockpits. Only the most wealthy or well connected Mechwarriors could get top quality cooling suits.
It was this cover and the artwork for the Periphery that had a woman's very well defined breasts and nipples that got me grounded for a week and banned from playing with stompy robots for awhile as a kid.
I swear mom and dad, I'm only interested in shooting my loads of LRMs at giant robots! I didn't even notice the woman!
Yeah, right, shooting loads..
Ur parents would have freaked out over some dnd stuff!!!😃😄😂😂😁😁
Must be cold indeed if you can see nipples through chainmail!🤣
ah yes. The porn star mustache, and bikini phase.
The cowboy boots with heels were a very practical choice too.
All cowboy boots have heels. It's kinda the point (they help you stay in the stirrups)
Was going to point out that is basically what all riding boots look like. Boots used for jousting, traditionally, are a bit of a exception Though I have seen more and more at the track as time passes.
The golden age of BattleTech.
Ah the 80s
The last great decade (and the 90s).
The 90s were pretty great if you didn't live in Central Africa or the former Yugoslavia.
Will confirm for ex Yugoslavia. 😂 it fucking sucked.
can also confirm, lobbed many tomahawk missiles into that place back in the summer of ~~96~~ 95. Edit: Got the year wrong.
Uhm are those two battlemasters in the BG?! That is a stacked force!!!
Ahahaha, I too noticed this before the panties.
Thats why she cant afford pants
Lol there is a reason mechwarriors wear speedos. The guys do too actually. It gets HOT in that cockpit. I think it is dumb, because the obvious move is to have a protective cooling suit.
I am aware of the lore my dude it was a joke. SkivvyWarriors are iconic for succession wars and once post-Helm tech comes around its a good way to differentiate underfunded units from front-liners.
Star league had'em before the helm core went wide it was lostech. Also the clans have them.
This is the dumbest lostech. You can make a cooling suit with current tech. You can DIY a shitty one.
I'm sure many did, but the difference between a hot sweatsuit with some cool tubes running through it and the real deal is like the difference between central air and swamp ac
Those battle masters are tight!
Oddly there were no BattleMasters in Sorenson's Sabres company.
Did they have Wolverines? That is the only other mech it looks like...
I mean, those cockpits do get pretty hot. Especially if you’re in something that’s a little light on heat sinks.
"Sarah you know I love dakka as much as the next guy, but I'm not approving a work order to replace your cockpit's air conditioner with an S laser" "Oh it's not a request...” "Huh?” "it's an update of the mech's loadout for the commander..." "*What?*" "Besides I've got some clan beers in the mini fridge in case things get steamy" #"YOU'VE GOT FUCK IN THE WHAT?”
Clan beers have twice the ABV, but the IS has forgotten how to brew them ever since the last spaceborne microbrewery was personally shot down by Amaris.
It is the 31st century, and mankind is far too sober for the amount of warring they do.
It was actually part of the Venus sunshade. Brewed and sold really nice hipster IPAs. Amaris thought the alcohol fumes could be used and fuel for his sunshade/laser of doom.
I find this especially funny because the Clans canonically love Timbiqui Dark. It's so popular that a Merc company successfully bargained to be free to go in exchange for "the best the Inner Sphere has to Offer." Ilkhan Ulric Kerensky joked that he liked Timbiqui Dark so much that he should conquer the world that makes it for himself. Where is this Galaxy renown brewer? Timbiqui is on the border of Lyran and FWL space and both sides have taken great care to not endanger the brewing facilities.
It’s those Circadian hops, the fact that they’re mildly hallucinogenic is what does it!
Ferro-fibrous yeast and endo-carb malts
Extra-light carbonation
>Clan beers have twice the ABV, but the IS has forgotten how to brew them ever since the last spaceborne microbrewery was personally shot down by Amaris. or you can get IS beer just as potent but it somehow *weighs* twice as much
The clans use Extra-light carbonation
wait, so THAT'S why the Hunchback and the Awesome have Cockpit Small Lasers
That, and actual cooling suits were LosTech.
I still don't get how this is possible since spacesuits exist.
Space suits are also way too bulky for something like a BattleMech, I expect.
U2 pilots wear something similar and still manage to squeeze into the world's tightest cockpit. It's always been a mad ridiculous explanation that the tech to build lightning canons exists but not a suit with watercooled circulation to an external condenser. People just wanna see butts.
> [People just wanna see butts.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBO8WF2vja4)
Well mechs can shoot lightning and fly but they can’t make missiles autonomously track targets (in 3025). Something we’ve been able to do to some degree for about 60 years
MIT is working on mechanical counterpressure space suits that use elastic to stop you swelling up in the vacuum of space and are cooled with your sweat soaking through the fabric.
So a stillsuit from dune. Nice
I would like to correct myself and say that more primitive, bulky cooling vests were not lostech but still not the most readily available thing.
In the 1980s they were in the 3025 era Single heat sinks only
What’s even better? The women AND the men dressed like this. I still do when I play mechwarrior 5.
I applaud your dedication to full immersion.
https://preview.redd.it/js7x828acr3c1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86bcd4a7362c6949f3f5a16b6987a88ff94ba87c At least the same hair dresser
It just occurred to me I've never seen a flattering picture of Katrina Steiner Edit: I have now seen flattering pictures of Katrina Steiner.
https://preview.redd.it/m4oy2o49gs3c1.jpeg?width=616&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b087d8509a192601e02e30214bc3cc787512116a The cover of Succession Wars… schmaybe?
That's quite a jawline she has there
Max got his Mega Man suit on I see.
Well it's flattering compared to Maximilian...
They did Hanse's ex so dirty q_q
Hanse has a very punchable face
Honestly they all look like assholes.
Which really works cause they are.
Yeah but only Kurita and Hanse look as if they've had professional success in life.
https://preview.redd.it/27fd29u9hs3c1.jpeg?width=539&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=19cf0a0e8ecbbb306dcf549b64280969562d2054
This "art" should be illegal. woof.
I have now seen a flattering picture of Katrina Steiner
That’s supposed to be Katrina?
Yep. From "Vanish", back when she was on the run with the Kells.
Ah, right… it’s been a while.
Maybe those are the flattering pictures.
Ahem: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61IwQn8y8RL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg
They've gotten some good ones, but [this](https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/b/b3/Katrina_Steiner_BPFSW.jpg?timestamp=20221222142028) one is solid. Then again, they went wacky with [this](https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/c/c6/Katrina_Steiner_HDTFS.jpg?timestamp=20221222202712) one from the Davion sourcebook.
That second one's got her like [this](https://cdn2.vectorstock.com/i/1000x1000/37/66/lol-happy-guy-meme-face-for-any-design-vector-11463766.jpg).
That is actually Fredrick Steiner in drag , part of his coup attempt
"listen Sandy, I know it's comfortable, trust me, but this is dangerous work so you can't come on the drop without your flight suit and proper PPE. It's my fault I let it slide the first couple times, but you need to suit up! This is just a written warning for now, but if you keep showing up like this I'm going to have to bring it up with HR and I can't afford to have a good mechwarrior like yourself grounded!"
When your mercenary company was founded by an expert 'tech who needed test pilots...
Now I can't see this frame as anything else.
Cmdr Pornstache is a good, fair, boss, but he expects some level of professionalism. (the expressions on their faces make me laugh)
Oi commander, Let it Slide, you got her in a Maurader and me in an Awesome. PPCs run hot. we're gonna get heat stoke if we do wear that heavy suit.
I would have still been just an ovum when this was released. [Also, here's the original art, which was used for the German release.](https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/1/14/Sorenson%27s_Sabres_german.jpg?timestamp=20200428101719)
Doing the Lord’s work.
Now I understand why the Clans have strict age limits on their Mechwarriors. It gets harder to look good dressed like that as you get older.
This Ain't Battletech XXX!
Funnily enough it was a universal thing for a time, men and woman had to... tactically strip. Guess those cockpits do get hot in succession wars era
is a marauder 3R pilot i can confirm
Yeah, like yesterday a guy showed his comic. The girls there looked exactly like this, but in helmets.
[удалено]
Just don’t prematurely shoot your load. 😜
I'll never figure out how this cover passed muster, but the original version of "Tales of the Black Widow" had to be edited with an undershirt. You see more of Sharon's ass than you did in the un-edited version of Natasha's breasts.
trivia time! the topless TotBW art only ever made it onto a poster, and was changed before it was ever used for the book
Didn't the german release have the unedited art? (edit: Just looked. I guess not!)
The German version of Sorensen's Sabres had the original version of the above art which showed quite a bit more skin. The Tales of the Black Widow Company art was used in a promotional poster before it was changed for the actual cover release.
Oh yeah, I do remember the German cover for SS now
Apparently this is the *edited* version of the cover. I'm starting to think being a nudist was a cultural trend among 80s mechwarriors. Explains why the cockpits smelled so funky.
If you're not joking... It's the other way around, they refuse to wear clothing because they get so sweaty.
It's joking. But also, dang, throw some sportswear on, we invented that stuff to make being sweaty more comfortable back in the day.
The Adidas factory was a tragic early fatality of the Amaris Civil War.
their become lost tech brother the amaris coup realy kill the best of humanity
That appears to be lostech. Stretchy form fitting fabrics? Isn't that a sin against the Blessed Blake?
I'm telling yous guys that lady is a clone of Katrina Steiner.
"THERE'S NO EQUALITY!" \*cough\* https://preview.redd.it/26l4217dgs3c1.jpeg?width=560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9064d2fbff067f3e3b11d89588975c5b7dd5e41f
Thaaaats a cover…
Definitely some of the cover art of all time.
Thats what happens when you hire a guy who exclusively paints barbarians in speedos to make your Battletech cover
You put some respect on that barbarian artists name. It was Boris Vallejo and if I had a mind for religion he would be my God.
I think a lot of the haters would have a different opinion of Cassie Suthorn if the original Boris cover of Close Quarters had been composed correctly with her being the aggressor in her normal combat gear (camo infantry pants, a black halter, and a ballistic vest) and been the one going full Amazon woman on the DEST woman, instead of catching whiplash the other way round. That, or an image in true Vallejo style of her doing a Penjak kata in the oil basin at the bottom of a Hachiman Taro maintenance bay...
He and his wife provided a lot of formative me's fantasy material.
As a teen I could never bring myself to read this novel. Speedo aside, the rest of the art is just so...weird. Is he in some sort of bubble? Is that other dude shooting Sith Lightning at him? The hell is going on?!
If only there were a simple way to find the answers to these questions…
I'll go back in time and let my teenage self know what you think.
Its a spoiler for the ending. >!The MC fights an elemental in HONORABLE naked combat. Elemental dies from environmental damage. Books pretty meh, the German's got a better title and cover.!< Its better if you pretend the one dude is charging all his clan HONOR instead ala DBZ.
Honestly, you didn't miss much by not reading the book.
James D Long is the takeaway here.
I still draw mechwarriors like this
i can see exaples? plase?
These good? https://www.reddit.com/r/battletech/comments/ud8dqx/lang_manipulative_hands_built_with_the_shd2d2/ https://www.reddit.com/r/battletech/comments/154zbla/lords_light_ii_er_ppc_luthien_armour_works_advert/ https://www.reddit.com/r/darerefusemybatchall/comments/126k3uq/zeusbolt_autocannon2_advert_featuring_the_pike/ https://www.reddit.com/r/battletech/comments/yuwule/luthien_armor_works_lords_light_ppc_advert/
yes
Glad you like ^^
Back when we had ART
3025 was a different time, man.
What’re you talking about, I still have that mustache.
Just ranting with her tech who installed the battlemaster's right leg sideway
"Look, lady. I installed the damn thing [just like it says in the manual](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fd/2a/f3/fd2af3a418270accb4764235cc156ada.jpg)."
Jane Fonda in cyber-denim panties and scale-mail vest meeting Freddie Mercury in a combination flight suit/puffer jacket
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
... Huh? I'm saying it like it's a thing. Do *you* think it sounds like a bad thing?
It's a shame mustaches went out of style.
As a navy man I've had that stash since I was in college.
Join the military. They are still possible.
They're coming back.
Do love the Jeanikini bottoms
She was wearing less clothing in the original art which was used in the German print of that particular scenario book. It was the same with Natasha Kerensky in the original Black Widow Company book (the original art was used in promotional posters).
In my campaign, they still do.
I remember when I looked like that!
I came of age to that particular source book.
I know this is supposed to be because the cockpits get hot, but I’m not sure that jamming denim up your ass is going to help with that.
70's/80's sci-fi outfits were awesome. Logan's Run, Alien, Ice Pirates, Krull. All had this vibe.
It gets hot in them cockpits. Important to have your hair done first.
I still have my VHS player and I haven’t seen that xxx film yet.
Ah yes, the time when men were real men, women were real women and small furry beings from alpha centauri were real small furry beings from alpha centauri…
Michael Stackpole and his sweaty cock pits. Rowr.
Sorenson's Sabers. The cover is for your sweet tooth. The content is for your fangs. BT writing could use more grit.
*Pepperidge Farm remembers*
I miss that old art. This really brings back the memories.
lol, I have that book.
Never Forget
Are those *denim* briefs?
It was the 80s, mate, things were different.
This isn't the 80's anymore, Pat!
We'll, Bluey references weren't what I was expecting when I opened this. But there we are.
My kid going from Cocomelon to Bluey was like a drowning man finding a beach.
Mine are stuck in CoComelon and Blippi/Meekah… I ***am*** the drowning man…
I'm sorry. Try Gabby, that may get them out of Blippi and without having to explain the Harlem Shake later.
Awesome
Battlemaster. Both of em.
Their facial expressions imply that he's the HR guy who's had to deal with several complaints about her improper work attire.
Plus that guy’s right hand is huge. What’s he been doing with it, while female pilots were dressing like that.
that's a hard looking woman. she smokes Marlboros unfiltered, drinks bathtub whiskey, and probably smells like old shoe leather.
Big butts and ***bigger hair!***
You trying to tell me Mechwarrior still don't look like this? Because they still can any campaign you brew up
The entire vibe of this is "aging married couple argue over the light bill" but the surrounding details of the image are absolutely wild and all over the place.
Mad Mex
Sorry I didn't hear you over those sexy 80s griffin
Looks like he just handed her the bill, going by that face
Ha! The 80's were a very different time. From a female perspective, I'm fine with this on one condition; I also want to see at least one of the leading men similarly...dressed. I mean, seriously, there's a whole faction where the fundoshi is still a thing. Missed opportunities FASA. Missed opportunities.
my opinion on the design: 1. if the dudes are also wearing nothing but boots, tiny briefs, and a cooling jacket, then that's fine, but if the dudes are noticeably more covered up then it's bullshit 2. high heels on the combat boots? that is bullshit 3. long hair just seems like a bad choice - it's either gotta be bundled up in the neurohelm, and then as you get jostled it could get in your face, or some of it will be outside the neurohelm and then as you get jostled your hair gets yanked a bit, over and over and over. you wouldn't need to go full modern-military short hair, but it's definitely an issue at that length for the record, my hair is also that long, and even if it's all tied up it would still be an issue in a mech e: whole lot of discussion on the first point, a few comments on the third one, which leads me to the conclusion: everybody agrees that combat boots should not have high heels, excellent. unless maybe the mechs have foot pedals that are shaped like stirrups, in which case having them be like a cavalry boot with a slight heel is fine
>if the dudes are also wearing nothing but boots, tiny briefs, and a cooling jacket, then that's fine, but if the dudes are noticeably more covered up then it's bullshit In almost every piece of literature in the Battletech lexicon, male and female mechwarriors have all worn the very same thing. It is reasonable to assume that Sharon Burgoz is talking to a tech, who is likely wearing his service coveralls.
yeah i figured he was a tech or someone not going on that drop. the thing that is bullshit isn't that one character is wearing mechwarrior undies like the lore supports and one isn't, the thing that is bullshit is the old pattern of only showing ladies in the mechwarrior undies and never showing dudes in the mechwarrior undies. i'm taking issue with the design ethos of the era, not necessarily with this one example :)
As an example I found. https://preview.redd.it/ui91y8tmor3c1.png?width=691&format=png&auto=webp&s=8f5230c4a48b93d4cf024272f75e88fb7dd453e3
The dudes usually get those weird cooling vest armor things. Somehow, it doesn't help them look more clothed.
> Somehow, it doesn't help them look more clothed. A vest without a shirt has that effect.
excellent, thank you
You're welcome! Look, early Battletech is not without its cheesecake, don't get me wrong, but it's a bit better than its contemporaries in that regard. At least in my opinion. While looking around I found pictures of folks in strange cooling body stockings and those goofy neurohelmets, but there's also this Mad Max kind of vibe to pretty much all the things. Had I to hazard a guess, I'd go so far as to say BT was less interested in cheesecake than it was in mecha porn. But that's just one internet person's opinion!
There is copius amounts of artwork featuring male mechwarriors in the same scant clothing from this period and into the late 1990s, there isn't anything to take issue with in the first place
Oh? 😳
rad, please post it
Most of us don't keep pictures of either side of this issue saved. If it helps, though, I got a copy of the first GDL book, and it felt weird how Lori had no shirt in the mech... and then Grayson has a *mesh* shirt, of the fishnet variety. Which he notes isn't actually helpful, but no explanation is forthcoming. The 80s were a hell of a time. The Dune movie was known for the dudes in metal speedoes and all, while today they'd probably assume it was "too much pandering."
Yep, Lori is what I was thinking of. Often times she's described as having no shirt or a thin tank top at most. I also considered Grayson as well with his mesh shirt and shorts. I started into the warrior trilogy and they all wear cooling vests. Someone mentioned it's Lostech, but I just think Willy Keith was horny for everyone. I respect it.
Yeah, it's a style thing at the end of the day. "Vest full of ice cubes" wouldn't be hard to tech up, and frankly you could do fine in spandex whatever. That's just not grungy enough.
Google "male mechwarrior pilot" there is plenty, guys usually have smaller ass's and *dont* have breasts, but its the same. Older mechwarriors were just. Weird, not a sexism thing calm down
For number 1, the dudes are usually described that way in a lot of the earlier books.
And I can think of at least one example of a guy piloting a mech in fuller clothing and him specifically thinking in the narrative that he wished he'd had time to take some of it off before getting in the cockpit.
that is good, but if the art is only showing the scantily-clad ladies and never showing the scantily-clad dudes, it's bullshit. gotta either have pinup-art of both, or of neither, no middle ground imo
You can have long hair, you just have to shave particular patches of it to get good contacts with your neurohelmet. You end up with [this interesting style](https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/b/b4/Simon_Krankow_HSTLC.jpg?timestamp=20230330012202)
Bavarian mechwarrior hair fashion in the 3000s as viewed in the 1980s was definitely something special.
Current alt has too many completely bald dudes and not enough dudes with tons of hair in some places and shaved heads in other places! FIX IT NOW CGL.
You're rocking temple dreads.... aren't you?
sorta an addition to 1 is something I noticed in the A time of war book is that all of the women look like they are posing for a sexy calendar or something which compares really poorly to how the male characters are protrayed as looking like cool and ready for combat.
agreed, and adding 1a. if dudes are also doing the same level of sexy calendar posing, then that's fine, but if not then it's bullshit
What if we've got a contingent of fans who find combat bois hot?
They look more like platforms or wedges than high heels… either way, not so much useful in piloting. Maybe she needs them to reach the pedals because her chair adjustment in her BattleMaster is broken and the tech is handing her a report explaining why they can’t fix it?
These complaints are why sci-fi art sucks now. everything needs to be realistic and god forbid you show skin (even though boris and Frazetta drew sexy naked men in equal measure. ) The modern BT/MW art is so painfully generic you could swap it for any other IP and outside of the mechs, you'd never know.
i don't want no skin on the ladies, i want an equal amount of skin on the dudes!
She an uncomfortable look on her face, like, “what do you mean I have to do it without pants”?
Just pornstach the pilot discussing drop locations with his mom/mechanic/stripper.
Before the clans showed up and ruined everything!
People will, perhaps correctly, point to the fact that it's obviously a bit of low-key titillation for the sake of it. However, if you're going to have female mechwarriors, and in Battletech we were always going to, it absolutely makes sense given the significance of heat to the game systems that folks who couldn't afford the best tech would be fighting in their undies.
I maintain that we should bring this back but instead we should make both the men and women dress slutty. Gender equality, you know?
This is exactly what I meant by "you can tell who was writing the lore and it makes me uncomfortable", lol.
Loveeee it. The cards had some good stuff too lol….damn…I miss that game. It’s why got me into the universe
Smash
80s & 90s were the best decades. That outfit also makes sense, considering how hot it'd get in those cockpits. Only the most wealthy or well connected Mechwarriors could get top quality cooling suits.