Battletech vs. Robotech

When I was growing up during my formative years of elementary and middle school I rarely missed an episode of Robotech, a cartoon that was on early mornings and was based off of a Japanese anime cartoon series. For the most part it was a cartoon that was simply redubbed in English without much actual animation change before being aired. Battletech was a game I became familiar with long after they stopped showing Robotech on television except on rare occasions. Both of these genres were for the most part a potential future of our planet and the galaxy in itself. Today we will discuss the differences in the two and also the similarities between them; as well you will hear my opinion on the troubles between this pair of anime doppelganger-esque genres.


Robotech was based in a time after what was labeled as a Global Civil War; multiple factions fighting all across the globe for unknown reasons. This conflict came to an immediate end when a strange object crash landed on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean; a joint operation went to the island and investigated this almost supernatural occurrence. What they found there forced the entire world into a permanent peace and a happy thriving planet almost overnight. All to rebuild this object which turned out to be an alien warship and to take advantage of pioneering new technologies that were found within the vessel. The story of Robotech mainly revolves around humans; with fighting vehicles (primarily fighter jets) which can mechanically change shape into various modes to fit a changing battlefield environment defending themselves against an alien species that comes to Earth to reclaim the crashed spaceship that the humans have taken as their own. Long story short it evolved into a storyline spanning three generations of characters and conflicts that spanned the length of the universe and once again saw the Earth almost completely devastated by warfare. The end lesson of the cartoon show was, for the most part, love conquers all. A good lesson but not a completely true statement, especially these days where hatred and cruelty run rampant everywhere from the streets to the schools our children go to. A potential future that is a somewhat hopeful one with the global peace and new technologies to make life easier and more productive and yet also not a future wanted with the devastation possible from the weapons that allow those good technological advances. Aliens throw into the story are a good thing just to keep a storyline going and to make people want to think that there might actually be life out there other than us.


Battletech while also based in the future instead focuses on a strictly human universe. There are thousands of colonized planets that have their own inhabitants and yet they are all originally from Earth. Five separate houses of government whose areas of rule all border each other and the borders between them are constant areas of conflict. Battletech started as a board game with plastic miniatures representing the multi-ton combat machines that you would control to fight your opponent on a map sheet laid out with hexagon squares. Now while it was still in the future Battletech still revolved around humans fighting humans and over the same petty reasons as we do today; one House wants this world or this House insulted another so fighting was a means of saving face. A major source of storylines for Battletech revolved around mercenary units working under contracts for minor skirmishes or raids with the concept of saving the House’s regular line units for the major conflicts (smaller repair bills). Instead of the major combat events revolving around fighter combat and later guerilla warfare with personal armor like Robotech; Battletech’s main combat actions revolved around battlemechs or ‘mechs. Large multi-ton machines walking around like robots but with a pilot inside controlling the combat machine with a helmet that used the pilot’s own brainwaves and equilibrium to maintain stability, however Battletech units were unable to change their appearance like the Robotech “mecha” could.


Robotech was mainly a cartoon show on morning television and was also adapted to a series of books. And if you had read the books then you knew what was going to happen each episode, of course I was introduced to the books long after the show was gone. Later though Robotech was adapted as a role-playing game and then video games and although the role-playing game was fun and easy to play the timeline of the game was already set in stone for the most part and didn’t allow for much new content or storylines that would affect any outcome of the original story.


Battletech on the other hand began as a tabletop combat simulation game, much like military personnel use a sand table to practice tactical planning and maneuver. That evolved into small descriptions within the books used as reference for the different ‘mech units which became a large collection of books by many authors. From huge multi-book storylines that affected vast happenings throughout the game universe evolved a role-playing game that although confusing at times in relation to character skills and abilities could be used with good compatibility with the original map sheet combat system. A player could make a character and play that individual character as part of his gaming group on the streets of any number of planets within the game that were left open and largely unexplained, allowing the storyteller to mold a game campaign as he saw fit. And when it came time to use his character in a battlemech in a battle that the storyteller led up to he could then use his character’s skills in the miniatures combat giving even more life to his character, which is what makes playing an RPG so fun. Eventually the books and tabletop games evolved with the changing gaming industry and made the move to video games both console and desktop computer versions where you controlled your battlemech from a cockpit view with a joystick (or if you were a serious game geek you could use the rudder pedals from a flight simulator game).


So what happened to these two games and what they started? They literally fought each other over their content is what happened. Robotech sued Battletech (well their respective owning companies did) over the images used for some of the battlemechs in their game manuals and later their video games. Another long story short, the courts pretty much told both sides that they were both wrong but Battletech was no longer allowed to use certain images that Robotech had lay claim to. Unfortunately for Battletech these images were some of the more popular ‘mechs that were played in the game, though the players didn’t stop using the ‘mech miniatures that they already owned they were unable to purchase anymore of those types unless they were bought second hand. After some struggling years Battletech’s parent company bought the company that was the main producer of the metal miniatures used in the game and then became quite successful with the release of many more books based in their game universe which led to even more miniatures being designed and sold. When they ventured into the video game side of gaming they went with a large company that proved to be a very good choice. However after some serious setbacks that I have no idea about, but I’m sure their failure to pay some of their authors the full amount in regards to their book sales had a major part to play, the parent company of Battletech closed its doors. The miniature company stayed on its feet by itself again and the gaming division became part of that larger company that starts with an “M”.
Robotech didn’t have very much success after its show went off the air. They released video and later DVD collections of the episodes, re-released some of their toys when they were added by some other cartoon show that didn’t last long. They also attempted the video game market however where they had the television contacts to keep Battletech from achieving cartoon success, Battletech had the gaming contacts to keep Robotech from achieving video game success. They tried making cartoon movies that fit within certain time frames of their series but it always came across as a stretch and as if it was hastily put together in desperation to make a profit.


In the end I would have to say that I like Robotech for that connection back to my childhood and the sight of the good old skull and crossbones visage striking fear into the hearts of aliens. However Battletech as well holds a special place for me in that so many of my friends and I would set up a huge map on the floor of a spare room and literally take days to fight a huge battle between two companies of ‘mechs (that would be 12 ‘mechs on each side). I still have the set of pictures that my mother took while we were discussing a certain rule and how it pertained to the tactics we were using, two of us standing there for a bird’s eye view of the battlefield while another player lounged awaiting his turn and yet another was eyeballing sightlines from ground level. Our battlemech miniatures were all hand painted because that’s the way it was supposed to be, though you didn’t have individual characters that you controlled they were still your unit and they had whatever specific paint job that you wanted them to have. Whether it was for easy identification so you that you weren’t confused which ‘mech was yours or you put some flair into the design to show off your art skills. Those ‘mechs became “your boys” and you actually had to think hard over the idea of sending that light ‘mech forward to recon a pass before your heavies advanced to ensure there was no ambush. So you hard-core that know what I’m talking about, watch out for me and my Hatchetman doing a DBA on you. Time for some sleep.