"BattleTech - "classic" re-models of Unseen designs" Topic

Anyone who may have popped into the discussion threads for Interstellar Operations and the Combat Manuals for Alpha Strike may have noticed something familiar, yet different, about the 'Mechs on the cover art for each:

As noted in the recent major announcement posted here, Catalyst Game Labs have finally decided to pull the trigger on the "Unseen" – by coming up with new IP-friendly "classic" re-designs aimed at replacing the current set of blank silhouettes on the affected Record Sheets and Unit Cards.

The first sample pics of the "classics" Warhammer prototype sculpt have recently surfaced.

There have been Reseen designs running around for years.

I would love to care more, but the current custodians of Battletech are just as adept at writing good rules as FASA was.

The difference between now and then is that, unlike the "Project Phoenix" releases (which represent in-universe upgrades to older designs) or the "RetroTech" editions of certain models (which show the "primitive" incarnations that existed prior to the onset of "Modern" BattleTechnology), the new "classics" range is intended to act as a full retcon to the original Unseen 'Mech designs and variants directly.

Up until now, CGL (like FanPro before them) had shied away from directly tackling the "Unseen" issue head-on – which has been less of an issue for books set later in the timeline (such as the various Jihad/WoR and Dark Age entries), or when dealing with campaigns which focused on the "Royal" SLDF 'Mechs instead (such as in the two Historical: Liberation of Terra volumes); but which has since become harder to avoid in light of the various early Succession Wars historical books they are set to publish in the not-too-distant future (as listed here).

Let's see how long this lasts before Harmony Gold start waving their Macross/ROBOTECH license in everybody's face and their hordes of lawyers start sueing everyone for all the money in the universe …

@Patrick R: As long as the design can be shown to have a 20% difference (which is trivially easy really) in appearance then CGL are good to go. This of course could have been done 20 years ago, but you know "aliens" or something.

Speaking for myself only, I have enough original unseens to last me a lifetime. If I didn't then these replacements look cool to me, unlike the the Project Phoenix designs that were at best an acquired taste. I imagine that up to now they haven't had designers who were good enough to do this job, but the MechWarrior Online game I imagine has lead the way out of the historical morass left by the Harmony Gold case.

I think they look great, MUCH better than the 'project phoenix' versions. I agree that the MWO designs probably helped to spearhead this effort.

-Will

Catalyst Game Labs have finally decided to pull the trigger on the "Unseen" – by coming up with new IP-friendly "classic" re-designs aimed at replacing the current set of blank silhouettes on the affected Record Sheets and Unit Cards.

Well, THAT didn't take an embarrassingly long time.

I reckon it's time for me to crack open that old notepad and start working on my rewrite of the rules again.

Awesome! I am salivating at the prospect of getting that new Alpha Strike boxed set!

These redesigns look amazing!

Fearing that this could be the day
dreaming that this could be the day
to awake your heart and spread your wing
the day of setting out, Dougram…

Oh, the old 20% nugget … That's just nonsense. There is no such thing as a "safe percentage to avoid copyright violation."

link

I changed it ten percent. Does that make it okay?
No. Sorry. That's another myth that originated from the 'fair use' guidelines, but as we've already established, most drawing doesn't come under 'fair use', and copying, even if you change it, breaches copyright. End of story.

The models on the Mercenaries cover do look awful Macross-ey, they might be skating on thin ice!

Still, the lack of decent 'Re-seens' has bothered me and new versions of the classics would be great.

The last time Harmony Gold went after someone for supposedly (ma)crossing the line, the judge dismissed the case with prejudice.

But in any case, Hasbro and TakaraTomy have tended to avoid the issue outright, by creating their own "classics" (and "generations") versions of the toy/character involved.

As it happens, the question of exactly what Tatsunoko were in a position to licence to HG in the first place has been disputed in Japan – though, at this point, any further developments on that front would no longer affect the "Unseen" due to their now being formally retconned out of the BT universe entirely.

(Indeed, the policy of not relying on any third-party art has even gone so far as to discard works which were explicitly made for BatteTech itself – such as the Japanese BT designs from none other than Studio Nue.)

In any case Harmony Gold do claim to have the copyright/trademark, it doesn't matter if you licensed it from the creators or some distributors, there is no such thing as a "better claim" at least until this is legally established, which means that someone would be willing to spend a small fortune going "Apple vs Samsung" and have lawyers cage-fight over which bevel on a Warhammer/Tomahawk is original, and what has been copied … Until such Harmony Gold will continue to pretend they are Lord God of the universe and nix every attempt to bring Macross or derived products to the NA markets …

You know the funny thing? The year Robotrch came out, my brother and I caught Carl Macek at Creation Con in Anaheim sitting alone at a card table waiting for somebody to talk to.
I showed him the Battletech boxed set and the two scenario packs I just picked up (Black Widow and Fox's Den). He examined every component and told us that he hoped FASA was going to get the game license.

I liked the Reseen Designs (with exception of Crusader)
I LOVE this redone Warhammer.
Perfect blend of old and new.