From: tdunn@ecst.csuchico.edu (Tim Dunn)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: BattleTech Versus Robotech
Date: 16 Oct 92 16:07:00 GMT
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: hairball.ecst.csuchico.edu

Donald A Shaffer writes:
Chris Meadows writes:
>>When I first saw Robotech, I loved it.  Then I saw BattleTech in a
>>catalog and thought, "What a copycat."  BattleTech mecha couldn't even 
>>transform!  (Of course, now that they've come out with LAMs, they can--
>>but that makes me scream, "Copycat!!!" even more...)

>From what i heard, both got their ideas from other shows that started before
>robotech hit the scenes-in essencde, they both copied designs from the same 
>source and then translated them into their own world-

Hmm, the story as I heard it was that Macross got sold to a then-unknown
by the name of Carl Macek, who needed to fill a 65-episode timeslot with
a show that was less than 65 eps.  He then trundled two other shows with
it (Southern Cross and Mospeda) and had to substantially alter the plots
to all three to have some artifical continuity so it was all one show.
That's the story behind Robotech.

Now we have FASA, who may have been working on this about the same time
or even earlier.  I do know that _Battledroids_ came out when Robotech
was still in firstrun (but not on a major network, just first run in SF)
so they were at it quite a bit earlier.  They took *artwork* from a
whole slew of shows: Crusher Joe, Dougram and Macross (but not Southern
Cross or Mospeda) but didn't get permission or credit the artists.

Lucasfilms took offense to them using the term "droid" as the suffix to
their name and successfully procescuted that in court.  About the same
time, some company or another in Japan contanct them and basically 
gave them a simple choice: get sued or sign a contract with the studios
that owned the images and artwork that they stole at very favorable 
terms (to the studio.)  They signed.  That's the story behind BattleTech.

If anything, Robotech is the more 'legitimate' son of japanese animation
(anime to it's fans) and Battletech is the bastard that eventually was
recognized and welcomed into the fold.

Part two:

Now we have to account for Robotech's entry into the medium of gaming.
As I understood it, both Gurps and Palladium were vying for the rights
to translate Robotech into gaming.  Ironically, for a series that held
nothing sacred when it 'adapted' to the US audience, the owners of the
series maintained that nothing be added or changed during the adaptation
to gaming.  SJG (Gurps) felt unable to work under this constraint and
bowed out.

Palladium has maintained the 'letter' of the agreement, but nothing
else.  Their translation of the video medium into a game is lamentable
and laughable.  The math does not match up, the tech details do not 
accurately reflect the data given in the various sourcebooks for Macross
available in Japan and in japanese bookstores as special order.  The
game conformed largely to the palladium system, and hence is not a very
good source of information.

And matters have only gotten worse (and more innaccurate) as Palladium
has released more and more sourcebooks on matters connected with the 
show.

-- 
A bore is someone who persists in holding his own views after we have
enlightened him with ours.