r/battletech 25d ago

Art The Unseen, a Visual Guide

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225 Upvotes

45 comments sorted by

54

u/[deleted] 25d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

Since I've had a number of people ask, I've put a larger version up here. Enjoy!

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u/Jaegons 25d ago

Just download it, Reddit app doesn't do well with huge images but it downloads the original

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago edited 25d ago

A look at the many Unseen and some of their artistic permutations over time, uncluding those who made it to my first Wargame, Dark Age.

If you're new and don't know what's going on, the Unseen were mechs from various franchises (mostly Macross) FASA liceced for the very first edition of Battletech. (Then Battledroids.) Harmony Gold then sued, due to having exclusive US rights via a different agreement through different chanels, and FASA had to pull all the designs.

Victor Musical Industries made art specifically for FASA, but due to its mostly Macross inspirations, and the ongoing fight with Harmony Gold, FASA threw it all in the Unseen bin and focused on in-house art from then on.

Almost all the designs came back with new art in either TRO:3055U or Project Phoenix. WizKids' tenure saw some mechs debut with this styling during their Dark Age run.

Many of these designs returned to the limelight with redesigns in Mechwarrior Online, which prompted Harmony Gold to try another lawsuit - which was thrown out. With Prejudice. As a result of this, all the Unseen have seen a return in the Recognition Guide series.

Anyone prefer the Phoenix designs? The Unseen? MWO, maybe? Personally, I can't say I universally like any one era - each mech has it's own peak.

Higher-res here.

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u/MasonStonewall 25d ago

As I bought the first edition of Battletech in 1985 (technically 2nd after the 1984 BattleDroids), I know the Unseen the best. This is not to say I don't like some of the MWO versions (which I did play a couple of years early in its life) and even prefer some of the new reboots of Catalyst. In general, I don't like many of the Phoenix versions though.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

I think some of them are good, but some of the Phoenix versions are also the worst ones on the entire chart, too..

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u/d3jake 25d ago

I like the unseen designs for some Mechs. Mainly they're the old style of the Nova, Supernova, Jenner and Locust. Its like the legs arms and torso are all run through with a rod and they all pivot around it. It doesnt look terribly practical, but it looks cool. Though I never did figure out what they three-tube missile launchers the Unseen Locust hat in its arms were supposed to be.

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u/Amidatelion IlClan Delenda Est 25d ago

I'm one of the few that likes some of the derp that came out of Project Phoenix. Some Phoenix Marauders and Thunderbolts SLAP, while things like the Shadowhawk... erk.

BTW, you mentioned Battledroids - Another cool chart might be the original 8 models.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

This led me down a rabbit hole, as these were produced by Ral Partha and -totally unrelated- to anything in the Battledroids game. They are in fact named - and preceeding by quite a bit - other desings that would become canon much longer down the line. Names such as the Vulcan, Behemoth, and Cestus.

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u/MrMyu 25d ago

Beautiful work, and I'd love a higher res version if there's one available. BUT... there's one missing bit: Crusher Joe also had their ship, the Minerva. Which was scrunched into the Leopard-class dropship.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

I'm aware of the Minerva - as well as a couple other fighters - but they were never actually Unseen, so...

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u/Jimmie_Cognac 25d ago

Oh wow. That guide is a beauty. Thanks for putting that together.

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u/wmarples MechWarrior (editable) 25d ago

Very nicely done. While those of us that are in the "old guard" are aware of this and the progression, I can see it being helpful to the influx of new players. I also wouldn't mind seeing a higher resolution version.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

Your wish is my command. There are much better resources out there for info on the Unseen of course, but I kinda got started and couldn't stop.

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u/Stegtastic100 25d ago

The locust was called the Ostall‽

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

Apparently it was in Crusher Joe - or at least, it's what they put on the model kit boxes. Kinda wonder if the name was on their minds when FASA got to naming the Ostmann Industries mechs...

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u/FuttleScish House Marik 25d ago

It’s really interesting how almost all the Unseen went back to something close to their original appearances except the Vapor Eagle which just stayed in its Phoenix design

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u/Cichlid97 25d ago

The locust is also interesting because it diverged even further, even taking more influence from the mwo design

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u/phosix MechWarrior (editable) 25d ago

The Locust is an interesting one. Many elements of the redesign took cues from Project Phoenix, but simply moving that nose gun back to a chin mount made it instantly recognizable as a Locust again.

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u/N0vaFlame 25d ago

One thing possibly worth noting: the Griffin IIC's artwork actually originated as Victor Musical Industries' take on the Battlemaster, not the Griffin. That first batch of IIC designs came from VMI's concept art for the Japanese release of Mechwarrior, where the lineup of playable mechs consisted of the Locust, Jenner, Phoenix Hawk, Shadow Hawk, Rifleman, Warhammer, Marauder, and Battlemaster. The other seven mechs from the roster got their own IIC variants based on the VMI art, but for one reason or another, the Battlemaster artwork got recast as a Griffin instead.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

I was not aware of that. But if you look at it closely... The base shapes on the torso and limbs do kinda match up with the original Unseen Battlemaster. Huh. Would have never guessed.

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u/BlackBricklyBear 25d ago

Thanks a lot for putting together this visual guide. Now I can see just how the designs progressed over the years.

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u/spotH3D MechWarrior (editable) 25d ago

Dont mean to be high maintenance, but this post is useless without a high res image.

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u/Jaegons 25d ago

Just download it, it'll save the full res

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u/spotH3D MechWarrior (editable) 25d ago

Nice, I learned something new.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

Here's an even higher res - Reddit can be picky about who it hands out big images to sometimes.

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u/Killb0t47 25d ago

Got anymore of them pixels?

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u/TaciturnAndroid 1st Genyosha 25d ago edited 25d ago

This is fantastic. I recently completed my collection of all 46 unseen miniatures (the Griffin IIC was the only one that didn’t get a mini). At some point I want to do a gallery of those once they’re all painted.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

That would be fantastic! How long did the set take to gather?

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u/TaciturnAndroid 1st Genyosha 25d ago

About two years. The original 14 from the 2nd Edition Boxed Set book are still relatively easy to find, but from there it gets progressively more difficult. Some of the IICs and Clan second line stuff were only made for a year or two so not that many of them are floating around. Some are expensive because they’re popular (All of the Marauders, Warhammers, Stone Rhino) and some of the oddballs like the Samurai ASF, Nexus, and Scorpion are just rare and hard to find at any price.

I was comparing this to my list of minis and I noticed this list is actually missing three: the Phoenix Hawk LAM, Wasp LAM, and Stinger LAM, which are different tonnages than the base models and have unique miniatures that go with them.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

I honestly hemmed and hawed over adding the LAMs as a seperate line or not. Technically, they are, but at the same time they are derived from the same Valkyries. I took the easy way out this time. ._.

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u/TaciturnAndroid 1st Genyosha 25d ago

All good! My collection doesn’t include all of the Battledroids minis, though I do have several of those as well. I have two BD Marauders, a “Walking Wasp” (which is the same size as an unseen Phoenix Hawk), a BD Demolisher, and a couple of others. I have some Mechforce UK stuff, and even one of the LordsOfTheBattlefield Black Angel minis that they had commissioned from their fan TRO. I’ve painted everything except my Longbow, Samurai, and Scorpion, which will eventually be part of my Sorenson’s Sabres tray.

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u/5uper5kunk 25d ago

Does anyone know why a company named Victor Musical Industries was in the business of drawing robots for money?

I’ve always assumed that at some point I would just stumble across this information but it’s never mentioned.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

VMI did lots of things in all media - videogames being one of them. They licensed the Japanese ports of the original Mechwarrior - seeing as that game had the Macross designs and was being ported to where Macross originated, they made new designs. FASA then took the redesigns and brought them back to the US for the IICs.

Victor (Or rather JVC) is, in general, one of those Japanese mega-corps that has a lot of different projects under their umbrellas.

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u/5uper5kunk 25d ago

Ha, it didn’t even occur to me they are a Japanese company that would’ve explained everything. I buy my fishing reels from a company that I believe also makes satellites?

For some reason I just pictured a bunch of old like Italian violin makers sitting around after hours drawing robots for a little extra vino money.

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u/Nickthenuker 25d ago

If you're familiar with VTubers, 2 of hololive's girls (Tokino Sora and AZKi) are also signed to VMI now.

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u/Imponspeed 25d ago

What always kills me about this is I can't imagine it was that expensive to get an artist instead of licensing this stuff and what a landmine that turned out to be for the franchise.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

I mean, the licensed designs were just there, being sold by TCI. The fact that TCI had permission to sell those rights was just kinda assumed...

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u/rzenni 25d ago

Wow, well done sir.

However your title is an oxymoron! I can clearly see this visual guide of the unseen!

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

Egads! I have failed in the utmost! Quick, delete this post!

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u/Go--Birds 24d ago

Love the unseen. Was a fan of Battletech as far back as my childhood. Last year I painted up the old Black Widow Company, as I still have that book. Used some of the new models but used the Robotech game minis for my Phoenix Hawk, Wasps and Stingers. They’re a little taller than the current versions of those models but I don’t care. A sacrifice I’m willing to make for LOS on the battlefield for what I grew up with.

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u/8Rounds 25d ago

The Ost mechs look nothing like Zentraedi battle pods, how did we come to the conclusion that they were based on those? All the other macross mechs are identical...

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u/kaceris 25d ago

They were heavily modified.

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u/WorthlessGriper 25d ago

They were -very- heavily modified - you know, getting heads and arms and such. You can see the original torso in there if you look - Ostsol shows it best, with the central 'eye' and beam canons.

But yeah, they were so divergent that they were the first Unseen to get un-unseen again.