#Exosquad

[alphamecha-mkii]

The ExoCarrier Resolute (3) by DM Phoenix

[coyotedraws]

When from the sacristy I rise To bring the final sacrifice Sing words of praise to glorify my name and Stand still Sacrificed to my will Sainted be what I say

Preaching

MY WILL BE DONE

[karltface]

Boxy box box!

I forgot to get a box photo, but my out-of-state contact has initiated another exchange. Excitement!

I finally get to talk Exosquad! A race of genetically engineered workers, the Neosapiens, have rebelled on the space colonies, seizing territory and building an army outfitted by captured munitions factories. Our heroes have to contend with questionable orders and troubles back on Earth in addition to the war itself. It was damn good stuff.

Field Sgt Rita Torres, here, is second in command to JT Marsh, and a damn sight more intimidating. Picture Vasquez with Apone's sense of discipline. Now throw in... that hair and a nose ring. It was vaguely cyberpunk, you see.

The E-frames are halfway between a Battletech mech and the Power Loader, which stands out especially here, what with the yellow and the claw and whatnot. Fully enclosing the pilot on the show, the toys had to resort to exposed arms and thighs, which works fairly well except for the inane handles.

Articulation is vintage GI Joe-level minus the waist. The suits themselves (the humanoid ones, anyway) generally boast (slightly) hinged ankles, swivel/hinge hips (fairly limited by the arms and bulky torso), elbows with working pistons (around 45° of movement), and balljoint shoulders (still plenty good, and with fair range).

The figures attach via a clip at the waist, and a wire that plugs into a small neck implant, and constantly wants to mash the figure against the window. Just leave it unplugged. Lacking a truly free shoulder ball, they don't move with the arm handles, and restrict the motion even further. These are not "battle scene" toys.

Just for kicks, here's a few missiles scavenged from the parts bin. They look fine, they just need a bit of masking tape around the base to tighten up the fit. Rita herself is unarmed, but will mostly be posed with this thing anyway. Oddly, the teeny little computer chip thing that slots into the back of every mech (and is incredibly easy to lose) is present, but I'm not taking that out unless I learn to do molds.

Action features include 3 firing missiles, a ratchet joint in the claw, and a "laser sword" that looks, cocks, and fires like a jackhammer, and appears to have a string of rivets hanging off it. This reads more like it was planned for Maggie Weston, really. It just screams "vague construction vibes". Retrofitted with rockets.

Jump troops! These were the low-cost end of the line proper, a crack squad of Starship Troopers pastiches that deploy from low orbit and proceed to kick ass and take names.

Corporal Vince Pellegrino is the Fireboss of Charlie-5 squadron, and the grandson of the squad's founder. Fittingly, he carries a flamethrower. The wings fold down, but stick out a fair bit that way. One of his giant boots fires mines (missing here, along with a few other minor bits), the other stores them.

Second Lieutenant Colleen O'Reilly is the tech and communications guru. She doesn't like to kill, but is very good at disabling. Damn quick with her Recon Frame, too. I'm sure you noticed the duct tape. Previous owner had no skills. I can fix her.

And, yeah. Squad goals. Still got plenty of missiles handy, and possibly some mines too.

A stack of early 2000s Mega Bloks plates. It's not much on its own, but I intend to expand the Vorgan Stronghold, and this is essential stuff. I'll probably post it sometime.

And finally, the 2022 reissue of Retrax, a figure absolutely nobody was clamoring for, but hey, it's a hideously deformed isopod of superhuman size and strength. I was slightly worried when the blister was falling off on its own, with little sign of glue damage. After just 2 years? Wow.

The sharper eyes among you may have noticed the antennae are upside down. And set in a clear plastic clip. Do I dare? Also, the central legs are missing on both sides. Not sure how common that is, but damn, Hasbro. You good?

At least the action features are fun. The mandibles are spring loaded, as is the blade in back, and the whole body. It does the thing! Eee!

Robot mode is as feeble as I remember, but again, hideously deformed isopod of superhuman size and strength. The arms do unhook from the bug ends, but look better wielding them as weapons. Actually has a hell of a slap.

Well, I'm off to pack my answer. It involves very old Western figurines and mysterious books. Mysterious in that I haven't picked them out yet, but there's gold in them there bookshelves.

[jane-lane-fanboy]

Happy 30th anniversary to one of my favorite animated series of all-time Exosquad!

[lorelei2525]

In memory of the Venusian sunrise (lineart)

Два танкиста, два унылых другаа,

Экипааж машины боевой... 😄

I sat down to redraw an old piece with these two, but something went wrong and I decided to draw the e-frame as well. I haven't drawn mechs since childhood, when I was fascinated by the "BattleTech" book series 😅 So, this is my first more or less successful experience. Love this heavy Rapid Assault e-frame, especially Marsala's, with cute bullets marks decor

[hellman55]

Longplay of ExoSquad

[torielectra83]

Since someone decided to use a promo from Philly 57 for this, I'm going off on an infodump/tribute to explain to those people clueless about Philly 57 (ie. those who didn't grow up in Philadelphia from 1986 to 1996, or people like me who're broadcasting nerds).

After WKBS, channel 48, ceased broadcasting in 1983 (the result of the brothers who owned Field Communications no longer wanting to work together, and nobody matching their offer for WKBS), it left a void in the Philadephia market for a third independent TV station. Enter Milton Grant, who was also busy setting up new indie stations in Chicago and Miami. He purchased WWSG-TV on channel 57 (which had previously been broadcasting PRISM, a local pay-TV service, over the air), and redubbed it Philly 57.

Even as Grant got in over his head and had his stations seized by his creditors, Philly 57 thrived on a combination of reruns, films and local sports like any indie would. The key to their success was branding. Grant used slick CGI and heavily drilled the Philly 57 brand into viewers' heads, not to mention slogans like "Philly's Own Super Station" and "One More Reason To Watch". But even more crucial was the friendly baritone voice of local radio DJ Kim Martin, whose announcements were the heart and soul of Philly 57.

"Charles....is in charge?!" has to be one of the best promo deliveries ever. Not to mention Queen Kong literally threatening you to watch Philly 57's POWW female pro wrestling show.

Of course, no discussion of Philly 57 is complete without the infamous Lou Albano PSA:

Part of the reason this became so memetic is because of the tonal clash between, well, everything -- the bad acoustics (presumably from wherever they taped this not being the best), Lou wearing his Mario cap and his street clothes, and the clearly pained plea on his part...accompanied by bouncy music and bright GFX. It all adds up into a fever-dream PSA you'd swear was fake or imagined.

As the 80s turned into the 90s and Philly 57 continued, Kim Martin continued to make awesome promos based on voice alone. Like the COLUMMMMBO MYSTERY MOVIE:

And when your back is against the wall, make the call....

(Don't ask but it's become a running joke between me, the uploader of these videos, and many other Tv news/broadcasting nerds in our TV news Discord server.)

Around this time, however, Philly 57 began to get buffeted by the winds of change. Fox nearly bought the station as their relationship with WTXF channel 29, owned by Paramount (who were planning their own network, UPN), deteriorated. Hence, the Matlock clip above and this block of kids promos shows how they went from a slick, CGI look to a full-scale rebrand using cheaper flat GFX and more emphasis on Martin's VOs.

By the fall of 1994, a new logo had been introduced...

...only to be ditched a few months later. The Fox deal fell apart so they could attempt to go after WCAU-10 (a CBS O&O put on the market after CBS teamed up with Group W/Westinghouse and switched their affiliation to KYW-3); when NBC outbid Fox/New World for 10, they simply opted to buy WTXF from Paramount. This in turn led Paramount to buy WGBS -- which they renamed to WPSG -- and make it their flagship station for UPN.

Both the Philly 57 name and Kim Martin hung on a for little bit longer, but by 1996, Larry Van Nuys (VO for other Paramount stations) had replaced Martin and it was all UPN 57.

While other developments occurred down the line -- the first merger of CBS and Viacom, moving in with KYW-3, and becoming a CW station (and more recently, planning to drop it) -- Philly 57 as this post focuses on ended by 1996. It became flavorless, generic network O&O-ish.

I hope whoever reads this appreciates how much effort I put into describing what Philly 57 was like, and why we should've appreciated this stuff more when it was around. Deregulation and consolidation, not to mention streaming, have forced many indie stations into either news-intensive formats or simply being sidecars for other stations, which is what happened here.

Because it was truly giving you one more reason to watch. It was Philly's own super station...a station that we wished had never left.

[davidhoangsworld]

Nara burns

[dancing-coyote]

Hold up? Beast machines would've been 4 seasons long?

It COULD have been, there was certainly enough potential for it and 52 episodes would have given the plot so much more room to breathe and develop.

Hasbro officially offered Skir THREE seasons, but he turned them down. You know, like an idiot.

[madcaptoys]

Madcaptoys Flash Video #4 Today Listings are Awesome Check Em Out

[krinsbez]

Neosapiens, but yeah.

It’s great.

Random ExoSquad Thought

So, one of the things I appreciate about ExoSquad, which I believe that I am literally the only person who does, is the fashion aesthetic.

A lot of SF either dresses people in the exact same clothes people are wearing at the time of production or go for some sort of sleek-but-generic "Space Clothes", and that bothers me. meanwhile EoxSquad, goes all-in on a fashion aesthetic that's really quite different, full of garish colors and weird haircuts, etc. It looks radically different than modern fashion, and that makes sense, because of course it does, it's the Twenty-Second Century, people's ideas of what looks good will of course change dramatically, and there's no logical reason to assume it will fit with what people wear today. Why shouldn't it be garish and weird?

[coyotedraws]

Got challenged to draw a villain

Decided to go with someone really obscure :')

If I finish Phaeton before the month's out - and I absolutely 100% will lmao - I'll probably also draw Dilandau sldkjsldkjsd

[weathermanpolls]

Adeptus Astartes: The second ancestor of all powered armour, and the proliferator of Space Marines. They are genetically-engineered epic space knights. They can survive atmospheric entry with nothing but a jetpack, have motorcycles that are basically tankettes that let them rove the battlefield, but their most important power is space magic and plot armour. Despite, or in fact, BECAUSE of the space magic, they have the hardest science fiction setting, to the point that their epic, holy boltgun works entirely on existing technology.

Bianco Angelo: Ascended human wearing a suit of armour animated using demon magic, creating one of the most unique enemies in video games history.

Bonta-kun: Teenage combat vet that can only think of combat is giving a mascot outfit, and what does he do? Turn it into Powered Armour. This is downright silly, but the bulky outfit gives more than enough room for the mechanical aspects. It's a notable outlier in a world filled with either epic space knights or realistically mundane powered armour.

Exo-Frame: One of the first attempts to create something other than powered armour and mecha. It was created as a North American competitor with anime, but just wasn't good enough to actually be much more than a Saturday morning cartoon. Most of the things getting reboots nowadays are either: a) already fantastic, and therefore the reboot has to be as good as one of the best stories ever created, b) terrible, with no attempt to make it better, c) good, and obviously being remade for woke bullshit points. Seriously, Exo-Squad is the property that could be done fantastically with a reboot. Stop being a cartoon, and be an animated medium.

Hard Suit: Mass Effect is a hard science fiction setting that gets caught up in Lovecraftian cosmic horrors. Like everything else, it tries to make the science as hard as possible, and as such makes it the most plausible suit for future combat. They can survive in space, and most planetary environments, have impact-resistance as good as they can manage without severely limited their ability to move as infantry. It also includes a whole host of tools that are integral to pretty much everything, to the point that every hard suit can be used to weld a ship back together, can help interface with a ship's controls, coordinate communication and fire control, etc.

Iron Man: One of the few powered armours that actually take flight into consideration, and shows how powerful an individual that can fly would be. His suit actually uses every part of itself as a flight surface, and can kill dozens of mundane soldiers all around him in a split second.

Landmate: An attempt at creating plausible powered armour. Too focused on what was plausble to think of the possible, it turns out feeling incredibly mundane. This is probably the first time that powered-armour felt visceral and real.

Mjollnir: The predecessor of the mundane video game powered armour. This managed to skirt the line between making the use feel like a super human, and making the user feel like an ordinary soldier going to war.

Mobile Infantry: The ancestor of all powered armour, and as powerful as you can get without space magic or plot armour. They have jump jets, (introducing the concept), that let them move at 60mph while jumping over tall buildings, have orbital drop pods that peel away, leaving clouds of debris, and allowing them to survive atmospheric entry, they carry peewee nukes, might be the ancestors of laser swords, (Heinlein loved being vague with details like this), and most importantly of all, can do everything infantry can. This last part is something that is almost always ignored. You can apparently still dance a jig and crack and egg without breaking it, (assuming you could do these things before hand). They also use space flamer throwers before they were cool.

Mobile Suit: The creator of the mecha genre, explicitly a byproduct of Mobile Infantry, (including the fact that Sunrise actually did a Starship Troopers show beforehand). Heinlein was notably lacking in details about how big powered armour was, and the mobile suits are almost a viable variation. Other than the fact they are basically walking tanks, that can do little in the way actual infantry. Note: I'm not including Gundams, because they are powered by plot.

VF-1: They take a mecha and let it transform into a space fighter. This gives it the capability to fly across a continent before engaging in pseudo-infantry combat. This is something no one else even TRIES to do without space magic, super hero technology, or plot armoury.

Was Warmech the first steam powered armour? No. Maybe? But it's by far the most interesting.

Note: If you are wondering why something is missing, it's likely because someone else had a similar concept sooner. Like Fallout heavily uses powered armour, but doesn't actually do anything interesting with it.

[thisithis]

The two Marcus.

[deepdreamnights]

Ancient Power Armor

Still as Functional as the Day it Was Hatched

The image(s) above in this post were made using an autogenerated prompt and/or have not been modified/iterated extensively. As such, they do not meet the minimum expression threshold, and are in the public domain. Prompt under the fold.

Prompt: Dana Scully simultaneously in Tron: Legacy (2010) and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002):: a portrait of dana scully by Naoko Takeuchi:: photo of a humanoid tyrannosaurus wearing power armor, green and purple rescuel theme gundam armor, t-45 power armor, exosquad, blacky armor design, red scales character design, Intricately detailed, shiny and new, helpful expression, hopeful, futuristic armor, large shoulder pauldrons, large gauntlets, tail, epic scene, bright lighting, Photography, Cinematic Lighting, Volumetric Lighting, etheral light, intricate details, extremely detailed volumetric rays:: a dinosaur spaceship action figure vehicle, Kenner product photography (1982) , high detail, intricate, HQ scan, 4k, artstation trending

This is a 'prompt smash' experiment, combining random (mostly) machine-generated prompts into a single prompt with multiple sub-prompts. Midjourney blends concepts in these situations, making vivid but essentially random results.

[lorelei2525]

The future is never finished

Quick black and white AU sketch of Nara Burns (and Marsala) from Exosquad animated series