FWS Military Sci-Fi Toys: The TYCO BATTLETECH Toyline
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
In 1984, Chicago gaming publisher, FASA, would create an hybrid child of the giant combat robots anime/manga genre and American hex-based wargames. This would become BattleTech, and it allowed fans of the giant robot warrior of anime, like me, to pilot their own giant war-machines through war-torn cities and worlds of the old Star League while battling fellow mechas and vehicles. BattleTech still continues onward today in various media forms, and has become one of the best known military sci-fi franchises in America. In the 1990's, FASA was eyeballing their most successful franchises to be pushed out into other media and grow the audience and the profit. In 1991, FASA hired agents to find an toy company to produce an line of robot toys based on their creation. At the time, BattleTech and Mechwarrior were populated into the world of computer games, VR arcades games, books, comics, television, and the subject of today's blog article: toys. Throughout this blogpost, FWS will be using the acronyms of BT, BT:TAS, MW, for BattleTech and BattleTech: The Animated Series, and Mechwarrior.
Who was TYCO Toys?
While TYCO is not the big powerhouse American toy companies like Matchbox, Hasbro, and Mattel; it has been around longer than most think (1926) and it has produced some icons of American toys, like electric train and slot cars. In the US, TYCO is best known for RC cars, Magna-Doodle and trains, but they also were known for producing figure-based toyline lines in the 1980's with Dino-Riders, and by the 1990's, TYCO would buy Matchbox and develop an preschool line. However, TYCO was bought by Mattel on March 27, 1997, and the brand survives today as TYCO R/C for the Mattel toy empire.
The Historical Context of the TYCO BattleTech Toyline
The Toyline and Its Issues:
Unlike many other boy toylines before it, TYCO's BattleTech was nearly 100% laser-focused on the mecha, which was the real star of the animated series along with the original FASA wargame/RPG. Of all the released toys in the 1994/1995 line, only one was not mecha. Most of the mechs featured "battle-damage" panels, so that kids could aim and fire their spring-loaded projectiles at the panels (and their eyes), having the mech toy react with ejecting the pilot or body parts. Each Mech and vehicle came with a tiny character from the television show. How tiny? Try 2 3/4 inches. Since the toyline is quite limited, I will be discussing each mech in some depth and even comparing the toy vision to the original wargame version. How does the 1995 line differ from the 1994 line? Not much. The 1995 line of mecha was simply repainted with some bold color and patterns, and unlike the original 1994 release, the 1995 release was much harder to find. These colors and patterns were called "Tiger Camo" and "Assault Color". The overall quality of the TYCO BT toyline is just okay, and it is a kick in the balls when you realize just how small the actual figures are for the mecha and how poorly done they are. The mecha themselves seemed to have been designed to accept figures as an afterthought. Why did TYCO design their line around 2 3/4 inch figures? Price and scale. Unlike the more standard 3 3/4 inch size of GI Joe and Star Wars figures, these BT:TAS figures were very small in comparison, especially considering the size of the original Matchbox ROBOTECH figures.
However, the main rival to the BT toyline was Exo-Squad. They also used smaller-than-standard figures for their mecha centered toyline: about 2.5 inches. Why did they both do this? Developing play-vehicles around nearly four inch figures is difficult, they would be more expensive for the toy company to produce, higher in price, more space taken up for the retailer, and plus, GI Joe and Star Wars had the war-toy vehicles dominated; so it was better for these two mecha toylines to play to their strengths. In order to bring the toyline to the market at the right market price, smaller figures were needed....but this decreased the cross-playability for the consumer. After all, how badass would it have been to use GI Joe, Star Wars, and ROBOTECH figures in conjunction with your Exo-Squad and BattleTech mecha?! Too awesome is the answer to exist apparently. Anyways, here is the list.
The Inner Sphere AXEMAN Heavy 'Mech

The Inner Sphere MAULER Assault 'Mech

The Inner Sphere BUSHWACKER Medium 'Mech
Much like the AXEMAN and the HUNCHBACK, the BUSHWACKER was drawn from the original wargame and the mech was featured on the cover of the FASA 3058 Technical Readout manual. This made the BUSHWACKER more popular among original fans, and I've known a few that have this as a display piece, but the one I handled felt lights and my friend said that it had fallen on hardwood, breaking, making superglue the order of the day. The BUSHWACKER itself was actually an failed prototype that attempted to design a leaner profile. However, the design was resurrected during the Clan invasion when element being used from the Clan Omnimech designs and salvage. This mech became part of the Inner Sphere rearmament program during the Clan/Inner Sphere Truce of Tukayyid.
The Inner Sphere SLOTH Heavy Battle-Armor
This has to be the single ugliest mech in the entire toyline, and the price for it on eBay confirm that. The Inner Sphere SLOTH heavy assault battle-armor is drawn from the original FASA wargame, and the SLOTH was one of the original Inner Sphere battle-armor (think Powered Armor). While the Clan Elemental battle-armor was the template for most Inner Sphere battle-armor, the SLOTH was intended for much more, like being a mobile weapons platform. But the overall design was flawed and the SLOTH being fielded in very limited number and saw little combat use. This was one of the more unpopular mecha of the BT:TAS toyline, and I cannot imagine why TYCO drew upon this mech for their toyline.
The Inner Sphere INFILTRATOR Battle-Armor
The Clan THOR Omni 'Mech
The Clan HUNCHBACK Medium 'Mech

The Clan ELEMENTAL/TOAD Battle-Armor

period of 3049-3050, and it is my personal favorite of the TYCO toyline. I bought this toy in the original 1994 release and I still own it today. Overall, the Elemental or TOAD appears similar to the original game version, but with the laser-arm being replaced with an projectile firing arm and the twin missiles on the shoulders being only decorative. The real issue with the TOAD is the "V" sticker on the chest...it comes off and peels, and the figure rattles around inside. I've been on the lookout for the 1995 repaint that features a bold red colored exterior. Overall, I enjoy having this one in my decorative collection.
The Inner Sphere BSE-X BANSHEE Experimental AeroFighter

Cancelled Prototypes and Rumors
Since the BattleTech: The Animated Series was cancelled so early into its life, we cannot really predict the plans of TYCO, FASA, and Saban Entertainment on the future of the toyline. One of the best resources on the internet for the toyline, The Tyco Battletech Archive, has a picture of the only known prototype mecha for the toyline: the Clan VULTURE Heavy 'Mech. However, over the years of playing and discussing BT/MW, I've heard rumors of what could have been and what was planned. Take these rumors with an whole ocean of salt because I have no idea how true they are and no really way to validate them. Of course, TYCO was going to put out more mecha for their toyline, and that is a no-brainer, but it was TWO specific rumors I heard over the years I wanted to discuss here. One being an extension of the "battle damage" feature on most of the original line. Some of these rumors point to larger mecha being produced like the ATLAS and the MAD CAT that would have allowed for "combat" via IR signals and sensors. If a hit was registered, there would be battle damage like the original line, with pieces of the mech flying off. If it was serious enough, the mech would go critical, and the pilot figure would be ejected out of the mech using springs like the AXEMAN mech ejection feature. We know that TYCO was eyeballing the MAD CAT for production and this could have been a way to inject something new into the toyline. The other interesting rumor was the expansion of the vehicles. Some say that TYCO was going to make a vast Dropship spherical playset or even an Jumpship playset. This would be similar in concept to the Matchbox ROBOTECH SDF-1 playset from the rumors I heard, but it never made it beyond the discussion phase.
The Playmate/FASA/Harmony Gold Lawsuits
In odd twist of fate and irony, FASA sued Playmate Toys over their Exo-Squad toyline being similar to FASA's mecha designs in 1994. At this time, Harmony Gold was in partnership with Playmate Toys to reissue some of the old Matchbox ROBOTECH toys. So, Harmony Gold decided to hit FASA with their own lawsuit over an old wound: the unlicensed use of mecha designs from Macross and other anime works for the original BattleTech wargame. The background of this lawsuit was when FASA was shopping BattleTech around toy companies, Playmate Toys was already in some stage of development of Exo-Squad, and they turned FASA down. The case of FASA vs. Playmate was decided for Playmate. In the case of Harmony Gold vs. FASA, the case was settled out of court and dismissed.
Television series and movies attempting to capitalize on their popularity by adding tie-in products is an old and established business model. While some toy tie-in lines were popular prior to the 1970's, it would take the Kenner juggernaut Star Wars toyline to fully demonstrate the full power of how successful an tie-in toyline could be. After that, the trend exploded with cartoons being developed solely for the toyline marketing, and Saturday morning cartoons were awash in thinly veiled 30 minute adverts for the toys. It worked very well, with 1980's staples like Thundercats, GI Joe, My Little Pony, and M.A.S.K. But, as I've said before, the toyline and the visual media product have an symbiotic relationship, and when one dies, so does the other. There are a few rare examples of successful films/TV shows not breeding successful toylines or vice versa.
Much like 1980's casualties of Lazer Tag, Centurions, Photon, and Air Raiders; BattleTech: the Animated Series would be a casualties of the 1990's along with its TYCO toyline. That symbiotic relationship between the syndicated cartoon series and the toyline would cost BT:TAS its continuation. What killed the bold experiment of BattleTech: The Animated Series was the TYCO toys not selling, and Saban Entertainment pulled the plug on the animated series. I believe that even if the toys had been somewhat of an success, the poor quality of the show and alienation of the original wargame fans by the show would have killed it before its was renewed. The other nail in the coffin was the other American mecha show: Exo-Squad. BattleTech was simply overshadowed by the superior Exo-Squad in the toy aisle and the airwaves. By 1995, the animated series off of FOX and the toys were poured into the sale bins and outlet malls until the era of the internet and eBay.
Could Have TYCO's BattleTech Toyline Been a Success?
Yes...but not in the mid-1990's. The sad thing is that the BT toyline could have been an success during the mid-1980's...maybe. FASA's BattleTech/Mechwarrior games were very successful during the "Big Robot Craze" of the 1970's and 1980's, and I would have loved a tie-in toyline to the tabletop wargames I played during the 1980's. Hell, I had to make my own mecha out of Lego's! By the 1990's, the "Big Robot Craze" was running its course and the fever was cooling, but BattleTech was still enjoying success with recent computer mecha combat games. The shame was that the BT:TAS toys could not share the toy aisle with the likes of Exo-Squad and what was left of Transformers. While the BattleTech toys, if it had existed in the 1980's, could have been a failure as it was in 1994; but I think the timing/climate would have been better in the 1980's than the 1990's. Of course, the Matchbox ROBOTECH toyline failed while the series was still massively popular, so the theory on timing doesn't always apply. No guts, no toyline, I guess.
My Own Experiences with the TYCO BT Toyline

The BattleTech Toyline Now and Its Legacy
Currently, there only a few websites devoted or discussing this 1990's toyline, and even these few sites do not discuss the toyline in-depth. Sadly, when this blogpost is published, it will be one of the only in-depth articles on the internet. It is only the internet, the fading memories of old-school BT/MW fans, and eBay that prevents the TYCO BT:TAS toyline from disappearing and allowing a new generation to discover how unpopular this cartoon and toys were back in 1994/1995. Today, current source of traffic on search engines about the toyline and BT:TAS is forums. This lack of sites informs you a great deal about the legacy of the TYCO toyline...it doesn't really have one. The Exo-Squad toyline and cartoon is fondly remembered and beloved by fans with cartoon being streamed on Hulu.com instead of the fate of the BT:TAS being crappy fan converted videos on Youtube.com. In some ways, the BT toyline is a reminder that timing is everything along with being loyal to the original concepts of the source material and the core fan-base. In addition, the animated series and the toys also remind us that popularity in some forms of media do not translate into others.
Next Time on FWS...
Chris Rock once said that:"every punk can fire from across the room, but it takes a man to get close enough to stab", but why not both? Firearms sometimes can be use as a melee weapon and as a tool. Bayonet stabbing, Buttstoke kick, barber wire cutter, window breaker… in the next installment of FWS Armory, we'll examine closely the different ways a firearm can cause harm without any trigger pull whatsoever.