The Wonderful World of BattleTech Memes

BattleTech is a serious game, played by serious people. In order to sit down and roll dice and mark down damage and heat for hours on end, you have to give the game your utmost in sober thought and contemplation. If you were to get even deeper and paint miniatures, you must spend painstaking weeks carefully inking, marking, and assembling your tiny metal figures until they are poised just so on a battlefield filled with the corpses of defeated enemies (or past failed projects).

But within all of that intense solemnity, there is a tiny sliver of something poking through the formal facade like a beacon. For those willing to dig just a bit further, to reach beyond the pen and paper trappings and the dozens upon dozens of paperback novels, brave adventurers will find something truly wonderful underneath.

I, of course, speak of the life blood of the internet: memes.

Although BattleTech may have gotten its start just as the internet was being birthed, it has since survived long enough to enter into the heyday of image boards and computer game forums where all good memes are born. And since I thought we could all use a good laugh, I’ve decided to share a few of the better ones I’ve found with all of you today.

Before we begin, I’d like to state that I am not the creator of any of the images you see in this article (credit is given to the original posters where possible). I am merely the one kind enough to give them the spotlight they so richly deserve.

I Fits I Sits

via community.battletechgame.com user Bombast

We begin our journey with this gem plucked from the Harebrained Schemes BattleTech forum. As you can see, this meme is a combination of the already common meme that cats will sit in anything that they can fit their bodies into and BattleTech. In this case, a CATapult has found that it has the ideal dimensions to sit inside a Masakari, much to the chagrin of its pilot.

Happy Atlas

via community.battletechgame.com user Ink Sikes

BattleTech forum user Ink Skies isn’t the first to notice the unusual placement of the AtlasAC/20, but he may be the first to make it into a classic innuendo.

Orbital Assault

via community.battletech.com
user Yen-Lo -Wang

The BattleTech forums have a particular criticism of House Steiner military doctrine, which tends to field assault ‘Mechs more than any other great house. In this instance, the dangers of dropping an Atlas from orbit without a drop pod are obvious and poignant.

Scouts

via community.battletechgame.com user Red Dox

The next criticism of the Lyran military has to do with scout ‘Mechs, or more accurately their lack thereof. Although the jab at House Marik for their use of non-‘Mech vehicles is there to remind us that tanks are still a thing. I guess.

Steiner Wealth

via knowyourmeme

Mercantile wealth within the Lyran Commonwealth is the object of this latest meme, a colorful rendition of an Atlas with some non-standard armor enhancements. One might think they could prove useful in stopping a missile or two, but the cost seems to outweigh the benefits.

Raven Arrow IV

via community.battletechgame.com user Hayashi

We return to the BattleTech forums for this work of art which borrows from another popular game, Skyrim. In the medieval world, to “take an arrow” was actually slang for taking a wife, thus preventing the guard from going on dangerous adventures. Although, I can’t help but think a Raven would be nothing but scrap after taking a direct hit from an Arrow IV.

Urbie

via knowyourmeme

As a much-beloved icon of the series, the Urbanmech is host to a slew of memes which mostly poke fun at its unique appearance. This one reverses the trend and shows the Urbie for the fierce, uncompromising death machine that it is.

What it really is

via community.battletechgame.com user Smaug

Another common meme shows the different perspectives a certain topic can have in larger society. This particular iteration shows how BattleTech is viewed by various demographics before ultimately revealing the terrible truth of our obsession.

Awesome

via knowyourmeme

BattleTech memes are not all cheap jokes and shitposting. Some of them can be a wholesome celebration of a beloved franchise. An Awesome being snuggled by an inexplicably enormous Mad Cat is one which I find to be particularly heartening.

I’d like to personally thank the many artists that created these wonderful images and hope they continue to do so for many years to come.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.

stay syrupy

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About Sean

Hooked on BattleTech at an early age, Sean honestly can't remember whether it was the cartoon, the serial novels or the short-lived TCG that did him in. Whatever it was, his passion for giant shooty robots never died, so now he writes about the latest and greatest in 'Mech related news.

6 thoughts on “The Wonderful World of BattleTech Memes

    1. Sean Post author

      Link me (a little more specifically) and I’ll add it to my next memes article :)

      Reply
  1. TheCaptain

    I actually made that Orbital Insertion Motivator, by far one of my most popular images I ever produced. It’s gotten so much traction over the past years, I love that it has become one of the default ‘go-to’ images when poking fun at House Steiner.

    Reply

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