Tex Talks Battletech
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 | Not Canon The subject of this article does not contribute canonical content to the BattleTech universe, either because it is not intended to or because it is not an official product. |
"Tex Talks Battletech" is a Series of Mini- and Full-Size Documentaries and Essays on the BattleTech universe, written and directed by the eponymous "Tex" and published on the Black Pants Legion YouTube Channel. The series features cameo appearances by both the "BlackPantsLegion" community and other content creators, voice actors, and BattleTech fans.
Premise[edit]
The series is framed as the efforts of Randolph P. Checkers to educate a group of students from the Institute of Inner Sphere War Studies despite various exasperating circumstances. The presentations take the form of narrated slideshows, and seek to examine a single 'Mech or event in detail. The "lessons" range in scope from 20 minutes to nearly two-hour-long productions, and feature partial history lessons or personal tangents from Checkers. As he is from the Periphery, the presentations are frequently critical of both the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere and the Clans, which invites retaliation, prompting him to leave his home of Van Zandt with his class in tow, as he continues to give lectures despite the location or situation.
History[edit]
According to "Tex", he started what would become "Tex Talks Battletech" over a disagreement with a friend, who had stated that the Universe of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K was "the deepest, most compelling" in all tabletop fiction. [1] Combined with a perceived lack of online video content on the lore and setting of BattleTech, this formed the initial motivation for the series.
The first video in the series was titled "Battletech/Mechwarrior Lore : The AWS-8Q Awesome and Variants" and released on June 5th, 2018.
The initial run of videos from 2018 early-2019 to were short, from 10-30 minutes, and addressed a single 'Mech or incident each. These early episodes incorporated a much more humorous and acutely opinionated tone when compared to later works.
From Episode 7 onwards, and following a switch in editors after episode 5, the series began adapting an in-universe perspective, with short, narrated and animated preambles and post-credit scenes, and indiviual videos became significantly longer than the initial run. Over the course of the following videos, and continuing to the most recent release, a fan-fiction centering around R. P. Checkers and a Clan Smoke Jaguar attack on the Deep Periphery world of Van Zandt began serving as the backdrop for the series.
Following a two-part summary of the Amaris Civil War, the series began being titled with the name "Tex Talks Battetech", and video length remained roughly consistent between one to two hours each.
The most recent video in the series is titled "Battletech/Mechwarrior Lore - Tex Talks Battletech : The Urbanmech (DIRECTORS CUT)". Notably, it is the first "remake" in the series, re-examining the UrbanMech. It was released on December 25th, 2023, as part of the "Christmas Dump" charity drive.
Charity Involvement[edit]
The videos in the "Tex Talks Battletech" series as well as most of the skits and extras are paired with fundraisers for various charitable organizations. [2] Notable examples include Toys for Tots, St. Jude Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, and the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.