Pontiac made a lot of guns in WWII, so having them making autocanons makes sense.

...Well, MADE sense.

I don't know what's funnier, that Ford could only throw together one mech, or that seemingly Chrysler just didn't even bother at all.

The oddity that makes me laugh the most is that the Soviet Union fell earlier than it did (1987 I think, instead of 1991), the Warsaw Pact dissolves and the Iron Curtain comes down...only for about a Decade to pass in order for the Soviet Union to completely reconstitute in the late 90's, reclaim all the Warsaw Pact territories and starting a 2nd Cold War which finally ends in the 2nd Soviet Civil War...which is perhaps the most consequential war in Battletech History that Nobody's heard of.

Beretta has documented contracts for arquebus barrels that go back to 1526, and they are still actively producing guns 500 years later. Having companies from the 80s continue to exist and contribute to the Battletech setting adds charm and a bit of historical "realism" if you squint. It adds a sense of connection to our real world, and a slightly more grounded "what if" sci-fi setting, that other franchises where everything is 100% fictional. 98% science fiction, instead of 100%

GM doesn't just build Battlemechs, it invented the fusion reactor that revolutionized electrical power generation... in the year 2021. We, clearly, do not live in the best timeline.

Battletech's sister franchise, Shadowrun, also mentions a number of real-world corporations, though in more recent source books it has more alluded to them rather than outright giving their names. The most prominant is Krupp, a German industrial design and production company, which in Shadowrun has become Saeder-Krupp, the most powerful megacorporation on Earth and one that is run by a dragon. RadioShack, due to being a defunct company, still gets name-dropped from time to time, as in Shadowrun it still exists even up to the 2080's. Also, the Soviet Union still existed in the early lore, but this had to be retconned when the real-life Union collapsed just years after Shadowrun was first released. There was, briefly, a second Soviet Union that formed in the early part of the 21st century, but it had fallen apart by the latter half.

FASA's last franchise before it all but dissolved in the early 2000's, Crimson Skies, is also chock-full of real-life companies, but being set in an alternate history 1930's FASA was able to use lots of period-accurate names without copyright issues. The inciting incident that caused Crimson Skies to deviate from our history was the widespread King's Plague that decimated the global population, which was no doubt a nod to the real Spanish Flu, and the rise of a certain Austrian to power in Germany was hinted at repeatedly. Sadly, Crimson Skies did not survive like Battletech and Shadowrun did.

Welcome back Mechwarrior

Clearly the Battletech timeline is based on the hypothetical "what if the US didn't adopt neoliberalism and & financialized the entire economy" timeline. So a lot of formerly US based corporations would be relevant long after they became semi defunct sub brands as they'd have zero reason to not switch from doing R&D to stock buybacks along with the government preventing consolidation into semi bloated morrasses of group think.

Someone I met worked at a think tank and they talked about consulting with R Talsorian and FASA with their research into emerging technologies. Really fascinating stuff that Pondsmith talked about recently. Jordan Weisman really set things up in an intrestingly crazy way.

Reminds me of the Cyberpunk timelines. Bladerunner, Ghost in the Shell, Cyberpunk 2020, etc. were all originally set between 2019 and 2029.

I thought this video was going to be about the way certain nationalities were portrayed in the more Cold War informed Battletech fiction. The Kuritans and Capellans specifically, looking back at some of the characterization there.... Well, I'm glad it has changed lol

Boris decides to roll on Brexit versus Boris rolling for Super Nato

Rudy Giuliani also thinks that ferrets are rodents and is responsible for the New York ban on pet ferrets. Ironically rodents are a major part of the ferret's diet, so any escaped ferrets would have reduced New York's rodent population.

I believe the real life counterparts actually ground Battletech rather than make it silly. Battletech isn't just a sci-fi game with Mechs. It's a history game as well. It's just not real world history. For me, hearing about companies like GM ties the universe to me in a way that most other Sci-fi franchises can't or won't. It's easier for me to suspend my disbelief. I can totally see GM or Ford or Toyota or any number of other companies actually not only surviving but thriving in the Battletech universe. To me, it makes the setting feel all the more real.

"STAY OUT OF POLITICS"  - oh wait, Battletech is like 50% politics.....

Ostmann Industries exists today.  It is the German equivalent of Goya. (Ok,  it's Ostmann Spices, and i have zero idea if Weissman even heard of them,  but in my head canon they had a corporate meltdown and started profiteering instead of manufacturing reasonably priced spice mixes and staple foods).

Maybe 'Brexit means Brexit' really meant 'RaselHaguexit means RaselHaguexit'.

Hey, Boris Johnson can be easily explained if you assume that the man has no principles and ideals of his own and is simply an opportunist. Then it makes perfect sense for him to stand for a completely opposite idea if the circumstances are different. It's just in one of timelines he got really lucky and was written into history as grand-grand-grand-grandfather of the Star League. 🙂

GM Autocannons.

Because fuck that guy in particular.

GM sent Tex a (fake, and hilarious) cease and desist letter.

BT lore videos would be cool

Hey GM where's my fusion plant.