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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 18, 2023

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By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.

So say we all.

Presumably you just haven't looked at my profile page or avatar in the last... 12 months?

I'd seen the avatar but just hadn't made the connection because as much as I was into that shit when I was 13 I hadn't really thought about it since. Apropo, I was recently helping clean-out/de-clutter my mom's basement and came across a Rubbermaid tote full of my old ExoSquad and Dino-Rider toys which we're fixing up and repurposing into Christmas gifts for the eldest. I expect there's probably some collector somewhere cringing at the thought but come on... Kid's already big mecha fan, and actually has a pretty good track record of taking care of his toys.

Apropo, I was recently helping clean-out/de-clutter my mom's basement and came across a Rubbermaid tote full of my old ExoSquad and Dino-Rider toys which we're fixing up and repurposing into Christmas gifts for the eldest. I expect there's probably some collector somewhere cringing at the thought but come on... Kid's already big mecha fan, and actually has a pretty good track record of taking care of his toys.

What a fun Christmas gift! Fasa v. Playmates Toys was actually one of the first IP cases to catch my interest (you may remember how that ended); the Robotech/ExoSquad crossover toys (especially, the Veritech Fighter) occupy a really interesting place at the intersection of fandom and licensing.

I do remember how that ended *hat tip*

I also remember lusting after the ExoSquad "Heavy Assault E-Frame" that was essentially a "MadCat" from BattleTech with the serial numbers filed off. It wasn't till years later that I realized that ExoSquad and BattleTech (along with the associated MechWarrior and MechAssault video games) were separate properties.