Battletech - Also known as Trannytech

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Possibly James? Or Jesse.
 
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Pled guilty to harassment and terroristic threats in 2020. PA court jurisdiction, PA resident at the time. Middle aged man. Trying to decide how to filter results.

Don't know if those two charges were him threatening people at that store or if he just worked there.
 
Pled guilty to harassment and terroristic threats in 2020. PA court jurisdiction, PA resident at the time. Middle aged man. Trying to decide how to filter results.

Don't know if those two charges were him threatening people at that store or if he just worked there.
The only search result I got was from 2015 and it was a middle-aged dude making a bomb threat hoax in a Walmart, buying something, and then leaving. But according to Blaine's account "Faith" is supposed to have worked at a Wal-Mart so I don't think that's it.

Coincidentally, the guy's name was indeed James in this case, and Greenville is a rather small town in PA, which is how I got to that article. I've actually driven through Greenville a few times. Cute little place.
 
The only search result I got was from 2015 and it was a middle-aged dude making a bomb threat hoax in a Walmart, buying something, and then leaving. But according to Blaine's account "Faith" is supposed to have worked at a Wal-Mart so I don't think that's it.

Coincidentally, the guy's name was indeed James in this case, and Greenville is a rather small town in PA, which is how I got to that article. I've actually driven through Greenville a few times. Cute little place.
Appearantly it had to deal with covid.
 
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The only search result I got was from 2015 and it was a middle-aged dude making a bomb threat hoax in a Walmart, buying something, and then leaving. But according to Blaine's account "Faith" is supposed to have worked at a Wal-Mart so I don't think that's it.

Coincidentally, the guy's name was indeed James in this case, and Greenville is a rather small town in PA, which is how I got to that article. I've actually driven through Greenville a few times. Cute little place.
He could be disgruntled employee.
 
Appearantly it had to deal with covid.


J posted this in response to Blaine's allegations
View attachment 3553954


So instead of denying that they where J they claim that not only they aren't J but in fact J does exist. Which gets the ol thunker to think.
Make death threats against a man and his family = "detractor". I can't imagine why he'd want to know where you were at all times and place a protective order against you. Truly the overreaction of the century.
 
Have an impossibly long screencap:
View attachment 3552946
(so long, in fact, it broke the image preview system. Nice.)

A few trannies and blind fanboys scattered in there, but I'm not going to lie: reading the outrage brought a smile to my face.

I checked the official BT forums and found nothing on there regarding BLP except a locked thread containing CGL's statement. Now seeing this, I kinda get flashbacks to a massive fallout Bioware received during the good old days of ME3 and the clusterfuck of that shitshow.

Some Biodrone on 4chan went "Why are the comments on Bioware in forums and Twitter so negative?" and someone answered that quite nicely along these lines: "Bioware has shut down every venue for fans to voice legitimate criticism on their own forums and treated those that had something negative to say like shit. These people are now angry and voice their opinions freely on platforms that aren't policed by Bioware's goons."

CGL fucked up big time, and I simply doubt that BT is 'chic' enough that many non-grognards are currently buying their stuff. When something like this happens with D&D, thanks to Stranger Things and stuff like Critical Role, you can bet your ass there's enough braindead hobby-leeches still buying D&D stuff, that WOTC doesn't even notice when the old guard of fans decides to move on. With CGL and BT? Not so much. This could put a noticable dent into their future income.

As I said, I alone had at least 200 Euros worth in future purchases lined up just for this month. I was planning to heavily invest in the new Mercenary Kickstarter in autumn and I haven't yet even begun to buy Clan units (which is also something I would eventually get around to).
With this shit, my purchases are on hiatus - possibly forever, if CGL fucks up even more (I am not yet at the 'full unconditional boycott' point, but it's getting there).

What do you guys say, is it still okay to buy IWM stuff? I'm a bit unfamiliar with how the IP works (given that it's a massive clusterfuck, that's not a big surprise), but I'd like to still support IWM, given that one of the people behind IWM was diagnosed with cancer.

That's fair but this isn't some ordinary employee. Blaine Pardoe has had a massive influence on the franchise for almost 40 years and word DOES get around. It's naive to think in this day and age even with a niche product, consumers don't keep up with it on the internet.
If you're even just vaguely aware of the novels, BLP is a name you've come across. Given that he's shaped BT over such a long time and in such a broad scale, anyone into the setting will have something they are fond of that BLP created or refined for the setting, whether they know or not.

For instance, Sorenson's Sabres and Snord's Irregulars are very iconic mercenary troops that were shaped by BLP.

By merely pointing that out, a shitton of even casual fans of the setting will go "Wait, they fired the guy behind [insert person's favorite thing here]?!"
 
I wouldn't want to punish IWM for CGL's fuck up but I have no idea how much they have to kick back for mini sales. I will say IWM does deserve every cent of what they ask for.
 
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I wouldn't want to punish IWM for CGL's fuck up but I have no idea how much they have to kick back for mini sales. I will say IWM does deserve every cent of what they ask for.
This reminds me of something that I wanted to point out anyway... and the time could not be better to mention this:

The new IWM pewter models for mechs like the Thunderbolt and Shadowhawk seem to use the exact same 3D models to make their molds as the CGL plastic models, which would be this little bad boy right here in case of the Thunderbolt:
thunderbolt-tdr-5s-mech-ndash-65-tons-tro-succession-wars~2.jpg

However after receiving the AGOAC box, I can tell you that the IWM version looks a lot better than its plastic counterpart. The downside is the higher pricepoint, with the IWM mini costing about 75% of a full CGL lance pack.

Check out the many hard edges around the knee, for example, they are nice, sharp and crisp in the IWM pewter version, but somewhat blunt and rounded in the CGL plastic version:

124.jpg
The image isn't very large, but you can tell it's a bit blunt around all the edges.

It's very visible with the Shadow Hawk, too, especially around the legs and shoulders.
125.jpg 123.jpg

The plastic minis are still neat (especially at their pricepoint), but the IWM models are undeniably much nicer.
IWM also has the Catapult and Battlemaster in their repertoir, I sorta hope for a few other new IWM mechs like the King Crab and Awesome.
 
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What do you guys say, is it still okay to buy IWM stuff? I'm a bit unfamiliar with how the IP works (given that it's a massive clusterfuck, that's not a big surprise), but I'd like to still support IWM, given that one of the people behind IWM was diagnosed with cancer.
Buying from IWM should still be fine. Yes, Catalyst (or most likely the license holder Fanatics) gets a licensing fee from them, but 1 - it's not a very large sum, and 2 - it doesn't count as a sale for Catalyst.

In fact, that's the ideal outcome for a backlash. Catalyst Game Labs' sales crashing and piracy of their products skyrocketing while the rest of the BattleTech ecosystem thrives. If third-party companies and content creators maintain constant growth while the community continually voices their dissatisfaction with CGL, that'll get the beancounters to pay attention and that's the most reliable way to get a company to realize it done goofed.
 
This reminds me of something that I wanted to point out anyway... and the time could not be better to mention this:

The new IWM pewter models for mechs like the Thunderbolt and Shadowhawk seem to use the exact same 3D models to make their molds as the CGL plastic models, which would be this little bad boy right here in case of the Thunderbolt:
View attachment 3556135

However after receiving the AGOAC box, I can tell you that the IWM version looks a lot better than its plastic counterpart. The downside is the higher pricepoint, with the IWM mini costing about 75% of a full CGL lance pack.

Check out the many hard edges around the knee, for example, they are nice, sharp and crisp in the IWM pewter version, but somewhat blunt and rounded in the CGL plastic version:

View attachment 3556147
The image isn't very large, but you can tell it's a bit blunt around all the edges.

It's very visible with the Shadow Hawk, too, especially around the legs and shoulders.
View attachment 3556151 View attachment 3556146

The plastic minis are still neat (especially at their pricepoint), but the IWM models are undeniably much nicer.
IWM also has the Catapult and Battlemaster in their repertoir, I sorta hope for a few other new IWM mechs like the King Crab and Awesome.
IWM definitely has some damn nice models as my old Taurian lance post shows (if you ignore my okay painting. I don't have very steady hands, so I'll never be a pro painter). Only mechs I hated assembling were the Anubis' legs and the Marauder. The King Crab had longer pegs where the legs go into feet, but that was easy enough to correct after dry fitting all the pieces. I will tell you to get 3D printed bases or 3rd party hex bases as IWM's are really damn small; the Marshal was the only mech from that order that that benefitted from the small base due to its balanced design.
 
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IWM definitely has some damn nice models as my old Taurian lance post shows (if you ignore my okay painting. I don't have very steady hands, so I'll never be a pro painter). Only mechs I hated assembling were the Anubis' legs and the Marauder. The King Crab had longer pegs where the legs go into feet, but that was easy enough to correct after dry fitting all the pieces. I will tell you to get 3D printed bases or 3rd party hex bases as IWM's are really damn small; the Marshal was the only mech from that order that that benefitted from the small base due to its balanced design.
Some IWM minis are a chore to put together, the Highlander comes in more than a dozen individual pieces, so that's a bit wild, but dry-fitting and a decent superglue make it work. I have to say, I like pewter minis a lot more than plastic ones. Pewter has a high risk of paint chipping when the mini falls over, though...

As for painting:
Do you use a handle? I found that it helps a lot with painting, cause it makes it much more comfortable to hold the mini, and you can press one hand against the other and brace them against the table to steady your hands... and since I am a fucking loony, I usually use a large magnifying glass to get a good look while I work. Feels like you go cross eyed for the first couple minutes, but once you get used to working with the lense, you can paint insanely tiny details.

For handles, you don't need to get fancy and expensive shit, just a small easy to handle item that's stand on its own with the mini attached and a bit of Blu Tack will do wonders.
 
Some IWM minis are a chore to put together, the Highlander comes in more than a dozen individual pieces, so that's a bit wild, but dry-fitting and a decent superglue make it work. I have to say, I like pewter minis a lot more than plastic ones. Pewter has a high risk of paint chipping when the mini falls over, though...

As for painting:
Do you use a handle? I found that it helps a lot with painting, cause it makes it much more comfortable to hold the mini, and you can press one hand against the other and brace them against the table to steady your hands... and since I am a fucking loony, I usually use a large magnifying glass to get a good look while I work. Feels like you go cross eyed for the first couple minutes, but once you get used to working with the lense, you can paint insanely tiny details.

For handles, you don't need to get fancy and expensive shit, just a small easy to handle item that's stand on its own with the mini attached and a bit of Blu Tack will do wonders.
I've never tried using a handle as I always forget to buy or make one. Usually I just hold onto the leg, do the main color (blue for Steiner, brown of Taurian) then repeat onto another model. Once I get through them, I'll start back over and do the leg I worked off of and go over spots I missed. My accent colors are the hard part as I run through mental images for the accents and then go with which one I liked the most.

Comfort is rarely an issue for me. It's just natural unsteadiness of the hands. Only ever really started to notice it when I got into Warhammer over a decade ago. Just learned to make due with my issue.
 
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