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idk why but every time i've seen a centurion in a novel, animation or hell even on the table top they always somehow seem to get themselves into some heroic last stand situation. Its like a curse.... or a blessing.
@@thehunter5475 You could also say that it's the culture behind the mech itself; If prior Centurion pilots start to get famous for holding the line for as much as they can, it starts to build an idea that it is expected for all pilots to do so. Give it a few centuries of conflicts and that image will spread enough that centurion pilots will adopt that instance as part of their identity... like all that mechwarrior honor/chivalry concept that some people have
centurion suck rather have a shadow hawk or griffin but if you want to quibble about 5 tons i will give you it and take a phenix hawk. but it was cool , right
The absolutely massive cahonnes commander stache must have to see that mech tracking the eject pod and decide the only rational decision was to go toe to toe with and assault mech armed only with a rifle. I can hear bagpipes in the distance as the ghosts of the blackwatch salute him
Fuck the infantry dude, he had a radio to call in the wing of Shalones anytime he wanted. He just wanted to take a break and smoke his cigar before doing the job. The Locust pilot was slowed down by the sheer balls she was carrying for the rest of the team (Centurion pilot excluded, he did his job and then some). She faced down the Maskari in her sad excuse of a mech that a single elemental had already beat to hell.
Some liberties were taken with their speed, however. Even with jets the only thing they'd see of a speeding Locust would be a roadrunner-style dust cloud :P.
@@DIEGhostfish Possibly, but, the logo on the enemy is clan Smoke Jaguar and the opening scroll specifically says operation "bulldog". I don't think computer assist piloting was quite a thing at the time yet.
Every one of these Bulldog pilots are absolutely insane. Facing down a Masakari with a Centurion until forced to eject by massive damage, charging the same mech with a half armed Locust, hell even challenging the thing at range with the dual RAC Rifleman was nuts, AND THEN shooting at it with a big elephant gun WHILE ON FOOT. These people are fucking nuts and I love them.
Can we give a shout out to pilot that had the balls to go toe-to-toe with a goddamn Masakari in a stock Centurion? Dude must have needed that payday BAD.
I don't think we saw the lasers fire, if they were just empty lenses it could have been an AC20 cent. But yeah he was ballsy one way or the other. Oh nope, the lasers do fire, so either it's a stock cent or one of the more advanced tech upgrades that used the weight savings for a bigger gun. Because it did not strip out the missiles like the Yen-lo-Wang mk1 or the lasers like the AH.
@@turk88 Masakari's the Drac name for the Warhawk. And that's a prime given they're definitely firing PPCs. I don't see any sign of LPL fire, though I don't see missiles to prove it's a prime either.
Only if we give commander stash there some credit for stepping up with no mech at all when that clanner started tracking his mechwaorries ejection seat.
Not sure if it's meant to be an interior display screen that's damaged and shut down, or chemicals in the canopy materials reacting to the close laser emission (we can make glass today that polarizes and darkens in bright light). Either way it's a neat detail, and makes far more sense for a combat vehicle than plain old glass.
@@DCBruinsMedia You got it right either way. Most of the BT novels I've read mentioned the canopy darkening when especially bright light shines through them; that way the pilot is only blinded *temporarily* when the cockpit is struck by a laser or PPC.
@@DCBruinsMedia I was thinking that was the case. I actually was kinda shocked to learn about the "Big flat camera, armor plate with some wires passing through, big flatscreen" system being the norm in the first Grey Death novel And yeah even the "glass" would have polarized.
Yeah, that was a great moment. Right up there with the scene from "Frihet" where the Hunchback shoots the arm off the Dragon and proceeds to beat the Dragon with its own arm... like a Mortal Kombat fatality.
@@BrigidtheMechLady Yep, but it wasn't preventing the Locust from blowing that Orbital Gun emplacment into non-functioning. The guns on the Unions would've finished the job.
dude is ridiculous skilled. i watched it the first (and promptly second) time for the animatic itself, and another 3 or 4 times through now just listening to the music
I love everything about this. The infantry ground commander coordinating mechs, the rifleman popping up over the ridge and just going "GET SOME! DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!" A freaking centurion dueling a Masakari and just going "Oh I'm gonna die, but we're gonna win". You can feel the moment of "What the HELL do you think you are doing?" when the Masakari turns and stalks towards the commander who plunked it with a rifle. Full speed locust strike. Also, terrifying little elemental bastards. Go Inner Sphere. Enjoy the near extinction Smoke Jaguar. Tex sent me.
All the SLDF had to do was tell House Steiner where Octoberfest was being held and to bring their best Atlast suits to the mixer. Then tell them Smoke Jaguar canceled it and they needed to be properly scouted.
Literally six lances of nothing but Atlas's all screaming in angry German decend upon them THROUGH the AA fire because screw you, we want our beer and brats dammit.
@@tenchraven Exactly. I was just clicking "reply" to say basically the same thing. Battletech had galaxy-spanning intrigue, deception, betrayal, and realpolitik 20 years before GoT was even an idea. And frankly, canon Battletech's politics and scheming come across as a lot more believable; at least up through the Federated Commonwealth civil war. I've not read anything much of the Jihad or Republic eras.
Listen to the BPL Podcast episode titled "The Cameron Restoration" and you'll get a pretty detailed description of what that would look like. It's very compelling.
Aerospace getting to be the heroes is something I almost never get to see in Battletech stories. This might be my favorite animation for BT I’ve ever seen. Bravo. Please more.
@@jakelange5672 It's Clan Smoke Jaguar they were the target of Operation Bulldog. It was a push to take back every world they'd taken in the IS from the DC while Taskforce Serpent Went after the homeworlds.
Smoke Jags shortly before becoming the Smoked Jags. Tracking a yeetseat seems pretty dezgra especially since the Spheroids DID come at them one at a time, honoring clan rules.
It really says something about the Smoke Jaguars that when it became clear they were on the verge of complete annihilation the reaction from the other clans was mostly "sure, go ahead, we never liked those guys anyway" with a few "damn, you beat us to it" thrown in.
This is how my MW destiny players solve most of their problems in their succession wars campaign: sniper finds the enemy, Mechwarrior holds them down, aerospace drops the hammer.
Pretty much how I'd expect it to go in real life. Gotta remember that this is sldf days tho, so aerospace assets were far more common than in any of the mw games.
@@DJTourniquet This isnt 'sldf days' as in 2700s, this is the reformed starlegue under first lord Sun Tzu Liao eradicating the smoke jaguars off the face of the galaxy to tpreempt the restarting of the clan invasion post the expiry of the truce of Tukayyid. Basically the great houses (as well as St Ives, Raselhague and Comstar under Focht) decided that the clans could go to hell, pooled some 30 of their best brigades into a combined force under Michael Hasek-Davion called it the SLDF and collectively beat clan Smoke Jaguar to death.
@@bthsr7113 Agreed, it was an issue the Clans faced until the Jihad. During and after that many of the surviving Clans in the Inner Sphere adopted more sphereoid ways of fighting.
I like how the mercs were smart enough to at least pretend to follow Zell and face the clanner one at a time (Until air support showed). Makes it all the more disgraceful he aimed up at the escape pod.
Bruuuuuuuh. There were some parts of that that looked so good! The locust, Grinding the elemental, the locust, the centurion ejection, the locust. Also the fact that the rifleman thought he was the hottest shit since the sun turned on for the first time, the the fact the artist was able to convey that through the body language of a mech is so *chef kiss* That's enough to keep you warm all winter.
Simply awesome... But that end part, where the Locust MechWarrior takes of her neurohelmet while she's still piloting it... the gyro would immediately lose the stabilizing input from her inner ear, and at that speed the 'Mech would do a face plant! Neurohelmets are important!
DC Bruins has always done the best animation for the Locust. He understand that if your neurohelmet is working right, you don't drive one, you ride one. Bouncy bugs should never be underestimated. Also, came here because Tex said "drop".
You reminded me of a phrase from Tom Clancy novels. He describes fighter pilots as strapping the jet to their back and taking off. He implys they cary the jets with their own egos rather than riding in the machine.
Of course no one has drawn a neurohelmet correctly in 20 years. Its not just a bucket for your head, but to keep your neck from breaking when you fall or run into something. But whatever...
Looks like another DC Bruins animatic? Always tasty delicious moving pictures goodness, my fellow gentleman of questionable repute, and excellent taste.
I loved the Locust pilot and wanted to know more about her right away. Her having trouble with her hair at the start was kinda funny and also like kinda foreshadowed her victory pose later. That streak of red blood down her head was a great visual design choice!! So much to love here.
Concerning that victory pose, though: Never ever rip your neuro helmet off while in full sprint, especially with a fast mover like the Locust. Unless you want your face to be gravel textured.
@@ImperialJustinian Due to being a survivor of Edo on Turtle Bay. She had a lot of reason to hate Jags, and yet she took a bondswoman from them because of compassion.
There's a lot of things here I liked. The movement of the Elementals was great, I liked the detail of ejecting the SRM2, but my favorite bit was the "here's Johnny" moment with the cockpit breach. The humor broke the dramatic tone just enough to keep things human. Nicely done.
when the xl engine came out a friend mine made a locoust with 2 med. laser 1 rear mounted and max move , with a -6 to hit it we could not touch it ....
Play BTA 3062, you can pull it off like that. I did similar with a Fireball. Might not have a lot of guns, but that little shit can MOVE, and you'll watch entire lances of Assault mechs waste alpha strikes on them trying to hit them.
I think I’ve watched this about two dozen times over the last couple of days. It improves with each viewing. There are SO MANY little details that make it better each time. Holy crap, this dude has talent. And he GETS Battletech/Mechwarrior on maybe the deepest level I’ve seen yet from any animator. Even partially finished this wipes the floor with most other animations.
Neat how the medium laser turret on the Locust turns before the "head" follows. The Locust was excellently animated in general, as was the whole thing. And the scene with the ASFs getting the call and swooping in to finish off the Clan mech was awesome!
From a fan who is constantly disenfranchised from Movies series like Star Wars, Star Trek, MCU and DC due to dumb down and stupid actions that make no sense. THIS IS WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR ! You brought a tear to my eyes and gave me hope!
Locust got jumped by a point of elementals on the way in and scraped them off at the run. Took out the AAA, then tagged a Warhawk on the way out. One standard medium laser, zero armour, and fewer F*CKS to give. Kiss kiss, bang bang, bye bye. Classic bug run!
Who knew that a WIP animation could do such a great job of telling a story as well as this one did? Hats off to you, OP. You've got the talent and the balls to drive forward somethung wonderful and I can't wait to see just how bright your star is gonna shine as you keep going. *THIS* is what Battletech/Mechwarrior deserves. A creation that's obviously a labor of love and passion. All systems nominal. Prepare for combat drop.
Excellent animation especially love me some elementals. The rifleman going down immediately is classic but the centurion being a Chad is the bread winner for me
@@charlesborden8111 Someome willing to save the life of a colleague from people with the same respect of prisioners/defeated opponents as capellans. So yea, Tex as well.
Amazing!! Really caught the emotion of the characters, and the power of the Warhawk! I cheered when the Locust got through to its targets. Loved the little attempt by the Locust pilot to blow the hair out of her face. Also, I see that "hit the overhead switches" bit from Firefly at the beginning! #NeverForgetWash
This was absolutely fantastic. The introduction reminded me very much of the MechCommander campaign, and seeing the variety in the I.S. unit composition was quite refreshing. The persistence of both the Rifleman and the Centurion when facing off against that Masakari was impressive, and I admit that I squealed a little when I saw the Elementals come in and bounce their way after the Locust. Props to good ol' I.S. ingenuity in having the Locust use the terrain to scrape off the Toad, and I love that said Toad was still alive following (good ol' "hero juice"). Seeing the commander taking shots with a rifle to try and take the Masakari's attention away from his comrade's ejector seat was definitely a line of I.S. mentality, and exactly what one would expect in this setting. And of course, everything else was absolutely fantastic. After seeing Frihet, Origins, and Revival, I was incredibly excited to see a new animatic done by your hand. I came because Tex sent me, I stayed because I love your work. I look forward to seeing more from you in the hopefully not-so-distant future.
Very well done! I like the idea that cockpit glass is mostly an overlay for sensors/cameras to work on, rather than being true glass. In any case, thank you for sharing this; it was fun watch!
I normally hate Locusts because... well annoying. But I like this girl. She's got some _chutzpa_ to charge a Clan Heavy (assault? Not sure what weight class that one was). Plus she's doing what Locusts are actually for, which I can't be mad about.
I knew you wouldn't disappoint, but damn man! Seriously Well Paced, and the animation is Astonishingly fluid. Hopefully we see the Scarface Elemental again!
Professor Checkers(Tex) sent me and since my comment on his poll seems pertinent I'll repost it here " The 2% who voted "no" are clearly members of Clan "smoked" Jaguar still salty about getting their asses whopped by the Inner Sphere. EDIT: Okay I made this comment BEFORE I clicked on the video and within 2 seconds of doing so nearly fell out of my chair laughing like a madman when I saw "Operation BULLDOG, Oxide Valley, Clan Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone, 3059" LOL" Also beautifully done chaps, beautifully done even if it is just a rough draft if I could afford supporting further development I would. As it stands though I hope you'll settle for me cheering ya on from the sidelines!
I play Jags and I still like this video, it shows the Clans as faceless alien baddies that are only beatable with overwhelming numbers, combined arms, and serious losses for the Inner Sphere. Just like they should be.
Bruins doses such a good job of telling a story eith so little time, from facial expressions to the little quirks of the characters like the locust pilots hair, or who I'm assuming is the commander smoking as the clanner comes to kill him, or so he thinks. Everything was just great
They’re the ones that kicked off the Clan Invasion, and they were planning to keep advancing after Tukayyid even if they lost. So yeah, even within the warped system of “honor” the Clans claim to have, the Smoke Jaguars are completely without honor
Excellent work! The pacing and drama were perfect. And its always nice to finally see a Locust survive an encounter. 😆 They're usually the Sean Bean of every mech battle...
Sean Bean has weight and seriousness. Locusts are those little marionette ostriches you buy at craft fairs. I'd say he's more like that Rifleman. You _know_ those things aren't going to make it to the end of the battle.
12 days later, 6 pouting Clanners have down checked. 2.1K freedom loving Spherians have begged to differ. Disney and WB wish they had that kind of ratio.
Ooofff that OST came in with immediate Mechwarrior vibes, almost got the chills at the first drum roll. Some Timothy Seals level stuff, awesome. Unique animation as well. Appreciated this.
Dan Bruins can give classes in fluid motion and secondary animation. Unlike a lot of work- namely anime, these machines are animated with a very real sense of weight, and they move with inertia. Makes them feel a LOT more powerful than just jumping all over the place like spastic frogs.
Dont normally rewatch stuff but gave this about 3 rewatches as soon as i found it. The music ABSOLUTELY does it, they already have low odds but the mounting music totally builds the tension to 11. The characters look great and they get you emotionally invested as well, especially the "hair-in-the-face" moment. so much to love here, fantastic looking locust, an ejection, elementals, everytime you make mechs move it just looks so real, absolutely love it.
Clan mech comes out for some honorable combat against two mechs it way out guns and out classes. While it's back is turned the thing it's supposed to be guarding gets destroyed because a light mech ran away from its enemies to prioritize its mission over personal glory. Then the clanner gets hit by air support it can't fight back against. Operation Bulldog: teaching clanners how the Inner Sphere fights its wars and why they shouldn't want any part of it.
That Locust animation is spot on! I wish the ones in MWO moved like that. Hopefully this short film will get a little polish and rereleased. Excellent work!
This animation has excellent motion, perspective, musical synchronization, and tension. This animator has done right by the source material. Thank you for sharing
I adore this. the details of how different mechs are armed is specific and unoteworthy to anyone who didn't play the games, but there. The use of all parts of a mech, body, size difference, weapon load out, and design is there. They even use little known things like the fact that they are screens not windows, and the moble suit mechs use as a way to ambush and scout due to their better mobility over full mechs. Well bloody done.
This is excellent, absolutely top-notch storytelling. I love the dramatic pacing and transitions between shots. It grabs your attention 100% from start to finish.
Wow thanks for creating this. My BattleTech passion has been reignited recently and there is a sore lack of awesome video media supporting our BT Love.
Beautiful work as always, Mr. Bruins. Whoever owns BattleTech could do a huge service for themselves and the setting as a whole if they hired you in an official capacity to create content... But either way, I hope you keep doing what you do!
Holy shit this was awesome! I think what you got so right was every impact felt brutal, everything felt like a threat and a little skill and a lot of luck was what kept them going. The action was intesense and I love the little character/world details such as her hair falling out of place and being unable to move it in the helmet, or the "window" screen failing after damage. Wonderful!
This is just brilliant... everything from the animation, to the soundtrack, to the visual storytelling. It fully owns the storyboarding style and I wouldn't want it changed. In the future, whenever anyone asks me what Battletech is about, I'll point them here. I could type paragraphs about all the little details that I enjoyed, but the short has reminded me that sometimes less is more. Cheers!
I'm a little misty-eyed. Everything in this fits together so well. The score and animation is all the dialogue and SFX I need. Thanks for this! It's great.
Gotta say, this was pretty amazing. I love how you could tell exactly what was going on, with the Centurion et al engaging the WarHawk to draw it away from the AA guns so the Locust could zip around and take it out. The Elemental point encounter was particularly awesome, with the view-screen blacking out from damage before the arm punches through... Just general epicness. Best 4 mins and 19 seconds of my day (so far).
Beautiful work! The pacing, the minor intro text, the action...Battletech/Mechwarrior needs a new cartoon series on Netflix and D. C. Bruins would choreograph the action beautifully.
I get it was for effect, but the nerd and silly sides of me thought about the repercussions of ripping off one’s neurohelmet while your 20 ton Locust is sprinting across rocky fields 😅
Check out Bruins' new Patreon. If enough people throw their support behind this talented artist he can spend more time creating great content like this for us to enjoy!
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DONE!
MORE!
@Joshua Bressel This IS the finished piece.
@@RenegadeHPG a shame that it wont be worked on further, even if it is considered finished
@@RenegadeHPG Oof
The centeruion holding out till the last minute fighting heavier mech is the most centeruion thing ever
idk why but every time i've seen a centurion in a novel, animation or hell even on the table top they always somehow seem to get themselves into some heroic last stand situation. Its like a curse.... or a blessing.
@@thehunter5475 You could also say that it's the culture behind the mech itself; If prior Centurion pilots start to get famous for holding the line for as much as they can, it starts to build an idea that it is expected for all pilots to do so. Give it a few centuries of conflicts and that image will spread enough that centurion pilots will adopt that instance as part of their identity... like all that mechwarrior honor/chivalry concept that some people have
That is the raison d'être of the Centurion, after all - guarding others. It is a noble and stalwart trooper - it does its duty.
centurion suck rather have a shadow hawk or griffin but if you want to quibble about 5 tons i will give you it and take a phenix hawk. but it was cool , right
@@brucejegeist3713 Looks like you've never played a good Centurion.
The absolutely massive cahonnes commander stache must have to see that mech tracking the eject pod and decide the only rational decision was to go toe to toe with and assault mech armed only with a rifle. I can hear bagpipes in the distance as the ghosts of the blackwatch salute him
BLACKWATCH
@@DCBruinsMedia Ya done great, DC.
With balls that big he figured he probably wouldn't be able to get clear of the Masakari in time, so
that was actually Tex...
Fuck the infantry dude, he had a radio to call in the wing of Shalones anytime he wanted. He just wanted to take a break and smoke his cigar before doing the job. The Locust pilot was slowed down by the sheer balls she was carrying for the rest of the team (Centurion pilot excluded, he did his job and then some). She faced down the Maskari in her sad excuse of a mech that a single elemental had already beat to hell.
Actually portrayed how utterly terrifying elementals are once they get their claws on ya.
Some liberties were taken with their speed, however. Even with jets the only thing they'd see of a speeding Locust would be a roadrunner-style dust cloud :P.
@@GaldirEonai Well to be honest the mech should have collapsed the moment she took off her neurohelmet, but it looked cool.
@@MrDestroyerPrime Probably locked the legs most mechs can manage at least that.
@@DIEGhostfish Possibly, but, the logo on the enemy is clan Smoke Jaguar and the opening scroll specifically says operation "bulldog". I don't think computer assist piloting was quite a thing at the time yet.
@@MrDestroyerPrime It's during bulldog, but most mechs can at least stand idle when un-linked.
Every one of these Bulldog pilots are absolutely insane. Facing down a Masakari with a Centurion until forced to eject by massive damage, charging the same mech with a half armed Locust, hell even challenging the thing at range with the dual RAC Rifleman was nuts, AND THEN shooting at it with a big elephant gun WHILE ON FOOT. These people are fucking nuts and I love them.
Ultra ACs. RACs weren't invented until the FedCom Civil War.
They are called bulldogs for a reason. Lol
Can we give a shout out to pilot that had the balls to go toe-to-toe with a goddamn Masakari in a stock Centurion? Dude must have needed that payday BAD.
I don't think we saw the lasers fire, if they were just empty lenses it could have been an AC20 cent. But yeah he was ballsy one way or the other. Oh nope, the lasers do fire, so either it's a stock cent or one of the more advanced tech upgrades that used the weight savings for a bigger gun. Because it did not strip out the missiles like the Yen-lo-Wang mk1 or the lasers like the AH.
Warhawk. Looks like C model.
@@turk88 Masakari's the Drac name for the Warhawk. And that's a prime given they're definitely firing PPCs. I don't see any sign of LPL fire, though I don't see missiles to prove it's a prime either.
Only if we give commander stash there some credit for stepping up with no mech at all when that clanner started tracking his mechwaorries ejection seat.
@@DIEGhostfish 100% a stock Centurion, the lasers fire at 2:50
Loved how the Locust cockpit "glass" went dark after it was perforated. Overall good tension and pace throughout the entire animatic, well done!
That moment blew me away too the first time I saw it :)
Not sure if it's meant to be an interior display screen that's damaged and shut down, or chemicals in the canopy materials reacting to the close laser emission (we can make glass today that polarizes and darkens in bright light). Either way it's a neat detail, and makes far more sense for a combat vehicle than plain old glass.
@@DCBruinsMedia You got it right either way. Most of the BT novels I've read mentioned the canopy darkening when especially bright light shines through them; that way the pilot is only blinded *temporarily* when the cockpit is struck by a laser or PPC.
honestly anything made by this human is fuckin amazing. D.C Bruins yeah. phenomenal
@@DCBruinsMedia I was thinking that was the case. I actually was kinda shocked to learn about the "Big flat camera, armor plate with some wires passing through, big flatscreen" system being the norm in the first Grey Death novel And yeah even the "glass" would have polarized.
Duuuuude when the Locust pilot slammed into the wall to grind the Elemental.... pffftt SO cool. Big Brain play.
Yeah, that was a great moment. Right up there with the scene from "Frihet" where the Hunchback shoots the arm off the Dragon and proceeds to beat the Dragon with its own arm... like a Mortal Kombat fatality.
I wish they would put more of an emphasis on the melee combat in the video games like mechwarrior 5 and such
And then the Elemental gets back up...scary little toads.
@@BrigidtheMechLady Yep, but it wasn't preventing the Locust from blowing that Orbital Gun emplacment into non-functioning. The guns on the Unions would've finished the job.
Sometimes you just have to throw the terrain at Clanners. I mean it worked for Kai Allard-Liao...
Because it will be said very little, great music synced withe the glorious animation.
That score is also 100% Bruins!
Aggree, actually one of the first things I noticed. Very well done
dude is ridiculous skilled. i watched it the first (and promptly second) time for the animatic itself, and another 3 or 4 times through now just listening to the music
Bro i see that astral claws banner i love them as a chapter 40k also you are right about the music is makes the animation just flow together
I love everything about this. The infantry ground commander coordinating mechs, the rifleman popping up over the ridge and just going "GET SOME! DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!" A freaking centurion dueling a Masakari and just going "Oh I'm gonna die, but we're gonna win". You can feel the moment of "What the HELL do you think you are doing?" when the Masakari turns and stalks towards the commander who plunked it with a rifle. Full speed locust strike. Also, terrifying little elemental bastards. Go Inner Sphere. Enjoy the near extinction Smoke Jaguar. Tex sent me.
Never forget Turtle Bay.
1:22 that Rifleman was fucking READY.
All the SLDF had to do was tell House Steiner where Octoberfest was being held and to bring their best Atlast suits to the mixer. Then tell them Smoke Jaguar canceled it and they needed to be properly scouted.
Literally six lances of nothing but Atlas's all screaming in angry German decend upon them THROUGH the AA fire because screw you, we want our beer and brats dammit.
so its time to scout?
Now I want a Battletech show with this kind of action and GoT style politics driving the story forward.
Game of Thrones wishes it had the intrigue and royal skullduggery of BattleTech.
@@tenchraven Exactly. I was just clicking "reply" to say basically the same thing. Battletech had galaxy-spanning intrigue, deception, betrayal, and realpolitik 20 years before GoT was even an idea.
And frankly, canon Battletech's politics and scheming come across as a lot more believable; at least up through the Federated Commonwealth civil war. I've not read anything much of the Jihad or Republic eras.
Set that shit before just as the first succession war is kicking off and it would rule
Listen to the BPL Podcast episode titled "The Cameron Restoration" and you'll get a pretty detailed description of what that would look like. It's very compelling.
please yes
It's been three years and I'm still not tired of watching this. Enjoy your annihilation CSJ.
Aerospace getting to be the heroes is something I almost never get to see in Battletech stories. This might be my favorite animation for BT I’ve ever seen. Bravo. Please more.
"Huh, I wonder who these guys are supposed to be fighting..."
*Starts tracking escape pod with guns*
"Ah, Capellans."
Looked like a clan emblem on the base to me, and the initial text said it was Clan Smoke Jaguar territory. Then again, clanners, liao, potato potato.
@@jakelange5672 It's Clan Smoke Jaguar they were the target of Operation Bulldog. It was a push to take back every world they'd taken in the IS from the DC while Taskforce Serpent Went after the homeworlds.
@@jakelange5672 Easy now! Zhong-shoa Biohazz reporting for backstab....er eradication duty...
Smoke Jags shortly before becoming the Smoked Jags. Tracking a yeetseat seems pretty dezgra especially since the Spheroids DID come at them one at a time, honoring clan rules.
It really says something about the Smoke Jaguars that when it became clear they were on the verge of complete annihilation the reaction from the other clans was mostly "sure, go ahead, we never liked those guys anyway" with a few "damn, you beat us to it" thrown in.
This is how my MW destiny players solve most of their problems in their succession wars campaign: sniper finds the enemy, Mechwarrior holds them down, aerospace drops the hammer.
Combined arms is a helluva drug.
Never limit your thinking. Mechs are powerful, but not universally the best option.
Pretty much how I'd expect it to go in real life. Gotta remember that this is sldf days tho, so aerospace assets were far more common than in any of the mw games.
@@DJTourniquet This isnt 'sldf days' as in 2700s, this is the reformed starlegue under first lord Sun Tzu Liao eradicating the smoke jaguars off the face of the galaxy to tpreempt the restarting of the clan invasion post the expiry of the truce of Tukayyid.
Basically the great houses (as well as St Ives, Raselhague and Comstar under Focht) decided that the clans could go to hell, pooled some 30 of their best brigades into a combined force under Michael Hasek-Davion called it the SLDF and collectively beat clan Smoke Jaguar to death.
@@bthsr7113 Agreed, it was an issue the Clans faced until the Jihad. During and after that many of the surviving Clans in the Inner Sphere adopted more sphereoid ways of fighting.
I like how the mercs were smart enough to at least pretend to follow Zell and face the clanner one at a time (Until air support showed). Makes it all the more disgraceful he aimed up at the escape pod.
Was he actually targeting the escape pod or simply tracking it?
@@DCBruinsMedia Now I feel smart!
yeah well jaggies really are not clan, well anymore because they where flesh pickles .
That madman Tex sent me, glorious bastard that he is. And im glad he did as that was awesome
It's amazing how a short 4 minute long, silent animation can have a better story than a 3 hour long Hollywood blockbuster. Great job!
Bruuuuuuuh. There were some parts of that that looked so good! The locust, Grinding the elemental, the locust, the centurion ejection, the locust. Also the fact that the rifleman thought he was the hottest shit since the sun turned on for the first time, the the fact the artist was able to convey that through the body language of a mech is so *chef kiss*
That's enough to keep you warm all winter.
Yeah, I loved that touch. Rifleman had some Joseph Joestar energy in how fast he went from 'YEAH BABY' to 'AAUGH FUCK-'
@@Geth-Who Which was also completely on-brand for the RFL^^
Elemental: "HERE'S JOHNNY!!"
Man the cockpit screen going dark then seeing the metal melting through was brilliant
Tex sent the goons. Goons! Sound off!
Here
Goon 2 reporting in!
I wish to apply to be a goon lol
Deltards! *FORWARD!!!*
TH-cam in its infinite (lack of) wisdom chose not to send me that message, but I did get the notification from this channel. So it's all good.
Simply awesome...
But that end part, where the Locust MechWarrior takes of her neurohelmet while she's still piloting it... the gyro would immediately lose the stabilizing input from her inner ear, and at that speed the 'Mech would do a face plant! Neurohelmets are important!
Shes just that damn good.
DC Bruins has always done the best animation for the Locust. He understand that if your neurohelmet is working right, you don't drive one, you ride one. Bouncy bugs should never be underestimated.
Also, came here because Tex said "drop".
You reminded me of a phrase from Tom Clancy novels. He describes fighter pilots as strapping the jet to their back and taking off. He implys they cary the jets with their own egos rather than riding in the machine.
"Go Fast, Die last"
Of course no one has drawn a neurohelmet correctly in 20 years. Its not just a bucket for your head, but to keep your neck from breaking when you fall or run into something. But whatever...
@@obsidianjane4413 Suprisingly enough MW5 Mercs has the good old buckets on most portraits.
Tex sent me and I'm glad he did. Well done
I have no idea what's going on but Tex sent me.
Tex sent me as well!
You too, huh
Second
Thank you, Tex!
Looks like another DC Bruins animatic? Always tasty delicious moving pictures goodness, my fellow gentleman of questionable repute, and excellent taste.
I loved the Locust pilot and wanted to know more about her right away. Her having trouble with her hair at the start was kinda funny and also like kinda foreshadowed her victory pose later. That streak of red blood down her head was a great visual design choice!! So much to love here.
@@DCBruinsMedia she captured my lesbian heart
Her name is Amaya based on a video posted to D.C Bruins channel. She also has a cybernetic leg.
Concerning that victory pose, though: Never ever rip your neuro helmet off while in full sprint, especially with a fast mover like the Locust. Unless you want your face to be gravel textured.
@@ImperialJustinian Due to being a survivor of Edo on Turtle Bay. She had a lot of reason to hate Jags, and yet she took a bondswoman from them because of compassion.
There's a lot of things here I liked. The movement of the Elementals was great, I liked the detail of ejecting the SRM2, but my favorite bit was the "here's Johnny" moment with the cockpit breach. The humor broke the dramatic tone just enough to keep things human. Nicely done.
THAT is how I imagine a locust on the field. Not like they are in the video games. Bravo.
Absolutely. Scout mechs for the win!
when the xl engine came out a friend mine made a locoust with 2 med. laser 1 rear mounted and max move , with a -6 to hit it we could not touch it ....
What. Fast and Manuverable little buggers that you can never hit?
@@brucejegeist3713
This is no ordinary bugmech, boy!
Play BTA 3062, you can pull it off like that. I did similar with a Fireball.
Might not have a lot of guns, but that little shit can MOVE, and you'll watch entire lances of Assault mechs waste alpha strikes on them trying to hit them.
I think I’ve watched this about two dozen times over the last couple of days. It improves with each viewing. There are SO MANY little details that make it better each time. Holy crap, this dude has talent. And he GETS Battletech/Mechwarrior on maybe the deepest level I’ve seen yet from any animator. Even partially finished this wipes the floor with most other animations.
Agreed!
Neat how the medium laser turret on the Locust turns before the "head" follows. The Locust was excellently animated in general, as was the whole thing.
And the scene with the ASFs getting the call and swooping in to finish off the Clan mech was awesome!
From a fan who is constantly disenfranchised from Movies series like Star Wars, Star Trek, MCU and DC due to dumb down and stupid actions that make no sense.
THIS IS WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR !
You brought a tear to my eyes and gave me hope!
Welcome to Battletech, home of a good time!
Locust got jumped by a point of elementals on the way in and scraped them off at the run. Took out the AAA, then tagged a Warhawk on the way out. One standard medium laser, zero armour, and fewer F*CKS to give. Kiss kiss, bang bang, bye bye. Classic bug run!
Rifleman: "IM HELPING!"
*gets hit by return fire*
"OH NO!"
Average RFL3 experience tbh
RFL-3. Remember the Rifleman III is something else entirely XD
That Centurion did well for being so outclassed.
Shes a hell of a pilot
That female MechWarrior pilot in the Locust is a true badass!
Who knew that a WIP animation could do such a great job of telling a story as well as this one did? Hats off to you, OP. You've got the talent and the balls to drive forward somethung wonderful and I can't wait to see just how bright your star is gonna shine as you keep going. *THIS* is what Battletech/Mechwarrior deserves. A creation that's obviously a labor of love and passion.
All systems nominal. Prepare for combat drop.
Excellent animation especially love me some elementals. The rifleman going down immediately is classic but the centurion being a Chad is the bread winner for me
Guy with the cigar has to be Tex. All he needed was a flask of whiskey
With a sniper instead of an Awesome?
@@DIEGhostfish yeah the Awesome would have made it better... Or an urbanmech lol.
More than likely, who else would be popping off at a Masakari with a .45-70? LOL
@@charlesborden8111 Someome willing to save the life of a colleague from people with the same respect of prisioners/defeated opponents as capellans. So yea, Tex as well.
Amazing!! Really caught the emotion of the characters, and the power of the Warhawk! I cheered when the Locust got through to its targets. Loved the little attempt by the Locust pilot to blow the hair out of her face. Also, I see that "hit the overhead switches" bit from Firefly at the beginning! #NeverForgetWash
No matter how many times I watch it, I still squee at the arrival of the Shilones and the shadows of the Overlords.
Gotta adore how the elemental GOT BACK UP
Fuck man, the crescendo as the aerothechs pull skyward gives me the chills.
Same here! That's my favorite part :)
I appreciate how Mr. Bruins in all of his animations seems to love Locusts as much as I do.
Yeessss! As a self-identified Wolverine, I love nothing more than seeing the Surat children of ole' Nikki K. being pounded into dust by IS barbarians.
Hey, be careful. You are talking about the actual starleague, whole once again, even if briefly.
we of the bear shell find you , unnamed true born .
Ah, a member of the 331st Royal Battlemech Division ;)
Bruins just single-handedly made what could be an amazing TV show. This was awesome!
This was absolutely fantastic. The introduction reminded me very much of the MechCommander campaign, and seeing the variety in the I.S. unit composition was quite refreshing.
The persistence of both the Rifleman and the Centurion when facing off against that Masakari was impressive, and I admit that I squealed a little when I saw the Elementals come in and bounce their way after the Locust.
Props to good ol' I.S. ingenuity in having the Locust use the terrain to scrape off the Toad, and I love that said Toad was still alive following (good ol' "hero juice").
Seeing the commander taking shots with a rifle to try and take the Masakari's attention away from his comrade's ejector seat was definitely a line of I.S. mentality, and exactly what one would expect in this setting.
And of course, everything else was absolutely fantastic. After seeing Frihet, Origins, and Revival, I was incredibly excited to see a new animatic done by your hand. I came because Tex sent me, I stayed because I love your work. I look forward to seeing more from you in the hopefully not-so-distant future.
Very well done! I like the idea that cockpit glass is mostly an overlay for sensors/cameras to work on, rather than being true glass. In any case, thank you for sharing this; it was fun watch!
I normally hate Locusts because... well annoying. But I like this girl. She's got some _chutzpa_ to charge a Clan Heavy (assault? Not sure what weight class that one was). Plus she's doing what Locusts are actually for, which I can't be mad about.
That is a Warhawk/Masakari, 85-ton assault Omnimech.
I knew you wouldn't disappoint, but damn man! Seriously Well Paced, and the animation is Astonishingly fluid. Hopefully we see the Scarface Elemental again!
She got a fancy suit, woulda laughed if she had the classic refrigerator neurohelmet.
This is 3060s stuff. And task force bulldog to boot. The best tech the Starlegue Reborn has to offer. No more fridge helmets.
That is a brave Locust pilot, shed better get a bonus
Professor Checkers(Tex) sent me and since my comment on his poll seems pertinent I'll repost it here " The 2% who voted "no" are clearly members of Clan "smoked" Jaguar still salty about getting their asses whopped by the Inner Sphere.
EDIT: Okay I made this comment BEFORE I clicked on the video and within 2 seconds of doing so nearly fell out of my chair laughing like a madman when I saw "Operation BULLDOG, Oxide Valley, Clan Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone, 3059" LOL"
Also beautifully done chaps, beautifully done even if it is just a rough draft if I could afford supporting further development I would. As it stands though I hope you'll settle for me cheering ya on from the sidelines!
I play Jags and I still like this video, it shows the Clans as faceless alien baddies that are only beatable with overwhelming numbers, combined arms, and serious losses for the Inner Sphere. Just like they should be.
Bruins doses such a good job of telling a story eith so little time, from facial expressions to the little quirks of the characters like the locust pilots hair, or who I'm assuming is the commander smoking as the clanner comes to kill him, or so he thinks. Everything was just great
Aiming at pods?! Truly the Smoke Jaguars are without honor.
They’re the ones that kicked off the Clan Invasion, and they were planning to keep advancing after Tukayyid even if they lost. So yeah, even within the warped system of “honor” the Clans claim to have, the Smoke Jaguars are completely without honor
@@connormclernon26 Also, the whole..... Turtle. Bay. Incident.
Tex of the Black Pants Legion sent me here. This is now Clan SnekCobra territory.
"The Liberation of Asgard has begun"
Excellent work! The pacing and drama were perfect. And its always nice to finally see a Locust survive an encounter. 😆 They're usually the Sean Bean of every mech battle...
rofl Sean Bean!
Sean Bean has weight and seriousness. Locusts are those little marionette ostriches you buy at craft fairs. I'd say he's more like that Rifleman. You _know_ those things aren't going to make it to the end of the battle.
To be fair the locust kinda had plot armor for such a skilled elemental he would’ve fired his laser as soon as he penetrated the cock pit.
Ah, the noble rifleman. Doing its job: laying down fire until it is spotted and blown apart.
Interesting to see.. I'm guessing RAC2s?
Didn't exist until the FedCom Civil War. Likely Ultras.
Good ol' One Grit sandpaper - never fails.
This one actually made me laugh out loud :)
Lol, a centurion was just acquired in our battletech campaign. This was an awesome story.
Hope to see more!!!
Loved the portrayal of the Elementals, I've always thought they're one of the coolest thing about the Clans.
I can't believe that there is not something out there more modern about BattleTech a movie a anime anything hey Netflix what y'all doing
DC Bruin giving up the kind of animation that really fits the way combat is written in the novels. 💜
12 days later, 6 pouting Clanners have down checked. 2.1K freedom loving Spherians have begged to differ. Disney and WB wish they had that kind of ratio.
Ooofff that OST came in with immediate Mechwarrior vibes, almost got the chills at the first drum roll.
Some Timothy Seals level stuff, awesome.
Unique animation as well.
Appreciated this.
Dan Bruins can give classes in fluid motion and secondary animation. Unlike a lot of work- namely anime, these machines are animated with a very real sense of weight, and they move with inertia. Makes them feel a LOT more powerful than just jumping all over the place like spastic frogs.
Dont normally rewatch stuff but gave this about 3 rewatches as soon as i found it. The music ABSOLUTELY does it, they already have low odds but the mounting music totally builds the tension to 11. The characters look great and they get you emotionally invested as well, especially the "hair-in-the-face" moment. so much to love here, fantastic looking locust, an ejection, elementals, everytime you make mechs move it just looks so real, absolutely love it.
Love the vibe, felt every moment. Great story telling, fantastic!
Uncle Tex sent me. Excellent work, man!
Awesome music and the animation was lovely. The music was a great choice, I felt tense throughout. Well done!
Clan mech comes out for some honorable combat against two mechs it way out guns and out classes. While it's back is turned the thing it's supposed to be guarding gets destroyed because a light mech ran away from its enemies to prioritize its mission over personal glory. Then the clanner gets hit by air support it can't fight back against.
Operation Bulldog: teaching clanners how the Inner Sphere fights its wars and why they shouldn't want any part of it.
This is incredible. I have no words to describe my thoughts on it. *chefs kiss*
A whiskey toasted voice sent me!
Tex sent me here like the others! This is good stuff! Yeah Locust for the win!
This was a great short movie with awesome action and tension
Just what the galaxy needs, more dead clanners.
That Locust animation is spot on! I wish the ones in MWO moved like that. Hopefully this short film will get a little polish and rereleased. Excellent work!
2:30 Hello, we've been trying to reach you in regards to your mech's extended warranty.
"It's about to expire... _AND SO ARE YOU!_ "
Who needs 3D graphics?... this was freaking awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good to see Bruins back up and running again. I wanna see a piece of his work fully fleshed out and realized.
This is the best mechwarrior/battletech animation series since the actual series came out back in 1994/5
Please dont give up on this!!!
You punched me in the gut with Frihet, and you knocked me in the teeth with this one. Even unfinished. 11/10 would get beat up by your work again.
This animation has excellent motion, perspective, musical synchronization, and tension. This animator has done right by the source material. Thank you for sharing
the face at 1:53 made me laugh lol SUPER AWESOME BTW.
I adore this. the details of how different mechs are armed is specific and unoteworthy to anyone who didn't play the games, but there. The use of all parts of a mech, body, size difference, weapon load out, and design is there. They even use little known things like the fact that they are screens not windows, and the moble suit mechs use as a way to ambush and scout due to their better mobility over full mechs. Well bloody done.
This is excellent, absolutely top-notch storytelling. I love the dramatic pacing and transitions between shots. It grabs your attention 100% from start to finish.
Shes pretty brave for taking her neurohelmet off mid sprint like that!
Very well done! instant like.
I thought I'd you're a good enough pilot you really didn't need it. I thought it was only for precise movement and safeguards, etc.
Wow thanks for creating this. My BattleTech passion has been reignited recently and there is a sore lack of awesome video media supporting our BT Love.
Beautiful work as always, Mr. Bruins. Whoever owns BattleTech could do a huge service for themselves and the setting as a whole if they hired you in an official capacity to create content... But either way, I hope you keep doing what you do!
Rumor has it the commanders cigar still isn’t lit.
Holy shit this was awesome! I think what you got so right was every impact felt brutal, everything felt like a threat and a little skill and a lot of luck was what kept them going.
The action was intesense and I love the little character/world details such as her hair falling out of place and being unable to move it in the helmet, or the "window" screen failing after damage.
Wonderful!
This is just brilliant... everything from the animation, to the soundtrack, to the visual storytelling. It fully owns the storyboarding style and I wouldn't want it changed. In the future, whenever anyone asks me what Battletech is about, I'll point them here.
I could type paragraphs about all the little details that I enjoyed, but the short has reminded me that sometimes less is more. Cheers!
I'm a little misty-eyed. Everything in this fits together so well. The score and animation is all the dialogue and SFX I need. Thanks for this! It's great.
Gotta say, this was pretty amazing. I love how you could tell exactly what was going on, with the Centurion et al engaging the WarHawk to draw it away from the AA guns so the Locust could zip around and take it out. The Elemental point encounter was particularly awesome, with the view-screen blacking out from damage before the arm punches through...
Just general epicness. Best 4 mins and 19 seconds of my day (so far).
Beautiful work! The pacing, the minor intro text, the action...Battletech/Mechwarrior needs a new cartoon series on Netflix and D. C. Bruins would choreograph the action beautifully.
As a veteran of Operation Bulldog, I thank you for this.
(I bought MW3 on release and sank God knows how many hours into it)
I get it was for effect, but the nerd and silly sides of me thought about the repercussions of ripping off one’s neurohelmet while your 20 ton Locust is sprinting across rocky fields 😅