Lawsuits. The only thing that can successfully take down a Mech Suit.

@CantankerousDave

2 жыл бұрын

Harmony Gold knows this well.

@thallus23

2 жыл бұрын

😂😂

@RayShadow278

2 жыл бұрын

This is the plot of Dai-Guard lol

@kamal_jab

2 жыл бұрын

Even super robot are not safe from lawsuit.Orbot would be a legendary series if tonka and their gobots does not eager to destroy it

@Belgand

2 жыл бұрын

@@RayShadow278 I really wish Dai-Guard was more about legal technicalities, bureaucratic red tape, and how mecha tropes are unrealistic, and a lot less about the power of friendship and stepping up to be an unlikely hero. They ended up almost totally ignoring the core joke in favor of generic anime tropes.

I love how you don't "just" talk about toys, but dig into the legal and financial struggles of a franchise, as well as going deeper into the minutia of those struggles. Keep being awesome! 😁

@DarthG33k

2 жыл бұрын

This is precisely why these guys are awesome!

@taurincochran3398

2 жыл бұрын

@@DarthG33k yes sir!😁

@vaguerant

2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely, it's the deep dives that keep these interesting even when it's a subject I've never heard of or don't care about. Great research and writing.

@AgentNevets

2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely

@comettamer

2 жыл бұрын

It does make things way more interesting, don't it?

Exosquad was incredibly mature for a cartoon outside of Japan. It really deserved better. I think, in the right hands, a reboot could do really well today.

@thebigunodos3559

2 жыл бұрын

Yes!

@jackkoffin1

2 жыл бұрын

I loved the show as a kid for exactly that reason, though I probably couldn't have articulated that idea very well. But I remember that it didn't feel as dumbed down as a lot of other cartoons at the time, and it felt way more serious about its story than the other shows I could've compared it to, namely Transformers and GI Joe. I had almost no exposure to mature Japanese Anime shows until I was much older.

@lipstickzombie4981

2 жыл бұрын

The only other cartoon that I can think rivaling this on seriousness is Spiral Zone

@jackkoffin1

2 жыл бұрын

@@lipstickzombie4981 Holy cow, you just solved a 35 year old mystery for me. I remember I had a Spiral Zone toy as a kid and I've spend years trying to remember what it was. The action figures came with a storyline cassette tape that played out like a radio drama. Never knew for sure that there was a cartoon to go with it, but I suspected there was. Thank you!

@gutsygutman2475

2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely! The episode when Nara returns to her parents farm to find her brother on Venus, felt incredibly mature of a topic for young kids.

"The legal fights between Hasbro and Harmony Gold are both legendary and STUPID." This got me chuckling. Thank you, Dan.

@UnexpectedHistory

2 жыл бұрын

I've been a Robotech fan since it originally aired, but I can't stand how Harmony Gold has mishandled the brand. From stupid lawsuits to the almost total lack of new content, Harmony Gold needs to lose the rights to it entirely and let someone else revive Robotech in the modern era...

@Kaimax61

Жыл бұрын

@@UnexpectedHistory it's been THANKFULLY kinda resolved. back in April 2021. It's now a "you don't bother me, I don't bother you" situation. The Agreement basically says, The distribution of Macross or robotech will be allowed. So Bigwest and Nue Studios can finally import any new Macross stuff in english, and Harmony Gold can do the fuck it wants to do with Robotech projects.

I tell people all the time, that one episode where the main villain describes the one time in his life that he was happy, was profoundly moving and influential to me as a child. It made kid me cry. Such a amazing show

@nobalkain624

2 жыл бұрын

This show was the closet thing to an Anime we ever got at the time. I was crushed when we never got another Season as that cliff hanger was intense.

@charlespancamo9771

2 жыл бұрын

@@nobalkain624 oh yea, it was like the show was about to take a whole nother sci-fi turn and then boom.. it was over. Such a shame. One good thing came out of that though - the prices of the toys skyrocketed! I made 1000 dollars off my collection a couple years ago! haha

@fullarmourtracksuit4023

2 жыл бұрын

Really, that’s the story you tell people all the time?

@deathproofpony

2 жыл бұрын

@@fullarmourtracksuit4023 Does that make you angry? Maybe you should stop cucking yourself and go outside and touch grass.

@yaoming2264

Жыл бұрын

This was when phaeton reminisced when before the war he was at the University of Chicago. So full of hope….. how sad

This show REALLY stuck the landing on complicated and nuanced issues like slavery, free will, grieving loss, politics, and other themes that at the time were the exclusive providence of anime, no wonder they were going to bring in Robotech

@thallus23

2 жыл бұрын

This was one of the few shows where a main character died too! That was not done back then.

@101000102

2 жыл бұрын

I never saw the ending. How did the show “stick the landing?”

@thallus23

2 жыл бұрын

@@101000102 The humans defeated Phaeton and the Neosapiens, however there came a new threat that was never explored. The show ended on that note.

@user-wj6dt5bq3w

3 ай бұрын

The new threat was Jonas Simbacca and his pirate clan. It was a metaphor for the Cold War. Simbacca symbolized Stalin.

Dad was telling me that during the summer of 94 he had received his check from work and stopped by a Walmart. There the clearance section was full of marked down ExoSquad toys to make way for that season's new Christmas arrivals. Yes he bought as many as he could to get the whole set. Sadly they were in a box next to his USS Flagg in the storage building fire.

The most memorable moment, for me, in the show occurred when the heavy weapons specialist had to use the comms suit. He had compatibility issues. The characters are chiding to get moving. The suit pipes up in complaint. He says he can think of something the suit can do. He squints really hard, and you see the thoughts zip down the wire. " This Exo-frame is physically incapable of completing that task" He had told it to go fuck itself.

@pathevermore3683

2 жыл бұрын

Bronski

@schrodingersgat4344

2 жыл бұрын

@@pathevermore3683 Thank you! I couldn't {for the life of me} remember. The moment, though, STUCK.

@Autobubbs

2 жыл бұрын

@@pathevermore3683 Good ole Bronski.

@MrDibara

Жыл бұрын

​@@AutobubbsI still remember the Genesis/Mega Drive game and how Bronski during a cutscene is trying to acquire enemy data from a computer... *when the thing suddenly asksfor a password.* I kid you not, one of his failed attempts was to literally type "password" as the answer. 🤦‍♂️

@sethraelthebard5459

Жыл бұрын

And the following scene with Admiral Winfield saying "Were those last few pictures upside-down?" There were so many small nuances that made the show so unique in it's era. I hope that somehow, someday, Exo-Squad will become popular again.

Exo Squad was so good. It was the first animated show I remember watching where people actually died and there were consequences. I still have some of the toys and pilots floating around somewhere at my parents house.

@scottlyttle5586

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting that Robotech was one of the other series that killed off a main character..

@junrosamura645

2 жыл бұрын

The death scenes where a shocker as a child and I loved it. Made me wonder why GI Joes never got killed with all that gun fire in the show. The robotech cross over was odd and I refused to pick them up when I saw them on the shelf.

@baltousprime7897

2 жыл бұрын

@@junrosamura645 In G.I. Joe: The Movie we saw Duke slip into a coma only because after the outcry of what happened in Transformers: The Movie which had got its release pushed into theatres prior to G.I. Joe. Because Optimus Prime dies and gave many kids life long traumatic shock Duke who was supposed to die, never did. Maybe Toy Galaxy could sum up the whole ordeal better.

@chrisbaker8533

2 жыл бұрын

@@scottlyttle5586 They killed a lot of main characters in that show off. I mean jeez they wiped out the entire bridge crew in the final episode of season 1.

@charlespancamo9771

2 жыл бұрын

those things are valuable! even just a single missile can go for 12-18 bucks! I made 1000 bucks on my collection a couple years ago and prices have only gone up. I sold one of the robotech walkers for 100 dollars! It's crazy.

It never ceases to give me a sense of wonder in how so many of these properties were just a business entity in order to sell a product, yet to their fans (almost all of whom are middle aged adults at this point), they were real stories with universes of possibility. Characters we rooted for, or even were inspired by, villains we loved to hate (or even just loved), stories that we remember to this day, toys we remember creating our own stories with, man, just wild.

Thank you so much for this video, my father Michael Edens passed last year, and I know he always appreciated all of the fans of the series. Jeff was briefly in talks with Crunchyroll of all places about a reboot, but unfortunately between the buyout from Funimation and other factors, talks were uneventful. Great video, and thanks for telling folks about one of my dad's favorite projects he ever worked on.

@fiveoctaves

Жыл бұрын

Sorry about your father. So that is the update. Jeff mentioned development of a reboot but it's been over a year-and-a-half. Sad. As the dust settles and the "new" Crunchyroll takes off, maybe it can be revisited? I hope the issue isn't that they are focusing on Robotech.

@graptakular

Жыл бұрын

I am happy to know that those who worked on the show had the passion and love for it as the fans did. Thank you for sharing.

@J_Alfred

Жыл бұрын

This show was one of the best sci fi series of all time, up there with The Expanse or For All Mankind. I wish I could thank your father, at least I can share my gratitude with someone close to him. Thanks once more 🙏

Exp Squad was such a good show. It dealt with a lot of serious and heavy topics, and had such cool toys!

To this day, I'm still butthurt about the cliffhanger that ended the show. I absolutely LOVED ExoSquad as a kid. It had a solid timeslot where I lived at the time and it came on 3 days a week. I followed it religiously all three times the series played through, waiting patiently for the new season. Even in my 40s now, I would definitely jump on the bandwagon if the show made a comeback today. The material is powerful enough to carry a franchise beyond toys. I would go see a movie. I would buy a game on Steam or Playstation. And I would watch a weekly show if it went back to that, I haven't watch a weekly show in many MANY years.

@kaiser1963

2 жыл бұрын

It was suppose to get a season 3 but the timeslot changed hurt the ratings and the network got bought out

@ReaverPrime

2 жыл бұрын

@@kaiser1963 I know the backstory. Plus, no showrunner would purposely end on a cliffhanger if they knew weren't getting renewed.

@Autobubbs

2 жыл бұрын

Same here!

@travisbishop782

Жыл бұрын

You and me both!

@fiveoctaves

Жыл бұрын

Three days a week? How strange. If it had ended an episode early, we wouldn't be nearly as distraught but alas...

Ah Exo Squad. Thanks for making me into a dork at an age when I should have at least TRIED to age out of liking toys and cartoons. You were just too damned good. ;)

@jcjc4164

2 жыл бұрын

Those toons and toys were made by adults and the show had mature themes.

Hot Take: the Battletech mythology and “Blood of Kerensky” trilogy is one of the best ‘mech stories out there, and should be made into a movie or high-budget HBO series. Imagine the mechs of “Pacific Rim” with the political intrigue of “Game of Thrones”, with the gritty futurism of “Star Wars”. It’s a shame that the FASA/Harmony Gold fiasco is likely to keep this from becoming a reality.

@Belgand

2 жыл бұрын

Leave some credit for Catalyst Game Labs being wildly incompetent as well! And how the rights now rest with Topps due to all of the sales and buy-outs.

I loved these toys and always wondered how this brand could have possibly died when it had so much going for it. This is eye opening.

...Now I'm imagining a day when the US military unveils designs for an actual mech made for combat and Harmony Gold sues for copyright infringement. Sounds like exactly the kind of goofy thing that would happen.

This was one of those transformative shows back in the day that elevated everyone that watched it to another level of maturity (at least, while they were watching it). Some of the Thundercats/Silverhawks/Bravestarr hows hit that mark too, for a few episodes anyways, as did all the early airings of anime on syndicated tv and early cable. It paved the way for shows like Avatar the Last Airbender and others. Love it.

I'm happy that this masterpiece is getting its proper recognition..videos like this are keeping it alive..hopefully they'll be a continuation one day

I unironically love that the mere mention of Harmony Gold / Robotech is now on the level of the "the call is coming from inside the house".

As a kid of the 80s/90s, Exosquad's story probably stood the test of time better than any other cartoon of my childhood. It was a breath of fresh air to have a story that tackled serious issues and had a serial storyline with long-term consequences (rather than "reset every week" storylines where consequences were rare or nonexistent). Nowadays I know there were at least _some_ other animated series that had similar stories, but I saw almost none of it while growing up. (I think I saw fewer than 3 total Robotech episodes growing up, for example.)

Harmony Gold should ask themselves if they're the bad guys because the answer is yes

@harlannguyen4048

2 жыл бұрын

I THINK they may have cleaned up their act, since they're finally moving forward with the Robotech movie and have plans to release Macross material in the west with support of Big West.

I use to watch EXO Squad with my mom when I was little because the story was pretty darn good for a Saturday morning kids cartoon and my mom was enthralled almost as much as I was lol. She also liked watching X-Men as well!

@orcsmash9

2 жыл бұрын

Your Mom is cool. Mine also watched stuff like that and played video games.

Me and my brother loved this show more than any other at the time. It was on in the afternoons where we were in MA. The weeks where they had 4 or 5 new episodes were a godsend. We ate it up and couldn’t wait until the next new episode. The wartime storyline from multiple POVs explains my love for DS9 a few years later…

@jacobmanalang8162

2 жыл бұрын

i used to mircowave cheese on mission chips and watch this show. that was the shit

Exosquad was great, I used to catch it every morning before middle school - the opening theme was a banger, it always hyped me up before I had to walk to school. I still have my Phaeton and Marsala figures with their E-Frames, and the lights and sounds on Marsala's E-Frame still work despite my never having changed the batteries.🤷‍♂

19:30 I keep my JT Marsh figure on my desk, and I can confirm "Jimbo" here came from the same mold from the neck down! Exosquad is near and dear to me, and it has aged amazingly well compared to many of its contemporaries. At the time I was too young to understand why it resonated so much more than some of the other cartoons I watched, and thanks to the scheduling debacle it wasn't until decades later I was able to see the second season in its entirety (which made the cliffhanger ending that much more painful, coming back to the series after so long only to learn it didn't have a proper resolution). Revisiting it gave me a whole new appreciation for the storytelling. Thanks as always for the deep-dive, TG. It never ceases to amaze and dismay how many stories will never be told thanks to businesses fighting over who has permission to sell them.

I've only just clicked on this and not even started watching the video, so I'll get this out of the way now; I've been awaiting you guys taking on Exo-Squad for a long time. There's no other channel out there that could do it justice and talk about it with the knowledge and honesty that I know you're gonna deliver. EDIT: I thought you'd talked about this show before...I'm really drunk and questioned my memory. Turns out I was right, but this was a wonderful update and follow-up to the original video.

@MonkeyPunchZPoker

2 жыл бұрын

You were amnesia rayed by Harmony Gold lawyers.

I always wondered why it was so hard to find this show on TV. it suddenly makes such perfect sense. you didn't mention it but I'd like to pilot the Robotech season 3 Beta fighter, that thing was awesome.

@davidgannon5388

2 жыл бұрын

I'll pilot the Alpha fighter, and we can link up!

@jay112281

2 жыл бұрын

I remember it airing at 9:30, I was usually in school at that time. Not sure if it ever aired at a time that made it watchable for school age kids.

@nicholasromig5506

2 жыл бұрын

@@jay112281 yeah what a brilliant idea, airing a show for 8-12 year olds when most of them are in school

@davidgannon5388

2 жыл бұрын

What a shame! It aired at 3:30 pm here. It's the chief reason I so despise He-Man. Guess what show took over its time slot when it was finally replaced?

Excellent episode. We were late to school several times because Exo-Squad was randomly on in the mornings and our dad would watch it with us. Guess I got a reason to get Peacock now….

I remember taking back bottles and cans for weeks, saving up to buy some Joes. When I finally had 12 bucks my ma drove me to Walmart. I eagerly looked up and down the shelves and my eyes fell on Jt Marsh with his sweet winged mech. Any thought of GiJoe went out the window.

@ranwolf7650

2 жыл бұрын

I had a similar story but replace GIJoe with Voltron and Exo-Squad with Transformers' Jetfire

@karmaq8462

Жыл бұрын

You mean gi Joe extreem ?

@aaronfountain4933

Жыл бұрын

More like GiJoe ninja force, eco squad, and a few of the space figures.

I loved these toys as a kid! It’s so super cool to see Exo-squad get attention again! The E-frame suits were amazing! The show was pretty cool too. I definitely need to look up that DVD set! Thanks again Dan! Your videos are so awesome!

I vaguely remember a cousin having some of these toys. Ever since experiencing the show when it was on Hulu, I’ve considered it a top favorite. Whenever one thinks of the ‘Sci-Fi Top Five’ that seemingly all nerds are into, it’s usually Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Mass Effect, and Firefly. (At least that’s what I’ve thought.) For me though, my personal ‘Sci-Fi Five’, in chronological order, is as follows: 1. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea 2. Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers 3. Robotech 4. Exosquad 5. Sliders

@deadmetalbr

2 жыл бұрын

Don't forget Stargate! Maybe not these days but it was popular enough to stay on tv for like 15 years. Or Babylon 5. Me, I had a soft spot for Andromeda (and Lexa Doig 😍).

I remember seeing this show as a kid and explaining the plot of an episode to my mom and my mom being baffled that that kind of content was in a kid's show.

Everything Playmates made had a house style - you could always tell it was them despite all the different licenses and genres. Their Exosquad toys were pretty great!

This may have been the toyline I had the most from, aside from TMNT, as a kid. I remember having battles with the giant robot from the weird GI Joe Star Brigade. The transforming E-frames, like JT's motorcycle, had tons of play value.

I loved the show as a kid, and still have my toys in storage. I rewatched it a couple years ago and it holds up pretty well, it's like a precursor to battlestar galactica, but for kids

@samellowery

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah unlike he-man or gi joe exo squad is still good.

@beniverson3777

2 жыл бұрын

@@samellowery The GI Joe show is pretty lame, but the movie holds up. The animation on the scene when Pythona is breaking into Cobra compound is still fantastic.

Been rewatching the show on Peacock. For a show appealing to kids it was really mature and grim. It deserved a 3rd season.

It makes me glad to know there are people that like this series as much as I do.

This series blew my mind as a kid. A continuous narrative, themes of war and politics, characters dying and getting grievously wounded, an entire artificial slave race - to say this was anime before anime happened in the U.S. almost misses the point. This was a kid's action show, and its purpose was to sell toys, true enough. But it never talked down to its audience. It never insulted their intelligence, or tried to insulate them from the hard truths of war. This wasn't G.I. Joe, with an almost invincible team of super-soldiers pew-pewing through a cartoonish bunch of the world's lamest terrorists with laser guns. This was as gritty, raw, and real as war could get on a Saturday morning in the '90s; the stakes were high, the injuries hurt, and the prize was no less than the survival of the human race. By the time I discovered this series, I was pretty much past the age of playing with action figures. But I still had plenty of Lego, and this series inspired the bros and I to build some incredible mechs of our own. Maybe one day, I'll find some old photos of those things, put 'em up on Facebook or something. Hopefully, no one sues.

This was great… again! I remember trying to catch Exosquad at 6 or 6:30 AM before school. I would actually get up early to try and catch it. Also, the original run of toys were the absolute best. They were so well made and completely fulfilled the fantasy set by the show.

@thallus23

2 жыл бұрын

I used to watch it in the morning before school too 😎

Smooth retelling and analysis!! I was barely of age when Exosquad hit the airwaves, but I remember feeling like I was actually learning from that show -- the austerity and intrigue were amazing given the animation at the time; kids watching that learned to grapple with actual PolySci, eugenics, classicism, ethics, and some refreshingly deep morality for a Saturday AM toon. Worth digging up online!

My brothers loved the show and I got into it later. Was upset we didn’t get season 3. There was a great set for it.

One of the many shows that I was devastated about because it doesn’t have an ending.

@user-wj6dt5bq3w

3 ай бұрын

Season 3 was naturally the Cold War against Jonas Simbacca (Joseph Stalin) since Phaeton’s defeat represented the end of World War II.

Oh my golden toilet. Thank you for this. This us my favorite series and thought it was to adult for my young eyes but I loved every second.

I've always found it kind of depressing just how big robotech could have been, if harmony gold didn't have its head up its litigious butt.

@Belgand

2 жыл бұрын

Or, even better, if they'd never made Robotech in the first place and just faithfully translated Macross. They would have made plenty of money on subsequent Macross series as well instead of digging in to patent troll for their hack-job.

@chrisbaker8533

2 жыл бұрын

@@Belgand I'll kindly disagree, the differences were fairly minor between SDF macross and Robotech: the Macross saga. There's a litany of reasons i could go into to demonstrate it wouldn't have happened the way you think, but we'll never know.

@EGOS42

Жыл бұрын

@@Belgand The problem with your argument is that is exactly what they initially set out to do - translate Macross for U.S. distribution. The run of only 36 episodes wasn't enough to secure television syndication in the United States at the time. So it was necessary for them to tack on the other 2 series to meet syndication requirements just to get on the air. What they did was necessary just to get Macross on TV. I won't excuse their many misteps since but realize their hands were tied at the beginning.

@BBHood217

Жыл бұрын

I like to imagine that in an alternate timeline, Harmony Gold waited until Macross Frontier and then turned that into Robotech; with how insanely popular Macross F was and still is, that Robotech probably would've become bigger than the one in this timeline.

@chrisbaker8533

Жыл бұрын

@@BBHood217 Nah. Robotech is a product of the time period it came out in. Too many things changed in the intervening years between 1985 and 2008 to make it viable.

This cartoon is one of my favorites from the 1990's! I still have a nice collection of EXOSQUAD action figures and E-Frames that I bought from K-B Toys in Dover Mall back in the late 1990's!

Gah. Late GenX childhood meant everything that had great potential got cut short by Harmony Gold lawsuits. They were the HotRod to our playtime's Optimus Prime. The Artax to our imagination. The Buffalo Bills to everything that could have been great.

I really wish Exosquad would make a comeback. Thanks Dan, you did your research as usual and made a great video. Keep up the good work.

Exo Squad rocked! I loved the very varied mech suite designs. Reusing the Robotech desings was fine by me back in the day.

I swear every time I find myself on a binge of this channel it always blows my mind that this channel doesn't have 1 mil+ subscribers. I wish I had more friends to show this channel to lol. As a side tangent I hope Dan is part owner/creator because he deserves all the compensation since half of the entertainment and draw of this channel is his ability to tell all of these stories with a perfect combo of authority, passion, and a fantastic cadence that even makes something you have no interest in captivating none the less.

I woke up early before school just to watch this show. It was definitely my favorite cartoon of the '90s. I always hated there was never a third season.

ExoSquad were my ABSOLUTE favorite toys as a kid. I would even wake up SUPER early to watch the show, go back to bed, then get up to get ready for school. If the time slot changed, I would meticulously go thru the latest TV guide (as a third grader mind you) to find out it’s new slot. I didn’t do that for any other show before or since.

I was in my late teens when this came out and I was more into anime. Never watched the show but I did get some of the Robotech vehicles that were released under the Exo Squad line since I was big into Robotech and Macross.

Always loved Exosquad. Back in an age where great storytelling strangely coexisted with multi-coloured merchandising, which made a universe's military look demented yet cool.

I had to get up even earlier than my usual wake-up time for school so I could watch Exo-Squad at some ungodly hour like 6 or 6:30 am. It was worth it.

@JGratsch

2 жыл бұрын

Same!

My brothers and I loved these toys! Between the three of us, we had most of them, and had a lot of fun. These sparked my love of all things Mecha.

One of the greatest mech stories that isn't an anime. I tried running season 3 as a sci-fi dnd game using battletech rules or tiny frontiers.

This cartoon was so cool. Had a couple of the suits too. Thank you for a more "in depth" video Dan!

🌸😹I am always made to smile when I visit this channel and it truly is a treasure of KZread.😹🌸

ExoSquad was for sure one of the best shows ever made. I absolutely loved it. That might have been the end of high quality, interesting toys.

I got Peacock for a movie and stayed to catch up on EXO Squad... I remember first season was hard to find when it originally aired and I don't even think the 2nd made it to my area... such a good show

Man!! I just randomly thought of this cartoon and the toys for it. I loved this stuff. I remember my older brother taking me to target and buying the big blue spaceship and a bunch of the suits. I could probably retire if I held on to all the toys I had as a kid. Thanks for this!!

This video was awesome. Well done. I was late to this series of cartoons, and have caught it on DVD. Love it. Great work.

I never fail to get hyped when the commercials they post names a city I been to or lived in. I was so excited as a kid to go and see what cartoons were playing in other cities when we went on vacation. First anime I ever saw was Dominion Tank Police in the Poconos

I remember as a kid I had to finish watching exo squad before I had to go to school and if I had to leave I’d miss it.Have a lot of the toys and glad to see it’s not forgotten:)

Man Harmony Gold has literally ruined everything that I love. Both Macross and Battletech. I'm glad that terribly history is done with.

I love the mention at the last moment of Select Converters - which had both normal version (albeit small - around 5 inches in standing mode) and squished SD versions of the Valkyrie in three or four different colors with their own oddball names. When you consider the legally licensed, the questionably licensed and the outright bootlegs and knock-offs, there's so many versions of the Valkyrie out there.

Wow that took me back. When the Exo Squad commercial started playing I was 7 years old again.

Amazing timing! I just finished watching the entire series a few weeks ago. So good.

Quite possibly the greatest children's cartoon about interplanetary geopolitics and its socioeconomic repercussions with sick animation and mech designs

Another excellent and informative video :) Thanks for sharing.

Best channel on KZread. Keep up the great work!

Dan probably has the whole "Harmony Gold Entertainment... Three different shows..." speech burned into his subconscious at this stage. Can probably recite it in his sleep.

This came on Sunday mornings when it aired. It was like a cartoon soap opera that dealt with some heavy subject matter.

Best and blissfully succinct commentary on all the mech legal BS ever, and brilliantly editied!

I remember recording episodes of EXO-SQUAD as a kid on VHS. It wasn't easy--it was on at a lousy time and episodes were often shown out of order. I got all but one of the original Exo-Squad toys--and I still have them in good condition today. Did not know the story behind Exo-Squad and Robotech toys coming together until now, but both came from great shows I loved at the time.

I loved ExoSquad as a kid. It was one of the first series I remember that depicted humans piloting mech suits. Unfortunately I didn't always get to see the show, but I loved the toys. We definitely need an ExoSquad resurgence

Love that show. Thanks for the tip on Peacock…. I still need to see season 2!

I loved the exo squad video game and toys

Thank you for this one. I loved this show as a child and was upset the way it ended. I'm also blown away how few people remember it.

I really really am invested in this story. Thank you so much for sharing!

“Are we the baddies?” is the new “Is it canon?” Plz make this an ongoing gag.

This is the episode I've been waiting for!!

I could imagine an Exosquad game like Front Mission 1, Battlemech, or even Xcom 2 / Warhammer Mechanicus. Lego or Sembo could also pick up the license to produce some amazing brick sets. I really liked the show as a kid, even now! Thank you guys for the report about one of my favorite childhood shows! ❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍

Nice timing. I'm currently in the midst of re-watching the series for the first time since I viewed it in the nineties.

Battletech Valkyrie! But Exosquad holds a special place in my heart. I STiLL have a number of their toys decades later....

I loved this show as a kid. I have the first season on DVD, and I truly appreciate the note of season 2 being on Peacock! I'm adding it to my list now!

This was better than most movies incredible storyline for the time always wish they would continue the story

This was one of my favorite cartoons to watch growing up.

Love this show, the frames and characters were all very interesting. That opening for season 2 was dynamite. Wish season 2 got a dvd release.

"WHEN fans could find exosquad , it did well"-I feel this so hard! I loved EXOSQUAD but it seemed like it was never on at the same time, it would be on twice on week and only once(and a completely different day) the next. So frustrating, and disappointing!

I can't get enough about battletech and related stuff! bravo on all of the vids it's all so fascinating

Loved this show. Prime example of decent animation being carried by an excellent story

Hell yeah! Exo Squad was awesome! Really hopes it gets a Voltron-esc remake one day.

I got a hold of a Zentradei Officers Battle Pod and a Zentraedi Attack pod through the Exo-Squad branding. Was great fun to rework and repaint the models to match that of Macross/Robotech.. I managed to see this series when it re-aired on USA Network around 1996. I was very impressed, and after being a Robotech fan for a decade at that point, I was rather impressed with Exo-Squad as well.

Watched this during it's original run as a kid, adored it, got most of the toys (which I still have some of) and it remains one of my favorite shows ever. I'd argue that it's basically Battlestar Galactica for kids.

I remember finding and buying an "Exo Squad" branded figurine in the mid 90s that I recognized as a "Warhammer" mech from Battletech/Mech Warrior. I bought it just to sit it by my PC while I played my brand new copy of Mech Warrior 2, and had no idea about the muddy license issues of FASA or Harmony Gold and all the various toys and games from various companies. If I did, I would have bought more when I saw them.

This show was so freaking awesome!! I think I only had like 2 episodes recorded on a VHS tape but I watched the hell out of those episodes LOL. Recently was able to score some of the toys from back in the day, the mechs/exosuits were awesome!

Thanks for the in-depth dive into the full history of this amazing show. In a way, I was lucky to even be able to watch it during its run - my local affiliate would actually play it at 6AM (for crying out loud!!), but it matched my school schedule. I would religiously tune in every morning with breakfast. What a great start to my day for a while. It's really too bad it didn't get the traction it deserved!

I'm thankful for your channel that explained how all these properties clashed behind the scenes. I liked ExoSquad, but I loved Robotech first, then played Battletech with friends. Knowing how these companies were basically sold rights when they may not have actually had them is fascinating. However Harmony Gold can go to hell for locking the rights without producing any content and simply suing anyone they thought they could win money from.