Lawsuits, War & Robotech: The Secret History of Exosquad

Thank you to Spero Toys for sponsoring this video. Preorder Animal Warriors of the Kingdom Primal Series at Big Bad Toy Store Today: www.bigbadtoys...
Exosquad was a 52 episode animated series that ran in syndication in the US in 1993 and 1994 about the interplanetary war between humanity and Neosapiens, a fictional race artificially created as workers/slaves for the Terrans.
However, no one could have foreseen the absolute crap-storm just releasing Exosquad was going to bring with it but then also deciding, for some reason, to release Robotech action figures as part of the line of toys.
Lawsuits involving Battletech, FASA, Tyco, Harmony Gold and Playmates Toys ensued.
We'll do our best to lay out the secrets behind Exosquads short life and long legacy.
Our History of Robotech Playlist: • The History of Robotech
Our Battletech video: • The Wild History of Ba...
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[@wstine79]

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

[@CantankerousDave]

Harmony Gold knows this well.

[@thallus23]

😂😂

[@RayShadow278]

This is the plot of Dai-Guard lol

[@kamal_jab]

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]

@@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.

[@taurincochran3398]

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]

This is precisely why these guys are awesome!

[@taurincochran3398]

@@DarthG33k yes sir!😁

[@vaguerant]

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]

Absolutely

[@comettamer]

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

[@khandimahn9687]

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]

Yes!

[@jackkoffin1]

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]

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

[@jackkoffin1]

@@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]

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.

[@SwiftTrooper5]

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

[@UnexpectedHistory]

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]

@@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.

[@Getwright-]

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]

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]

@@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]

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

[@deathproofpony]

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

[@yaoming2264]

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

[@Ryanizer1000]

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]

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

[@101000102]

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

[@thallus23]

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

[@MrTheMighty]

...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.

[@AzureSkyStudios]

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]

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]

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]

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 🙏

[@grennbalze]

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

[@mechaplatypus82]

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]

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

[@junrosamura645]

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]

@@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]

@@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]

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.

[@jemkey6930]

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.

[@gregthorne4292]

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]

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.

[@stormsigma]

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.

[@bradbradfordson9158]

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.

[@mikekz4489]

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]

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

[@schrodingersgat4344]

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]

Bronski

[@schrodingersgat4344]

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

[@Autobubbs]

@@pathevermore3683 Good ole Bronski.

[@MrDibara]

​@@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]

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.

[@ReaverPrime]

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.

[@kaisarr7632]

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

[@ReaverPrime]

@@kaisarr7632 I know the backstory. Plus, no showrunner would purposely end on a cliffhanger if they knew weren't getting renewed.

[@Autobubbs]

Same here!

[@travisbishop782]

You and me both!

[@fiveoctaves]

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

[@BaconHer0]

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

[@harlannguyen4048]

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.

[@aaronfountain4933]

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]

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

[@karmaq8462]

You mean gi Joe extreem ?

[@aaronfountain4933]

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

[@twizzum5]

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

[@chrisbaker8533]

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]

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]

@@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]

@@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]

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]

@@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.

[@Ripster40]

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

[@The_Infinite_Squirrel]

This will be my first "first comment" on KZbin. Dan Rules! The new icon is cool, too.

[@danieljeyn9847]

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.

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

Battletech has one of the most interesting and in-depth sci-fi settings around; I find it more intriguing and engaging than star trek and star wars most of the time.

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

Also, in case I havent said it recently, fuck harmony gold.

[@nicholasromig5506]

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]

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

[@jay112281]

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]

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

[@davidgannon5388]

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?

[@wesh8121]

"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!

[@MantisRapture]

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]

You were amnesia rayed by Harmony Gold lawyers.

[@DementedDistraction]

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.🤷‍♂

[@elknolasshrineofraja3966]

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

[@bluedotdinosaur]

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".

[@waverod9275]

Five bonus points for the David Mitchell reference, Ten penalty points for using the most common one. Assessed for each occurance.

[@TheSkullfort]

Loved Exo Squad, it was always hard to find the most wanted Exo Frames but they were all quality builds.

[@Kujakuseki01]

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

[@DoomedPaladin]

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.

[@JimMahoneyBot]

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]

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

[@darth_reason2315]

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….

[@zatransis]

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]

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

[@orinanime]

"the legal fights between Hasbro and Harmony Gold are both legendary and stupid". My favorite statement of this whole video.

[@manofaction1807]

Those Animal Warriors need a cartoon. Great looking figures!

[@slipshodaverage844]

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.

[@pafedewa]

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

[@DandySlayer13]

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]

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

[@matthewrenn]

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.

[@Autobubbs]

First episode I watched was caught by accident. Stayed up all night to catch 'Transformers: Generation 2" only to get caught with a rerun... with nothing ELSE to do I kept the TV on to catch "Defying Olympus". It was then that they had their claws in me. Luckily they moved it to 9:00am the next year. Have almost EVERY main character's toy, save for Shiva and Simbaca.

[@ziggygunz2447]

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.

[@dokoookami5751]

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!

[@CloudCobra22]

And then it turned out that Harmony Gold didn’t have the rights it thought it did

[@robertalonso1271]

Loved exotic squad as my post Robotech fix. Never knew the connection!

[@MikeKaess]

Here's my secret. I'm an Exosquad poser. I remember it coming out. i remember the show coming on. I remember seeing the toys on the shelves. But I never watched an episode. I never got any of the toys. But if anyone ever asks me about Exosquad, i always say, "Oh yeah, Exosquad was awesome." Great video.

[@nathancof]

I loved that show! Never understood why it just disappeared...

[@PrincessOzaline]

Loved this, had the JT Marsh and Phaton toys... Saw the Robotech ones at a store, and was very excited but then never saw them again.

[@randomwrestlingarchive3937]

I watched this a few times as a kid. Came on weekday mornings at at like 6-7am in the morning

[@ScarriorIII]

You need to go over Stargate Infinity, Roughnecks STC, and the Wing Commander animated series.

[@pilotpen01]

20:57 "Exosquad may return one day ready, willing, and able." I wonder if this was an intentional pun because JT Marsh's team was called Able Squad. I wasn't expecting another Exosquad video but hey, more Exosquad is always better. Even if season 3 wasn't realized, other media to continue the story might have been successful but we'll never know. I was fortunate to pick up season 1 on DVD hoping that Universal would release season 2 but no.

[@maxordman4100]

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!

[@Transfixed]

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

[@derekmccord3798]

I just watched this when I had covid such a great mature show when I was like 14.

[@badbirdkc]

I gotta say, this entire franchise pretty much flew under my radar. I was getting too old for cartoons, so I paid no attention to this, if I even knew about it at the time. But looking at this now, those toys are bad ass. The size, detail, and articulation on those mechs is pretty awesome.

[@aaronorenstein5963]

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]

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 😍).

[@Furluge]

Exo-squad was great. I loved it as a kid. It really is a shame all this legal crap had to happen. Harmony Gold is quite possibly one of most hostile companies to fans I've ever seen. Only one I can think of that might be worst is Palladium, which is funny because they're a Harmony Gold business partner in the Macross and Robotech RPG and they basically fleeced all their fans for 1.4M for thousands of dollars by failing to deliver on their Robotech RPG Tactics Kickstarter. Literally no one was happy to hear that Tatsunoko extended Harmony Gold's license after it was set to expire in 2021. The only silver lining of that agreement was it allowed for Macross series that Harmony Gold had been preventing from being distributed outside of Japan to finally be distributed and The Right Stuf picked up the ball and is bringing us Macross 7, Macross Delta, and Macross Frontier. Better grab those now before Harmony Gold does something screwy somehow and they vanish into the pit. I'm inclined to think Tatsunoko extended the license simply because Harmony Gold has so badly destroyed the Macross brand outside of Japan that they don't think it's worth trying to fix it. Also if you had to pilot one, definitely the Macross Valkyrie. No one wants to pilot a Battletech Wasp. That thing's a death trap with all that MG ammo in it's default configuration.

[@whoijacket]

A lot of that generation’s first kinda sorta “Gundam-esque” show

[@geardog24]

While I do want Exo Squad to come back, a series where former slaves are the bad guy may not look nowadays.

[@aloysiusdrake7471]

Ummm, Orville's Kaylons?

[@Stonegolem6]

Not as a kids show and I don't think the nostalgia base is broad enough for an adult oriented version.

[@thisithis]

Not all of them. Marcella stayed fighting for the Human side. Then there was Thrax who fart on Phaeton's side, but in the end, realized the war was nothing but a cruel joke and wanted no more with whatever Phaeton was planning. And all the Neo-Mega realized Phaeton was wrong, but sadly Phaeton had all but one killed leaving only one to see that Phaeton was nothing but a psychotic.

[@RyanRead]

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.

[@jess2322]

I'm glad I was able to complete my exo squad toy collection before prices went up.

[@GrandTheftWatto]

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!

[@TopsideCrisis346]

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.

[@loupgarou1317]

Oh yes the "unseen" Battletech mechs......still have them now, even went as far to paint one solid black because of a character .....

[@immediateegret2120]

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.

[@lockleeddown7148]

I loved Exosquad, but it was almost impossible to follow the series when it aired. I think it swapped the time it aired three times during the period I was trying to watch it. It was crack of dawn early at the end, and that's where I lost it. Love seeing its history though!

[@Captain_Chaz86]

they didn't play the episodes in order in my area of the US. and it switched networks in my area not once but 3 different times.

[@tonyblock84]

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

[@amandacarter291]

I loved the exo squad video game and toys

[@WildBillCox13]

MWO and MW5 are alive and well. MW5 is the best version of the Battletech franchise to date.

[@Mecha82]

You forgot to mention two important things about lawsuit. One Harmony Gold didn't actually have master licence like they claimed and two whole thing started from Playmaters having very Timber Wolf/Mad Cat looking toy in they Exo Squad toy line and FASA taking notice to that.

[@ScooterinAB]

Pretty sure he mentioned the second one, and the first one isn't terribly relevant to this story and was covered in the n part series on Robotech.

[@restionSerpentine]

Robbie Benson Was Also Prince Alexander of KingsQuest VI, and Prince Valiant... He had alot of work as a prince in the 90s

[@beniverson3777]

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]

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

[@beniverson3777]

@@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.

[@zatransis]

I haven’t watched yet. But I love Exosquad. Looking forward to this!

[@steve43ful]

Harmony Gold is definitely one of the companies of all time.

[@bbrod14]

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.

[@mkproductions2.042]

Dan Larson you read my mind good sir im gonna get this on DVD sometime soon. Cult classic I used to wake up early just to see this show on usa network.Also in my dreams I would pilot a exosuit. Sadly I lost track of my exosquad action figures.

[@davidromeroblaya7920]

I played the Genesis/Megadrive game and, yes, it was mediocre but I still remember the voice of the narrator saying "The Exosquad" in the most dramatic form possible.

[@SenorGato237]

As a child, I loved Exo-Squad, it singlehandedly jumpstarted my mecha-boner. Now, as an adult and a veteran, having seen war and it's aftermath firsthand, it fucking slaps.

[@mattr75]

Pretty solid video on Exo Squad.

[@Kaimax61]

All that I can remember from ExoSquad is Alec's death scene.... lol

[@fiveoctaves]

Jeff Segal did state in 2021 that a reboot series was in the works and Will Meugniot confirmed stating that he declined Jeff's invitation to return to the series. Unfortunately we have heard nothing since... UPDATE: live-action movie in development, no series at this time but possibly in the future.

[@JesusLopez-nj5pd]

This was like a Mash Up of Mobile Suit Gundam and The Book Version of Starship Troopers

[@akaBoG]

Loved the show, only saw the action figures once at a Tatget. Snagged one...they were awesome!

[@EnerJon90]

Can you please cover earth worm jim it had video games action figures and tv show .. please please please 🙏

[@MrBoyYankee]

J.T. Marsh & Dragconus were my favorite.

[@brianjl7477]

EXO Squad was awesome, but I had the problem cited in your video in that it was ahrd to know when it was on. Often it was like 6 AM, and I would try to record it - you know how that wsa back in the day! I did manage to see most of it I think though, and it was great!

[@danieldunlap4077]

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.

[@billybarnett2846]

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

[@Dorelaxen]

God I wish someone else could hold the rights to Robotech besides Harmony Gold. They are the definition of a parasite.

[@metaphyzxx]

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

[@Kanas83]

At least Catalyst/Tops got alll the old Battletech stuff with the Plastics we got most of the old unseen Robotech Stuff with new sculpts

[@mrron9]

"Harmony Gold's business model was more about suing and collecting the settlements for perceived copyright infringements than creating new content..." SPOT ON!! ✊🏽✊🏽

[@elmo1234]

New channel logo! Surely Boba Fett would've been a better choice.

[@kerutlj]

Every time he said Fasa, did anyone else expect a lion king hyena to pop out and say, "Mufasa! Oooo, said it again"?

[@ChonkySlotDonkey]

Such a great show and toys!!! Got my JTmarsh mech on eBay when i got a TMNT lot the other day!! 🙏🍻

[@MrDEMarq]

This was a prime example of how greedy corporate a-holes can ruin a franchise 😑 😒