>>6132743Okay, storytime: While it never happened in the Battletech line, Playmates was planning a toy for the Exo-Squad line that was a dead ringer for the Madcat. After this ad was shown, FAFSA sued them. I believe in the end Playmates was found to not have violated copyright law, but the toy was never released anyway for whatever reason.
If you Google around, you can find the entire transcript of the lawsuit. It's actually kind of fascinating if you're an Exo-Squad/Battletech fan. It goes over a lot of the respective universes and design concepts as each side tries to make a case. In one portion, FAFSA directly makes accusations about specific toys, and Playmates must come up with reasons as to why their toys are significantly different. I found it a really interesting read.
One of the coolest parts is where they discuss how the prototype of this toy was made: it was apparently cobbled together using random Japanese model kit parts, a box for the torso, a GI Joe gun for one arm, a pantyhose container for the nosecone, and an ED-209 model kit (!!!!) for the other arm and legs! I never noticed it before, but now it's very apparent, the ED-209 toes are so distinctive. Really interesting shit....
