Mechwarrior attire

[Bird_Dog]

I'm not sure if this has come up before, and I do have to state that I am not very well versed in BT lore, but the attire our intrepid young trueborns are wearing stuck me as odd.
In the good hand-full or so BT novels I read, I got the idea that the prefered attire for a mechwarrior in their cockpit was a pair of mokassin, a pair of speedos and a cooling vest.
Here, they are depicted wearing - or being suck somewhere inside - what looks like a full suit of armour they found in the reject bin in the dingy alley behind the Mass Effect franchise.

Is this getup canon or what is going on here?
I mean, I have heard of cooling suits, but this looks more like a crude attempt at form-fitting power armour than anything else.

[Bovril Brigadier]

The Star League had special cooling suits that covered the full body which the Clans retained. Depending on artwork they were either full flight suits or something out of a bondage warehouse. I'd say the depiction in game is an accurate albeit lazy depiction of what a Clan Mechwarrior would wear, I'd argue it should be far more stylised for a Clan Warrior.
The whole Mad Max look was down to the Inner Sphere losing the technology to make practical full suits.

[Lander1]

Looks like a light enviro-suit if I had to guess. If we're going for cannon how about the Vintage Diving Suit Neuro-Helmets?

[Harukage]

Clans made the first successfull full neural interface - Enchanced Imaging. Although it had severe drawback with prolonged usage, it was still beter than anything IS had ( and i do not count WOB version that required like full cyborg augmentation to not kill its user ).
So why the would clan neuro-helmet be anytjhing like "Vintage Diving Suit Neuro-Helmets"? They are not retrogrades like IS.

[Imperialus]

Originally posted by Harukage:

So why the would clan neuro-helmet be anytjhing like "Vintage Diving Suit Neuro-Helmets"? They are not retrogrades like IS.

I think what he is saying is that in the game they are depicted as vintage diving nuro-helmets as opposed to something sleeker.

I don't agree with that assessment. I have been re-reading Stackpol's Lethal Heritage... which, BTW, if you are new to Battletech Lore I would highly recommend. It basically tells the same story as MW5 Clans but from the perspective of the Inner Sphere (including the folks on Turtle Bay) as well as Clan Wolf. Helps put some of Smoke Jag's... idiosyncrasies as depicted in the game into perspective.

Anyhow, when Kai Allard-Liao is powering up Yen Lo-Wang Stackpol goes over the procedure in considerable detail. One thing he describes is that the nuro-helment is so large and cumbersome that Kai needs to rest it on a padded collar over his shoulders. Also keeping in mind that YLW is a custom machine made for one of the most powerful men in the Federated Suns and handed down to his son who is one of the best friends of the heir to the Fed Sun throne and has a legitimate claim to the throne of the Capellan Confederation himself. If anyone would have access to a comfy, custom tailored nuro-helmet it would be Kai.

The helmets worn by a random Star in MW5 Clans are nothing like that. They look lightweight and comfortable as well as likely providing good protection for when you get slammed around a cockpit in combat. Sure in the B-Tech cartoon Clanners were depicted as going into a fight controlling their mechs with face tattoos, but the cartoon has a... complicated relationship with canon.

[Piderman]

Originally posted by Imperialus:

nuro-helment - Sure in the B-Tech cartoon Clanners were depicted as going into a fight controlling their mechs with face tattoos, but the cartoon has a... complicated relationship with canon.

Its "Neuro" like in "Neuronal" and that with the cartoon, well... its in-Universe Commonwealth Propaganda. x)

[Harukage]

Enchanced Imaging is the thing. Mia literally has EI tatoos. Yes that cartoon is... not very reliable source.
And yes, clans have sleek neurohelmets instead of huge boxes exactly because their tech is very advanced. Advanced enough to take out the need for both helmets and manual controls in some cases. Albeit with an increased threat of developing mental derangements, and neural degeneration after 5 years of active use.
Kai can go to hell, because he is:
a) Not a clanner.
b) Absolute garbage marry sue character. Unfilial, stupid and weak willed. But somehow super mechwarrior who can beat everyone. I love how in later installations that whimp got all he deserved, been driven out by the very soldiers he was suposed to lead.