BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception
by Infocom
(Ral Partha Phoenix Hawk LAM figure)




Some first-wave packages of BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception included a goldenrod order form you could fill out with the name of a Mech hidden in the game's final complex, and send away for a limited-edition RAL Partha figure. The correct answer was Phoenix Hawk LAM, and the secret Mech was quite easy to find, but not all game packages seem to have had the form. I've found it in boxes that didn't have the Crescent Hawk pin. Someone who has the pin, can you check whether you have the form as well?




The connection to Infocom is minimal, only the notation:

INFOCOM Special
PHX-HK2
Phoenix Hawk LAM

This is typed (yes, using an actual typewriter) onto the card, above the blister.

The Phoenix Hawk LAM itself is something of a prize among BattleTech collectors. FASA lost the rights to the Mech design in a lawsuit with the creators of RoboTech, making the figure doubly hard to come by. The LAM was available prior to the release of Crescent Hawk's Inception, so make sure yours is the genuine Infocom Special. There is a tiny Crescent Hawks emblem stamped on the figure's left leg and on both wings:




According to this guy's page, there were three separate castings of the figure, the second being the Infocom Special which added the Crescent Hawk. The third has no logo on the wings but does have it on the leg. Leftovers, perhaps, but why did they produce different quantities of the two parts? I'm not sure whether these third-wave figures were designated "Infocom Special" or not.

On top of all that, I have two slightly different package variations of the Infocom Special itself. The first has FASA's and Ral Partha's address on the back of the packaging, the second has FASA's and Jeux Descartes, which was a French board game manufacturer. Both have a description of the Mech in English and French. The Infocom notation on the front above the figure is in noticeably bolder print on the FASA / Ral Partha version.


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