Battletech: Lyran 3rd Royal Guards

I've been a Battletech fan for a vast majority of my life.  My 1st introduction to the BT universe came from watching the cartoon when I was in 3rd or 4th grade.    The 1st sci-fi novel I ever purchased myself was  "Way of the Clans' not long after, even though it was waaay above my head at the time!  Battletech was my 1st tabletop miniatures game (although I had the box set with the cardboard stand-ups) some time in middle school.  I've played almost all the Battletech/mechwarrior video games through the years, and even though I hate to admit it, I even played the Mechwarrior Dark Age clix game.   Now I'm 30 years old, and thanks to playing MWO, I have recently been able to rekindle my love for the Battletech universe and start playing Classic Battletech yet again!  In MWO, I'm playing as House Steiner, and as such, I'm doing the same in the tabletop, in the form of the Lyran 3rd Royal Guards.  If anyone's interested in the actual history of the unit, you can check it out on Sarna.net, HERE.  I'm currently playing in the 3039/3050 eras, and all these mechs are only a small portion of those within the latest intro box set...

COM-2D Commando - My favorite mech to pilot in MWO...

Panther - Named after someone at my LGS who
always asked if I was bringing one.  When I finally did,
 I thought it only fitting that I name it after him! =p

AS7-D Atlas - There's an old joke that a Steiner
Scout Lance is 4x Atlases, hence the name...

the mech is designated as the "Awesome",
hence the name.  Get it? Effin Awesome...

Named after the Catapult I piloted a bit in MWO...

Jagermech - he actually has a couple of kills to his name,
every other time he has died early from
 a critical ammo explosion!  They packed way too
much ammo into these!

BNC-3E Banshee - a fluffy mech for Lyrans,
 but not impressed with it so far!

 ZEU-6T Zeus - My favorite mech.  If I could pilot
only one mech, this would be it!

So, when were you introduced to Battletech for the 1st time?  If you have not done so, you should check out the Battletech universe for yourself.  There's a reason why a lot of us get so nostalgic over it!