[quote=@Silverwind Blade]
Everything else is completely stylistic choices; in the first Battletech novels before the 'feel' of the universe was completely nailed down, the mechs did actually move more like those in most anime; doing combat rolls, dives and such. It was only after more of the books came out that they became the slower-paced 'walking tanks' everyone thinks of now.  
[/quote]

I think that's partly due to Battletech just straight up stealing stuff from other franchises (like Robotech) in it's early iterations. :D

Agree really on everything you said, mechs in principle are pretty much "handwaving" central.