I'd argue that a bad chassis doesn't ultimately mean anything either. Basically all of those chassis get significant overhauls later down the timeline, turning from abject disappointments into actually good battlemechs.
The Charger gets the CGR-1A9, and eventually the CGR-3K and CGR-3Kr refits, tacking on some advanced tech and significantly improving the weapons suite, making the mech significantly more effective, especially at close ranges.
In addition, the Charger is refined into the Hatamoto-Chi, where it gets the power of samurai armor and the internals of a Thug THG-11E crammed into the chassis, significantly improving the capabilities of the original design. The Hatamoto-Chi also gets a myriad of good versions as well, as it continues to get refits even into the ilclan era.
The Assassin has generally been a pretty underwhelming mech for most of its lifespan, until you realize it was designed to hunt other light mechs and vehicles. It has very decent mobility for a mech of its size, and it performs decently well as a scout.
Besides being cheap, the Assassin was also famous for being able to flank very quickly in comparison to many of its contemporaries, only really being outmatched in jump distance by the Ostscout, a mech not designed for direct combat. In addition to that, many light mechs of the era would have similar levels of firepower, but were not as mobile over most terrain compared to the Assassin.
Aside from lore considerations, the Assassin was unparalleled during the original 3025 setting, as target numbers for range bands were fixed attributes. This meant than an assassin in medium range after jumping was a guaranteed 10+ to hit on 2d6, which provided it a lot of evasion.
Even the most modern version of the assassin is dedicated to the same ideas as the original. The Assassin ASN-109 incorporates Stealth Armor powered by an Angel ECM Suite as an integral part of its systems, making it exceedingly difficult to hit, and is equipped with a Light PPC and an MML-5 rack, as well as a One Shot SRM-2. This is not perfect by any means, but it vastly improves over the original's damage potential, and retains the original's idea as a light mech hunter and overall annoyance.
Now, on to the Cicada. The Cicada was envisioned as a 40t Locust with slightly better equipment. This meant a marginal increase in armor, and two medium lasers instead of a single one. It's not paticularly interesting overall, but it is reliable as a larger counterpart to the Locust.
Like many of the others above, it also gets some very good upgrades, with the newest Ilclan-era version mounting some very advanced weapons. The Cicada CDA-4A equips two medium Variable Speed Pulse Lasers and a single Re-engineered Medium Laser, as well as a supercharger. This means that the design is very accurate when attacking at point blank ranges, and certainly has the speed and armor to make it there.
This design is unironically one of the best designs I've ever seen, and it is exceedingly reasonable for its BV cost, being a very VERY nasty flanker which will get into the back arc of an opponent.
Finally we arrive at the Hollander.
I dunno who told you the Hollander was bad. Whomever they are, they are lying. If you haven't been headclipped across the map by a Hollander BZK-F3, you donāt have a say in this conversation.
A Gauss Rifle mounted to the frame of a light mech is not something to underestimate.
You have not lived unless you've seen one of your most expensive designs, a King Crab KGC-008B, an work of mechanical art that excels above and beyond what this little malignant mockery of a mech even costs, fall to a single watermelon-sized metal ellipsoid quickly delivered straight through its cockpit.
You can definitely make an argument that the sequels to the original Hollander are subpar mechs, but the original stands apart as a classic. No substitutions.
To close out my arguments today, I conclude that there are very few bad mechs. Eventually someone likes the chassis just enough to fix most of the problems with a liberal application of C-Bills and time.
