His god perhaps, but Zeus still lives.

With Chirico’s capture the Chief of Police takes him to the local priest who is also a corrupt bastard to try and use God to ascertain the nature of Chirico’s mission. I have to had in to them that they are trying to get information out ofChirico using drugs and religion before using beatings and whippings. The Thieves are quite through in covering their tracks but once they find that Chirico has no support they decide to do away with him. Fortunately before the execution order is carried out Chirico’s friends hatch a plan to rescue him, Vanilla would have done it on his own had Coccona not ratted him out to Gotho for one gildan. For three people who bicker as much as they do they seem to work well enough together and they did manage to cut a few holes in the police station. The rescue is rather quick but it tips off the Thieves that Chirico does have friends and they set up a Real Battle for 50 million Gildan to lure them out. Gotho tries to delay the fight but Chirico seems to pick up quick that something is rotten. While Chirico is the only pilot I like how they were able to work as a team during the fight with Oriya where Vanilla creates a damn fine decoy. Oriya seems to have been one of Chirico’s former COs so I guess that makes Oriya another Red Shoulder, but given how Oriya and Chirico didn’t recognize each other before the operation he might have just been Chirico’s basic training instructor. If Oriya was a Red Shoulder then he was a pretty bad one wince there are many ways to do things, but no single right way to do anything military.

Oriya puts up a good fight but for a pompous ass who dismissed Chirico’s abilities he sure got pwned hard when he ended up on the wrong side of that massive auto-cannon. Having the cops out there in force prompts Gotho and Vanilla to inquire about what kind of trouble Chirico was in but they get no answers. Chirico leaves as Gotho and Vanilla argue over who gets to be Chirico’s partner but upon hearing how Chirico skipped out Vanilla reveals his plans to break into the jijirium storage facility. While his friends think that Chirico skipped town, he was actually going back to the station to beat the answers out of the police chief. Given the lax security the cops didn’t bother to post a watch on the hole Vanilla cut out to break Chirico out and thus made it much easier for some one to infiltrate the station. Chirico does get in a few good pistol whips on the Chief before getting duped into letting the Chief take them to the heavily guarded jijirium storage facility. While Vanilla, Coccona, and Gotho break into the facility on their own volition to steal, they give up the money to bail out Chirico who had his cover blown and was pinned down at the helopad. Even if this is a gritty action series I did enjoy how Vanilla, Coccona, and Gotho blended in. Upon meeting the Bald Lady in the shower Coccona suffers from a bout of disappointment that Chirico likes chicks like “that” while Vanilla wants to get a sneak peak too. To his credit I don’t think Gotho is at the age where he cares about women any more and couldn’t give any less of a hoot about the nakkid lady than the jijirium she was bathing in. Since the Bald Lady is no longer bald and is not wearing a wig I guess it would be better to call her the Prototype until she actually gets a name. I am a bit saddened that Chirico didn’t pull a weapon on her to pistol whip some info out of her but that might have been interpreted as less than honorable. Since it wasn’t at gun point the Prototype escapes and before the gang can switch gears and grab the cash they get spotted and make a hasty retreat.

I am sure with these audacious acts of infiltration the Thieves are probably going to be concerned that Chirico is incredibly well supported as they caught the cops with their pants down twice within the span of less than a day.Not sure why the Prototype has chosen to identify with the Thieves even though she was government property before her awakening, but perhaps she was simply a prisoner. Time will tell I guess, but next time is the return of the Boone Family. Even if Vanilla, Coccona, and Gotho seem more interested in money I do appreciate how they bailed out Chirico instead of using him as a distraction, still it was nice that having lost sight of the Prototype they quickly got money on their minds again. Despite Coccona being ahead of the Prototype in my book I get the feeling that the poor girl isn’t going to get Chirico to reciprocate her feelings though according to Vanilla she seems to fall in love every other week or so. Still for now she’s much more likable than the still generally mute Prototype who’s only purpose so far has been getting nakkid, bathe in money, and brush her hair. Speaking of bathing in money either she needs to for some reason or she just likes to waste money, though considering how much gold that was stolen plus all that jijirium I guess they might have cash to burn in which case she’s a shallow bitch. Next time promises more Scopedog action against our old friends the Boone Family…

Seen enough death to last you a few lifetimes eh Chirico?

Friar Tuck he ain’t…

Too bad Chirico doesn’t even know that answer himself…

Seems every one here is a wanted man, I wonder how many have the death sentence on 12 systems…

Some one is having way too much fun in that run down bathroom.

Well Vanilla does have that ugly looking afro…

Wait don’t you guys eat rats in Uoodo?

Gotho gets a lot of calls from telemarketers.

…

Oriya is No Zero, No Zero amirite?

What discipline even when beating the crap out of a superior officer Chirico still uses ranks!

Praise be to overdoing it!

Coccona is such a stalker…

…

My name is Ingio Montoya. You killed my father…

Prepare to die…

So let me ask you PUNK what’s one more…?

I suppose there are other fat cops around to help Gotho blend in…

Well Vanilla hasn’t been laid in like…ever.

Well if it’s any consolation Chirico was more interested in interrogating Bald Lady than lurvin her…

He thought someone was making fun of his weight...

With the balance of power shifting with the new era of peace it seems the Thieves that stole the bald lady have been using them gold bricks they also nabbed to get high positions in the local police. The Boone family is out hunting escapees so that they can’t finger them in court since their corrupt union with the cops has come to an end. Chirico finds himself with three aspiring managers for the battling circuit, its good to see that Chirico is already finding employment rather than going into a breadline or causing trouble. Unfortunately the Boone Family has Chirico as the last person on their hit list. Despite being out numbered Chirico and his new pals fix up a Scopedog for to face the Boone Family, and while Vanilla lacked faith the Scopedog made a glorious slaughter of biker malcontents though the police showed up for some crime fightan. The battle was brief but plenty of criminal scum were killed though the Police helicopters actually contributed a lot to the burning corpse count. Despite having minimal damage the heat seemed to be a greater hazard than in most mecha with Chrico getting roasted alive in the inferno, thankfully Rochina sends a team to put out the fires. Gotho seems to be rather surprised though since Uoodo doesn’t have a fire department, but makes no further inquiries. i really like how despite the fact that Chirico took no damage that he still felt the heat from the fires around him, it’s rare to see that even with no damage there are other ways of killing the pilot. I confess I am loving this gritty feel, even if Chirico is super human this is still very much real robot and has a more hard sci-fi feel to it than most.

Of the three new people in his life, Gotho the oldest seems to have a glimmer of wisdom when he laments how during the war they gave kids guns and only gave them skills relating to killing and now that there is peace they cut loose all the veterans to fend for themselves. I like how they are making a point to discuss the problems of the post war from time to time as Chirico is 18 and has only ever known fighting, but at least now he has an underground sport to participate in. Sadly this sport is pretty much gladiatorial combat though not every fight ends up with someone dead. I think it really says something when the spectators get all excited when one of the stands gets blown to pieces. Chirico really seems to have trouble making friends it seems the only guy who has come close so far was Carson from Roots of Ambition, though perhaps now he can have a friend in Coccona, Gotho, or Vanilla. Being poor and all with unemployment through the roof I can’t really fault them for worrying about money. Gotho seems to be ahead of the curve as he sees some inate talent in Chirico but has doubts that Chirico can take on the established VOTOMS jockeys. Chirico’s instincts seem to have sharpened enough for him to be able to detect that the he was going to fight Conin and not his original opponent. I am surprised though that even these veterans still cling to thier old rank structure and actually defer to Conin despite the fact that none of them are in the military any more. Conin put up a good fight but in the end Chirico only received a glancing blow while Coning got a BIG BANG PUNCH to the face. I have to say that it was much more satisfying than if it had been a projectile kill. Also it seems that the Bald Lady has a local name as well, but I am not sure what the Phantom Lady’s role is in all this given how she has only been rolling around in an armored limo through fire fights. I guess we shall see in good time though.

Oh ho, dealing in arms are we?

That side car could use an MG-34...

Chirico has no need for a drunk lady with Billy Baggage to tell him how to plan an operation.

I like how Chirico can do maintenance on his own machine.

...

Scopedog seems to own insolent biker gangs pretty well...

Man Rochina seems to have all the bases covered...

Even if they are just firemen they still look pretty badass.

Seems Uoodo doesn't even have a fire department.

Man the old dude is pretty wise even if he has a reputation for fleecing people.

LOL you have no idea Gotho...

The Bastard Conin.

I still have no idea how he picks out Scopedogs.

Covering her baldness I see...

Chirico finally repaid Conin for his SUGOI leadership.

Meet the vile traitors of the series, thank goodness none of them are bishie.

So with a little down time due to lack of training M1151s that the Army was willing to let us use I decided to start retroblogging Armored Trooper Votoms after having seen Roots of Ambition and Pailsen Files. I hope to blog it in chronological order instead of order of release just to see how it pans out as a whole. With the end of the 100 Year War at hand and the huge expenditure of men and machines at the end of Pailsen Files the war comes to a negotiated end, but there seems to be a few malcontents who are keen on making it big with peace on the horizon. The stealing of gold I could understand but I wonder what was special about that bald lady, though I have been spoiled as to what Chirico is I am sure that what Bald Lady is will provide enough of a mystery.  So far it seems the thieves are the being set up to be the primary antagonists with Captian Rochina playing a sort of Javert in his pursuit of Chirico. So far with Rochina he seems to pursuing the Bald Lady and the thieves through Chirico rather than simply wanting to beat the information out of him. I have to give Rochina credit for rebounding from his grand fuck up of letting Chirico escape right off the bat. I wonder how long Rochina is going to play guardian angel for Chirico, but I suppose that for now Chirico has a very efficient protector during his stay in Uoodo.

Speaking of Uoodo It is pretty much hell on earth as IKnight had described I am sure ExecutiveOtaku would have delighted in seeing a post war scenario where domestic issues come to a head when the crooks and crooked cops have to deal with the fact that it is harder to hide their crimes when the war is over. Uoodo has acid rain, biker gangs, street vendors who sell interesting sources of protien, and cops who are all in on the cut from the biker gangs. I like how that its very 1980s in that bikers are the cancer that is killing society, it reminds me of GI Joe when Zartan was rolling with a biker gang, but I digress. So far Chirico shows how much of an unnatural survivor he is by wiping out a platoon of guards, though to be fair many of them were caught completely by surprise and Chirico is a Red Shoulder after all… So far the action is plenty good and I like how Chirico is not completely useless out side of his Scopedog but at the same time is only killing off 2-3 guys at a time at most and not whole platoons like these newfangled mecha pilots. I did have a laugh or two when the Boone Family showed up, man they were some hurt ass fat mother fuckers and I could not help but cheer when Chirico turned them into a bloody mess. Despite Chirico being super human I like how he does come close to death but is saved from it by Rochina and his sniper teams. I hope that they continue to show that while Chirico is super human that he is still a mere mortal and needs someone to save his ass from time to time. Also his Unnatural Survivor ability doesn’t tangibly help him in combat, it just makes him insanely lucky like Patrick Colasour though piloting skills and personalities differ greatly. I wonder if the head of the Boone Family was a nod to LOGH since those robes reminded me of the Terraism Cult. All in all I am pretty pumped to be continuing to watch this show, it might not be as pretty and grand as Pailsen Files right now, but I like the post war scenario they have built up here. If nothing else it sure beats “everything ends at peace” theme that is more common these days, hopefully they will make good on showing how the post war period can be just as shitty as the war which preceded it if not worse.

Damn team killers…

Seems Purple Scopedogs lose out to Green Scopedogs, who in turn lose to Green Scopedogs with Red Shoulders…

Chirico smelled something rotten from the start, making him smarter than most of these n00bs who pilot Gundams.

I wonder if Chirico is going to pwn his ass later.

I guess they were keen on getting CASH FOR GOLD.

AHHHHHHH RUN FOR THE HILLS THAT BALD MAN HAS BOSOMS! WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE?!

Man what a mess.

Chirico only lied because he was too embarrassed to admit he likes bald women.

Best part it was that it was a suppository.

OH SHI- its the Earth Cult from LOGH…

LOL putting your money where your mouth is, did he have a jijirium grill to go with that?

BOOM, headshot…

Nothing surpasses the bond between Chirico and his Scopedog.

Ah memories…

Well about two months ago back in April I should have marked my 2nd blog anniversary but things have not really been normal to say the least. Well I suppose that this post will at least mark the start of my terrible twos in which case quality will plummet as will output (Mwahahahaha). I started the year off by getting my apartment broken into and making E-5. Now that my academic career is at an end it basically fell upon me to make good on my newfound responsibilities at work, which meant having a whacked out schedule of extended hyperactivity every now in then. In July it will be a brutal month as I get to fly to Virginia twice in the same month to the same place, knowing what I know now it basically means four or more red eye flights unless the paper work goes over well. Still I do get to make the traditional after graduation road trip, and hopefully that will be a bit more interesting than the usual. While summer looks to be a hit or a miss at least there is the promise of the Macross Movie (Which will be Gorgeous Delicious DECULCHA!). So here goes the mandatory late as hell rant I am supposed to do at the end of every blog year, which is conversely an opportunity to muse aimlessly in a futile effort to put together a post.

Oh Mazinger Z how I lament that your tale is shrouded in obscurity.

While Impz might have gone from gun monkey to desk jockey in the Singaporean Corps of Conscripts, I haven’t earned the right to chain myself to a desk just yet, to be perfectly honest I am finding just how magical a time being an E-5 is. I get the headaches of an E-6, and the physical exhaustion of being an E-4, but at least I do get a little extra here and there and most importantly I am still low enough on the great totem pole to evade responsibility. I also just lost my other half (partner in crime/co-worker) so I get to have twice the work load until I finish training the E-4, but at least she’s a good learner and I don’t have to baby sit an E-3 with “issues.” All in all I am edging towards the point that I might end up as exhausted as Zeon. I suppose this comes with the territory as I suspect that most bloggers are students rather than overworked soldaten, certainly there will probably come a point where the number of posts per week simply declines.

Also now that college is over and done with I actually got back into my other hobbies, and oddly enough while I have some issues with Valkyria the anime I still love the game to pieces to the point I actually want to do my Imperial Guard in Gallain colors and find some local saint who does resin casting for female Cadians/Kasrkin because I must have a model to represent Jane “Kill ‘em All” Turner (hey if anyone knows one drop a line). It also saddens me that there is very little enthusiasm for Shin Mazinger Z, but I suppose it might be time to bring out the reserves of stuff I have been meaning to watch but haven’t, Guin Saga, Eden of the East, etc. I still need to settle for a format on doing VOTOMS since condensing it into one post per arc would make it tl;dr, not that I think too many people are interested in going back in time to see what mecha was before yaoi, cowards, harem, and idiot soapbox preaching started taking hold.

I suppose it has been good going for the last two years plus some, but it has been a long time since I actually watched a shoujo series since Skip Beat! ended, though I am hoping there will be a point where the anime starts up again. Still the manga is still running along smoothly so it partially makes up for it. I suppose I am growing old if it’s becoming more fun to reminisce about the old days. If nothing else at least when Gundam 00 aired I could placate myself with the additional activity of praising the Immortal Colasour and his marrying above him. Well so far it’s been a good run even if productivity has slackened as of late. I hope that there will be a series that I will genuinely love to pieces that I can put into words come summer. As much as I like Shin Mazinger Z it’s pretty simple and I suppose very niche these days as it lacks modern aspects of mecha. Valkyria is turning out to be a re-interpretation of the game storyline that I don’t find terribly agreeable but it was always meant to be a festival of mediocrity that only fans of the game would stick with to the bitter end. Ah well with a Gundam Unicorn Movie due out within my life time and the promise of a Macross Frontier Movie with 70% redone animation I guess there is much to look forward to. So as a extremely premature celebration of a Macross Frontier largely free of QUALITY animation IMAGE DUMP GO!

There is a correlation…

Soon we will all get acquainted with just how tough Sergeant Major Chirico Cuvie really is…

Now that I am pretty much done with college I can finally get to taking care of some unfinished business namely watch the entire VOTOMS series in chronological order, sadly I only have the original series, Pailsen Files, Roots of Ambition, Last Red Shoulder, and Big Battle on hand. I hope to unearth Shining Heresy some time this century but I can’t seem to find it at the moment. Nevertheless I plan on watching it in chronological order instead of order of release. As an introductory movie I am not sure if it works or not since I saw Pailsen Files first which actually comes after this one. Still while Pailsen Files seemed chock full of huge cinematic mecha battles Roots of Ambition doesn’t seem to toss out as many Scopedogs on the screen, though since there was no CG I suppose doing it the old fashioned way prevented such a sight, not that it made it a terrible movie. As a starting point it does establish what Chirico is and gives a description of what Pailsen thinks he is.

In the end I kinda felt sad for Carson.

Chirico doesn’t really grow much as a character and to be honest I suppose the real main character is the Red Shoulder Unit that includes Chirico, Carson, Gregore, Byman, and Murza. For an elite unit even the Red Shoulders seem to suffer from horrible attrition though given how regular units suffer far worse I suppose percentage-wise Pailsen’s unit might actually suffer less than the regulars because of their intense and lethal training. As for the initiation I am surprised that the Red Shoulders could actually field two or more Corps though in the Gilgamesh military I suppose that number is hardly impressive considering the tens of millions of soldiers that can be fielded at any one time (up until this point in universe the biggest battle was 20 million men on the Gilgamesh side, late one upped to 120 for the Invasion of Monad) as Pailsen Files would later show. I like how Leeman basically denoted the last four standing as survivors and returns. Even if Chirico is nigh unkillable it seems that it still doesn’t prevent him from failing and having to rely on his comrades. During the cannibalism Chirico might have ended up a mere survivor instead of a return had it not been for his battle buddy Carson. While in Pailsen Files it seemed that the regulars actually function like a military unit the Red Shoulders are pretty much a penal battalion in all but name, certainly while their training is superior it is far more lethal and I can see why the Chief of Staff was pretty ticked off that Pailsen was killing off huge numbers of regulars (not to mention wasting Scopedogs) to find the guys he wanted for his Red Shoulders. Certainly as an exercise in economy of force Pailsen probably failed since even his Red Shoulders could be dragged down by a mass of Balalant troops.

Well at least things get better when Chirico has to shack up with the boys for Pailsen Files, and all the experimenting will be done on Kochak.

As an introduction to the VOTOMS universe I think they could have done a bit better, though since it came out after the main series I suppose they can’t be faulted much for it. Nevertheless calling it the Third Invasion of Sunsa, coupled with the LZ and planet in general as a desert wasteland one can sense that this really has been a 100 year war. Underlying much of the movie is the question of luck versus training, while there is a certain value to being well trained being lucky is more often or not better than being better trained, even in military history there are generals who emerge victorious due to dumb luck. I did chuckle a bit when Gregore asked if Chirico was immortal…perhaps old Patrick was somehow related. The only thing that sort of bugs me is that we never get to hear what it is that Chirico says to Pailsen, though I suspect that we will come to it eventually in the main series. I am not sure if Leeman really had his head on straight or if Pailsen was still on his rocker given how broad the events that are of great benefit to Chirico have very broad classifications, though I suppose Chirico really is that lucky, or at the very least insanely resilient with a high damage tolerance. After all he did fight with a broken pelvis and got pretty banged up from time to time. Still at least Chirico isn’t a one man army as he did need Carson to watch his back from time to time and needed Gregore, Murza, and Byman to put him back together. I did like the credits as there was a Type 61, and it seems that Gergore got himself a decent cigar, Byman was picking up chicks, Murza was looking pissed, and Chirico said something that put the fear in Pailsen. It was also a good set up after Carson dies, but not before passing off his information to set up the trial of Pailsen that we will see in Pailsen Files. It’s nice to see that Chirico was always this nonchalant when dealing with people, though I suppose having that high pitched sound every time one thinks about his past would probably engender the same reaction in most people.

Certainly few mecha pilots ever had such intense training.

Overall a fairly good film to introduce the lay person the VOTOMS saga, I think that the rest of the series will not disappoint even if there is the complete absence of CG created BIG HUEG battles. I can see why VOTOMS is considered on of the few remaining real robot series that have survived up until now, even if Chirico is super human he’s not some infallible Jesus, at this juncture it seems that Chirico has a long way to go to reach godhood, if that is even his goal. For now it seems that merely surviving is a victory for him, and I doubt he deludes himself with any romantic notions. If nothing else at least he acts like a disenchanted twenty something guy which is rather refreshing given the more recent trend of mecha pilots. I still love the poor humble Scopedog, even if it has armor made of paper at least it makes for more interesting and more importantly huge Heinlein-esque battles remiscent of Starship Troopers. Even with the elite Red Shoulders attrition still affects them.

I have to say that is one ugly baby…

Well to a degree, yes. As a defensive tactic it is unreliable, but highly reassuring.

You have no idea Gergore…

Say hello to my little friend…

You mean there is another whole Corps?

I’d like to see them try…

Indeed this is the first time Pailsen has actually been early.

Is Chirico Cuvie going to have to choke a bitch?

Perhaps it was luck, perhaps it was because Pailsen couldn’t shoot his way out of a paper bag…

I am surprised you even hit at all.

The red ones go faster.

Third time is a chram…right?

Gilgamesh Prevails!

Scopedog…

I need more Scopedogs!

Ah the Balalant Fattie, at least they look impressive.

At least it did not involve some contrived childhood promise or pinky swear.

Best confession EVAR.

ZOMG Carson got he ultra rare Red Shoulder Omnibus!

I take it Chirico already has a copy…

What else could he be doing other than waste valuable military resources?

This death was permenant…

Close combat with lumps of metal…

I have to wonder how annoying it must be to clean that out after combat, carbon build up must be nasty.

Hey Type 61s…

There are so many…

What ass kissers we have here…

Oh shit indeed…

Gregore took your smokes!

I had no idea Byman was into old men…

Murza is always mad…

Now that is a parting shot.

I have lots to do…

I won’t lie I think I am suffering a bit of this burn out thing after roughly two years of being the tl;dr guy I hope to recharge my batteries soon and get back to business as usual, but it seems the perpetual boredom of military life is going to be beyond my reach for the time being, assuming that everything goes according to my supervisors’ plans I will be out and about frolicking from one base to another across the country attending classes real soon methinks. Even when I am not moving about, as a newly minted E-5 as my first real responsibility I get to mentor an E-3 who seems to be having a bit of the troubles, professionally and perhaps otherwise. Then there is the issue of my family… Still I hope to be doing some VOTOMS posts real soon and catch up with the rest of the season. I suppose this is more for myself as once this gets published I will have to try and meet these goals.

I want my Kasrkin to look like these guys…

Once again I skipped Fanime and instead went to a gaming convention which reignited my passion for another hobby quite profoundly…Now that the Imperial Guard Codex is out I have a hankering to get cracking on that, and trust me I have plenty to do. I also promised 13sugars that I would paint up a 1:100 Union Flag for her as well so I suppose with all these tasks that I will have to start keeping things shorter and using less screen caps. I also have to do a proper two years on post now that I have felt the first pangs of burning out… ah well K-ON and VOTOMS: Roots of Ambition post sometime later I suppose I have to run up to Davis and back to try and snag two extra tickets for graduati0n first thing in the morning.

Yeah I think I can really get into this one.