Armored Trooper VOTOMS

Background Information

Armored Trooper VOTOMS (Soukou Kihei VOTOMS, Votoms 装甲騎兵ボトムズ) is set in the future in the distant Astragius Galaxy. Here two interstellar nations the Balarant Union and the Gilgamesh Confederation are engaged in a hundred years old war for a cause long forgotten. Fleets with hundreds of spaceships battle for supremacy yet the real wars are fought down on the surface. The main weapon of the ground conflicts are the Armored Troopers (AT), alternatively referred as VOTOMS (Vertical One-man Tank for Offense & ManeuverS). These armored bipedal vehicles with the height of 4-5 meters that form the backbone of both armies. Armored Troopers are deployed en-masse and expected to die in doves by the end of the battle.

The story's central character is Chirico Cuvie, a soldier with mysterious past and the devil's own luck. He's a former member of the Red Shoulder elite AT battalion who experienced all hell of warfare. After 100 years of constant fighting the Balarant and the Gilgamesh armies signed pace. Meanwhile Chiricho is suddenly transfered to a unit engaged in a suspicious mission, unaware he's assisting the theft of a highly classified military secret. Chiricho is betrayed by his new comrades and left behind to die. He's soon arrested by the Gilgamesh military as a traitor, undergoing heavy interrogations and torture. He manages to escape, triggering a pursuit extending across the whole series. Chircho is hunted by both the military and criminals alike. He seeks a mysterious woman who appears to be Chiricho's sole cue to unravel the truth.

Canonicity

Armored Trooper VOTOMS is a big mecha anime franchise. Aside from the original TV series, there are many sequels, prequels, side stories and adaptations in various media formats. The chronological list of the canon VOTOMS series are the following:

• OVA Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Red Shoulder Document: The Roots of Ambition (レッドショルダードキュメント 野望のルーツ) - set roughly a year prior to the TV series
• OVA Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Pailsen Files (ペールゼン・ファイルズ)
• OVA Armor Hunter Mellowlink (機甲猟兵メロウリンク) - starts four months prior to the TV series
• TV Anime Armored Trooper VOTOMS episodes 1-13, Uoodo storyline
• OVA Armored Trooper VOTOMS: The Last Red Shoulder (ザ・ラストレッドショルダー)
• TV Anime Armored Trooper VOTOMS episodes 14-27, Kummen storyline
• TV Anime Armored Trooper VOTOMS episodes 28-39, Sunsa storyline
• TV Anime Armored Trooper VOTOMS episodes 40-52, Quent storyline
• OVA Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Battle Of The Heterogeneous Species (ビッグバトル Big Battle) - set during the one-year gap in the TV series
• TV Anime Armored Trooper VOTOMS End of episode 52, Quent storyline
• OVA Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Shining Heresy (赫奕たる異端) - set 32 years after the television series
• OVA Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Alone Again (孤影再び) - begins 3 months after the end of Shining Heresy
• OVA Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Phantom Chapter (幻影篇)
• OVA Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Case; Irvine (装甲騎兵ボトムズ Case;IRVINE)

It also worth noting that the manga and the various Armored Trooper VOTOMS video games are non-canon. Light novel adaptations also exist and those explain side stories loosely affiliated with the main time-line.

Standing in the Battledome

Armored Trooper VOTOMS ranks relatively low amongst both mecha and sci-fi verses. The Balarant and Gilgamesh factions are barely above K1 in development with each faction possessing a few dozen or at best a hundred planets. The military of each faction can field a few hundred million soldiers and several tens of thousands of spaceships at best. Speaking of ships, they're armed with energy beams and missiles, with the latter being town level (dozens of kilotons to a few megatons in yield).

Through the (presumably long) bombardment of thousands if not more ships, they can also turn a planet into an uninhabitable desert.On the other hand the ships lack energy shields or any other special protection, their armor only topping at large building level. That means a lucky Armored Trooper with a well-aimed shot can destroy these ships. As for speed, ships can take interplanetary distances in a few days, making them massively hypersonic. Through the use of MH Drives they can also travel at FTL speeds, reaching distant star systems in only a few days or weeks.

Armored Troopers (AT) are the titular mechs of the series. They're like walking tanks armed with upscaled guns. Depending on equipment their firepower is between small building to large building level while their durability is small building level+. Albeit the rare M-35 energy rifle has city block to multi city block level power. When using their gliding wheels (similar to electrically powered roller skates), Armored Troopers can reach 40-120km/h on land. On the other hand Armored Troopers were shown to be able to target fighter jets and most named characters also were able to perform bullet timing or even supersonic reaction feats with them. Contrary to the popular belief, Armored Troopers can fly (using a special gear) albeit it's mostly used for landing operations. While doing so in the high atmosphere, Armored Troopers can fly at supersonic speeds. In addition the same equipment can be used for space battles, turning the Armored Trooper in to a small highly maneuverable space fighter. In space Armored Troopers were appeared to be faster than battleships, making them potentially massively hypersonic.

Supporters of the Series

• Amae
• Es
• Samavarti
• willyvereb

(Not enough people, it seems)

Character Profiles

• Chirico Cuvie
• Fyana
• Mellownik Arity
• Teitania de Montewells
• Wiseman
• Ypsilon

Mecha Profiles

• ATH-14 Standing Tortoise
• ATM-09 Scopedog
• X-ATH-02 Strike Dog
• X-ATL-01 Zwerg

Vehicle Profiles

• TBA

Civilization Profiles

• Blarant Union
• Quentians
• Gilgamesh Confederacy