Special Armored Battalion Dorvack

Special Armored Battalion Dorvack
Promotional artwork for Special Armored Battalion Dorvack
特装機兵ドルバック (Tokusō Kihei Dorvack)
Genre	Action, Adventure, Mecha anime, Real Robot, Military science fiction
Anime television series
Directed by	Hisataro Oniwa
Studio	Ashi Productions
Network	Fuji TV
Original run	October 7, 1983 – July 6, 1984
Episodes	36

Special Armored Battalion Dorvack (特装機兵ドルバック, Tokusō Kihei Dorubākku, Cantonese: 特装機兵) is an anime series aired from 1983 to 1984 in Japan and also aired in Hong Kong roughly at the same time. There were 36 episodes. Other loosely translated names are "Dorvack", "Dolbuk", "Special Powered Armor Troop Dorvack", "Special Machine Army Dorvack", "Machine Corps Dorvack", "Armored Trooper Dorvack", "Tokusou Kihei Dorvack", "Comando Dolbuck" (Brazil), "Dolbuk, Defensores de la Tierra" (Latin America).

Story

The year is 1999. The Idelians, whose colony-ship has been wandering space for tens of thousands of years, are nearing exhaustion. Their sole hope is to settle on the nearest habitable planet, Earth. Soon after their arrival in orbit, they launch an invasion, landing a large attack force in the Alps.

The Earth Defense Forces valiantly fight in their powered armor against the enemy, but with little success. Only one unit is able to inflict significant damage, the Special Armored Battalion Dorvack. Under the command of Colonel Takagi, Masato Mugen, Pierre Bonaparte and Louise Oberon fight to defeat the invaders. They are equipped with special variable mecha that are able to convert from rugged all-terrain vehicles to humanoid forms.

Concept

The show was essentially a showcase for the toyline released by Takatoku. The mecha designs were created by Katsumi Itabashi and Nobuyoshi Habara, while the models were made by the model company Gunze Sangyo. The plot was kept simple, but filled with high levels of animation and action.

Staff

• Planning, Production: Ashi Productions, Yomiuri
• Director: Masami Annou
• Original creator: Takeshi Shudo
• Character Design: Osamu Kamijoo
• Mechanic design: Katsumi Itabashi, Nobuyoshi Habara

Music

• Opening Theme: "Chikyuu Ni I Love You" by WELCOME
• Ending Theme: "Kimi Ni Okuru Lullaby" by WELCOME

Characters

Name	Japanese Name	Voiced by
Masato Mugen	無限真人	Tōru Furuya
Louise Oberon	ルイ・オベロン	Hiromi Tsuru
Pierre Bonaparte	ピエール・ボナパルト	Sukekiyo Kameyama
Stanley Hilton	スタンレー・ヒルトン	Hirotaka Suzuoki
Col. Yōichi Takagi	高城洋一	Kiyoshi Kobayashi
Bob Floyd	ボブ・フロイド	Yutaka Shimaka
Jackie Frank	ジャッキー・フランク	Asami Mukaidono
Peter	ピーター	Masako Katsuki
Henry	ヘンリー	Yūsaku Yara
Idel	イデル	Show Hayami
Amov	アモフ	Osamu Saka
Aroma	アロマ	Keiko Toda
Zelar	ゼラー	Eiji Kanie

Technology

Mecha	Name	Crew	Description
Variable Vehicle	VV-54AR Mugen Calibur	Masato Mugen	Prototype transformable Jeep/Humvee-like Variable Machine with a soldier-like humanoid mode. The "AR" stands for "Armor Rifle," the signature weapon of this model, which can also fire muzzle-launched grenades. The Calibur can be equipped with a Jumping Booster Unit—an armed backpack which grants rocket-assisted jumping power and can be stored in vehicle mode.
Variable Vehicle	VV-54AS Calibur Special	Masato Mugen	Mugen Calibur armed with a MAC-11 Mozart, a dual-barreled, rapid-fire cannon that fits over the right forearm and can be used as an anti-air weapon in vehicle mode.
Variable Vehicle	Combat Calibur	Masato Mugen	An enhanced reconstruction of Masato's wrecked Mugen Calibur which appears in the second half of the series. Consists of a suite of 50mm High-Laminade Armor parts, a shield, and 8 missiles. The handheld Armor Rifle is replaced with 15-shot, 20mm chemical energy blaster gun. Since this equipment doubles the weight of the normal Calibur, an 8500ps powerplant supercharger is included. Superhuman mobility is achieved by the incorporation of a biofeedback motor, and built-in rocket verniers increase jumping power by 10 times and can even facilitate limited hovering. However, the Mugen Calibur cannot transform to vehicle mode unless all this equipment is purged.
Variable Vehicle	VV-54A Calibur	one pilot	Mass-produced armored car-type Variable Machine. Armed with a bazooka-like weapon.
Variable Vehicle	VV-54B Gun Calibur	one pilot	A more heavily-armed version of the Calibur, equipped with an MG-09 Bull grenade gun. Never appeared in the anime; only existed as a model kit.
Variable Vehicle	VV-54E Scrand	one pilot	An enhanced-performance version of the Gun Calibur. Never appeared in the anime; only existed as a model kit.
Variable Tank	VT-61LC Bonaparte Tulcas	Pierre Bonaparte Stanley Hilton	Prototype transformable tank-like Variable Machine with a GERWALK-like humanoid mode. Primary armament is a pair of cannons. Requires two crewmen to operate.
Variable Tank	VT-61A Tulcas	three pilots	Mass-produced tank-type Variable Machine. Its sensor capabilities are superior to the prototype.
Variable Helicopter	VH-64MR Oberon Gazzette	Louise Oberon	Prototype transformable helicopter Variable Machine with a slender, cyclops-like humanoid mode. Designed with speed and reconnaissance in mind.
Variable Helicopter	VH-64A Gazzette	one pilot	Mass-produced helicopter-type Variable Machine. Equipped with a Vulcan gun for greater rates of fire, and sound baffling for the rotor.
Powered Armor	PA-27 Recon	one pilot	The first military powered armor. Resembles an atmospheric diving suit. The glass canopy offers little protection in combat, so Recons were relegated to training and engineering units.
Powered Armor	PA-58N Halk	one pilot	Standard-issue military powered armor. The glass canopy of the Recon was replaced by an armored covering and a camera eye sensor system. Armed with a grenade gun.
Powered Armor	PA-58NC Halk Commander	one pilot	Command-type Halk variant, equipped with a large, disc-shaped communications antenna.
Powered Armor	PA-58N "Halk Sovat"	one pilot	Halk variant armed with an anti-armor grenade rocket launcher.
Powered Armor	PA-58T Bowg & AVS-003 Buffire	one pilot	A Halk variant which mounts dual beam cannon on the head and rides a platform-type Flying Unit. Never appeared in the anime; only existed as a model kit.
Powered Armor	PA-36 Nove	one pilot	To address the Halk's power limitations, the Nove is larger so as to accommodate greater power output.
Powered Armor	PA-36HD-R2 Nove Laser	one pilot	Armed with a chemical laser gun, which replaces the right hand.
Powered Armor	PA-36HD-R6 Nove Cannon	one pilot	Armed with a large-caliber cannon, which replaces the right hand.
Powered Armor	PA-36F Rook & AVS-004 Buffire	one pilot	A Nove variant which mounts a large backpack thruster unit and rides a heavily-armed platform-type Flying Unit. Never appeared in the anime; only existed as a model kit.
Powered Armor	PA-36K Berlon	one pilot	A heavily armed and armored Nove variant equipped with double-barreled cannons on the shoulders and a long-range cannon on the forearm. Never appeared in the anime; only existed as a model kit.
Powered Armor	PAM-74 Tinkle Bell	one pilot	Attack-oriented PA armed with five mini-missile launchers (for a total of 105 missiles). In annihilation operations, a formation of Tinkle Bells can simultaneously fire all their missiles in a "Fireball" maneuver.
Powered Armor	PAM-74AM Tinkle Sam	one pilot	A more heavily-armed Tinkle Bell, adding six large missiles and replacing the right hand with a large-bore laser rifle.
Powered Armor	PAM-74C Dunk & F-12 Cupid	one pilot	Another Tinkle Bell variant, this time eschewing missiles. Instead, one large cannon replaces the right hand and the "Cupid" high-mobility rocket backpack is affixed. Never appeared in the anime; only existed as a model kit.
Powered Armor	PAC-48 Guardian	one pilot	A fire-support type PA which has a large-caliber recoilless gun instead of a right arm.
Powered Armor	PAC-48C Doldian	one pilot	An anti-aircraft Guardian retrofit which replaces the recoilless gun with a triple-barrel beam Vulcan. Never appeared in the anime; only existed as a model kit.
Powered Armor	PAC-48Z Paladin	one pilot	A strategic Guardian variant with increased armor and improved sensors, with a large-bore beam cannon instead of a right arm. Never appeared in the anime; only existed as a model kit.

Merchandise

The series featured some solid mechanical designs, but the slow-moving storyline failed to move fans. The line of 1/24, 1/72 and 1/100 scale toys and models sat on Japanese toy store shelves. Toymaker Takatoku Toys, already suffering from the poor performances of the merchandise lines from the previous Super Dimension Century Orguss and Galactic Whirlwind Sasuraiger series, went under as a result.

American toy company Hasbro acquired the molds for two of the deluxe toys, the Mugen Calibur and the Oberon Gazzette. They were re-released in North America as part of the Transformers line, under the name "Roadbuster" and "Whirl", respectively. While both featured heavily in British-written stories for Marvel UK's Transformers comics (even though, ironically, their toys were never released in the UK) neither character, both Autobots, appeared in the American animated series or in U.S. Marvel stories. Due to their fame in the English stories, Dreamwave Productions made use of them in their Transformers comics, produced some 16–17 years later.

The American firm Select also repackaged two color variations each of the smaller Variable Machine Collection toys under the name "Convertors". Mugen Calibur became "Wheels", Oberon Gazzette became "Chopper", and Bonaparte Tulcas became "Tanker".

External links

• convertors section at toy archive
• convertors section at counter-x
• Geneon DVD (Japanese)
• Special Armored Battalion Dorvack (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia