is a 36 episode

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series aired from 1983 to 1984 in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and also aired in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

at roughly the same time. The show is also known as ''Special Armored Trooper Dorvack'' and ''Powered Armor Dorvack''.

Story

The year is 1999. The Idelians, whose colony-ship has been wandering in 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 An exoskeleton is a wearable device that augments, enables, assists, or enhances motion, posture, or physical activity through mechanical interaction with and force applied to the user’s body. Other common names for a wearable exoskeleton in ...

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 Louie Oberon fight to defeat the invaders. They are equipped with special variable

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines, typically depicted as piloted, humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the meaning in Japan ...

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 was a Japanese toy company active during the 1970s and early 1980s. While responsible for many robots, action-figures and vehicles, they are today mainly known for making the original Macross toys. During the 1970s Takatoku made toys based on s ...

. 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 is a Japanese anime studio, located in Suginami, Tokyo, Japan, known for its four magical-girl anime, especially '' Magical Princess Minky Momo''. It was established by Toshihiko Sato and other artists on December 20, 1975, as ''Ashi Productio ...

, Yomiuri * Director: Masami Anno * Story editor: Shigemitsu Taguchi * Original creator:

Takeshi Shudo was a Japanese scriptwriter, stage musical writer and novelist from Fukuoka Prefecture. He worked mainly in the animation industry. He was a member of the Writers Guild of Japan. His major works include '' Space Warrior Baldios'', ''Magical Pri ...

* Character Design: Osamu Kamijo * Mecha design: Katsumi Itabashi, Nobuyoshi Habara

Music

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

Voice cast

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 was a Japanese toy company active during the 1970s and early 1980s. While responsible for many robots, action-figures and vehicles, they are today mainly known for making the original Macross toys. During the 1970s Takatoku made toys based on s ...

, already suffering from the poor performances of the merchandise lines from the previous

Super Dimension Century Orguss is an anime science fiction series. It inspired an Original Video Animation, OVA sequel series called ''Orguss 02''. ''Orguss'' was the second part of ''The Super Dimension (disambiguation), Super Dimension'' trilogy from Big West Advertising ...

and Galactic Whirlwind Sasuraiger series, went under as a result. American toy company

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

acquired the molds for two of the deluxe toys, the Mugen Calibur and the Ovelon Gazette. They were re-released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

as part of the

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...

line as "Deluxe

Autobot The Autobots are a fictional faction of sentient robots in the ''Transformers'' multimedia franchise. The Autobots are living robots from the planet Cybertron who, like most Transformers, are each imbued with a unique "life force" known as a " ...

s", under the names "''Roadbuster''" and "''

Whirl Whirl may refer to: * Whirling, a dance genre * Whirl (''Transformers''), a character in the ''Transformers'' franchise * Tilt-A-Whirl, a type of amusement ride * Atomic whirl, a symbol of atheism * ''Whirl'' magazine, a luxury lifestyle magaz ...

''", respectively.1985 Transformers Scan.
Autobot Deluxe Vehicles, in Upper Left corner
" ''Transformers Scan.'' Retrieved on 2006-11-15. While both Roadbuster and Whirl featured heavily in British-written stories for

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

UK's Transformers comics (even though, ironically, their toys were never released in the UK) neither character appeared in the American animated series or in U.S. Marvel stories. Due to their fame in the English stories,

Dreamwave Productions Dreamwave Productions was a Canadian art design studio and comic book publisher founded in 1996. Best known for its comic book adaptations of ''Transformers (toy line), Transformers'', the company shut down on January 4, 2005. History Brothers ...

made use of them in their Transformers comics, produced some 16–17 years later. They also had prominent roles in Transformers (IDW Publishing). Bonaparte Tulcas would later appear in a cameo role in the 'Fun Publication' run, getting the name "Headcannon". The American firm Select also repackaged two color variations each of the smaller Variable Machine Collection toys under the name "

Convertors The Convertors were a line of action figures made by Japanese toy company MARK and localized in North America by New York-based Select in the 1980s. Often compared to the more famous Gobots and Transformers, the Convertors were a line of toys whi ...

". Mugen Calibur became "Wheels", Oberon Gazette became "Chopper", and Bonaparte Tulcas became "Tanker".

Episodes

References

External links

* *
Geneon DVD

at Toy Archive

at Counter-x {{Ashi Productions 1983 anime television series debuts 1983 Japanese television series debuts 1984 Japanese television series endings Action anime and manga Ashi Productions Drama anime and manga Fuji Television original programming Real robot anime and manga Television series set in 1999 Toy mecha Transforming toy robots