DestroidsRage Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 As you grow more interested in Mecha Anime, you start to wonder, "Is this all there is? Gundam and Macross?". You stat delving deeper and deeper, realising that so many wonderful shows have been forgotten by the sands of time. You decide it is your duty to try to resurrect these fallen crusaders of Robot Anime. However, the sands of time are rather unforgiving. Sometimes a show was never even released on Laserdisk or VHS. Such is the case with Tokuso Kihei Dorvack. (Special Powered Armor Troop Dorvack). Dorvack is a show that seems like its the 4th lost relative to the Super Dimension anime's. All transforming mecha are designed by Shoji Kawamori, and I have no proof, but all of the secondary mecha really look like Kezutaka Miyatake's work, of Orguss fame, and designer of the Destroids. The animation is very nice, typical of Ashi Production, who also did Goshogun, Baldios, Dancougar, and Machine Robo. If you ever watch a mecha show, and notice a certain 'shiny' aspect to it, much like Dancougar, it was probably done by Ashi Production. The character designs are very nice, with the guys looking cool, and most of the girls looking pretty. The plot is rather simple. A transforming robot troop has been assembled to test out the idea of transorming vehicles. Meanwhile, th Idelians have been wandering around space in their massive ship for thousands of years. Their ship is running out of energy, so they have to find a planet to colonize before their ship gives out and they all die. Their final hope is to settle in our solar system - on earth. The Idelians attack earth and none of the advanced fighter aircraft the earth forces can throw against them slow them down at all. While the Dorvack team are out on a mission, they get jumped by Idelian attack robots. The Dorvack team initiates transformation of their advanced vehicles and then proceed to destroy the enemy in robot form. The Dorvack Team is the only unit capable of winning against the advanced Idelians, and with that, their duty to defend Earth has begun. Of interest, is that Sho Hayami, who voiced Max Jenius and a bunch of other famous character, does the voice for the blue haired 'bishounen' leader of the Idelian forces. The real shine of Dorvack comes from its awesome (if a little odd) mechanical designs. To form a versatile attack force, the Dorvack Team consists of three transforming vehicles, the Calibur (a jeep), the Tulcas (a tank), and the Gazzette (a helicopter), piloted by Musato Mugen, Pierre Bonapatre, and Loise Ovelon, respectively. There is just a certain somethin you have to love about the mecha in Dorvack. To top it off, you never get tired of the mecha action, because in robot mode the Dorvack Team use physical attacks almost as often as using their heavy weaponry, and try to military vehicles, there are several options the mecha can be fitted with depending on their mission. And for all you Powered Armor lovers out there, Dorvack is swamped with some of the most awesome power armor out there. As the military attempts to catch up to the Idelians in technology and firepower, they resort to advanced powered armor infantry, which is always a good change from the typical fighters and tanks. Here are some pictures of the main mecha from Dorvack, from Toybox DX's page on the Dorvack line of toys. http://www.toyboxdx.com/data/takatoku2/ima...5caliburbox.jpg http://www.toyboxdx.com/data/takatoku2/ima...55tulcasbox.jpg http://www.toyboxdx.com/data/takatoku2/ima...5gazettebox.jpg I managed to aquire 5 episodes of this awesome series taped off of TV, in reasonable quality. I have bought two extremely hard to find model and lineart mini-books from it, and I plan to copy my episodes of Dorvack into high quality digital video and upload them to some anime servers at some point, because Im sure people want to see this show, but it is almost impossible to find it. If anyone has any Dorvack merchandise, in particular any of the transforming toys, or model books, I would be very interested in buying them off of you. When I was 8 years old or so, I aquired my first Anime Mecha toy. A die cast simple little un-transformable figure of the Calibur. It was my favorite, and I remember it vividly, until, like a stupid little kid, I lost it. So I kind of have a weird obsession with Dorvack because of that. Thanks for reading this! I cant wait for your replies And for everyone who remembers me - The Rage is back on the page. -BEN-MAN- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vostok 7 Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 And for everyone who remembers me - The Rage is back on the page.-BEN-MAN- Uh oh... Vostok 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerwalk25 Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 I have the Ovalon AKA Whirl from the Transformers somewhere. It's about 7 inches in height when transformed light blue and can seat a human pilot which it didn't have just like the Skids TF that originally came with a mini scooter and micro figure plus it swiveled when in a "Battroid" position. I gotta fish it out of storage and take pics. ~G25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eriku Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Heh, I had a really crappy version of that tank when I was a kid, or one extremely similar. Got it as a stocking stuffer. It was all dark green and cheap feeling, must have been a bootleg. I should exhume it's mangled carcass from the toy dump and take some pictures so you guys can laugh at it's crappiness. Those original figures look cool, especially the jeep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob joe mac Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Man amd about reviving old kick@$$ giant robots I ve been checking out two Real Robot shows. 1- Metal Armour Dragonar- Well besides the fact that the first ep is almost exactlly like the first ep of gundam the show pulls through and gets really awesome later. Basically its about these colonists that declare independence and make Giant robots to combat earth. Meanwhile earth made 3 of there own and transport them to a neutral colony. So these Gigantos dudes (the colonists) Figure this out and attack the colony with these crazy attack bikes and our three main hero's who are kinda goof off High Schoolers find these 3 mechs and start to fight back. As the fight continues they end up in space and the colony gets heavily damaged and is destroyed...... So yeah that sounds EXACTLLY like gundam but the similarities really stop there. 2- The 2nd is SPT laynazer. Now in this All the earth forces are working to gether to stop these evil dudes that use these huge robots to attack earths puny jets. After th main characters arrive at this base these evil dudes attack slaughtering the earth forces. Later this mysterious robot shows up (SPT laynazer) and starts to fight off these 3 dudes. Now unlike gundam or any other giant robot show where he could take them all down no prob he doesn't even get one and really only draws the fire away from the base. The cast runs into a room believed to be safe but it gets hit with some fire and the roof collapses. A few people freak out at the death they see but manage to escape to another room. For reasons unknown the enemy retreats but this mysterious robot lands and this scares the piss out of these characters. The then see that the pilot is human and is here to help them... both these shows are pretty cool and both openings rekk of awesomeness well cept for in the middle of SPT's they have this stupid preview of the episode. Why its there I dunno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DestroidsRage Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 Bob, that little thing towards the middle of Melos No Youni is /awesome/. It makes it even more dramatic and adrenaline pumping. David screaming "help me! HELP MEE!!!!!", then the song picking back up into its awesomeness, its /SO BLOODY COOL/. I cant believe you dont think so. Airmail From Nagasaki is a seriously awesome band. I have the opening and ending done by them. Note that the ending is usually a female singer, I have a version done by Airmail From Nagasaki, and its cool ^__^ It pisses me off that Manga International only released the first 24 episodes though. Theres over a THIRD of the show that they still need to release. And yes, Dragonar is infinitely awesome. I prefer the second opening, Starlight, more though. Its just so bloody cool. I've been looking for Starlight but so far I've only been able to find the first opening.. Dorvack has an incredible opening also. I have over a minute of the full song if anyone wants it :;... If anyone wants me to upload it someplace, I'd gladly do it. Your not likely to /ever/ find it any other way. Its the full version of the song, but my copy gets cut off after the end of the lyrics you hear in the TV size version. Its odd... -BEN-MAN- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UN Spacy Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 OMG! Back when I was in the 1st or 2nd grade I had the Calibur! I think it was a smaller than the version shown in the first picture, wasn't the Gazzette used for one of the Transformers (an Autobot Heli)? Wow......those pics bring back some memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DestroidsRage Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 Yah!! I had the Calibur, but it didnt transform, it was only around 5 inches tall, and I remember that there was quite a bit of metal in it, and it came with a little rifle, and some optional parts. But I dont remember it comming in any fancy packaging I dont think... Maybe we had the same toy UN Spacy My incredibly fond memories of that toy are what got me hooked on Dorvack -BEN-MAN- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthLurker Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 I loved the Dorvack toys. No chance of any bootleg chinese dvds of this series? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DestroidsRage Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 StealthLurker, to the best of my knowledge, Dorvack was never released, ever. Not on DVD, not on VHS, not on Laserdisk, not VCD, not /anything/. Finding Dorvack episodes is about as hard as it gets. I have episodes 1-5 on VHS, copied off of TV in the 80s. Thats about all thats out there. And the quality aint too high either. So yah. The best we could do was lobby for Animeigo, or US Manga Corps, or CPM, or Software Sculptors to licence it. If someone wants to set up a poll, im sure many people would sign it. Cause thats probably the /only/ way we'll ever get to see it. -BEN-MAN- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opus Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Kawamori actually had nothing to do with Dorvack. Does that make it any less cool? No. As for the toys I have most of them. They're pretty good but not very poseable. You can expect to pay around $200 - $300 for a MIB 1/55. <_ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DestroidsRage Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 He designed all of the variable mecha in it Opus. The Calibur, the Gazzette, the Tulcas, and all their variants. I mean, come on, it came out around the same time as Macross, and at that point he was the /only person/ that could create cool transforming mecha. Of course he did those designs. I dont think he had /anything/ to do with the actual show, just in the designs. -BEN-MAN- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drifand Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 (edited) It's a matter of fact that Dorvack's mecha designs are mainly by Itabashi Katsuki. Here's a Japanese page listing the staff of Dorvack: http://homepage1.nifty.com/gensou-teien/do...vack-staff.html. You won't find Kawamori's name anywhere on it ;-) If you look carefully at the info, it seems THREE persons worked on the mecha designs. Itabashi is the first on the list, and I believe he did the 3 transforming vehicles. The other 2 guys probably worked on the good guy's NOVE Powered Armor and the alien's suits. Those powered suits are really cool! Check out the full page of toys on TBDX: http://www.toyboxdx.com/data/takatoku2/dorvack.html Edited September 4, 2003 by drifand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DestroidsRage Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 Wow Drifand!!! I seem to be proven incredibly wrong!!! But then why are literally /dozens/ of sites saying he /did/ work on Dorvack??? I figured /that many sites simply cant be wrong/! And yes, I've been to just about every Dorvack site out there. Toybox DX's page on it is very good. -BEN-MAN- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander McBride Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 I'm not too up on this, IIRC, there was a book years ago that erroneously listed Kawamori, and the error spread until everyone believed it. Kind of like Washington and the cherry tree, or Thomas Crapper and the toilet, both false, but acceped by the public as true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DestroidsRage Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 Ahhh! Thats very interesting. Im sure Kawamori must have been wondering why people keep thinking Dorvack is synonomous with his name. Which makes me wonder, what other mecha has 'Itabashi Katsuki' done??? He must have been working for Ashi Productions when he did the Dorvack designs, but the only other Ashi show that he might of worked on is Dancougar, however we all know Masami Obari did those designs. Be cool if he did mecha for other shows also. Thanks for the information McBride!! This has been a very informative day for me. -BEN-MAN- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drifand Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Here's a shameless plug for a custom 1/55 Calibur I made some time ago... always did like the non-leader "cannon fodder" types better! Too bad Takatoku never made the rest of them. I'm still thinking of getting a cheap TF Whirl and converting it into a military green version as well. http://www.ToyboxDX.com/rumble_plus/180802...02-calibur.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DestroidsRage Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 Drifand! That is /incredibly/ awesome!!! The Standard Calibur has always seemed incredibly cool to me. You did a freakin amazing job with it. Have you actually seen Dorvack before? As I said, I've only seen 5 episodes but I like it a lot. I take it you collect a lot of Dorvack stuff? Like the Mr. News modeling mini-books? Its so freakin cool to be back on Macross World, I learn /so much/ about my favorite mecha shows it just boggles the mind!! I thought I'd been to every Dorvack site, but I guess I didnt look hard enough, as I never found your Standard Calibur page. Anyone else have any Dorvack sites that are good? I dont think theres enough of them -BEN-MAN- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drifand Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Thanks for the kind words, Ben. I've collected just about all the Dorvack toys I really wanted. I also used to own the small set of all 3 vehicles but played them to pieces. I haven't collected any Dorvack other stuff like models or books. When money's tight, you've got to focus on what really counts... and for me, it's gotta be TOYS, not models or books :-) Roger Harkarvy on TBDX used to have his own "Mini Dorvack Page". It had an FAQ and even episode guides for almost the whole series. Unfortunately, it's no longer online... sigh. You could drop by the BBS and holler for him ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DestroidsRage Posted September 5, 2003 Author Share Posted September 5, 2003 It makes me wonder if Im the only one who's ever seen the actual dorvack show here. Has /anyone/ here seen it??? -BEN-MAN- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opus Posted September 5, 2003 Share Posted September 5, 2003 I've seen a few random episodes of it but it was about 17 or 18 years ago and I don't really remember that much about it. If you want to share your tapes I'd like to watch them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DestroidsRage Posted September 5, 2003 Author Share Posted September 5, 2003 It would be silly to share my one tape Opus However I will be copying the episodes into high quality MPEG4 or some such thing, then uploading them to servers. I'll send you a cd or two with the episodes on it. Keep in mind, these are /old/ TV rips! The quality is what I would consider "typical fansub". Grainy, few anomalies, little sound weirdness, but you can still see everything and its still plenty watchable. Perfectly 'accapetable', but definitely not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. -BEN-MAN- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opus Posted September 6, 2003 Share Posted September 6, 2003 It would be silly to share my one tape Opus However I will be copying the episodes into high quality MPEG4 or some such thing, then uploading them to servers. I'll send you a cd or two with the episodes on it. Keep in mind, these are /old/ TV rips! The quality is what I would consider "typical fansub". Grainy, few anomalies, little sound weirdness, but you can still see everything and its still plenty watchable. Perfectly 'accapetable', but definitely not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.-BEN-MAN- Sorry, I meant to say that if you copy them I'd like to get one. VCDs are fine with me since any quality is better than nothing at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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