ThreeA - Evenfall : Moonbase Omega Astronaut Strigoi.

Creştinii câţi nu dorm, cu spaimă cheamă

Pe maica lui Hristos şi-aprind grăbit

Tămâie şi usturoi pe-un vas de aramă

Ea singură-n căscioară, biata mamă

Stă chip înmărmurit…

- George Coșbuc, Strigoii.

Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the virus dies, or both die.
- Gore Vidal.

A (mis) interpretation:

Classification: Daemon.

Order: Bloodthirster.

Family: Vampir.

Sub-family: Strigoi.

Genus: Strigosus.

Species: Atra Strigosus Pestis.

Host: Executive Officer Caine Johnson - Nostradamus Commercial Vehicle; Jovian Trade Federation.

Age: 33 yrs - AD1979.

Infection category: Class 3 (No.211114).

Source: кости  дьявол (Devil Bones) S-type asteroid (discovered AD1897) - destroyed AD1986.

The Jovian Trade Federation is a powerful commerce guild and trade cartel established in the early 20th century. It comprises several trade groups, including the Asteroid Mining Colonies, the Saturn United Mining Group with the Rothchild Corporation as primary stakeholder. It has its own commercial trade fleet as well as private military, the 1st Jovian Expeditionary Fleet. Major trade routes are controlled by them. Its primary trades comprise mineral ores and Helium-3, obtain from Jupiter and its four major moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto as well as Saturn and its surrounding satellites. Their trade monopoly on these highly sought after resources make them politically powerful, wealthy and highly influential amongst both the governments of Terra and Mars. When the Great War breaks out, the Jovian Trade Federation serves as the primary source of raw materials for both belligerents in the war. The only concerns they face are occasional supply route mercenaries and space pirates attacks. Mineral ores and Helium-3 supplies are both refined and processed on orbital refinery stations.
In 1939, the Asteroid Mining Colonies declare secession from the federation upon the Zeon Uprising due to the Free Trade Zone dispute which results in military intervention and subsequent annexation of its central government on Ceres. The asteroid belts mining rights are then given exclusively to the Jovian Trade Federation.
Over the next few decades, while various political and societal issues plague the Sol System, the Jovian Trade Federation remains relatively insulated and apolitical, even when the Rothchild Corporation splintered into various proxy conglomerates after the N.O.M. Legion assault on Rothchild City, Luna on 1944.
1979. The Jovian commercial spacecraft, Nostradamus, is en route back to Ganymede. It is towing the Omega Refinery Station, which is processing 20 million tonnes of mineral ores mined from the asteroids. Shortly after departure, the on board computer picks up a mysterious transmission, possibly a distress signal and alerts the crew. They discover the signal comes from an asteroid called the Devil Bones. The asteroid, discovered by Siberian astronomer, Vladimir Albitsky of Imperial Eurasia in 1897, is called the Devil Bones, due to its shape and the superstition attaches to it by the populations of the colonies. They avoid it until the took over of mining control rights by the Federation. Captain Dakota order the ship to the Devil Bones, despite protest from Chief Engineer, Focker that they are not a rescue vessel. Dakota reminds Focker that they are contractual obliged to investigate any potential distress signal or their shares would be forfeited. They arrives and lands on the asteroid on a shuttle. Dakota, together with Executive Officer Johnson and Navigator Lamprecht head out to investigate. They discover the signal comes from a derelict spacecraft of unknown origin. Inside they find a shrivelled, waxen looking humanoid within what is suspected to be a form of hibernation pod. The cover of the pod has been smashed and there is a trinity symbol painted on it. The humanoid's head has been severed and there is an object which looks like a stake embedded into its chest. On Nostradamus, Warrant Officer Ridley determines that the transmission is not a distress signal but a warning. She tries to contact the three but communication lines start to be overwhelmed with white noise and statics. Within the derelict ship, Johnson stumbles upon a massive chamber containing hundreds of egg-like pods. As he inspects one of the pods, ectoplasmic like substance envelops Johnson and seep through his helmet. Dakota and Lamprecht carry an unconscious Johnson back to the shuttle and return to Nostradamus. Ridley refuse to allow them inside, citing quarantine regulations but Science Officer Abu violates protocol by overriding Ridley's lock and letting them in. Dakota and Abu put Johnson into the Med Bay and try to remove Johnson's helmet but is unable to, sealing tight. Despite Ridley's protest and under instigation by Abu, Dakota orders Nostradamus to resume its course back to Ganymede and enters FTL.
Johnson is brought to the Jovian Science and Research Development Centre (JSRDC), attend by several personals there as well as representatives from the Newel Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Medicae analysis and results show that Johnson's body is physically mutating at cellular level within his suit and helmet. His body is covered like a cocoon with numerous big, long worm like organisms which are simultaneously digesting Johnson's disintegrating fleshes and organs while secreting viscous liquids. Horizontal transfer of genetic materials and DNA are detected.
While the medicae team collates the data from the results to determine the next step, security alarm begins to sound from the quarantine section. As the team looks at the vid-vox, horrific scene unfolds before them. A creature wearing an astronaut suit and helmet with ID tag clearly shows the name, "Johnson" are slaughtering all the medicae personals there. A lock down is activated to contain the creature. The Jovian Internal Security are deployed and evacuates everyone in the centre before engaging the creature, killing it in the process. Twelve medicae personals and three security guards are killed. Two medicae personals are severely injured which later develop the same symptoms as the late Johnson.
The remains of the creature is brought back to a Jovian Newel military base, Outpost 31. JSRDC's leading biologist Dr. Brimley performs autopsy on the creature. Its head is reduced to nothing but skin covering the skull, which is human like yet possessing a predatory feature with sharp canine teeth. Both arms and legs, torso have been elongated, with odd looking protruding bones at the joints, particularly both arms which have three elbows. The elongated fingers have talons like nails. On each palm there is a sharp stinger like object which could retract and extract. The internal organs are curiously human like but with slight mutation. And there is still a slight presence of cellular activity, meaning it is not entirely dead.
He presents his result at an emergency meeting on the incident with representatives from the JTF. Dr. Brimley reports that the creature is formerly Johnson. The ectoplasma from the egg pod manifest into an unidentified living organism which he termed as "long worm" has infected Johnson. The "long worn" serves as a vector, which sole purpose is to pass on an unknown virus to a living host. It would die shortly after. The viruses would break down and digest the cellular structure while simultaneously metamorphosis through mutation the infected host into a new life form. Each of the mutated creature contains the larvae of the "long worm" in a gland within its palm and cavity of its sharp teeth. Humans whom survive an attack and injure by it would undergo metamorphosis and turn into an egg pod, thus continuing the lifecycle. The creature could survive harsh environments, UV spectrum and even in the vacuum of space. If there is no suitable host or target nearby, the creature would goes into hibernation for indefinite period. There is a limited amount of intelligence possess by the creature but ultimately its sole purpose is to consume, propagate and eliminate any living lifeform. His team has interviewed the asteroid colonies nearby Devil Bones. They did not respond to any questions but the elder ones mention only one word, from each different colonies, Strigoi. Dr. Brimley looks up the word but could not find any until one of his research team members bribes an Ecclesiarchy of Mars librarian and access to the highly inaccessible Inlicitus Bibliotheca, a library which contains thousands of banned ancient tomes and scrolls. Based on the compiled information, Dr. Brimley is advised by appointed anthropologists that Strigoi is an ancient Terra word for the undead, and is related to the vampir species. According to the ancient texts of the oldest vampir clan, the virus is supposedly created by the plague god Nurgleth as retaliation against the blood god, Camazotz. Supposedly, Nurgleth sent a group of Chaos-tainted planetesimals approximately 10 billion years ago  through a warp rift approximately during the primordial period which formed protoplanets, but Camazoztz caused it to collide amongst each other, resulting in the emergence of the asteroids. Nurgleth then tainted Luna, formed after the collision between Terra and a planet called Theia 4.5 billion years ago. When Ambrogio, the Vampir All-Father, drinks from the blood of Selene, the moonlight goddess, the Strigoi strain is subsequently passed to Ambrogio and his kindred. The virus has no adverse effect on a vampir but remain dormant in the cavities of the canine teeth. 
An expedition to the derelict spaceship by his team reveals that it is an ancient escape vehicle with self contain life support system. The humanoid is a dead vampir killed by an unknown assailant during its hibernation sleep. According to historians, at the end of their six thousand years old reign during the Dark Ages on Terra, the last of the vampir clan members escape en mass into the dark void of space to escape The Great Purge. Recordings obtained from the derelict ship are given to anthropologists and they decipher the ancient language. According to their findings, the dead vampir envisioned to restore the glory of its species back to its height of power during the pre-Dark Ages. The egg pods are results of genetic experimentations and engineering, resulting in a mutated strain of the original virus naturally occurring within each vampir. The vampir intends to use these egg pods as a form of biological weapon of mass destruction and unleash it upon Terra to wipe out the Terra population via an epidemic through common and propagated outbreak. It is not known why the ship crashed on the Devil Bones, and who is responsible for its death nor the signal emission from it. Dr. Brimley warns that based on his calculation, he projects that if a Strigoi reached civilised area, the entire Jovian sector population would be infected within 27,000 hours from first contact. Dr, Brimley named the Strigoi, Atra Strigosus Pestis. The remain of the creature and the infected survivors are given mercy killing in a molecular acid chamber. All incidences are to too be kept highly confidential to prevent panics amongst stockholders and mining colonists.
1986. A mining colony, Hadley's Hope has been established on Devil Bones. An engineer on routine inspection on the electro-magnetic catapult arms on one of the docks are infected upon contacting with an egg pod. The infection spreads throughout the entire base. Their last communication are two weeks ago. The Federation sends a company of military troops to investigate. They are wiped by the Strigois to the last two men whom activates the military ship's lance cannon, which destroys the entire asteroid.
A Strigoi survives and escapes into the shuttle together with them. Exiting FTL on Callisto, the ship does not respond to traffic control and crashes onto the space port. Cleaning and re-construction crews are the first to be infected. The epidemic spreads from the ground zero of the spaceport and throughout all outposts on the moon. The Jovian Trade Federation declares Callisto to be lost and a quarantined zone. Military incursion onto Callisto to reclaim back the moon never return. The Federation suffers further losses when another Strigoi epidemic outbreak occurs on Io. Probes sent for reconnaissance mission sent back images of mega swarms, millions of egg pods, and terraformation of both moons' surfaces by the Strigois through the building of their nests. A mist of yellow greenish tinge now covers the entire atmosphere of both moons.
1987. The Jovian Trade Federation begins Operation Evenfall, which denotes the "beginning of evening or twilight". The Jovian military established T.O.T.E.M. (Tactical Operation Task Exterminator Module) Group, utilizing the THUG Suit, a form of power armour suit which is remote controlled by human through neural sync. It would mark the beginning of a clandestine but long and brutal war against the mutated vampir species.

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EVENFALL is a new original line released by ThreeA. Previously called T.O.T.E.M., the line is envisioned along the theme of sci-fi horror ala Alien or The Thing, I think. The first preview of this line were two years ago, which were a prototype THUG suit, designed with the idea as a armour suit with a pilot inside, something like a Ma.K suit but is recently ret-conned (as always) as an independent, remote controlled suit and the Strigoi, the subject and figure in hand. The Strigoi was offered as a single or a 2-pack, and a Commander variant with white astro suit. The 2-pack offer comes with a secondary Strigoi with torn astronaut suit, which to me makes more sense for such figure but I just don't want to waste my limited fund for that. No QC concerns nor issue (why have I become such a paranoid when it comes to ThreeA's stuffs on quality?). Comes with an Ashley Wood illustrated booklet, containing tantalizing bits of info on the Strigoi. Reminds me of the cocooning sequence in the deleted scene from Ridley Scott's 1979 Alien. Now, I am looking forward the 1/6th scale THUG suit, if it were to be released at all. Majority of infos on the mis-interpretation comes from Wiki, inspired by the booklet, supernatural folklore, sci-fi horror and the horrific Black Death pandemic.

Original Effect - Army Attractive Vol.11 : Cleopatra.

 

 

When I got this figure, I must admit because of the accessories and design, definitely not because of the typical Japanese anime/mange buxom design, as pointed out by Esther. As usual, it could not stand, unless I tinker with it for, like, forever. The staff is awesome though, made from metal but too heavy that it interfere with the posing. The "uniform" if I could call it that, is laden with faux jewels and tiny shiny crystals that I have to be so careful least it falls off. Still in its own genre, Original Effect is the master of its art. Nice figure.

Hot Toys AC02 - Kerberos Panzer Jäger : Protect Gear.

 

 

 

 

 

A (mis) interpretation :

Name: Maximilian Wittmann.

Nickname: The Werwolf.

Age: 30.

Rank: SS-Obersturmbannführer.

Unit: SS-Jäger-Bataillon 101 z.b.V. Kerberos.

Armour type: Spezial Panzer Anzug Typ. 34 "Wolfpeltz".

Std. armaments: MG 34 machine gun x 1; Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistol x 1.

Prologue:

22 June, 1941. Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, invading Soviet Union with four million Axis power soldiers and 600,000 vehicles along a 2,900 km front. The ambitious operation was driven by Adolf Hitler's persistent desire to conquer the Soviet territories as embodied in Generalplan Ost. Tactically, the Germans won resounding victories and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the Soviet Union, mainly in Ukraine. Despite these successes, the Germans were stalled on the outskirts of Moscow and was then pushed back by a Soviet counter offensive without having taken the city. The Soviets had forced an unprepared Germany into a war of attrition, leading to Hitler's demands for further operations into USSR, which would marked the beginning of the pivotal phase in deciding the victors of World War Two.

Part 1: Into the Heart of Darkness.

September 1942. Hauptmann Markus von Stauffenberg of the 808th Propagandakompanie left Warsaw, Poland with his men on an armoured train which marked his long journey into Soviet Union. An aristocrat by family background, his official objective is to convey latest information to both the military and civilian, as well as to report back the progress of the military campaigns from the Eastern Front. His ultimate destination would be Stalingrad of which the battle for the city was of immense propaganda value due to the name of the Soviet Union leader attached to it. On board the train were members of the newly formed SS-Jäger-Bataillon 101, a special forces unit led by the illustrious Maximilian Wittmann. Members of the unit were specially hand-picked from the Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS, Luftwaffe and the elite Brandenburgers of the Abwehr. All underwent an extensive training programme before being admitted into the unit. Also on the train was the head of the Zossen Wehrmacht Sniper training school, Major Leon Thorvald, a veteran of World War One. A fellow Bavarian aristocrat himself, Thorvald shared with Stauffenberg over the many conversations they had during the journey that he volunteered to go to Stalingrad because of a personal vendetta. His only son had been killed by an infamous Soviet sniper there. Many German soldiers had been reportedly killed by this sniper and his task was to eliminate the elusive Soviet marksman. Stauffenberg personally thought that would be a contest of skills worth reporting back to his superior back in Berlin. The armoured train had its own military unit to counter any partisan resistance operations in close proximity to the tracks. The train primary cargo were several final components to be fitted onto the super heavy tank, the Landkreuzer P.1500 Monster.

Despite being highly educated with an inclination towards literature, Stauffenberg chose a military career. He was part of the unit involved in the annexation of Sudetenland after the Anschluss, and subsequent invasion of Czechoslovakia despite a personal strong disapproval of the method it was carried out by the Nazi regime. He later took part in the attack on Poland. Stauffenberg supported the occupation of Poland because like majority of German aristocracy of those times, he held a deeply rooted belief that Eastern territories lost after World War One should be colonised as during the imperial era. After being reassigned to the OKH and participated in the Battle of France, Stauffenberg was awarded the Iron Cross First Class. He was impressed by the overwhelming military success, which was attributed to Hitler. Although Stauffenberg agreed with some of the Nazi party's nationalistic aspects, he found many of its ideologies repugnant and never became a member of the party. Moreover, Stauffenberg remained a practicing Catholic. Stauffenberg vacillated between a strong personal dislike of Hitler's policies and a respect for what he perceived to be Hitler's military acumen. On top of this, the growing systematic ill-treatment of Jews and suppression of religion had offended Stauffenberg's strong personal sense of Catholic morality and justice. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Stauffenberg joined the military intelligence organisation, the Abwehr, and given the command of the 808th Propaganda Company, with the purpose to gather intelligence on partisan resistance movements and Soviet Union civilians.

As the train crossed into Soviet territories, at each stop, Stauffenberg would take a brief walk along the station after meetings with the local administrators. He needed to get some fresh air before embarking upon the increasingly claustrophobic, windowless train. Stauffenberg noted the throngs of wounded German soldiers arriving in different trains from the Eastern Front. He realised that most would never see the Fatherland again. Throughout his journey, Stauffenberg witnessed the atrocities committed and the path of destruction left by the Germans which had occurred all over occupied territories of the Third Reich - the mass executions of Russians, Ukrainians, Jews and others - by the Germans. He heard of the Bila Tserkva Incident, seen the atrocities committed upon the Soviet POWs and Russian civilians under the Severity Order, and the destruction of Kiev. This would sow the seed of what he deemed as a severe deficiency in the Nazi regime leadership.

At Kursk, the armour train took a detour and onto a railway line which was not officially present on any maps. The true mission of Stauffenberg was to secretly supervise and ensure the delivery of the newly developed gepanzerter jäger armour, the Spezial Panzer Anzug, designated Type 34 with codename "Wolfpeltz" for deployment by the 101st special purpose battalion in the Battle of Stalingrad.

Part 2: The Red Anvil.

SS-Obersturmbannführer Maximilian Wittmann recalled the moment when SS-Standartenführer Otto Skorzeny summoned and briefed him about Operation Kerberos. Wittman was a highly decorated Waffen-SS officer whom had been an exemplary panzer commander and a top-scoring tank ace. He had participated in the Polish Campaign, the Battle of France and the invasion of Soviet Union. He possesses a strategic and tactical acumen as well as bravery and a penchant to lead from the front. As such he earned the attention and trust of Skorzeny to lead the special purpose battalion, the SS- Jäger-Bataillon 101 z.b.V. Kerberos. Wittmann was astonished initially until he saw it with his own eyes the protect armour at a secretive training ground for the unit. According to Skorzeny, the Führer himself, based on volkisch beliefs, envisioned the idea of an armour cladded German soldier akin to the Teutonic knights of  bygone age, to fight in the Eastern Front against the bolsheviks whom had denied him a quick victory in Operation Barbarossa the previous winter. The armour, inspired by elements of wolves and war-hounds alike, was designed to protect the wearer with optimum mobility for the purpose of a quick tactical assault and close quarter combat. The primary armament was the MG 34 machine gun with 250 rounds of ammunition belt fed from the patronenkasten, carried on a specially designed steel framed backpack together with a Feld.Fu radio communication pack. Envisioned to carry out operations in the night, a variant of Zielgerät 1229 Vampir active infrared night vision googles were incorporated onto the stahlhunde gas mask. Wittmann and his men began to train intensively under a special programme utilising the Spezial Panzer Anzug protect armour. The insignia of the battalion was a stylised three-headed hound based on the Greek mythology, Cerberus, the hound guardian of Hades, which led to the name Kerberos. It seemed to be a suitable insignia for the special purpose battalion, for their ultimate objective was to ensure victory with their deployment into Battle of Stalingrad, which would marked as the single largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare.

Despite the failure of Operation Barbarossa to decisively defeat the Soviet Union in a single campaign, the war had been progressing well for the Germans: Rommel had just captured Tobruk and Great Britain was about to sign a pact of non-aggression. In the east, they had stabilized their front in a line running from Leningrad in the north to Rostov in the south. There were a number of salients in the line where Soviet offensives had pushed the Germans back, notably to the northwest of Moscow and south of Kharkov but these were not particularly threatening. Hitler was confident that he could master the Red Army after the winter of 1942, because even though Army Group Centre (Heeresgruppe Mitte) had suffered heavy punishment west of Moscow the previous winter, 65% of its infantry had not been engaged and had been rested and re-equipped. Neither Army Group North nor Army Group South had been particularly hard pressed over the winter. Josef Stalin was expecting the main thrust of the German summer attacks to again be directed against Moscow. The Germans decided that their summer campaign in 1942 would be directed at the southern parts of the Soviet Union. The initial objectives in the region around Stalingrad were the destruction of the industrial capacity of the city and positioning forces to block the Volga River. The river was a key route between the Caspian Sea and northern Russia. Its capture would disrupt commercial river traffic of various commodities.

The planned summer offensive was code-named Fall Blau (Case Blue), spear-headed by Army Group South. The German operations were initially very successful. On 23 July 1942, Hitler personally rewrote the operational objectives for the 1942 campaign, greatly expanding them to include the occupation of the city of Stalingrad. Both sides began to attach propaganda value to the city based on it bearing the name of the leader of the Soviet Union. It was assumed that the fall of the city would also firmly secure the northern and western flanks of the German armies as they advanced on Baku with the aim of securing these strategic petroleum resources for Germany. However, it was based on victory fever and severe underestimation of the Soviet Union army reserves.

On 23 August the Sixth Army reached the outskirts of Stalingrad, signalling the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. The battle began with the heavy bombing of the city by the Luffwaffe, reducing the city into rubbles and landscape of burnt out ruins. Stalin rushed all available troops to the east bank of the Volga. Civilians were prevented from leaving the city and were put to building trenches and fortifications. Despite large organised attack by the Soviet forces, they were repulsed by the air might of the Luffwaffe. The German air force also cut off vital supply lines of the Soviets. Amid the debris of the wrecked city, the Soviets anchored their defence lines with strongpoints in houses and factories. Fighting within the ruins of the city became fierce and desperate. Stalin and the NKVD decreed that there would be no stepping back from the defence of the city or faced execution. The Soviet command moved units from the Red Army strategic reserve in the Moscow area to the lower Volga, and transferred aircraft from the entire country to the Stalingrad region. The Soviets built up a large number of artillery batteries on the east bank of the Volga. This artillery was able to bombard the German positions or at least to provide counter-battery fire. The Germans pushing forward into Stalingrad began to suffer heavy casualties. German tanks and armoured vehicles were rendered ineffective amidst ruins of rubbles up to nine feet high. Remaining tanks were used by the Soviets as strongpoints to hold their defence. Reinforcements were continuously pouring in from the east of Volga despite heavy bombardment by the Luffwaffe. Soviet snipers inflicted significant casualties.  German military doctrine was based on the principle of combined-arms teams and close cooperation between tanks, infantry, engineers, artillery and ground-attack aircraft. Some Soviet commanders adopted the tactic of always keeping their front-line positions as close to the Germans as physically possible, called it "hugging" the Germans. This slowed the German advance and reduced the effectiveness of the German advantage in supporting fire. The Red Army gradually adopted a strategy to hold for as long as possible all the ground in the city. Thus, they converted multi-floored apartment blocks, factories, warehouses, street corner residences and office buildings into a series of well defended strongpoints with small 5–10 man units. Manpower in the city was constantly refreshed by bringing additional troops over the Volga. When a position was lost, an immediate attempt was usually made to re-take it with fresh forces. Bitter fighting raged for every ruin, street, factory, house, basement, and staircase. Even the sewers were the sites of firefights. The Germans, called this unseen urban warfare Rattenkrieg ("Rat War"). Facing the impending threats of food and ammunition exhaustion, the Germans were being slowly grind to bits by the Red Army. More direly, the Germans were running out of time, as based on previous year experience, they would have to seal victory prior to the onset of the deadly Russian winter.

Part 3: The Howling Victory.

The armoured train arrived at Stalingrad outskirt. Column of smokes hung over the skies of the bombed out ruins of the city. The 101st SS-Jäger Batallion's 1st, 2nd and 5th Company were ushered by personnel from the Sixth Army towards the massive GUM departmental store which had been converted into the Germans headquarter to meet up with Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus for briefing. On that night, the Kerberos Panzer Jäger companies were unleashed into the city under the cover of intense artillery fires, particularly from the 800mm Dora railway gun fitted on the Landkruezer P.1500 Monster super-heavy tank. Under the cover of darkness, the Kerberos moved towards their first target, the Mamayev Kurgan, where merciless fighting occurred, with the position changing hands many times. They were successful, wiping out the 13th Guards Rifle Division by the following morning. They then moved forward to Railway Station No.1, a scene of intense fighting and combat, to reinforce the German infantries there with equal success. Both German and Soviet infantries were astonished by the newly appeared Kerberos, with their red lighted googles, swiftness despite being fully cladded in steel armour and combating skills. They exuded an appearance of ferociousness with supernatural intensity. Later they would engaged in a three days combat at a giant grain elevator of which they methodically cut off the Soviet resistance supplies and annihilated them. After brief re-supply, Wittmann led his men to Pavlov's House, an intensely fortified building nicknamed the Fesstung by the Germans and systematically neutralised the Soviet defenders. Although inflicting maximum casualties upon the Soviets, the Kerberos unit did face serious threats from Soviet snipers, whom improvised by using the scope from the Mossin-Nagant rifle and attached it to the armour piercing 14.5mm PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle which easily punched through the gepanzerter jäger. But the Germans finally reached  the river banks, capturing 90% of the ruined city and splitting the remaining Soviet forces into two narrow pockets. Yet bitter fighting continued as the Soviets refused to give up the sliver of land on the west bank of Volga. On 8th October 1942, the Kerberos unit began assaulting the Red October  tractor factory which had been retooled to produce military equipment, especially the T-34 tanks. Complementing the assault was the 116th Panzer Division "Windhund", armed with the second batch of the protect armour. Finally after five months of battle, the Germans declared victory and occupied the city while the defeated Soviets retreated further into the east of Russia. It marked the most strategically decisive battle of the whole war. The Soviets never regain initiative in the war and withdrew its remaining military force to the East.

Epilogue:

The Germans would continue their offensive across the Volga after the capture and destruction of Stalingrad until the establishment of the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line in early 1943. The defeated Soviet Union established a rump government beyond the Ural Mountains. Stalin never sign any surrender, which eventually led to the Cold War immediately after the end of World War Two. Markus von Stauffenberg, whom documented the exploits of the 101st SS-Jäger Batallion in Stalingrad, made a hero out of Maximillian Wittmann. He lost his left eye, right hand and two fingers on his left hand after being strafed by one of the Soviet bomber force, the Aviatsiya Dal'nego Deystviya in Stalingrad. He eventually attained the rank of an Oberst, later joined and played a pivotal role in the German Resistance Movement, after learning that the Führer intended to continue a perpetual global war, resulting in the 20th July 1944 assassination of Hitler during a high official party function. Major Leon Thorvald died in Stalingrad after an intense three days battle against the top Soviet sniper, Vasily Zaytsev. His body was secretly retrieved and sent back to Berlin where all the records of his existence were expunged. Maximillian Wittman was further decorated with military awards and promoted. He retired from active duty after the Battle of Normandy and became one of the trainers at Panzertruppenschule III. The Spezial Panzer Anzug Typ. 34 protect armour would go on to be the primary design template for all future gepanzerter jäger  armour within the Third Reich and its garrisons in occupied countries and nations.

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When Hot Toys announced and put up the Kerberos Panzer Jäger Protect Gear for order, I was surprise to say the least. To recap, Mamoru Oshii released a 1987 live-action feature film, The Red Spectacles, after the radio drama, While Waiting for the Red Spectacles, was broadcasted that same year. To round up the so-called "Watchdog of Hell" trilogy, Oshii later directed the first prequel, Stray Dog : Kerberos Panzer Cops in 1991 and wrote for the animate feature, Jin-Roh : The Wolf Brigade in 1999. The prequels were loosely based on the Kerberos Panzer Cops manga written by Oshii and illustrated by Kamui Fujiwara which were released in two parts, 1988 to 1990 and 1999 to 2000, later collected in various formats and revision. A sequel to the manga, Kerberos Saga : Rainy Dogs, was released in 2003 to 2005. The Kerberos Panzer Jäger radio drama was aired in 2006, detailing the event in Battle of Stalingrad which led to Germany victory in an alternate history of World War Two. In 2009, the Kerberos Panzer Cops: Tokyo War, a definitive mook with all the detail information, illustrations and background story was published by Gakken. I personally recommend this mook if you're a fan. If only I could "decipher" the Japanese language. The story was set in a dystopian, alternate history, post-World War Two Japan, which was briefly occupied by Germany whom won the war, revolving around the Kerberos Special Garrison, a paramilitary armed police force. While I did not watch the live movies, there are snippets of it on YouTube but left me un-impressed. Nor have I read the manga. But the Jin-Roh animated movie is great, with its heavily philosophical theme typical of Oshii. My personal main attraction to the Saga is of course the Protect Gear armour worn by the Kerberos, originally designed by Yutaka Izubuchi, with his signature "five dots/holes" on the helmet, and overall strong World War Two German era military design influence to it. Various types and designs were used throughout the saga. Kerberos Protect Gear is personally significant, in terms of nostalgia, as Dragon's Kerberos Panzer Cop : Stray Dog figure was amongst my first 1/6th figures. I went overboard when Takara released their Kerberos line, to the point of obsession. Anyhoo, this figure was first previewed by the famous customizer, KAZ, due to be released by Platz Hobby. The news then gradually disappeared and that's that. An image teaser was put up on the official Kerberos Saga website and again, it dissipated. According to whatever information available in English, it was the first Kerberos Protect Gear used by the Germans in the Battle of Stalingrad, called Spezial Panzer Anzug Typ. 34 "Wolfpeltz". Hot Toys released this figure under their Artist Series line, a second one after the Samurai Predator. According to the credits on the box, original sculptors are the famous Takayuki Takeya and Eisaku Kito, with original character design by Jun Suemi. Special thanks mentioned for KAZ and Kazuyoshi Hirose of Baroque Inc. Now, onto the figure. Honestly, for what is worth, it is kind of overpriced. The figure design is great, with a steel frame backpack, magnetized head sculpts, the un-masked one which reminds me of Ed Harris and another with lighted up feature. The armour plates are separated pieces and typical of me, I broke one of the backpack straps (darn it!). But the molded boots kinda make it hard for me to pose the figure. The nicely done figure diorama stand has magnetic points for the figure to stand on though. And it is taller than a standard figure, towering over the rest of the other Kerberos in my collection. In summary, it is nice, but somehow, somewhat, something is "lacking" in the figure when compare to the asking price. But the Kerberos Panzer Saga figures are now "complete". Separately, I now kinda hope for a Takayuki Takeya version of a certain Sith Lord in 1/6th scale...

Hot Toys MMS202 D04 : RoboCop.

1. Serve the public trust.

2. Protect the innocent.

3. Uphold the law.

4. Classified.

- OCP Crime Prevention Unit 001 Prime Directives.

 

I'd buy that for a dollar!

- Bixby Snyder.

A (mis) interpretation:

Name: Alexander "Alex" James Murphy.

Age: N/A.

Affiliation: Metro West Division, Detroit Metropolitan Police Department.

Rank: Officer Grade 3.

Unit type: Prototype law enforcement cyborg.

Model type: OCP Crime Prevention Unit 001.

Designation: RoboCop 1.0

Armour type: Kevlar lined titanium composite alloy.

Height: 6 feet.

Weight: N/A.

Powerplant: Rechargeable fusion battery / basic food paste for organic component sustenance.

Std. armaments: Auto 9 - OCP custom 9mm semi-automatic handgun x 1.

Abilities: Cybernetic enhanced strength and reflexes; self sufficiency continuous improvement task intelligence system; full electromagnetic spectrum sensor; fully integrated track and targeting system; Terminal Spike - data port interface device; enhanced memory capacity; threat analysis system.

1987. Detroit City, Michigan. A combination of global economic conditions and government policy reformation resulted in urban decay, high local unemployment and soar in crime activities. Privatizations, corporate takeovers and mergers result in mega-conglomerates which grown so powerful that they are literally state within a state. Detroit has become a dystopia, with one of the highest crime rate in the nation. Anarchy, chaos and lawlessness rule the city. The Detroit Metropolitan Police Department is overwhelmed. With the city suffering from near bankruptcy and its remaining inhabitants in poverty, the law enforcement department is privatised and run by one of the largest mega-conglomerates in the nation, Omni Consumer Products or OCP. In exchange for funding the DPD,  the city mayor is forced to sign the contract for urban restructuring programme involving the entire city over to OCP. The mega-conglomerate intends to ultimately create Delta City, an utopian city which would be managed in its entirety by OCP as a high end, private city state. The only obstacle which holds OCP from bringing in the two million, minimum wage, immigrant construction workers to start breaking ground is the high crime rate. The privatization of DPD causes bitterness amongst the police officers and the DPD officers union threatens to go on strike. Local populace whom learnt of the urban plan also rise up against OCP and the city council as they would basically be left homeless. In anticipation of such event, OCP's Security Concepts Division begins to embark on a programme to create their own law enforcement unit. Such unit would be comprised of latest cybernetic and robotic technology, of which effectiveness and efficiency would be the primary goals.

Officer Alex Murphy has just been transferred and re-assigned from Metro South Division to Metro West which is severely undermanned with high mortality rate, to combat the ultra high crime rate within its jurisdiction. On the day of his first patrol, with his assigned partner Officer Anne Lewis, they identified and tried to capture Clarence Boddicker, a vicious crime lord and his gang. Without reinforcement coming to back them up, Murphy and Lewis are forced to bring in Boddicker and his gang within an abandoned steel mill. Boddicker is highly wanted for all forms of crimes, including the murder of at least 31 police officers. Murphy and Lewis are both outsmarted by the sociopath crime leader, resulting in Lewis being severely injured and Murphy horrifically tortured before being killed brutally. They are about to kill Lewis but prevents from doing so when the reinforcements finally arrive.

OCP Senior Vice President, Richard "Dick" Jones personally spearheaded the Security Concepts Programme. The research and development team he put together has designed a prototype urban pacification and law enforcement droid, ED-209. A high level meeting to present the result is held with the attendance of OCP Chairman, whom is referred to behind his back simply as The Old Man. Jones envisions the ED-209 series to ultimately be sold to the military once it has successfully eliminate all criminal elements in Detroit City. If successful, OCP would out-rivalled its competitors and reap in billions of profits from military contracts in decades to come. Unfortunately, ED-209 programme malfunctions and kills one of the senior executives during the presentation, an embarrassing situation which enrages The Old Man, whom is expecting a success in order to implement the Delta City urbanisation programme. Senior Executive Robert "Bob" Morton takes opportunity of the situation to approach The Old Man directly to seek request to present the Security Concepts contingency programme, involving a cyborg law enforcement unit, of which The Old Man allows, much to Jones, Morton's superior, contempt.

Murphy and Lewis are rushed to the hospital. They manage to rescue Lewis but Murphy is pronounce dead after several unsuccessful attempts to revive him. He had lost his right arm and left hand. His body is riddled with bullets. But it is the headshot that kills him.

The Old Man approves Morton's proposal in the meeting with a tight deadline. Under pressure, Morton is delighted when he is informed of the right candidate for the programme. A DPD officer has just been declared dead. Without time to loose, Morton immediately orders his team to claim the body. Lead by Dr. Marie Lazarus, they harvested Murphy's brain, some of his organs and put it within a full cybernetic prosthesis body. The artificial cyborg body is then fully enclosed within a powerful armour. Murphy's brain is implanted with an electronic cybernetic component, link to the neural network, which has the task intelligence system, a self sufficiency programme within operational parameters limited only to the Prime Directives. A special docking station in the form of a chair is designed for recharging the battery of the cyborg. To sustain the organic components, a special paste made from basic food ingredients is formulated. Within a week, the cyborg is fully operational and goes online. Armed with a deadly customised 9mm semi-automatic, 3 round burst handgun called Auto 9, the cyborg is designated RoboCop.

Having downloaded all the current, backlog and cold cases files, RoboCop immediately goes to do what it is created for. It is an immediate success, attracting public attention and media around the world. The Old Man is very much delighted and promoted Morton to Vice President. This incurs the wrath of Jones further. Humiliated by his former subordinate, Jones comes up with a plan for revenge. He establishes contact with Boddicker through a proxy, with an offer that once Delta City construction plan is underway, the entire underworld economy - drugs, gambling, prostitution and so forth - would be given to him. His competitors would be kept in check since OCP basically owns the DPD. In return, Boddicker and his gangs would assassinate Morton and sabotage RoboCop trail of successes as well as destroying it. Another condition is a long term plan of profit sharing as well as racketeering.  Boddicker agrees and kills Morton at his penthouse using a hand grenade after torturing him.

During a resting period at the docking station, RoboCop begins to have "dreams" on its previous life as Murphy. Confuse and emotionally disturb, past memories, behaviour and former feelings which were thought would not occur within a machine begins to flood back. Dr. Lazarus is alerted and frantically tries to shut RoboCop down but to no avail. RoboCop leaves the police headquarter and begins to trace back his past. He visits his vacant old house, where his wife and only son used to live, now moving on with their lives after Murphy is declared officially dead. RoboCop then goes to his grave. Emotionally anguish, RoboCop begins to track down the very person whom destroys his past life - and killed him - Clarence Boddicker. He begins by tracking down all his gang members one by one, apprehending them in the process, and finally at a drug lab which Boddicker is negotiating a drug deal. After a full out firefight which leaves practically everyone dead except for Boddicker, RoboCop interrogates him and finds out about Jones' plan and his role in the murder of Morton.

However before RoboCop could apprehend Boddicker, several ED-209 appears and severely cripples RoboCop, rendering him inactive. OCP officially declares that Unit 001, the codename for RoboCop, is a failure and ED-209 would replace it as the primary law enforcement unit. The DPD union finally declares to go on strike. Chaos reigns as the city descends into total anarchy. Which plays out exactly what Jones had planned.  Officer Lewis, recognising RoboCop as formerly Murphy, secretly helps him out, and with the assistance of Dr. Lazarus, whisks him away to the abandoned steel mill where they successfully repair and restores RoboCop back to full functionality. When RoboCop asks both of them whether he is a machine or human, Dr. Lazarus acknowledges that as a cyborg, he has the best and the worse of both world, whether as a man or a machine. It would be up to him to choose. With that RoboCop understands and determines to put the past behind him, by closing the most painful memory to him - bringing both Jones and Boddicker to the law.

Jones is infuriated that RoboCop has disappeared and orders the SWAT teams to take the rogue cyborg down. He has a tracking device design to locate RoboCop where about. RoboCop is forced to confront the SWAT, incapacitating them all without a single death. He immediately goes after Jones but is ambushed by Boddicker and his gangs, now armed with military grade weaponries provided by Jones. Outgunned, RoboCop is severely damaged but still holds when reinforcements arrive directly from officers of DPD after Lewis pleaded them to their cause. Casualties are inflicted on both sides but eventually Boddicker's men are wiped out but he escapes to nearby waste disposal plant with RoboCop chasing after him. Cunningly, Boddicker traps RoboCop in a pile of scrap irons and is about to impale the cyborg's head with a metal rod when he is shot to pieces by Lewis, using the Cobra assault rifle.

At OCP building, Jones is presenting the next phase in his plan to the senior executives and The Old Man pertaining to Delta City when RoboCop enters the room to the surprise of those present, especially Jones, whom has placed three ED-209 as security at the building's entrance. When RoboCop tries to apprehend Jones, his system begins to suffer from shutdown. The fourth classified Prime Directives reveal itself, stating that "any attempt to arrest a senior OCP employee results in shutdown". It is Jones own personal contribution to the Prime Directives. Regardless, RoboCop uses his Terminal Spike and access into the giant telescreen which broadcasts the recordings of Jones' crime, explicitly implicating him in the murder of Morton as well as his deal with Boddicker. RoboCop had previously downloaded Morton's hidden security video recordings and Jones personal message to him, as well as hacking through OCP security firewall to download the meeting between Jones and Boddicker in the office. The Old Man is furious but is taken hostage by Jones, using a live gun for demonstration earlier during ED-209 presentation. The Old Man shouts that Jones is fired from OCP, of which immediately RoboCop opens fire at him continuously that Jones smashes through the thick window and falls hundreds of floors down to his death. When The Old Man compliments RoboCop for his nice shooting skills and asks him his name, RoboCop simply replies, "Murphy".

 

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1987's RoboCop needs no introduction. Directed by Paul Verhoeven (what happens to him?), the ultra-violent (for its time but censored during its initial released) movie about a cyborg cop played by Peter Weller (last seen in 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness and last heard as the voice of Bruce Wayne / The Batman in the animated adaptation of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns) immediately becomes a box office hit and achieved numerous acclaims for its themes ranging from consumerism, capitalism, urban decay, corporate ethics and questions on humanity without taking itself too seriously and laced with black humours throughout. A check on Wiki reveals that RoboCop started as an idea after one of the original writers came across the poster of Ridley Scott's 1982 Blade Runner. RoboCop itself is inspired by 2000AD's Judge Dredd and Marvel Comics' Rom. Schwarzenegger and Rutger Hauer were offered the role of Alex Murphy but deemed too "big" to fit into the suit, designed by none other than Rob Bottin (1982 John Carpenter's The Thing). RoboCop success spawned two film sequels and numerous spin-offs in various media. Unfortunately, it never measures up to the original. And honestly, until the Internet age, I didn't realise Paul Verhoeven is the director of RoboCop, as well as 1990 Total Recall, whom I associated more to the notorious femme fatale, noir thriller, 1992 Basic Instinct (which literally launched Sharon Stone's career due to that single interrogation scene. I didn't watch 1995 Showgirls and lets not go into 1997 Starship Troopers). Now onto the figure. I didn't plan to get it even for nostalgic moments. Maybe it is because of the progress of time. Yes, I love Robo but with all the 21st century special effects such as the likes of Iron Man, I deemed RoboCop to be abit ancient. This is not the first Robo Hot Toys released. Centuries ago, there were a RoboCop with non-removable helmet (?) and RoboCop 3 version with that flight backpack which I saw on various forums and blogs. It was bloody expensive due to flippers on eBay. And there was a recent re-released of ED-209 but according to most leading forums feedback, still suffered from the "deterioration" on the rubberised "dome head" as the first release. So, all in all, I didn't think about it until I went to xl-shop to collect Hot Toys' Kerberos Panzer Jager and Original Effect's hentai-ish Cleopatra. At the behest of Felix, whom I personally thought of somehow "possesses" a form of foresight for nice collectibles (he previously asked me if I want the Blade 2 figure which I turned down politely, much to my regret now, ugh), I decided to gun for it after a look. Hot Toys has re-released this figure under the new "Die Cast" line. Now I am not sure which part is die cast, the figure is a beauty once I unpacked at home. The armour has that same "purplish- hue" at different angle like in the movie. And nothing breaks. It is really very well made, although be careful of its weight, as it might topple over due to the ankle joints and the pneumatic tubes behind the legs (which could be reattached back but after I broke one of the tubes on the Tumbler, I am very cautious). There're additional one chest armour and helm - battle damage ones - and up to three lower facial sculpt for us to swap around. The helm could be removed but don't expect any Peter Weller's face sculpt there coz it is only for the purpose of swapping the lower facial expression. The arms, legs and torso could be extended for posing (speaking of torso extension, brings me to the attention of ThreeA's Iron Man floppy extended torso. They could definitely learn a thing or two from Hot Toys, in terms of articulation and not a floppy mess, I mean). The inner chest is practically a speaker of which when insert with batteries (which I did not bother but was demo-ed by Ken of xl-shop), enable Robo to speaks out his iconic lines from the movie. There're a pair of hands with moveable fingers, enclosed ones, and a single with the Terminal Spike (iconic for the climatic scene against Boddicker). Two Auto 9 are available - one plastic for posing and another in die-cast for slotting into the thigh pistol holster (Hot Toys manual says that the die cast is too heavy for grip, which makes sense and they also intentionally, for lack of better word, to design the plastic one slight longer, not visible to the eyes, so that it couldn't be used for slotting). Overall, great figure. ThreeA's Juicy Miyu guest appearance courtesy of personal collection. With the announcement of Commando's John Matrix and possible Star Wars' Darth Vader (I have to pass Back To The Future due to restriction in funds but darn, that DeLorean is a dream come true), it seems figures from my favourite movies of yesteryears are almost complete. Well almost. Now, Hot Toys, please revisit Rambo and Rocky (and don't forget Blade Runner). 

 

ThreeA - WWR EVOL : Iron Panda 4Square.

4 legs good - everything else bad!

- promo write-up.

A (mis) interpretation :

Category type: Droid.

Unit type: Mass production reconnaissance droid.

Model type: 4Square.

Designation: TF001.

Manufacturer: The Rothchild Corporation.

Affiliation: 14th TRP "Iron Panda" Mechanized Division; II Corps; First Army; Oceania Expeditionary Army Group; Terra Coalition Armed Forces - excommunicated 1943.

Height: 4 feet.

Weight: 30kg.

Armour type: Super hardened ceramic steel composite alloy.

Armour thickness: 40mm.

Power plant: Single turbo BRINK supercharged diesel engine.

Std. armaments: The Auspex - multi-scanner system; "Kildren" empathy broadcast system; "Hypnotize" - jammer system; "Tarantula" - all terrain transverse system; Task Intelligence System ver. 3.5.

The 4Square mobile intel platform droid is the replacement of the bi-pedal Square2 MK2. The primary design difference is the incorporation of four crab and spider-like legs call "Tarantula" system. This allows a 4Square to move and transverse up to four times more effectively and efficiently in comparison to the Square2 MK2 bi-pedal system. It could turn around 360 degrees and could climb a near vertical surface. Regardless, in a straight line, a Square2 MK2 would still out-run a 4Square. A 4Square could also use its legs to act as a melee weapon, slashing and ripping whatever which is threatening it.

Their primary roles in the battle field is retained, with further refinement and upgrades to their T.I. (Task Intelligence) System. The Auspex multi-sensor is carried over, a mid-range sensorium which detects motion, invisible gases and energy emission across a wide band of the electromagnetic spectrum. This include emissions such as heat, radiation and most form of energy given off by vehicles, warbots and human troops. The main tactical use is for triangulating the location of otherwise hidden enemy forces so that they can be fired upon. The standard range of the Auspex is one hundred metres, although walls more than fifty metres thick as well as certain types of building materials are able to block both their passive and active sensor modes. Other software carried over include the "Kildren" empathy broadcast system which utilize sickly sweet human child voice frequency to lull a warbot or human target into submission.  A newly introduced software is the "Hypnotize" jamming system. Like the name denote, utilises its eyes to basically lull an opposing warbot immobile by confusing its T.I. system. The eyes would blink, its changing colours not only affect a warbot but also disorient human grunts and sloggers alike. Grunts like to disparage the 4Square "Hypnotize" system as disco lighting or "Christmas is here".  A handful of recondition 4Squares by the end of 20th century after the Great War is favoured by DJs as stage props during rave parties.

 

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The latest Square from 3A, maintaining the same boxy, uh, square look but now with revised, four legs design instead of the stumpy ones from MK1 and MK2. Materials use are different, ABS plastic, the ones use on, say, Lego, instead of soft vinyl, which tends to suffer from deformation (which makes me wonder what happen to all those WWR bots in the boxes at the store room). However, vinyl is easier to bring out the weathering effects, a hallmark of WWR bots, which, is minimal on 4Square (I like me bots heavily weathered and worn). No loose joints, and everything is sturdy. I did not put in the batteries (which I forgot of what size) to light up the pair of eyes, but based on the forum feedbacks, it seems to flicker and change colours like those decorative lightings for Christmas tree. Three version were released, for Bambaland, the Iron Panda and new colour-way, Krabs Labs. A very limited EMGY MLTA version is available through IDW Publishing. Overall I like the new design, and maybe, a Mighty 4Square? Now, that would be awesome.