A (mis) interpretation:
Name: Frederick Harlock.
Alias: The Corsair of the Seas of Stars.
Age: 138 years old.
Affiliation: The Deathshadow Martyr Fleet, Gaia Communion Warfleet (former); space pirate (current).
Rank: Captain.
Std. armaments: Modified rapier rifle "Errol" x 1; hand pistol "Flynn" x 1.
Abilities: Expert marksmanship and swordsmanship; expert hand to hand combatant; master military strategist and tactician; cunningness; charisma; indomitable will; leadership skill; slow aging.
Far, far in the distant future. For the past ten thousand millennia, mankind has spread across the galaxy. Planets and moons within star systems are terra-formed. Habitable colonies are established. Eventually these New Worlds develop their own cultures, languages and religions. On Earth, a singular individual proclaims himself the leader of all mankind. His followers deified him, and worship him as a god-emperor. He establishes a united theocratic government called the Gaia Communion. For the next three hundred years, the Gaia Communion carried out the Great Journey to re-claim and unify all the New Worlds under them. A terrible and great war broke out, known as the Unification Crusade. The Gaia Communion achieved victory, established a galactic wide empire. But at a terrible costs. Majority of the New Worlds were destroyed, entire population annihilated or captured as heretics. They are enslaved and sent to rehabilitation colonies, working to their death. Pogroms and iconoclastic acts were carried out. The Gaia Communion rules the New Worlds with an iron fist along theocratic autocracy political line. Tithes are required to be paid with exclusive right to all trade routes and resources. The New Worlds populations begin to suffer from accelerate decline in civilisation. Birth rates begin to fall. Technology, engineering and scientific knowledge were denied and lost. Billions starve to death. Uprisings and societal upheavals begin but are brutally put down by the military might and economic sanctions of the Gaia Communion. New Worlds people is declared illegal to enter the Sol System. It is within such period of perceived peace, oppression and the simmering tensions beneath it all that a dangerous and charismatic outlaw, an infamous space pirate with mythic and legendary reputation appears, an individual singularly bent on challenging the tyranny of the Gaia Communion religious empire and to give back two things which are long forgotten by mankind - hope and freedom. The Corsair of the Seas of Stars. The space pirate Captain Harlock.
Frederick Harlock stood amongst the glassy, black sands on a New World which had been subjected to excommunication by a Gaia warfleet. He was too late to prevent the massacre. An entire world and its population were reduced to a dead world in mere minutes. Despair gripped his heart as he gave a final look and teleported back to his ship. Harlock was once a captain of the Gaia Communion's elite Deathshadow Martyr Fleet. The fleet was spearheaded by five Deathshadow class battleships. The battleships were built using the advanced technology and engineering feats of the Nibelung, humans whom have evolved to higher state of civilisation. Apart from its incredible maneuverability and speed, armed with multiple advance weaponries, it utilises Dark Matter Engine which allows space travel by de-folding or warping instead of the FTL (Faster Than Light) Hyperdrive Engine use by conventional ships. A Deathshadow battleship does not require refuelling. More ships were to be built but the Nibelung was annihilated as a race during an incursion of the Great Devourer Kraken. As part of the Inquisitions, the Martyr Fleet primary objective is to enforce the rules of the Communion through genocidal act of atrocities. When his wife and two children were executed after being falsely accused of practising heretic acts and thoughts as part of an intricate plot by Grand Admiral Alexander Kamerov to remove Harlock from his position, Harlock and his entire crew of his ship, Arcadia, mutinied during the battle at Tannhauser's Gate. He succeed in destroying the other four Deathshadow ships, causing micro-black holes to emerge which wiped out the Martyr Fleet. The entire area is declared off-limit and sealed off from any ships. Objects getting too close would be pulled and torn apart.
All the crew members were killed during action, including Arcadia's Commander Roger Devlin. As reinforcement warfleet began to arrive, Harlock ordered the sole surviving Nibelung, La Mime, to detonate the Dark Matter Engine of the heavily damaged Arcadia in a suicidal act. Arcadia was instead enveloped by the Dark Matter and de-fold. It re-entered real space at the far flung reaches of the Outer Rims. Harlock was critically injured. An explosion took out his right eye and left a scar across his face. The Dark Matter cause several side effects. The Arcadia is transformed into a living ship, capable of self healing from any damages. Its A.I. machine spirit merged with the consciousness of Roger. It also slows down Harlock's aging process. He hid amongst the graveyard of ships within the Sargasso to heal with La Mime by his side. As he mourned his family and conversed with Roger within Arcadia, Harlock reached a conclusion to single-mindedly strike back at Gaia Communion directly at its heart - Earth. Harlock began to recruit various righteous and chivalrous individuals whom had suffered and survived the atrocities of the Communion along his quest. Amongst the firsts are Kayla Kerry, the Chief Navigator and Science Officer; First Mate Caliban; Chief Medical Officer Dr. Zero; Chief Engineer Maji and the quirky elderly cook, Miss Masu. After the battle at Olive's Creek colony to liberate the orphanages, Terrence Drake, at fourteen, becomes the youngest crew members of Arcadia. Roger's adopted daughter, Maia, briefly joined Harlock until her reconciliation with her biological mother, another formidable space pirate, Queen Emeralda. Both Harlock and Emeralda do not share an amicable relationship but occasionally join forces to prevent greater threats such as the mission to protect Galaxy Express 999, a commuter ship carrying Maetel, a clone and Tetsuro Hoshino, a boy with knowledge of a bio-mechanical device important to stop the Prometheans, soulless humans whom undergo mechanisation in order to achieve immortality.
For the next one hundred years, Harlock and the Arcadia motley crew of outlaws, mercenaries and outcasts fight against the Gaia Communion war fleets, plundering merchants shipping lanes, terrorising New Worlds military outposts, protecting the weak and liberating the oppressed, becoming the galaxy most wanted space pirate. The Communion sent out many war fleets and assassins to kill Harlock but none ever succeed. He has even been challenged on every occasion by other space pirates. The captain and his ship become legendary. Any sighting would cause the Communion to send out investigations immediately. The Arcadia has become a ghost ship like myth from an age long forgotten. Its appearance would be usually precede by nebulous-like ionised black clouds with flashes of lightning, causing dread amongst admirals and planetary governors, as Harlock with his pet, Mr. Bird perched upon his shoulder, his skills in ship-to-ship combat honed to perfection over the one century, broods in his command throne upon the bridge. Partly for vengeance, mostly for having gains insight into his own tainted soul, his mind perpetually burdened with his blood filled past and resolution to seek atonement. Ultimately, Captain Harlock aims to liberate each New Worlds and unravel the rules of Gaia Communion in his wake as he moves ever closer to Earth itself.
All the crew members were killed during action, including Arcadia's Commander Roger Devlin. As reinforcement warfleet began to arrive, Harlock ordered the sole surviving Nibelung, La Mime, to detonate the Dark Matter Engine of the heavily damaged Arcadia in a suicidal act. Arcadia was instead enveloped by the Dark Matter and de-fold. It re-entered real space at the far flung reaches of the Outer Rims. Harlock was critically injured. An explosion took out his right eye and left a scar across his face. The Dark Matter cause several side effects. The Arcadia is transformed into a living ship, capable of self healing from any damages. Its A.I. machine spirit merged with the consciousness of Roger. It also slows down Harlock's aging process. He hid amongst the graveyard of ships within the Sargasso to heal with La Mime by his side. As he mourned his family and conversed with Roger within Arcadia, Harlock reached a conclusion to single-mindedly strike back at Gaia Communion directly at its heart - Earth. Harlock began to recruit various righteous and chivalrous individuals whom had suffered and survived the atrocities of the Communion along his quest. Amongst the firsts are Kayla Kerry, the Chief Navigator and Science Officer; First Mate Caliban; Chief Medical Officer Dr. Zero; Chief Engineer Maji and the quirky elderly cook, Miss Masu. After the battle at Olive's Creek colony to liberate the orphanages, Terrence Drake, at fourteen, becomes the youngest crew members of Arcadia. Roger's adopted daughter, Maia, briefly joined Harlock until her reconciliation with her biological mother, another formidable space pirate, Queen Emeralda. Both Harlock and Emeralda do not share an amicable relationship but occasionally join forces to prevent greater threats such as the mission to protect Galaxy Express 999, a commuter ship carrying Maetel, a clone and Tetsuro Hoshino, a boy with knowledge of a bio-mechanical device important to stop the Prometheans, soulless humans whom undergo mechanisation in order to achieve immortality.
For the next one hundred years, Harlock and the Arcadia motley crew of outlaws, mercenaries and outcasts fight against the Gaia Communion war fleets, plundering merchants shipping lanes, terrorising New Worlds military outposts, protecting the weak and liberating the oppressed, becoming the galaxy most wanted space pirate. The Communion sent out many war fleets and assassins to kill Harlock but none ever succeed. He has even been challenged on every occasion by other space pirates. The captain and his ship become legendary. Any sighting would cause the Communion to send out investigations immediately. The Arcadia has become a ghost ship like myth from an age long forgotten. Its appearance would be usually precede by nebulous-like ionised black clouds with flashes of lightning, causing dread amongst admirals and planetary governors, as Harlock with his pet, Mr. Bird perched upon his shoulder, his skills in ship-to-ship combat honed to perfection over the one century, broods in his command throne upon the bridge. Partly for vengeance, mostly for having gains insight into his own tainted soul, his mind perpetually burdened with his blood filled past and resolution to seek atonement. Ultimately, Captain Harlock aims to liberate each New Worlds and unravel the rules of Gaia Communion in his wake as he moves ever closer to Earth itself.
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Space Pirate Captain Harlock (宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック Uchū Kaizoku Kyaputen Hārokku) is a manga series written and illustrated by Leiji Matsumoto, serialized Akita Shoten's Play Comic from 1977 to 1979. The series was adapted into an animated television series in 1978 directed by Rintaro and produced by Toei Animation. I saw it on RTM when I was a kid. Together with Galaxy Express 999, it is one of the most memorable characters of those times. Hot Toys decided to produced a 1/6th scale of the titular Captain based on a computer-animated film adaptation of the same name premiered in 2013 which is so-so. I checked around the net for more infos on Harlock eventually realising that the origins, storylines and even characters are ret-conned or changed depending on the series. The background on the Captain remains enigmatic. The figure comes fully cladded in rubber-like material, which is abit disconcerting to say honestly. It is also surprising taller than standard Hot Toys figure which I have (if only they do that for Bane. Sigh). Nothing breaks this time but articulation may be a bit difficult due to his uniform. I have slight difficulty in posing the static Mr. Bird but not a concern. Finally, it is great to have this different version of an iconic manga/anime character. An interesting observation is that previously Hot Toys include Kei in the line up. That would be a bonus but guessed that has been put into the back burner. Now, where's the Appleseed Alpha Briareos (and Deunan, if that is even possible)?
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