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Machine Soldier Dorvack

by Roger Harkavy

September 1998

updated: 10.28.98

Contributions: Rusty Falk, Tom the Greek, Jeroen Zuiderwijk

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The year is 1999. The Idyllians, wandering aliens searching for a new homeworld have found it: Earth! The Earth Defense Force has gathered three international aces: Mugen Masato, Pierre Bonaparte, and Louise Ovelon. Working with their specially equipped variable vehicles and a legion of troops in powered armor, they lead the Special Corps in defending the planet against this new menace.

Although this 36-episode 1983 TV series was percieved by some as a failure, the merchandising associated with it has a loyal following. One of the things that made this mecha show notable was the mix of the massive Variable Vehicles (which come in three basic types: 4WD vehicle, tank, helicopter) with human-sized powered armor. This provided an interesting variety of designs to base models and toys off of.

Dorvack also got a bit of exposure outside of Japan. A Spanish dub of the series was produced and shown in parts of South America, and the model series by Gunze Sangyo was released by Testors in North America. Some smaller "cheapie" pieces were repackaged as part of the infamous "Convertors" line, and two of the larger variable vehicles ended up as "Roadbuster" and "Whirl" in the Transformers series. The original toys seemed to have decent distribution in the US, sometimes popping up in some odd places. One of my stranger toy scores of the 80s involved walking into Bloomingdale's at the infamous Short Hills Mall and seeing an entire wall of Mugen Caliburs.

The quality in these Takatoku pieces is on a par with many of their Macross and Orguss offerings: nice packaging, a good mix of plastic and metal, extensive sticker sheets, a good selection of accessories, and in the case of the large scale variable vehicles, toys that look good in both modes.

		Nove [Red] 1/24 Powered Armor Series box front, box back
		Nove Commander [Blue] 1/24 Powered Armor Series box front, box back
		Mugen Calibur 1/72 Variable Vehicle Series [does not change modes]
		Ovelon Gazzette 1/72 Variable Vehicle Series [does not change modes]
		Bonaparte Tulcas 1/72 Variable Vehicle Series [does not change modes]
		Mugen Calibur 1/55 Variable Vehicle [changes modes] released in US as Transformers "Roadbuster"
		Ovelon Gazzette 1/55 Variable Vehicle [changes modes] released in US as Transformers "Whirl"
		Bonaparte Tulcas 1/55 Variable Vehicle [changes modes]
		Convertors "Cheapies" [scale unknown] Mugen Calibur Ovelon Gazzette Bonaparte Tulcas Mugen Calibur/Gun Calibur 2-pack