Special Armored Battalion Dorvack

Special Armored Battalion Dorvack (特装機兵ドルバック) is an anime series aired from 1983 to 1984 in Japan and Hong Kong. There were 36 episodes. Other loosely translated names are "Dorvack", "Dolbuk", "Special Powered Armor Troop Dorvack", "Special Machine Army Dorvack", "Machine Corps Dorvack", "Armored Trooper Dorvack", "Tokusou Kihei Dorvack", "Comando Dolbuck" (Brazil).

Story
The year is 1999. The Idelians, whose colony-ship has been wandering 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 against the enemy's powered armors, 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 Louise Oberon fight to defeat the invaders. They are equipped with special variable mecha 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. The mecha designs were created by Katsumi Itabashi and Nobuyoshi Haraba, 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, Yomiuri

Director: Masami Annou

Original creator: Takeshi Shudo

Character Design: Osamu Kamijoo

Mechanic design: Katsumi Itabashi, Nobuyoshi Habara

Brazilian Distribution: Everest Video do Brasil

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, already suffering from the poor performances of the merchandise lines from the previous Orguss and Sasuraiger series, went under as a result.

American toy company Hasbro acquired the molds for two of the deluxe toys, the Mugen Calibur and the Oberon Gazette. They were re-released in North America as part of the Transformers line, under the name "Roadbuster" and "Whirl", respectively. While both featured heavily in British-written stories for Marvel UK's Transformers comics (even though, ironically, their toys were never released in the UK) neither character, both Autobots, appeared in the American animated series or in U.S. Marvel stories. Due to their fame in the English stories, Dreamwave made use of them in their Transformers comics, produced some 16–17 years later.

The American firm Select also repackaged several color variations of the Variable Machine Collection toys under the name "Convertors."