Votoms Diving Beetle
The Kummen Jungle arc of the series Armored Trooper Votoms is widely regarded as one of its most memorable aspects. Taking cues from famous Vietnam War films like, Apocalypse Now, it featured blue-haired protagonist Chirico Cuvie and his mercenary allies making their way down a long jungle river. As a way of making the setting seem just a little more “real,” the Kummen forces as well as the Assemble E-X mercenaries employed specialized Armored Troopers (ATs) suited for amphibious warfare. For the mercenaries it was the ATH-06-WP Diving Beetle. Throughout the course of the show, its main sponsor Takara released dozens of toys and model kits of the various ATs. This toy is from their AT Collection Series, which consisted of 1:60 scale figures made from ABS plastic and diecast.
With toys from this era, the box was easily as important as the figured itself. This robust cardboard box features an eye-catching painting of the Diving Beetle. This painting is done in the style of military model boxart and gives the design a feeling of legitimacy as a weapon of war. The artist for this picture is Shin Ueda.
The back of the box features a nice diorama photo of the toy and a combination sticker and painting guide.
The left side of the box has a brief bio on one of the Diving Beetle pilots, Paul Patureur. I really dig that crazy english Votoms logo.
The right side features another show of Paul with his AT pilot goggles and two different meanings for the word “Votoms.” The first meaning is the actual description of an AT and has been used in printed materials since the show began. The other meaning is some hilarious Engrish phrase meant to invoke the military tradition of giving colorful nicknames to a soldier’s gear.
The toy itself is a very basic figure. Its lower legs are almost entirely metal, which gives the toy a nice heft. The 1:60 scale soldier is from Yamato’s 1:60 scale Destroid Tomahawk.
There is some minor assembly required to complete the figure. You have to plug in the backpack and plug the gun into the Diving Beetle’s hand. The figure’s only articulation is in the shoulders.
One interesting thing is that the feet are hollow. You can also find the copyright information near the “toes”. The AT Collection Series toys are cheap and easy to find (and addicting). I bought this one for only $10. To me, it is a nice vintage representation of one of my favorite ATs from Votoms. Plus, it goes well with all of my other 1:60 scale mecha.