by Ryan Friesen

Armored Core 4: the Forza Motorsport of giant robot fighting games. The objective of the game is not just to battle through a series of opposing mechs and lesser foes in a post-apocalyptic Anatolia, but to customize and develop the player's own machine (a latest-generation Armored Core called a “Next”) using equipment looted in battle as well as through income earned as a mecha pilot. The customization extends beyond buying new weapons, body parts, and electronics to painting the machine in a wide variety of paint schemes that can be personalized by the player. The result are machines that reflect the personality of the pilot (or “Raven”); many of the elite warriors become so attached to their Armored Cores that they not only paint them but give them unique names (such as the Core named Prometheus, piloted by a Raven named Mary Shelley, or Barbaroi, a machine piloted by one of the game's toughest opponent).

I liked the surprising lines and bristling weaponry of Kotobukiya's Armored Core line, and once I played the game, I knew I wanted to model the machines that I had customized, named “Comus” and “Tree Frog.” The Kotobukiya kits feature interchangeable body parts, weapons, and accessories, so I used the parts available to replicate my machines as closely as possible and painted them to match the schemes I designed in the game. Additionally, Kotobukiya sells accessory packs for the Armored Core models, and I used one of these, even though it is technically from an earlier generation of the game.

Comus has the more reserved color scheme: most of the machine is black with red details and white head and hands. I wanted the machine to suggest a grim reaper theme. Comus' weapons are painted in dull metallic shades.

Tree Frog is patterned on some of the more exotic machines in the game, piloted by Ravens who seem to have gone a bit mad. Painted in vibrant greens and oranges, the machine has a color scheme based on the colors of a rain forest tree frog (I came up with the idea because my daughter is a fan of It's a Big, Big World) and its weapons are left in the color schemes of the machines it has defeated and ransacked.

The models themselves were time-consuming builds because of the vast number of small parts (dozens in each limb!) and complicated paint scheme. I airbrushed and hand-painted a variety of Model Master and Citadel acrylics on these models. The result is a pair of sturdy, densely packed models (I highly suggest glueing everything in these kits: the joints may not be strong enough to support their own weight otherwise) that look good on a shelf and remind me of the fun I had playing AC4.

Image: Comus, ground view

Image: Rear

Image: Side

Image: Tree Frog, ground view

Image: Rear

Image: Side