r/VOTOMS

Following on from my spoiler post asking for advice, I've now completed my 8bit SD VOTOMS project. This is by no means all-inclusive, but tries to cover the animated entries from the original series up to Chirico's Return.

While I didn't add any new ATs from that post, following some other advice, I significantly increased the size of the pixel art compared to the text. I think this looks better on the "poster," and affords the viewer a clearer picture of each one (size change comparison in second shared photo).

Understanding that even the "poster" may be too small, I've also shared close-up images of each section, with the ATs re-jigged into more of a square format.

Behind the scenes - My 8bit SD series of art is inspired by the slightly unique 1993 Famicom (NES) game SD Gundam: Gundam Wars, which was part of the Datach* series of games The game featured sprites of many mobile suits from the Gundam franchise up to that time. Due to the system's capabilities, each sprite is limited to 24x24 pixels, and can only use three colors from the system's 55 color palette, plus black (which is actually just a representation of an absent pixel, which makes that area transparent over the black background).

Using these constraints, I began to imagine what other contemporary franchises from the 80s and early 90s would look like as a game in the same style. My first foray into this was the SDF: Macross TV series and Do You Remember Love? movie. Due to back injury, In the past couple of months I've returned to the 8bit SD series for Battletech and, now, VOTOMS.

**Bonus trivia: The Datach system was a peripheral released by Bandai in 1992 that connected to the Famicom system, and used its own proprietary cartridges. The selling point of the peripheral was a slot on the front which allowed you to swipe collectable cards (sold separately) with barcodes that would allow you to unlock features or special characters within the game.

The Datach system shipped with Dragon Ball Z: Gekitou Tenkaichi Budokai, but only released six more games before petering out in 1994 due to waning interest in the older, 8bit Famicom system.

A new Votoms figure arrived today! This time, it's the Berserga BTS Blue Knight from the Armored Trooper Votoms Side Story, Blue Knight Berserga Story! Again, I am not taking it out of the package because of my previous experience with another that I took out of the box years ago. Well, we all can assume how that went: as I fiddled around with how to recreate the down mode for pilot mounting, the hip and shoulder joints snapped. Additionally, I was taking special care not to bend them the wrong way and took additional care to not stress any joints that were too tight back then. Because of my experience with both the CMs Corporation's Mecha Action Series Berserga BTS Blue Knight and the 35 Max Armored Trooper Votoms AT-Collection Scopedog figures in the past, I am keeping both in the box. I am most likely going to get another HG Scopedog Turbo Custom because it's cheaper and more readily available.

got these from ninnin

Source: https://x.com/240eukrante/status/2054765596274008330/photo/1

This my second Takara/Tomy 1/48 Scopedog figure that I repainted for tabletop gaming. This one is from the recent TSpark line.

Source: https://x.com/2079qeqeYour/status/2011977468371223005

So I’ve spent my first couple of days of vacation differently. Here’s a little demo, where you can see progress.

I finally have the 35 Max version of the Scopedog Turbo Custom after seeing many pictures of it online, but I am not taking it out of the box because of my previous experience with the Scopedog Red Shoulder Custom from the same line. The Red Shoulder Custom Scopedog is currently in storage because it cannot hold any poses due to its loose joints. Out of the various iterations of the Scopedog, the Turbo Custom is my number one with the Red Shoulder Custom at second place. This can go along with my HG Scopedog Turbo Custom I built a couple of weeks ago.