His god perhaps, but Zeus still lives.
With Chirico’s capture the Chief of Police takes him to the local priest who is also a corrupt bastard to try and use God to ascertain the nature of Chirico’s mission. I have to had in to them that they are trying to get information out ofChirico using drugs and religion before using beatings and whippings. The Thieves are quite through in covering their tracks but once they find that Chirico has no support they decide to do away with him. Fortunately before the execution order is carried out Chirico’s friends hatch a plan to rescue him, Vanilla would have done it on his own had Coccona not ratted him out to Gotho for one gildan. For three people who bicker as much as they do they seem to work well enough together and they did manage to cut a few holes in the police station. The rescue is rather quick but it tips off the Thieves that Chirico does have friends and they set up a Real Battle for 50 million Gildan to lure them out. Gotho tries to delay the fight but Chirico seems to pick up quick that something is rotten. While Chirico is the only pilot I like how they were able to work as a team during the fight with Oriya where Vanilla creates a damn fine decoy. Oriya seems to have been one of Chirico’s former COs so I guess that makes Oriya another Red Shoulder, but given how Oriya and Chirico didn’t recognize each other before the operation he might have just been Chirico’s basic training instructor. If Oriya was a Red Shoulder then he was a pretty bad one wince there are many ways to do things, but no single right way to do anything military.
Oriya puts up a good fight but for a pompous ass who dismissed Chirico’s abilities he sure got pwned hard when he ended up on the wrong side of that massive auto-cannon. Having the cops out there in force prompts Gotho and Vanilla to inquire about what kind of trouble Chirico was in but they get no answers. Chirico leaves as Gotho and Vanilla argue over who gets to be Chirico’s partner but upon hearing how Chirico skipped out Vanilla reveals his plans to break into the jijirium storage facility. While his friends think that Chirico skipped town, he was actually going back to the station to beat the answers out of the police chief. Given the lax security the cops didn’t bother to post a watch on the hole Vanilla cut out to break Chirico out and thus made it much easier for some one to infiltrate the station. Chirico does get in a few good pistol whips on the Chief before getting duped into letting the Chief take them to the heavily guarded jijirium storage facility. While Vanilla, Coccona, and Gotho break into the facility on their own volition to steal, they give up the money to bail out Chirico who had his cover blown and was pinned down at the helopad. Even if this is a gritty action series I did enjoy how Vanilla, Coccona, and Gotho blended in. Upon meeting the Bald Lady in the shower Coccona suffers from a bout of disappointment that Chirico likes chicks like “that” while Vanilla wants to get a sneak peak too. To his credit I don’t think Gotho is at the age where he cares about women any more and couldn’t give any less of a hoot about the nakkid lady than the jijirium she was bathing in. Since the Bald Lady is no longer bald and is not wearing a wig I guess it would be better to call her the Prototype until she actually gets a name. I am a bit saddened that Chirico didn’t pull a weapon on her to pistol whip some info out of her but that might have been interpreted as less than honorable. Since it wasn’t at gun point the Prototype escapes and before the gang can switch gears and grab the cash they get spotted and make a hasty retreat.
I am sure with these audacious acts of infiltration the Thieves are probably going to be concerned that Chirico is incredibly well supported as they caught the cops with their pants down twice within the span of less than a day.Not sure why the Prototype has chosen to identify with the Thieves even though she was government property before her awakening, but perhaps she was simply a prisoner. Time will tell I guess, but next time is the return of the Boone Family. Even if Vanilla, Coccona, and Gotho seem more interested in money I do appreciate how they bailed out Chirico instead of using him as a distraction, still it was nice that having lost sight of the Prototype they quickly got money on their minds again. Despite Coccona being ahead of the Prototype in my book I get the feeling that the poor girl isn’t going to get Chirico to reciprocate her feelings though according to Vanilla she seems to fall in love every other week or so. Still for now she’s much more likable than the still generally mute Prototype who’s only purpose so far has been getting nakkid, bathe in money, and brush her hair. Speaking of bathing in money either she needs to for some reason or she just likes to waste money, though considering how much gold that was stolen plus all that jijirium I guess they might have cash to burn in which case she’s a shallow bitch. Next time promises more Scopedog action against our old friends the Boone Family…
Seen enough death to last you a few lifetimes eh Chirico?
Friar Tuck he ain’t…
Too bad Chirico doesn’t even know that answer himself…
Seems every one here is a wanted man, I wonder how many have the death sentence on 12 systems…
Some one is having way too much fun in that run down bathroom.
Well Vanilla does have that ugly looking afro…
Wait don’t you guys eat rats in Uoodo?
Gotho gets a lot of calls from telemarketers.
…
Oriya is No Zero, No Zero amirite?
What discipline even when beating the crap out of a superior officer Chirico still uses ranks!
Praise be to overdoing it!
Coccona is such a stalker…
…
My name is Ingio Montoya. You killed my father…
Prepare to die…
So let me ask you PUNK what’s one more…?
I suppose there are other fat cops around to help Gotho blend in…
Well Vanilla hasn’t been laid in like…ever.
Well if it’s any consolation Chirico was more interested in interrogating Bald Lady than lurvin her…
3 Comments
At first I was really put off by these side-characters, as I really wanted Votoms to be more like a war story with big battles and such…
They crawled all over me like the rats of Uodoo and now I feel like they’re my friends too. I’m at episode 13, and I’m still rather happy how Scopedogs are really blasted apart like nobody’s business. It’s a different kind of mecha fetishizing. The machines are really just machines, like pieces in the field you jury-rig or commandeer, forming no special attachments.
They blow up too easy, and that is really fine too.
Even in a hell hole like Uoodo there are decent enough people. I didn’t mind them much since they actually get Chirico to interact instead of having him be alone and doing monologues all the time.
The humble Scopedog is the epitome of a mass produced weapon, it has limitations and is more dependent on the skill of it’s pilot than most other mecha. It is still cool but it is far from the meanest thing out there in the VOTOMS universe.
Ah, it’s good to restart this series and I look forward to watching the rest of it along with your posts. Reminds me of how much I liked Gotho, Coccona, and Vanilla despite first feeling odd that the show wasn’t a typical battlefield mecha, they helped adjust the atmosphere to the postwar situation of desperation, thieving, and scheming. Gotho especially with his Ferangi-like love of profit.
Seeing the Scopedogs in action in the first couple episodes was a nice change too. As you said, their simple, weapon nature is a nice change, and Chirico goes through a couple without really any feeling of loss. In contrast to how losing a mobile suit is a traumatic experience in Gundam, as much as I love the franchise.