The Darkroom

In my spare time, besides going out on the street taking photos, I also enjoy building plastic models of robots.
I don’t like so much Gundam, too much fantasy sci-fi for my taste, instead I prefer more realistic sci-fi models like Votoms or Maschinen Krieger. The design is great, rusty, hard sci-fi look and dirty.. not shiny armours for me, but blood on the steel!

Maschinen Krieger ZbV 3000 is a science fiction universe created by Japanese artist and sculptor Kow Yokoyama in the 1980s. It originally began as the science fiction series SF3D which ran as monthly installments in the Japanese hobby magazine Hobby Japan. To develop the SF3D storyline, Kow collaborated with Hiroshi Ichimura (story editor) and Kunitaka Imai (graphic designer).

The creators drew visual inspiration from their combined interest in WWI and WWII armor and aircraft. Kow built the original models from numerous kits including armor, aircraft, automobiles and real space.

The designs were predominantly of powered armor suits, but Kow also created two legged walking tanks, anti-gravity flying aircraft, and automated robot walkers. Hiroshi Ichimura and Kunitaka Imai added the graphic style and created the background story for the new models.

Together they created a unique series with a very different visual style from the typical “Giant Robot” series in Japan at the time. A small but dedicated fan following soon developed.

The Story

The story is set 880 years in the future. Events primarily take place between the years 2882 and 2886. A nuclear World War in 2807 destroys most of Earth’s population, and renders the planet uninhabitable. About 50 years after the destruction, the Galactic Federation (details unknown) sent an investigative team to determine the condition of the planet. They discover the planet has restored itself to a natural paradise and begin the process of sending colonists to populate Earth. The colonists prospered on the reborn Earth. Cities and towns are eventually reformed, but this growth attracts the attention of criminals, AWOL soldiers, political criminals, mercenaries, terrorists, and other people who had decided to leave civilized society, who began to make their way back to Earth as a suitable place for refuge. The Colonists had no real form of government to deal with the problem other than a few local militias. The GF, concerned about the civil unrest and the Colonists forming their own independent government, gave the Strahl Democratic Republic (SDR) the right to govern the planet. The SDR’s hard handed tactics to restore order; travel restrictions, hard labor camps for the unemployed, etc., created great resentment amongst the Colonists. The Colonists create the Earth Independent Provisional Government and declare independence from the Strahl Republic. The SDR immediately forms a puppet government and attempts to quell the uprising. The wealthy Colonists hire the mercenaries to form the Independent Mercenary Army. They attack the SDR forces and the war for independence and the control of the Earth begins.

Some cool pics of Machine Krieger models