#balteus

▫️▫️▫️ ILLUSTRATION PREVIEWS (5)▫️▫️▫️

During the final week of zine preorders, ALLMIND collected visual data on four of the ACs featured in the pages of RECORDS//ANALYSIS.

Ravens, this is a reminder that zine preorders close tomorrow at 11:59PM ET.

Featured artwork by @beth4short-blog, Voheiin, Ignition Industries, and @redteapanda.

Something I’ve always really liked but never saw anyone else show some love to was the inclusion of a smaller mech in these two beautiful armored core bosses. Balteus (the one on the right) has its core suit on full display. I don’t recognize the MT as being a unit the player fights in any other section, so I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s unique or was prototyped and never made the cut. Regardless, it’s a sexy look. Especially those huge, chunky legs. Then the carrier. I love the contrast between the suit’s rounded but angular form, and the huge cubes and asymmetric shapes of the mount. Not to mention my two favorite details, the sturdy-looking extra arms helping to hold the MT’s guns and that gorgeous machine at the center of the rig’s collar.

I go back and forth on the catophract. On one enormous rotary cannon tipped hand, the design is ridiculous. One of the few armored core designs that I’ll venture out and say is ridiculous in execution and run-of-the-mill in concept (look at the strider for something run-of-the-mill in execution and ridiculous in concept). Of course, I love the cataphract a lot. The vestigial MT legs don’t quite dangle over the front in game like they do here, rather the head pokes out nonetheless and reminds us of the shrouded figure. I for one have a lot of affinity for the double cannons, and only wish the extra guns were bigger to better utilize all that empty space on the upper side.