Vertical One-man Tank for Offense and Maneuvers

Armored Trooper VOTOMS is a 52 episode animated TV show, originally aired in 1983-4. Here I will discuss some of the tech details of the fictional armored suits.

The unit used by the main character is the Scopedog , but this is not the first of the suits in the overall storyline. Although not mentioned much in the actual show, there were of course intermediate steps between regular infantry soldiers and the more advanced Armored Trooper suits.

The first powered-armor walking machines were created by the Gilgamesh Army. They were named Machine Troopers, and were quite effective despite some drawbacks: some mechanical components were exposed, the Muscle Cylinders (the VOTOMS term for a futuristic hydraulic systems central to all AT movement) were not all that strong , and the onboard computers needed frequent upgrades.

Nevertheless, development of the suits continued. The first full-on AT was the ATM-01 Clever Camel. But the suit that was to be the deciding factor in the 100 Years War was the ATM-09 Scopedog (and variants). The Scopedog was found to be sturdy, capable and easily adaptable to various combat roles and equipment setups.