World Exclusive Heavy Gear Blitz Reveal: Salamander

  
   

Well Agent 009 lives has managed to do it again. He's penetrated the deepest, darkest and most dangers depths of Dream Pod 9's secret base. Although apparently he didn't need to, as he found this concept art just sitting on John Nguyen's desk top! He just wanted to make the mission harder for himself because he's an adrenalin junky... although I have my suspicions that he actually wanted to be captured and tortured. I have some very grave misgivings about giving that cat '00' status. He's clearly not right in the head. Any way, he's managed to grab some more images of a new Gear for the Southern faction for you, the Salamander:

Sadly Agent 009 Lives didn't extract any images of the miniature, although I have assurances they'll be sent shortly... we'll see. OK, so I know last time I did a reveal some people were not so sold on the Diamondback. Apparently it needed a head! Now, question for you. Why exactly should a giant robot actually need a head? In fact why should a giant robot have to take on the physical shape and form of a human body? From an engineering and design point of view we should think it odd such mecha have heads at all... but, clearly I've got side-tracked. What I mean to say is, whereas the Diamondback has left some people somewhat cold, I think the Salamander will get the pulses racing of even some of the most staunch anti-mecha critics. I mean look at the damn thing! It's just sodding cool. Go on tell me you don't like the look of that robot, I dare you. Sure the 'roller-blade' feet might not be everyone's cup of tea at first, but I guarantee you that when read it's development history it'll all make perfect sense, I promise you!

Sadly I only have a few tidbits of information as my feckless agent spent most of his time in Canada trying out maple syrup apparently. What I can tell you is that Mandeers originally developed a whole host of Gears for civilians, predominantly racers. These lighter models actually proved rather popular, and apparently the rozzers, the bill, the Babylon, the bacon... or the Police as they are more commonly known, also took a shine to them. Probably because they were quick and cheap. Obviously not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, Mandeers capitalized on this popularity and developed the Salamander. The Salamander is designed for the Urban Jungle, a bit like how SUV manufacturers try telling us there over-sized gas guzzling ugly hunks of metal are nowadays, except last time I checked our urban environments shared little in common with actual jungles. Except in the Salamanders case it might be true. It was designed with extra wide wheels and rubberized pads under its feet to aid with grip and mobility. Rumours it also comes with flared wheel arches, spoilers, tinted windows and UV down-lights under its feet are nothing but wishful thinking from Chavs. However, it does usually come equipped with  Waltech Propellant Cannon, which is designed to take water for crowd control (and wet T-shirt competitions), chemical foam for fire fighting, and of course my personal favourite flammable liquid for helping with starting BBQ's... and toasting enemies.

The Salamader does come with shoulder hard points for missile pods, as I know some of you crazy cats out there like to know these things. However, not many of them come equipped with missile pods, because, well why would you? The gear is mainly favoured by duelists because of how quick and nippy the bloody thing is, so why weigh it down with missiles I say? The Salamander has also proved popular among underground racing circuits, mainly because it cheap and quick I guess, but also because it's supposedly highly customizable... and it looks good. You know boy racers, they've always got to go around in the best pimped out Gears! After the TN1932 refit, the Salamander was considered a viable military Gear, and Mekong Peacekeeper and MILICIA regiments brought a fair few of them. However, it is post the Inter-Polar war where Mandeers have seen a spike in sales to city-states across the South, primarily due to offering good deals on buying in bulk and decent loans... hmm... it's starting to sound like the build up to the credit crunch. There will also be a really nice humourous skit within the Forged in Fire rulebook about how the Salamander is used in a popular TV show... but I don't want to spoil that for you all. Any way, that's it for now. Peace out!

EDIT: My agent finally managed to get me these pictures of the Salamander miniature. Enjoy!