Armored Core Lore: Annihilator

A report on an ac that has more theories about it then any known armored core, this is the lore of the armored core known as Annihilator.
NOTE:
You may notice the name of the part is slightly different then shown on screen, this is due to me having to use a certain translator to read the book, after which i had to figure out which parts seem to match to which i decided to go with the translation name (Won't do that again). However i am pleased to say i managed to confirm that the novel Annihilator is jet black.

[@Kinzoku_Zileus]

Binging these after AC6 announcement is great, I've only played AC2,AC4, AC4A, and AC5. Never knew the lore but loved the gameplay. I was never good as I was a kid but AC2 is what got me into the mecha genre and it's good that mecha fans are eating good now after being starved by horrible adaptations and nothing released in general.

[@armoredcorelore]

Well honest I'm not that good now even with all my time in the games. But yes I'm happy to see ac making a comeback as ten years is quite the wait.

[@ulyssesm.daniels6927]

I played alot of ps2 Era Armored Core titles starting with Nexus. I got absolutely destroyed but I still got to the bad ending and loved it. Went back like a few years back and actually understood how to build an S rank Mech and how to use booster correctly and barely beat it. I loved using built in auxillary weapons like the shoulder rockets for burst damage in close quarters to down other actual ACs in game. Also understanding I needed counter jamming led me to stomping certain enemies and one particular mission that was against a special ops unit with the best jammers and high speed mechs. Absolutely wrecked them because i had S rank counter ramming they rely on the jammers and mobility as they have low health.

[@123evilwolf]

Hope you get more views, man. Now that fromsoft is releasing the new ac game, I hope that new people will come to you for lore.

[@armoredcorelore]

Thank you and well I'm just happy to see a new ac game to be honest.

[@blumiu2426]

Everyone is saying it, but I've dropped your channel in comments on Souls vids covering the release of Armored Core. I hope you get a good boom from it as you're the only channel I know that consistently is covering AC in detail. Best of luck and keep at it!

[@armoredcorelore]

Thank you i appreciate the drop and for your kind praise.

[@Flora-L1]

Oh man I'm so happy to see so many ravens coming out of the woodworks to build hype around the reveal of ACVI, I've only ever played AC Verdict day and 4A but both were masterful games that had great gameplay. I was never that good, always got my shit rocked online but my god was it fun. Learning all about the lore now is just the icing on the cake, thanks for your vid!

[@armoredcorelore]

Thank you and thanks for sharing your own history with ac, i admit i was a player who saw online and went nope and just played single player.

[@boogaloo_weed]

You've been my favorite AC channel for years bro, I hope lots more people come to watch your videos now that the new one is coming out

[@armoredcorelore]

Thank you, i appreciate your kind words.

[@HellHound13th]

Before boarding Annhilator, Fritz use Avenger Type 1, 2 and 3. His emblem is XIII Death Tarot. Both him and Vintage made cameo appearance in LR.

[@armoredcorelore]

He does from what i could read.

[@blumiu2426]

I'll keep that in mind when I get to Last Raven. Been veeery long time since played it.

[@Spartan-Primer]

​​​@@blumiu2426 Yeah, Annihilator shows up, albeit under a different name, as an opponent in Last Raven's VR arena, alongside other boxart ACs.

[@blumiu2426]

@@Spartan-Primer Always full of surprises.

[@ApenBaard]

No way! I actually finished the psx series with the canonical AC?! I just wanted to post "hey its that ac thats pretty much the exact same as the one I ended up with at the end of the psx trilogy(with exception of the backweapons)"....but I didnt know the story behind it. What a coincidence :D Edit: oh, I didnt "upgrade" the legs though.

[@armoredcorelore]

Pretty cool. And ah what's a change of legs long as it was fun.

[@bloodedge1528]

Me being a Armored Core fan ever since AC1, I never saw an AC lore post of a Master of Arena protagonist coming.

[@armoredcorelore]

Or did you? Well to be fair Fritz is hidden behind a novel all in Japanese.

[@blagojpejov4155]

An intresting Ac nice work man

[@armoredcorelore]

Thank you for your kind words.

[@csam9167]

My man gonna have a field day when the next ac drop

[@armoredcorelore]

It going to be an adventure all right.

[@rrm1903]

Lol drop the lore videos while it's hot so you finally get the recognition you deserve man. Before long Vaati will make compilations of your old content after binge watching them!

[@armoredcorelore]

Honestly I'm just very happy ac is back in the spotlight and I'm sure Vaati will have thier own style to present after all been doing lore videos longer then me. =)

[@rrm1903]

@@armoredcorelore you're humble but we both know he already on it!

[@TheFirstCyberNinja]

Even though I've only played Last Raven it is really fun watching your content to catch up on the lore. Also, I'm a motion designer and it would be great to work on these videos with you, so let me know if you wanna take that offer.

[@y4notu236]

Ive been following ur stuff for a year heres to hoping u get more views!

[@armoredcorelore]

Thank you for sticking with me and for your kind words.

[@SCF721]

Can't wait to see your future videos about AC6 after it finally drops

[@armoredcorelore]

When it does i may have to go silent for a while and bring a pad and pen.

[@SCF721]

@@armoredcorelore Oh I definitely understand lmao.

[@marionmorrison2854]

Armored Core Is back on the menu boys!

[@armoredcorelore]

Eat up Ravens and Lynx, you'll need it.

[@TheSibler]

usual comment ,great work, enjoying the vids, keep up ,much love , have a nice day :D

[@armoredcorelore]

It is always appreciated. Thank you.

[@doomzilla3568]

Yo, great video!!! Great that you're feeling better! This is a fantastic time to be a armored core fan!!! Very hyped for armored Core 6!!!!

[@armoredcorelore]

Thank you and it is I'm happy to see so many new and old fans enjoying this news.

[@AnatoliasAce3341]

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG! THANK YOU!

[@AnatoliasAce3341]

Oh yeah, his name isn't Byrne, it's Byne.

[@armoredcorelore]

Ah the joys of translations. Still appreciate it and you'll have to let me know what you think of my attempt of an acfa annihilator.

[@AnatoliasAce3341]

@@armoredcorelore It's awesome! I'm gonna recreate him in AC4 right now! and yes i know the latona head isn't in AC4 im just gonna substitute that with the AALIYAH

[@armoredcorelore]

@@AnatoliasAce3341 I'm all for that.

[@heardofrvb]

Hopefully we'll get to Father and The Corporation.

[@armoredcorelore]

We will.

[@trevinsingh9390]

Thank you for helping keep Armored Core alive in our hearts! Happy Holidays!!

[@armoredcorelore]

Happy holidays to you too, may we ravens and lynxs keep the flame of ac burning bright.

[@ACFoxeye]

I'd sell a guy's left kidney to get all these pieces of side-material translated. Lotta good stuff in there that adds so much to the world these games create.

[@armoredcorelore]

Tell me about it.

[@Mustachioed_Mollusk]

Hyped for some AC6 lore coming hot from the Flames of Rubicon!

[@armoredcorelore]

I'll have to stop being excited first.

[@ciaciux1827]

New subscriber keep up the good work

[@armoredcorelore]

Thank you i will try my best.

[@goliathxanatos706]

Can’t wait for you covering his alter ego when he returns in AC2 as Leos Klein. By far my favourite antagonist as the drastic change in his way of thinking to becoming more like the master controlling computer in both Master of Arena and the original AC. Also to explain away the inconsistency of Annihilator not kneeling despite being overweight, you simply can assume that the protagonist doesn’t have the full upgrades of Human Plus available to him at that time. Since one must be in debt at least seven times to gain all benefits of Human Plus in the game, it’s not unreasonable to assume he didn’t go through that typical method. Alternatively, AC2 takes place nearly 70 years into the future after Master of Arena and OG AC, so Leos Klein being the protagonist of Master of Arena would be in his later 90s bare minimum. So at that point the amount of prosthetic enhancements and cybernetic implants to keep him alive and still capable of piloting an AC would be immense. Which would explain why that AC can fire its back weapons without crouching whereas the other protagonist could not. So yeah, it’s easily explainable why Master of Arena protagonist could not utilise Hunan Plus to its fullest extent whereas Leos Klein could. There’s also a third option, the developers of the CGI cutscene weren’t thinking of the future implications being tied to the light novel, so they just copied the style of the original AC cutscene where that mech crouched to fire its back weapons, despite the fact in Project Phantasma shows the same AC firming it’s grenade launcher whilst hovering in the air. They just weren’t concerned of continuity for the cutscenes, which is likely the most plausible explanation.

[@armoredcorelore]

More machine then man at that point old leos.

[@goliathxanatos706]

@@armoredcorelore most definitely, I updated my comment to explain the inconsistencies between Annihilator and Leos Klein as well if you wanna read 👍🏾

[@HellHound13th]

FMV had nothing to do with story tying. Even Nine-Ball kneeling in the intro.

[@goliathxanatos706]

@@HellHound13th I detailed that as the third option. Read it again to understand my point.

[@armoredcorelore]

@@goliathxanatos706 Well i do love a good read if nothing else. =)

[@slowjamsliver7006]

A few of us dropped your name off at VaatiVidya on his AC6 video.

[@armoredcorelore]

Oh that's very kind of you. Thank you =)

[@slowjamsliver7006]

@@armoredcorelore You've put in so much work already we weren't going to pass up the chance to spread the word.

[@SaintSeya1]

Wow so the novel is more aligned with the opening scene and what the fight would play out for both ACs. However I am sure whoever the pilot of the Annihilator is he must have compromised his humanity to edge Nineball.😊

[@armoredcorelore]

It is although the novel does have some quite sick if i may say so battles and i like that answer.

[@VaporRonin]

The pilots identity information is new to me, but i can see the disagreements and debate about details and people in game is chaotic, its probably one of the few games that exercises open to interpretation greatest without just being one dimensional.

[@ReifinDFanchon]

I see your build there, Quad-Legs Arms-Missile, the best build I'd say.

[@armoredcorelore]

Ha ha well someone taught me that missiles are very helpful and as for the legs well I've always like my quad legs. Big and bulky ac and nexts are just my faves.

[@ReifinDFanchon]

@@armoredcorelore I see you're one of those Quad-Legs enjoyer. Let's just hope missile as good as AC3 in AC6, the most balanced one imo.

[@armoredcorelore]

@@ReifinDFanchon I shall stand by my love for four legs..no wait. We'll have to see, i think we know there is at least going to be one broken part.

[@MasterSwo-MK]

Something I never got about AC as a whole is... why are the blades always on the left arm?

[@armoredcorelore]

It's not talked about in the lore about why this is the case, so maybe it was a design choice.

[@MasterSwo-MK]

@@armoredcorelore I guess, but then the question becomes, why only the one? I mean, they aren't held in the hand like your every day beam saber so it's not like you'd have to drop your guns to use it, so why not have one on both arms?

[@01trixor]

As tradition I will recreate the Annihilator in Armored Core VI since I always do that in every instalment Armored Core Master of Arena was my first Armored Core game and I felt in love with the franchise ever since

[@armoredcorelore]

Nice you know i got to ask what parts did you use for your annihilator in ac4 and for answer?

[@bags.]

Providence is very similar to this as well

[@raditmamen]

Can you make acv lore? since there is more mech variant in acv and acvd

[@armoredcorelore]

I will. The goal is to cover them all.

[@raditmamen]

That's cool man it's hard to find acv and acvd lore on KZbin since not much people playing it and both game not run good on PC emulator it's hard to get physical copy for Xbox and ps3 in my country for both games

[@historian252]

Given what Leo Klein tried to do, is it not possible that he decided to receive Human Plus in order to stand toe to toe with Nine-ball and even augmented himself as he got older to become the AI meant to be in charge of the world's order.

[@armoredcorelore]

Well see here is the issue, in acmofa there is no way to receive human plus, it has to come from a save from armored core 1. So this opens up another theory that Leo could have been the player ac in that game which means Leos has the player character from ac1 to master of arena. Its a lot of this and that really. Honestly people will have thier own thoughts on if each raven is a different one or not and i try not to change that as i think that is what makes good conversation and keeps topics like this interesting.

[@fusioncell7669]

@@armoredcorelore Is it not possible that he received the augmentation in between MoA and AC2? Based on how old he sounds in AC2 I'd imagine its been sometime since the events of MoA when he was younger.

[@armoredcorelore]

@@fusioncell7669 It is as this part of history is rather open to thoughts as there has yet to be anything that confirms Leos as the raven in any of ps1 games.

[@NeroLordofChaos]

@@fusioncell7669 From something I heard years ago, Leos Klein is apparently supposed to be in his _90's_ during the events of AC2 (which would definitely give credence to him having undergone Human Plus at some point). It would also give a gap of 70 or so years that MoA could have taken place. Both Chrome and Murakumo completely collapsed during that time period and were replaced by Emeraude, Zeo Matrix and Balena.

[@NeroLordofChaos]

@@armoredcorelore I thought it was confirmed that Leos was the original Ninebreaker? By default, that would make him one of the protagonists from the ps1 games.

[@Yoshilicious1]

Big fan of the channel and lore videos, any chance you will make a discussion video for armored core 6?

[@armoredcorelore]

I have decided not too SOUL. However i have made a post with my feelings on the trailer in my community section.

[@Yoshilicious1]

@@armoredcorelore did you happen to read the new interview for the game? Its not a open world and there seems to be a bigger emphasis on melee combat and boss fights

[@armoredcorelore]

@@Yoshilicious1 I did and that is one of the reason i decided not to do a video. But i am happy to hear about these two things as i know we have some excellent blade users in the ac community so it should be fun to see where they take that. And the boss fights well i admit i'm hoping for boss fights like the arms-forts we see in acfa. But we'll have to wait and see.

[@Kirby-Krios]

"omae wa mou shindeiru" you've been annihilated ( *-*)> I hope MAY GREENFIELD returns for levity and friendliness ^_^ (or a similar equivalent character) Btw, who makes all the many subtitle options on your videos (old and new)? Great extra effort from small, humble channel. Nice!

[@armoredcorelore]

Oh I'm sure we'll get a new armored core character like May. And the subtitles are done by auto translate, off the script i upload for the English subtitles.

[@Kirby-Krios]

I see, cool. I will admit while listening to old videos, I did have to rewind and listen multiple times due to audio variances, and your accent making some words harder to make out >_< (I'm american). So the Eng subs are useful in those moments. And those Re-ups of major videos like the AC4 lore was good. appreciate the audio improvements.

[@andrewx1934]

Why nine-ball has a human+ in game, but he has not in cinematic?? Why annihilator has a overweight build??

[@armoredcorelore]

Good questions however for nine-ball i think we have to lean into the idea that sometimes like all video game lore bits are forgotten for creative purposes sometimes. As for Annihilator overweight it mostly due to the heavy parts the craft uses and fritz from the ac novel changes this over time resulting in getting legs that are able to cope with the weight in time.

[@cannibalnoises4896]

Annihilator and the Zio Matrix cover AC are my two favorite AC designs and that both my have had the same pilot is funny to me.

[@armoredcorelore]

Oh this lore sometimes.

[@hobobeard]

Why did you not scale the images and footage correctly during editing? They now appear squished and stretched at youtubes native widescreen resolutions.

[@SquidlyFishBeans]

Please do a video on Arisawa Heavy Industries Raiden from FA

[@armoredcorelore]

I'll put him on the to do list when i return to 4th gen.

[@TheIntratec9]

@Armoredcorelore Are you going to comment on the recent Armored Core 6 reveal?

[@armoredcorelore]

In video form do you mean? As i have talked about the game in the comments of my other videos.

[@Nine-Ball]

He was a good fight

[@armoredcorelore]

Ah but which one hustler?

[@HellHound13th]

Your double grenade final incarnation fighting Leannon Cidre to death.

[@bombomos]

I love the art in these. That JoJo pose in the thumbnail is based

[@armoredcorelore]

I would take a look at the novel itself, the illustrator does like his poses.

[@frowningmirror8097]

In Last Raven they remake this mech, but its piloted by a "Zorro-X" and the AC is named Rabbit's foot

[@armoredcorelore]

Yes they did.

[@nadzirharith8012]

and fromsoft make Zorro-X AI bad as fuck

[@BLAZE084]

Are you excited for Armored Core VI?

[@armoredcorelore]

Very!

[@BLAZE084]

@@armoredcorelore So am I. I can hardly contain myself

[@kevingame3198]

I hope he comes back in armored core 6

[@armoredcorelore]

I'm sure ravens will rebuild him and bring Annihilator to ac6.

[@HellHound13th]

Only in ACMoA US version ally tank AC named Fritz for whatever reason

[@AnatoliasAce3341]

Probably a reference. Say, will you ever move to 4th gen?

[@owlsandwolves]

Wait how come you can use Overweight AC without HUMAN+?, If I can remember correctly there would be a Warning and will not let you do Mission or Arena.

[@armoredcorelore]

You are correct, however should you beat the game you are allowed to use an overweight AC when you replay the missions.

[@owlsandwolves]

@@armoredcorelore oh I didn't know that, Thanks!.

[@HellHound13th]

How it the world you even translate a vertical character?

[@armoredcorelore]

Terribly with a g app and a tablet computer.

[@chillzaa99]

One of the best Raven ever!

[@armoredcorelore]

I admit i do really like Fritz.

[@zatoby6705]

What happened to Vintage? Was she killed by Nineball?

[@armoredcorelore]

I will give a spoiler warning here in case anyone wishes to read the novel...... Yes, she is killed while Fritz tries to rescue her from her burning ac, only for nine-ball to blow her into tiny pieces at progtech headquarters.

[@bgonzales817]

Dark souls players are in for a wake up call once they play 6 with no previous AC experience 😂

[@armoredcorelore]

Everyone's got to start somewhere. Then again i am still terrible at piloting an ac even after all this time.

[@bgonzales817]

@@armoredcorelore I agree but can't say I won't enjoy breaking in new players. Hopefully by now fromsoft is smart enough to automatically include the option to get more details on what each stat does. But if not I'll be happy to explain things to new players.

[@armoredcorelore]

@@bgonzales817 Fair to me and let me say i appreciate you saying you'll take the time to explain. Being friendly and willing to help others are good things for any community.

[@bgonzales817]

@@armoredcorelore absolutely, while I enjoy breaking in new players I also enjoy watching them grow into full fledged raven's!

[@armoredcorelore]

@@bgonzales817 Love it.

[@additiveartificer9365]

Our time is now Mecha people unite

[@armoredcorelore]

Unite!

[@blahtoblahtoto6441]

I want to know the lore for Zinaida and why she can pilot it when it's overweight xD

[@armoredcorelore]

Zinadia an interesting raven. Don't worry I'll get to her when i get to last raven.

[@KewneRain]

You really need to work on getting your audio better, your videos vary wildly in volume.

[@armoredcorelore]

The older ones do i admit have an audio volume problem. However i think the newer ones are better all around.

[@andrewrogers3067]

Actually quite an upsetting story in the novel. But sadly I believe it’s non canon

[@HellHound13th]

the novel its a canon story

[@armoredcorelore]

Its is i admit i feel for both of them.

[@chemistara102]

first :horse_react:

[@HellHound13th]

If I can post pic, I will

[@klackokel]

lol