RVR-02 "Vambrace"

"RVR-02 Vambrace : Operational. The existence of Vambrace will once again cause humanity to embrace mass death and destruction, just as Vasteel did. "

- RVR-02's status indicated by Guardian, suggesting to prevent humans from using the ship -

RVR-02 "Vambrace"
Pilot	Cenes Crawford
Navigator	REFFI
Games	Thunder Force V

The RVR-02 "Vambrace" (RVR-02 ヴァンブレイス, RVR-02 Vanbureisu^?) is the player ship during the final three levels of Thunder Force V. It was constructed as the second model in the RVR series of starfighters.

History

Following the success of the creation of the RVR-01 "Gauntlet", Humanity proceeded to begin development on a newer, more powerful craft of the same series of "starfighters".

The newer model was designed to be superior to its predecessor- the only common component shared by the Gauntlet and Vambrace being the cockpit- and to be further enhanced when attached to the Brigandine booster unit, which provides extra speed (capable of escaping Earth's atmosphere), energy reserve for Vambraces' weapons, and an energy shield.

Unfortunately, its superiority over the Gauntlet also proved to be its initial downfall. The Vambrace was so advanced for its time that it required a massive amount of material and resources, equivalent of twelve Gauntlets, to build just one Vambrace ship. In addition, the craft suffered from teething issues during flight tests, with all except one of its entire prototype series lost in various accidents. Ultimately, Humanity chose to suspend the development of the Vambrace in favor of mass producing Gauntlets.

But this was not the end of the Vambrace...

Years later, when Guardian achieved sentience and declared war on Humanity, the last remaining Vambrace prototype was re-activated and issued with a Brigandine booster to Colonel Cenes Crawford, flight leader of the Thunder Force 222 special operations team, for a counterattack on the Guardian fleet defending the Judgement Sword in high Earth orbit. Cenes' Gauntlet jettisoned its fuselage (which is destroyed as a result) and transferred its cockpit module onto the Vambrace fuselage, and the presence of a Brigandine unit allows the Vambrace to readily spearhead the assault on the rogue AI's last bastion.

The Vambrace confronted a reconstructed Vasteel, where the two fighters dueled in the midst of the space. While Vasteel managed to destroy the Vambrace's Brigandine unit, it was in turn overpowered and obliterated by the Vambrace. Vambrace then successfully infiltrated the Judgement Sword's dataspace, where it proceeded to confront the source of Guardian's corruption. There it located a mysterious intruder, who planned on destroying Earth and rebuild the planet using Vasteel Technology in order to potentially conquer the galaxy. The Vambrace battled and destroyed the powerful foe, and depending on the ending of the game, is either destroyed when Cenes overloads its energy stocks or trapped inside the utterly-disabled Judgement Sword permanently, and thus cutting off all access to Vasteel Technology for the next ten years.

Weapons

Due to the transition via RVR-02B "Brigandine", RVR-02 "Vambrace" has most of the weapons from RVR-01 "Gauntlet" with the two main weapons permanently upgraded for the former.

• Blade / Sword: The upgraded Twin Shot from Thunder Force IV, though its Over Weapon remained the same.
• Rail Gun / Lightning Chain: An upgrade of Back Shot. The Over Weapon is the same as in RVR-01 "Gauntlet".
• Wave / Ultimate Burst: Emits a red stream capable of destroying enemy swarms with ease. They remained the same.
• Free Range / Aiming Shock: The Free Range and its Over Weapon remained the same.
• Hunter / Spread Needle: They remained the same.

Gallery

Concept art

Official art

Official art

Official art