The Atlesian Knight-200, otherwise known as the "AK-200", were a line of advanced Atlesian android foot soldiers and the successor to the Atlesian Knight-130.
Appearance[]
These androids possessed a more slender, humanoid appearance than their predecessors. They were clad in white armor, with their black robotic workings visible underneath. Their armor was thin at the midsection, neck and joints, but their chest and legs appeared well-protected. They were often seen with their rifles slung diagonally across their backs.
When under the control of Cinder Fall's computer virus, their helmets and bodies lit up with a red glow.
In their next appearance in Volume 7, the AK-200's helmets began to glow a blue light over the black visors. In Volume 8, the AK-200's that worked for the Schnee Dust Company have the company's logo on their backs.
In RWBY 3, they were seen wearing white tuxedos.
History[]
These androids were first seen in "A Minor Hiccup", where General James Ironwood presents them to a crowd as the soon-to-be-released successors to the AK-130. They kicked down the older models and subsequently pose and imitate Human actions as the crowd cheers and Ironwood extols their advantages.
The androids were first deployed in Vale during an incursion by a large number of Creatures of Grimm that entered through an abandoned railway tunnel leading to Mountain Glenn. Large numbers were deployed from Atlesian VTOL gunships in "Breach", assisting in the battle against the Grimm. They were later tasked with taking an apprehended Roman Torchwick into custody.
After Ironwood was appointed head of security by the Vale council, these Androids could be seen patrolling the Vytal Festival fairgrounds and Amity Colosseum. In "It's Brawl in the Family", several AK-200s were part of Winter Schnee's escort. Qrow Branwen destroys two of them with ease to get her attention.
After an incident while messing with Roy's Saws in Human Nextwork's Development Labs, an intern had lost the top of their hands and accidentally decapitated two Atlesian Knight-200s while Roy Stallion worked in the modeling room. The intern had their pay removed by Winter Schnee following this.[1]
In "Fall", along with two human soldiers, several AK-200s ran onto the Amity Colosseum battlefield to apprehend Yang Xiao Long after everyone sees her break Mercury Black's leg without provocation. In "Destiny", two androids guarded Team RWBY's dorm while General Ironwood talks to the group inside.
The Knights were later employed in "Battle of Beacon" to protect civilians evacuating the stadium and fighting Grimm in the streets of Vale and the Beacon courtyard. However, a virus created by Cinder's Faction was employed by Roman on his stolen airship, causing the Knights to go rogue and begin attacking civilians as well as the defending forces.
Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee are forced to destroy a large group of them at Beacon, while Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow clear the rogue machines from the streets of the city. The androids on board Ironwood's transport aircraft also betrayed him, causing his ship to spiral out of control and crash. However, Ironwood survives the crash and soon reappears to destroy his own rogue machines. The last androids were presumably shut down when the controlling airship was destroyed.
Notably, the last images to leave Vale before the collapse of the Cross Continental Transmit System was footage (recorded by Mercury) of Atlesian Knights attacking innocent people indiscriminately. In addition to the information blackout caused by the collapse of the CCT, this caused a great deal of mistrust to develop between the various Kingdoms.
The Atlesian Knights return in Volume 7 where multiple AK-200's were seen patrolling the streets of Mantle and when they were overrun by Sabyr Grimm. Throughout the whole volume, they could be seen helping out the human military members with some of them being stationed in the Atlas Medical Facility that Fria was being kept in. When riots started happening in Mantle during the events of "Sparks", the Ak-200s arrest those involved in "A Night Off".
When the Happy Huntresses begin stealing resources meant for Amity Communications Tower to repair Mantle's protective wall, many AK-200s are attacked by the group in order to get the supplies. Later when another riot starts in Mantle in "As Above, So Below" due to the people believing Atlas shut off the city's heating grid and abandoned them, multiple AK-200s attempt to disband the group's of rioting people. When they attempt to get close to them however, the people destroy them in rage. During the same time, some of the AK-200s attempt to stop the invasion of Grimm, but are easily overtaken by the Grimm.
Once Ironwood implements martial law and ordered the arrest of Ruby's Group, they attempted to do so as seen when they try to stop them from stealing a Manta to help them escape Atlas. Meanwhile, the AK-200s guarding the Medical Facility were all destroyed by Cinder Fall who wanted Fria's powers for herself.
Some drones were bought by the Schnee Dust Company for the Snow Shoe Shipping subsidiary, and as such did not report to the military. Because of this, Ruby's Group didn't have to worry about these drones attacking them while they planned to use the facilities pipes too infiltrate the Atlas Command Center to get the launch codes for Amity.
The AK-200's were later seen in Pietro's Pharmacy where they were swiftly taken out by Yang's Group. After Ironwood delivers his ultimatum to Ruby's Group, Arthur Watts hacks into a destroyed AK-200 to listen to Ruby's call to Ironwood and learned of their location. Later, a group of AK-200's were shown preparing to deliver the bomb to Mantle when they were attacked by Qrow Branwen and Robyn Hill who attempted to stop the bomb from leaving Atlas. After the Ace Operatives arrive to stop them, Marrow Amin uses his semblance to keep them restrained. Once Arthur Watts takes control of the Atlas Command Center, he hacks an Ak-200 and sent it towards Qrow and Robyn while planning to detonate it. Marrow takes the blow of the explosion, freeing the Ace-Ops as a result. Harriet Bree then decides to deliver the bomb to Mantle herself with Qrow, Robyn and Vine Zeki pursuing her.
After the destruction of the Kingdom of Atlas, the remaining AK-200's were all likely destroyed.
Features and Capabilities[]
The AK-200s were armed with handheld rifles of the same type used by their human counterparts, rather than their predecessors' built-in firearms. While they were not terribly accurate with these weapons, they could be a threat in large groups by saturating targets with fire. Aside from rifles, the AK-200s possessed straight built-in blades along their forearms which they could use in melee combat.
According to RWBY: Amity Arena, AK-200 models were also more intelligent than their predecessors.
They could be deployed by free-fall airdrop from Atlesian VTOL dropships, dropping roughly ten per ship directly into contested areas. In combat, they were quite effective against the Grimm, and were seen killing lesser Grimm such as Boarbatusks and Ursai, though they usually required superior numbers to prevail.
They were also capable of self-destructing, creating a blast powerful enough to break Marrow's Aura.
However, they were no match for a skilled Huntsman or Huntress. Qrow easily destroyed two with his bare hands and very little effort, while Blake and Weiss eliminated dozens of them with ease.
Trivia[]
- Originally, the AK-200's helmets were going to have digital faces, emoting through emoticons. [2]
- The AK-200s that the Grimm were able to overwhelm in only a few seconds during "As Above, So Below" were meant to represent that Atlas wouldn't provide Mantle with much defense against Grimm because they didn't care enough.[3]
- When working on "The Enemy of Trust", one idea the crew had for the battle between Penny, Winter, and Cinder would have shown Cinder using her Maiden powers to bring the fallen AK-200s back to life to face Penny, as a puppet joke. Instead, it was changed so that she would break through the walls when she found them.[4]
References[]
- ↑ Roy Stallion card bio
- ↑ The World of RWBY: The Official Companion Page 152
- ↑ RWBY Volume 7 Crew Commentary – Chapter 9
- ↑ RWBY Volume 7 Crew Commentary – Chapter 13
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