Monday, January 4, 2016

Dengeki Nintendo Character Profiles: Asimov

Another day, another Dengeki Nintendo Character bio! Here's an especially fascinating one: Asimov!
If you wish to compare this translation to the original JP text from the magazine, see here:
Credit to Zoram Selrof for the translation!


Asimov’s Profile
         
24 years old. His 7th Wave (Sevens) is the same as GV's, the Azure Thunderclap (Armed Blue).
He’s one of Feather's founding members and the leader of the battling unit Team Sheeps, as well as a sniper.

He’s a sniper, yet he’s very skilled in the usage of all kinds of weapons: he showed that during the game by skillfully using the gun he stole from Acura.

He speaks in a suspicious tone, mixing English in, and his pals often point out that his tone isn’t correct English either.

He actually is, like GV, a test subject of the “Project Gunvolt”. His thunder’s power is above that of GV, but since it’s always running berserk, he needs special sunglasses to be able to control his own ability.

His emotions regarding the 7th Wave (Sevens) Psychics are strong, yet, to accomplish his goals, he hides his true feelings in front of his peers. 

Maybe his hatred towards the Non-Psychics that persecuted him is spiraling in the depths of his irises hidden by the sunglasses.

Asimov’s past:

Asimov originally was a waif born from two illegal immigrants.

After being captured by Sumeragi’s Hunters, he was deemed a match for the “Azure Thunderclap (Armed Blue)” and became a test subject of Project Gunvolt, yet, being unable to control his ability, he was treated as a defective.

Afterwards, he was subject to all types of experiments as a lab rat. As a result, his hatred for the Non-Psychics exacerbated.

He went berserk during an experiment and the lab burnt down. He mingled in the confusion and escaped the lab.

He somehow managed to join a certain group once he escaped overseas and devoted his efforts to establishing Feather. His identification name in Sumeragi at the time was “Takefutsu”.

Sunglasses:

A safety device used to control his abilities. This equipment is the same system as GV’s contact lenses, yet, unlike GV who uses his lenses to increase his 7th Wave (Sevens), Asimov uses them to seal his own 7th Wave (Sevens).

Only a small handful of Feather members know about these sunglasses’ effect and his 7th Wave (Sevens) because of an ethos within Feather that says “don’t snoop others’ 7th Wave (Sevens)”. 

E.A.T.R (Electro-magnetic Anti Tank Rifle):
An anti-tank rail-rifle provided by Feather.

It’s a gun with command standards, and brother gun to the “Dartleader” provided to GV. The bullet shot from the weapon has an effective range of 5000M and a speed of 7 Km per second: it will always “predate” the target.

When sniping from very long distances, the user is in need of high skills and precise calculations amongst others. Since it isn’t an anti-personnel weapon, he didn’t use it during his battle with GV.

Greed Snatcher:

It’s a special bullet with the property to control others’ 7th Wave (Sevens) that was stolen from Acura.

Asimov also make use of the Azure Thunderclap (Armed Blue) ability’s to create an EM field that allows him to pull a new stunt: freely controlling the path of the bullets.

But that places a very strong burden on the gun itself and it’s a two-edged sword. It's an ace-in-the-hole than can only be used in a brief battle.

The Dart Cartridges that GV uses can mechanically control this technique to some extent.

Man, now I really want a drama track based on Asimov. You really can't help but feel sorry for him when you read about his backstory.
It's just a shame that we likely won't be seeing him in any future Gunvolt game, given how the first title ended. He was always one of my favorite characters.

18 comments:

  1. RyuuseiRockman(A/J)January 4, 2016 at 2:37 PM

    I guess this proves that it was indeed Asimov who killed Dr. Kamizono along with several other lab workers and not GV himself. Makes sense considering GV would not need rescuing if he was the one who actually killed Dr. Kamizono and burnt down the lab, though this would contradict the notion that GV had been rescued by Asimov which was proven to be true in the game by both Asimov and GV, himself. Enlightening read nonetheless, thanks for posting.

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  2. Yeah, it definitely looks like it was Asimov. Though if you were an English-speaking person following the "Fleeting Memories" side-story, this is more confusing. There's actually a translation error in the 4th part of the story that states "Takefutsu" was the code-name given to the human experimentation project that Kamizono was in charge of. "Takefutsu" was actually the name of the person Sumeragi was experimenting on for "Project Gunvolt", who was Asimov.

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  3. Some things here seem a little off here to me like
    why it is never mentioned in Copen's story that Asimov took of his glasses which he would need to do to access his septima
    I personally do not think it above a game company to give us a fee lies in order to keep us in the dark so we can be caught off guard later
    also I doubt that he would be able to always keep his glasses on

    Possible slight spoiler ahead













    this is just me thinking but I think Asimov might actually be the first azure striker and I have another theory that can support it

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    Replies
    1. Huh, that's actually a good point. Acura's Story indeed doesn't state that Asimov took off his glasses, which is really strange. I honestly didn't notice that before.

      It's possible that Asimov could be the first Azure Striker, but it seems unlikely judging from his battle dialogue. When he's explaining the history of the Azure Strikers to GV, he uses the plural pronouns "they" and their," implying that there were other lightning-wielders before himself and GV.

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    2. True but if we assume that the other theory I have about the dialogue is correct then we should take everything mentioned after Nova with a grain ofsalt there could be some truths there but it could all have been fabricated

      for example if I recall correctly Asimov is American but as his teammates point out he has some quirks speaking English which is strange and he even has quirks with Japanese
      could this mean he is American but not raised on English
      perhaps because he lived in south America until he was discovered and taken in by sumeragi
      this could explain how he is so proficient in combat
      as for the experiments that could also be considered correct
      as you'd need at least two people to carry out a septima transfering experiment
      one to be the recipient and one to be the donor
      so it's not to big a leap to assume that the first azure striker was experimented on
      also Zonda is very high ranking above sumeragi's brass so xe would probably know about it
      maybe Zonda even knew Asimov back in the day
      plus to support the changed dialog theory
      xe had the perfect hiding reflective surface
      Asimov's glasses

      wow this is a whole lot longer than I thought it would be
      so what do you think ?
      maybe you could make a page discussing your views on this under speculation

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  4. Another thing that proves that there are some inconsistincies is that bothe here and in Acura's story it is stated that Asimov is leagues above GV in power but in the game Asimov says that GV was the strongest azure striker until he goy Copen's gun
    which makes no sense to me
    maybe Inti is trying to hint us about something being up in the story with these inconsistiencies
    also isn't Asimov American?

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  5. Also if Asimov killed Dr.Kamizono who was the head of the project then who made GV
    it makes more sense if it was GV who blew up the lab and wad found exhausted in the wreckage by Sumeragi
    Also in fleeting memories the whole building and everything and everyone in it were obliterated in a single huge electrical explosion
    does this mean that the two events are different or is this just another trick to catch us off guard later on by revealing that it was GV that killed Copen's father

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    Replies
    1. I honestly don't think that statement by Asimov should be taken into consideration. That's pretty much just another instance of 8-4's terrible translation of the NA version of the game. Asimov doesn't say that at all in the Japanese version. He simply says "You aren't the only Azure Striker".

      I don't know who was in charge of GV's experiment, but it looks like Asimov was the only person who caused a Sumeragi facility to explode. It's worth noting that there's a big translation error in chapter 4 of the "Fleeting Memories" side-story. It erroneously states that "Takefutsu" was the same of Sumeragi's human experimentation project, but "Takefutsu" was actually Sumeragi's name for Asimov. And it was this same "Takefutsu who ended up triggering the explosion that led to Kamizono's facility burning to the ground (chapter 5 states this).

      As far as GV is concerned, it's established that Asimov rescued him from one of Sumeragi's research facilities, and that's it. Based on all that Inti's revealed, we don't have reason to believe that GV caused any place to go up in flames.

      Delete
  6. I see
    where does it state that that was Asimov's name
    as if it was in the magazine bio I've stated that it already has some inconsistencies
    also it is possible that after GV burned down a facility than he could have been exhausted and found by Sumeragi personnel and placed in a research facility
    from there Asimov could have rescued him

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    Replies
    1. There aren't really any inconsistencies in the profile at all. There are translation errors in Fleeting Memories and the NA version of Gunvolt which make things confusing, but no inconsistencies in the profile. And as this is an official profile put together by Inti Creates, you can be sure that this information is all true.

      In terms of GV burning down a facility and then getting re-captured by Sumeragi, that's possible, but it's just about confirmed that Kamizono was killed in the explosion that Asimov triggered.

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  7. What about the glasses and Copen's fight with Asimov
    also what about Asimov being American
    I'm not saying it's incorrect but I'm saying they want us to believe something so we can be caught off guard when the turn the tables

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    Replies
    1. It doesn't state that he's an American, but it does state that he's an immigrant, which is also true, so no inconsistencies there.
      As far as the sunglasses and fight with Asimov are concerned, it makes complete sense that that stuff was left out because Asimov's profile came before "Acura's Story".

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    2. But shouldn't have Acura's story have come out before Asimob's bio for what you're saying to make sense

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  8. Once again conjecture but in the concept art it shows he is
    also don't you mean the reverse
    also Inti would have known everything beforehand so the only excuse is they forgot

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    Replies
    1. Maybe they did forgot, but maybe they didn't. Though Inti wouldn't necessarily have known everything beforehand. They could have conceptualized "Azura's Story" at any time, even if it was only a month before it released in "Dengeki Nintnedo".

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  9. The glasses work to seal his skill but maybe he can turn their function off without taking them off. He might've taken them off when he fought GV to unleash his full power but maybe he didn't feel like going all out against Acura.

    And Asimov isn't the world's very first Sevens Psychic: it's someone (unspecified sex) who was found somewhere in South America many years before.

    "Project Gunvolt" was about taking the "Ability Factors" from that someone and implanting them into others to clone the ability and use it as a source of energy.

    Sumeragi has a lot of labs and facilities so after Dr. Kamizono died they might've simply ordered the others labs carrying out similar research to focus on Project Gunvolt.

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    Replies
    1. Excellent points
      I'm however taking everything told to us by the company with a pinch of salt as I believe thst a company would supply us with a little false info in order to keep up certain apperances or ruses
      check out my comments on the what's wrong with Asimov page

      Delete

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