While there
are essentially three Patalbor universes, all three do share
the same kind of world. Patlabor is set from 1998 to 2002, so
you could consider it to be alternate universe to our own.
Surprisingly it is a world that is very similar to ours. This
section details the background to the world of Patlabor,
including the Labors and characters themselves. But first a
brief rundown on the quite familiar yet sightly futuristic
world of Patlabor's Tokyo is in order;
The Environment, Babylon
Project and Associated Works
In the 1990's two disasters befell Tokyo; a
devastating earthquake in 1995, and the world's polar icecaps
melted due to global warming, causing oceans to rise and
threatening to flood costal cites. In the early 1990's
barriers were constructed to stop the sea from taking the land
(it is not discussed in specifics in Patlabor on how or if
governments tried to stop global warming). Tokyo also
developed the "Babylon Project" which was designed to reclaim
land and eventually fill Tokyo Bay. The rubble from the
earthquake disaster helped to provide the landfill needed for
the project. In the real world there are several reclaimed
land projects in Tokyo Bay which cover over 249 km˛, however
none are quite as ambitious as the Babylon Project.
Technology and Labors
An "Advanced Robot" project began in the early
1980's, which brought about a development in what was called
"Hyper Technology". By the end of the decade the first
prototype Labor was born. A great need for this type of
equipment was generated for construction work due to the Tokyo
earthquake in 1995 and other major projects. This led to the
mass production in the mid 1990's of Labors, which are large
scale humanoid robots which averaging about eight metres in
height. They were used mostly in the construction industry
during the late 1990's on large scale construction projects
such as the Babylon Project where they made the work a whole
lot easier. Various non-construction types were also developed
including military versions, undersea and amphibious types.
Approximately 45% of Japan's Labors, around 3,600 units, work
in or around the Babylon Project. Though the real world still
doesn't have any commercial bipedal robots yet (though there
have been many advancements over the last ten years),
computers and software play a big role in Patlabor, just like
the current world today.
Politics, Crime and Terrorism
Tokyo still has it's problems. The major one is
the critics of the Babylon Project. A protest movement sprung
up against the project and several Militant environmental
groups such as the Beach House, Home of the Sea, and the Earth
Defence Family constantly use protest and sabotage to try and
halt the progress of the project. And with the increase of
Labors through out the city, Labor crime rose as well, such as
Labor theft, robbery and even driving Labors under the
influence and fights amongst construction workers. One of the
most surprising and accurate predictions of Patalbor's future
world was terrorism (though it was from religious fanatics in
our time and not militant environmentalists). But even more
surprising was the prediction of computer viruses contained in
commercial software products, as seen in the first Patlabor
movie.
Labor Crime Prevention and the
Special Vehicles Unit 2
To combat Labor related criminal activities, the
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD for short) formed
of the Special Vehicles Unit Section 2 (SV2 for short). This
section used Patrol Labors (or Patlabors for short) to combat
Labor crime. While they have had some success, the problem is
that most inside the police force, and the public seem to
treat the SV2 as a joke and think they are a money pit. The
SV2 hanger is stuck upon on a lot of reclaimed land in the
middle of nowhere, and the first division's Labors aren't up
to scratch. Division 2 does have better labors, but the
personnel isn't what you would call officer material. The
higher-up of the TMPD unofficially sometimes consider the SV2
as a dumping ground for problematic officers. Because of this
and the nature of their work (Labors can be rather
destructive) most of the time disaster and bad press seem to
follow the SV2, despite the fact they usually get the job done
and take on cases that other sections of the TMPD and even the
military find too difficult to handle.
The SV2 is made up of two units. Each has two Labors
headed by one captain. Both Labors have Forwards (the Labor
pilot), a Backup (the person who drives the command car and
gives instructions to the pilot), and a Labor Carrier (as it
sounds, the person who drives the truck that caries the Ingram
Labor). Division 1 is mostly made up of former
SWAT team members from TMPD, while the beloved Division 2 is
mostly regular officers who have transferred in from other
sections, hence the two vastly different ways both divisions
go about their work.
Please see the links below for more
information on various aspects to the world of Patlabor.
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