Armored Core 6 fans are making gorgeous art of the characters we never see

Armored Core 6 fans are making gorgeous art of the characters we never see

Time Stamp: September 1, 2023 11:30 AM

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is intentionally devoid of human faces, a design choice that accentuates the dehumanization of the player character and the Rubiconians whose planet has been devastated and plundered. What little we do see of Armored Core 6’s humans is obscured or unclear. But players have fallen for many of the game’s characters regardless, purely based on their voices and mannerisms.

Now, some talented Armored Core fans are bringing the cast of Fires of Rubicon to life, imagining what player character C4-621, Ayre, Rusty, Handler Walter, and other faceless characters look like. Fan art of those invisible people has started to spread on social media, Reddit, and Pixiv. Some of that fan art gorgeously puts a face to a name, while others play on the relationship between characters.

Here are some of the best interpretations of Armored Core 6’s 621, Ayre, Rusty, and others from a variety of talented artists.

Ayre

The Rubiconian presence known as Ayre is one of the few characters in Armored Core 6 to treat 621 as something other than a weapon, though she certainly takes advantage of her position as a voice in 621’s ear. Armored Core fans are (unsurprisingly) rendering Ayre in the style of a FromSoftware maiden, almost exclusively presenting her as a red and white specter, as seen in artist LAS 91214’s first two illustrations.

Artist Kuba has created two versions of Ayre, one that appears to draw influence from Metal Gear and Zone of the Enders artist Yoji Shinkawa, and another that builds on Melina and Malenia from Elden Ring.

Here are a few more:

621 (aka Rb23, aka Gun 13, aka “Buddy”)

Outside of the sketches that players can collect throughout Armored Core 6, the closest look we get at a human is through the CG movie of the 621’s augmentation process. Artists are rendering 621 in a wider variety of styles, with artist LAS 91214 imagining him as a somber young cyborg.

Other artists are a little less optimistic about 621’s appearance.

Others are playing with Armored Core 6’s androgynous language around 621.

This artist interprets the “dog” and “hound” derogatory language used to refer to 621 literally (and adorably). Here’s 621 licking his master’s face:

Handler Walter

Walter does make an appearance of sorts in one of the game’s collectible sketches, but here’s a more current interpretation of 621’s handler.

And here’s Walter as imagined by, once again, LAS 91214.

Rusty

Another fan favorite, V.IV Rusty, the pilot of Steel Haze who is the only guy to say anything kind toward 621, is getting his share of fan art too. Here he is drinking some strawberry milk from the “World’s Okayest Lobotomite,” 621:

We love Rusty!

Allmind

Finally, fan art powerhouse LAS 91214 went the extra mile to give us their interpretation of the voice of Allmind, which serves all mercenaries.

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