The Atlesian Paladin-290[1] is a massive mechanized battlesuit developed by the Kingdom of Atlas' greatest minds in collaboration with the Schnee Dust Company.
The suit is first seen in "A Minor Hiccup", being introduced by James Ironwood.
Appearance
Prototype
The Atlesian Paladin is enormous, able to take up an entire lane on a highway, its armaments not withstanding. Inside there is a cockpit that houses and secures one pilot, with several holographic displays available to monitor the status of the Paladin and survey the surrounding environment.
The Paladin is equipped with at least two arm-mounted energy guns, rear-mounted rocket launchers, and double-barreled guns attached to the aforementioned energy guns.
The Paladins used by the White Fang have the organization's emblem emblazoned on at least one side of their guns. These models were stolen by Roman Torchwick and supplied to the White Fang.
Production
The Atlesian Paladin seen in "Battle of Beacon" has a black and white color scheme and the symbol of Atlas emblazoned on both of its guns. This is presumably the finished color scheme for non-prototype models produced by Atlas.
Advanced
The new Atlesian mech model seen in "Heroes and Monsters"
In "Heroes and Monsters" a new mech is seen. Unlike the other Atlesian Paladin models, this one has a bulkier frame and has a more insectoid appearance.
This new mech is either the finished Atlesian Paladin, an advanced Paladin or another type of mech altogether (it is included in this article for simplicity's sake).
History
In "A Minor Hiccup", the Paladin is first seen being unveiled in the form of a hologram by Ironwood in a small presentation in Vale, who describes it and the Atlesian Knight-200 as the next step forward in military technology, with the Paladin being described by Ironwood as a powerful mechanical device that is still controlled by a Human.
Roman unveils the stolen Paladin at the White Fang rally
The Paladin is seen again at the White Fang Faction Meeting, in "Painting the Town...". However, it is now in the possession of Roman Torchwick, who states that he "managed to snag a few, before they hit the shelves". As Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukong watch the presentation, Roman spots them, and attempts to catch them, only for Blake to shoot the facility's lights out.
Roman jumps into the pilot's seat of the Paladin, and chases the duo across Vale, destroying cars, and property, while also having to contend with Neptune Vasilias, Yang Xiao Long, and the rest of Team RWBY. Weiss Schnee eventually uses Myrtenaster to cause the Paladin to fall from the highway, onto the ground level, where Ruby Rose is present, and also where the rest of RWBY land beside her.
After commencing attack after attack, Blake and Ruby sever one of the Paladin's arms, while Yang takes advantage of the situation, and jumps onto its back, pummeling it with blasts from Ember Celica. Roman then bashes Yang into the ground, sending the latter into a cold fury, during which she destroys the other arm of the Paladin and, with the help of Blake, shatters the massive machine with one powerful blow to its facial structure, causing it to fall to pieces, with Roman escaping its destruction.
In "Mountain Glenn", as Ruby wakes up, in the underground White Fang base, she sees a Paladin being used to load cargo. Multiple Paladins are seen on the cargo train in "No Brakes", with Bartholomew Oobleck and Zwei combating them during the climax of said episode. The first Paladin is dispatched when Dr. Oobleck uses Zwei as a flaming makeshift missile, causing an explosion that knocks it off the train. As Zwei watches the Paladin fall, a second Paladin approaches and is hit by a fireball from Dr. Oobleck. Afterwards a third Paladin was destroyed by Dr. Oobleck with the assistance of Ruby. After the third Paladin was destroyed, two more emerged to fight Dr. Oobleck and Zwei. Later, in "Breach", a damaged Paladin emerges from the tunnel carrying Dr. Oobleck and Zwei
In "Lessons Learned", it is revealed in a conversation between Weiss and Winter Schnee that the Paladin that Team RWBY fought was in a prototype stage. Winter was also revealed to be accompanying a new shipment of Paladin units to Vale, after their previous shipment of prototypes was stolen in an ambush.
The rogue Paladin at Beacon Academy (note the altered color scheme)
In "Battle of Beacon", at least one automated Paladin goes rogue after a computer virus is introduced into the Atlesian network by Torchwick. It is seen attacking human soldiers at the Beacon Academy courtyard. This Paladin appeared to be a production model and had a more finished color scheme than the prototypes stolen by the White Fang.
Students from numerous academies arriving from Amity Colosseum later join in the fight against the rogue Paladins in "Heroes and Monsters". One knocks out both Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren and begins advancing on the rest of the students. In response, Velvet Scarlatina unleashes her weapon, taking on two of them and destroying one, but is bested by the second. Weiss destroys the second Paladin with help from her Summon, the arm and sword of an Arma Gigas.
A new type of mech suit, which may not be part of the Paladin line, appears and attacks the remaining students, but it shuts down along with the rest of the rogue androids and mechs when the controlling airship crashes.
Powers and Abilities
The Atlesian Paladin boasts a tough armor that makes it very strong and resistant to single attacks. However, the mech itself cannot take multiple attacks and is suspectible to being destroyed if hit by a much stronger attack.
In addition, the mech is armed with multiple laser sights: one is mounted under the cockpit, two are mounted on the upper corners of the cockpit and at least two (one on each side) more laser sights are mounted on the back shoulders of the mech. They are accurate enough to detect (extremely quick) movement, but they do not offer pinpoint accuracy.
In "Painting the Town...", it is shown to be able to fire explosive rockets that home in on its target. The Atlesian Paladin's cannons fire similar shots to the Spider Droid.
The Paladin is also able to deploy semi-collapsible mechanical fists from underneath its arms on top of its main cannons, which it uses in close combat. It is mobile enough to jump over an entire highway and outrun cars.
Although there is a cockpit built for someone to operate the mech, it also appears to have an autopilot mode capable of fighting, which was hacked by Cinder using her computer virus.
Trivia
- Paladins were originally the foremost warriors of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne's court, situated in modern-day France and Germany. They were knights, believed to be holy, whose exploits were exaggerated or completely fabricated by later medieval poets, who portrayed them as defending Christianity from Islamic warriors, analogous to King Arthur's Round Table. Since then, the word has come to mean any kind of chivalrous hero, usually a knight.
References
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