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Spacecraft and mechanics in the Harlock universe

Section Two: Mazone spaceships




The Mazone flagship Docrass

Queen Lafresia's flagship from Space Pirate, the Docrass is by far the largest ship in the Mazone caravan, and shrugs off the Arcadia's pulsar cannon blasts as if they were spitballs. Harlock and crew must eventually board the ship and confront the Mazone and their queen personally. It seems that it took the designers a while to settle on what the ship should look like, so earlier glimpses may look little like the ship that appeared in the final confrontation.

Even pretty dull-eyed viewers will probably notice a ridiculous amount of similarity between the Docrass and Alberich's flagship from Harlock Saga. I'm sure some looney fan out there has an entire continuity theory hinging on this.



The Docrass design they finally settled on.

The all-white glow-in-the-dark version

An early Docrass design.




The Zoness (Mazone fighter carrier)

Serving as both a battleship and a fighter carrier, the Zoness is the most commonplace vessel in the Mazone caravan, with numbers in the thousands. Depending on which episode you're watching, the Zoness may dwarf the Arcadia in size, or be barely larger than a Cosmowing. Either the Mazone really liked this standard design, or no one gave the animators any specs. I'm leaning towards B.



The ubiquitous Zoness fighter carrier.




Mazone battleship

The standard battleship design, which fills the ranks of the vanguard fleet. Comes in two exciting color schemes: a menacing purple-and-black version, and a totally gaudy hot pink and mint green version. As with the Zoness, there doesn't seem to be any specific size for this ship design.



The more subdued battleship paint job.

The ultra-garish 'we made this show in the '70s' version.




Interstellar battleship

Essentially the same as the standard battleship design, only larger and with a glowing white hull. The glow might be a shield, or might be purely decorative. They never make this terribly clear. A battleship of this design transports the surviving Tokargan warriors, including Zoll, into combat range of the Arcadia.



The phosphorescent interstellar battleship. Bright white glow makes it easier to draw.




Pyramidda (large-class battleship)

A heavily armed, large-scale battleship, the Pyramidda makes only the occasional appearance. During her captivity by the Mazone, Mayu is interred aboard a Pyramidda for a time. Supposedly three times the Arcadia's size according to the Space Pirate Roman Album, when seen on-screen together, they appear pretty much the same size.



The Mazone Pyramidda battleship.




Mazone fighter designs





The first Mazone fighter encountered by the Arcadia.

The most common fighter type.

The sea skate-shaped fighter used by Zoll, and by Zorba for his escape.




Civilian transport

A flotilla of ships that carry the Mazone citizens, which Harlock allows Queen Lafresia to take away peaceably after her defeat.



Mazone civilian transport ship.




The Mazone caravan

The vast fleet of ships making the journey to earth from beyond the Andromeda galaxy, consisting not only of battleships, but passenger ships, hospital ships, slave ships, and countless others. Or perhaps that actually covers all of them. The entire caravan is so vast that from a distance, it appears to be a star cluster.



A tiny sampling of the vast Mazone caravan.




The Mazone pennant

A gigantic black sphere that crashes into the middle of Tokyo, the pennant is an interstellar beacon intended to guide the Mazone caravan to earth (their older beacon, housed in a pyramid on the sea floor, was deemed too weak for the job.) Dr. Daiba dubs it a "pennant" as a comparison to the flags humans had planted on other planets as signs of ownership.

The ideographs on the pennant supposedly read "This is the second homeland of we, the almighty Mazone," even though they change in number and design about every time we see the darn thing. Crazy-ass aliens and their stupid languages.



'This is the second homeland of we, the almighty Mazone.' Or perhaps 'Mars needs women.'




The Sphinx gun

A huge laser weapon hidden within the innards of the Great Sphinx of Egypt. Having passed undiscovered by man for over five thousand years by the time of Harlock, it was at last found by the young Mitsuru Kiruta when he buried his younger sister Tami in the Sphinx's guardianship. He attempts to use the weapon in an elaborate plan to destroy the Arcadia, but his target obliterates the weapon and the Sphinx with it, archaeological wonder or no. (Do yourself a favor and just pretend that this is even slightly plausible.)



Foolish human archaeologists, deceived by such a simple ruse.


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