Anti-Personnel omni-directional

*Taijin Rittai Kidō Sōchi*

## Overview

While the basic principles for maneuvering in it are the same, the design is drastically different: the main components of the equipment are worn on the shoulders and upper back instead of the hips and the user uses the pistol-shaped grips which fire grappling hooks and high-powered projectiles.

The movement of the equipment is very similar to that of the omni-directional mobility gear. The user just has to aim their grapple hooks at an object, fire them and activate the gas mechanism to reel onto that position. Operators can also use their momentum to move not only in a rectilinear pattern but also doing other advanced maneuvers like navigating between objects.

Just like omni-directional mobility gear, it is less effective in open spaces where the wielder has almost no places where the hooks can be reeled. This fact added to the impossibility of killing Titans with shotguns makes the equipment specially suitable for man-hunting and urban warfare, quite useful for the Military Police as they focus their attention inside the Walls. However, it can be used in any place which has points to reel.

## Story

They are first used when Levi and his squad tries to sneak Eren Jaeger and Historia Reiss through Trost District. He, Abel, and Nifa are then ambushed by a highly skilled squad from the Military Police Regiment, that are using the new anti-personnel gear inside the city. The squad succeeds in killing three of the Scout Regiment soldiers[1] as well as kidnapping Eren and Historia.[2]

## Mechanics

**Body of the Device**- While in the ordinary omni-directional mobility gear the body of the device is located on the hips, in this model it is located on the upper back. It is attached to the user's body with harnesses on the torso and arms. The cables are stored in two independent winches and are fired from the operating device located in the user's arms, not the hip. The system includes spaulders and abbreviated vambraces, which contain guides that route the cables from the dorsal mounted spools to the hand-held launchers.

**Compressed Gas Cylinder** - The anti-personnel omni-directional mobility gear has, instead of two long, narrow tanks, one slightly wider cylinder which is strapped to the upper back, between the two cable reels. This cylinder stores all the energy used to both fire and retract the grapples.

**Hand Controller** - Unlike the omni-directional mobility gear, which separates the grapple launchers from the control interface, the anti-personnel maneuvering gear combines the two, along with a single shot firearm. The operating device is used to control all the functions of the equipment. It is attached at the hands and bears some similarities to gun's grip. It has the triggers and levers used to control the movement and a trigger that is used to fire the guns, which are shot from this part of the equipment. There is no need for aiming levers since the wearer can simply point the controller in the direction they wish to fire a grapple. When it is unused, the operating device is holstered on the hips.

**Guns -**Instead of blades, each operating device can accept a single-use cartridge, consisting of a barrel, and preloaded projectile and powder charge. Members of Kenny's Military Police unit have been observed firing their weapons with accuracy, while moving at speed. The large caliber rounds can blow up a human head like a watermelon.[1] That large caliber does come at a cost. The massive round appears to have limited penetrating power, as seen when rounds were unable to penetrate a corpse.[2] Spent cartridges are simply discarded and a fresh cartridge is retrieved from a holster, typically on the user's thigh. The process is reminiscent of how members of the regular military discard and replace dull or broken swords.[1]

If the gun’s barrel is removed, anti-personnel ODM can also be used to fire sleep darts.

## Trivia

* Although the anti-personnel vertical maneuvering equipment grants superiority against humans on foot or equal maneuverability/mobility with the Survey Corps using traditional vertical equipment due to it is enormous range, Armin has detected flaws in the design. Due to the fact that both the barrels and the hooks are launched from the hands, a user cannot attack enemies approaching from behind.[15]
* Another flaw is that while the guns may have incredible stopping power, if the two shots are fired, the wielder has to reload instantly.[16] In contrast, the original vertical maneuvering equipment's blades are reusable until they begin to dull and break. This flaw was mitigated when the original guns were replaced with semiautomatic pistols.
* It is unknown if the rounds of the original equipment were shot by using regular gunpowder or compressed gas.
* In a desperate situation, the hooks can also be used as a weapon because they are launched at enough speed to pierce human flesh.[17] This tactic can be used to fling them into solid obstructions or off tall buildings.[18]
* The pistols present in the Survey Corps' improved anti-personnel equipment design bear strong resemblance to the German Mauser C96, which was the first truly successful self-loading pistol.