Characters / Hardcore Mecha

Hardcore Defense Corps

Tarethur O'Connell

The protagonist of the game.

• Badass Normal: He can fight enemies just fine when out of his Thunderbolt mecha suit.
• The Comically Serious: He's often the serious one in comedic scenes. He also isn't into mecha anime like Edgar is.
• Experienced Protagonist: He's already shown as an experienced lieutenant and pilot when the game begins.
• Heroic BSoD: Goes through one of these following Edgar's Heroic Sacrifice.
• Jack of All Stats: His Thunderbolt is a balanced mecha suit that excels in power, protection, range, and speed.
• Laser Blade: His Thunderbolt mecha has beam blades installed in the forearms. In one of his Ultimate Attacks, he can increase the output of the beams to make the blades longer, allowing him to use a large circular slash.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Vulphaes.
• Shield Bash: He can ram forwards with his shield as one of his attacks. He can also use the spikes at the tip of his shield to thrust and emit electric shocks to the enemy mecha.
• Stealth Expert: He's good at being stealthy when needing to infiltrate enemy territory and gathering data.
• Wave-Motion Gun: One of his Ultimate Attacks is shifting his beam rifle to extend its shape forwards in preparation before generating and launching a long high output beam.

Edgar Feuerbach

Tarethur's best friend, and fellow mercenary.

• Berserk Button: After witnessing the bus that the little girl and her father were on explode by an unseen landmine, he's filled with anguish and anger. He then turns his rage towards the Steel Dawn for doing such a thing and angrily heads off into battle despite Tarethur's pleas.
• Big Brother Instinct: He had a younger sister and used to take care of her before the war happened. When he finds a lost girl in the middle of a battle in the space colony, she reminded him of his own sister and he does everything he can to help her find her father. He eventually succeeds and was quite happy about it.
• Fanboy: Edgar is a fan of the in-universe mecha anime Metallictron. In fact, he's a fan of all mecha anime in-universe.
• Friend to All Children: He's very good with kids since he's been a loving big brother to his little sister. As mentioned above, he helps a lost girl reunite with her father.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Let go of Tarethur's arm to save the latter from being sucked into the Yggdrasil explosion.
• Long-Range Fighter: He prefers using long-range firearms in his mecha suit when fighting in battle.
• Nice Guy: He's one of the friendliest characters in the game.
• Spell My Name With An S: Is it Edgar or Edgard?
• Walking Armory: His mecha is equipped with lots of long-range firearms.

Shaw Faye

One of the pilots in the Hardcore Defense Corps and ally of Tarethur.

• Action Girl: A small petite girl, but she can fight just fine in her mecha suit.
• Genki Girl: She behaves cutesy and active overall.
• Goggles Do Nothing: She wears a pair of goggles on her head. And she most likely uses them when piloting her mecha.
• Modesty Shorts: She wears bike shorts underneath her dress.

Morris Yaser

• The Ace: He's a veteran and one of the top pilots in the Hardcore Defense Corps.
• Coat Cape: Wears his coat this way.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Official art shows him wielding one, and his mecha also uses one.

Nancy Winnie Sevilen

• Mission Control: She is the boss of the Hardcore Defense Corps and commands all activities she is in charge of.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: She wears glasses and is one of the most intelligent characters in the game.
• Smoking Is Cool: She has a long tobacco pipe that she smokes in.

Murong Qin

• Bridge Bunnies: She resides on the main ship that houses the Hardcore Defense Corps mechas and works there as an operator on the bridge.
• Mission Control: She is the operator for Tarethur, Edgar, and Shaw when they head out into missions. She gives them instructions and updates during battle.
• Nice Girl: She's very kind and understanding to everyone.

UNF

Aylatanya "Ayla" Kiruna

Codename "A", a member of the IOB. She was the target for Hardcore Corps's search & rescue mission.

• The Ace: She's a skilled mecha pilot and can pretty much pilot in any mass-produced mecha suit to fight in battle.
• Ace Custom: She gets her own purple version of the Hardcore Defense Corps infantry mecha unit.
• Action Girl: She's one of the main characters and is able to handle fights by herself.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She has dark blue hair and is very serious and brash in personality.
• Damsel out of Distress: By the time Tarethur comes to rescue her, she's already in a mecha suit fighting off Steel Dawn soldiers.
• Experienced Protagonist: Like Tarethur, she also has experience as a soldier and pilot.
• I Work Alone: Although she does team up with Tarethur to escape after her rescue, she mostly prefers to fight by herself.

Richard Xu

• Heroic Sacrifice: Pushed a dropship out of the way of a laser shot to ensure the mission's success

Richter Hoffman

• High-Class Glass: Sports one over his left eye.

Steel Dawn

Vulphaes Bonaparte

• Ace Custom: Before Crimson Flame, Vulphaes pilot a red colored Graeme equipped with only a Knife and built-in Chest Vulcans.
• Blood Knight
• Chest Blaster: The cross on his Crimson Flame's chest armor can emit a mid-range beam to deal big damage.
• Close-Range Combatant: His preferred fighting style is fighting up close with punches and kicks. Occasionally though, he will use mid-to-long range attacks to mix things up with his style.
• Diving Kick: His Crimson Flame can jump in the air and perform a diving kick to deal knockback.
• Glass Cannon: His Custom Graeme was modified to fight in close-range, but its combat options were limited to just a combat knife for slashing and chest vulcans for mid-range fire, so he lacked protection against long-range moves. His Crimson Flame on the other hand, is a Lightning Bruiser, improving on the protection that the Graeme lacked by adding additional armor and having more combat options along with increased strength and mobility.
• Hot-Blooded
• Manly Tears: Sheds these following the destruction of Fervenca City and after his fistfight with Tarethur.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: After his second encounter with Tarethur, he decides to upgrade his Custom Graeme into the Crimson Flame, which is faster and stronger and has more combat options.
• Noble Demon
• Playing with Fire: Crimson Flame can emit flame-like energy when fighting. It's also in the name after all.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Tarethur.
• Rocket Punch: His Crimson Flame's only long-range attack is launching his rocket powered arm at the opponent mecha. He can charge it up to deal more damage.
• Worthy Opponent: He sees Tarethur as one after their first few encounters. He respects his skills as a mecha pilot and seeks to defeat him in mecha combat.

Xerxas Nomad

Leader of Steel Dawn.

• Big Bad
• Final Boss
• Load-Bearing Boss: After he is defeated, you'll have to escape his flagship before it explodes.
• Social Darwinist

Huang Yimeng

Ludde Van

Elisabeth Hakvoort

Tristan Alexander Cruzan

• Chest Blaster: Tristan's mecha has a beam cannon in the chest.
• Meta Mecha: Tristan pilots a gigantic mecha with a large armored body and two arms. It's size towers over all normal size mechas
• Mighty Glacier: His mecha sports great protection and attack, but lacks speed.
• Shock and Awe: His mecha can generate electric spheres.
• This Cannot Be!: He says this during his defeat.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Tristan gets three of them on his mecha.

DLC and Guest Characters

Thunderbolt Otome

A gender-bent version of Tarethur that uses armor parts and weaponry from his Thunderbolt mecha. Not much is known about her other than the fact that she exists and can kick butt in battle. She appears in Hardcore mecha as a purchasable DLC character for multiplayer and mission mode.

• Gender Bender: A hilarious example of a gender bent Tarethur.
• Moe Anthropomorphism: She's a gender-bent Tarethur dressed as Thunderbolt.
• Moveset Clone: She pretty much plays just like Tarethur's Thunderbolt mecha, just with a different appearance.
• Mystical White Hair: She also has silver hair like Tarethur.
• Navel Window: Her leotard suit leaves an opening that exposes her belly button.
• No Plot? No Problem!: Absolutely no role in the main story. Just a bonus character to play as for fun.
• Robot Girl: In the style of the mecha musume genre. Not only is she dress like Thunderbolt, she's also about the same scale as the mecha, making her the only enlarged humanoid character in terms of character sprites.
• Stripperific: Her overall outfit consists of wearing a leotard with headgear, gauntlets, and greaves derived from Thunderbolt's parts. The armor parts cover her hands, elbows, feet, and knees. Everything else is exposed.

Simon

The main protagonist of the mecha anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Once a small Digger who would one day become a near-godlike hero, Simon appears with his mecha Gurren Lagann in Hardcore Mecha as a purchasable DLC character for multiplayer and mission mode. For more tropes about him in his home series, click here.

• Combining Mecha: The Gurren Lagann is a combination of two machines: Gurren and Lagann. When Gurren Lagann is destroyed, Lagann will detach from Gurren, allowing Simon to keep fighting.
• Cool Shades: The Gurren Boomerang. It's as sharp as the swords it was originally forged from.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Averted. Though Gurren Lagann doesn't have a co-pilot ingame, Simon is actually perfectly able to pilot him alone and has done so more than once.
• Kid Hero: His in-game version is his pre-Time Skip self, who was around 14. This also makes him the youngest pilot in the game.
• Lightning Bruiser: Gurren Lagann runs fast, tanks damage, and hits hard very well.
• Mythology Gag: Gurren Lagann's moveset comes directly from the home series. His normal melee combo and Gurren Boomerang reference to Gurren Lagann weaponizing the large Cool Shades on his chest. His Diving Kick is the same one he used on Viral's Enkidu in the first season. Full Drillized references to how Gurren Lagann can spontaneously create lots of drills from all parts of his body. Giga Drill Break is of course Gurren Lagann's Signature Finishing Move. And when Gurren Lagann is destroyed, Lagann can detach from Gurren and continue fighting. He even has his transformation state in his moveset, further referencing Gurren Lagann as a Combining Mecha.
• No Plot? No Problem!: There's no specific reason to how or why Simon is in the universe of Hardcore Mecha, but he is there and he is playable in multiplayer and mission mode.
• Red Is Heroic: Gurren Lagann is predominantly red.
• The Voiceless: Unfortunately, Simon's actors are absent. This is justified due to the fact that character dialogue is only heard in Hardcore Mecha's story mode.
• This Is a Drill: Gurren Lagann's main weapon, all over his body. Simon also wields his own drill while on foot.