Team Neo-Gurren
Name: Will Carran, AKA Lagann
Power: Spiral Power (non-Parahuman ability)
Personal Vehicle: Gurren
The leader and founder of Team Neo-Gurren, Will Carran was an ordinary college student until he woke up on a fire escape in Brockton Bay with glowing, green spiral eyes. Taking on the mantle of the previous great wielders of the Spiral, he is determined to cleanse the world of evil with drills, hot bloodedness, and stubborn determination! He currently lives inside the Dai-Gurren, an abandoned vessel in the Boat Graveyard that serves as the headquarters and repair bay of Team Neo-Gurren.
- Always Save the Girl: The reason Lagann decides to try to avert Taylor's Trigger in the Locker. Even if it might mean the end of the world without Taylor's power, he can't stand back and let someone suffer like that.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He wishes to improve Earth-Bet's general conditions, and if it means summoning a giant robot from absolutely nowhere to beat you up until you agree to be better, so much the better..
- Destructive Savior: Unfortunately for the neighborhood, Lagann tends to ramp the violence up when he takes his foes down.
- His idea of pointing out to the PRT and Police where ABB warehouses are involves destroying the warehouses and growing a field of Drills where it was.
- Admittedly, Uber and Leet's fight had already wrecked most of the area, but Lagann summoning Twinboekkun did not do the local property values much good.
- Expy: He actually willingly models himself after Kamina, Large Ham and all. More subtly, he's not as self-confident as he seems and his relationship with Taylor has brotherly vibes à la Simon.
- Kamina Shades: You expect anything less?
- Large Ham: And he thoroughly enjoys it.
- My Greatest Failure: In spite of his efforts, Taylor still triggers, and the circumstances are admittedly worse this time.
- Red Right Hand: He's unable to "turn off" his green, spiraled eyes and so hides them behind shades.
- Super-Toughness: Thanks to Spiral Energy, he's much tougher than the average man.
- This Is a Drill: What the hell kind of crossover did you think it was?
- The first thing he made with Spiral Power was a Core Drill he keeps around his neck. It's been used for a variety of purposes.
- When he's on foot, he can turn the bandages wrapped around his arm into drills made of steel.
- When he gets his arm ripped off by Oni Lee, he grows a new one made of drills (he got better).
- He uses the signature Giga Drill Breaker on Lung.
- Touched by Vorlons: He's been granted Spiral Power by an as-yet unknown individual or power.
- Worth It: Before entering Winslow, he contemplates whether trying to change Taylor's fate is worth causing the world to lose its strongest parahuman and best chance against the Golden Morning. He decides that it is worth it.Will (Thoughts): Did I really want to risk humanity's survival on my moral high ground? What the fuck was I saying, of course I did!
Name: Alice AKA Bakuda
Power: Tinkertech Assembly- specialization: Area-Affect Devices.
Personal Vehicle: Bakuda Bomber.
Alice, now known as Bakuda, is the second in command of Team Neo-Gurren. She was a college student who had a mental breakdown at the end of the first semester and triggered, bombing her school and killing several people. She was arrested, but then was kidnapped by Lung for use as his personal Tinker. After he scarred her back, she was rescued by Lagann, who took her in, patched her up, and recruited her into Team Neo-Gurren. While unwilling at times, and feeling cooped up, she has shown genuine friendship to other members of the team and is far more heroic than her original incarnation. She currently resides inside the Dai-Gurren, the headquarters of Neo-Gurren.
- Achey Scars: One downside to what Lung did to her is that the resulting scars tend to ache painfully in cold weather, such as that of a New England winter inside a poorly insulated metal ship.
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Awesome Ego: The name of her personal Gunmen is "Bakuda Bomber." - Adaptational Heroism: In canon, she threatened to detonate a bomb that would "Send the East Coast back to the stone age," not to mention surgically implanted nightmarish bombs inside of people. Here, she's a proud (if snarky and not entirely willing) member of Team Neo-Gurren.
- Boxed Crook: Her Trigger Event was blowing her college to high heavens, then she was abducted by Lung to serve as his artificer. She has been noticeably more subdued since she aligned herself with Lagann.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: The first time Lagann saves her from a fire, she yells at him. The second time, she's a bit more sensible about it.
- Damsel in Distress: She needs Lagann's help to definitely escape Lung's clutches, so yep, she fits.
- The first time Lagann met her, she was pinned under a fallen dresser in a building the Empire firebombed.
- The Dog Bites Back: Lung was NOT a Benevolent Boss to her, so when Lagann offers her a way out, she jumps on the opportunity to screw the ABB real good. Comes to a head when she finally unveils the Bakuda Bomber and unloads several of her bombs directly into powered-up Lung.
- Geeky Turn-On: Practically drools when she lays eyes upon the Dayakkaiser.
- Gilded Cage: Of a sort. After Lagann takes her in, she can't leave the Dai-Gurren or she'll be found out by Lung. As such, while she understands the necessity, she feels a little bit cramped and wants to leave.
- Gone Horribly Right: In a non-canon omake, In an effort to troll Will, she suggests (as a way to get him a Green Card and her a new identity) that they get married. She's stunned into (blushing) silence when he says yes.
- Hidden Depths: She enjoys listening to music while she's busy tinkering.
- Icy Blue Eyes
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the first Spiral Short, she reflects that she feels ill on considering some of the things her canon self wouldn't even blink at. This can be attributed as much to Lagann's presence as to her not being around people like Lung and Oni Lee.
- Number Two: As part of her recruitment deal with Will, she's second in command of Team Neo-Gurren.
- Purple Is Powerful: She gives a paintjob to the Dayakkaiser when she converts it into the Bakuda Bomber.
- Ship Tease: She's been shown getting slowly closer to Lagann.
- Tank Goodness: Her chosen Gunmen, Dayakkaiser (later renamed to the Bakuda Bomber) was essentially a Gunmen version of a Tank, and is used as such by Bakuda.
- Tsundere: Her interactions with Will start to have an interesting vibe...
Name: Minerva Spector, AKA Mouse Protector
Power: Teleportation to any place or object she's left a brand.
Personal Vehicle: N/A, has used Twinboekkun
A veteran cape on the side of the law, she was one of the first Wards alongside Armsmaster and Miss Militia. She still maintains good relations with Millitia, whom she calls "Millie," despite that not being Militia's real name and that Mouse Protector left the Protectorate years ago and operates as an independent. Thanks to being part of a multi-trigger event, she's been in a long-running feud with Ravager, which seems to have been put on hold when Militia told Minerva about the abundance of robots in Brockton. This led to the heroine moving to the Bay just in time to help fight off Uber and Leet's Titanfall battle, reinforcing Lagann and Militia at a critical moment and even piloting the newly constructed Twinboekkun alongside the leader of Neo-Gurren. She currently resides inside of the Dai-Gurren, the headquarters of Neo-Gurren.
- Achey Scars: Similar to Bakuda, the extremely cold temperatures of a New England winter agitate her scars and cause them to ache. The two bond over this.
- Affectionate Nickname: She refers to herself and Miss Militia as "Minnie and Millie".
- Awesome, Dear Boy: In-Universe. When she heard about Lagann's GIANT ROBOTS, she couldn't sign herself in quick enough.
- Beware the Silly Ones: She presents herself as a Silver-Age hero, with plenty of bombast, jokes, and enough ham to put a pork farm out of business. At the same time, she is a master swordswoman, can freely teleport anywhere she's touched, and was one of the original Wards alongside Armsmaster and Miss Militia, making her one of the most experienced heroes out there.
- Dark and Troubled Past/Every Scar Has a Story: One of the ways that she stays so positive is by taking scars she gets and tattooing over them, in effect "Reclaiming" them as her own marks instead of something someone else did to her. As a veteren hero (one of the first Wards, as a mater of fact), she has quite a collection of scars and tattoos.
- Genki Girl: Easily her defining characteristic.
- Large Ham: Easily her second defining characteristic, embodying all of a Silver Age Hero's certainty and bombastic nature on the battlefield.
- Nice Gal: Extremely upbeat and friendly.
- Spared By Adaptation: Her canonical fate, that of being turned into Murder Rat, seems to have been put on hold thanks to her leaving Ravager behind.
Name: Taylor Hebert, AKA Owl
Power: Manipulation of water molecules, ice (Parahuman ability). Spiral Power manipulation (Non-Parahuman ability).
Personal Vehicle: N/A
The most recent -and youngest- member of Team Neo-Gurren, Taylor Hebert was a girl bullied at Winslow High School. When Lagann cleaned out the locker that was set to be used in a prank, her bullies dumped cold water on her and locked her on the roof of the school, where she triggered. After being saved by Lagann and healed by Panacea (thanks to Lagann calling in a favor), she transferred to Clarendon High School and began experimenting with her new powers and potential names. During the gang war kicked off by Lung, she went out for the first time, saving her father and the other dockworkers in her new Owl persona from Squealer and Whirlygig. This revealed her identity to her father. She is the only member of Team Neo-Gurren to not reside in the Dai-Gurren, headquarters of Neo-Gurren, instead living with her father, Daniel Hebert.
- Adaptational Heroism: Somewhat. While both canon Taylor and Owl both went out intending to be a hero, in the story her intro was far less ambiguous.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Cryokinesis via water molecule manipulation instead of bug manipulation.
- Badass Longcoat: Uses one of Will's as part of her costume. Lagann eventually modified it, using his power to give it fur and turn it blue, while keeping the traditional Gurren Logo.
- Combo Platter Powers: Is thus far the only character that has access to Parahuman abilities and Spiral Power manipulation at the same time.
- Hero-Worshipper: When she was a little girl, she had it bad for Alexandria. Lagann is currently the recipient of most of her adoration (because of his rescue, and pulling a favor from Panacea to get her healed up).
- An Ice Person: Since she almost died from hypothermia, her powerset accordingly changed. It's a bit more complicated than cryokinesis, though - speculation would be that she manipulates water molecules.
- Icy Blue Eyes: When she triggered, her eyes changed from brown to this.
- In Spite of a Nail: Will tried to prevent her Trigger event by cleaning her locker, only for Sophia to lock her on the roof and force her to develop cryokinetic powers.
- Locked into Strangeness: Even after being healed by Panacea, her lips and fingernails are stained blue, and her hair started growing white roots.
- Touched by Vorlons: While all powers in Worm are technically this, one semi-canon Omake states that in addition to standard Parahuman abilities, the Spirit of Kamina himself granted her access to Spiral Power. This is reflected in her interlude by her being able to instinctively manipulate Lagann's jacket to her specifications- something that Will was only able to do with the use of his own Spiral Power.
The Protectorate
Name: Ethan, AKA Assault, AKA Madcap
Powers: Kinetic Energy absorption and redirection.
Personal Vehicle: N/A.
The former villain Madcap who made it his life's work to break people free before they could be thrown into the inescapable jail "The Birdcage," he now fights for the law alongside his wife and former nemesis, Battery. Of all the members of the Protectorate, he's the closest and friendliest with Lagann, having first met him while the young man was waiting for Danny Hebert outside of Taylor Hebert's hospital room. In providing a good character witness and helping guide him through bureaucracy, he's proven a good friend and ally to Will.
- Boxed Crook: The reference by excellence. It helps the Protectorate to decide to leave Bakuda alone, on the possibility she too can effectuate a Heel–Face Turn.
- Everyone Has Standards: His reaction when Lagann spills the details on the Locker Incident is nothing short of aghast - kids will be kids, but there's a line between well-meaning hazing and full-blown harassment.
- Played with in a joking manner when he kids around with Lagann about out-of-date hospital magazines.
- Friend on the Force: He's very genial towards Lagann, and you can feel he's only half-joking when suggesting the independent ought to join the Protectorate.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: He was right besides Lagann when Oni Lee tried to murder the other cape via bomb. It left him a mite hysterical.
Name: Collin Wallis, AKA Armsmaster
Power: Tinkertech creation, specialization: Miniaturization and efficiency.
Personal Vehicle: Armscycle, Gurrencycle Model K
Leader of the Protectorate ENE branch and one of the original Wards, Armsmaster is widely regarded as one of the best Tinkers in the world. His dedication and determination drive him harder and harder, and the man is nothing but furiously efficient. This does mean, though, that his socialization skills have suffered somewhat, and the man comes across as brusque, short-tempered, and dismissive. He wants more than anything else for his efforts to be recognized. He first meets Lagann when the man jumped on the back of his moving motorcycle, upgraded it mid-ride, then hijacked Squealer's latest mechanical nightmare and turned it into a fully-functioning giant robot. He's understandably a little overwhelmed by Lagann, and would like him to join the Protectorate (if for no other reason than to explain how the hell he does what he does), but is willing to let the young man go.
- Geeky Turn-On: He may not understand it, but Spiral-tech is fascinating to him.
- He becomes notably irritated that he missed Lagann's visit to HQ, as he has several questions about Spiral Technology.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Downplayed, but Lagann's ability to convert Tinkertech into Spiral-tech very much baffles him, and he's so obsessed about figuring it out he's left grumpy and abrasive.
- Insistent Terminology: He's insistent that people in the meeting know that whatever it is that Lagann makes with his power, it isn't Tinkertech (like what he, Dragon, or Kid Win create).
- No Social Skills: He's painfully blunt, and this is with Dragon coaching him. Assault's strategy for a recruitment pitch can be summed as "Do Not Be Colin".
Name: Hannah, AKA Miss Militia, AKA "Millie"
Powers: Weapon summoning
Personal Vehicle: N/A
One of the original Wards alongside Mouse Protector and Armsmaster, Hannah was a child soldier who Triggered when clearing land mines, and then was adopted by an American couple. She is second in command of the Protectorate ENE after Armsmaster, and a very skilled combatant in her own right. She has the ability to summon any weapon she can think of, ranging from letter openers to nuclear warheads. Even though her former teammate left the Protectorate, she still maintains good contact and friendship with Mouse Protector, even if the latter calls her "Millie." She first met Lagann during Uber and Leet's Titanfall event, as the first Cape on the scene.
- Badass in Distress: During the Uber and Leet Titan match, Militia gets hurt. She was also the first on the scene and racked up a respectable kill count before Lagann and MP could arrive.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She's genuinely kind and friendly, but she was first on the scene when Uber and L33t started their Titanfall stunt and racked up a respectable killstreak before being forced out of the fight. She can summon nuclear weapons if she wants to, and threatens Lagann if he ever tries to hurt Mouse Protector.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Mouse Protector has dubbed her "Millie," so they can be "Millie and Minnie," despite that not being Hannah's real name.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: MM gives Lagann one of these speeches to let him know not to play false with Mouse Protector's heart or loyalties.
- Only Sane Man: In the aftermath of the Titan Fight, she's the one to point out that the job of heroes is to de-escalate the fight, and not, in fact, to summon a giant robot and wipe out the better part of a city block.
The Wards
Name: Sophia Hess, AKA Shadow Stalker
Powers: Can turn into a living shadow, making herself intangible.
Personal Vehicle: N/A.
A Ward who is found to have been tormenting a civilian in her civilian life. She was transferred after this came to light.
Empire 88
Name: Brad Meadows, AKA Hookwolf
Powers: Bones are coated in metal, can turn body into a cloud of blades.
Personal Vehicle: N/A.
A cold-blooded killer, this Nazi doesn't actually care all that much about the ideology of his faction as much as the practical benefits- like people who can protect him or enable him when he's doing his gruesome work. Unintentionally, he's become the most consistent recurring threat to Lagann, and first encountered him when Lagann interrupted a recruitment rally. The end result was Lagann sending the Nazi flying out of the city. He later returned and attempted to get revenge, but was bested once again by Lagann after a hard fight. An omake then stated he escaped prison again, this time while using new drill-based blade constructs. One thing is for sure- Lagann hasn't seen the last of Hookwolf.
- Arch-Enemy: Of all the foes that Lagann has faced since he came onto the scene, Hookwolf is the most persistent.
- An Arm and a Leg: During his first fight with Lagann, Lagann uses one of his drills to cut off one of Hookwolf's arms. Unfortunately, Hookwolf fixed it right up.
- Healing Factor: If he's in his blades form, he can just reattach anything that gets cut off of him.
- Irony: Both Hookwolf and Lagann have copied each other's moves- Lagann constructed an arm for himself out of sharp bits of metal (granted, they were drills and not blades) and Hookwolf used a massive, self-made drill to escape from prison.
- One Degree of Separation: Two of the minorities that were kidnapped for his recruitment meeting were classmates of Sabah, a.k.a. the independent cape Parian, who was present when Lung and Lagann had their final showdown.
- Super Drowning Skills: His bones are coated in metal, making them super tough and hard to break. Downside to it being that things coated in metal tend to be heavy. The only reason he survived getting sent flying out over the bay was that he grabbed onto a buoy until one of his comrades could pick him up.
- This Is a Drill: In the Sithking Zero omake, he copied Lagann's signature move in order to kill an annoying guard and escape from prison.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Very minor example, but because Lagann was busy with Hookwolf, he didn't get to Taylor earlier than he did while she was on the roof.
- Worthy Opponent: Gives a speech to this effect when he first meets Lagann. This is soon replaced with anger.
ABB
Name: Kenta, AKA Lung
Power: Turns into a dragon, pyrokinesis, grows more powerful the longer a fight lasts.
Personal Vehicle: None.
Lung gained his fame when he fought Leviathan to save Kyushu. When this failed, he moved to Brockton and set up the Asian Bad Boyz, a gang that did not discriminate between the various ethnicities of Asia, while also branching out into sex slave trading, drug dealing, racketeering, gambling, and more. In late 2010, he received word that an Asian Girl named Bakuda had triggered at Cornell, so he personally kidnapped her from police custody in order to take advantage of her status as a Bomb Tinker. She was taken from Lung by the new hero Lagann. In early 2011, Lung and the ABB were engaged in a battle with the Merchants after an opportunistic attempt to kill Squealer when he ran into Lagann and Bakuda again. This time, Lagann defeated Lung once and for all.
- Adaptive Ability: To a degree. Fight him hard, and his power escalates his own power level to match.
- Big Bad: Of the first arc of the story. His presence looms over Team Neo-Gurren for the entire arc, and drives the motivations of Will and Alice. It's only on his defeat that the arc comes to a close.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Were it not for some very quick thinking on the part of Lagann, and separate reinforcements from Bakuda and Owl, Lung would have wiped the floor with Lagann.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: In the later parts of the Lagann/Lung fight, his power gives him extra arms.
- Playing with Fire: He's a pyrokinetic. He uses this in dragon form, obviously, but he also used these gifts to scar Alice's back when she disrespected him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He only really appears onscreen twice- when he disciplines Bakuda for disrespecting him, and for his fight with Lagann. Still, he's the driving force behind Bakuda's initial character arc, his hold over the Tinker inspires Lagann to focus nearly exclusively on ABB forces, and his presence ultimately leads to Lagann summoning Gurren. Not to mention that the wave of Spiral Power that Lagann unleashed to summon Gurren drew the attention of Scion.
Name: Real name unknown, AKA Oni Lee
Power: Creates clones within line-of-sight that have all his memories and personal effects, while the original disintegrates a few seconds later, simulating teleportation.
Personal Vehicle: None.
- The Dragon: To Lung, ironically enough.
- Flat Character: He never says anything to our heroes and is eventually taken out off-screen by Mouse Protector.
- Foreshadowing: Defied. Lagann and Bakuda make plans to use Tinkertech flashbangs to take him out, but Mouse Protector defeats him without them.
- The Voiceless: As per canon, he never speaks.
Uber and Leet
Name: Real name unknown, AKA Uber
Power: Potential to become world-class in anything he does with practice.
Personal Vehicle: None, has used a Titan.
Name: Real Name unknown, AKA Leet
Power: Tinkertech production, can make literally anything once, with the downside that reusing designs will be increasingly prone to failure.
Personal Vehicle: None, has used a Titan.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Given Leet's track record, it's not that surprising that they manage to create some that decide to wreck everything in sight- starting with their creators.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like/Innocently Insensitive: They offhandedly mention that Lagann was actually the third person they tried to contact to get to save them from the animatronics, but no one else took their call.
- The Determinator: The two might get smacked around, but they always come back.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: One of the reasons that they keep coming back again and again is because they just want some respect. In their own words, they barely rate calling up the Wards some days, and the most common reaction to them showing up is people sighing and walking away. It's why they pulled out all the stops with the Titanfall event against Lagann- he's barely been on the scene two months and already has major Cape Victories under his belt. This attitude actually makes Lagann want to recruit them for Team Neo-Gurren.
- Gone Horribly Right: Leet wanted to make something that could take on Lagann. What he got instead was animatronics out of Epic Mickey that could punch through steel walls, have an Adaptive Ability, and no way to be controlled. Lagann found out about them when the duo call him, begging him for help, since they've turned against their creators (them).
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: They're best friends who have been doing crime for respect, and they genuinely like each other as people.
- Memetic Loser: In-Universe, the two are considered jokes... most of the time.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: People consider the two of them jokes, and frequently forget that Uber can train himself to be world-class in anything quickly, and Leet can build anything. The got a nice reminder of how dangerous that combo can be when the two built an army of robots for a Titanfall deathmatch, complete with two giant robots.
