The Heralds of the Elemental Lords ("Masou Kishin") are the major protagonists of the Masou Kishin saga of Super Robot Wars and Heralds of the elemental machines of the subterranean world "La Gias". Each of the Herald's machines are blessed by the spirits dwelling in La Gias, assisting them in combat. With the exception of Masaki Andoh, the heralds first appeared in Super Robot Wars EX, with Masou Kishin: The Lord of Elemental Part 1 detailing how each of them arrived to La Gias and earned the right to pilot an Elemental Lord. Common tropes that adhere to the Heralds and their Elemental Lords are:
Attack Drones: Each Elemental Lord has an attack that its pilot's familiar(s) will use.
Familiar: With the exception of Ricardo Silvera, each Herald has at least one talking animal familiar that accompanies them wherever they go. The familiar(s) are also an extension of the Herald's personality and quirks.
Actually the first "Banpresto Original" to ever embrace Super Robot Wars (the very first is a Big Bad from SD Hero Soukesen, an obscure NES game that set the formula for The Great Battle*
we later call him Dark Brain
). Masaki's a loud-mouthed, Hot Blooded boy with No Sense of Direction who's actually a herald of the Wind Lord of Elemental Cybuster from another world. He's actually an Earthling, but gets summoned to La Gias by force. Not a problem since he's been alone all the time. There, he gets two familiar cats Kuro◊ and Shiro◊ and gain allies in the form of other heralds Hwang Yang Long, Tytti Norbuck and Ricardo Silvera (who later gets replaced by Mio Sasuga). His rival's Shu Shirakawa, who eventually kills Masaki's foster father and he swears revenge. He's been hunting Shuu down since.This leads him back to the surface and he gets involved with the battles with the Earth Federation, joining them. He mostly stays at the sidelines, but he's a great help to the team. He meets Lune Zoldark, who immediately develops a crush on him and throws herself in his Unwanted Harem he's really oblivious with. He finally manages to kill Shu for good eventually, but afterwards feels kinda empty and shed manly tears of loneliness. Afterwards, he returns to La Gias for good.Unfortunately, returning to La Gias after killing Shu's only the beginning for the next arc of his story, where the prince of La Gias Feilord makes a mass summoning of surfacers, including Lune, and Masaki has to work about bringing them back home and quell the war in La Gias, but in process he's forced to kill Feil, who is also a close friend of his since his time in La Gias. He later returns to the surface again fighting the Guests, Ruina, Youkijins and the AI-01. After that he still has to deal with some prophetic troubles within La Gias. Oh, on the way, he also finds out Shu came Back from the Dead.Masaki's always seen with his trademark Humongous Mecha Cybuster. He embodies these tropes:
Awesome, but Impractical: Cybuster's Cosmo Nova; not only does it require a high Will rating, but it's a one-round weapon per scenario. Rectified in Revelation of Evil God by making it an energy-based attack, making it more than a one-note weapon. Unfortunately, the EN requirement is a tad high.
Awesome Yet Practical: Cybuster's Cyflash is a MAP attack that not only can be used post-movement, but doesn't hit allies, requires relatively little Will, does very good damage (for a MAP, anyway), and has a wide range to boot. However, this could get subverted in that he might not hit all intended targets unless the "Strike" Spirit Command *
Gain 100% accuracy for one turn
is cast, yet costs a whopping 30 Spirit Points for Masaki.
Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden: You must prevent the GP02A Physalis from running away. From your starting position, that's unlikely, alongside rough terrain and an army of mooks. The Cybuster and Wing Gundam Zero appear right in front of the Physalis' line of escape.
Dual Wielding: The Nintendo DSUpdated Rerelease of The Lord of Elemental has the Cybuster armed with both the Discutter and the new Vanity Ripper, a pair of blades which can combine into a single BFS.
Common Knowledge: The infamous "Full Possession Cybuster can access the Akashic Records and erase his enemies from existence!" rumor that subsisted for a very long time, started thanks to a mistranslation in the fandom's early days. It finally died when Revelation of Evil God lets you use the Super Mode, and while powerful, it is not a Reality Warper.
Evil Counterpart: In his home series, Elan Zenosakis and the Zelvoid; in the Z series, Asakim and the Shurouga.
Fragile Speedster, Super Speed: Cybuster's supposedly the fastest there is; unfortunately, this doesn't make up for its lack of strength...well, Original Generation-wise, anyway. Subverts Fragile Speedster once it enters "Full Possession" mode.
Friendly Fire Proof: Cybuster's Cyflash; The InspectorsAnimated Adaptation of Original Generation 2 justifies this via an International Friend-or-Foe identification tag required by allies.
Hero of Another Story: Although he pops up from time to time to help the heroes of whatever game he's in, his main purpose is always trying to figure out and stop whatever Shu's up to. Naturally, the Masou Kishin series is where he's the real star of the game. Lampshaded in the Second Original Generation.
Excellen Browning: Hey, hey, come on now Masa. You're just a lost little kitten above ground, but down here you're kinda famous aren't ya?
Just in Time: See Big Damn Hero. Infamous for often showing up at the last second, wiping out half the enemy forces with a Cyflash. He does it so often that it almost seems he's only showing up out of coincidence, but considering his sense of direction, that's not unlikely.
Like Brother and Sister: With adoptive younger sister, Presia Zenosakis. Lune Zoldark and some fans think there's more than that between them...
No Sense of Direction: The reason his "Strike" Spirit Command costs twice or thrice as many Spirit Points as other pilots who have it, a distinction matched only by Lunamaria Hawke, who managed to cleanly missa battleshipwith a beam rifle in her home series. On another note, his lack of direction gets so bad in one game, it takes the ZERO System just to find him (even then, the system merely pinpoints the general area Masaki is in)
Flanderized in Original Generation: he gets lost...during a guided tour.
Back in Alpha, he flies the Cybuster around the world a few times just to reach Japan, a "few" meaning at least TEN times.
Hilariously invoked in Another Century's Episode R: you get a trophy for traveling 4 kilometers for him called "Isolated Lost Child".
In the same game, while Kyosuke Nanbu and Ryusei appear on Eria thanks to the Space-Time Bomb, Masaki is already there on Eria, and hopelessly lost. Yes, you read that right: Masaki's sense of direction is so bad, he can cross dimensions and not even notice it.
Parental Abandonment: Revealed in The Lord of Elemental, his parents were killed by terrorists.
Masaki (Behind an unknown character portrait, imitating Heero): "So this is where it ends... But don't forget that your mission is still unfinished." Heero: "What are you trying to pull, Masaki?" Masaki: "Geh! Didn't see you there Heero... Well, then! Catch you guys later!"
In Original Generations, we also have Kuro with Radha Byraban and Shiro with Mai Kobayashi. There are also save-quit dialogues between the two pairs.
Herald of Masou Kishin of Fire, Granveil. He's a Chinese P.E teacher who knows Kung Fu and has a penchant of spouting Chinese proverbs, much to everyone's confusion. He's also said to be the direct opposite of Masaki: calm, cool but distant towards the rest of the team, either doing his own line of duty or training. Highly dedicated to Princess Monica, who still respects his services, even though she spends her time chasing Shu Shirakawa out of love.He often clashes with Saphine "Zeora Volkruss" Grace, Shu's harem, but it later turned out that it was because he was once a lover of Saphine's sister.Tropes associated with Yang Long:
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Subverted; distant he may be, he never ever thought of "crushing the weak".
Asia Rune Chant: He chants this in part of the Granveil's Kafuu Seiun Ken
Becomes a Punctuated Pounding during the attack's upgrade in Revelation of Evil God as Houguu Kafuu Seiun Ken.
Bystander Syndrome: Subverted. Overall, Yang Long is too occupied with his duty as a Herald that he'd rather not deal with the surface world's problems, usually opting to come back to La Gias after doing whatever he's assigned to on the surface. However, if the threat really presents itself and Masaki convinces him, Yang Long will fight for the surface.
Shoulder Cannon: Granveil's Caloric Smash and its upgraded version, Denkou Eiri
Stern Teacher: Well, he is a gym teacher, and Masaki often refers that if he makes a blunder or something, Yang Long would make him sit straight for hours listening to his lectures. Of course, he means well.
Herald of Masou Kishin of Water, Gaddeath (or, in some translations, Goddess, but no, it's not a literal goddess, mind you!), and the one given most depth when Super Robot Wars Gaiden rolls in. Tytti's the first human Masaki meets when he gets into La Gias. Her previous job isn't clear, but rumors say she used to be either a racer or a cop. She acts like a big sister, sometimes nagging to Masaki, and is mostly involved with La Gias' political maneuvers. Ironic she's the herald of water...because she cannot swim. As it's later found out, her family was murdered by Psycho for Hire Lubikka Hakinnen and has since hated him. She has a relationship with another herald, Ricardo Silvera, but he was later killed by Lubikka, thus invoking fear on her starting a new love life. Tropes associated with Tytti:
Beware the Nice Ones: If she gets mad, she's not above choking you with a smile implanted on her face.
Big Damn Heroes: Her first combat-appearance in EX is saving Leina Ashta, thereby stopping her brother Judau and Seabook Arno from fighting the heroes. She did the same in the Second Original Generation, saving Mai from her Shutendonias captors (through her familiars Freki and Geri), so the SRX Team (minus Ryusei, since he's with Lune) doesn't have to keep fighting Masaki and his allies.
Jack of All Stats: Of the Elemental Lords, the Gaddeath is the most balanced.
Lady of War: While she's not backflipping here and there, the Gaddeath is tailored slightly for long-ranged combat and reserving strength rather than dealing full-frontal attacks (such as the Valsione or Zamzeed). Note that the Gaddeath is designed to look like a Valkyrie.
Lethal Chef, One Note Cook: Tytti has a weird sense of taste. Anything she makes is so sweet it can make your stomach swollen. She also attempted to pour milk on foods.
Onee-sama: Dotes on Masaki a lot to the point where she flips between scolding and crying on a basis of worry. Masaki doesn't adore her totally, but he does appreciate her presence.
Rule Of Cool: In-universe, the Gaddeath's head engineer treated it as an art project, and spent much effort in molding its armor into its curvy, gorgeous shape...which doesn't effect the Gaddeath's performance in anyway.
Spell My Name with an S: Fan versions include "Tytti", "Tootie" or "Tutti", while her official romanization is "Thutiy"...not to mention, is it "Gaddeath" or "Goddess"?
Sweet Tooth: To the point it turns her into a Lethal Chef/One Note Cook, and that's not just for desserts. She usually puts at least six cubes of sugar into any tea she serves. Poor Yuuki Jaggar in the Second Original Generation drank one tea...that got eight cubes. Ibis Douglas got away just fine, since she's a Sweet Tooth, as well.
Tytti also likes Cliana Rimskaya's strawberry jam-flavored rice balls, and says she doesn't mind even more strawberry jam.
Theme Naming: Tytti is overloaded with Norse Mythology. First, the Gaddeath's attack names are based on several terms (Jotunheim, Fenrir Crush, Jormungandr Ouroboros, Bifrost Fall), alongside the Gaddeath resembling a Valkyrie. Freki and Geri are named after Odin's two hounds.
Token Wholesome: She's mostly dressed fully despite her usually big breasts for her age. To fully demonstrate this, in the DS rerelease, Tytti's the only female (aside from Mio and Presia) who has no Gainaxing. This is also carried over in the Second Original Generation.
Tsundere: Type B. She usually deals with other people kindly but she either gives the cold shoulder or angry treatment to Ricardo... at least until his last moments.
Successor to Ricardo in piloting the Zamzeed. Mio was once an Ordinary High School Student, who gets transported to La Gias while she's sleeping and found by Masaki in the events of EX. She gets chosen by Zamzeed and tags along with him often. She's also an anime otaku, but more on the shounen series (compared to Ryusei and his otaku-ness on Humongous Mecha). She likes to tease a lot and keeps the team lively. Like Masaki, she's also an orphan who lost her parents due to a airplane crash. She's said to have a black belt in Aikido. In Revelation of Evil God, she becomes a student to the spirit of Zamzeed's first pilot, Ricardo Silvera, who in turn helps her to use Zamzeed to its full potential. Tropes associated to Mio:
Epic Fail: In the Second Original Generation, if the Zamzeed fails in successfully using its Gouryuundou Masamune, the mountain embedded to the weapon will pop off and tramples the machine with it. It's hilarious.
Heroic BSOD: The first time she kills an enemy pilot in EX, Mio's incredibly shaken up of her taking a life she becomes uncontrollable until the next scenario.
I Know Mortal Kombat: When she first arrived in La Gias, she wanted to pilot the Diablo and help out, claiming there shouldn't be any problems since she's played Burning PT. However, Masaki attempts to lampshade on the absurdity of this.
Masaki: "What the heck are you saying? It's not the kind of thing that you can just hop in and immediately know how to pilot it!" *
Hilarity Ensues and Irony abounds, because that's exactly what Masaki did with the Jaohm when he first arrived in La Gias.
Meta Girl: Some of Mio's combat quotes include telling her enemies they will become her experience points to level up. She's also one of the few characters who can understand or join in Ryusei's Shout Out jokes. Thankfully, she isn't as bonkers as, say, Tenzan Nakajima.
Mighty Glacier: Of the four Elemental Lords, Zamzeed has the thickest armor and even armed with a shield.
Daughter of Bian Zoldark, founder of the Divine Crusaders. Lune's an outspoken tomboy with torn jeans and a high aptitude for mecha piloting. She was a member of the DC, but spent most of the time physically training in Jupiter. About her mecha, she was supposedly given a customized Valsion, but she didn't like how it looked... so Bian modified its look to resemble a giant, walking Humongous Mecha version of herself, the Valsione, complete with hair and an emotion copy system (its face changes according to Lune's current expression). She got the mecha, but later heard her father fell, so she tried to avenge him by facing the Earth Federation Army, but found out the DC has gone into the wrong direction after her father's passing. She fights briefly with the Federation, but later ends up joining them in order to straighten the DC up. She falls in love with Masaki and tries to get his attention all the time, unsuccessfully.In the Inspector Wars, Lune is ambushed by the Inspectors along with the Hiryu Custom and is forced to retreat. She rejoins the EFA. In OG Gaiden, when visiting the Tesla Leicht Institute, she's attacked by Kyle Bean and a squad of Mirongas, but manages to survive along with Ibis Douglas and Master Rishu, thanks to Masaki's intervention... and Shu's. When Masaki returns to La Gias, she bids him farewell.But shortly after, Lune herself is thrown into La Gias when Prince Feilord pulls off a mass-summoning of surface-dwellers. Alongside Fire Elemental Lord Herald Hwang Yang Long, she gets the surface-dwellers back home, while dealing with the civil war in La Gias. She later returns to fight the Guests, Ruina, Youkijins, etc but ultimately moves permanently to La Gias to be with Masaki, helping out the land's prophetic trouble later.As mentioned, she pilots the Ridiculously Human Robot Valsione. They embody these tropes:
Charles Atlas Superpower: Master Rishu Togo states she can dodge bullets...while eating breakfast. This is also why the Valsione can do "Mirror Image" naturally without the technology to activate it being installed: she's just got THAT CRAZY REFLEXES. Justified as a result of the time spent training on Jupiter around greater gravitational forces.
Glass Cannon: In the Original Generation games, specifically Original Generation 2, her Ace Bonus increases attack and the Valsione has the just-as-useful, non-friendly fire MAP weapon Psycho Blaster. However, the Valsione has barely any armor and Lune's defense stat is rather low.
Lightning Bruiser: Remedied by her high evasion stat, which is the best in the games (for good reason), the Valsione's "Mirror Image" ability *
Gain a 50% chance of evading any attack
, and a full upgrade bonus that increases the rate of activating Mirror Image.
Mid-Season Upgrade: Valsione R. In the Classic Timeline, the "R" stood for "Return"; beginning with the DS rerelease, it stands for "Refine".
Mythology Gag: Variation; despite the fact that almost everyone who has played an SRW knows the Valsione is a customized Valsion, the Original Generation side-story manga Record of ATX decides to give a blunt reminder◊ to fans by equipping the Valsione with an outer armor (something it never had in the games) resembling the Valsion.
Daughter of the Heavenly Sword Zeoroot Zan Zenosakis and the younger descendant of Elan Zenosakis, this little girl's good at housework and considers Masaki as her brother even before Zeoroot adopts him. One of the first Moe Moe original characters by Banpresto. During the Langran civil wars, Presia pilots the Diablo after Mio ascends to become the pilot of the Zamzeed. In the sequel Revelation of Evil God, certain choices made regarding Precia will affect the game's outcome, according to Word Of God. This is because of her heritage. The Zenosakis clan has been cursed to forever be vessels for Volkruss, which is the reason why Shu kills her father. During Revelation of Evil God, she discovers this fact and realizes a side-effect of her family's curse: Presia cannot age. She is eventually kidnapped by a cult of Volkruss worshippers to become the new vessel for Volkruss, but Masaki and the rest of the Elemental Lords stop the cult from carrying out their plans. After the fragment of Volkruss that Presia was to embody is destroyed, the curse upon her is lifted, allowing her to age normally again. Tropes associated with Presia:
Cute Clumsy Girl: Alpha Gaiden and the Second Original Generation gives her this. If the Diablo's strongest attack fails to connect, it trips and gets tangled up on its own beam ribbon.
Like Brother and Sister: Her relation with Masaki is that of siblings, but Lune and some fans believe there's more...
One cutscene in Revelation of Evil God has her teasing Masaki that just because she's 13, there's nothing wrong with her taking a bath with him. Lune and Wendy, who are also present, do not see it as a joke.
Older Than They Look: Three years have passed between Part 2 of The Lord of Elemental and Revelation of Evil God. Presia is still the same as she was because of the curse placed on her family. In the "Presia Ending" of Revelation of Evil God, the curse is removed and she is once again able to age normally.
Parental Abandonment: There is no mention of her mother and Zeoroot bites the dust no thanks to Shu.
Vocal Evolution: Due to the fact the last time she appeared was about a decade ago, Satomi Koorogi as Presia sounds more deeper and less like a child, despite having the same mannerisms as before. May be justified as a result of Older Than They Look.
First herald of the Masou Kishin of Earth, Zamzeed. He's one jolly, fun ex-air force pilot from Brazil and gets along with people well. Hangs around with Masaki a lot, teaches Yang Long about how to ride a Masou Kishin, and has a crush on Tytti, flirting with her a lot. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, since he was created before the ACTUAL herald of Zamzeed (Mio), he's shot down by Lubikka while protecting Tytti. He dies soon after, but not after hearing Tytti officially returning his love, though if anything it's already too late. However, fate has since been kind to Ricardo, allowing him to come Back from the Dead as a spirit living within the Zamzeed as of Revelation of Evil God, acting as a mentor to Mio Sasuga and helping her master the Zamzeed's power. Tropes associated with Ricardo:
Dishing Out Dirt: Subverted. Since Ricardo is Doomed by Canon, he cannot access the full power of the Earth element outside of the Zamzeed's Resonance Quake MAP weapon.
Doomed by Canon: Since the Zamzeed made its debut in EX with Mio as its new Herald, Ricardo must die sometime during Part 1 of The Lord of Elemental.
Taking the Bullet: For Tytti in The Lord of Elemental. He kind of gets better in Revelation of Evil God.
Token Minority: Brazilian, and one of the few Hispanic characters in the franchise.
Princess Xenia Grania Bilseia (Voiced by Yuko Minaguchi)
One of the Langran twin princesses, she's nothing you'll expect from a princess, though. Xenia has no interest in politics and mostly spends time doing mechanical work or hanging around with the heralds. She's the one who designed the Cho Masouki Duraxyl by improving on La Gias's Magitech with data from the surface world's Humongous Mecha, notably the Gundams, her personal favorite (in the Second Original Generation, it would be the Huckebein). Xenia pilots one of two available Masouki "Nols" and its Mid-Season Upgrade "Nols Ray".Tropes associated with Xenia:
Combat Medic: Subverted; while Xenia CAN fight, the Nols (Ray) is a machine more designed for ceremonial events, thus while her healing skills are stellar, her combat ability and damage output suffers a lot, thereby making her deal more on recovery skills rather than offensive purposes.
Demoted to Extra: In the Second Original Generation, she is only usable in the EX portions of the game, and only if you picked Masaki's route. Monica takes her place in the later scenarios.
Leitmotif: "Princess of Passion", an exclusive Leitmotif for her, is included in Revelation of Evil God, after decades of having to use generic battle themes. This is carried over into the Second Original Generation, but is unavailable if you do not meet her at all by picking Lune's route, since you cannot assign this Leitmotif to anyone else.
Power Gives You Wings: Nols Ray's Angel Whisper attack will sprout angelic wings from its back.
Spell My Name with an S: Good Lord, that machine of hers. Its name can be any combination of "Norse"/"Nors"/"Nols"/"North" and "Rei"/"Ray", and varies with almost every person asked.
Super-Deformed: Some of her characters portraits occasionally puts her into this, to denote a sense of mischief.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: With younger twin sister Monica, Xenia is the tomboy, being much more into hacking and Humongous Mecha, has shorter hair and doesn't really like royal functions that much.
What Could Have Been: Xenia was supposed to pilot the Nols Ray in the Second Original Generation, complete with a Super Move Portrait Attack in the Angel Whisper. Although Xenia was cut due to time constraints, Monica takes her place, instead.
Princess Monica Grania Bilseia (Voiced by Yuko Minaguchi)
Ascended Extra: When you think of a pilot for the Nols (Ray), you'd think of Xenia. However, exclusively in the Second Original Generation, Monica is the one to accompany the Steel Dragon Battle Group into the final battles, with Xenia staying in La Gias.
Bound and Gagged: With a ball-gag, no less, in Part 1 of The Lord of Elemental, courtesy of Saphine.
Love Martyr: She's willing to go through lengths to be with Shu. Of course, this doesn't sit well with most of the heroes.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Between her older twin Xenia, Monica is the girly-girl, more reserved and feminine, not much of a fighter, and more of a royal figurehead and can do some fortune-telling.
Prince Feilord Grania Bilseia (Voiced by Ryotaro Okiayu)
Graceful Loser: Knowing that Masaki defeated him because he is fulfilling his duties not as a Herald, but as his friend, Feilord thanks him before he dies.
My Nayme Is: "Duraxyl" can either be spelled with one "l" or two.
Talking to Himself: Shares the same voice actor as Raidiese F. Branstein. In the Second Original Generation, both characters have unique dialogue with one another, especially when they have a battle encounter.
Your Days Are Numbered: Feilord secretly hid that he barely passed the prana test. Worst yet, he had only months to live; since the Shutendonias Alliance was vulnerable, he decided to retaliate for their initial attacks, with hopes to unite all of La Gias before his time was up.
General Kirkus Zan Valfarbia (Voiced by Tessho Genda)
The 18-year old son of General Kirkus Valfarbia, Zashford comes off as timid and unreliable, but with an actively strong sense of justice. Zashford appears in EX in Lune's route and was completely awestruck with her appearance, trying his hardest to get close to her. Throughout EX, Zashford questions if his father's objectives, with his obsession for power and military unification of Langran, are correct. In the Second Original Generation, along with the rest of the Masou Kishin heralds, he heads to the surface world to assist the Steel Dragon Battle Group against their enemies.Zashford later acquires the Galguard, an exceptionally strong lightning-based Masouki and one of the few machines closest in design and power to a Masou Kishin. Blessed by the thunder spirit "Gulnansa", the Galguard's pilot wouldn't be able to use its four arms unless they have a high prana count.
Ascended Extra: Out of the all Masou Kishin characters playable in the EX scenarios of the Second Original Generation (excluding the Heralds, Lune and Presia), Zashford joins them on the surface world later on in the game for the Sealing War, beating out the likes of Xenia (who was part of the group back in Alpha Gaiden). If special requirements are met, the Galguard will get to use its "Black Thunder" attack, which shouldn't be possible until Part 2 of The Lord of Elemental. This is likely because he joins very late in the EX portions and you would otherwise have him for three scenarios.
Spared by the Adaptation/Saved by Canon: Back in EX, it's possible for Zashford to be Killed Off for Real when fighting his father, but this is averted for the Second Original Generation, as he must canonically survive and participate in Part 2 of the remade The Lord of Elemental.
Flawed Prototype: The Jaohm is one of the first Masouki developed in the Masouki Project, but the engineers hit a roadblack regarding how to effectively mold Orichalconium alloy back then. As result, the Jaohm's armor is mixed with ceramic, making it heavier and not as tough as they had wanted.
Master of None: Plot-wise, the Jaohm was designed as a Fragile Speedster like most of the other wind-based Masouki, but the problem lies with its armor, making it slower than expected.
Who Is This Guy Again?: At the end of the Second Original Generation, Gennacy is mentioned... but Mio states the trope word-for-word, since she already forgot who he is.
SHUTENDONIAS ALLIANCE
It's Personal: Lubikka, for some reason (or maybe For the Evulz?), made it personal for Tytti and will take extra delights in torturing her.
Leeroy Jenkins: Kanwort Jog, a Shutedonias soldier who dreams of become the most famed warrior in La Gias. He wants to achieve it by always getting in Masaki's way...and always got beaten. At least he gets promoted to Lasett's Dragon.
Anti-Villain: Appears as an enemy often in EX, but he doesn't hold it against you, and will even help out Masaki face the incomplete Volkruss. He's also probably one of the few sane men in Shutedonia.
Cool Old Guy: Referred to as "old man" and is an easy-going dude, despite being in Shutedonia.
Enemy Mine: Pulls one when he brings Elis to fight Volkruss.
Heel Face Turn: Not until Part 2 of The Lord of Elemental
Heroic BSOD: Failing to rescue Elis in Part 2 of The Lord of Elemental will result in his loss of the will to fight and permanently leaving.
Playing Against Type: As opposed to most of the calculating, sauve villainous roles Show Hayami is better known for, Rodney can be a bit too scatter-brained and easy-going.
The main enemies of the Masou Kishin portion. Led by the mad priest Luozorl, their goal is to revive the physical god Shiva Volkruss, arch nemesis of the Masou Kishin (and the one they're prophesized to destroy). They also had Shu in their group and brainwashed him to harvest souls (he eventually rebels). They receive the backing of the Shutedonia Republic, run by the equally ruthless General Lasett. After Shu's killed, Luozorl tries reviving him, but in process cut down his link with Volkruss, enabling him to rebel against them. Tropes regarding Volkruss Followers and the Shutedonian Army:
Masaki's arch-rival, also a huge Marty Stu. A young half-La Gias professor who already attains a Ph.D and using his brains, he creates the Granzon, a very powerful mecha using the power of void (uses black hole stuffs a lot). Ever since they first meet, he's known to irritate Masaki a lot, but he really crosses the line when he kills Masaki's foster father in an act where he declares he's defecting to the forces of dark god Shiva Volkruss. Pissed off, Masaki lets himself get possessed by Cyfis, Cybuster's spirit, and lays a serious smackdown on the Granzon, forcing Shu to retreat (it was formerly near-invincible beforehand). He reappears in the ruins of the Langran Kingdom, causing Masaki to suspect Shuu destroyed it as well (he didn't). Shuu bids Masaki farewell, as he had to attend some business with old friend Bian, but Masaki follows him anyway.Shuu goes along with Bian's plan to create the DC and continues to annoy Masaki along the way (he also almost killed the SRX Team on the way). After the DC's defeat, Shuu vanishes and only appears a few times in the Inspector Wars. He somehow returns more occasionally in the wake of the ODE Incident, takes out some Mirongas and ends up helping the EFA for OG Gaiden. When it's over, Shuu reveals his intention: he wants to test out how strong the EFA is, so he taps into Volkruss' power and turns the Granzon into the Neo Granzon, and attacks the team. He is defeated, but in the face of death, he is satisfied they could defeat the Neo Granzon, leaving Masaki to somehow cry at his loss upon his death.But really, he doesn't die just like that. The forces of Volkruss revives him without his memories. However, it's all going according to Shuu's plan: he was to break free from Volkruss' influence, so he had the team kill him at first (since he can't kill himself), and now his resurrection annuls his link with Volkruss, he can do whatever he likes, slaying the god itself. He succeeds and occasionally joins forces with Masaki, on good terms this time.In Revelation of Evil God, the true reason as to why Shu killed Zeoroot is finally revealed: the Zenosakis clan is cursed to forever be the vessels of Volkruss and Shu tried to stop anyone else from being in the same situation as Shu has been. Sadly, it is revealed that Zeoroot's biological daughter Presia still carries the curse, meaning that Shu failed. However, in the good ending, Shuu does not kill Presia like he did Zeoroot because, Masaki and the other Elemental Lords save her and purge Presia of the curse.Like Masaki, he manages to get himself a harem in the form of the stripperiffic Saphine "Zeora Volkruss" Grace and Princess Monica Gran Bilseia, though he does not return their feelings and would rather tease Masaki A LOT. He and the Granzon/Neo Granzon embodies these tropes:
The Blacksmith: Single-handedly built the Granzon himself. In Original Generation, repairing the machine after it was damaged in La Gias cost the Divine Crusaders about two-thirds of their budget. That doesn't stop Bian from mounting his insurrection successfully with the remaining third. He also designed the power source of the Granzon, the Anti-Matter Annihilation Engine, based off of the designs of the Black Hole Engine.
Troll: The fact he never makes it clear about his affiliations/intentions, can do anything he wants, and spends most of his screentime putting on his "Trollface" while pulling this trope on Masaki makes Shu this. There's a good reason some players has dubbed him the "Troll Overlord".
Weirdness Magnet: In the Second Original Generation, the Guests built one into the Granzon, as it's been attracting extraterrestrial/interdimensional invaders, as a way to soften the Earth up for their impending invasion.
A descendant of the Zenosakis bloodline, he is a distant relative to Zeoroot and Presia. His mission to destroy Rasfitoto, one of the Three Pillar Gods of La Gias and claim the title of "Godslayer" for himself.
Actually the first "Banpresto Original" to ever embrace Super Robot Wars (the very first is a Big Bad from SD Hero Soukesen
, an obscure NES game that set the formula for The Great Battle* ). Masaki's a loud-mouthed, Hot Blooded boy with No Sense of Direction who's actually a herald of the Wind Lord of Elemental Cybuster from another world. He's actually an Earthling, but gets summoned to La Gias by force. Not a problem since he's been alone all the time. There, he gets two familiar cats Kuro
◊ and Shiro
◊ and gain allies in the form of other heralds Hwang Yang Long, Tytti Norbuck and Ricardo Silvera (who later gets replaced by Mio Sasuga). His rival's Shu Shirakawa, who eventually kills Masaki's foster father and he swears revenge. He's been hunting Shuu down since.This leads him back to the surface and he gets involved with the battles with the Earth Federation, joining them. He mostly stays at the sidelines, but he's a great help to the team. He meets Lune Zoldark, who immediately develops a crush on him and throws herself in his Unwanted Harem he's really oblivious with. He finally manages to kill Shu for good eventually, but afterwards feels kinda empty and shed 
Herald of Masou Kishin of Fire, Granveil. He's a Chinese P.E teacher who knows Kung Fu and has a penchant of spouting Chinese proverbs, much to everyone's confusion. He's also said to be the direct opposite of Masaki: calm, cool but distant towards the rest of the team, either doing his own line of duty or training. Highly dedicated to Princess Monica, who still respects his services, even though she spends her time chasing Shu Shirakawa out of love.He often clashes with Saphine "Zeora Volkruss" Grace, Shu's harem, but it later turned out that it was because he was once a lover of Saphine's sister.Tropes associated with Yang Long:
Herald of Masou Kishin of Water, Gaddeath (or, in some translations, Goddess, but no, it's not a literal goddess, mind you!), and the one given most depth when Super Robot Wars Gaiden rolls in. Tytti's the first human Masaki meets when he gets into La Gias. Her previous job isn't clear, but rumors say she used to be either a racer or a cop. She acts like a big sister, sometimes nagging to Masaki, and is mostly involved with La Gias' political maneuvers. Ironic she's the herald of water...because she cannot swim. As it's later found out, her family was murdered by Psycho for Hire Lubikka Hakinnen and has since hated him. She has a relationship with another herald, Ricardo Silvera, but he was later killed by Lubikka, thus invoking fear on her starting a new love life. Tropes associated with Tytti:
Successor to Ricardo in piloting the Zamzeed. Mio was once an Ordinary High School Student, who gets transported to La Gias while she's sleeping and found by Masaki in the events of EX. She gets chosen by Zamzeed and tags along with him often. She's also an anime otaku, but more on the shounen series (compared to Ryusei and his otaku-ness on Humongous Mecha). She likes to tease a lot and keeps the team lively. Like Masaki, she's also an orphan who lost her parents due to a airplane crash. She's said to have a black belt in Aikido. In Revelation of Evil God, she becomes a student to the spirit of Zamzeed's first pilot, Ricardo Silvera, who in turn helps her to use Zamzeed to its full potential. Tropes associated to Mio:
Daughter of Bian Zoldark, founder of the Divine Crusaders. Lune's an outspoken tomboy with torn jeans and a high aptitude for mecha piloting. She was a member of the DC, but spent most of the time physically training in Jupiter. About her mecha, she was supposedly given a customized Valsion, but she didn't like how it looked... so Bian modified its look to resemble a giant, walking Humongous Mecha version of herself, the Valsione, complete with hair and an emotion copy system (its face changes according to Lune's current expression). She got the mecha, but later heard her father fell, so she tried to avenge him by facing the Earth Federation Army, but found out the DC has gone into the wrong direction after her father's passing. She fights briefly with the Federation, but later ends up joining them in order to straighten the DC up. She falls in love with Masaki and tries to get his attention all the time, unsuccessfully.In the Inspector Wars, Lune is ambushed by the Inspectors along with the Hiryu Custom and is forced to retreat. She rejoins the EFA. In OG Gaiden, when visiting the Tesla Leicht Institute, she's attacked by Kyle Bean and a squad of Mirongas, but manages to survive along with Ibis Douglas and Master Rishu, thanks to Masaki's intervention... and Shu's. When Masaki returns to La Gias, she bids him farewell.But shortly after, Lune herself is thrown into La Gias when Prince Feilord pulls off a mass-summoning of surface-dwellers. Alongside Fire Elemental Lord Herald Hwang Yang Long, she gets the surface-dwellers back home, while dealing with the civil war in La Gias. She later returns to fight the Guests, Ruina, Youkijins, etc but ultimately moves permanently to La Gias to be with Masaki, helping out the land's prophetic trouble later.As mentioned, she pilots the Ridiculously Human Robot Valsione. They embody these tropes:
Masaki's arch-rival, also a huge Marty Stu. A young half-La Gias professor who already attains a Ph.D and using his brains, he creates the Granzon, a very powerful mecha using the power of void (uses black hole stuffs a lot). Ever since they first meet, he's known to irritate Masaki a lot, but he really crosses the line when he kills Masaki's foster father in an act where he declares he's defecting to the forces of dark god Shiva Volkruss. Pissed off, Masaki lets himself get possessed by Cyfis, Cybuster's spirit, and lays a serious smackdown on the Granzon, forcing Shu to retreat (it was formerly near-invincible beforehand). He reappears in the ruins of the Langran Kingdom, causing Masaki to suspect Shuu destroyed it as well (he didn't). Shuu bids Masaki farewell, as he had to attend some business with old friend Bian, but Masaki follows him anyway.Shuu goes along with Bian's plan to create the DC and continues to annoy Masaki along the way (he also almost killed the SRX Team on the way). After the DC's defeat, Shuu vanishes and only appears a few times in the Inspector Wars. He somehow returns more occasionally in the wake of the ODE Incident, takes out some Mirongas and ends up helping the EFA for OG Gaiden. When it's over, Shuu reveals his intention: he wants to test out how strong the EFA is, so he taps into Volkruss' power and turns the Granzon into the Neo Granzon, and attacks the team. He is defeated, but in the face of death, he is satisfied they could defeat the Neo Granzon, leaving Masaki to somehow cry at his loss upon his death.But really, he doesn't die just like that. The forces of Volkruss revives him without his memories. However, it's all going according to Shuu's plan: he was to break free from Volkruss' influence, so he had the team kill him at first (since he can't kill himself), and now his resurrection annuls his link with Volkruss, he can do whatever he likes, slaying the god itself. He succeeds and occasionally joins forces with Masaki, on good terms this time.In Revelation of Evil God, the true reason as to why Shu killed Zeoroot is finally revealed: the Zenosakis clan is cursed to forever be the vessels of Volkruss and Shu tried to stop anyone else from being in the same situation as Shu has been. Sadly, it is revealed that Zeoroot's biological daughter Presia still carries the curse, meaning that Shu failed. However, in the good ending, Shuu does not kill Presia like he did Zeoroot because, Masaki and the other Elemental Lords save her and purge Presia of the curse.Like Masaki, he manages to get himself a harem in the form of the stripperiffic Saphine "Zeora Volkruss" Grace and Princess Monica Gran Bilseia, though he does not return their feelings and would rather tease Masaki A LOT. He and the Granzon/Neo Granzon embodies these tropes:
