Classic Timeline: 1 | 2, 3, 4/F/Final
Classic Subseries: Masou Kishin | Compati Hero Series
Alpha Saga: Alpha/Shin/Super Hero Sakusen | Alpha Gaiden | 2nd Alpha | 3rd Alpha
Compact Series: Compact 2/Impact | Compact 3 | MX
Z Saga: Z | 2nd Z | 3rd Z | Walking Spoilers
Nintendo Handheld Series: A | R | D | J | W | K | L | UX | BX
VTX Trilogy: V | X | T
Other Standalones: 64 | GC | NEO | OE | X-Ω | DD | 30
Original Generation Saga: Steel Dragon Battle Group | Earth Federation | Enemy Factions | Civilians and Walking Spoilers | Endless Frontier
This page is an index for characters who appear throughout the Super Robot Wars Z saga. Due to the large number of individuals, this sheet comprises of those who make their debut in the original Z.
ZEUTH
One of two halves of "Beater Services", a mechanic service, Rand Travis is the male protagonist of Super Robot Wars Z. A huge guy at 27 years-old (according to his official profile) with a good sense of humor, he is looking for his missing master Cielo Beater, and assisted by his master's daughter Mel Beater. He's known as "The Crusher" after his tendency to destroy more things than he fixes, an In-Series Nickname he doesn't take so well. Being in the late-twenties, Rand has a lot of experience in dealing with all sorts of people, which is why he sort of tolerates Asakim Dowin, despite the atrocities he commits against Setsuko Ohara, and offers genuine, heartfelt support to her following those encounters with Asakim. He pilots the Gunleon, a GaoGaiGar-like mecha carrying a huge wrench and an assortment of spanners, nailguns and chainsaws with which he can trash his enemies just as efficiently as he can repair damaged allies. During Rengoku-hen, he pilots the Ranbolt Leon, a customized construction machine,note before reobtaining the Gunleon.
- Attack Backfire: The Sphere of the "Wounded Lion" is best against the Sphere of the "Covetous Golden Ox" wielded by Straus because the former draws its power via pain. In Tengoku-hen, when Straus starts absorbing the power of the Gunleon, she feels Rand's pain.
- Badass Normal: Rand's not a Sphere Reactor like Setsuko or Mel, but he still kicks much ass. It's pretty much required of him, since Mel is too inexperienced to be piloting a machine.
- The Berserker: The Gunleon's strongest attack could best be described as the machine ripping the enemy apart in a feral rage.
- Berserker Tears: Of course, because it doesn't actually LIKE fighting, this is the result. The attack ends with Rand and Mel consoling it, assuring it that it's not alone.
- Berserk Button: Don't call him "The Crusher," lest you feel his wrath. He does eventually let up, on the basis that the gag had already run its course.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Not him, but the Gunleon; it's pretty powerful for a humble repair mecha. Turns out the reason for this is the Sphere of the Wounded Lion manifested within it in an attempt to avoid being used as a weapon of war. This is why the Gunleon, and by extension Rand, tend to destroy more than they repair.
- It gets even better: Cielo found an ancient Super Robot and repurposed it to be a repair-based mecha. It seems the Wounded Lion is terrible at choosing where it manifests itself.
- BFS: Big Fragging WRENCH.
- The Bus Came Back: He and Mel return in the Second Super Robot Wars Z: Saisei-hen, alongside Setsuko.
- Chainsaw Good: Gunleon's "Chain Decutter"
- Combat Medic: The Gunleon can repair allied units; in Z, it automatically heals units paired up in the same squad with it by a small amount per turn. This marks the first time a protagonist mecha in SRW is equipped with an innate-healing ability. Later, it gets the ability to resupply ammo and energy.
- Cool Old Guy: Not really old (he's only 27), but mature enough that he hangs out with other guys with this label, including Gain Bijou, Roger Smith, Holland Novak, and Jamil Neate.
- Cursed with Awesome: The Wounded Lion is easily the Sphere with the least drawbacks, since it only tortures Rand to give it power when needed for the "Pain Shout" and "The Heat Crusher" attacks. The Sphere is willingly holding back the usual Blessed with Suck, otherwise Rand would be living in constant agony.
- Crutch Character: In contrast to Setsuko in the first game, Rand is a crutch that players lean on during the early stages of the game. Has powerful attacks, size L, naturally acquires a level 9 Prevailnote , can repair and resupply itself, and if players are willing, can get to level 99 if players are willing to do the repair grind trick. He also has a sub pilot that allows him to supplement his weaknesses. Unfortunately, he can't kill enemies fast enough unlike Setsuko late-game, some of the better spirit commands are with Mel whose SP cannot be upgraded, and his Final Boss fight is harder than Setsuko's.
- Dirty Old Man: Again, 27 isn't actually that old, but he still likes to use the UN (Universal Network) like most of us do...
- Empathic Weapon: The Gunleon CRIES during The Heat Crusher animation (also counts as Berserker Tears).
- Expy: Lion-themed mecha? Uses construction tools as weapons and has a really BIG one as its most powerful weapon? Associated with/powered by a green-colored energy source? Check, check, and check.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Him and Mel
- Improbable Weapon User: A giant spanner, mini-spanners, nailguns, chainsaw blades and spanner-nunchucks??
- Leitmotif: "Land Crusher"; following a certain event, Makenaize! Gunleon ("Don't Lose! Gunleon")
- Made of Iron: Activating the Gunleon's "Magna Mode" is not a pleasant experience for Rand, because it's literally powered by physical pain. However, he'll just shake it off like nothing happened and keep fighting. Lampshaded by Rand with one of his battle quotes, "Gunleon! My pain won't lose to you!"
- By the sequels, after using Pain Shouter, Rand will sometimes say along the lines of "Phew! Glad that's over". By Rengoku-Hen, he's mastered the ability enough to be able to permanently activate Magna Mode.
- Meaningful Name: His machine likely refers to the constellation and zodiac of Leo, to which the Wounded Lion is also a reference to it.
- Mighty Glacier: Gunleon, in classic Super Robot tradition, focuses on power and armor, with the added bonus of being able to repair itself.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: In Tengoku-hen, Rand and Mel introduce themselves and, predictably, Mel's declaration of her betrothal to Rand causes a bad reaction. Clouseau and Kurz look at Rand in disgust, with the latter having the gall to accuse Rand of having no moral fibre. Rand sighs, saying that he'll clarify things later.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In Saisei-hen, he gets attacked by a berserking Crowe Broust, and counters with his usual methods, leaing to a completely trashed Brasta. Just to add to the event, Rand will say something along the line of "Oops".
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Rand seems like the kind of person to use brute force for everything. Sara Kodama even comments in Z she can't tell if he's an idiot or a freaking genius. One of his many moments of this is how he gets himself out of trouble in the beginning of the Exodus. One of the best showcasing of this for Rand is when he catches onto Löwen General's true colors pretty early and isn't surprised at all by his betrayal, noting Löwen wasn't fooling anyone after appearing to be Rand's friend.
- Odd Friendship: With Roger Smith. Rand's a casual, goofy repairman in a tank top, while Roger's a formal, professional negotiator in a fancy black suit. Nonetheless, the two get along quite well, with Roger being the only one of Rand's "old man buddies" to be present in all of his appearances.
- Red Baron: He likes to call himself "The Heat," though most people refer to him as "The Crusher", which really sets him off.
- Sacrifai refers to him as "Verchiel the Heat".
Verchiel is the angel that represents Leo.
- Sacrifai refers to him as "Verchiel the Heat".
- Running Gag: Whenever somebody sees his trademark "Heat Smile", expect them to comment on how "stuffy" it is.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: The Gunleon's wrench turns into a pincer claw with a ramming drillbit in the center for its The Heat Crusher attack.
- Super Mode: Using the Sphere of the Wounded Lion, the Gunleon transforms into its Magna Mode to perform Pain Shout and The Heat Crusher. In Tengoku-hen, this ability is permanently activated.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: During the "Riot Wrench" attack in Tengoku-hen, players see the cockpit of the Gunleon as if they were Rand. A bell chime, notes and a picture of Rand and Mel decorate the interior, while things like a water bottle, pillow, shrine charm and a Gunleon doll are seen bouncing around as the Gunleon hammers on the enemy
.
Rand's sidekick and co-pilot of the Gunleon, as well as its owner, Mel is the other half of "Beater Services"; her father Cielo was Rand's mentor. Tropes related to her include:
- A-Cup Angst: She's not too well endowed, much to her dismay. She's the same even after her true age is restored in the ending of Z. The only change is her hair...
- Back from the Dead: Thanks to the Sphere of the Wounded Lion
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: Mel creates a cult in Rengoku-Hen that chants "Gan Gan Leon, Ganleon..."
- Can't Grow Up: A side effect of her coming Back from the Dead
- Childhood Marriage Promise: For her, anyways; Rand agrees to marry her once her hair reaches her shoulders.
- Disappeared Dad: Cielo vanished four years before the start of Z. According to Mel, he got caught in the same kind of dimensional warp that brought Garrod Ran to the Gallian Continent. He's only seen in flashbacks and when Xine Espio was disguising as him throughtout Z. Mel hopes she will be reunited with him one day. In the Second Super Robot Wars Z: Hakai-hen, he makes an unexpected cameo appearance, provided the player can find him, as the man who hands over the Auto-Repair Machine Parts to Crowe.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Technically she's 16, and in the ending, her body grows to match her real age. See She Is All Grown Up for more.
- Really 700 Years Old: A side effect of her coming Back from the Dead.
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: Inverted; a good chunk of the cast tries to convince her Rand is her surrogate paternal figure and not her love interest. She won't have any of that.
- She Is All Grown Up: Averted; the only difference in her appearance is that her hair grows, and between the end of Z and Super Robot Wars Z: Special Disk, she cuts it. Sure, they try to justify it in-story, but we all know the real reason.
- Spell My Name With An S: Variously referred to as "Mel Peter/Beater", "Mail Beater/Peter", "Mare Peter/Beater" and even Male Beater.
- Token Mini-Moe:
Word of God states she's intended to counterbalance Rand since he's older than the average SRW protagonist. - You Can't Fight Fate: Not so much fate, but the Wounded Lion tried to avoid the Holy War by not choosing a battle-hungry Sphere Reactor and manifesting itself in a repair-based mecha instead of a combat-based machine. The plan would've worked, until Mel was killed in combat and Cielo passed it on to her to save her life.
Female protagonist of Z, Setsuko's an orphan thanks to her parents' death via the Colony Drops, and was drafted into the Titans and placed in the "Glory Star" squad under Denzel Hammer and Toby Watson. She has a rather timid, quiet and demure attitude, making her question her purpose as a Titan, and indirectly making herself and the rest of the team the Titan's go-to Butt Monkeys. While out on a training mission in the new Virgora mecha, Glory Star become embroiled in a skirmish with the AEUG's Quattro Bajeena and Kamille Bidan. In the confusion, Setsuko mysteriously transports herself, Toby and Denzel into another world.
While finding out what's going on, Setsuko encounters the enigmatic Asakim, and everything starts going downhill, as her first experience with him was his unceremonious murder of Denzel. If that isn't enough, he later kills Toby in front of her, beats her up and possibly rapes her (we aren't sure due to a scene change). If that still isn't enough, Asakim arranges a meeting between Setsuko and the Alternate Universe versions of Toby and Denzel, only to see that Asakim has convinced them she's their enemy. It turns out Setsuko possesses the Sphere of the "Sorrowful Maiden", which grows more powerful the sadder she gets, and Asakim seeks to awaken its true potential by tormenting her. It's also the thing responsible for transporting her randomly throughout the dimensions. She resolves to thwart Asakim's ambitions (and later the Chimera Battalion), but discovers the more she uses the Sphere's power, the more she's losing herself: first her sense of taste, then her sight...poor girl.
Setsuko pilots the Virgora, formerly one of three test units, each with specific weaponry and combat roles, but gathers up/unlocks all weapon outloads for one. Later, it's upgraded a second time to the Virgora Glory. She pilots the Eicross Custom, based the Eicross machine developed by Axion Foundation, during the earlier parts of Rengoku-hen before obtaining her final machine, the Virgora Glory S.
- BFG: Virgora's primary weapon is the "Gunnery Carver."
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Surprisingly enough, she can be one. Hibiki gets the brunt of it after he asks her to train him.
- Downer Ending: All three of them in Z. She dies in the bad ending, and it's implied that she won't last long in the normal and good ending either, with the only difference being she finally joins those alternate universe versions of Denzel and Toby in the latter. Thankfully, the sequels manage to avoid this.
- Blessed with Suck: A Sphere gives awesome power with the right emotions. Her emotional trigger? DESPAIR
- Break the Cutie: Done lots of times by Asakim. It's pretty much his sole purpose in her version of the story.
- Cool Big Sis: Acts as a supportive older sister figure to a few characters, including Esther.
- Custom Uniform: Played with, since it's not technically true - the Titans wear a set outfit and it doesn't look particularly impressive from their 1985 origin, and remain as such in these games. Although the Glory Star are part of the Titans, they're drawn in the modern style, thus making their uniforms look a bit better.
- Dude Magnet: Quite a few guys show interest in her.
- Earn Your Happy Ending:
- At the end of the first game, she's united with the Alternate Universe versions of Toby and Denzel, and the three recreate the Glory Star.
- With the Spheres gone at the end of Tengoku-hen, she no longer has to worry about the Sorrowful Maiden causing negative effects on her body.
- Glass Cannon: Powerful attacks, the very useful "High Straight Turret" MAP attack, and a squad leader bonus that gives more attack power to her ranged weapons. Unfortunately, she has some problems dodging attacks.
- Heroic RRoD: The more she uses her Sphere, the more she loses herself.
- Hopeless Suitor: She had a crush on Toby, who was already engaged.
- It's Personal: After Asakim does...things to her, she's really pissed off.
- Leitmotif: "The Right Stuff" for the Glory Star team; once the Virgora Glory is acquired, "The Wings Which Wipe Away Tears."
- Leg Focus: Generally averted; while Setsuko's legs were supposed to be the prominent feature of her design, they can't be seen during conversations due to how cutscenes only show a character's upper body. Even her pilot cut-in for "The Glory Star" chooses to instead focus on her large chest that only gets bouncier as the series goes on. The only time they're given any attention is during her pilot cut-in when piloting the Eicross Custom during Rengoku-hen.
- Like Brother and Sister: She maintains close platonic relationships with both Kamille Bidan and Shinn Asuka. Her bond with the latter is especially pronounced, with the two frequently supporting one another throughout the Z saga. Notably, Setsuko is the only ZEUTH member barring Kamille that Shinn is visibly hesitant to fight against should he side with Chairman Gilbert Durandal in the first game. This also leads to Shinn being incredibly protective of her, which leads to his strong grudge against Asakim, due to how the latter hurts Setsuko.
- Magikarp Power: Her entire route is this compared to Rand's as her route has a lot of characters who aren't quite up to par compared to Rand's characters. However, most of her characters can get to level 99 easily just by using the MAP attacks of the battle ships to attack allies and repair themselves. Plus, she has an easier final boss compared to Rand.
- Meaningful Name: See Spell My Name With An S below. She holds the Sphere of the Sorrowful Maiden and is the pilot of the Virgora, both arguably fitting well with the constellation and zodiac of Virgo.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: The Virgora Custom, which gets several attacks over the course of the game via a perverse version of Mega Manning, wherein what it acquires are the signature moves of the mecha of her dead teammates (the Custom itself being Denzel's unit with the left arm from Setsuko's unit). The Virgora Glory plays with this by initially being a simple Mecha Expansion Pack (that broke the Virgora's primary weapon to boot!) before it's augmented by her Sphere. Finally, Sidereal in Tengoku-hen gives the machine its last upgrade into the Virgora Glory S.
- Mistaken for Romance: With Hibiki Kamishiro and Shinn Asuka at different points in Tengoku-hen:
- During an early mission, she volunteers to partner-up with Hibiki to investigate some interstellar ruins. Given Hibiki's reputation for being popular with older women, Shinn, being the overprotective little brother figure that he is, immediately gets worried that she's become charmed, which isn't helped by Hibiki's own comments.
- Her relationship with Shinn is apparently so close that Lunamaria Hawke, Shinn's actual girlfriend, outright asks if he's in love with Setsuko. He's thus forced to clarify that his feelings towards the Setsuko aren't romantic in nature; he's mostly just grateful towards her, as he thinks that he'd be a much worse person if it wasn't for her influence on him.
- Red Baron: Sacrifai refers to her as "Hamaliel the Star." Hamaliel is the angel that represents Virgo.
- Say My Name: In Z, if Asakim hits her with an attack that will almost kill her:Setsuko: ASAKIM DOWIIIIIIIIN!
- Ship Tease: Saisei-hen' lays it on heavy with her and Crow, to the point of her being the only girl he seemingly reciprocates. It was subsequently dropped in Tengoku-hen'', though.
- Shrinking Violet: She was portrayed as shy and reserved during the early portion of her story.
- Sparkling Stream of Tears: It's actually used to upgrade her mecha and part of the Virgora's attack animation.
- Spell My Name With An S: To the way it's written in Japanese, it was assumed for a while that her machine was named "Balgora". According to the artbook "OG Secret Hangar", however, it's supposed to be spelled as "Virgora", lifting this up to Meaningful Name.
- Sweet Tooth: She loves desserts, only to be played tragically, since she loses her sense of taste after the Sorrowful Maiden awakens.
- Trauma Conga Line: Probably the poster girl for SRW
- Unwitting Pawn: The things she does actually further Asakim's goals...
- Wave-Motion Gun: Virgora Glory's "The Glory Star" and the MAP "High Straight Turret".
- Ace Pilot: Worth mentioning is he was this in a previous squad before he joined the Glory Star.
- Papa Wolf
- Real Men Wear Pink: In one of the Z gag comics, Setsuko gets harassed by Titans members Jerid Messa and Kakricon Kacooler, culminating in the two of them forcing her to don a Playboy Bunny outfit. When it looks like things are going to go further downhill, Denzel and Toby appear to save the day...by wearing their◊ own bunny outfits◊.
Chimera
A special operations unit of the New Earth Federation headed by Colonel, later, Brigadier General Edel Bernal, their mission is to unite the chaotic world after the dimensional collapse, but are also intent on ruling the world as a totalitarian dictatorship by controlling all information through the Universal Network (read: the Internet). Using the UN, they feed ZEUTH false information about each other in an attempt to trick them into destroying one another. Naturally, it becomes clear the Chimera are the primary antagonists of Z.
Tropes common to multiple members of the Chimera are:
- Leitmotif: "The Lion Bears Its Blades" for Löwen, ""Set A Snake Upon Evil's Trail" for Schlan Opel, "The Demonic Goat's Allure" for Xine, "The Puppet's Eye-God" for Edel Bernal and "Chimera" for The Edel Bernal
- Theme Naming: Each member's name is in German, while the name of their mecha are in Latin and contains the word "chaos".
A very dedicated soldier of the Chimera, Löwen has issues against hitting women and fighting them on the battlefield, less out of misogyny and more out of chivalry. Calling himself "The Young Lion of the Chimera", he pilots the Chaos Leo, a mecha that looks like a man wearing lion hide with vicious melee attacks. As the Chimera reveal their true colours, so does Löwen: he despises women, and believes the only woman who should be allowed to exist is his commander Edel Bernal, whom he worships like a goddess. The reason for this is the vague explanation of "I was betrayed by women before". Löwen dies pathetically screaming out Edel Bernal's name as his Chaos Leo is destroyed. Löwen embodies these tropes:
- Bait the Dog: Oooh, a heroic Bishōnen!...Wait, he's a what now?
- Meaningful Name: Löwen is German for "lion"; naturally, Leo is obviously Latin for "lion".
- The Mole: For CHIMERA when he is with ZEUTH.
- Playing with Fire: His Chaos Leo's strongest attack involves a lot of it.
- Kiai: Yells a lot, especially after he reveals he's batshit insane.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Variation; in his final appearance, he goes all-out in the proud warrior part, complete with war paint◊ on his face.
- Spell My Name With An S: Is it "Löwen" or "Reuben" or "Raven" or "Levin"?
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Even his gameplay mechanics reflect this - 20% more damage to males, 20% less damage to girls. After The Reveal, he's MORE than willing to hit a girl, and gains a 20% damage boost when attacking women, making him a He-Man Woman Hater.
A member of the Chimera and Löwen's closest friend, Schlan is a highly professional, skilled pilot, and a very cunning man specializing in data collection and intel. Unlike Löwen, Schlan never joins ZEUTH officially, so the player never gets to use his machine Chaos Anguis (until Z: Special Disk), a humanoid mecha with a pulse rifle that can transform into a giant cobra. When the Chimera's true intentions are shown, so does Schlan, who admits he's a cold, sadistic killer that does not panic even when he loses, only remarking he has gathered valuable data. He still values his friendship with Löwen though, and they truly do have a lot of affection for each other. Imagine his disappointment when he learns although Löwen might hate most women, he does not have interest in the other sex, either. This is because Schlan has a gay crush on Löwen, and really goes towards the deep end after Löwen dies. He is killed soon afterwards by ZEUTH.
Schlan is primarily responsible for feeding the false intel that almost caused ZEUTH to destroy itself, and he likes to gloat about it a lot. Schlan embodies these tropes:
- Meaningful Name: Schlan is derived from "schlange'', German for "snake"; Anguis is the genus name for slow worms, legless lizards rather than snakes, thus the choice of name either reflects the similarity to the word "anguish" or is a silly mistake on Banpresto's part.
- Smug Snake: Literally and figuratively
- Spell My Name With An S: Is it "Schlan" or "Shuran"? Take your pick; also, is it "Opel" or "Oper" or "Opal"?
- Transforming Mecha: The Chaos Anguis can separate its body parts and recombine them into a gigantic cobra form.
An ex-leader of a Windam squad that supposedly gets itself wiped out due to a freak explosion thanks to the "Break The World" event (In Name Only from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny; Z uses it from Super Dimension Century Orguss), Xine is the Sole Survivor and is found by the Chimera; without much to do, she aligns with them, is given a mecha and for the first part of Z acts as a bitch towards ZEUTH. However, it's revealed she's simply lonely (as the members of her old unit are indeed dead, but are entombed within the Scab Coral that's spreading across the planet) and has nowhere to go. If the player is lucky, they can convince her to desert the Chimera. She falls in love with Asakim and madly blushes (Squicky or not: you decide) whenever he's around. Asakim later abandons her, but tells her to live free.
She pilots the Chimera-made mecha Chaos Capra (which she nicknames "Eliphas") that resembles...well, what happens when Lamia Loveless' Angelg gets a Hot as Hell redesign. She embodies these tropes:
- BFS: Big Fragging SPEAR
- Broken Bird: The 'Break The World' event utterly broke the otherwise normal piloting lady that she was that she became a bitter woman lashing out against the world and joining the Chimera for it.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Xine first appears as a female mook with a generic mook portrait that attacks Kei Katsuragi. The only way to tell it's her is through her voice.
- High-Heel–Face Turn: Being the only member of Chimera who survives, and the only woman outside of Edel in the squad to do so
- I Call It "Vera": "Eliphas" appears to be the In-Series Nickname Xine gave to her Chaos Capra, in much the same way Ratsel Feinschmecker calls every mecha he uses "Trombe".
- Meaningful Name: The Chaos Capra fits with the Latin Theme Naming of the Chimera, with Capra being the genus name for wild goats, such as Ibex. Xine may be derived from ziege, the German word for "goat" (but given a more feminine-sounding phoneme at the end), though there's no confirmation for the latter.
- Ms. Fanservice: Xine has one of the biggest chests of any Super Robot Wars original female character,note and her default outfit leaves almost nothing to the imagination.
- Only Sane Man: In between the Chimera squadron, Xine carried the least baggage. Being a bitter Broken Bird would look sane when compared to an super devoted Ax-Crazy woman-hating ass that is Lowen, a super submissive gay Uke that masquerades as a cold calculating man that is Schlan, and the serene-on-the-outside, Control Freak bitch on the inside that is Edel, and for good measure, the sadistic, manipulative edgelord that is Asakim.
- Shout-Out: The Eliphas might be a small shout to Eliphas Levi, a French author of the occult and self-proclaimed magician.
- Spell My Name With An S: Is it "Xine" or "Tsine"?
- Stripperiffic: She wears friggin' lingerie as her default getup.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Of all the major originals who survived Z, she's the only one to not make the cut into the Second Z; even Mel's father shows up for a cameo. On the other hand, Marguerite Pistail serves as a loose Expy of her in Hakai-hen and Saisei-hen.
- Unfortunately, thanks to some Fridge Brilliance/Fridge Horror in Saisei-hen, we find out Asakim has the Sphere of the Truth-Seeking Goat stolen from a "curious girl", the implication that Xine was originally a Sphere Reactor and he may have killed her to acquire it.
- The end of Jigoku-hen, however, hinted she may be Back for the Finale. The Bus Came Back after all, with Xine reappearing in Tengoku-hen. Moreover, she isn't a Sphere Reactor; however, she was unknowingly set up by The Edel Bernal to steal the Truth-Seeking Goat, but Asakim got to it first.
- Unfortunately, thanks to some
A beautiful woman with a demeanor that would make the Virgin Mary seem smutty, Edel Bernal's the young leader of Chimera, with the rank of Colonel at first, later promoted to Brigadier General. She had a lover who died a while ago during some unspecified war, likes wild and macho men, drinks a rose/chamomile blend tea, and wears a negligee at night (information courtesy of That Other Wiki). Her personality and position made her a natural maternal figure for the chaotic world after the dimensional collapse, and Edel's determined to bring about an era of peace and stability following the bloodshed of the wars...
...At least, she would like for you to think that: Edel's actually an ultra-bitch who considers herself God's gift to humanity and superior to everybody else. She would have loved nothing more than to take her "rightful" place as absolute ruler of the world. Obviously, ZEUTH wouldn't have any of this, and proceeds to overthrow her, even while the entire world's fed propaganda painting them as terrorists. Edel's eventually pushed back and attempts to kill Eureka in order to take ZEUTH down with her. Imagine to everyone's surprise when "The Black Charisma" appears in a Lemures and unceremoniously kills her.
Edel Bernal pilots the Lemures, the pinnacle of Chimera technology (at least, what she assumed was the peak). She embodies these tropes:
- The Brigadier: Figuratively, literally, and subverted at the same time!
- Colonel Badass: Again, figuratively and literally; she's a pretty decent pilot, and it takes some balls to take over the world.
- Evil Counterpart: To Dianna Solel and Lacus Clyne
- Foreshadowing: Blink or miss it: Edel always calms down almost instantly even at her sanest or worst whenever Professor Tsieeh utters in a most perverted manner "I LOVE YOOOUUU!!" and does the next line Tsieeh said. This seems to imply that Tsieeh has some control over Edel, even if no one admitted it. Turns out, Tsieeh is just a form of The Edel Bernal, Edel creator and specifically set up that word to be his 'control word', and he only used it rarely because he has a fetish of being dominated/abused.
- The Heavy: The Edel Bernal is the Big Bad, but most of the bad things that happen in-story are on her part.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Part one of the Lemures' "Promised Millennium"
- Meaningful Name: Edel is German for "noble, gentle, regal"; Lemures is Latin for "malicious/restless spirit"
- Mood Whiplash: Twice - once after The Reveal and the other as she's forced to happily do things like twirl three times and bark and dance in the middle of the final battle by The Edel Bernal.
- This Is a Drill: Part two of the Lemures' Promised Millennium
- Tomato in the Mirror: All of her desires, memories and personality traits were pre-programmed in by The Edel Bernal. She's also forced to follow any command given by The Edel after he says "I LOVE YOU!"
- Trauma Conga Line: How she died. Right after The Edel appeared, he proceeded to tell her about the whole thing being Tomato in the Mirror (see above), and for good measure, she's told to do silly dance and barking like a dog with the command phrase, and The Edel also pointed out that if any of her subjects sees that, her whole charisma to the public are going down the drain, and at least the whole ZEUTH saw that firsthand. This would've been enough to drive her to let out one final defiant attack in anger, and predictably, The Edel Bernal disposed her easily, in complete humiliation.
- Villainous Breakdown: It's pretty satisfying to see her slowly but surely lose her smug air as you whittle down the Hit Points of the her Lemures until she's screaming and desperately pleading for an explanation as to why she's losing.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Part three of the Lemures' Promised Millennium
Others
A mysterious man clad in black, Asakim seems to be one of his own agenda. Noted for his sadistic, psychopathic tendencies, he seemingly targets Setsuko to make her suffer and gain something from her dimensional gate opening capabilities. He also uses Rand for his own benefits later, though for some reason in Rand's story, he comes off as amiable towards him.
Asakim reappears in Hakai-hen as the only recurring Z original. He assists new protagonist Crowe in the first half of the game from time to time, as all of the characters are from a different setting from Z and they don't know anything about Asakim. He tries a similar plan he previously attempted with Rand by getting close to Crowe, then stabbing him in the back later. Fortunately, he's stopped preemptively when members of ZEUTH make an appearance in the ZEXIS world, and Amuro Ray immediately attacks and drives him off, and proceeds to inform Crowe of his atrocities against Rand and Setsuko. He reappears in Saisei-hen after realizing the Sphere he obtained from Aim Liard was a fake and destroys Aim by using his own Sphere of the "Truth-Seeking Goat'', making him unable to resurrect himself from death, while Uther Insaraum, the King of Restoration, finishes Aim for good.
If there's anything to note, Asakim's almost the antithesis of Masaki Andoh: Emo instead of Hot-Blooded, evil instead of good...and there's his mecha Shurouga, considered the "Anti-Cybuster": clad in black, has similar moves ("Discutter" to "Discalibur" (and "Vanity Ripper" to "Integral Discalibur"), "Cyflash" to "Embrace the Inferno", "Hi-Familiar" to "Tragic Genocider" (and "Tragic Carnager"), "Discutter: Ranbu no Tachi" to "Rumbling Discalibur", "Akashic Buster" to "Ley Buster", and "Cosmo Nova" to "Genosic Nova"), but darker and more sadistic. Tropes associated with him and the Shurouga are:
- Cannot Tell a Lie: More of a "Villains Never Lie"; during Z, he always reveals his intentions even to his victims. Turns out in Saisei-hen, he's the bearer of the Sphere of the Truth-Seeking Goat, which prevents him from lying.
- Emo: Crossed with Death Seeker - since Asakim cannot die, he's after the Sorrowful Maiden and Wounded Lion so he can finally end his life.
- Enemy Mine: During the first raid of Wrath Babylon in Tengoku-hen, Amuro insists Z-BLUE support Asakim, given this is their only chance, despite protests from Setsuko and younger members.
- Evil Counterpart: To Masaki, if only on a Metaverse level. His first name's even a Significant Anagram of Masaki's (his surname, however, is a phonetic anagram, though no one can agree on how to spell it...)
- Evil Laugh: He does a grand one on occasion during the Shurouga's attacks.
- Expy: 'Natch; strangely, he doesn't have a Shu Shirakawa counterpart. The Moon Dwellers hints that he might be the genuine article after all ...since Cybuster uses Negative Energy as fuel now.
- Friendly Enemy: His polite demeanor toward Rand doesn't cease after his true colors are revealed. Likewise, he seems to have quite a bit of respect for Crowe. Flat out averted with Setsuko, who despises him for good reason.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Zigzagged between outright hostility and assisting the heroes against a common foe in Z and the Second Z. By the end of Tengoku-hen, enough has revealed about his origins that he edges out as a Face.
- Hero Killer: Kills Denzel and Toby in Z, Uther in Saisei-hen
- Hot Wings: Seen during the Shurouga's "Ley Buster"
- Instant Runes: Creates them during the Shurouga's Rumbling Discalibur and Ley Buster. Closer examination reveals the Shurouga cuts its palm open to provide the "ink".
- Karma Houdini: Played with in Saisei-hen until Tengoku-hen fully averts this when he's sacrificed to create the Supreme God Z.
- Ley Lines: Shurouga's Ley Buster, if only In Name Only, as the attack itself prefers rune-filled circles.
- Leitmotif: "Black Stranger"
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Shurouga Sin in Tengoku-hen
- Pet the Dog: Abandons Xine, but leaves a message for her to live on her own will so she can be happy; in Rand's story, he can be convinced to help ZEUTH fight the Big Bad.
- The Punishment: He calls himself an "accursed wanderer"; he's immortal due to some form of punishment, unwillingly tossed about between universes like a leaf in the wind. While he refers to his situation as a punishment (implying a punisher), Asakim may simply be melodramatic about it, especially since the cast of the Z series are also "accursed wanderers" according to him, and are now subject to the same rules he is (even immortality).
- Robotic Reveal: The real pilot of the Shurouga died long ago; the machine's simply been projecting a pilot into existence.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: In the Final Battle with Holy Advent in Tengoku-hen, having been sacrificed to become a part of the Supreme God Z, Asakim is able to fight from the inside and prevent the Supreme God from regenerating.
- Villainous Rescue: Asakim will occasionally lend a hand to the heroes when they are having a hard time, but then again he is properly up to something.
- Wild Mass Guessing: Overloaded; even the Ley Buster attack alone invokes too much guessing. It features the likes of Shu's Neo Granzon firing the "Shukutaihou", the version of the Cybuster from the obscure Shin Masou Kishin: Panzer Warfare dueling the Shurouga, a silhouette of Crowe standing in the streets (you can recognize him if you closely examine the jacket's strap: apparently, Banpresto foreshadowed his appearance) and two women theorized to be a play on Masaki's familiar cats given human form.
- Taken further in the ending of Tengoku-hen: if the implication the Z universe precedes the Original Generation universe, and that Masaki is a Reincarnation of Asakim cleansed of his evil, the images seen in the Ley Buster attack aren't visions of the past, but that of the future. Further reinforced with Asakim's final line of dialogue in the game.
"The wind is calling me, that voice I heard once before."note - Willfully Weak: Whenever he's playable, the Ley Buster cannot be used, presumably because mind-raping his enemies in front of ZEUTH would make him even more Obviously Evil. Unless you recruit him in Rand's final scenario, you'll finally be able to use it, since Asakim has nothing left to hide at that point.
The Edel Bernal is an amalgamation of three different identities taken on by the same being: "Jie Babel", a hideous looking Mad Scientist working for the Chimera who gets off from being beaten by Edel Bernal, "The Black Charisma", a mysterious masked man who goes from place to place to manipulate events to an indefinite goal and "The Edel Bernal", a blue-haired Bishōnen. The Edel Bernal caused the dimensional collapse and various wars resulting from that for one and only one purpose: he thought it would be really fun. To that end, he's defeated and dies happy with no regrets, laughing all the way after having the time of his life.
...at least until he reappears again after ZEUTH believes he's defeated for good, and the confrontation between him and the protagonist at this point incites a reaction between their mecha's respective power sources that ultimately destroys his soul.
Being a Reactor of an artificially-created Sphere, derived from analysis of a real one in the chosen protagonist's mecha, The Edel Bernal has the ability to play with the "Origin Law", thus incorporate versions of himself from alternate realities, as well as summon them. He pilots the Chaos Lemures, the pinnacle of the Chaos machines the Chimera use and, depending on who the main character is, will either be fought as one enemy with large HP and an endless supply of mooks or three enemies with slightly less HP that must be defeated in the same turn. The Edel Bernal embodies these tropes:
- Ascended Fanboy: Many of his pre-battle comments are deliberate Shout Outs to his opponents' nicknames and catchphrases.
- Back from the Dead: Sort of; returns in the Second Z as Elgan Laudic and the Third Z as incarnations Ambriel and AG.
- Big Bad: Of Z. At least at that time. Arguably he's the Big Good all the time.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Euzeth Gozzo; both characters went mad at learning the Awful Truth, yet they spiral into polar opposites. Whereas Euzeth carefully manipulates all the important events in Super Robot Wars Alpha either directly or using his pawns as proxies for a greater scheme, The Edel simply wants to watch and experience an interdimensional trainwreck as entertainment.
- Crazy-Prepared: He's actually preparing to fight the Angels all the time. The Chimera team, his Chaos Lemures, Genion......the list goes on.
- Evil Counterpart: Of Elgan
- Faux Affably Evil: A lot of SRW adepts actually love this villain, even if he makes men like Ali Al-Saachez seem stable by comparison.
- For the Evulz: Lives, breathes, talks and walks it
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Saisei-hen reveals the reason for The Edel's insanity was because he learned of the Black Knowledge, the knowledge of the calamity that will destroy the entire universe.
- Gratuitous English:
- "GO TO DARK HEAVEN!" "SPECIAL PRESENT FOR YOU!" "WELCOME TO MY WONDERFUL WORLD!"
- "THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" "Yes, Baby!" "Please, hit me more, PLEASE!". We could go on for ages, seriously.
- Hero Killer: If he manages to kill Eureka in his final fight, the Downer Ending route will trigger.
- Karma Houdini:
- Causes suffering and misery on a global scale due to the wars his machinations result in. What does he get in return? The opportunity to die while having the time of his life with no regrets, whatsoever. What a bastard...
- Averted in the normal and good endings, when he tries to pull the "greatest climax" by killing Kei and Olson D. Verne, until the chosen protagonist intercepts him, and their Sphere's response within proximity of The Edel's duplicate is to absorb it, along with The Edel's soul. The Edel Bernal screams as his soul is extinguished, knowing his ideal world of chaos will soon end. Take that!
- Large Ham: When compared to other SRW original villains, The Edel most certainly is.
- Man Behind the Man: See Tomato in the Mirror in Edel Bernal's entry
- Mad Artist: Refers to himself as the "Artist of Genesis"
- Me's a Crowd: There are an infinite number of The Edel entities among all dimensions. The thing they have in common is each have touched the Black Knowledge and are affected by it in different ways. The Edel of the UCW snapped and decided to make a world of chaos since everything was going down the proverbial drain, while his ACW counterpart created ZEXIS to form a force capable of averting the Bad Future. Ambriel in Tengoku-hen conspired to steal the Sphere of the "Quarreling Twins" for herself.
- Spell My Name With An S, but closely tied to Spell My Name with a "The": It's The Edel Bernal, dammit, not "Ji Adel Banel"! He even explains he's the real Edel Bernal, and therefore THE Edel Bernal, during the final scenario!
- Take Over the World: Discussed this and actually defied this. ZEUTH initially suspects that he wanted to take over Edel Bernal's works of ruling the world, but The Edel Bernal denied this, he knew that ruling the world comes with administrative hassles like tax, welfare, education, etc etc... He can't be bothered with those. Messing things up even more is more fun!
- To Create a Playground for Evil: The Edel Bernal doesn't really have a plan other than to turn the UCW into the most chaotic, war-riddled place he can to be his personal playground. The Second Z sheds a little light on this - he went insane after he foresaw the coming of Ba'al, and decided there was no way to possibly win, opted to turn the UCW into total chaos for his amusement and last until the day Ba'al shows up to evitably destroy everything.
- Too Kinky to Torture: He REALLY enjoys being hit, and finds the final battle to be the pinnacle of his existence. To drive the point home, after having his machine trashed, he quite literally says "Please, more pain, more pleasure..."
