open/close all folders
Prairie Police Department
Waffle Ryebread
Waffle Ryebread (ワッフル・ライブレッド, Waffuru Raibureddo)
Voiced by: Lani Minella (English), Akio Suyama (Japanese)
Species: Dog-Person (part-wolf)
Age: 16
The protagonist of the game, a police officer trying to stop the Black Cats Gang from causing trouble for the people of Prairie. He has a history with the leader of the gang, Alicia Pris of the Pris sisters, having once been friends with her in their childhood. He doesn't understand why Alicia and her sisters are hurting the dog-people and hopes to make up with her.
He later makes a cameo in Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, showing up in Shepherd on patrol. Along with his sidekick Panta, he's trying to keep the Pris sisters from causing too much trouble.
- All-Loving Hero: Waffle's generally not one to hold grudges, even going as far as trying to convince The Pris Sisters to give up their life of crime through peaceful means.
- Bootstrapped Leitmotif: His theme in Solatorobo, "Cute Policeman"
, originally belonged to Panta. - Bubble Gun: The main weapon of choice that's installed into his Police Robo, allowing him to peacefully restrain Black Cats so he can capture them.
- Energy Weapon: The bubble gun soon upgrades itself into this once Waffle gets inside of The Iron Giant. Justified as bubbles can't do much against an ancient planet-destroying monster, and Hand Waved with a short blurb about how the Police Robo was able to absorb some of its power.
- Compliment Backfire: In Solatorobo, when Waffle tries to complement Alicia for looking pretty in a princess dress, she just gets mad at him for comparing her to Therria.
- Dating Catwoman: Puns aside, Waffle and Alicia by Solatorobo.
- Disappeared Dad: The only mention Waffle's dad gets is in the manual, stating that he is the one to develop the Police Robo's transportation mechanism that Waffle uses to capture the kittens.
- Edible Theme Naming: Waffle Ryebread.
- Enemy Mine: Downplayed, as The Black Cats Gang has reformed at that point, but "Kadenz ~Closing Melody~" does have him become an honorary member of the group, even gaining an alternate pirate-themed outfit to match◊.
- Fair Cop: While you might could quibble over Waffle's actual attractiveness (though he's had two girls after him), he is quite young regardless.
- Female Feline, Male Mutt: Played straight across from Alicia.
- Follow in My Footsteps: Defied. Waffle became a policeman in spite of his grandfather Russel wanting him to become an architect instead. Downplayed as they don't hate each other for it.
- Innocently Insensitive: When trying to rescue Princess Therria at Ferzen, Alicia muses thinking that Therria means a lot to him. Waffle agrees... only to add on that the people of Praire would be devastated if anything were to happen to the Princess. This aggitates Alicia more, which instigates the next boss fight.
- Interspecies Romance: Teased with Alicia.
- Love Triangle: Unintentionally gets locked into one between Alicia and Therria throughout the events of the game. By Solatorobo, it seems Therria has backed off, meaning Alicia ends up winning the debate.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: When Waffle goes inside the Iron Giant to rescue Alicia, his Police Robo becomes supercharged by absorbing the power from the Giant itself, though no one really gives it much attention during or after the fact. One of the Solatorobo tie-in stories, "Kadenz ~Closing Melody~", reveals that Waffle does possess magical capabilities thanks to him being a descendant of the Wolf Tribe, albeit very limited.
- Mini-Mecha: Waffle pilots one.
- Missing Mom: His mother Foretnoire, who is seen in "Kadenz ~Closing Melody~" where she is used as a Living Battery for the Titano-Machina Koloss.
- One-Man Army: Waffle was able to not only put an end to the Black Cats Gang's vandalism, but was able to take down The Iron Giant by himself within the span of a day by using nothing but a Robo that shoots bubbles.
- Only Sane Man: Between Panta's goofiness, the Pris sisters' escapades and Cyan's overzealous one-sided rivalry, Waffle is pretty clearly well-adjusted compared to most of the chaos around him.
- Policeman Dog: He's an anthropomorphic dog policeman.
- Pulled from Your Day Off: Happens at the beginning of the game when Waffle receives a dispatch call from Police HQ regarding The Black Cats Gang. He finally gets his well-deserved day off at the end, though.
Panta
Panta (パンタくん, Panta-kun)
Voiced by: Lani Minella (English), Tarako Isono (Japanese)
Species: Dog-Person (Panta)
Age: ?
The sidekick of Waffle Ryebread, who provides a minor role in allowing him to report to headquarters (i.e save) at certain points. Although he has hopes of capturing the Pris sisters himself, he's not the most intimidating officer on the force.
In the game Solatorobo he ends up showing up in Shepherd with Waffle on patrol. Along with his partner, he’s trying to keep the Pris sisters from causing too much trouble.
- Fair Cop: While you might argue that Panta is more "cute" than "hot", he is quite young regardless.
- Female Feline, Male Mutt: Played straight pairing him and his partner across from the feline Pris sisters.
- Informed Species: He's a dog-person like Waffle is, sure, but it's never mentioned in any of the artbooks what breed of dog he's based on. Not even the creators themselves have an answer.
- Justified Save Point: Panta is almost never seen without the large radio he carries on his back, which he lets Waffle use to "report back to Headquarters."
- Leitmotif: The aptly named "Panta's Theme", which then got adopted by Waffle in Solatorobo.
- Packed Hero: Every time Panta appears, he's always stuck in some kind of box or container, but tries to save face by acting like a Sealed Badass in a Can when freed. Waffle learns not to question it.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Downplayed, but Panta still genuinely believed he could take on Alicia, Flaire, and Stare all by himself.
- Super-Deformed: Has more proportions of the chibi than others in the game, even missing a dog nose.
- Vague Age: He's small like a child, but is in the same occupation as Waffle. And unlike everyone else in the Tail Concerto or Solatorobo artbooks, Panta's age isn't listed anywhere.
Police Chief
Chief (署長, Shochō)
Voiced by: TRAVIS (English), Motomu Kiyokawa (Japanese)
Species: Dog-Person
Age: 58
Waffle's boss, a police chief with a strong sense of justice… though he is known for pulling people from their days off.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: While he's the one to pull Waffle from his day off to deal with the Black Cats Gang, he has an ultimately good reason to do so, and lets Waffle have his day off once they and the Iron Giant are taken care of.
The Black Cats Gang
In General
The Black Cats Gang (黒猫団, Kuro neko-dan)
Three sisters plus a bunch of crazy kittens equals this criminal cavalcade that Waffle needs to foil.
- Non-Indicative Name: There are unfortunately no black cats in the gang.
Alicia Pris
Alicia Pris Alamode (アリシア・プリス・アラモード, Arishia Purisu Aramōdo)
Voiced by: Amanda Winn-Lee (English), Yuko Miyamura (Japanese)
Species: Cat-Person
Age: 16
The eldest of the three Pris sisters and the leader of the Black Cats Gang, who's trying to steal several special crystals around Prairie under the guidance of a weapons merchant named Fool. In reality she's just seeking to make a home for the cat-people and believes that Fool will help them to do it, believing that her people suffer from the dog-people.
She makes an appearance in the game Solatorobo, on vacation in Shepherd with Flare and Stair. Of course she can't resist causing some mischief—particularly to get Waffle’s attention—and drags her kid sisters along for the ride.
- All There in the Manual: "Pris" is actually Alicia's middle or self-appointed name. According to the Solatorobo art books, her true surname (and by extension Flare and Stair's) is actually "Alamode".
- Anti-Villain: A mixture of Types II and III. She just wants a place where her fellow cat-people can flourish, still reeling from the death of her father, it's just that Fool keeps preying on her emotional turmoil to do his dirty deeds. It really shows in the end where it looks like Alicia doesn't want to keep helping Fool, but feels obligated to do so thinking she's too far gone.
- Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Therria's Betty. Strangely enough, it's Alicia that fills the Childhood Friend role instead of Therria.
- Cartoon Bomb: The weapon of choice of the Black Cats Gang's battle balloon.
- Cleavage Window: In addition to baring her midriff she bares a lot of cleavage. One of the concept arts◊ in Solatorobo shows that they planed on exaggerating it at one point.
- Compliment Backfire: In Solatorobo, when Waffle tries to complement Alicia for looking pretty in a princess dress, she just gets mad at him for comparing her to Therria.
- Dating Catwoman: Puns aside, Waffle and Alicia by Solatorobo.
- Deliberately Distressed Damsel: In a downloadable quest in Solatorobo, Alicia pulls one off in order to get Waffle to save her. Of course, Red gets there first, as she forgot to tell her sisters what she was up to and they thought she had really been kidnapped.
- Easily Forgiven: By Waffle by the end; he doesn't even consider being angry at her for stealing the crystals and giving them to Fool.
- Eyepatch of Power: As the lead among her sisters, she wears one of these. It's later revealed in the game that she doesn't need it.
- Fair Cop: In the short time she was one, anyways.◊
- Female Feline, Male Mutt: Played straight across from Waffle.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She's not as foolish as Flare, but she's also not as responsible as Stair. It shows up in the end of Tail Concerto when she allows herself to get easily manipulated by Fool despite knowing his true intentions, and is blown out of proportions in Solatorobo, where she indirectly gives Red grief trying to win Waffle's affections.
- Freudian Excuse: If you talk to one of the NPCs towards the end of the game, they'll explain that sometime after Alicia moved to Prairie, her father contracted a rare disease, and due to it only affecting cat-people, the dog-person doctors were unable to properly treat him, resulting in his death. Alicia took this as the dog-people not trying hard enough and letting her father die, something Fool took advantage of to twist into full-blown Fantastic Racism.
- Guest Fighter: One of the mechs Alicia pilots is playable as an unlockable fighter in the versus mode for Silent Bomber, complete with the boss theme and a recreation of one of the arenas from Tail Concerto.
- Heel–Face Turn: The epilogue story "After That Concerto" reveals that she disbanded the Black Cats Gang and became a police officer if only to remain by Waffle's side. Though if Solatorobo is of any indication, this probably didn't last as she went back to causing small-scale mischief within the Sheppard Republic.
- Interspecies Romance: Being teased with Waffle.
- Leitmotif: "The Black Cats Gang" in Tail Concerto, which is shared with Flare and Stair. Got replaced with "Three Sisters" in Solatorobo.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Staging a fake kidnapping is one thing, but Alicia fails to mention this plan to her sisters just to play out a fantasy with her and Waffle, not only getting them in further debt from having to pay both the sky pirate group and the Hunter's Guild, but also getting Red roped into a misunderstanding.
- Love Triangle: With Waffle and Therria. The short story "After That Concerto" revealing that one of the reasons why she joined the police force was to get under Therria's nerves by becoming Waffle's partner. By Solatorobo, it seems Therria has backed off, meaning Alicia ends up winning the debate.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: She's the leader of The Black Cats Gang, and constantly throws herself on the front lines with different types of mechs. She even goes as far as to fight Waffle one-on-one later towards the end.
- Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: She certainly thinks so, given how she reacted when being complimented in one.
- Terrible Trio: Being one of the Pris sisters.
- Tsundere: In unmitigated spades. Every other line of dialouge she expresses to Waffle is confrontational and argumentative, and yet she's absolutely green with envy when she spies of him talking with Princess Therria.Alicia: DON'T GET SO CLOSE TO HIM, YOU TRAMP!
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Her primary reason for causing so much trouble in Tail Concerto is so she and her sisters can forge a mini-country to liberate the cat-people of the Prairie Kingdom.
Stair Pris
Stair Pris Alamode (ステア・プリス・アラモード, Sutea Purisu Aramōdo)
Voiced by: Carrie Gordon-Lowrey (English), Chieko Higuchi (Japanese)
Species: Cat-Person
Age: 14
The middle child of the three Pris sisters of the Black Cats Gang, who's trying to steal several special crystals around Prairie under the guidance of a weapons merchant named Fool. She goes along with whatever Alicia says, although she's a lot more critical out of the three.
She makes an appearance in the game Solatorobo on vacation in Shepherd with Flare and Alicia. She's content to just sight-see, but when Alicia can’t help herself from getting into some mischief she follows her lead anyway.
- Anti-Villain: Type IV. She holds no ill-intent towards Waffle, but she's still aligned with Alicia (mostly just to keep her in check).
- Cartoon Bomb: The weapon of choice of the Black Cats Gang's battle balloon.
- Curtains Match the Window: Not only blue hair, but blue eyes too.
- Inconsistent Spelling: Stair or Stare? The prototype translation didn't help matters either, spelling her name as Stea instead.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Forges one with Russel Ryebread over the world's history according to the epilogue story "After That Concerto".
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible one to both Alicia's and Flare's foolishness.
- The Quiet One: Stair is this out of the three.
- Terrible Trio: Being one of the Pris sisters.
Flare Pris
Flare Pris Alamode (フレア・プリス・アラモード, Furea Purisu Aramōdo)
Voiced by: Carrie Gordon-Lowrey (English), Kumiko Nishihara (Japanese)
Species: Cat-Person
Age: 12
The youngest of the three Pris sisters of the Black Cats Gang, who's trying to steal several special crystals around Prairie under the guidance of a weapons merchant named Fool. Although she doesn't hate dog-people, she goes along with whatever Alicia says.
She makes an appearance in the game Solatorobo on vacation in Shepherd with Stair and Alicia. She's content to just sight-see, but when Alicia can’t help herself from getting into some mischief she follows her lead anyway.
- Anti-Villain: Mostly Type IV with shades of Type II, given she's indebted to Alicia due to her Heartwarming Orphan status.
- Cartoon Bomb: The weapon of choice of the Black Cats Gang's battle balloon.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Mostly the foolish one (sometimes rivaled by Alicia), with Stair being the one to pick up the pieces.
- Genki Girl: She's this out of the three.
- It Amused Me: The only reason why she wanted to join the Royal Guard in "After That Concerto" is because she thought the armor and swords looked cool.
- Playing Sick: Pulls this gambit with Cyan to escape from prison later in the game, saying her stomach hurts. He falls for it hook, line, and sinker and she gets away.
- Terrible Trio: Being one of the Pris sisters.
Kittens
Kittens (コネコ, Koneko)
The grunt forces of the Black Cats Gang, causing chaos everywhere they go in order to help Alicia and her sisters collect the crystals they seek.
- Expy: They're minuscule minions to a Terrible Trio that control crazy contraptions to cause chaos, bringing the Servbots to mind.
Prairia Castle
Princess Therria
Princess Therria (テリア姫, Teria-hime)
Voiced by: Carrie Gordon-Lowrey (English), Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese)
Species: Dog-Person
Age: 17
The princess of Prairie, and an eventual love interest for Waffle. She's initially captured by the Black Cats Gang so that Waffle will hand over one of the crystals they need, but after she's freed she continues to try and help get the thieves brought to justice, while also making sure Waffle is recognized for his heroism.
She makes an appearance in the game Solatorobo while on vacation in Shepherd along with her bodyguard. Therria seems to have taking a liking to watching Duel Tournaments, so Red often runs into her there.
- Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Alicia's Veronica.
- Cool Crown: Cute, dainty little gold crown that sits neatly between her ears.
- Fangirl: By Solatorobo she becomes Red's fangirl in the Duel Ship arena.
- High-Class Gloves: Part of her outfit.
- Impractically Fancy Outfit: She walks around in forests, dank mining shafts, and other such environments. How is Therria able to walk around unhindered, much less keep that dress clean?
- Inconsistent Spelling: Therria or Terria?
- Love Triangle: With Waffle and Alicia. By Solatorobo, Therria seems to have mostly given up on Waffle and is now interested in Red. Cyan finds this most improper, of course.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: In Solatorobo. Therria is "supposed" to be visiting Shepherd while under cover, so no one realizes she's the princess of the next kingdom over. Funny, you'd think that crown would kinda give it away...
- Pimped-Out Dress: Big, pink dress with Giant Poofy Sleeves.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: Therria's dress is a very pale shade of pink with a darker bodice and skirt trim.
- Requisite Royal Regalia: Because we obviously wouldn't recognize Therria or know she's a princess without her regalia.
Cyan Garland
Cyan Garland (シアン・ガーラント, Shian Gārando)
Voiced by: Jeff Hobbs (English), Ryōtarō Okiayu (Japanese)
Species: Dog-Person
Age: 18
The captain of the guard and competition for Waffle when it comes to Therria—that is, if Waffle had any interest in competing. Although a bumbling guard who's mostly good for falling into traps to "warn" Waffle about it, he still aspires to have some of Waffle's glory.
He makes an appearance in Solatorobo as the bodyguard to Princess Therria from while she's on vacation in the Shepherd Republic. As Therria has taking a liking to watching Duel Tournaments, Cyan accompanies her and is continually impressed by Red’s skill.
- Bling of War: He's got an earring, gold lining on his armor, and a fancy hat.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor Cyan. He tries his best, it's just that the world is more content of using him like a punching bag.
- Generation Xerox: Has the same position that his grandfather once filled, has a similar relationship to Waffle as Grey did with Russell, and has a similar habit of just charging into a fight without bothering to look at what he is charging into.
- I Meant to Do That: After stumbling into quicksand, he insists that he's doing a Heroic Sacrifice so Waffle can avoid the "trap".
- Kleptomaniac Hero: In Solatorobo, Cyan has a tendency to "borrow" others' robots for matches.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Cyan sees himself this way, though it mostly just leads to him showing off for Therria or looking ridiculous.
- Major Injury Underreaction: In the Flying Fortress, Cyan will attempt to ambush The Black Cats in Waffle's stead... only for him to get ambushed instead. Despite getting constantly blown up and walking back to Waffle covered in soot, the only thing he had to say was that The Black Cats are cowards for having to resort to ambushing instead of facing him like true warriors.
- Mentor Archetype: He considers himself this towards Red in spite of his objections, to the point where he has tried multiple times to trick him into going to Prairie just so he can keep training him.
- Mini-Mecha: Cyan pilots one simply called the Knight Robo. This gets replaced with a much larger and more imposing model called the Super Durandal in Solatorobo.
- Named Weapons: Named Durandal. When he's not using one he "borrowed", at least.
- Stylish Protection Gear: His armor is quite eyecatching.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Cyan is much less of a glory-hound by Solatorobo, and in fact had begun showing shades of this when he risked his life to help stop the Iron Giant near the end of the game.
- Unknown Rival: Downplayed, as he made his distain of Waffle trying to "woo" Princess Therria known directly to his face, it's just that Waffle is much more concerned with bigger issues surrounding his duties, and usually doesn't give Cyan the time of day.
Chamberlain
Chamberlain (じい, Jī, lit. "old man")
Voiced by: Ari Ross (English), Motomu Kiyokawa (Japanese)
Species: Dog-Person
Age: 70
Princess Therria's tutor and caretaker. Her impulsive tendencies drive him nuts.
- Dub Name Change: He was simply called the "old man" in the original Japanese, but the North American localization gave him the name "Chamberlain".
- Expy: His voice in the English dub is similar to that of Droopy.
King Hound III
King Hound III (ハウンド三世, Haundo-sansei)
Voiced by: Jeff Hobbs (English), Yosuke Akimoto (Japanese)
Species: Dog-Person
Age: 44
The ruler of Prairie, and Therria's father.
- The Unintelligible: While he speaks fine in the original Japanese, the English localization has his dialogue be mostly mumbled. Waffle and presumably everyone else can still understand him, though.
Other Characters
Russell Ryebread
Russell Ryebread (ラッセル・ライブレッド, Rasseru Raibureddo)
Voiced by: TRAVIS (English), Yosuke Akimoto (Japanese)
Species: Dog-Person
Age: 61
Waffle's grandfather, and an archeologist studying the ancient civilization that existed before Prairie.
- Alcoholic Parent: Grandparent, technically, but nevertheless in the original Japanese version, Russell has been known to drink a lot even before flying and exploring. This was changed to him being tired in the North America version of the game.
Dr. Jones
Dr. Jones (ダムド, Damundo)
Voiced by: N/A
Species: Dog-Person
Age: 58
An eccentric engineer in Airleaf that gives Waffle's Police Robo a jet booster. He shows up again in Solatorobo: Red the Hunter as Diamundo, a friend of Red and Chocolat's from the Davren Islands.
- Dub Name Change: From "Damundo" to "Dr. Jones".
- Ditching the Dub Names: When he returns in Solatorobo, the localization team opted to bring back his Japanese name for all versions of the game. Regardless, he's still the same Diamundo who gave the Police Robo its flight capabilities in Tail Concerto.
Grey
Grey Garland (クレイ・ガーラント, Kurei Gārando)
Voiced by: N/A
Species: Dog-Person
Age: 62
An old colleague and rival archeologist of Russell's who lives in Coolant.
- Generation Xerox: He's got a rivalry with Russell, just like his grandson Cyan does with Russell's grandson, Waffle.
The Villains
Fool
Fool (フール, Fūru)
Voiced by: Ari Ross (English), Ryūsei Nakao (Japanese)
Species: Cat-Person
Age: ?
An infamous weapons merchant and the one behind all of the illegal activities in Prairie being perpetrated by the Black Cats Gang. After convincing the Pris sisters that the cat-people have suffered great injustice at the hands of the dog-people, he then promises them that he will help them make a new homeland for the cats, and it's seemingly for this that he has them steal the crystals around Prairie.
- Accidental Truth: Per future game Fuga: Melodies of Steel, there really was a war waged by dog-people who wanted to oppress the cat-people long ago like Fool tells the Pris sisters, but it's not likely he knew about this since it's implied that his story of such a thing happening was just something he made up.
- Aesop Amnesia: "Kadenz ~Closing Memory~" has him again try to use the Titano-Machina to further his own goals, this time with Koloss, and using Waffle's Missing Mom as the energy source.
- Big Bad: He's the one who pushed for Alicia to engage in terrorism, giving her the means to "fight back", all so he can manipulate her into awakening The Iron Giant for him so he can rule the world.
- Dastardly Whiplash: A cat version of one, with his black suit with top hat and cane, insidiously polite speech, and elaborate, over-the-top plans and underhanded tactics. Besides missing the mustache, Fool is this trope embodied.
- Evil Smells Bad: According to Flare (at least in the dub), he smells like fish.
- The Man Behind the Man: He's the one behind the Black Cats Gang, at least in this case.
- Meaningful Name: The meaning is blatantly obvious in this case; he was a fool to think he could control the Iron Giant. It also describes his methods, which usually involve fooling those around him into doing his handiwork.
- Mysterious Backer: He's the one who's been bankrolling the Black Cats Gang's schemes, though it's clear from the start he has his own ends in mind while doing so.
- Obviously Evil: It's a wonder that Alicia thought that he was trustworthy in the first place, with that sneering voice and evil yellow eyes.
- The Unfought: When Waffle first encounters Fool in the Hidden Base, the game's music starts up as it does with all other boss fights... only for the music to cut out and have Fool take a Villain: Exit, Stage Left. He does get his comeuppance at the end though, when The Iron Giant's awakening throws him off the island he summoned it from, with the ending showing him stranded in the middle of the ocean.
The Iron Giant
The Iron Giant (鉄巨神, Tetsu Kyoshin)
A mechanical beast of legend that has a strong presence in Prairie's history and culture. Fool and the Black Cats Gang seem to have some interest regarding it, too…
- Lost Technology: It's a weapon from an ancient civilization that turned on its creators before being put to rest. Per Solatorobo: Red the Hunter and its supplementary material, it's a Titano-Machina made by humanity.
