Roleplay / Super Robot Quest

It is A.D. 2072, and the Earth Union is under attack from all manner of monsters, aliens and murderers wielding dangerous technologies. The Defense Forces are on the backfoot, and the few incredible defenders already present need all the help they can get.
You are Major John Devin and you are charged with developing, training, and deploying the Earth Union's own Super Robots.
A quest about building the Earth Union's very own Super Robots running on nonsensical science to punch bad guys in the face.

Introduction to story's second thread

Super Robot Quest is a Quest by Basarin based on the Super Robot Genre.

In a future time where the world has been united into the Earth Union, George Sheol's bio-engineered Kaiju, the mech-wielding Westphalian Separatists, and the robotic alien Kausen all seek to tear down this new order, and the only lines of defense against them are Super Robots owned by private institutions, the mighty Mercury V and the thunderous knight Valiant.

You are Major Johnathan Devin of the Earth Union Defense Force. With the desire to become more proactive in this hitherto defensive conflict, you are tasked by your superiors to establish a new Defense Force Research Institute and build brand-new Super Robots under the banner of the EUDF. With the resources given to you and the team by your side, it will be up to you to see if the project becomes a reality.

The first thread ended on a cliffhanger, and the second thread, Super Robot Quest G can be found here.

Tropes contained in Super Robot Quest:

A - G

• 20 Minutes into the Future: The quest takes place in the 2070s.
• Ace Custom:
  • Lt. Callaghan starts off driving a Jackal (Transforming Mecha-capable version of a Coyote), but eventually, his personal craft is upgraded and customized enough for it to get its own name as the Institute's first true Super Robot: the Beowulf.
    • Also, the V-33 TMU that can combine with it to form the Foxhound formation is named “the Falcon”.
  • Lt. Tellison gets an upgraded custom Phalanx that is named the Perseus.
• Acid Attack: The Dragon, the first Kaiju that the DFRI faces properly, can shoot beams of acid from its horn.
  • In fact, just about all of the Kaiju have acidic blood that dissolves any flesh that gets dislodged. Later examination of collected samples posits that the acid is a core building block of Sheol's creations.
• Adaptive Ability:
  • All Kaiju material seems to have the ability to modify itself in response to external stimuli. If a freshly-grown sample is exposed to high pressures, it eventually hardens to resist it, and if electrical currents are passed through it, it can either become more conductive or more insulating. Applying different stimuli allows the Institute to develop various forms of K-Class material that can be forged into armor or weapons.
    • That said, there are still limits. Trying to grow the Kaiju scale into armor is easy, but trying to grow it into anything resembling a weapon like a sword or gun for whatever reason proves a lot harder. The opposite is true once they obtain a sample of a Kaiju's horn; it's very easy to mold samples from that into weapons, but not armor.
  • As Mechanical Lifeforms, the Kausen are used to modifying their bodies to adapt to their surroundings.
• Aliens Never Invented the Wheel: Zigzagged. While the Kausen, as alien robots, possess incredibly advanced technology including directed energy weapons, Deflector Shields, anti-gravity tech and advanced armor, actual mechanical transformation is an extremely rare ability amongst them, and though a Kausen can be surgically converted to do something similar, it often doesn't look anything like a vehicle. Also, the Institute's easy creation of A.I.s is something rather unique to them.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us:
  • The Defense Force Research Institute comes under attack by Warlord, an ace of the Westphalian Separatists, and his Pilum gunship, but the Beowulf manages to defeat him with its new aerial Foxhound formation.
  • The Yukimura Institute is assaulted by Dr. Sheol's Kaiju forces, including human-sized infiltrator Kaiju that penetrate the corridors, but Mercury V's support staff do a damn good job of holding them off while also getting the robot back online (with significant assistance on both fronts from the DFRI's Powered Armor).
• And Show It to You: Beowulf Fenrir defeats the Kausen-made Predasaur by plunging its Blazing Fists into its chest and tearing out its reactor whole, and then triumphantly turning around while the remains explode behind him.
• An Ice Person: Seems to be a side-effect of the Aeon Particles that is the source of Mercury V's power, as it forms frosty vapour around itself when it engages. Mercury V has incorporated this subzero element into a lot of its attacks, including its Blizzard Blast Finishing Move.
• Arm Cannon:
  • The mecha-forms of the Centurion Transforming Mecha chassis counts, as their tank turrets become mounted on their arms.
  • One of Valiant's modular weapon arms is an “ack-ack”, a.k.a. a flak cannon.
• Artificial Family Member: Dr. Boris Ignatov, chief computer engineer of the Research Institute and father to a bevy of Artificial Intelligence siblings, who are all similarly dedicated to the Institute's success. He has commented several times on the groundbreaking nature of creating new Artificial Intelligence Union citizens.
• Bad Boss: The Free Brothers apparently are not above tearing apart their Kausen Drone Mooks if they're bored, and Tyrannous is especially well-known for this practice.
• Beam-O-War: Mercury V and its Chill Glare get into this with a Kaiju's lightning breath. A witnessing Diana thinks that her sister Ivanna would shut down over how it doesn't work that way.
• Benevolent A.I.: With Dr. Ignatov's help, the pre-Unification AI found beneath the Institute develops into this. She takes on the name Katarina, and is soon a vital part of the Institute's staff, helping out wherever needed.
  • Her later siblings are all of this stripe, with her sisters helping out in different areas of the Institute like Science, Engineering and Security, and some even going out into the field as full-on Super Robot "pilots".
• Big Bad Ensemble: This is how things start out at first, with three different factions all looking to carve their own pounds of flesh out of the Earth Union. Then it starts drifting into Big Bad Duumvirate territory when it's revealed that the backers for each enemy faction may be collaborating.
  • George Sheol is the Mad Scientist behind the Kaiju, commanding them to attack the Earth Union after they snubbed his research.
  • The Westphalian Separatists, led by the Red King and backed by the Arms Dealer PJH, seek to a return of the old days before the Unification Wars, when the world was still separated into many different countries.
  • The Free Brothers are a Kausen criminal organization, who were blown to Earth alongside their opposite numbers in Legio Galbinus, and now seek to plunder Earth's energy for whatever reason. Their leader is the ruthless and temperamental Tyrannous.
• Big Damn Heroes: Just as Bandit of the Free Brother criminal Kausens is about to offline his opponent Cavalier and the human soldier protecting him, Lt. Callaghan in his Jackal pulls a Dynamic Entry.
• Brain/Computer Interface:
  • The Man-Machine Interface is the brainchild of all four science and engineering experts of the Institute, and one of the first real breakthroughs of the Super Robot project. Working off of Sam's ESP research, it translates human thoughts and actions into mechanical movement, allowing the pilot to control the robot with their mind.
  • The next version of this is the Psychic Theater, which allows multiple pilots to control a single Super Robot chassis, providing more multitasking.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Just about all the scientists and engineers that are encountered are quirky as all get-out, but considering that their combined efforts managed to develop a working Super Robot in a couple of years, their competence is undeniable.
• Call-Back: The introductory chapters has Devin making various choices when setting up the Research Institute, from what his military specialty was and his achievements against the enemy organizations, to who he chooses for his staff and where he decides to set up the institute. Some of the unchosen choices make a reappearance later in the quest.
  • When initially selecting engineering experts for the Institute, one choice was a mechatronics engineering firm from Bremen specializing in robotic frames. Said expert, Dr. Albert Schemming of Bremen-Industriemaschinen, shows up as one of the engineers on Operation Ground Pound.
  • Early in the quest, Sam contacts one of his fellow Mad Scientists that have been laughed out of the intellectual community to join him at the Institute. While xenotechnologist Dr. Max Brand is picked, the other choices, parallel dimension researcher Dr. Zhang Ru and Faedium inventor Mary McCullough, show up later at a mad science convention (the latter even joining the Institute).
  • One initial choice for the Institute's facility was an abandoned series of oil derrick platforms, once controlled by a Westphalian warlord. Later investigations reveal that it might not be as abandoned as initially thought...
• Captured on Purpose: Inverted; one mission ends with the DFRI and Legion capturing Bandit, but when the Free Brothers start staging a breakout attempt, Galbinus decides to put up a fight but ultimately allow Bandit to escape. He has three reasons for doing so: he can see who Tyrannous is willing to commit to the breakout and thus gauge their value to him, he can thin their ranks with the DFRI's help, and most importantly, he can sneak a virus package with Bandit that will ultimately make its way onto the Belligerent.
• Car Fu: Seen many times when a driver/pilot of a Transforming Vehicle or vehicle-mode Transforming Mecha chooses ramming an enemy over engaging in hand-to-hand or firing weapons.
• Catchphrase:
  • Sam Carlson's staff have their rallying cry of “SCIENCE!”, shouted whenever anyone says the word "science" around them.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late:
  • During the Kausen attack near the Grand Coulee Dam, after Devin has already deployed his forces to the area, he notes that General Armistead deployed his forces three hours after the intel came in. Later on, he is seen taking the credit for relief efforts, but Devin reassures Sasaki that the First Response Corps know who was really there to help.
  • By the time Mercury V gets over from Japan to San Diego to deal with a Kaiju attack, the Earth Union's own Super Robot, the Beowulf, has already slain it.
• Chest Blaster:
  • The Westphalian Brute possesses one of these, and although it's touchy enough that it almost instantly backfires, it still packs enough of a punch to badly damage Ichiro and his tank body. Later examination of the wreckage reveals that it's Kausen tech, and Jiro later integrates a more streamlined version into Perseus Megas.
  • Mercury V has the Blizzard Blast Finishing Move where it unleashes a blast of subzero energy from its chest, effectively the opposite-temperature equivalent of its inspiration's Breast Fire.
• Closet Geek: Haruko Sasaki has her own quirks as part of the DFRI, such as implementing full-on tokusatsu Invocations as vocal passcodes to authorize the Jackal's combinations. When Devin gives her a look, Sasaki simply says she's within her rights to do so.
• Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder:
  • Sgt. Henry usually serves as this to his Lt. Wilde, as part of their Straight Man and Wise Guy dynamic.
  • This is the main reason for the AI Ivanna's creation - to keep an eye on resident Mad Scientist Sam Carlson, and later for his equally mad colleague Max Brand.
• Coincidental Dodge: The Beowulf's first ambush attack against some Free Brother drones gets off to a fumbling start, as his chosen target drops its equipment and bends down to pick it up, causing the lunging Beowulf to fly clean over its head.
• Colony Drop: The Day of Starfall was a downplayed version of this. Instead of colonies, military shuttles were hijacked and dropped onto cities (specifically Seattle, Sydney, Macao, St. Petersburg and Marseilles), causing major damage both physical and economical.
• Combining Mecha: The EUDF super robot is this type of mecha.
  • The Jackal patrol truck in its mecha form can act as the core for its Hound cargo truck and TMU jet support units, which can each combine with the Jackal to give it extra power.
  • Three of Galbinus's Legionnaires, Tracker, Nailhead and Breakneck, are reconfigured by Patch and the DFRI into transformational and combinable bodies. Together, they now form Axiom.
• Commonality Connection: Both Major Devin and Galbinus-R hit it off as fellow leaders of their groups, thrust into situations neither asked for, doing their best to corral and lead a host of different personalities, weary and tired from fighting but nonetheless dedicated to their men and their duty… and also wearily familiar with redundant paperwork. It makes the Institute's starting negotiations with Legio Galbinus go incredibly smoothly.
• Cool Plane: The Pegasus dropship and mobile command centre of the DFRI. It's able to deploy Super Robots, launch support units, deliver heavy broadsides, and look really cool.
• Crafted from Animals: K-Class material, one of the Mecha-Enabling Phlebotinum used by the Defense Force Research Institute in everything from weapons and armor to circuitry and pilot suits, is all reverse-engineered from a Kaiju scale. Later on, the Institute gets ahold of a Kaiju horn and reverse-engineers that as well.
• Cutting Through Energy: When Bandit breaks out one of his energy blasters, the Beowulf uses its electromagnetic Arc Blade to cut right through the beam. Both combatants are rather bemused at the outcome.
  Bandit: ...okay, that was utter bullshit.
• David Versus Goliath: Though the first few Super Robot battles the DFRI engage in are against similarly-sized Westphalian Franken-vehicles and a Kausen, this definitely applies when the Beowulf takes part in its first Kaiju fight.
  • Later on, Ichiro Lampshades this trope in his first battle, when he goes up against the Brute, a Westphalian hulk-mech. Similar battles occur alongside his fight, as the Westphalian walkers are taken down by the Intelligence team and their Steeds, which are just motorcycle-transforming Powered Armor.
• Decapitation Presentation: To buy the Yukimura Institute one last moment to launch Mercury, the Perseus gets the attacking Titanosaur's attention with its missile pods and the severed head of one of its recently beaten brethren, displaying it like the statue by Benvenuto Cellini of its namesake presenting Medusa's head. It works. Violently.
• Defector from Decadence: Yukimura Jiro, nephew of Mercury V creator Yukimura Rin, has some issues with his uncle's use of the Super Robot as a mere shield against Sheol's Kaiju, and wanted him to be more proactive. The difference of opinion led Jiro to go out into the world to take pictures of what's really going on, and this route eventually led him to the DFRI and him getting hired by Devin as another engineer.
• Defiant to the End: With her friend Cavalier badly damaged and the ruthless Bandit bearing down on them, Cadet Jessica Satsuma gets out and starts firing her assault rifle at the Kausen, knowing how hopeless it is. Luckily, Lt. Callaghan in his Jackal overhears her defiant shouts and quickly charges in to assist.
• Deflector Shields: The Kausen Bandit uses an experimental field projector during his first fight with Callaghan and his Jackal. After relations are formed with the Legio Galbinus, the good Kausen give the DFRI their own information on the device so they can reverse-engineer it.
• Detachment Combat: The basis of Valiant's fighting style, thanks to its super-magnetism. All its components are modular and held together solely with this magnetic force, allowing the pilot to separate and recombine the robot at will and even exchange its limbs for new ones with different weapons.
• The Dreaded: The Warlord is a particularly infamous Westphalian commander with ties to the mysterious Red King, who he personally leads an attack against the Research Institute in his custom Pilum gunship. Even after he is felled, the Earth Union's Intelligence division is seen double- and triple-confirming that he truly is dead, and even then, General Peters has concerns about a Legacy Character taking up the mantle.
• Dynamic Entry: This is how Lt. Callaghan and his Jackal bot make their introduction to the Kausen Free Brother Bandit. In their second fight, Bandit returns the favor.
• Easily Detachable Robot Parts: The Valiant makes full-use of this trope, since all of its limbs are fully modular and connected to the pilot unit with its “super-magnetism”, making them easily exchangeable with its auxiliary weapons and easily replaceable if damaged.
• Easy Logistics: As a logistician, Major Devin knows that resource-management is of the utmost importance, especially for a new organizational branch. His experience has given him a lot of insight in how efficiently operations are taking place, and how to do more with less.
  • Regarding the quest mechanics, the Defense Force Research Institute has an allocated amount of resources that are slowly resupplied each month. After the Institute goes public and gains the world's attention (and the quest mechanics are Retooled), it effectively gains enough of a resource flow for it to be a non-issue, with the limiting factor being time and the number of advisors on hand that can supervise projects.
  • Despite the Earth Union's best efforts, the Westphalian Separatists have an uncanny ability to somehow transport large amounts of military hardware, experimental, conventional and unconventional, around the world to stage attacks in many different districts, without anyone noticing them until they strike. Effort has been made to figure out how they manage it.
    • Later investigations reveal they utilize some sort of teleportation technology, as when the DFRI investigate an abandoned Separatist base, Ichiro ends up facing a boat-on-legs teleported right into its drydock.
• Egocentric Team Naming: The Kausen Legio Galbinus takes its name from its leader, Galbinus-Regulus. It is yet unknown whether all Legions from Mekaen have this sort of naming convention.
• Elemental Weapon: The EUDF Super Robot has a few. The Timberwolf can activate Inferno mode and ignite its fists, and either formation can wield the electrically-charged Arc Blade or Arc Cannon.
• Enemy Civil War: The Kausen at first seem to be engaged in one, as there are apparently two factions fighting each other. Later on, it's established that one faction, the Legio Galbinus, are explicitly law-enforcement on their own planet and the other faction, the Free Brothers, are a gang of anarchic criminals.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Erika Drake, pilot of the Valiant, is puzzled when she asks Ichiro of the DFRI to step out of his tank mecha… only for Ichiro, as a Sapient Tank-piloting Artificial Intelligence, to just answer that he's right here.
• Exact Words: After the exhibition of the Jackal, General Armistead of the Earth Union Air Defense Force sent in a request for an aviation multipurpose vehicle that can perform “a variety of roles as dictated by the ever-changing flows of battlefield conditions”. For an Institute whose raison d'être is making a Super Robot, this would obviously mean a mecha form, but Devin, knowing Armistead's disrespect towards the whole Super Robot project, decides to snub him by giving him exactly what he wants and nothing more. The result is an aviation vehicle based off of a jet model known to be unpopular with the EUADF pilots, which can convert between helicopter and fighter jet modes and is loaded with modular hardpoints for everything from rocket pods to cargo modules… but no mecha form. For one last snub, Devin names it the V-33 TMU, i.e. Too Much Utility.
• Expy:
  • The first Super Robot, Mercury V, takes quite a few cues from Mazinger Z. Its pilot is the Hot-Blooded but good-hearted former delinquent Hiroki Matsumoto, who pilots an aerial vehicle that forms the cockpit of Mercury V, and employs such attacks like the Gale Punch and the Blizzard Blast.
  • The second Super Robot, Valiant, takes some cues from Kotetsu Jeeg, as a robot composed of multiple components that are joined together by electricity and can exchange parts and weapons mid-combat, launched from a support vehicle.
  • Lieutenant Adam Wilde and Sergeant James Henry, the Institute's chief engineers. The former is blond, bearded and is incredibly excitable, while the latter wears a beret and glasses, is much more stoic and speaks in a deep monotone. If one adds their names into the equation, they are obvious expies of Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman.
    • Later on, they are also joined by a Build Team, comprised of the engineers Anthony, Kelly and Greg, to assist in mass-producing weapons for the Institute.
  • The Kausen are essentially Transformers, if transforming was a rare genetic gift and not their race's hallmark ability. They're alien Mechanical Lifeforms from the planet of Mekaen who accidentally came to earth, pray to a being named Metatrine, use processed energy shards as both food and currency, and are divided into two opposing factions, one good and one evil.
    • Galbinus-Regulus, the honourable and dedicated leader of Legio Galbinus, and Tyrannous, the Bad Boss of the Free Brothers, both share elements of Optimus Prime and Megatron, specifically, their Shattered Glass incarnations. Galbinus has a dark green color scheme and eventually transforms into a Centurion tank like some versions of Megatron, but has the honor, dedication to his men, and stoic leadership qualities of Optimus Prime. In contrast, Tyrannous has a bright red color scheme and a face plate like Optimus (with some elements of Star Saber), but is cruel and sadistic to a fault and rose from humble beginnings to become a criminal kingpin, like Megatron.
    • Cavalier is like Bumblebee in that he's a younger scout and was the first to befriend a human. He even got his voice box injured in his first appearance, though he's eventually repaired.
    • Cadet Jessica Satsuma of the First Response Corps is like Sam Witwicky in the sense of being the Legio Galbinus's first human friend and contact.
    • Patch, as the Legion's gruff, overbearing medic, has clear ties to Ratchet.
  • Parallel Super Robot project Ground Pound has a few as well:
    • Norton Gustaff Neer, their lead engineer (read N. G. Neer), takes cues from the Engineer, and one of his unintelligible subordinates, Phil, is the Pyro.
    • Albert Schemming is a version of Dr. Wily who has yet to go off the deep end.
    • Their prototype has been noted in-thread to bear a great deal of resemblance to Getter Robo.
• Face Death with Dignity: Faced with the Earth Union's first Super Robot, having expended his Alpha Strike and taking damage from all sides, the Westphalian commander Warlord just solemnly records his final logs, acknowledges his adversary as a Worthy Opponent, and dies with Westphalia's name on his lips.
• Face Palm: More than a few people do this when witnessing Lieutenant Wilde's antics.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: After making a break on her investigation into odd underwater happenings, Adrianna makes a Big Entrance into Sasaki's office with her avatar clad in full Hardboiled Detective garb and declaring her "Eureka!" Moment... to an empty office. Katarina has to remind her that Sasaki is working off-site that month, and Adrianna slinks off to give her report to Devin instead.
• Feel No Pain: As noted by the Legionnaires Patch and Nailhead after the Beowulf's second scrap with Bandit, this applies to a Super Robot as compared to Kausen. Both can take a beating, but the Kausen feel scrapes and gouges like a human would feel cuts and bruises, and enough damage would eventually send them crying for their manufacturer while a mech's pilot would just ignore it until the battle is over.
• Finishing Move:
  • The Spark Calibur energy cell, when installed into the Beowulf's Arc Cannon or Arc Blade, charges it enough for a final strike.
  • The Timberwolf can activate Inferno Mode to overclock its engines and also ignite its fists for a Blazing Fist attack.
• For Science!: Sam Carlson's staff's Catchphrase. “SCIENCE!”
• Giant Scrap Robot: A lot of the Westphalian attack vehicles can be described as “Frankenstein” machines cobbled together from scrap, like helicopters with legs, patrol boats with mechanical arms, or the Warlord's modified Pilum gunship that has mechanical arms to engage enemies in close-quarters.
• Give Me a Sword:
  • The Beowulf often has its secondary weapons, like mech-sized firearms, the Arc Blade or the Arc Cannon, delivered to it by its support units, such as the Shepherd cargo truck or TMU planes.
  • The Valiant also makes use of this, with its auxiliary weapons and replacement limbs stored in a support unit and launched into the fight when the pilot needs them.
• Giving Up on Logic: After finding out that the alien relic she'd been researching for a good long while with no results is actually sapient, named the Regent of Varulne and can communicate, Dr. Max Brand declares that reality has jumped the shark. When the Regent says that it can empower individuals as long as they have a just heart and righteous disposition, Major Devin echoes her.
• Gone Horribly Right: A few people have posited that this is General Armistead's opinion of the Defense Force Research Institute. A known critic of Super Robots, he nevertheless sponsored the project because he likes to be connected with as many projects as possible, reaping the glory if they're successful and collecting political favours even if they're not. Trouble is, the DFRI and their Super Robots are just too successful for his liking.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: Inverted for the Kausen, as the good-aligned Legio Galbinus have darker or more sinister color schemes like Galbinus's dark green, Cavalier's navy-blue and Patch's bone-white paintjob, while the anarchic Free Brothers take brighter, primary colors like Tyrannous's red, Bandit's yellow and Scrapheap's sky-blue.
• Great Offscreen War: The Unification Wars.

H - P

• Ham-to-Ham Combat: When the normally mild-tempered Dr. Yukimura hears that the DFRI is growing Kaiju flesh into material to reinforce their Super Robots, he and Dr. Carlson get into a dramatic argument worthy of the Mad Scientists that they are, complete with name-calling, thrown papers and crashing apparatus, while their associates watch on in bemusement. Hiroki admits it's the first time he's seen the Doc worked up in ages.
• Head Desk: Devin and Sasaki do this when their Anna, their bubbly Intelligence Services liaison, tells them that they've inadvertently done them a favour and are willing to fund some of their projects… but with a catch Anna isn't willing to explain.
• Herr Doktor: Doktor Maximiliane Brand is another Mad Scientist from Humbolt University, who becomes the Institute's chief xenotechnology expert.
• Hero of Another Story: Effectively, the world has three separate Super Robot conflicts going on, each with their own heroes and villains, with the Earth Union and its military haplessly caught in the middle. The plots converge when the EUDF decides that it's done being helpless and establishes the Institute to be more proactive.
  • Mercury V, its pilot Hiroki Matsumoto, and his allies in the Yukimura Institute are the main heroes in the fight against George Sheol and his Kaiju creations.
  • The knightly Valiant, its pilot Erika Arthur Drake, and Mander Security Solutions are the ones standing in the way of the Westphalian Separatists.
  • The Kausen conflict is an alien war waged on Earth between Legio Galbinus and their leader, the law-enforcing Galbinus Regulus, and the anarchic criminal Free Brothers and their boss Tyrannous.
• Hold the Line: The mission objective of the Day of Destruction. With the Yukimura institute under attack by three Kaiju, flying lizard-mooks and a battalion of human-sized infiltrators, and Mercury V down for repair and recharge, it falls to Lieutenants Tellison and Zhang, their super robot Perseus, the Pegasus dropship, the 25th Seeker air wing, and Diana as AI support to hold off Sheol's forces until Mercury can be reactivated.
• Honest John's Dealership: Used as a joke when, after the Institute works out one model of Transforming Mecha that can be replicated, Wilde puts out the name “Honest Johnathan's Configurable Cars”. Major Johnathan Devin makes a mental note to kill Wilde for that.
• Hidden Depths:
  • When he first enters Sam Carlson's laboratories, Major Devin's first impression is nothing but chaos. But due to his experience as a loggie, he picks up on a controlled information flow amongst the jabber, mistake-correcting and coffee-exchanging, showing that Sam is a lot more competent than he first appears.
• Humans Are Psychic in the Future: According to Sam Carlson's research, humans have developing mutations in their brains that are relatively benign and maybe increase processing capabilities, but not much else. However, he is slowly developing technology to enhance those capabilities and use them to interact with technology.
• Humble Pie: Turns out that, despite the DFRI and the Beowulf being unable to keep the Sergey Gorshkov aircraft carrier from being destroyed by a Kaiju and the snubbing the Naval Defense Force gave them for it, the fact that the craft was in harm's way in the first place (it should've been repaired and shipped out ages ago) has opened up a lot of uncomfortable questions within the NDF's ranks. Later on, the NDF approaches Devin with a request to repair and refurbish the carrier… and Devin has to struggle to not gloat.
• Identically Named Group: A three-man crack team of mech Westphalian mech pilots are all named “Bruce”. Their irreverent Lower-Class Lout attitude gives the Westphalian leaders headaches, but they're the only ones insane enough to pilot deathtraps like the Brute.
• Ignored Expert: After seeing how efficiently Faedium can be turned into C-Crystals, the Regency of Varulne is astonished that Dr. McCullough invented the material herself and is still considered a crank. When they ask Devin later how many other "failed" projects there are on Earth, they aren't impressed with the response of "yes".
• Impeded Communication: After Delphi, the new Oracle Matrix AI created by the DFRI for Legio Galbinus, comes online to assist the Legion against the Free Brothers, she finds out that Chimaira, the Matrix allied with Tyrannous, is actively blocking all communications back to the Kausen's home planet, preventing the Legion from reporting back to the Dominion of Mekaen.
• Imported Alien Phlebotinum: The Defense Force Research Institute excels in this, able to reverse-engineer a lot of Kausen technology and also space-faring technology provided by the Regent of Varulne into workable Super Robots. Technically averted by K-Class material since the Kaiju are created by the human scientist George Sheol, but the idea that he had otherworldly help is not out of the question.
• Improvisational Ingenuity: As a logistician, Devin knows how to make full use of the resources he's got. The feat that put him on General Peters' radar to lead the DFRI was supervising the preservation of the Defense Force's first sample of kaiju material, which up till that point just melted if cut off from the beasts - by means of judicious jury-rigging of a restaurant's deep freeze.
• Insistent Terminology: Charles Mander, the chief of Mander Security Solutions and boss of Valiant, always refers to his old job as an officer of “His Majesty's Navy, in support of the Earth Union”, and not of the “Defense Force Navy”.
• Interservice Rivalry: Even in the Earth Union's military, there are several rivalries between branches, with the rather storied Air Defense Force holding particular promise in the mess. Devin really hates it when he has to delve into the tangled web of branch politics.
• Invocation:
  • These are implemented as vocal passcodes for the Jackal/Beowulf's armor combinations, plus a Transformation Name Announcement.
    • Jackal + Shepherd -> Timberwolf:
      Steel Combination! Go! Yoroi Gattai! Timberwolf Formation!
    • Jackal + TMU/Falcon -> Foxhound:
      Gale Combination! Go! Reppu Gattai! Foxhound Formation!
    • Jackal + Shepherd + Falcon -> Beowulf Fenrir:
      Initiate Knight Combination!
  • Jessica Satsuma can summon her own mech to the field with a call of "Thunderbolt, come here!"
  • Hiroki Matsumoto links his Falcon Mobile to Mercury V with a shout of "Falcon Connect! Mercury V!"
• I Owe You My Life: Thanks to Callaghan, the Jackal and the rest of the DFRI saving the injured Kausen Cavalier and his human friend Cadet Jessica Satsuma, and patching Cavalier up afterwards, the Institute forms positive relations with the good Kausen faction, the Legio Galbinus, and their leader Galbinus-R.
• It Only Works Once: This is Lampshaded when the Westphalians start deploying their own bootleg Jackals (Transforming Mecha). While they're mostly capable of transforming from car to mech, the rough design means that they often discard much of their car-parts in the process and make it impossible to transform back.
• It's Personal: After having his aft kicked by Lt. Callaghan in their first excursion with their Super Robot, Bandit of the Kausen Free Brothers has apparently not taken being forced to retreat fairly well. Even the Legion acknowledge the yellow bot's inclination to hold a grudge, and when Bandit resurfaces after a couple of years, it is suggested that Callaghan use himself and his mech as bait to get Bandit to overcommit.
• Jumped at the Call: When Jessica Satsuma is notified that an alien artifact has chosen her as the ideal candidate with the right amount of conviction, courage and compassion to become a Champion of Varulne, empowering her to enable her to fight an alien force, she wastes no time signing up since it'll mean being able to help her Kausen friends.
• Kinda Busy Here: Adrianna's call to Galbinus to ask him about the new Kausen ship entering Earth orbit happens right in the middle of a Legion firefight.
• Lensman Arms Race: One sidestory chapter "A New Armsrace", focuses on the different factions and organizations upgrading their Super Robots and technologies.
• Like a Duck Takes to Water: Lieutenant Richard Callaghan was a radar technical officer and never expected to be put on the shortlist for piloting giant mecha. However, he finds himself oddly intuitive with Sam Carlson's early ESP tests, and on his first test drive in a prototype transforming Coyote, he is able to use it to great effect to neutralize a surprise Westphalian cell, and eventually becomes the DFRI's first Ace Pilot. The researchers chalk it up to his instinct, adaptability and ability to abstract situations.
• Logical Weakness: An observing Major Devin comments on what happens when a modified Pilum-class gunship armed with a Macross Missile Massacre goes up against a Fragile Speedster that can move much faster than missiles.
  Devin: That's the thing about the old Pilums. They're great in theory, and they can ruin someone's day. But if you ever run into the one man who can run you out of ammunition? Well, you're just a sitting duck.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The Warlord's modified Pilum-class gunship can deliver an Alpha Strike with all its heavy ordnance that's devastating to nearly any target. At least, until its ammo runs out.
• Mad Scientist: All over the damn place!
  • Sam Carlson, chief scientist of the DFRI. He is extremely excitable about his ESP research, is known for providing research reports in videos with cheerful jingles, and thinks nothing of one of his assistants floating and reciting scripture backwards.
  • Doktor Maximiliane Brand is one of Sam's contemporaries and comes highly endorsed by him (which is itself a red flag), whom you bring on as a xenotechnology researcher. While undeniably brilliant, she has a habit of cackling madly when she makes a new discovery.
    The oceans shall part, angels shall weep, and… oh, you just wanted an analysis? Fine.
  • The best villainous example is definitely the Evilutionary Biologist Dr. George Sheol, father of the Kaiju. He sicced a horde of giant biological beasts on the Earth Union because the review board laughed at him and his findings.
  • Later on, Max organizes a tech demonstration for some of her equally-eccentric colleagues in the mad-science community. Devin ends up taking on one and sending the rest on the way to his peer Major Jenkins and her own super robot project Ground Pound.
• Mecha-Enabling Phlebotinum: Considering the number of mecha, with a kitchen-sink-load of super science to power each one, there are a lot of different kinds of this.
  • The Aeon Particle theorem is the brainchild of Dr. Yukimura Rin, stated to be an energy source leaking in from a parallel universe that has the side effect of drastically lowering temperatures. This theorem forms the core of the first Super Robot, Mercury V.
  • The Valiant's source of power is its Dinym Currents and super-magnetism, which allows all its body parts to be fully modular and connected solely by magnetic force. It also allows easy Detachment Combat, Midfight Weapon Exchanges, and easy rearmament in case a limb is blown off or damaged.
  • K-Class material is Kaiju flesh reverse-engineered from Dr. Sheol's creations, grown and treated to take on a host of variable properties. The DFRI's Super Robots use it in everything from their armor, to their circuitry, to their weapons.
  • Antigravity treatment, technology obtained from the Kausen, is able to lower the weight of treated materials. This allows mecha to carry even more armor or weapons, opening up options that were unworkable due to weight or space. The DFRI later gives this technology to Operation Ground Pound to help with their own weight issues.
  • Zirvitium alloy is the material that the Kausen use as armor, incredibly durable and also capable of scattering basic energy like light.
  • Several more are displayed for the Institute's perusal, including Faedium crystals that can be used to store and focus energy, Fulgur particles that are a power source from another dimension just like Aeon particles (albeit with traumatizing side-effects), and highly-versatile Nanomachines. Of these, the DFRI keeps Faedium for their own use, and sends the others to Ground Pound to help get them on track.
• Mecha Expansion Pack:
  • As is common for a Super Robot quest, the Jackal/Beowulf has other vehicles that can transform into armor packs for it.
    • Combining it with the Shepherd cargo truck (which can also throw it oversized firearms in the field) gives it the Timberwolf formation, a Mighty Glacier that can take blows and dish them out just as hard, with Shoulder Cannons, burning fists, or an electrified sword.
    • Combining it with the TMU/Falcon modular aircraft gives it its Foxhound formation, a Fragile Speedster that can outfly almost anything and deliver punishing lightning blasts with its Shock Cannon and Arc Cannon.
    • Combining all three components together gives it its Super Mode, Beowulf Fenrir.
  • The Perseus is soon upgraded to combine with two Sledder support trucks to form Perseus Megas, a more heavily armored form with Pile Bunkers and a Chest Blaster.
  • More Sledder models are also converted into various support units for the Centurion chassis, such as a power pack and extra armor variants.
  • The Valiant, with its magnetic modular limbs, has a bunch of other auxiliary limbs armed with other weapons, from a Knightly Sword and Shield, to a Battle Boomerang, and even a flak-shooting Arm Cannon.
• Mech vs. Beast: Any Super Robot battle with a Kaiju counts. Mercury V is the beasts' usual adversary, but later on, the DFRI's own Super Robot gets in on the action.
• Mental Fusion: As Sam Carlson's ESP research progresses, he starts developing technology capable of this. One example is the Psychic Theatre, a gestalt Man-Machine Interface that allows two pilots to control different parts of the same mech, and when Tellison and Zhang use it, they find themselves using turns of phrases that the other normally does.
  • Dr. Ignatov has reservations about this trope when Galbinus asks for several of his Legionnaire volunteers to be modified into a Combining Mecha, particularly the loss of identity issues.
• Meta Mecha: With some insight from Jiro Yukimura, the Steed motorcycle/Powered Armor is retooled into a modular cockpit that can be utilized in other super robot chassis, like the Seekers or the Thunderbolt. In the Day of Destruction, when a Seeker is downed during the fight, its pilot simply ejects, converts the cockpit into its armor form to land safely, and joins the fight inside the Yukimura Institute to provide backup and support to the staff.
• Militaries Are Useless: Zigzagged. While the Earth Union's military are only slightly on the back foot against the Westphalian separatists and their mad machines, they are pretty much helpless against the Kaiju and the Kausen, necessitating the presence of the privately-owned super robots Mercury V and Valiant. Then Brigadier General Peters deliberately defies this by authorising a project to give the Earth Union Defense Force a super robot of its own.
• Military Superhero: The Institute's Super Robots are this in comparison to their contemporaries Mercury V and Valiant, who are both owned by private institutions (the Yukimura Institute for the former and Mander Security Solutions for the latter).
• Monumental Damage: If the NDV Admiral Sergey Gorshkov aircraft carrier, launched during the Unification Wars and respected throughout its long career counts as a monument, then it getting sunk by one of George Sheol's Kaiju despite Beowulf's best efforts is this trope.
• Monumental Theft: One investigation into Westphalian activity discovers that the sunken wreck of the World War 2 German battleship Bismarck has vanished entirely from the ocean floor. Considering the Separatists' propensity for Franken-machines...
• Mooks:
  • The Westphalian Separatists have two kinds of Mook Mobile: tank-mobiles, which are effectively refurbished pick-up trucks with a pop-up turret in the back that resembles a robot torso, and walkers, which are just Walking Tanks.
  • The Free Brothers use “Drone” Kausen as cannon fodder. They can transform into rover-like vehicles and are sentient enough to be autonomous, but are not much else besides.
  • Dr. Sheol deploys both human-sized "infiltrator" Kaiju to get into the Yukimura Institute itself, and winged Airborne Mooks called Pterawings to act as air support for larger Kaiju.
• Mook–Face Turn: One encounter with the Free Brothers has a Kausen drone knocked out and taken as a DFRI prisoner of war. After a little coaxing from Callaghan, Ichiro, and Legion engineer Architect, he reforms, takes the name Zulu, and takes a position in the science corps with a speciality in Kausen technology, since it's a far better job than potentially having his head crushed by Tyrannous.
• Must Have Caffeine: If Major Devin can be said to have one major quirk, it's that he practically mainlines coffee. One call with General Peters has her notice the leaning tower of discarded coffee cups behind Devin, and when one of Devin's assistants notes that his to-do list includes “ALL OF THE COFFEE”:
  Katarina: Sir, you… you can't have all of the coffee. Can you?
  Devin: Watch me.
• Mythology Gag: The DFRI's Super Robots seem to take cues from their namesake figures from legend.
  • The Beowulf's first Kaiju kill is of an acid-spitting beast with wings named the Dragon, just like how the literary Beowulf was also The Dragonslayer.
  • The Perseus gets an enemy Kaiju's attention by showing it the severed head of one of its brethren, holding it up just like the statue of Perseus holding Medusa's head.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Tyrannous, anarchic criminal leader of the Kausen Free Brothers. Many people have commented on how obviously evil his name is.
• No Body Left Behind: For as long as they'd been attacking, the flesh of Sheol's Kaiju just melted down into nothing if they were killed or if they had parts blown off, so that they could not be analyzed. That is, until Major Devin managed to freeze a Kaiju scale for long enough that the breakdown chemicals degraded and became useless, finally leaving the research institute with a sample to examine and reverse-engineer.
• Noodle Implements: Devin doesn't know why Max needs a ping pong set, five copies of Evil Dead (one of many Director's Cuts) and a wiffle bat to make Zirvitium alloy cheaper, and he doesn't want to know.
• Noodle Incident:
  • As soon as Devin and Sasaki enter Sam Carlson's labs for the first time, this is what they hear him shouting:
    Sam Carlson: As you all know from your contracts that you never read, if anyone asks, Jack is perfectly fine, and did not start to float two feet in the air while glowing magenta. Any allegations that he began chanting the Old Testament backwards perfectly is nonsense. Even if he did, he still did fantastic work yesterday. It's not like we're going to let the laws of physics get in the way of scientific discovery! Now get to it!
  • From Galbinus's retelling, some of the Free Brothers' plans to get energy are worthy of Saturday-morning cartoon plots, like the one where they tried converting a local monument into a death ray to hold the locals hostage for energy.
• No Range Like Point-Blank Range: In his fight with the Westphalian Brute, Ichiro takes the opportunity to charge in, pull some Ramp-rovisation with some debris, transform, plunge his Arm Cannon through the Brute's armor, and fire.
• Not Hyperbole: After talking to a captive Kausen drone, Legion engineer Architect notes that Tyrannous of the Free Brothers actually does crush the heads of his Mooks.
• Number Two: Captain Haruko Sasaki of the JDSF is Devin's executive officer, assigned by General Armistead, a vocal critic of the Super Robot project, to both assist Devin and keep her superiors appraised. However, her professionalism and competence, as well as Devin easily accepting her recommendations and advice instead of sidelining her, quickly enable the two to form a strong working relationship.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Ichiro has this reaction when he hears that, after Galbinus heard of the new Sol-native Kausen (human-created AI) who slugged Cavalier across the Proving Grounds, Galbinus himself now wants to test his mettle.
• One World Order: The Earth Union, after the Unification Wars and the Day of Starfall, where the countries of Earth decided to join together into one global government. The Westphalian separatist terrorists very much dislike this change and wish to separate the Union back into different countries.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: According to the Regent of Varulne, its C-Crystals can only be used to empower those with a just and righteous heart.
• Organic Technology:
  • K-Class material, grown from kaiju scales, is highly adaptive and can be treated to take on many different properties. The Institute uses it in a Super Robot's armor, circuitry, and even pilot suits, something which has Dr. Yukimura justifiably wary.
  • One Kaiju of Dr. Sheol's, named the Titanosaur, apparently has its own transhuman lizard pilot named Ozawa, who can command/control the Kaiju with some sort of gaming computer interface.
• Pass the Popcorn: As Dr. Carlson and Dr. Yukimura argue about the use of Kaiju-grown K-Class material in all of the DFRI's technology, Dr. Brand and Hiroki watch with a shared bowl of popcorn.
• The Power of Rock: While researching how to grow more Kaiju flesh from their original sample, Sam and his researchers find out that the best way is to stimulate it with controlled, rhythmic vibrations… which means power metal music. Now, if only his researchers could agree on the playlists…
• Punched Across the Room: Ichiro in his new Centurion chassis does this to Cavalier during one of their sparring sessions, punching him clear across the Proving Grounds. Ichiro finds him in an Impact Silhouette.
• Psychic Powers: Sam Carlson's field of research, starting off with ESP and moving on to its potential applications. His research is integral to the control systems of the Institute's Super Robots.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • One of the first things Devin chose to do as the DRFI prepared its base was to establish patrol routes and base defences for the new complex. This proved to be a smart decision as they soon started picking up signs of Westphalian spies disguised as tourists.
  • While interacting with Dr. Yukimura, the genius behind Mercury V, the DFRI liaison notices many layers of security on his premises. He explains it's because Sheol, the Kaiju mastermind, is not above sending human-sized “infiltrators” to cause trouble.
  • After being given a data pad from known critic General Armistead after a very confusing meeting, the Institute's A.I.s heckle Devin for wanting to examine it in a secure room with an isolated console. Devin is quickly vindicated when the tablet and the console scanning it self-destruct during decryption.
• Proxy War: The Unification Wars were this trope. They were fought in the Korean Peninsula, the South China Sea, various hotspots in Africa and the Middle East.

R - Z

• Rage Breaking Point: Warlord experiences this when he finds out that the Earth Union had built a working Super Robot under everyone's noses, and a Combining Mecha at that. Seeing the Beowulf combine into its Foxhound formation right in front of him makes him see red.
  Warlord: This is Warlord. I am firing everything.
• Robo Family: The Institute's AI assistants and pilots think of each other as siblings and are all developed by Dr. Ignatov, who's become like a father to all of them.
• Running Gag:
  • Every time the word “science” is mentioned, all of Sam Carlson's lab techs echo it as loudly as they can: “SCIENCE!”
  • Sam having to intercept one of his lab assistants named Paul, who keeps trying to eat the Kaiju sample. A Brick Joke shows that he finally managed to grow a piece that was edible.
  • Adam Wilde putting up gag signs.
• Rule of Symbolism: The first Kaiju that the DFRI faces is named the “Dragon”. The Super Robot that slays it is named the Beowulf.
• Rule of Three: Sam sometimes subverts this in his announcements. He first mentions that he has three issues to keep track of, then after listing the first two, finishes with “There's no third issue. I just wanted to say that.”
• Sapient Tank: Ichiro Banner of the DFRI counts, since he's a dedicated Artificial Intelligence piloting a mech body, and his preferred chassis is the transformable Centurion tank.
• Scars Are Forever: The Perseus received a scar-like gouge on its eye during a Westphalian incursion in New York, but Wilde decided it's too cool to remove, and for whatever reason, Henry couldn't buff it out after an hour of work.
• Shed Armor, Gain Speed: The Dragon, the Kaiju that attacked the San Diego naval base, is capable of melting off its flesh to extend wings for flight.
• Shout-Out:
  • Sam Carlson and Maximilane Brand, the Institute's two chief scientists. Both are verifiably mad, with Sam being the marginally saner of the two.
  • As the new AI Ichiro insists, even if he has a bank of hidden rage and his chassis is green (which Wilde painted), he is too young to appreciate Wilde calling him Banner. But that doesn't stop Katarina from making it his last name.
  • George Sheol's Kaiju take a lot of cues from their counterparts in Pacific Rim, including their varied abilities and their tendency to bleed corrosive and toxic material.
  • The Valiant and its support team have several references to Arthurian Legend. The Valiant is stylized on a Knight in Shining Armor with a Knightly Sword and Shield as one of its weapon loadouts, its pilot is named Arthur Drake as a reference to Arthur Pendragon, its support vehicle is named the Galahad, and the brains behind its super-magnetic Mecha-Enabling Phlebotinum is Dr. Dinym, which is a Significant Anagram to Myrddin a.k.a. Merlin.
  • The first successful activation of Ground Pound's prototype (after they get anti-gravity from the DFRI to help with their weight issues) is, per Word of God, inspired by the intro cutscene from Getter Robo Daikessen.
  • One encounter with the Kausen has a female officer named Major Lennox.
• Show Within a Show: Brave Lord Valen is a Super Robot show that Dr. Ignatov shows to his budding AI child to both introduce her to human media and demonstrate the ideals of courage and valor, key virtues for a team developing a Super Robot of their own.
• Signing Off Catchphrase: Sam Carlson, Chief Science Officer of the Institute, always signs off his reports and announcements with, ”Sam Carlson, we're done here!”
• Sneeze Cut: While facing off against one of the Kaiju for the first time, Callaghan wonders how Mercury V deals with these things. Halfway across the Pacific, Mercury's pilot Hiroki Matsumoto sneezes.
• Soldiers at the Rear: As Anna finds out, the Third Air Defense Force headed by General George Armistead has an unusually large amount of soldiers with wealthy, storied backgrounds, sent to the more “glamorous” service and kept off the front lines.
• Starts Stealthily, Ends Loudly: Missions like this is what the Earth Union Intelligence Services ask the DFRI to help them prepare for - in case of stealth missions going badly, they want vehicles with mecha modes to serve as emergency firepower. The DFRI obliges with a Shade Van in Black with a mecha-mode that serves as field command, and Steed motorcycles that can transform into Powered Armor for the individual operatives.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Anna Smith, Defense Force Intelligence Services agent and their liaison to the Research Institute. Her first appearance is surprising Devin and Sasaki who both pull their sidearms on her, and she's seen doing this in many of her other appearances.
• Stepping Out for a Quick Cup of Coffee: With a Kaiju attack on San Diego and a Separatist attack in New York City happening at the same time, the Legion offers to help out with the Separatists while the DFRI and the Beowulf deal with the Kaiju. However, Devin has already received official orders to not ask the Legion for assistance… but if he just mentions that there's something of interest in New York and it would be good if there was someone there to offer aid, well, he'd be too busy dealing with a Kaiju to look too closely at any other robots in the area, right?
• Summon to Hand: The Arc Blade can be magnetically summoned to the Beowulf's hand, even from underwater. Callaghan utilises that feature in the San Diego Kaiju battle.
• Supervillain Lair: Lampshaded by Devin that the underground bunker they found beneath the university they were given as the Institute's campus almost resembles a supervillain's lair, what with it being full of pre-Unification computer servers fitted with denial charges. Wilde has some fun with it as the bunker is refurbished to reclaim some of the information, putting a sign over the entrance that says “LAIR OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL IGNATOV - Staff and Children admitted for free”.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: While discussing a Super Robot model made with K-Class material and a Man Machine interface, Sam notes that he feels like he shouldn't touch it.
  Not because it's K-Class or anything, I'll handle that stuff all damned day. No, it's like the feel you get when you open an unsealed Issue #1 from a collector's case, minus the soul-crushing wail of the collector.
  Not that, uh, I have any experience with that or anything. Disregard.
• Squashed Flat: The second fight with Bandit ends with Callaghan and the Timberwolf pulling out their Blazing Fist Finishing Move and literally pancaking the Free Brother into the dirt.
• Tempting Fate: When the Free Brothers encounter Perseus for the first time, one of them, Throughput, laughs and asks if Perseus can take all of them while gesturing to all the Drones. He gets his answer in the form of a decapitated Drone and a very Blunt "Yes".
• They Called Me Mad!: Both Dr. Yukimura Rin and Dr. George Sheol were laughed out of the Union Academic Review Board for their scientific theories (the parallel-dimension Aeon Particle Theorem for the former and controversial genetic alteration for the latter). The news article notes that the board's mocking of the two doctors was highly unprofessional considering the vetting the two had to have received to reach this point, but conceded that they might've had a point for Dr. Sheol considering his proposal's rather radical language. Dr. Yukimura took the rejection fairly well; Dr. Sheol… not so much.
  • The other Mad Scientists on the Institute's payroll have also had experience with getting their research sidelined for being too outlandish.
• They Look Like Us Now: According to Dr. Yukimura, one of George Sheol's seldom-used but more insidious tactics is to make human-sized “infiltrator” Kaiju that look like humans to cause trouble around his own Institute. Hence the many layers of security on his premises.
• This Is Gonna Suck:
  • Major Devin has this reaction when Peters informs him that General Armistead, a known critic of the Super Robot project and who has somewhat of an axe to grind, wants to meet him in person for the first time.
  • Just about all of the Research Institute's staff get twitchy when they hear that an AI based on Captain Sasaki's personality (methodical, professional and driven) will soon be in charge of campus security. When she comes online, Sasaki is a little nonplussed at how intense the new Adriana can get about security protocols being followed.
  • Bandit's justifiably nervous reaction to finally being sprung from Legion/DFRI custody and now having to explain himself to Tyrannous.
• Took a Level in Badass: From the perspective of all the other factions, the Earth Union Defense Force served as the useless military that only existed to act as cannon fodder, try to hold lines, maybe rescue civilians, and clean up afterwards, helpless against the enemy threats that took Super Robot heroes to solve. Then they suddenly revealed their own Super Robots and pilots that not only can hold their own against the enemy forces, but actually win.
• Training from Hell: Lt. Callaghan thinks that the simulations that Sasaki is giving him to get him used to the new Jackals is this, given the outlandish, but entirely feasible, situations she puts him in.
  Callaghan: Ma'am, that was freaking two kaijus stomping through San Fran in the middle of rush hour and an earthquake!
  Sasaki: All three of which are facts of life in that part of the world. What is your point?
  • Later on, these sort of simulations are given to more pilot testing candidates from other branches, with just as much incredulity and frustration. Several of them are designed to be unwinnable to pick out the candidates that actually adapt and improvise to new situations instead of just falling back on training.
• Transforming Mecha: Thanks to Wilde and Henry's expertise in transforming vehicles, Super Robots of this stripe become the hallmark of the Defense Force Research Institute. With their help, the majority of Legio Galbinus are slowly converted into transformation-capable bodies, with some even gaining combinable bodies.
  • From the Coyote patrol truck, they produce its transformation-capable variant, the Jackal. This model eventually forms the basis of the Institute's first true Super Robot, the Beowulf.
  • From an ordinary civilian van, they produce the Shade. Since it's built for the Intelligence Services to serve as a backup firefight option, it's loaded with surveillance hardware and its Van in Black vehicle mode keeps as inconspicuous as possible.
  • From the Buckler IFV, they upgrade it and make it transformation-capable, naming the new model the Phalanx. They're much more durable and steadfast than the Jackal, and even carry expandable shields. This model forms the basis of the Perseus.
  • From the Bulwark tank, they create the Centurion chassis, whose tank turret becomes an Arm Cannon in mecha mode. Both Galbinus and Ichiro use this model as their new bodies.
  • Working off from the V-33 model, they eventually develop the Seeker, which can triple-change between mecha, armoured buggy, and fighter jet modes.
  • The Warlord's Pilum gunship is eventually retooled into a transforming gunship named the Thunderbolt, assigned to a C-Crystal-empowered Jessica Satsuma.
• Transforming Vehicle: Lieutenant Wilde and Sergeant Henry's bread-and-butter. Their Establishing Character Moment is showing how they turned a truck due for scrap into a power-loader truck that can extend manipulator arms, and soon, their expertise shows in virtually every product of the Defense Force Research Institute.
  • The V-33 TMU is an aircraft that can shift between helicopter and fighter jet modes. The engineers later add a true mecha form into the mix, making it a triple-changer.
  • The Steed is a motorcycle built for stealth that counts as this trope as opposed to Transforming Mecha, since it converts to Powered Armor instead of a mecha. It also forms the basis of modular cockpits for other super robots like the Seekers or the Thunderbolt.
  • On the villainous side, a lot of the Westphalian separatists's war machines are vehicles that can extend other add-ons, like robot tank torsos on trucks or mechanical grabber arms on gunships.
• Uncanny Valley: Even when undercover Sheol's human-sized kaiju infiltrators only look human at first glance; a closer look reveals features such as reptilian eyes and scaly skin barely concealed by the disguises they wear.
• Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway:
  • While Callaghan is taking Wilde and Henry's prototype transforming Coyote out for a spin, they get news of a patrol being pinned down by a Westphalian cell with a robot-on-a-truck. Wilde immediately encourages Callaghan to assist.
  • This seems to be a habit of the Kausen scrapper Bandit of the Free Brothers. He used an untested Deflector Shield emitter during his first fight with Callaghan, which Galbinus is entirely unsurprised to hear about, and he brings a lot more experimental hardware to his second fight with Callaghan like cluster bombs and a new blaster, some of it unsurprisingly backfiring on him.
    He always was the first to adopt technology. Whether it works properly or not.
  • Very nearly mentioned by name during the Day of Destruction deployment by Oscar Tellison in reference to the DFRI deploying Perseus in support. He'd probably hold a bit of a grudge against his boss if the situation was any less desperate.
• Unluckily Lucky: While renovating the old university complex that was given to be the new base of the Institute, one of the soldiers accidentally causes a sinkhole when he drills into something not on the plans - an underground bunker that contains computer servers from pre-Unification times, which contain an Artificial Intelligence.
• Unreliable Narrator: The Regency of Varulne, housed in an alien artifact studied by Dr. Max Brand, finally makes contact with the DFRI and explains to them that it is searching for a worthy champion to empower and technology to share in exchange for helping get it back to its homeworld and assisting it against whatever attacked the Principality of Valrune. However, Devin gets the feeling that its information flow is particularly selective and there might be some important facts that it's not sharing.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Neither Dr. Yukimura nor Hiroki blink an eye at working with actual AI, Hiroki because he's already fighting a giant robot against lizard people, and both because Sheol's forces are a bigger concern.
• Vehicular Turnabout: After the Foxhound grounds the Westphalian Warlord's personal Pilum gunship, the Institute takes the husk and rebuilds it into another Transforming Mecha, the Thunderbolt.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: This is the dynamic that develops between Lana, engineering AI, and Yukimura Jiro, nephew of Mercury V's creator. Both are assigned to engineering in the DFRI and are constantly butting heads, with Jiro calling Lana “shorty” and Lana calling Jiro a “clown”, but them putting their heads together manages to create the Seeker.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left:
  • After getting a real taste of what the Timberwolf Super Robot can do, the Kausen Bandit decides he's had enough and uses his prototype gravity glider to head for the hills.
  • When their brawl with the Valiant and the transforming tank goes bad, the three Bruces of the Westphalian separatists eject their core unit and scram.
  • The destruction of the Olympic/Titanosaur Kaiju sees its bio-organic pilot Ozawa deploying wings and fleeing at supersonic speed.
• Walking Wasteland: Just about all of George Sheol's Kaiju count, given that they spit and bleed acid.
• The War Room: Subverted. During the first few incursions involving the DFRI and their super robot, Devin and Sasaki conduct them from Devin's office since building a proper command centre on campus wasn't particularly high on Devin's to-do list. Later it's rectified when a proper command centre is built for the Institute.
• Worth It: Even as his head is ringing from pulling a Dynamic Entry ramming maneuver into an enemy Kausen, this is all Lt. Callaghan is thinking.
  • Bandit later has the exact same thought when he repays the favor with the same ramming maneuver on the Beowulf in their second encounter.
• Worf Had the Flu:
  • Oracle Matrices are Kausen Artificial Intelligences, long-lived guides and advisors in their culture and incredible force-multipliers in battle. When Legio Galbinus and the Free Brothers were blown to Earth, Tyrannous retained the loyalty of Chimaira, the Oracle Matrix of the mother vessel Belligerent. It's a testament to Galbinus and his Legion's skill that in spite of not having an Oracle Matrix, they still managed to keep pace with the Free Brothers and Chimaira.
    • This all changes once the Legion makes contact with the Defense Force Research Institute, who have the know-how to create an AI of their own to act as an Oracle Matrix for them. Rather appropriately, the one they create is named “Delphi”.
  • The first scrap between the Kausen Bandit and Callaghan and his custom Jackal ended with Bandit taking a beating and then bailing when things got too hot, but it had come on the tail-end of a fight between Bandit and Cavalier of Legio Galbinus. In the second fight, Bandit comes in with more of his experimental tech, backup in the form of Kausen drones and a raging grudge, and despite the Beowulf's upgrades, Callaghan's increased experience and their own backup from the Institute and the Legion, the battle is considerably more even. Even though Bandit loses in the end, the amount of damage inflicted to the Timberwolf puts it out of commission for several months of repair.
• You and What Army?: The second encounter between Rich and Bandit has Bandit bring out more Kausen drones and his fellow Free Brother Scrapheap as backup. The Legion recon bot Ocular shows up next and says something, to which Scrapheap responds, "You and what formation?" Cue Cavalier, the DFRI's Pegasus dropship, the Phalanxes of the Ninth and the V-33's of the First Wing all showing up.
• You Do Not Want To Know: While cleaning out the biology labs of the campus to prepare for Kaiju scale research, Wilde and Henry note that there's a lot of unpleasant stuff back there. The cameraman recording them starts to pan behind them to look, but Wilde encourages him not to.
• You Can Talk?:
  • Dr. Max Brand has this reaction when the alien artefact, which she's been studying for a good long while, talks.
  • Hiroki, along with everyone else in earshot, is surprised when the Kaiju attacking the Yukimura Institute starts speaking.
• You Wanna Get Sued?:
  • When one of Sam Carlson's video reports uses footage from the original Godzilla (1954), Sam tells his editors to remove it as they don't have the rights.
  • After the K-Suits are put into service for extra synchronisation between pilot and mech, Sam Carlson is seen comparing new helmet designs with existing franchises.
• Zeerust: Seems to be the aesthetic of the Yukimura Institute; while visiting Mercury V's pilot, Callaghan comments that it resembles what authors in the 1970s thought the 2070s would be like, with amenities like a hovering green tea dispenser.
• Zerg Rush: Callaghan and the Beowulf actually have a fair bit of trouble with the squadron of Free Brother drones that are Bandit's backup. Upon seeing this, Devin makes a note to research more crowd control options.