From top to bottom, clockwise: Tempest Galahad, Aegis Prime, Ganira, Megadon
Dawn of the Monsters is a 2.5D sidescrolling Beat 'em Up game developed by 13AM Games, published by WayForward Technologies, and launched in March 2022 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Google Stadia, and Steam. Drawing inspiration from the works of Mike Mignola and King of the Monsters, Dawn of the Monsters features creature designs and artwork by artists such as Shinji Nishikawa,note Matt Frank,note Kim Jacinto,note E.J. Su,note Yuji Kaida,note Zander Cannon,note and Al Jerek.note A tie-in prequel comic by E.J. Su depicting the Triple Incident is set to be released alongside pre-orders of the physical release.
Players control one of four characters — Megadon, Ganira, Aegis Prime, Tempest Galahad — while battling waves of enemies and destroying buildings. Completing a level provides a selection of two of four equippable attribute cards, which boost the character's stats and provide them with unique abilities; with the cards' quality increasing proportionately to the score earned when completing a level.
In the year 2065, Earth has been ravaged for over thirty years by hordes of colossal monsters called Nephilim. DAWN — an organization based out of the Sunrise space station — is humanity's last bastion against extinction, but unsolved mysteries remain: Just what are the Nephilim and why are they attacking? Why are Megadon and Ganira — two first-generation Nephilim — fighting on the side of humanity? What is Project Raven? And what happened to Professor Goro Maki?
Dawn of the Monsters includes examples of:
- Alien Invasion: The Nephilim are kaiju revealed to come from another dimension a la Pacific Rim.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- With the characters being slow-moving giants, the combo meter is very forgiving; it goes down very slowly and is unaffected by taking hits. Also, your rank at the end of a fight is based solely on the points you earned, with speed and damage not being an issue.
- The Final Boss Azrael is a Marathon Boss with tons of HP and multiple invincible phases, so the time limit for the S Rank is very generous.
- Arm Cannon:
- Tempest Galahad can transform her arms into energy cannons capable of firing bullets of Sheol energy.
- The Monarch of Tides, Sednagon, can transform her water tentacles into arm-cannons that fire water bullets.
- Assist Character:
- Ganira can summon a Minion as part of her moveset, with it attacking independently of her and mirroring her use of Rage moves.
- In the Tokyo level "ATOM and Me", the player is assisted by groups of ATOM mechs.
- Background Boss: The Final Boss Azrael simply floats around in the background as you beat up his hands, while occasionally hanging back further and attacking with beams and minions.
- Been There, Shaped History: Professor Maki's research into the Nephilim reveals they've been around for at least 3000 years, with emerging Nephilim being dated back to 300 million years. The dossier for the Nephilim Monarchs depicts ancient cave wall-art, and Megadon and Ganira in particular have been worshipped as gods in Ancient Egypt and Atlantis.
- BFG: Tempest Galahad can summon an enormous gatling gun as part of her heavy attacks, and can also equip it as a Shoulder Cannon for her Cataclysm attack.
- Big Bad: Conrad Fosco, the former CEO of Syncor and current commander-in-chief of DAWN, is revealed to be the one behind the Nephilim attacks on humanity and has been using his old company to mass-produce ATOM units that he ultimately siccs on the Sunrise squad — seeking to make a profit by Running Both Sides. He also had Professor Goro Maki assassinated when he learned too much about what Syncor was up to.
- Bilingual Bonus: The game's final lore cipher translates to "Thank-you for playing." in Basque.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The Nephilim are non-carbon-based lifeforms combining organic and inorganic material. Megadon has an anatomy cutout showing he has a "Magma Core" in place of a heart, a superheated magma-like substance for blood, diamond-hard bones with marrow resembling lava, and a stomach that converts ingested material into Sheol energy.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Virecloss are a humanoid Nephilim species with two sword-like blades for hands, which they like to use to perform unblockable Single-Stroke Battle attacks.
- Boulder Bludgeon: Gigarok and some other Alpha Nephilim, especially the Monarch of Tremors, Gaiacras, like to hurl giant boulders at the player.
- Brand X: In Toronto, two of the destructible buildings scattered around the city are Redbank (a substitute for CIBC, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) and Greenbank (a substitute for TD Canada Trust).
- Captured Super-Entity: Megadon and Ganira are two powerful first-wave Nephilim who were captured by DAWN and placed under their control by Project Raven.
- Charged Attack: Tempest Galahad's Rage moves can be powered up and gain additional effects by charging up Bullets using her Reload rage attack.
- Corporate Conspiracy: As the story progresses, it's revealed that Syncor — the MegaCorp that supplies DAWN with their anti-Nephilim tech, isn't exactly on the up-and-up. Former CEO Conrad Fosco is using tech stolen from Professor Goro Maki's research to lure Nephilim to attack cities, with the intent of profiting off the increased demand for ATOM mechs.
- Degraded Boss: Each type of Alpha Nephilim is introduced as a boss fight, only to later show up as Giant Mooks.
- Destructive Saviour: All four main characters cause colossal amounts of collateral damage to various cities and archaological sites while fighting the Nephilim.
- Devil in Plain Sight: It's pretty clear from the get-go that Conrad Fosco, the commander-in-chief of DAWN, is incredibly shady, considering he seems solely focused on making DAWN a marketable brand to the masses and mass-producing large weapons of war. Even Captain Lionne bluntly tells Jamila in an optional conversation that she doesn't trust him. Despite this, absolutely no one could have considered that Fosco would be greedy enough to deliberately unleash the Nephilim just to profit off of the battle against them.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Just after the last Monarch is killed, Captain Claire Lionne sets out to inform DAWN's council that Conrad Fosco is behind the Nephilim attacks. As soon as her shuttle departs, it's blown up by an ATOM unit, killing her and devastating the team.
- Dual Boss: While they're initially fought separately, in subsequent encounters Inazudon and Bakudon like to show up together, with their dossiers stating they like to tag-team opponents.
- Eldritch Abomination: Nephilim are colossal monsters that come in a wide array of shapes and sizes, ranging from the mostly-organic first-wave Nephilim like Megadon and Ganira to the purely inorganic third-wave Nephilim. They are not carbon-based lifeforms, they do not need to eat or sleep to function, and their bodies are supersaturated with Sheol energy — which is capable of mutating humans exposed to it. First-wave Nephilim are unique entities capable of independent action, while second-wave and third-wave Nephilim are spawned en-masse by Nests or summoned by Monarchs — which act as a Hive Mind. It's implied they are Gaia's Vengeance incarnate, and manifested as a warning for humanity to treat the Earth with more respect, but they are ultimately revealed to come from another dimension entirely.
- Enemy Mine: It's revealed that Megadon and Ganira consider their alliance with DAWN to be a temporary affair for the sake of taking down Azrael, and once the Angel of Death is dealt with the two Nephilim make it clear to Aegis Prime and Tempest Galahad that the next time they meet it will be as enemies.
- Enemy Summoner:
- Sortugor are humanoid Nephilim that can summon other enemies to fight the player.
- The Nests and Monarchs can summon lesser Nephilim to provide reenforcement... as well as heal the player.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Conrad Fosco finds out too late just how bad an idea unleashing the Nephilim was when the newly-awakened Azrael proceeds to wipe him and Syncor HQ off the map.
- Evil Knockoff: In the second level of the final stage, Syncor reveals they've created clones of Megadon and Ganira, called Negadon and Neganira. While more powerful than their templates, they're unstable.
- Extendable Arms: Ganira can extend her arms into tentacle-like appendages to grab enemies and pull them closer for a beatdown.
- Female Gaze: Aegis Prime's victory pose has him turn to show off his ass to the viewers.
- Finishing Move: When an enemy is weakened enough, press X to kill it with an Execution. This consumes a bar of Rage, but also heals you, gives a big boost to your score and can have various other effects from Augments, like giving you Cataclysm energy or stunning other enemies.
- Gaia's Vengeance: It's revealed that the Monarchs and their Nests have been cleansing the environment of their surrounding pollution, and certain ancient manuscripts indicate that the Nephilim's attacks have in reality been a warning to humanity to not stray from some unspecified path. The fact that the Nephilim come from a different plane of existence muddles things, but they clearly are reacting negatively to Earth's abysmal climate.
- Giant Flyer: Torgahra, the Monarch of Thunder, is a massive wyvern-like Nephilim that towers above the player characters.
- Glass Cannon: The Sumstro and its variants, the electric Dain Sumstro and fiery Galt Sumstro, are the physically weakest of the Nephilim species, but their ranged projectiles can be deadly.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Performing an Execution move on a Makairus of any variant results in the player character ripping its head off. Said head can then be picked up and used to bludgeon and shank other enemies with its giant bladed nose-horn.
- Henshin Hero: Eiji Murasame was mutated by Sheol energy and gained the ability to transform from a human into a humanoid Nephilim-like being.
- Horn Attack:
- Megadon's dash attack and secondary charged Heavy Attack involve him ramming opponents with his horn.
- Taurodon are small and don't have that much health, but if given the chance will ram into opponents with their four massive horns. The water and earth variants can even dive/burrow and ambush the player from below.
- Horrible Judge of Character: For some unfathomable reason, Conrad Fosco believes that the Nephilim would actually reward him for opening the portal to their home dimension, when it's been shown throughout the entire game that the Nephilim are only interested in mankind's destruction. That is to say nothing of the fact that the Nephilim's dimension houses Azrael, a Nephilim so wicked that Megadon and Ganira were willing to form a temporary alliance with humanity just to destroy him.
- Hostile Terraforming: It's assumed that the Monarchs and Nests are altering the environment in their vicinity to make the planet more hospitable for Nephilim and less hospitable for humanity... but then it's discovered that the Nests were actually cleansing the surrounding environment of the rampant pollution caused by humanity, leading the characters to speculate whether the Nephilim are actually Gaia's Vengeance. The interpretation is muddled a bit by the reveal that the Nephilim are not native to at least this plane of existence, instead coming from an alternate dimension.
- Humongous Mecha: The ATOMs (Atomic Telekinetically-Operated Mecha) are humanoid mechs bankrolled by Syncor, a MegaCorp formerly owned by Conrad Fosco, DAWN's commander-in-chief. One of the player characters, Tempest Galahad, is a Super Prototype piloted by Jamila Senai, a 23-year-old African-Canadian woman who was the sole survivor out of her family during the Triple Incident — when three powerful Nephilim rampaged through Tel Aviv and Cairo, killing a million people before Aegis Prime was able to kill Kemarah and capture Aguilera.
- Interface Screw: Sortugor Lur are humanoid Nephilim that conjure sandstorms, making it difficult to see what's going on in the heat of battle.
- It Can Think: It's assumed that the Nephilim are mindless beasts destroying everything they come across, but at least some of them are capable of complex thought and even sentience. Megadon and Ganira in particular are revealed to simply be using Kiwa and Kohara to communicate with DAWN, rather than following the twins' orders or being controlled by them as assumed.
- It's All About Me: Conrad Fosco unleashed the Nephilim because he was solely concerned with his company's profitability. Even if the world burns, he believes him releasing the Nephilim will exempt him from their wrath. Azrael proves him wrong immediately.
- Kaiju: Called Nephilim, they are extradimensional giant monsters infused with Sheol energy and affiliated with various elements, like fire, water, and electricity. Little is understood about their Bizarre Alien Biology, and even less becomes clear as the story progresses.
- Kid Hero: Twins Kiwa and Kohara are thirteen-year-old orphans from New Zealand, but use their telepathic abilities to form a Psychic Link with Ganira and Megadon respectively.
- King Mook: The Alpha Makairus tower over their lesser kindred, are covered in black spikes, and have a massive red horn and claws. They're also the first Alpha Nephilim fought, and subsequently show up as a common Giant Mook.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Eiji Murasame, after twenty years on the frontlines against the Nephilim, is dedicated to protecting humanity but has little time form military protocol and bureaucracy, and shows compassion towards the people who scavenge the sites of Nephilim attacks for things to sell, saying everyone is just trying to survive as best as they can. He is considerate of Jamila's idealism, but he doesn't share it.
- Large and in Charge:
- Hordes of Nephilim are led by Alphas, who are far larger and more powerful than their lesser brethren.
- The four Monarchs are ancient and powerful Nephilim affiliated with the four elements of wind, water, earth, and fire, and are fittingly far more massive than most of the lesser Nephilim they spawn.
- The most powerful of the Nephilim, Azrael the Angel of Death, towers over every other enemy fought up to that point.
- Lightning Bruiser: Of all the Alpha Nephilim, King Molokor are thee biggest, strongest, fastest, and toughest — capable of rapidly decimating opponents with rapid melee attacks and homing projectiles.
- Limit Break: Each character has a set of Rage attacks and a Cataclysm attack, which are charged by performing Rage attacks and deal massive amounts of damage.
- Long-Range Fighter: Tempest Galahad mainly fights using her arm-cannon and Sheol energy mini-gun, which can fire rapid volleys, energy mines, and charged beams of energy.
- Magma Man:
- Megadon has an organ resembling a sphere of semi-hardened lava for a heart and a magma-like substance for blood, channelling this into super-heated flame attacks.
- The Monarch of Flames, Agnitor, resembles a saurian walking volcano, constantly spewing lava and flames from her back.
- Making a Splash: Ganira and the Nephilim affiliated with the Monarch of Tides can weaponize water to wash away their enemies.
- Mighty Glacier: Escugon resembles a stout sarcophagus with an enormous mouth full of ten-meter-long razor-sharp teeth, and while it's slow as molasses it hits like a 55-meter-tall slab of stone and is only vulnerable when its core is exposed.
- Mook: Infra and regular Makairus are the weakest and most common species of Nephilim, only posing a threat in large numbers and/or when accompanied by stronger monsters. Elemental Variant Makairus have more than double the health, and are a much greater threat — particularly the water and fire variants, who have breath weapons.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Aggrox are four-armed Nephilim who pack a powerful punch, being able to pummel the player character with Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs and even send them flying with an unblockable charged punch.
- Multinational Team: DAWN's Team Sunrise is comprised of Captain Claire Lionne from Paris, France; Eiji Murasame from Sukagawa, Japan; Jamila Senai from Vancouver, Canada; Dr. Viktor Ivakin from Vladivostok, Russia; Dr. Sofia Cruces from Bogeta, Colombia; and Kiwa and Kohara from Gisborne, New Zealand. DAWN's commander-in-chief, Conrad Fosco, is from Boston, USA.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After being forced to destroy a seemingly rogue ATOM unit, Jamila is horrified and requests time to process having helped murder a fellow human, albeit in self-defence.
- Never Found the Body: Whatever Azrael did to Conrad Fosco when he emerged didn't leave a body behind...
- Newcomer Saves the Day: The prequel comic reveals that the Nephilim attack on New Toronto was Jamila's first mission as a member of DAWN, and that she's fresh out of ATOM pilot boot-camp. Despite this, she plays a key role in helping veteran DAWN agent Eiji Murasame save humanity from the Nephilim.
- Not Brainwashed: One of the big mysteries is how DAWN is able to keep Megadon and Ganira in-line. Once it's revealed that Kiwa and Kohara have a Psychic Link to them, everyone assumes the twins are mind-controlling the Nephilim... but in the final level Kiwa and Kohara reveal that all they've been doing is telepathically talking to Megadon and Ganira, who've been helping DAWN of their own volition.
- Not Zilla: Megadon is a reptilian Nephilim with large dorsal spines and a flaming breath-weapon, and is noted to have rampaged through Tokyo in the past. Two of his skins are even shout-outs to Godzilla.
- Playing Both Sides: It's revealed that Syncor, who supplies DAWN with weapons technology and is mass-producing ATOM mechs, has been behind the Nephilim attacks and is seeking to open the Maw, a portal to the Nephilim's home dimension, so that they can make a profit Running Both Sides.
- Playing with Fire:
- Megadon has magma for blood, breaths torrents of napalm-like flames, can charge an explosive Enhanced Punch, and can generate massive explosions.
- The Nephilim in the Tokyo levels are affiliated with the Agnitor, the Monarch of Flames, and thus have fire-elemental attacks.
- Power Pincers: Ganira's weapon of choice are her large and powerful pincers, which she uses to crush and shear through anything that gets in her way.
- Ribcage Ridge: In Cairo, the skeleton of a long-deceased Nephilim called Kemarah can be found integrated into the cityscape. The skeletons of deceased Nephilim — some many times larger than even the King Molokor — can also be found scattered around various levels and posed menacingly across the Hatteras Abyssal Plain.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Jamila Senai starts out hellbent on wiping every last Nephilim off the surface of the Earth in order to avenge her family, who were killed during the Triple Incident, but she slowly mellows out over the course of the story.
- Sequel Hook: The game's ending has Eiji and Jamila being hunted by authorities investigating the death of Captain Claire Lionne and the disappearance of Conrad Fosco, while Megadon and Ganira are still at-large... and Azrael is Not Quite Dead.
- Shout-Out:
- The choice to name the giant monsters "Nephilim" was inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion calling their giant monsters "Angels".
- Eiji Murasame's first name is pronunced the same as "A.G.", the acronym for Astro/Atomic Guy from King of the Monsters.
- Aegis Prime is an Ultraman Copy, and his "Rider" palette is a reference to Kamen Rider, his "Mutant" palette is a reference to Wolverine, his "Bio-Armor" palette is a reference to Guyver, his "Arachnid" palette is a reference to Spider-Man, his "Art" palette is a reference to the Dada from Ultraman, his "Ranger" palette is a reference to the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and his "M78" palette is a reference to Ultraman. His first name Eiji is likely a reference to famous tokusatsu director Eiji Tsuburaya.
- Ganira's name was inspired by Gamera, her "90s" palette is a reverence to Unit-01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion, her "Mantis" palette is a reference to The Deadly Mantis, her "Spacebug" palette is a reference to the Baltan from Ultraman, her "Desert" palette is a reference to HerculesKabuterimon from Digimon, her Ebi palette is a reference to Ebirah from Godzilla series, and her "1954" palette is a reference to the giant ants from Them!.
- Megadon's "Turtle" palette is a reference to Gamera, his "Pink" palette is a reference to Godzilly from Godzilland, his "King" palette is a reference to Godzilla, his "Lizard" palette is a reference to Charizard from Pokémon, and his 1954 palette is a reference to Gojira.
- Jamila Senai's first name is a reference to the kaiju Jamila from Ultraman.
- Tempest Galahad is a reference to the Jaeger mechs from Pacific Rim (even the name is in the same style as Jaeger naming), and her "Amuro" palette is a reference to the RX-78-2 Gundam from Mobile Suit Gundam, her "Solar" palette is a reference to Metabee from Metabots, "K-B4KO" palette is a reference to Kebako from Cat Girl Without Salad, her "Perfect" palette is a reference to Cell from Dragon Ball, her "Angel" palette is a reference to Unit-01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion, her "Angel" palette is a reference to RaCaseal from Phantasy Star Online, her "Ranger" palette is a reference to the Pink Ranger from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, her "Maverick" palette is a reference to Mega Man X, her "Hunter" palette is a reference to Samus Aran from Metroid, and her "Kabuto" palette is a reference to Mazinger Z.
- Aegis Prime's Cataclysm attack is a reference to the Shun Goku Satsu from the Street Fighter series.
- Tempest Galahad's Cataclysm attack is a reference to Iron Man's "Proton Cannon" Hyper-Combo from the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
- Megadon and Ganira's poses in the opening cutscenes are based on the poster for Gappa The Triphibian Monster and War of the Gargantuas respectively.
- The Sunrise space station is named after the Sunrise animation studio, who made the Mobile Suit Gundam and 1979 Ultraman anime.
- Dr. Sofia Cruces was inspired by Newton Geiszler from Pacific Rim, being a "Kaiju Groupie" excited to have the chance to study them up close and personal, and her magatama necklace is a reference to Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars and the Heisei Gamera films.
- Professor Goro Maki, DAWN's missing top Nephilim researcher, is a reference to the scientist of the same name from Shin Godzilla, who discovered and studied Godzilla but was Driven to Suicide after his warnings about its existence were laughed at by the Japanese and American governments.
- The Makairus-type Nephilim bear a strong resemblance to the Kaiju from Pacific Rim, in particular Knifehead, Trespasser, and Hardship.
- One of the billboards in Toronto has artwork of characters from Way of the Passive Fist, Skully, Worse Than Death, A Fold Apart, Mighty Fight Federation, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, Fire Tonight, Nobody Saves the World, Grindstone, Planet of the Eyes, Super Crush KO, A Short Hike, The Big Con, Dwarrows, and A Mortician's Tale — all indie games made by Torontonian studios.
- One of the billboards in Toronto is a reference to the 1990s Concerned Children's Advertisers PSA song "Don't Put It In Your Mouth". Another is a spoof on the Zellers department store, called "Zillers" after a memetic mispronunciation of Godzilla as "Godziller".
- A billboard advertising Dawn of the Monsters in Toronto has the characters posed in the same manner as the Super Famicom cover for King of the Monsters.
- The Monarch of Thunder, Torgahra, is pretty much a one-headed cross between King Ghidorah and Nemesis from the Nemesis Saga, being a wyvern-like kaiju with electrical powers and glowing membranes on her underbelly that she uses to channel her attacks.
- R. E. Gerald, an author from the 1930s and 1940s that Professor Maki was a huge fan of, is a pastiche of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, and noted to be a contemporary of both. Gerald's best-known work was a Heroic Fantasy saga set in Atlantis drawing from myths of an ancient long-lost civilization that worshiped the Nephilim, which her archeologist father studied prior to his murder.
- Kiwa and Kohara take inspiration from a variety of sources, chiefly the Shobijin from Mothra, Miki Saegusa from the Heisei Godzilla films, and Asagi Kusanagi and Ayana Hirasaka from the Heisei Gamera films.
- Zahra Sinclair from Double Cross shows up as a fashion model on a billboard in Brazil.
- When Team Sunrise is ordered to investigate some ruins in Egypt, Eiji quips that he's "got a bad feeling about this."
- When asked what he'd name an ATOM were he allowed to pilot one, Eiji jokes that he'd go for the classic Majinga Zetto.
- One of the billboards in Tokyo is a reference to Mazenda from Chojū Sentai Liveman, and another reference to the series is Academia Island. Another Tokyo billboard advertising "Spagetty" is a nod to a memetic typo on an Ultraman X episode.
- One of the mission launch quotes for Megadon is "Kohara says Megadon is Ret-2-Go!"
- One of the character select quotes has Dr. Viktor Ivakin say the characters are "Powered by Augmentiser G-1", a reference to Organizer/Regenerator G-1 from Godzilla 2000.
- King Molokor's design is inspired by Bagan, an unused Godzilla enemy who nonetheless has a massive fan following.
- The Maw — a portal at the bottom of the ocean through which the Nephilim emerge — is a reference to the Breach from Pacific Rim.
- Status Buff:
- Fire deals damage over time, Erode lowers the affected party's defence, Drench slows them down, and Shock stuns them.
- Indargor are a humanoid Nephilim who spend their time hovering as far away from the player character as they can, teleporting to avoid combat, and buffing the strength, defence, and speed of all enemies in their vicinity.
- Straw Nihilist: When Jamila calls Conrad Fosco out on dooming mankind by unleashing the Nephilim, Conrad argues back that the climate catastrophe was a sign that humanity was doomed anyways. All he cares about is securing a position for himself while everyone below him burns.
- Stupid Evil: Conrad Fosco was so desperate to have his company come out on top in the wake of the planet's climate catastrophe that he willingly unleashed the Nephilim. He treats the whole conspiracy as being no different than inciting a war with a foreign nation for profit when he in reality unleashed horrors from another dimension who stand a very real chance of exterminating humanity, the very people he's trying to make a buck off of. When Jamila calls him out on bringing humanity close to extinction, he argues back that humanity was on its way out already and that his collaboration with the Nephilim will ensure his company at least lasts longer. He's immediately proven wrong with Azrael is unleashed and proceeds to make him and his company literally disappear off the map.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: The first stage of the final area takes place at the bottom of the ocean, and all of the characters — as well as enemy Nephilim — are able to move unimpeded.
- Sweeping Laser Explosion: One of Agnitor's attacks has her sweep a narrow beam of energy along the ground in front of her, creating an explosion that leaves pools of lava in its wake.
- Time Abyss: The Nephilim are between 3000 and 300 million years old, though Dr. Sofia Cruces assumes the latter to be a glitch in their calculations due to the Nephilim's Bizarre Alien Biology.
- Team Mom: Captain Claire Lionne may be a gruff soldier who withholds key information from her team until they disobey her orders and go digging anyway, but she's the glue that holds the team together. Her death hits the team hard, especially Jamila — who steps up to take charge and avenge her.
- Token Heroic Orc: Megadon and Ganira are two first-wave Nephilim who are deployed by DAWN to fight other Nephilim, though Eiji and Jamila are initially wary of them. Once they learn about Kiwa and Kohara, a pair of teenaged twins with psychic powers, they assume that the Megadon and Ganira are under control and on the side of humanity. This is ultimately proven untrue, as Megadon and Ganira were working with DAWN of their own volition to stop the Harbinger, Monarchs, and other Nephilim, and once that's done they make it abundantly clear that their alliance with the humans is over.
- Touched by Vorlons: Eiji Murasame was exposed to Sheol energy while investigating the Hatteras Abyssal Plain under the The Bermuda Triangle, giving him the ability to transform into the Ultraman Copy Aegis Prime. He remarks to Jamila that as time goes on, his mutation is progressing and turning him into something more Nephilim than human.
- Tragic Keepsake: Jamila Senai's necklace is all that she has left of her family, who died during the Triple Incident when she was only six.
- Turtle Island: The Monarch of Tremors, Gaiacras, is so large that she has buildings, statues, and obelisks on her body.
- Underground Monkey: Most Nephilim come in Elemental variants — lightning for Toronto, water for Iguçua, earth for Egypt, and fire for Tokyo.
- The War Just Before: While conflict with the Nephilim has been more-or-less continuous since Megadon emerged from Mt. Aso in 2036, each new wave brought about a surge in conflict and destruction — with major incidents being the Second Wave's Triple Incident and the Third Wave's Nesting Day.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Eiji, Jamila, and Dr. Sofia Cruces come across Kiwa and Kohara plugged into the machines they use to "operate" Megadon and Ganira, they're horrified and outraged, furiously confronting Captain Claire Lionne, who argues it's a necessary evil to defeat the Nephilim and points out that if they go public then DAWN will be shut down and humanity doomed as a result.
- Young and in Charge: Dr. Sofia Cruces was Professor Goro Maki's intern prior to his mysterious disappearance, which led to her replacing him as DAWN's chief Nephilim researcher despite only being 23 years old.
