Gladiformers is a 2007 film by Vídeo Brinquedo. The plot revolves around a Prince named Julius Drive who was sold into slavery (somehow) and forced to fight to the death in the mechanical slaughterhouse known as The Centaris Gladiatorial Arena's. The movie has loads of Angra songs thrown in and it did well enough in its home country to have a sequel but it sadly has never been dubbed in English.
Hilariously, they did the "robot gladiators" thing years before Real Steel did, though the latter film is based off a Richard Matheson story.
Come in, Gladiformer 1 tropes. That's an order!
- Affably Evil: The Supremobots and Locutor steal other robots from nations far and wide to watch them destroy each other for bets but aside from that they seem relatively reasonable and knowledgeable about each model and are shown to be willing to broker deals with individual Gladiformers to ensure a more spectacular fight. The sequel notes that they give fighters a few weeks break if they get bored seeing them fight.
- Locutor in particular seems to really only be evil by association as he is shown to love chewing the scenery and organizes each of the fights with an almost childlike zeal.
- The Atoner: Patrion Tokal
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Maita Gortim got one dished on him.
- Captain Ersatz: A couple.
- Julius Drive is one of Optimus Prime (with a bit of Rodimus Prime thrown in too). His alternate mode is a near carbon copy of Override's alt mode.
- Magnum Tutor is one of Megatron with possibly a bit of Scourge mixed in.
- The Supremobots seem to be based off of The Quintessons
- Locutor note seems to be based off of Zordon except he is Affably Evil like the Supremobots.
- Crapsack World: And how. A world where a group of supreme AI can abduct any robot- including leaders of nations -to force them to fight to the death for their own amusement and a promise that they must Win to Exit that isn't guaranteed if they deem you a worthy enough fighter and thus are to be forever enslaved until you are inevitably destroyed in their death games and possibly have your kingdom and your people looted and destroyed if you are a leader of a nation caught in their clutches.
- Curb-Stomp Battle / Strictly Formula: Most fights drag on for a while, then there is a pause for one character to dump exposition about their past, then one character utterly destroys the other.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The Supremobots may be tyrannical AI's, but may the Godbots help you if you try stabbing another Gladiformer in the back in front of them.
- Fauxlosophic Narration: Lots from Julius Drive.
- Foreshadowing: During Mora Jarte's fight he inadvertently siphons off Magnum Tutor's energy sources after he is damaged. This sapped off enough of his energy to ensure Magnum's defeat in the final battle.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Several. The most notable is Maita Gortim sacrificing himself to save his nation from the predations of Supremobot talent scouts in a brilliant Thanatos Gambit.
- Large Ham: Magnum Tutor attempts to be this.
- Locutor is shown to adore chewing the scenery with each Gladiformer sent out.
- Meaningful Name: Locutor, the announcer of each fight, is named after the Portuguese word for announcer.
- The Mockbuster: Of Transformers though it also rips off elements of Gladiator.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Julius Drive "defeats" Magnum Tutor after the latter suffers a critical power failure at the cost of Julius' freedom.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Poor Dante Logus.
- Senseless Sacrifice: What Dante Logus ultimately ended up doing. Once you're in the arena, you must Win to Exit.
- This Cannot Be!: If you hear this, someone's about to die.
- Transforming Mecha: A given for a Transformers Mockbuster though the alt modes don't do much in the fights themselves.
Come in Gladiformer 2 Tropes, That's an order!
- Animation Bump: The animation is relatively better than the first one. Fight scenes are more fluid and there are more detailed sets and character models used but it still doesn't look great.
- Ascended Extra: Mana Eloos, the princess who is only briefly mentioned once in the last movie, is a major character in this one.
- One of the Large Statues in the previous arena is the final boss in the movie and is given a backstory.
- Back from the Dead: Magnum Tutor, Korjo Displo, Dante Logus and several others are back and more powerful than ever.
- Bittersweet Ending: In the last fight, Magnum is fatally damaged by the gigantic Simos Kalom and Julius agrees to permanently combine with him into a giant sized form to take down Simos. But it too is all for naught as it turns out Julius' princess owner was never held hostage by the Supremobots and had used her likeness to cause Julius to go on a rampage to complete his "indisputable evolution" as a Gladiator. In response, Julius destroys the Supremobots and Locutor out of revenge thus ensuring his and his people's freedom at the cost of everyone he held near and dear to him.
- Came Back Wrong / Face–Heel Turn: Dante Logus and Mora Jarte betray each of their masters in their fight. Dante betrays Julius for siding with his killer Magnum Tutor and Mora betrays Magnum after he left him for dead in his fight with Patrion Tokal.
- Car Fu: A lengthy fight scene near the end of the movie has Julius Drive and Magnum Tutor use their vehicle modes to fight off hoards of Project One's. Even the clones get in on the vehicular combat action.
- Combining Mecha: Julius Drive and Magnum Tutor combine to form a super robot in the climactic battle.
- Heel–Face Turn: Magnum Tutor ends up siding with Julius Drive in the quest to rescue Mana Eloos and eventually reconciles his relations with him near the end of the movie.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Magnum Tutor is gravely injured in the final fight and sacrifices himself by permanently combining with Julius Drive to save the day.
- Humongous Mecha: Simos Kalom, The Greatest Gladiformer who ever lived is a gigantic superpowered robot warrior that requires Julius Drive and Magnum Tutor to combine into one robot to even their odds at beating him.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Julius Drive kills the Supremobots and ensures the freedom of him and his people from their iron grip and avenged the lives of who knows how many Gladiformers but at the cost of the lives of two of his best friends.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Julius Drive and Magnum Tutor spend much of the movie working together and fighting off the robot hordes of The Supremobots to rescue their Princess.
- Transforming Mecha: As stated before, unlike the first movie the characters actually utilize their vehicle modes in combat and as a means of quicker travel.
Hail Julius Drive! Hail Julius Drive!
