History Anime / MetalArmorDragonar

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''Dragonar'' was envisioned as a successor to ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' without all the ContinuityPorn, and would have replaced it had it outperformed ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Gundam ZZ]]''. That's right, Dragonar was made for pretty much the same reason as the ''Gundam'' alternate universes - and half a decade earlier, to boot.

* HochuOtsuka: Tapp.

* KenyuuHoriuchi: Light.

* MasamiKikuchi: Kain.

* HiddenDepths: For a DrillSergeantNasty, Ben is sort of friendly. Understood Linda's problems with her brother Meio, citing the fact he has relatives who kill each other (ie, Relative X is Federation while Relative Y is Giganos), [[RealMenWearPink likes pandas]], and believed [[spoiler:Kaine wouldn't defect to Giganos]], so as much as to sneak into the Giganos Fortress to rescue [[spoiler:Kaine's mother]].

* TheCameo: [[MobileSuitGundam Ramba Ral]] appears in episode 11 dressed in a blue suit.

* ShoutOut: Kaine's jacket in episode 9 resembles that of [[BlueCometLayzner David Rutherford's jacket from the Ru Kain 1999 arc]].

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Gor, the DumbMuscle and comic relief of the Stark squad, gets a surprisingly [[VillainousValor heroic]] and TearJerker death when his time comes. Gon Jem himself will probably evoke sympathy for the viewer at the moment of his death, considering how sincerely he mourned his fallen underlings]].

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Gon Jem and his Shitennoh (see FiveBadBand above).

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Gor, the DumbMuscle and comic relief of the Shitennoh squad, gets a surprisingly [[VillainousValor heroic]] and TearJerker death when his time comes. Gon Jem himself will probably evoke sympathy for the viewer at the moment of his death, considering how sincerely he mourned his fallen underlings]].

* BigEater: Gon Jem and, to a lesser extent, all of his Shitennoh except Jin.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Jin, the most amoral of the Shitennoh, is visibly disgusted when two Giganos aces take a group of children hostage to lure the Dragonars into a trap.

* FiveBadBand: The Shittenoh:

* RealRobot: Metal Armors. The Gilga-Zamune does straddle the line(it looks like a samurai, for one thing), however.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Gon Jem is "The Disgrace od Giganos".

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The first opening theme, ''Yume-Iro Chaser''.

* SuperRobotWars: Appeared in [[SuperRobotwarsAdvance A]], [[SuperRobotWarsMX MX]] and [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsGC GC]]. Sadly, [[spoiler:Min does not do her HeelFaceTurn in the latter.]]

* ChekovsGun: [[JustForPun Lt. Chekov indeed has a rather large gun, and the two episodes focused around him have him using it somewhat frequently.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Min (doubling as an HighHeelFaceTurn), Meio]]

* PunchclockVillain: Lt.Chekov, a Giganos ex-ace sent to guard an abandonned satelite.

* SuperRobotWars: Appeared in [[SuperRobotwarsAdvance A]], [[SuperRobotWarsMX MX]] and [[SuperRobotWarsGC GC]]. Sadly, [[spoiler:Min does not do her HeelFaceTurn in the latter.]]

If that sounded similar to ''MobileSuitGundam'' to you, you're quite right - this 1987-1988 series is, in fact, very similar to YoshiyukiTomino 's masterpiece. However, ''Metal Armor Dragonar'' is much LighterAndSofter than the series it parallels, not only keeping death to a minimum, but also engaging in refreshing comedic episodes which manage not to detract anything from the action and the development. People who liked ''Gundam'''s bleak setting might be somewhat put off by this, but ''Metal Armor Dragonar'' presents itself as a worthy alternative.

** AcePilot Meio Plato is obviously based on [[MobileSuitGundam Char Aznable]], to the point of having a pretty similar RedBaron nickname. However, personality-wise, he actually resembles [[{{Gundam0083}} Anavel Gato]] the most.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''Dragonar'' was envisioned as a successor to ''{{Gundam}}'' without all the ContinuityPorn, and would have replaced it had it outperformed ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Gundam ZZ]]''. That's right, Dragonar was made for pretty much the same reason as the ''Gundam'' alternate universes - and half a decade earlier, to boot.

This series contains examples of:

* AdultChild: Gor.

* HairOfGold: Linda.

* AmbiguoslyBrown: Min.

* [=~Another Century's Episode~=]: All three games, with elements of plot in each (though 3 has Meio leading a group of former Giganos soldiers in cahoots with [[CharsCounterattack Char Aznable's Neo Zeon]].

->Gon: "There's nothing to go with the wine. Go fetch a lamb, Gor!"

* CanonForeigner - The Falguen Custom, designed for ''[=~Another Century's Episode~=] 3'', which is a do-everything upgrade to Meio's AceCustom.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''Dragonar'' was envisioned as a successor to ''{{Gundam}}'' without all the ContinuityPorn, and would have replaced it had it outperformed ''GundamZZ''. That's right, Dragonar was made for pretty much the same reason as the ''Gundam'' alternate universes - and half a decade earlier, to boot.

* [[spoiler:EngineeredPublicConfession: In the next-to-last episode, Min pulls a XanatosGambit on Dorchenov that results in the villain unknowingly confessing his murder of Marshall Guiltorre to the whole Giganos army.]]

* NameToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Gon Jem is "The Disgrace od Giganos".