Classic Timeline: 1 | 2, 3, 4/F/Final
Classic Subseries: Masou Kishin | Compati Hero Series
Alpha Saga: Alpha/Shin/Super Hero Sakusen | Alpha Gaiden | 2nd Alpha | 3rd Alpha
Compact Series: Compact 2/Impact | Compact 3 | MX
Z Saga: Z | 2nd Z | 3rd Z | Walking Spoilers
Nintendo Handheld Series: A | R | D | J | W | K | L | UX | BX
VTX Trilogy: V | X | T
Other Standalones: 64 | GC | NEO | OE | X-Ω | DD | 30
Original Generation Saga: Steel Dragon Battle Group | Earth Federation | Enemy Factions | Civilians and Walking Spoilers | Endless Frontier
Protagonists
The male protagonist of Advance, Axel Almer is The Dragon of the Shadow-Mirror's Big Bad Vindel Mauser and the lover of Mad Scientist Lemon Browning. When picked as The Hero, he suffers a bout of amnesia upon jumping into an Alternate Universe, where he begins to act like an all-around silly man with strange capabilities to pilot a Humongous Mecha. He also tries to be a Handsome Lech, but horribly and hilariously fails all the time. When faced with his true identity as a Shadow-Mirror operative, he ends up betraying them, becoming instrumental in destroying the organization.
In Super Robot Wars: Original Generation, the plot picks his villainous counterpart and is given an extra quirk: he becomes The Rival of Kyosuke Nanbu. This gets expanded due to a feud in the form of Beowulf, Kyosuke's Evil Twin in the Shadow-Mirror universe. Like his Advance story if he's not picked as the protagonist, Axel winds up dead following the defeat of the Shadow-Mirror at the end of Original Generation 2.
However, Axel shows up alive and well in Original Generation Gaiden: the "Cry Wolves" pull him and the Soulgain out of the White Star before it is assimilated by the "Einst". Although he comes close to death during the escape attempt, Einst Alfimi appears and merges with him moments before that can happen, ensuring his survival. Since the Shadow-Mirror are no more, Axel no longer bears any antagonism towards the "Steel Dragon Battle Group" or Kyosuke, and ends up aiding them several times throughout the game. Although under scrutiny, Axel proves his Heel–Face Turn by saving a Brainwashed and Crazy Lamia Loveless from the clutches of Duminas, earning the trust and gratitude of his new allies.
Following Original Generation Gaiden, Axel continues to wander the universe, assisted by Alfimi. He wounds up in the Endless Frontier and receives a dose of Amnesiac Dissonance while trying to rescue her from mysterious creatures called "Lamalices". With his memory gone, he reverts into his "Ahoseru" personality and undergoes several misadventures. Sometime after dabbling in this dimension, Axel returns to the Original Generation universe at the onset of the Second Original Generation, with Earth under siege by the "Guests". Since his Soulgain is under maintenance aboard the Kurogane battleship, Axel opts to use the Vysaga until repairs are complete. Meanwhile, he begins training Touma Kanou, pilot of the RaiOh and tangles with Duvan Org in an attempt to rescue Alfimi, when he consumes the latter to gain more power. At the end of the story, Axel takes residence aboard the Kurogane, continuing to train Touma.
In The Moon Dwellers, Axel suspects Sanger Zonvolt was sent to the Endless Frontier when Lamalices reappear; furthermore, he discovers his sojourn into the Endless Frontier was no accident - it was caused by Debudabide, a member of the "Dark Brain Army". With Sanger's return alongside Haken Browning and Aschen Brodel, he, the Kurogane crew and the Steel Dragon Battle Group must deal with the lunar "Fury" and extraterrestrial "Gadisword".
He, along with the Soulgain, embody these tropes:
- Ace Custom: Zigzagged - Subverted in Advance as the Shadow-Mirror were able to reverse-engineer the Soulgain and roll out mass-production models for their troopsnote , but played straight in Original Generation with the Soulgain being an experimental Super Robot the Shadow-Mirror acquired from the Tesla-Leicht Institute in their world.
- Ace Pilot: Goes with saying; despite the Soulgain getting shafted for repairs following the dimensional jump, Axel proves he's still this in little more than a Laz Angriff. In The Inspectors Animated Adaptation of Original Generation 2, he's able to trounce Kyosuke to the ICU in a Mook-level Ash Saber and even hold off the likes of a Grungust Type-3 and Vysaga with a small Laser Blade.
- Note that Kyosuke has one of the toughest Plot Armors in SRW history. He's one of the most skilled Real Robot pilots The Federation has, pilots a bulky mecha that rivals most super robots in durability, and has an unnatural knack for surviving horrific crashes with only minor injuries. Axel's the only person that has managed to nearly kill the man.
- Aloof Big Brother: Lamia's "Aloof Senior Captain"
- Aloof Ally: Post-Continuity Reboot, Axel is just aloof in general. When he was with the Shadow-Mirror, the only person who seemed to know what he was thinking was Lemon, and following his Heel–Face Turn, it's shown he prefers to keep to himself. While cordial enough to like and respect his new allies, it takes a little prodding to get him to open up. Alfimi and, to a lesser extent, Lamia are the only people he seems comfortable around. Comes The Moon Dwellers with Aschen and Haken joining the list, Haken even jokingly calling him "Seaweed Almer".
- Amnesiac Dissonance: In Advance if he's the protagonist and during Endless Frontier EXCEED
- Anti-Villain: Type I post-reboot
- Badass Normal: As the franchise has gone on, the abilities of both Super Robots and Real Robots have becoming increasingly flashy, often involving a stray MacGuffin or two. The Soulgain's most notable gimmick, however, is simply it has limited self-regeneration that is rarely even discussed or compared to other machines' self-repair abilities. It's never slowed Axel down.
- Big Ball of Violence: Early parts of Soulgain's "Code: Kirin"
- Big Brother Mentor: Gets saddled with the role of training Touma in martial arts and effectively using the RaiOh's "Direct Motion Link" System, since its controls are similar to the Soulgain. That being said, by no means is Axel an easy instructor.
- Big Damn Heroes: TWICE in Original Generation Gaiden - he saves Raul Gureden, Lune Zoldark and Kouta Azuma from having to deal with Duminas' homunculi and the Space Flounders so they can protect Fiona Gureden and the second instance where he saves the Cry Wolves...except for Foglia Est...
- In the Second Original Generation, Axel arrives in the Vysaga to stop Justine Chafrois and the Guests' attack on the Kurogane.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: It stays hidden until he's about to use Soulgain's "Mai Suzaku" or in the final stage of Code: Kirin.
- A blade tonfa becomes his weapon in Endless Frontier EXCEED.
- Book Ends: The Inspectors begins and ends with Axel fighting Beowulf, but the second time he's joined by Kyosuke.
- Breakout Character: If you see the history of Super Robot Wars: Original Generation, then Axel definitely is one. When it rolled out, the developers probably expected him to be 'less popular' than their chosen protagonist from Advance, Lamia, who became the protagonistic character. After realizing that they accidentally exaggerated his negative traits and fixing it for OGs (and later on, showcasing his 'Silly Axel' side), Axel's popularity very much soared, surpassing that of Lamia's, that people would likely recognize him as the true protagonist of Advance. He's usually first in line before Lamia if Super Robot Wars Advance is getting a reference in another game.
- Casanova Wannabe: During his amnesiac self, he adopts this personality.
- Character Development: In Endless Frontier EXCEED, compared to his neutral point-of-view in Original Generation 2 regarding Artificial Humans, Axel starts warming up to Aschen's presence. When he recovers his memory, he no longer feels any animosity towards the W-Numbers; at the end of EXCEED, he even offers Haken a chance to come with him and meet the rest of the W-Numbers.
- Cynicism Catalyst: It's implied his "Ahoseru" personality is the way he used to be before his experiences in the Earth Federation Army back home (and Beowulf) turned him into the Noble Demon Anti-Villain/Anti-Hero portrayed following Continuity Reboot. Confirmed in Endless Frontier EXCEED where amnesia makes him revert to this personality.
- Defeat Means Friendship: He starts moving in this direction in Original Generation Gaiden, though he's not quite to the "friendship" level yet. Though a steadfast ally in the Second Original Generation, Axel admits he feels uncomfortable around the others because of the bad blood between them. Still, he and Kyosuke get along well now that they're no longer trying to kill each other.
- Defector from Decadence: Via reboot, Axel used to be a member of the Earth Federation Army back in the Shadow-Mirror dimension, which was supposedly so corrupt and decadent it made the Shadow-Mirror look like heroes.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: At the end of Original Generation Gaiden, he leaves Earth in order to find his "heaven". While no longer at odds with the heroes or this dimension's government, Axel admits he doesn't really know what to do in a world without constant war. As of the Second Original Generation, he seems to have found a place among the crew of the Kurogane''.
- Determinator: This guy is one of the most tenacious pilots in the franchise, which is really saying something. In addition to his fighting skills, he's tough as nails and possesses a resolve so stubborn that death seems to have given up trying to claim him.
- Enemy Mine: Occurs in the last episode of The Inspectors. With the rest of his allies dead, Axel accepts the Shadow-Mirror have lost the war, and turns his attention to stopping the Einst and Beowulf. His attitude, and a brief conversation with Lamia, makes it clear that his actions are this trope, and not a Heel–Face Turn.Axel: My battle with him (Beowulf) is my highest priority.
- Flanderization: Ironically, it's a fan perception of him that's become flanderized. As an antagonist in Advance, he had roughly three or so appearances where he got to interact with Lamia, and most of them involved his hatred of androids. When this carried over to Original Generation 2, the international fandom went into a rage because they had never bothered to investigate his villainous personality, assuming it would be identical to him as a protagonist, which began accusations of this trope. Ultimately, Original Generations rectified his personality slightly to make him into a...
- Hero Antagonist: While still villainous in a way, the Shadow-Mirror are portrayed more sympathetically thanks to Beowulf, but Axel's moreso, since his main concern is to eliminate Beowulf before he wreaks havoc in another world, as Beowulf wrecked his. Axel's rivalry with Kyosuke is justified as a means to ensure Kyosuke does not become like Beowulf (at least, according to Axel)
- Actually, Axel, at first, had a hard time believing that Kyosuke could be any different from Beowulf.
- Hero Antagonist: While still villainous in a way, the Shadow-Mirror are portrayed more sympathetically thanks to Beowulf, but Axel's moreso, since his main concern is to eliminate Beowulf before he wreaks havoc in another world, as Beowulf wrecked his. Axel's rivalry with Kyosuke is justified as a means to ensure Kyosuke does not become like Beowulf (at least, according to Axel)
- The Dragon: Of Vindel
- Embarrassing Nickname: In The Moon Dwellers, Aschen gives him the dubious title of "Ex-Seaweed Haired Dumbass''.
- Expy: Soulgain gets one in the Arkgain from Endless Frontier, while it is itself an expy of the Earthgain from Super Robot Wars 64.
- One can say the entire Earthgain series is reminiscent of the eponymous Guyver, with added Samurai trappings. The difference is the lack of a "Mega Smasher".
- The Four Gods: All of the Soulgain's attacks
- Friendly Rivalry: Start's showing shades of this in the Second Original Generation. He and Kyouske are fairly cordial and professional the few times they interact with each other, though it's implied they're still trying to one-up the other during combat - anytime one of them makes a quip, the other is quick to follow up with their two-cents. Lampshaded when a smug Axel helps Kyosuke's "ATX Team" out of a tight spot during one scenario.Axel: "Don't expect me to get cozy with you, Kyosuke Nanbu."Kyosuke: "...That's fine."
- Graceful Loser: He was genuinely invested in the Shadow-Mirror's cause and would gladly die for it. With the faction destroyed, Axel ends up living despite that; since then, more than a few organizations have offered to let him join up with them just to fight the Steel Dragon Battle Group for retribution, but he refuses, citing he accepts the loss wholeheartedly. This winds up being the basis for his Heel–Face Turn - no, he does not believe the Shadow-Mirror were in the wrong, nor does he have anything to repent for. They were defeated, thus he will assist the ones who proved they were stronger.
- Heel–Face Turn: This
and this from Original Generation Gaiden - Hot-Blooded: He may act calm, but when he gets riled up, there's no Tranquil Fury than there is passionate screaming. The exception is if he's in "Ahoseru" mode, which means he's this from the get-go.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Him and Alfimi at the end of Original Generation Gaiden
- I Owe You My Life: Aside from Alfimi, Axel is thankful at Hugo Medio when they reunite in the Second Original Generation for picking him up near the White Star and getting him back to health. Hugo himself is also thankful for Axel's save, but still feels a bit troubled that Foglia is dead, though he doesn't blame Axel for arriving late.
- Ironic Echo: Lampshaded
- In Endless Frontier EXCEED:
"This seems like a highly risky gamble, and I don't really like that."- In the Second Original Generation:
( To Euzeth Gozzo) "That's ironic: I was there not too long ago trying to change the state of this world and here I am now trying to stop you from doing so." - Jerkass: His Original Generation 2 Game Boy Advance incarnation, anyways. Many players weren't pleased, since when he was The Rival in Advance, he didn't take it that far.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He still remains callous for artificial beings following the reboot, but if they did good or do something impressive, he'll recognize and compliment them (or mourn, if something bad happens). Once the Shadow-Mirror is destroyed, he shows with a golden heart more to Alfimi, while maintaining the distant loner, and he's so determined to make sure that all of Lemon's treasures continue to exist in the world, leading him to saving Lamia in Original Generation Gaiden.
- Kamehame Hadoken: Soulgain's "Seiryuu Rin"
- Ki Manipulation: Axel suddenly develops this after entering the Endless Frontier. With Alfimi's help, he can pull off some credible reproductions of the Soulgain and Vysaga's attacks on foot.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Endless Frontier EXCEED made no real point trying to hide the fact he survived Original Generation 2, reappeared in Original Generation Gaiden and pulled a Heel–Face Turn. This is in full effect as the Second Original Generation has shown him as a playable character. However, he associating with Alfimi is still considered a spoiler, despite her being on the cover of EXCEED with Axel.
- Leitmotif: "Dark Knight"
- Lightning Bruiser: Despite the Soulgain being under-powered in Original Generations Gaiden, the Second Original Generation changes it into this and is one of the best units in game, boasting three ranks of upgrades from the start, HP/EN regeneration, and high damage output (Code: Kirin has the second highest non-Combination Attack damage in the game). Further augmented with Axel being one of only two pilots that gets the "Attacker" pilot skillnote by default.
- Made of Iron: A heroic Advance Axel tries to pull apart Domon Kasshu and Kazuya Ryuuzaki when things get too hot, only to be hit by both combatants for his efforts, and manages to stay on his feet, clutching his stomach. It's later revealed both BARELY missed his vitals; Axel vaguely dodged it by reflex.
- The Mole: If he's the Advance protagonist
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: As far as his flanderized self goes, it kind of fits.
- Noble Demon: Persona rewrite in Original Generations
- No One Could Survive That!: His survival in Original Generation Gaiden has some claiming he possesses more Plot Armor than Kira Yamato.
- Only I Can Make It Go: The Soulgain's control's are registered for his use only in Original Generation and unlikely to change seeing as it's somewhat difficult to contact the designers. Averted in Advance with a heroic Lamia in the super robot route, which feature Shadow-Mirror Mooks piloting a mass-produced Soulgain.
- Power Fist: In The Inspectors, the Soulgain's right arm is destroyed in its initial scuffle with Beowulf. Problem? Nope, because the Shadow-Mirror replaces it with a back-up golden arm for his machine even stronger than before.
- Carries over into canon: the Soulgain is badly damaged in Axel's efforts to save Alfimi that prior to jumping into the Endless Frontier, he leaves it with Professor Kisaburou Azuma. The Second Original Generation reveals the destroyed arm is replaced with the golden one.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: His character rewrite displays traits of this, as he comes across as somewhat embittered and well-versed in the horrors of war. In Original Generation Gaiden, he admits to feeling at a lost in a world that is not in constant conflict.
- Spanner in the Works: Serves as this in Original Generation Gaiden, in terms of Duminas' early plans, since it never expected Axel to be alive, had a re-adjustment in personality and allegiance, and knowledge and activation for "Code: DTD" (Dust to Dust) he uses to save Lamia. This is also in Endless Frontier EXCEED, when Axel remembers about Code: DTD just in time to stop Aschen Brodel from blowing herself up under the control of Pete Pain.
- Rocket Punch: Soulgain's
Rocket Soul Punch!!!"Genbu Goudan". Upgraded to "Genbu Kon Goudan" in The Inspectors and the Second Original Generation. - The Rival: To Lamia in Advance and later to Kyosuke in Original Generation; averted by Original Generation Gaiden, as he no longer bears any animosity towards either. He's even become something of a big brother figure to Lamia; likewise, he and Kyosuke get along well and are shown to respect each other, though Axel is still weary of the possibility that Kyosuke will become another Beowulf.
- Interestingly, since his personality rewrite in Original Generations, he shares a lot of similarities with Kyosuke: both are Ace Pilots, Determinators, and have a calm demeanor that hides a Hot-Blooded side. As of Original Generation Gaiden, Axel has his own perky-girl battle partner and seems to have acquired a knack for surviving things that should have killed him.
- Ship Tease: Lamia (due to a short, but meaningful conversation prior to the end of Original Generation Gaiden) and Alfimi, although he's still pretty loyal to Lemon even after she's dead. Endless Frontier EXCEED may have cemented him and Alfimi, what with the two of them being ascended to Battle Couple status.
- As "Ahoseru" in Advance, he does this to his female allies with little to no success.
- Shoryuken: The last part of Code: Kirin
- Shout-Out: In A Portable, Endless Frontier EXCEED and The Moon Dwellers
- Spam Attack: Parts of Soulgain's "Byakko Kou" and Code: Kirin
- Verbal Tic: Only when he's "Ahoseru". Oh, and his Original Generations rewrite sometimes slips it off too with korenara, translates into "Y'know".
- The Worf Effect: Zigzagged with the Soulgain in The Inspectors - Axel had been forced to use an Ash Saber for most of the show since the Soulgain had been trashed in the prologue fight with Beowulf. However, when he finally gets to pit it against the ATX Team, he's nearly killed because Kyosuke had rolled out his Mid-Season Upgrade and learned a few things from their earlier tussles, such as not letting himself get baited into using his machines "Claymore Launchers" too early. This is not the case in their final clash as even after the Soulgain loses one of its arms, both pilots fight on an even level until Beowulf arrives and Axel pulls an Enemy Mine.
- Your Son All Along: Implied. At the end of Endless Frontier Exceed, Haken states that Axel might know who his birth father actually is to which Axel becomes strangely quiet to. Though Haken says he sees his adoptive father John Moses as his dad, the implication is that Axel is Haken's birth father. Given Axel's implied relationship with Lemon, its quite easy to see that.
Female protagonist of Advance, Lamia is an android, the seventeenth model designated "W17" in the latest creation of Lemon Browning and her "W-Numbers" series, with an exceptionally shapely body, since Lemon's trying to play the bit of "creating beings nearing perfect humans" (oh, and her outfit doesn't help). She has a no-nonsense personality, but deep down, since she hasn't spend a long time in the living world, she's akin to a clueless child. When sent into the Alternate Universe, the interdimensional jump damages Lamia's speech box, causing her to develop very broken grammar (woolsey'd into stuttering speech in the localization). As she spends time in the group she infiltrates, she gains some of her own consciousness and this leads her to betray the Shadow-Mirror, becoming a crucial element in defeating the whole faction. After realizing she killed her superiors, creator and ultimately fails her original mission, Lamia's Driven to Suicide, only to be stopped at the nick of the time. This heroic scenario is the one carried over into Original Generation; in addition, Lamia forms a close friendship with Excellen Browning and when her speech box gets repaired by Lemon, it only makes things worse as there are occasions where her voice turns into something like a little girl.
Lamia gets hammered with lots of unfortunate events in "2.5: Unified Wisdom", including getting caught by the "ODE System" in an exhibition gone awry before she has a chance to fight back, in danger of having her personality drained. Lamia refuses such a thing and disrupts the battle data from the ODE System, indirectly saving her friends, and gets bailed out by Kyosuke, only to be shot down by the hive mind of the system, implying she's Killed Off for Real. Although this becomes a source of a major Cliffhanger, in Original Generation Gaiden proper, Duminas rebuilds and reprograms her to turn her against her allies. Shortly after, she's saved by Axel, who pulls a genuine Heel–Face Turn in light of this rescue.
She returns in the Second Original Generation and while she doesn't have any important events to note, Lamia's thankfully more active in the line of duty and not getting similar series of misfortunes as she did in Original Generation Gaiden. At the end of Second Original Generation, Lamia is sent back to the ATX Team to help newcomer Ariel Org solve her short lifespan problem due to her nature as a product of the "Idealant Project" by attempting to reverse-engineer Lemon's design on her.
Officially, she pilots the very feminine-looking, angelic super robot Angelg. In Advance, she can pilot the ninja-samurai-robot Vysaga, though Axel can use it too. It becomes exclusively for her in Original Generation continuity, until the Second Original Generation, where Axel can also use it. They embody these tropes:
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Lamia used to have light green hair in Advance, but Original Generations changes it to a brownish-green. Likewise, the Angelg was colored orange back in Original Generation 2; Continuity Reboot places it in an appropriate pink.
- Aloof Archer: Lamia is mostly calm and collected, calculating and analytical. The Angelg's primary weapon is a bow, its strongest attacks are effectively arrows, and her stats are geared more towards ranged.
- And I Must Scream: Her whole time being captured and infused with the ODE System by Wilheim von Juergen and Duminas. She's still conscious, but everything else, from speech, mind management and actions were all overridden by data, and Duminas also adds up the removal of the majority of her self-identity. Plus, she's stuck there while she's made tearing down her allies AND demoralizing them to hell. These events are still fresh in Lamia's mind even at the end when she recovered, causing a slight Heroic BSoD.
- Badass in Distress: The ODE Incident turns her into this, but she returns to action once rescued, thereby averting Chickification. For the Second Original Generation, she still remains capable on the battlefield and nobody calls her out on this, thus this trope is averted.
- Become A Real Girl: Despite her ass-kicking capabilities, this takes priority with regards to Character Development.
- Came Back Wrong: Combines Type 1 and 3 when she's resurrected by Duminas and Brainwashed. It takes the interference of Axel to make her "Come Back Right".
- Chekhov's Gun: Code: DTD, the "useless instrument that only messes her speech problems up" turns out to be the thing that's used to save her.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Starts out the cold-hearted spy who cares nothing more than completing her mission even at cost of her life, but warms up and values life more highly in the end.
- Distaff Counterpart: Lamia certainly gives off the feels of a gender-flipped Heero Yuy, considering they experience similar development (cold soldiers into a warm-hearted person), a penchant for blowing themselves up and their Humongous Mecha have angelic wings (compare the Wing Zero Custom and the Angelg). Add to the fact both of them are really attractive for the audience of the opposite sex. Coincidentally, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing WAS part of the Advance roster, and nobody pointed this out.
- Distress Ball: Picked it up twice in Original Generation Gaiden since all of those happen because she's not in her mecha.
- Ditzy Genius: A real pro-pilot with a no-nonsense personality when it comes to battle/war. However, it's really hard to expect her not to be a clueless girl in daily life when it's been six months after she realized her humanity.
- Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Explicitly shown in The Inspectors - while training in the gym, Lamia unknowingly breaks the equipment, given her strength as an Artificial Human. She attempts passing it off with an awkward Noblewoman's Laugh.
- Expy
- In-house examples:
- Aschen Brodel, her long lost "sister" in Endless Frontier.
- The Angelg to the Simurgh Splendid from Super Robot Wars 64.
- Third-party examples:
- Signum of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, a near cut-and-paste Expy.
- Two of them in Tales of Hearts, each sharing bits of her elements: Richia Spodune shares her voice actress, green hair and Stripperiffic outfit, while Kunzite has her robotic background, stoicism, fight-ready badass attitude and similar Tin Man - Become a Real Boy story.
- In-house examples:
- Fan Disservice: Stripped butt-naked and tied up by the ODE System, all the while either Brainwashed and Crazy trying to kill her allies or is about to be turned into goo, had it not been due to her robotic nature?
- Five Temperament Ensemble: In the ATX Team, Lamia is the "Phlegmatic".
- Genki Girl, Split Personality: If her personality gets split
- Here's some examples from around the one-minute mark; even Lamia is perplexed at what she says.
- Shout-Out: Some of the dialogue is a reference to other roles Kaori Shimizu has voiced for.
- Here's some examples
- The Gwen Stacy: Temporarily in Original Generation Gaiden, if only so players can see a Heroic BSoD Kyosuke and have Axel do his damn Heel–Face Turn already.
- Heroic BSoD: Mentally, Lamia doesn't fully recover from the ODE Incident. While she blends with her human allies perfectly afterwards, using Code: DTD makes Lamia question her humanity. However, the sight of Garnet Sandi and her newborn twins allows her to understand what Lemon was trying to achieve all along.
- Hot Wings: Angelg's "Phantom Phoenix"
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: As this cosplay picture explains
- It's Personal: She has a special quote when facing off Bartolls in Original Generation Gaiden, implying that she really didn't appreciate everything the ODE system put her through, moreso than other victims.
- Possibly, if the events of Original Generation Gaiden turn her slightly to this for Axel. Naturally, Excellen can also make her go "deredere".
- Lady of War: Lamia is a calculating, graceful and reserved combatant; contrast Aschen, an "in-your-face" brawler.
- Leitmotif "Ash To Ash"
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Atypically, the scientist in question is a woman.
- Made of Iron: Justified because she's an Artificial Human; it certainly explains how she survived getting blown up while nude, but also how she withstood punches from Domon and Kazuya? Mind you, unlike Axel, she got hit right on the vitals and shrugged them off just fine. Lampshaded by this◊ Yonkoma.
- Most Definitely Not A Spy: If Lamia goes five lines of dialogue during the first half of Original Generation 2 without reminding the audience of her nature and raising the more observant heroes' suspicions, it's probably because she wasn't present for the exchange. Luckily (or not so much) for the Shadow-Mirror, Lemon seems to view Lamia as more of a science project than a valuable pawn.
- Hammered home when Kyosuke pegs her as The Mole literally within minutes of meeting her.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her chest is big enough for Tasuku to call her "Boin-chan," and she walks around in a skintight outfit.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Subverts it by eventually becoming good, but then there's her "permanently evil" self from Axel's Advance scenario. Would anyone, on the firsthand, really trust someone named after a mythical female monster who Eats Babies?
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Literally. To elaborate...
- Ninja: Vysaga
- Pirate: Can be considered her modus operandi as a former Shadow-Mirror operative, pirating enemy data and learning their weaknesses...well, "digital" piracy, anyways.
- Zombie: Killed and brought Back from the Dead, then restored
- Robot: She's a Robot Girl who pilots Humongous Mecha; 'nuff said.
- No One Could Survive That!: Aside from her hijinx with the ODE System and Duminas, Lamia also attempted to self-destruct several times for various reasons; all end in failure.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: Played with; she tends to break down into this, but that's not because of nobility, but because she has no idea on how to laugh normally.
- Only I Can Make It Go: Like Axel with the Soulgain, the Angelg is designed so only Lamia can use it. Not so with the Vysaga, as the two of them can use it interchangeably. However, in Axel's Advance super robot route, Shadow-Mirror Mooks are seen piloting mass-produced Angelg.
- Perpetual Molt: At least in The Inspectors, the Angelg displays this.
- Ship Tease: With Axel after he saves her life and a short, but meaningful conversation at the end of Original Generation Gaiden.
- Speech Impediment: Broken grammar or stuttering. To be specific, the former comes in the form of Japanese wordplay, where she says a word written with the same kanji as the word she's trying to say, causing her sentence to come across as nonsensical. Lamia then corrects herself and says the intended word.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Forms this dynamic with Aschen in The Moon Dwellers - Lamia, the more feminine of the sisters, is more reserved and prefers long-ranged assaults. Whereas Aschen turns rambunctious when activating Code: DTD, Lamia keeps it in check, making it rare for her to break from her stoic persona.
- The Stoic: Particularly when Aschen is in the same room as Lamia - most of the time, she can't keep up with her sister's Code: DTD shenanigans.
- Turn the Other Cheek: "Duminas messed up with me and almost kills me? At least it revived me. ODE System caught me unprepared and killed me? They're only misguided".
- Winged Humanoid: Angelg
- The Worf Effect: In the beginning of The Inspectors, Lamia and the Angelg gets this. The machine spends most of the time not shooting down Mooks and its only shining moment is the Phantom Phoenix-"Royal Heart Breaker" Combination Attack, but aside from that, it also gets pushed so easily by a Shadow-Mirror Mecha-Mook (though she admittedly held back since she was still undercover) and then gets completely overpowered by Axel's Ash Saber. Averted when Lamia gets the Vysaga, while Echidna Iisaki gets a black Angelg and it gets this trope again. In Original Generation Gaiden, Lamia gets another one by the ODE System, though to be fair, she was captured while outside of her machine.
- You Are Number 6: Theme Naming for the W-Numbers in general
Shadow-Mirror
While they seem to be petty villains back in Original Generation 2, Continuity Reboot fundamentally changes them into a form of misaimed hero. Indeed, The Federation in their dimension are so corrupt, life seems like hell, and with people like Beowulf supporting the government, the Shadow-Mirror look like heroes. They're also responsible for the creation of some of the characters in the Endless Frontier (Haken Browning, Aschen Brodel and many other W-Numbers).
Tropes associated with the Shadow-Mirror include the following:
- Colony Drop: Their Evil Plan with the Axis colony in Advance. It would've been the trigger for mankind to start another war.
- Man Behind the Man: In Advance, the Shadow-Mirror manipulates the Gaizok, Mariemaia Army, the Giganos Empire and the Vegan/Balm Alliance; in Original Generation, they successfully infiltrate the Neo Divine Crusaders and Earth Federation, allying with the Grusman Faction and later the Inspectors as the Einst began to overwhelm North America.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Male Shadow-Mirror pilots/W-Series androids will use a mass-produced Angelg, though only seen in Axel's protagonist scenario in Advance.
- War for Fun and Profit: Their modus operandi
The leader of the Shadow-Mirror and Big Bad of Advance, this warmonger ex-colonel of his world's Earth Federation Army believes war is the only way for humans to evolve and move forward. He has this mindset due to witnessing his world dwindling into corruption, complacency, decadence and weakness from an achieved, but redundant peace after a war with extra-terrestials. His plan comes to a halt when the government sends Beowulf to stop them, prompting him and his organization to jump to another world and lay low until the time comes to strike down the resident government, Take Over the World and fulfill his utopia.
While he prefers to be operating behind the shadows, when push comes to shove, he takes to battle with the Zweizergain, a souped up Soulgain-like variant.
- Beam Spam: Zweizergain's "Jayurin", at least in Original Generations
- BFS: Zweizergain's "Shadow Slicer"
- Doppelgänger Attack: Some of the Zweizergain's attacks are this. Its version of Code: Kirin amounts to Vindel generating countless Zweizergain copies that beat up on the opponent, then explode as the original flies through the enourmous crowd, pulling off a Shoryuken-like attack.
- Karmic Death: Twice! In Advance, Vindel's top subordinate (Axel/Lamia), whom he sent to be the main part of taking over the world, ends up betraying him, forcing themselves into the Zweizergain and blow him up from the inside, along with them; in Original Generation, not only does the man Vindel's trying to find and force to hide in the current dimension (Gilliam Yeager) kill him, but one of his subordinates (Lamia, whom he sees as nothing more than a puppet) also helps.
- Leitmotif: "Chaos"
- Motion-Capture Mecha: Zweizergain, as seen in The Inspectors
- Orcus on His Throne: Averted; once the Shadow-Mirror reveal themselves, Vindel joins in the frontlines to announce his intentions.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Exaggerated
- Vindel does care enough for the welfare of humanity; Daitetsu Minase even points out that one of Vindel's claims (war helping to foster technological growth and development) is in fact an Awful Truth. It's just Vindel's methods are too extreme, and would eventually render any benefits war could produce useless in the long run.
- What he also fails to grasp (at least post-Continuity Reboot) is the world he wishes to create will likely become just the same as the world he came from. It almost seems like his primary motivation is the fear of becoming obsolete; after all, Vindel tends to refer to his philosophy in terms of "a world for people like us (me)" and "our ideal society: a never-ending age of conflict".
Vindel's top scientific researcher, with implications of being Axel's lover, Lemon Browning is the head of the W-Numbers project, creating Artificial Humans to be as close as possible to the real deal. Thus far, she's produced 18 of them, though the prototype, "W00", is instead a test-tube human, and it would seem that she's most proud with Lamia, her latest creation, whom Lemon deems as the closest one to a human being. Should the player make Axel the Advance protagonist, Lemon admits if it wasn't for the situation that ended up with her being his enemy, and the two of them had met at an earlier point in time, they could've developed a closer relationship.
In Original Generation, Lemon's backstory is heavily tweaked. She is the Shadow-Mirror counterpart of Excellen, but a unique take on "What if Excellen died during the shuttle crash?" and Evil Twin. The result is her parents recovering her body, resurrecting her through robotics and science, but because she wasn't a good enough Replacement Goldfish by her parents, she changes her name to Lemon. The W-Numbers are essentially her progeny: a way for her to understand and emulate her unique nature of something that isn't quite human.
Lemon pilots an Ash Saver in Advance, but uses a customized version of the same machine called "Weiss Saver" in Original Generation.
- Ace Custom: In Original Generations and A Portable, Lemon pilots a customized Ash Saver called the Weiss Saver. Aside from adding additional (and upgraded) "Sword Breakers", it includes the "Over Oxtongue Rifle" Ouka Nagisa uses for the Rapiecage, while removing the "Gun Rapier" and "Laser Blade" from the standard Ash Saver armament.
- Anti-Villain: She's actually right about her notes on Axel.
- Attack Drone: Ash Saver's Sword Breakers and the Weiss Saver's "Solid Sword Breakers"
- Covert Pervert: Not at first glance, but consider the appeal her creations (the female W-Series gynoids) possess, and when you factor in the language her offspring W00 uses, well...
- If you think about the "it's a father's hobby" meme involving ridiculously female mecha, Lemon definitely fits the bill (especially since her creations are both mecha of the 15-foot and the ridiculously human sort).
- Mad Scientist: Played with:
- She's not so much "mad", but brilliant, though her subject of research is implicitly mad (almost bordering on playing God).
- Lemon's definitely a little crazy, or at the very least, detached: despite some displays of sentimentality, she seems to view the W-Numbers akin to science experiments; she even goes along with Vindel's absolutely insane plan of War for Fun and Profit. Hell, the worst she has to say about Axel's "death" is along the lines of "I really liked him, y'know?"
- Meaningful Name: "Lemon" is an automotive term referring to faulty used cars. Following The Reveal she's really an undead cyborg of an Alternate Universe Excellen and ultimately rejected for not being a good enough Replacement Goldfish of the original, one has to wonder whether this was intentional or not before Lemon got into Original Generation.
- Her detached attitude towards her creations may also be due to her flawed resurrection — creating the W-Series is the closest thing she has to being a mother.
Also known as "W16", Echidna Iisaki doesn't appear in Advance, but was loosely mentioned having supposedly assassinated Admiral Leon of the Balms, which in turned got the Balm Alliance assassinating Isamu Ryuuzaki, and should she fail, Lamia would've been the one to do the job (this only occurs in Lamia's story; in Axel's route, he's the one who orchestrates it).
In Original Generation, Echidna ascends to the position of the Advance "Rival Lamia" role, usually contacting Lamia and keeping her in check and in line with the infiltration. She seems dutifully robotic and doesn't portray much personality until the Federation's assault on the Inspector-occupied White Star where, of her own will, takes a fatal attack for Axel, and ends up destroyed. Depending on the continuity, Axel either gets disgusted a doll he hated saved his life or laments her death will bring despair and lower morale of the Shadow-Mirror.
Echidna pilots a Laz Angriff in the games, while in The Inspectors, she switches to a black-colored Angelg.
- Become a Real Boy: Though it's moments before her death
- Evil Twin: Supposedly for Lamia; this gets emulated in Endless Frontier between Aschen and...
- The Generic Guy
- Although not as extreme as Russel Bagman, compared to Vindel, Lemon, Axel, Lamia and Wodan, Echidna comes off as really generic, almost enough to be Flat Character.
- Almost certainly intentional: the lack of a distinctive personality and "lives-for-the-mission" nature is slightly unnerving, a nice contrast with Lamia's Character Development.
