Super Robot Wars R/Characters
Raul Gureden (Voiced by Go Inoue)
Male protagonist of Super Robot Wars Reversal, Raul's a test pilot of the Excellence machine installed with the Time Flow Engine. He's rather close with the team's Wrench Wench Mizuho Saiki and good friends with the energy Otaku Raji Montoya, and one can consider him and Mizuho a couple, though they'll mostly deny it. His story differs depending on continuity.
In Reversal, he originates in a Crapsack World where bad events like Chars Counterattack or Prince of Darkness is on the air. Trying to promote the Engine, he enlists him and his team to the Nahel Argama or Nadesico, but at one point meets the enigmatic Duminuss, who wants the Engine for its own purposes. Attacking Raul and his team, the Engine gets damaged that it opens a wormhole, transporting them to a MUCH brighter past. After doubting to make changes that will preserve the future, Raul declares that MAYBE a Temporal Paradox won't hurt, if it's to fix the Bad Future. Duminuss continues to target him and the Engine, but its death throws Raul and his company back to their time...now brighter and sunnier because of his efforts to fix the past.
In Super Robot Wars Original Generations, he comes from the same world as the Shadow-Mirror and has a younger twin sister named Fiona. In the prologue to Original Generation 2, the team's sought by the Shadow-Mirror, but continues to elude them, until Lemon Browning sends Axel Almer to retrieve the Time Flow Engine. He proceeds to disable Fiona's Excellence when Duminuss pops out and sends an attack at Raul. Fiona takes the shot, but the shock of the attack causes the Engine in her unit to go haywire and open a dimensional gate, sucking the siblings in (fortunately for Axel, he eludes it). Raul, Raji and Mizuho wind up transported to the Original Generation universe, and ally with the Earth Federation Army (with some help from Gilliam Yeager) at the height of the war with the Inspectors and the Einst. Following the war, Raul, Raji and Mizuho join the Kurogane crew, with hopes that they might find Fiona.
Six months later during Original Generation Gaiden, during a clash between Kouta Azuma and his Brainwashed and Crazy sister Shouko, the energies from the Compatible Kaiser and G Thundergate pop open a wormhole with Fiona and her Excellence coming out from it. While Raul catches up Fiona with current events, Duminuss' kidnaps Raji and Mizuho. In response, he and Fiona take their machines to battle the creature and rescue them both, alongside saving Duminuss' surviving Homunculi Despinis. Raul's story ends with him dismantling his Excellence, citing the Time Flow Engine is too dangerous and something like Duminuss will come again with hopes to seize the Engine and misuse it. Opting to open a junkyard/mechanic shop called "L&E Corporation" and taking in Despinis as a family member, Raul continues to become a test pilot for Mizuho's new rescue-oriented robotics.
Which machine does he ride? The Excellence, of course, with a full set of frames, changeable to adapt to any situation/terrain. He later gets the Super Robot Genre Excellence "Lightning" as a final upgrade.
Raul embodies these tropes:
- Call Back: In Scenario 27 for Original Generation Gaiden, Raul notes the environment is the same when they were attacked by Axel and Duminuss back in their world. Original Generation Gaiden reused the same map from Original Generations.
- Chest Blaster: Excellence Lightning's Black Sun.
- Cool Sword: Excellence Lightning's Dimension Slasher.
- Guns Akimbo (Cosmodiver frame)
- Leitmotif: "Over The Time Flow".
- Mecha Expansion Pack, Swiss Army Weapon: Excellence's multiple frames.
- Multicolored Hair: Black-red hair.
- Screw The Already Bleak Future
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: His standard reaction whenever people try to ship him with Mizuho.
- Spear Counterpart
- Half-Identical Twins: Original Generation only.
- Temporal Paradox, Time Travel: Reversal only; of note is he doesn't necessarily care that he might alter the future to be more of a crapsack than before.
- Transforming Mecha: Excellence is basically this; in Original Generation, it can change frames on the fly, as opposed to Reversal, where it can only change during the intermission or docked with an allied battleship.
Fiona Gureden (Voiced by Yuki Masuda)
Heroine of Reversal, Fiona starts as Raul's Distaff Counterpart, meaning her story's the same as Raul in Reversal, but they cannot coexist together...except she's not into Girls Love and has a steady relationship with Raji, where she thinks her status as a test pilot hinders his research with the Time Flow Engine. Original Generation turns her into younger twin sister and unlike Raul who takes his business seriously, Fiona's much more laid back and teasing and likes to remind Raul she's his younger sister, despite him claiming it shouldn't make any difference, since they're... well, you know... twins.
Her story starts out the same as Raul in Original Generations, but after being thrown into the dimensional gate, Fiona vanishes and isn't seen again for an entire game. Come Original Generation Gaiden, when the clash between the Compatible Kaiser's Overgate Engine and the G Thundergate opens up a wormhole, out pops Fiona, starving and still injured from taking the attack meant for Raul by Duminuss. Thanks to the interference of Axel and Einst Alfimi, Raul hauls her for medical attention aboard the Kurogane. After being caught up with the fact she's in an Alternate Dimension and learning Raji and Mizuho are kidnapped by Duminuss, Fiona takes to the battlefield to assault Duminuss and continue to be at her brother's side. With Duminuss defeated, Fiona dismantles her Excellence, agreeing the Time Flow Engine is still yet an unstable piece of technology, and opens the "L&E Corporation" (named by her after the Lightning and Eternal frames) with Raul as another test pilot for Mizuho, although Dr. Marion Radom states she wants to build something for Fiona that's better than the Excellence.
She starts with the same Excellence machine like Raul, however her final upgrade is the much more feminine Excellence "Eternal".
Fiona embodies these tropes (some of them are shared with Raul, though):
- Crucified Hero Shot: Excellence Eternal's Final Grand Cross.
- Technically subverted, because she doesn't do this pose while doing her Heroic Sacrifice: she pulls it out after surviving all those hijinx with the Eternal frame. A case can also be made that the Final Grand Cross is a Shout-Out to Detonator Orgun's Grand Cross attack.
- Distaff Counterpart
- Half-Identical Twins: Original Generation only.
- Guns Akimbo
- Heroic Sacrifice: Original Generation only; subverted later due to Trailers Always Spoil (see She's Just Hiding.
- Improbable Weapon User: In Original Generation Gaiden, she gets praised by Marion for using the Eternal's energy emitters as blades.
- Leitmotif: "Over The World Wall".
- Mecha Expansion Pack, Swiss Army Weapon
- Not So Different: Heroic variation: the way Marion approaches Fiona feels as if Marion was like Fiona when she was younger. Still, how a Fiona-like Marion (if true) could grow into the current Marion players know better...yeah, might be better left unanswered.
- Red Headed Heroine
- She's Just Hiding: Back in Original Generations, she already goes on to deliver some sort of "farewell" death speech to the team, making it more apparent she may bite the dust (more so than Lamia Loveless). It takes one trailer for Original Generation Gaiden to ruin all the suspense, hence the lack of spoilers.
- Stuffed Into the Fridge: Ultimately subverted, due to the trailer.
- The Tease: Not as much as Excellen Browning, but she mercilessly teases her "Onii-chan~".
- Needless to say, fanart ran with this and gave us a Screw Yourself for Reversal and "twincest" for Original Generation.
- Transforming Mecha
- Wangst: Her Reversal counterpart usually had her Wangst about how she thinks she's a hindrance to Raji's research.
Raji Montoya (Voiced by Hideki Ogihara)
Raul's scientist buddy who created the Time Flow Engine, Raji's an Otaku about energy sources and usually accompanies Raul in his endeavors, but in case you're playing Fiona's scenario in Reversal, he's her love interest and a big source of Fiona's Wangst. In either continuity, he's kidnapped with Mizuho to create a new Time Flow Engine for Duminuss, but sabotages it at the last second to give Raul/Fiona a chance. Exclusively for Original Generation, he becomes a sub-pilot for Raul's Excellence Lightning. At the end of Original Generation Gaiden, when Raul and Fiona decide to dismantle their Excellences, Raji doesn't entirely abandon his continuing research to the Time Flow Engine, but he does intend to one day discover the Engine's true properties.
Not related in any way with Inigo Montoya, nor did he say that, nor were his parents killed by Duminuss...and neither does he say "Prepare to Die".
Tropes associated with Raji:
- Ascended Extra: Promoted from a non-playable side-character in Reversal to a sub-pilot in Original Generation.
- Heroic Second Wind: In a way: basically, when Duminuss appears for the near-last time in Reversal, it's really joyous that not even the Round Knights can stop it from getting what it wants. Suddenly, Raji makes his "malfunction" on the second Time Flow Engine work, Duminuss gets horribly wounded and the tables are turned to the Round Knights' favor.
- Otaku, No Fourth Wall: In one intermission save dialogue, he tries to disassemble your PlayStation 2 just to understand how the energy source is!
- Stoic Spectacles
Mizuho Saiki (Voiced by Mariko Suzuki)
The other friend of Raul, or more specifically his girlfriend...or not, as Raul insists, Mizuho's responsible for the creation of the Excellence machines and their various frames, which is built on the basis that her parents died after a disaster and she wanted to create a rescue-based unit. The irony is because of the demand in their world, she winds up arming the Excellence instead. Unfortunately for players, if Fiona's the main character for Reversal, don't expect any Les Yay. Usually seen next with Raji as a pair developing the Excellence, in either continuity, she's kidnapped with him by Duminuss. Exclusively for Original Generation, she becomes a sub-pilot for Fiona's Excellence Eternal.
Tropes associated with Mizuho:
- Ascended Extra: Like Raji, Mizuho rises from side-character status in Reversal to Fiona's sub-pilot in Original Generation.
- Dead Parents: Her parents were killed in a fire since available rescue equipment were unable to withstand the intense heat. She joins the Excellence team since the project's initial goal is to create the ultimate rescue mecha.
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: Her reaction with Raul.
- Wrench Wench: May double as The Blacksmith, having crafted the Mecha Expansion Packs for the Excellence.
Duminuss and family
The antagonists of Super Robot Wars Reversal, consisting of three little kids and a giant pink blob for a parent.
Duminuss (Voiced by Atsuko Hayama)
A pink giant blob Beta Test Baddie that seemingly killed its creator. Now it (could possibly be a she because of its voice actor in Original Generations/Original Generation Gaiden, but due to the lack of a specific gender, we'll simply designate Duminuss "genderless") wonders about its purpose and tries to find the answer. When Duminuss stumbles upon the Time Flow Engine, it tries to seize that and try to find out about its creator and purpose. Duminuss is assisted with three homunculi Despinis, Laliar and Tis, whom it actually loves. And despite how heart-wrenching it is, it's doomed to fail.
Not in Original Generation Gaiden, however, where Duminuss is changed into a Smug Snake that doesn't even care for its creations. It's also revealed it's created by the Dark Brain, who proceeds to say Duminuss is the failure and destroys it right off the bat after meeting.
Duminuss has three forms to fight you: Proton, Deutron and Triton. Fortunately, Original Generation Gaiden tosses out the Deutron form and has Duminuss transform into Triton form after forcibly absorbing Tis and Laliar against their will.
Tropes associated with Duminuss:
- Anti-Villain Big Bad: Reversal version; many REALLY got too touched with the kids' heart-wrenching sacrifice to the point one has to wonder "THIS is the Big Bad of the game?". Some players went to the extremes and were unable to finish the game because they just can't bear to see the heart-wrenching sacrifice go in vain.
- Original Generation Gaiden threw all of this out the window, though.
- Back from the Dead, Came Back Wrong: It'd use these as a mean to antagonize your team, by reviving two supposedly dead characters. In Original Generation, it's Lamia (though more of a case of salvaging a Not Quite Dead person); in Reversal, it's Master Asia.
- Beta Test Baddie
- Breather Boss: In Original Generation Gaiden, compared to Shura King Alkaid Nassh in the previous scenario and the upcoming Dark Brain, Duminuss is pathetically easy.
- Evil Matriarch: Apparently this is what it is, if you think it's a "she". It doesn't help that Duminuss has a Cross Dressing Voice.
- More Than Mind Control: More or less: in Original Generation Gaiden, it resorts to this to control Lamia since apparently normal reprogramming isn't enough. Yet, it missed one tiny black box which ends up enabling her to recover.
- One-Winged Angel: TWO moments of this in Reversal.
- Smug Snake: Original Generation only: working with fellow Smug Snake Mizal Touval cements it as this.
- Spell My Name with an "S": Apparently, Dark Brain refers to it as "Dynamis 3". Could also be Banpresto's way of saying "Sorry, we should've named it "Dynamis" instead of "Duminuss"!
Tis (Voiced by Mayuko Takahashi)
The pink-haired homunculus of Duminuss, the leader between the team. Impulsive and hot-headed for a loli, and apparently super sensitive about her boobs (in fact, her wish if she ever gets revived is to get a body with large breasts). In Reversal, she makes contact with the Gaizock Empire; in Original Generation, she handles the Chimera or the Space Flounder monsters, as well ensuring the G Thundergate is still in their possession.
Her mecha is called Durgatel.
Tis embodies these tropes:
- Cute Bruiser: More so than the rest of her allies. In Reversal, she and her homunculus siblings fought the Shuffle Alliance to a standstill...in unarmed combat.
- Draco in Leather Pants: Despite being outright cruel, her Moe look keeps enough of a fanbase.
- Enfant Terrible: Unlike the other homunculi, Tiz is pretty mean.
- Fastball Special: One of the Durgatel's attacks is essentially having its towering golem-like machine Pater throwing it at the enemy.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Durgatel's partnered with the much larger Pater, used in most of its attacks.
- Little Miss Badass
- Pettanko
- Spell My Name with an "S": Is it Tis or Tiz?
- You Gotta Have Pink Hair
Despinis (Voiced by Megumi Ishikawa)
The blue haired homunculus of Duminuss, quite possibly the youngest sibling. Chronically and painfully shy and demure, she's usually charged with keeping control of those brought Back from the Dead. When that character gets freed, she then handles with the job to observe the construction of the second Time Flow Engine.
Her personality, however, ends up giving her a good tweak in Original Generation, where she's the only homunculus spared from demise, unlike her siblings who are consumed against their will by Duminuss, who in turns got splattered to death by the Dark Brain. She ends up getting adopted to the Gureden family, though this doesn't fix her shyness.
Despinis is usually seen with her mecha Ereos in combat.
Tropes associated with Despinis include:
- Apologises a Lot, Apologetic Attacker
- Heel Face Turn: Original Generation only.
- Little Miss Badass: Don't let her demure self fool you; she's just about as good as she gets in battle.
- Moe: Oh so much.
- Princess Curls
- Shrinking Violet, Shy Blue-Haired Girl
- Spared by the Adaptation
- Spell My Name with an "S": Apparently, her other name-spelling is "Despoiniz".
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Laliar (Voiced by Ryoko Nagata)
The only male homunculus, he's the middle ground between Tis and Despinis. He contacts the Neo Zeon in Reversal and usually takes a more active stance in battle. In Original Generation, however, he rarely heads to the battlefield and seemingly gets shafted to the sidelines...
In those instances he goes to battle, he rides the machine Hypocrisis.
Tropes associated with Laliar:
- Cross-Dressing Voices
- Cute Shotaro Boy
- Demoted to Extra: Yes, we know, Laliar...and we're sorry.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Always acts like this toward his homunculi siblings. It isn't unusual for him to hold off the heroes so Tis and Despinis can escape.
- The One Guy, Dropped a Bridget On Him: Yes, Laliar is a boy, folks.
- Spell My Name with an "S": Is it Ralia, Lalia or Laliar?
- Swords Akimbo, Blade on a Stick: Hypocrisis sports four arms, all of them holding a sword each during one attack. Hypocrisis also wields several spears as its armament.
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