Blaki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blaki
Grendizer character
Created by	Go Nagai

Blaki, sometimes called Colonel Blaki or Commander Blacki, is a fictional character featuring in the works of mangaka Go Nagai. He is one of the villains of Super Robot series Ufo Robot Grendizer. He appears in the series' first episode as the leader of the Vegan invasion of Earth, but is soon revealed to be under the orders of King Vega and General Gandal. Blaki is the mastermind of the Vegan attacks during the series' first season and is repeatedly chastised by Gandal for his failures to defeat Grendizer. His main strategy is to employ brute force and send one mechanical monster after another against Grendizer, without much success. In some occasions, Blaki does not hesitate to betray Vegan officers whose success against Grendizer could put his own position in jeopardy.

While, in the manga version, Blaki tries to murder Gandal, he remains faithful to the Vegan empire in the anime version. Obssesed with doing away with Grendizer pilot Duke Fleed, Blaki goes so far as to make a desperate kamikaze attack on the giant robot in the 27th episode (end of season 1) and perish as a result.

In spite of his repeated failures to conquer Earth, Blaki appears to still have been a highly-regarded military leader. When planet Vega was destroyed later in the series, the Emperor regarded it as the greatest loss since Blaki's death (stated in the French version).

[edit] Trivia

In the French and Italian versions of Ufo Robot Grendizer, Colonel Blaki was called General Hydargos. In the American version, he was known as Commander Ding. In the Arabic dub both his name and title were preserved and was consequently referred to as "AlQaed Blaki".

Grendizer was very popular in France where local artists and writers often came up with their own stories. One such series, published in the magazine Télé Junior and set in the later stages of the Grendizer anime, had Blaki return in the form of his grow-up son Blaki II.