Mechanical Beasts
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| Mazinger mecha | |
| Mechanical Beasts |
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| Creator | Go Nagai |
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| Weapons | Varied (rays, missiles, blades, acids, sound waves, drills, swords, axes, bombs, invisibility, supersonic flight, etc.) |
| Construction | Steel |
| Energy Source | Atomic |
| Mazinger Mechas | |
The Mechanical Beasts ("kikaiju") , also known as mechanical monsters or mechanical brutes, were the evil mecha from the Mazinger Z anime and manga series, created by Go Nagai. Almost all of them were created by Koji Kabuto's nemesis, Dr. Hell. They were varied in shape and weapons, and even though many times they were no match for Mazinger, some of them represented a terrible threat since they usually featured advanced characteristics that their opponent only acquired as the story developed, such as the ability to fly. They served as Monsters of the week for the series.
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[edit] History
During an expedition to the Greek island of Bardos, ruins of the ancient Mikenese Empire are found. Among these ruins, the expedition team discovers wrecked giant automatons that once served the inhabitants of the island as protection against invaders. Amazed by them, they rebuild them, without noticing that one of the scientists in the team, Dr. Hell, had secretly implanted remote control devices on the machines. Seeking to use them to achieve his dream of world domination, Dr. Hell commands his newly acquired golems to kill the entire staff of the expedition so that he can prepare his next steps without intromissions. The robots succeeded in slaughtering all the scientists (by burning them with fire they spat from their mouths) but one, Dr. Juzo Kabuto, who escapes as he hears Hell's promise to find him and kill him.
After some time, Dr. Hell has created his own monsters and is ready to begin his worldwide take over. But before this, he orders his servant Baron Ashura to find and kill Dr. Kabuto. During the time Hell got his army ready, Kabuto had been working to develop a robot to counterpart the evil mechas, Mazinger Z. Baron Ashura commits his duty and blows his house into pieces, leaving him barely alive. Only moments before his death, he is able to tell his grandson Koji about Mazinger. From this moment on, Mazinger faces one beast after the other for the rest of the plot, until chapter 92 when, weakened by the last battle against Dr. Hell, he is defeated by Gratonios and Pilanias (in the OVA Mazinger Z Vs. The Great General of Darkness he is defeated by the attack of several warrior beasts).
[edit] Characteristics
The mechanical beasts, unlike Mazinger, were made of steel rather than Super-Alloy Z (one of Dr. Hell's aims is to obtain some of this alloy to build a monster that could face the enemy in equal conditions; eventually he will achieve this in chapters 56-57 of the anime). This made them more vulnerable, so other gimmicks had to be developed. Being Dr. Hell brilliant, he was able to give his robots sophisticated weapons (all kinds of rays, missiles, blades, acids, sound waves, drills, etc) as well as making them capable of outdoing Mazinger Z by flying or manoeuvre underwater way before he could do it.
Another difference is that except rare occasions (Dayma U5, Blogun G3) the monsters are not piloted, but remote controlled. Stronger T4 and the Megaron siblings could also be piloted.
At one point (Chapter 68), Dr. Hell is out of ideas and has to make an alliance with Archduke Gorgon. Many of the following beasts are not of Hell's making, but part of the Mikenese Warrior Beasts ("youkikaiju") Armies (which would later be shown in all of their monstruous splendor in Great Mazinger). These are different from the regular mechas Mazinger had faced since they are partly made of organic pieces and have relatively more power. Ryne X1 (Chapter 61) was not created by Hell either, but by Dr. Heinrich, one of his ex collaborators. This particular mecha is also unique since it is formed by two parts: the regular giant robotic body and a cyborg (Lorelai, Dr. Heinrich's "daughter") that eventually merges with the beast and acts as its "brain". Bicong O9 was originally a mini-robot created by a child, Ashura turns it into a giant mecha thanks to a special rifle that increases the size of objects.
Minerva X (Chapter 38), a female mecha created by Dr. Kabuto, was built by Dr. Hell using the blueprints he had stolen from Kabuto's house, and because of this is credited both as a good and evil robot. However, Minerva's attacks were controlled by Ashura; without his influence, she acted as a companion for Mazinger and fights alongside him, until Hell orders her destruction for turning against him.
Even though the beasts are just machines, in some chapters they show some level of autonomy in their actions; this is the case of Spartan, who refuses to fight (chapter 14), Faizer (the large one), who disobeys Ashura's indications to aid the smaller Faizer (chapter 53), and Jenova, who commits suicide to preserve its "honor" when defeated by Mazinger (chapter 66).
Dr. Hell's creations' names were always formed by the name itself and the combination of a letter and a number (except cases such as Zaila and Danchel). Gorgon's beasts in the Mazinger Z chapters sport a Greek letter and a number, those shown in the Great Mazinger chapters have no letters nor numbers after their names.
[edit] Transportation
Though many of the beasts were able to reach their destination by water or air, usually they were launched from one of the fortresses built by Dr. Hell; the submarine Salude and Bood (commanded by Baron Ashura) and the flying Gool (commanded by Count Blocken). These provided storage and supplies for the robots during battle, transportation for Hell's infantries, submarines and tanks and also featured powerful weapons, such as bombs, projectiles, rays and typhoons.
[edit] List of Mechanical Beasts
These are the beasts that appear (sometimes repeatedly) throughout the manga, anime TV series, Mazinger OVAs and Mazinkaiser OVAs. Some of the names may vary according to the translation. Even though technically some of them are not mechanical beasts but warrior beasts (such as Gusios and Elefans), they are listed here since they appeared in the Mazinger series and are usually grouped as mechanical beasts.
[edit] Manga
[edit] Anime
| Chapter | Beast(s) | Weapons |
| 01 / 02 | Garada K7 / Doublas M2 | Boomerang scythes, missiles, extensible arms (K7), combined beams, electric discharge, extensible necks (M2) |
| 03 | Gromazen R9 | Rays, extensible arms with blades, finger missiles |
| 04 | Guyer Q5 | Electromagnetic field |
| 05 | KingDan X10 | Optical illusions, electrified sword |
| 06 | Zaila / Danchel | Drill horns, finger missiles, beams (Zaila), Acid (Danchel) |
| 07 | Ozones B3 | Acid, rays, missiles |
| 08 | Demos F3 | Controlled body assemby / disassembly, bullets, head blades, rudimentary ability to fly |
| 09 | Abdora U6 | Beams, accordion legs |
| 10 | Dayan N4 | Detachable remote controlled arms |
| 11 | Brighton J2 | Light rays, missiles |
| 12 | Bicong O9 | Immobilizing waves, flail |
| 13 | Goronko S2 | Retractable limbs, disguise, swords, flight |
| 14 | Spartan K5 | Trident, shield, fighting skills |
| 15 | Chigul E7 / Gorias W3 | Blades, drills (Chigul), Electrified whip (Gorias) |
| 16 | Glossam X2 | Giant scissors, underwater skills, torpedoes |
| 17 | Balcan P5 | Tornado, glue bombs, missiles |
| 18 | Devira X1 | Retractable limbs, disguise, swords, flight |
| 19 | Holzon V3 | Ability to go underground, drills |
| 20 | Stronger T4 | Tornado |
| 21 | Wainder A2 | Flight, shield, electric discharge, missiles |
| 22 | Balanger M1 / M2 | Ability to transform into a ball of spikes, extensible spikes, electric discharge (M2) |
| 23 | DamDam L2 | Flight, detachable wheels, rays |
| 24 | Jinrai S1 | Ability to fly at supersonic speed, bombs, missiles, electric discharge |
| 25 | Belgas V5 | Controlled dismemberment (each part of the body could fly and operate indepently), sound waves, drill |
| 26 | Aeros B1 / B2 / B3 | Flight (the three of them), ability to swallow the enemy's attack and attack back (B2), rays (B3) |
| 27 | Dayma U5 | Flight, missiles, horns, electrified whip, drill hand |
| 28 | Hogas D5 | Flight, rays, waves, underwater skills, torpedoes |
| 29 | Grengus C3 | Steel orbs atached to the arms by chains, termodisc, strength |
| 30 | Brutus M3 | Giant sickle, hurricane, ability to decompose objects with its giant diamonds and convert them into energy |
| 31 | Megaron P1 / P2 / P3 | Ability to fly, electromagnetic rays, extensible proboscises, drills, optic rays |
| 32 | Gelbros J3 | Flight, acid, supersonic waves, caloric rays, anti-barrier rays |
| 33 | Baras K9 | Flight, vomit, spiked rotating legs, projectiles, missiles |
| 34 | Genocider F9 | Flight, arsenal (all kinds of bombs, missiles and projectiles) |
| 35 | Desma A1 | Hurricane, optic rays, hallucinatory rays |
| 36 | Glanada E3 | Ability to produce a nuclear bomb inside its body, flight, missiles |
| 37 | Rockron Q9 | Invisibility, detachable heads, acid, flight, missiles |
| 38 | Archerian J5 | Flight, rays, bow and arrow |
| 39 | Zarigan G8 | Electromagnetic discharges, underwater skills, torpedoes |
| 40 | Grader F3 | Flight, detachable head, missiles, rays |
| 41 | Kirma K5 | Flight, axe, missiles, rays, electric discharges |
| 42 | Deltan V8 | |
| 43 | Jairon J1 | |
| 44 | Rood R2 | |
| 45 | Bazil F7 | |
| 46 | Blazas S1 / S2 | |
| 47 | Mandora M3 / Basra Q5 | |
| 48 | Kajimofu T7 | |
| 49 | Gumbina M5 | |
| 50 | Briver A3 | |
| 51 | Dagan G3 | |
| 52 | Bazuson M1 | |
| 53 | Faizer V1 | Deception, flight, strength, rays, discs |
| 54 | Jeiser F1 | Shell, combined rays, giant fan, flight |
| 55 | Blogun G3 | |
| 56 | Satan Claus P10 / Yubrin T9 | |
| 57 | Balmos Q7 | |
| 58 | Titan G9 / Giant F3 | |
| 59 | Titan G9 | |
| 60 | Descross V9 | |
| 61 | Ryne X1 / River F9 | |
| 62 | Nitan Q3 | |
| 63 | Fangas B7 | |
| 64 | Devil Chief A1 | |
| 65 | Marion P3 | |
| 66 | Jenova M9 | |
| 67 | Mondos Q3 | |
| 68 | Skeleton O7 | |
| 69 | Gusios βIII | |
| 70 | Minos Μ7 | |
| 71 | Unicorn Σ2 | |
| 72 | Apolon Α1 | |
| 73 | Kentol Τ7 | |
| 74 | Harpia Π7 | |
| 75 | Serpenter Ι6 | |
| 76 | Drago Ω1 | |
| 77 | Blaster A7 | |
| 78 | Elefans Τ3 | |
| 79 | Greeks ΨII / Ashura P1 | |
| 80 | Blacker F2 | |
| 81 | Triple L5 | |
| 82 | Hawk η2 | |
| 83 | Chickeron N9 | |
| 84 | Poses Ο2 | |
| 85 | Reiyas D5 | |
| 86 | Bornest S9 / Parlas ΔV | |
| 87 | Glory R2 | |
| 88 | Harkenshoot X9 | |
| 89 | Kilania Β5 | |
| 90 | Klabas P9 | |
| 91 | Haribiyun V6 | |
| 92 | Pilanias / Gratonios |
[edit] Mazinger Z Vs. Devilman OVA
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Zaurus.jpg
Zaurus F1 |
Buratsuga.jpg
Bragger S1 |
Demonger.jpg
Demonger J5 |
MantesK9.jpg
Mantes K9 |
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BarbadosF7.jpg
Barbados F7 |
Sukararu.jpg
Scarald B7 |
Hetsudohonoku.jpg
Headhawk M3 |
Baias.jpg
Baian S2 |
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Bazin.jpg
Bazin B9 |
Barias.jpg
Barias B5 |
Burimas.jpg
Burimas W5 |
Magudas.jpg
Magudas J9 |
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Gonosotu.jpg
Ghostarn V10 |
[edit] Mazinkaiser
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CrocodileO1.jpg
Croc-Diver O1 |
TorosD7.jpg
Toros D7 |
Tobitante.jpg
Tobitante |
KingGordon.jpg
King Gordon |
[edit] Toys & Games
Over the years, the Mazinger enemies have been translated into many toy formats, like the Jumbo Machinder line. Some of the most recent versions feature the two most iconic robots, Garada and Doublas, for the Soul of Chogokin series (models GX-26 and GX-25) and the Fewture Models Garada Action Figure. Illustrations of a Doublas Action Figure from this series had also appeared, but to date (September 2006) no model has been produced. The most popular monsters appear in trading cards and video game.
[edit] Mechanical Beasts versions
Many of Mazinger's enemies were only featured in the manga versions at first, and most of the remaining ones suffered modifications when ported to the anime. Some of them, that were not included in the TV series, appeared in the Mazinger Vs Devilman OVA. The mechanical monsters featured in the Mazinkaiser OVAs have a more manga influenced style, and many of them resemble the original versions of the characters more than those in the TV series. Also, for the first time, some beasts that previously had only be included in the manga, made it to an animated version. Recently, a new Mazinger-related saga was released, Mazinger Angels, with Aphrodite A, Diana A, Minerva X and Venus A as protagonists and the classic mechanical monsters as enemies.
[edit] Trivia
In some translations the Greek Island the beasts were from is not Bardos but Rhodes. This island apparently had a tradition of mechanical engineering, and the Antikythera mechanism is thought to come from there.
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