Personally, as morbid as I find the EVA units, the protagonist models are still pretty damned cool. (And are an iconic part of the anime mecha genre) The plot on the other hand...
Also, while I work on the interlude: here's just a few general notes I feel like sharing. As we move on along the quest, I'll start sharing notes occasionally based off of what I was inspired by, though don't expect things to quite play 1:1 to the source material.
Inspirations
This whole darned quest
After writing a few omakes for another quest here and there on the forums, I decided I wanted to make a quest about what I wanted to read specifically. I am an unabashed fan of the Super Robot genre (which I hope doesn't come as a big surprise to anyone), but I will also admit that I'm not the biggest fan of the Super Robot Wars original characters. There's a few I like (Kouta and Compatible Kaiser very specifically, but that's also from nostalgia because I
did play the
Great Battles games on the SNES way back when), but I was always more of a fan of the series that came in. The various Mobile Suit Gundam series, Getter Robo, Mazinger Z, and even the ones I considered to be somewhat stranger because I never did get to see them on TV. Daitarn, Zambot, Braiger, and the Romance Trilogy (Combattler, Voltes, Daimos) - I'd never heard of them until I played SRW.
So I decided, let's make an homage. Most of the readers have already noted that there's plenty of inspirations drawn from other source materials, and that's made pretty clear I think with the NPC super robot factions, but also from what you all have developed. So in the order of keeping this short (and because my break is about to end as I edit this), let's go over a few in no particular order.
Variable Configuration
Let's be honest - good old Transformers (its
NA and
JP incarnations both) served as a huge bedrock for this one. I grew up watching Generation One as a kid (and was just as traumatized by the movie when Hasbro decided to axe Optimus Prime), but I also was at the right age to catch the
Yuusha/Brave series (and particularly the Brave Saga games, which I was exposed to before Super Robot Wars I admit). As far as shows to watch as a kid, those stuck to me pretty hard, and on and off I would always come back to think about them. I snuck Variable Configuration (and the pseudo-Mythbusters shoutouts) as part of your starting options, and I'm glad you all picked them.
Beowulf / Timberwolf / Foxhound / Beowulf Fenrir
I've shared a few videos like this, but in describing the Beowulf (new art inbound for that, so keep an eye out for it), I drew very heavily from the Brave series. The idea of a truck or trailer forming the body of the mecha is a very common one - but specifically the idea of a car merging with a larger truck/support unit for a mecha combination comes from
Brave Police J-Decker. Another good example that I've shared is the Brave Saga specific
Baan Gaan, and so on.
The Mighty Mercury V
I don't think I need to go too far in explaining the source material. But TL;DR - Mercury is inspired by the venerable
Mazinger Z. And if you read the previous omake, Dr. Sheol is a sinister shoutout to the main character's perennial mortal nemesis, Dr. Hell. Character-wise, Hiroki is my take on a more well adjusted blend between Kabuto Kouji and Tsurugi Tetsuya (the pilot of Great Mazinger and the older brother figure to Kouji), and isn't an exact match up to either character. Dr. Yukimura, on the other hand, could more or less be a straight comparison to Dr. Yumi.
I will not say whether Hiroki also shares a
Go Nagai grin. But I'm not saying he
doesn't.
Dynamic Armor Valiant
Some people have been asking what one of the biggest source material inspirations for Valiant is, so I'll give them to you here.
Steel Jeeg - and its recent successor,
Steel God Jeeg, which was a
very respectful followup. As far as the actual armor is concerned, imagine a mecha armored knight operating on the same principles - super dynamic magnetism that holds the mecha together, but also allows for literal plug and play limbs, which allows Valiant to not just hit hard, but also ensure that direct hits aren't always fatal for something so frail relative to Mercury.
The other inspiration -
the Big O. Erika is basically a genderbent Roger Smith with a similar devil-may-care attitude combined with the investigative chops Roger displayed in the series, with Patrick being a shoutout to Norman, his butler (who could also be seen as a shoutout to Alfred from Batman). That said, the reason why Erika complains about most of her cases usually never ending quietly is a bit of a joke. Roger himself faced a similar issue in his debut during the Z line of SRW games - because it is a tactics RPG, there's no point to the investigations ever ending quietly. If they did, why would you ever get to use the Big O?
Legio Galbinus
Transformers. But also
Shattered Glass. I am a big fan of mirror universes, and I decided when I brought in the Legion and the Free Brothers to play that up to the hilt. Effectively, Galbinus-R is Megatron, but with the temperament of Optimus Prime - world weary, really ready to retire, but also doggedly dutiful and willing to go the extra mile to do right by his people. Tyrannous is effectively Optimus Prime with some elements of Star Saber (as folks on the trope page have also highlighted) but with the personality of the worst incarnations of Megatron.
So far, aside from the fact that you all have inadvertently introduced Variable Configuration to both sides, the conflict is playing out mostly as you would expect. But let's just say that the Generation One style status quo isn't going to last terribly long...
