VR Troopers - Character Conversion - Heroes and Villains

This post was written for Henshin Grid -- The Blog. VR Troopers had footage from three different shows: Metalder, Speilban, and Shaider.

Metalder:

Ryan Steele / Ryuusei Tsurugi (Metalder)

Ryan was on a mission to find and save his father. Ryuusei was a android, modeled after the son of the doctor who created him. By shouting "Anger!", he transforms into his metallic form. Ryan said "Trooper Transform." Ryan was a martial arts teacher and expert, he was very sensitive, intuitive and had a sense of humor. At the end of the series, Metalder defeats God Neros but in the process is greatly damaged on the left side of his middle waist. While Ryan got a new suit from footage from another show.

Jeb / Springer
They were both capable of human speech. Springer was a Robot dog that guarded the base, he was built by Dr. Koga before Metalder, acting as his big brother. Springer repaired Metalder and ran the machines inside their base. Jeb was Ryan's pet, he could talk because of an incident in their base, he didn't really do any work, he was mostly lazy. He occasionally went to save Ryan when he was in a jam though. In one episode, Ryan and Jeb switched bodies and Jeb had to fight in the VR suit, grudingly so.

Grimlord / Emperor Godneros

They both masqueraded as philanthropists, but Godneros was a cyborg and Grimlord had a 'virtual self.' The leader of the Neros Empire, formerly Technical Major Muraki, assistant to Dr. Koga in developing the Super Machine project. he built the Kirihara Konzern under the name Gozou Kirihara, while Grimlord's alias was Karl Viktor. Both would change back and forth. Since Godneros only lasted one year and one show, they had to make new footage of Grimlord (different actor) for season two to match up with Shaider footage. Godneros was beheaded at the end of the series, Grimlord was never really foiled.



Speilban:

J.B. Reese / Yousuke Jou (Spielban)
J.B. was Ryan's friend, an intelligent martial arts teacher. J.B. also fixed Master Tao's computer so they could communicate with the lab and get printed information from the Professor. Unlike JB, Spielban was the leader and main character of his show. Spielban was like Superman, he came from a dead planet, but he had a partner... Diana Lady. in early episodes, viewers were able to see Spielban's thoughts as he briefly recollects the people who were either victimized or were bystanders, in his war against the Wahrer, in the said episode.

Kaitlin Starr / Diana (Diana Lady)
The footage for Kaitlin's VR suit was from the same show JB's suit came from. Diana was Spielban's partner from his home planet. A running gag on the show was that she would use her charm and sex appeal on the Kinclons, distracting them from their duties while she made her move. Another gag is that she sometimes uses her rear end to attack the Kinclons, which knocks them out cold (shown above). Kaitlin was brave, blunt, smart and an inspiring reporter. Her mirror self was split from her and then became her double that she could call, in Spielban, that was actually Spielban's sister Helen Lady.

Desponda / Queen Pandora
Desponda was Despera's sister and hired by Grimlord destroy the Troopers and control his Air Castle. She captured the two Kaitlins and JB on the Air Castle. JB managed to defeat her. 'Somehow,' she survived her defeat. Grimlord vowed never to use another of his allies' relatives to help him again. Queen Pandora was the main villain of Shaider and was played by Machiko Soga (Rita Replusa). She created the concept of the diety Wahrer to keep her position as the true leader from her generals, she said was receiving orders from it. She had four forms, two that existed at once and then merged. Doctor Ben appeared and injected Pandora with a virus, weakening her long enough for Spielban to destroy her.

Red Python / Hellvira
Amy, a friend of the Troopers was kidnapped and brainwashed by Grimlord and given powers using Tyler Steele's technology at the end of season 1. She had malfunctions and snapped in and out of the control. Professor Hart managed to reverse Grimlord's brainwashing. She was of course never seen again. While in Speilban, she was his elder sister who was captured. She was forced to witness when her dad was turned into Dr. Bio. Later and then they made her into the villainess Hellvira, who was in most of the series. She then became good mid-way and became Helen Lady, having an identical costume as Diana Lady.

Shaider:

Ryan Steele / Dai Sawamura (Shaider)

Dai was a archaeologist (deciphered the figures on the Nazca Plain in Peru) in college and became a Space Sheriff (Galactic Union Police), he was motivated and dedicated. In Season Two, Ryan switched to the metal suit that was from Shaider. His suit was built by his dad, just liek the first one. Dai was given the code name 'Shaider' in memory of an ancient warrior who defeated the villain Emperor Kubilai and brought down the Fuuma Empire 12,000 years ago. The empire plotted to annihilate him in order to conquer Earth once again.

Orclan / Great Emperor Kubilai
The ruler of Fuuma and the former ruler of the Mu Empire. He once had a body, having tentacled limbs with serpent-like heads on the ends, but his head was cut off by the original Shaider long ago. Kubilai was the main villain of the Shaider series. Orclan was just a super computer, seemingly destroyed by Kaitlin and J.B.

Dispera / Shinkan Poe
Dispera was a woman, while Shinkan Poe was a man, he was the godson of Kubilai. Drinking an elixir made somehow from young girls every 500 years, he lived 15,000 years. Unwilling to have anyone be more beautiful than he, his true face is mummified. He faded away when his grandfather was destroyed. There was no finale so we never knew Dispera's end result.

UPDATED 11/21/09

Doomaster / Hessler and Himley
Doomaster and Hessler were both fierce warriors. Hessler was destroyed by his brother Hessler, after he had betrayed Hessler by trying to usurp his position.

The Vixens / Girl's Army
Both groups had no individual names. The Girl's Army was a team of five deadly, kunoichi trained in the most vicious and dangerous arts of combat. At the end of the series, Kubilai ate the three remaining girls to give him energy to battle Shaider.

UPDATED MAY 6, 2009 7pm EST