"Johny Bryant is the only survivor
of the star civilization of Antares His real name is Orion
Quest. The Antareans were a very scientifically advanced
people who knew neither war nor subjugation. Then one day
Vega the Strong unleashed his merciless saucer squadrons
against Antares. His goal was to destroy the Antarean paradise
and make its rich natural resources his own. Orion was the
only one who survived. Vega imediately confiscated the Antareans'
comprehensive science logs and set about using the knowledge
to create the ultimate battle robot. He called it Grandizer.
Vega's plan was to use it to plunder the universe, but Orion
was able to block his evil plot. He stole the Grandizer
from under Vega's nose, and destroyed the computers that
held the information of Grandizer's secrets. He fled across
space to refuge here on earth, but not before giving the
Vegans a taste of their own destruction. Orion chose earth
from amonst all the other countless planets because its
lush natural environment most reminded him of Antares. I
learned of him as he neared earth. I arranged to hide his
ship and safeguard his identity. It all happened about 2
years ago."
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Orion Quest (a.k.a. Johny Bryant)
The pilot of Grandizer and one of the coolest
heroes of the Force Five series. Although he is identicle
in appearance to a normal human, he is in fact an alien
from the planet Antares and is physically superior in
both strength and agility to normal humans. For most of
the series he is a one man fighting force, taking down
the onslaught of Vegan saucer robots single handedly.
The other human characters mostly serve only to create
plot devices where he has to risk life and limb in order
to save them.
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Professor Valconian
He is the professor of the science laboratory
where Grandizer is stationed. In the beginning, he is
the only one who knows Johny Bryant's true identity. Unlike
the majority of professor characters in Force Five, he
was not responcible for creating the Grandizer super robot,
which leaves one wondering, what the hell does this guy
do at the laboratory anyway
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Lance Hyatt
He is stationed in the science institute under Professor
Valconian. The saucer he flies he built himself, and he
probably thought he was hot stuff, too, until Grandizer
showed up. Even Lance would be the first to admit that
the numbers of his groupies has greately diminished with
the arrival of Orion Quest. Regardless of all this, he
still sometimes is under the delusion that he can face
the Vegan saucer fleet all by himself in his little home-made
saucer. He usually starts out fairly well, taking down
a few of the Vegan saucers, but then cries for help when
a saucer robot appears, and waits for Grandizer to come
to the rescue. He later learns Johny Bryant's true identity
after seing him perform some super human stunts and adding
one and one together to yield the inevitable conclusion.
Later on in the series, he pilots the saucer wing that
replaces Grandizer's saucer. It is then that he actually
has an important role in the show, as opposed to just
being a plot device.
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Panhandle Morgan
He is the owner of a ranch near the laboratory. Why a
top secret laboratory responcible for protecting the earth
against alien invaders was built next to his ranch, I'll
never know. All this is fine for Panhandle since he is
constantly looking through his telescope ready to meet
aliens from another world. He even thinks Lance is an
alien when he first sees him come out of his saucer. Panhandle
never seems to realize that the aliens he is looking for
are bad, and always seems surprised when they keep attacking
his ranch. Someone should tell him that if he really wants
to see someone from another world then he should probably
try looking in the mirror, because he just about the weirdest
f*cker on the show. One has to wonder if this character
was Japan's way of making fun of Americans
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Brenda Morgan
She is Panhandle's daughter and works with him on the
ranch. She has an ongoing relationship with Johny and
later finds out his true identity. For most of the series
she serves as a plot device as well. She gets her fifteen
minutes of fame when she is injured, and has to receive
a blood transfusion from Orion. Not only does the transfusion
save her life, it gives her Orion's enhansed physical
abilities for a short period of time, just enough to help
liberate the science institute from Comander Ding who
has taken over the lab. Towards the end of the series,
I believe she even copilots the Grandizer's new spacer
wing.
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Sonny Morgan
He is Brenda's sister. His main job, like most other children
on the series is to be annoying.
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Vega the Strong
Ruler of the Vegan Empire and the one responcible for
destroying Orion's home world of Antares. He pursued Orion
after he fled to earth with the stolen Grandizer robot.
His goal is to steel back Grandizer, and subjugate the
earth like he did Antares.
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General Belicos
General of the Vegan Armada, second in command to Vega
the Strong. Your typical bad guy except for the fact that
he had a little red-headed lady living inside his head.
See below.
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Lady Gandye
She is another high ranking official of the Vegan Empire.
She has the unique honor of living inside General Belicos'
head. Her exact rank is unclear, although she is definately
above of Commander Ding, and may even be above General
Belicos. She doesn't have to ask permission to open his
face and show herself. She has an efficiently annoying
voice and is extremely adept in harrassing Commander Ding
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Commander Ding
You've already heard me talk about him a little, he's
the Commander of the Vegan Armada. He's the one who has
to get his hands dirty while his superiors are sitting
comfortably on the mother ship. He commanded a group of
Vegan soldiers in taking over the science institute, took
great joy in torturing Professor Valconian by putting
him in a large centrifuge, and finally got to insult Panhandle
in a way we viewers always wanted to. There doesn't seem
to be any higher ranking member of the Vegan empire who
doesn't enjoy pushing him around. He even comes to Orion's
aid when he is being attacked by Vega's personal bodyguard
Gorman. (see below). He and his ship are later destroyed
by Grandizer. That's gratitude for you. Gorman He's Vega's
personal bodyguard who enters the story to rid Vega of
Orion Quest once and for all. He would have succeeded,
too, if it wasn't for Ding's treachery. Commander Ding
feared that if Gorman succeeded, he would take his place
in the Vegan hierarchy. Ding aided Orion so that he would
destroy his rival in the Vegan empire.
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GRANDIZER
Grandizer is probably the most powerful of the Force Five
super robots. The versatility of the saucer unit for aerial
manuevers, its terrestrial agility, and its impressive
array of weapon systems, makes Grandizer one of the most
effective super robots around.
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Grandizer Weapon Systems
Space Thunder
This is Grandizer's most powerful energy weapon. Basicaly,
a lightning bolt comes from the sky to Grandizer's
horns and is then projected at an enemy. Since Grandizer's
head is exposed while in saucer mode, this attack
can be used in that mode as well.
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Shoulder Boomerangs
The two crecent shaped objects on Grandizer's shoulders
can be fired at at enemy, slicing through its armor,
and then return to Grandizer's shoulders, hence the
name boomerangs. Although they don't do an incredible
amount of damage, they often help Grandizer get out
of a tight spot when he is constrained and can't use
his other weapons.
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Double Sickle
By far the coolest mellee weapon of the Force Five robots.
The two shoulder boomerangs extend from Grandizer's
shoulders with handles attatched to them. They are then
joined to form a two handed halberd type weapon. It
can be used in hand to hand combat and it can be thrown
with incredible destructive force, slicing and enemy
to pieces. I've even heard of Grandizer using the two
halves of the double sickle separately like a Japanese
pair of Kama, although I don't recall seeing that particular
episode.
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Screw Pressure Punch
A slight enhancement to the traditional projectile forearm
attack, the sawtooth pattern on Grandizer's forearms
flips to extend over its hands and rotates while the
whole forearm is rocketing towards the enemy, drilling
through its armor.
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Hand Beams
Fires three red beams from each hand. Although not the
most powerful of Grandizer's energy weapons, they seemed
to require less recharge time, and can be fired quickly
when needed. They can also be used while in saucer mode.
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Rainbow Beam
Fires a multi-colored beam at the enemy that acts as
a repulsor ray, helping Grandizer get out of tight spots.
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Dizer Kick
A standard kick attack used effectively by Grandizer.
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Spacer Weapon Systems
The saucer unit, called the Spacer,
makes Grandizer an extremely versatile fighting machine.
It gives Grandizer the ability to fly, even in space.
When in the saucer mode, Orion sits in a cockpit towards
the tail of the saucer. When he wants to separate from
the saucer unit his seat moves from the saucer cockpit
to a cockpit in the head of Grandizer. Even while separated
from the saucer unit, Orion can simultaneous control
both Grandizer and the Spacer, effectively giving him
the tactical advantage of having two attack positions
at the same time. Often he will be engaged with an enemy
robot, and will have the spacer come up from behind
an open fire.
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The two disks on either side of the spacer unit project
a ring of spinning blades and are fired at enemy vessels.
This attack is most often used to destroy Vegan saucers.
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Spin Drills
The disk used in the spin saucer attack remain fixed
to the spacer unit, and fire a volley a spinning, cone-shaped
projectiles
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Hydro Phasers
This is the spacer's energy weapon. It fires two blue
beams at the enemy. This is the only weapon on the spacer
unit which is used to attack enemy robots.
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Anti Radar Mist
Orion can release a red mist from the rear of the saucer
unit that blocks radar and masks his location, allowing
him to escape undetected from an enemy.
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Spacer 2 Weapon Systems
The saucer unit was later replaced
by a wing like unit that attatched to Grandizer's back,
called Spacer 2. The reason this was created was that
Professor Valconian realized that during the launch
of Grandizer from the saucer unit, Grandizer was vulnerable
to attack for about eight seconds. (maybe is Orion's
seat didn't spin around 50 times during this process
it wouldn't take so long) The wing separated from Grandizer
in a fraction of this time. Most of the time it was
piloted by Lance, although I also recall it being piloted
once or twice by Brenda as well.
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Fusion Beam
A twin beam of high energy plasma, more powerful than
the Spacer 1 Hydrophasers
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Similar to the spin saucer attack, only this weapon
fired a pair of electromagnetically charged projectiles
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Vegan Saucer Robots
The Vegan Saucer Robots were the standard mecha which
Grandizer had to fight every week. There were three basic
types of saucer robots. The first type merely used a saucer
as transport from the Vegan mother ship to earth. Once
it landed, the saucer opened up and released the robot
to do battle with Grandizer. Once released, the robot
had no further need for the saucer. The second type remained
attatched to the robot at all times. The robot had its
limbs contained in the saucer during transport, and could
extend its limbs from the saucer like a turtle in its
shell. The third type had two halves of the saucer attatched
to the robot's arms like shields. The robot could close
the the two halves at will to enter the saucer mode, or
separate them for the robot mode. This was the type of
saucer robot piloted by Gorman when he was sent to destroy
Grandizer.
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