Grimlord

In the television series "VR Troopers", Grimlord is the alter ego of billionaire Karl Ziktor, owner of Ziktor Industries, and the primary enemy of the Saban produced series. Grimlord, many years ago, was responsible for the capture of scientist Tyler Steele, and the near death of Professor Horatio Hart, forcing Hart to remain in virtual reality to stay alive. Grimlord, during the same measures taken above, also accessed a source of Tyler and Harts' experimentations in Inter-reality travel, and gained the incredible powers required to access cyberspace.

Upon arriving in Virtual Reality, Grimlord soon assembled a fierce army of mutants and cyborgs, commanding them from a place of authority, in the first season, this was the Virtual Dungeon, in the second season, it was the orbiting Virtual Dark Fortress, he also appointed several mutants as authority figures themselves, including General Ivar, and Col. Icebot, in perhaps the greatest irony, Grimlord even transformed the co-developer of the technology he was now using to conquer reality, Tyler, into one of his most powerful mutants, Darkheart.

Grimlord, like the Troopers, has a civilian identity and can travel between both realities on a regular basis. He uses a transference orb placed on the desk of his office and chants, "Forces of Darkness, empower me! Take me back to my virtual reality!" The orb sends a current of energy into his body, morphing his physical appearance. Upon transformation, he is taken to his command center.

Grimlord cares very little for his army, and generally loses patience with them quite easily when they report a complication or failure. His constant defeats by the Troopers causes a frequent irradiation in a clenched fist at the conclusion of every episode. Grimlord is not above destroying his own base to kill the Troopers, as displayed three times in the series (twice with the Dungeon, and once with a cave he was temporarily using after the latter's final destruction). In the second season, Grimlord attempted to trap Ryan in another dimension just to prevent the Troopers from learning his name. Despite repeated losses, his greatest advantage was that neither the Troopers nor Hart knew his secret alter ego.

In the second season, Grimlord underwent a drastic change in appearance and format. With barely any footage of his counterpart existing for use anymore, Saban upgraded Grimlord into an American exclusive character and base of operations. Siphoning off Tyler Steele's knowledge of Virtual Reality into an energy prism (which resembled a green crystal), Ziktor discarded his traditional orb, and used this prism to access a whole new army of Virtual creations and a new base of operations called the Virtual Dark Fortress. He now has an appearance that slightly resembled his old appearance now with a cape and this form also included Grimlord having a long tail. He was no longer confined to sitting on a throne as Grimlord seemed to have more motivation to stand up this time. As a matter of fact, he actually moved around a lot. He also has the ability to teleport to different places at will now. His counterparts from Choujinki Metalder are Gozou Kirihara and Emperor GodNeros.

Karl Ziktor/Grimlord was portrayed/voiced by Gardner Baldwin for both seasons. In season two, Grimlord's suit actor was Joe Hackett.

References

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* [http://www.tv.com/vr-troopers/show/9699/episode.html TV.com's episode guide]