Shadow-Mirror

The Shadow-Mirror refers to a dimension-travelling army of mecha and their crew that have made appearances in the Super Robot Wars video game series. They appear in Super Robot Wars Advance, and Super Robot Wars Original Generations. The Shadow-Mirror are also referenced in Super Robot Wars Original Generation Gaiden and .

Background

The Shadow-Mirror are part of the Earth Federation forces. The kanji for their official name translates into "Special Task Maneuver Squad". They are an elite group similar to the Titans in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. They exist in a parallel dimension, wherein several events happened differently in their continuum compared to the one they are invading.

In Advance, for example, Vindel Mauser refers to Amuro Ray as a master sergeant, when in the game he is a lieutenant. The Vanishing Trooper Incident, wherein SRX Team pilot, Raidiese F. Branstein lost his hand, also happened in the Shadow-Mirror dimension, scaring Personal Trooper developers there from designing anything resembling a Huckebein.

In both games that they have appeared in, the goal of the Shadow-Mirror is to plunge the world in eternal war. Vindel, their leader, believes that war brings about change and the best in humanity, so there is no reason to desire for peace. He defines peace as the stagnation in between one war and the next, causing man to become corrupt and weak, and is thus undesirable.

Characteristics

The Shadow-Mirror "modus operandi" is chilling in its simplicity: scout out any war-ready organizations in the dimension they wish to invade next, infiltrate the organization with sleeper agents, strike an alliance with said group, and steal their technology. If stealing their technology proves impractical or impossible, the Shadow-Mirror will attempt to use them as pawns to achieve their own goals. Ultimately, when they have gotten all they could from their victims, they turn against their former "allies."

The Shadow-Mirror are masters at copying technology, often building exact replicas of the units from blueprints, and at other times are able to craft original creations based on combat data gathered from their opponents. In the final level of Advance, Londo Bell is met with an army composed of mecha from the various enemy factions that the Shadow-Mirror have allied with and/or stolen designs from (nearly all enemy series in the game are represented in the last stage). In Original Generation 2, combat data on the Alt Eisen, Weiss Ritter, Wild Wurger, and Wild Falken were used to create the Rapiecage, an Assault Dragoon with weapon systems and capabilities common to all of them.

Technology And Units

In Advance, in the dimension the Shadow-Mirror are invading, the Federation's mech of choice was the Metal Armor Dragoon, which was outperformed by, but less expensive than the Gespenst MK II. This was the opposite of the situation in the Shadow-Mirror's original dimension. In the dimension the game takes place in, the original Metal Armors D-1 through D-3 were saved from destruction by Ken Wakaba and his friends, whereas in the Shadow-Mirror dimension, they were destroyed; the data gained through the D-Team's piloting of D-1 through D-3 in the main dimension allowed for a vastly superior Dragoon to be built than in the Shadow-Mirror dimension, making them more cost-effectiveness than the Gespensts. They were still, however, highly inferior to the Shadow-Mirror's Gespensts, but the Shadow-Mirror universe seemingly had Gespensts in mass production for quite some time, considering the number the Shadow-Mirror had access to and also the existence of the Gespenst MK III, while the main dimension's Dragoons only began producing midway through the Shadow-Mirror's invasion.

In Original Generation 2, the mass-production Gespenst MK II M of Earth is an obsolete unit currently being replaced with mass-produced Huckebein MK II Ms. The Shadow-Mirror's mass-produced versions of these Gespensts, however, come equipped with Tesla Drives, a powerful, cheap propulsion system that grants increased speed and flight, and are generally superior in all areas.

It would seem the Shadow-Mirror has access to more efficient production, allowing them to mass-produce expensive, high-performance units. Thus far, the Shadow-Mirror has been seen to field the following units:

*RPT007 Gespenst MK-II M
*RGC-034 Laz Angriff
*RGV-30 Randgrith
*PTX-016R Wild Falken
*RPT-014 R-Eins M
*Giganspada
*ASK-AD02 Ash Saver
*ASK-AD02-2 Weiss Saviour
*ASK-G03C Rapiecage
*EG-X Soulgain
*VR-02 Vaisaga
*SMSC Angelg
*EG-XX Zweizergain

Notable Shadow-Mirror Officers

"Note: This refers to the Original Generation universe only"

*Vindel Mauser (Missing in action)
*Lemon Browning (Killed in action)
*Axel Almer (Originally listed as killed in action, but survived)
*Lamia Loveless (Officially defected to the Earth Federation Army)
*Echidna Iisaki (Killed in action)
*Wodan Ymir (Killed in action)
*Gilliam Yeager (Officially defected to the Earth Federation Army)
*Seolla Schweizer (Officially defected to the Earth Federation Army)
*Archibald Grims (Killed in action)
*Agilla Setme (Killed in action)
*Cuervo Sero (Killed in action)
*Egret Feff (Killed in action)
*Ouka Nagisa (Killed in action)
* (Missing in action)
* (Missing in action)
* (Missing in action)

Rank And File

The Shadow Mirror army is comprised of two kinds of soldiers: human "grunt" pilots, skilled and battle-hardened after fighting in countless wars, and the W-Series bioroids. These bioroids boast piloting skills that normal humans would not be able to accomplish. Upon defeat, bioroids will activate their "Code ATA" (Ashes To Ashes) self-destruct sequences, to make sure the enemy does not capture Shadow-Mirror technology, which includes themselves.

In Super Robot Wars Original Generation Gaiden, it is revealed another code exists, called "Code DTD" (Dust To Dust), which works as a System Restore, rebooting the W-Number's memories up to a certain point. It is given priority over Code ATA, thus will cancel out any attempts for the unit to self-destruct. Only two bioroids are equipped with this: and W17. In , Code DTD may be responsible for bringing forth additional personalities within the unit, which explains why W07 and W17 often has problems establishing their sense of identity. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Txuab3zv0Y -> In 1:20, we see the activation of Code DTD and...]

Mugen no Frontier also revealed that the first batch of the W Numbers, from 00 to 10 are combat cyborgs, directly engaging combat instead of piloting robots. Moreover, W00 is said to be a biological unit, not half mechanical as the rest of the Numbers.

Universe Differences

As the Shadow-Mirror exists in different dimensions, the situation in their world are vastly different than the world they're invading. The conditions of the Shadow-Mirror world in Advance and Original Generation 2 differs, due to the cast of characters.

Differences In Advance

*Earth is originally dominated by aliens, but the Earth Federation manages to join forces with the Principality Of Zeon and drive them back (somewhat similar to the plot of Super Robot Wars 64).
*Kouji Kabuto becomes a technician capable of building his own machine. After defeating Dr. Hell, he does not return during the timeline of Great Mazinger.
*Amuro Ray is killed at the Battle Of A-Baoa-Qu; his rank is cemented forever as "Master Sergeant".
*Char Aznable dnoes not vanish after Operation Stardust, but becomes the young commander that leads the Earth Federation-Zeon alliance during the war against the aliens.
*Ken Wakaba, Tapp Oceano and Light Newman were never the pilots of the Dragonar units; they were civilians. Furthermore, the prototype D-Units did not produce good results during testing, thus, the project is scrapped.

Differences In Super Robot Wars Original Generation 2

*Excellen Browning is killed in a shuttle crash during her cadet training. Her parents remade her into Lemon Browning.
*Kyosuke Nanbu's Alt Eisen is called the "Gespenst MK III", which is similar to the former, only painted in blue. He also goes under the codename "Beowulf" and unlike his Original Generation universe counterpart, Beowulf is said to possess a form of strength and skill that makes him demonic in nature. In Original Generations, it is heavily implied that Einst influence results in Beowulf's appearance and nature.
*The Elpis Incident killed the entire Branstein family, save its youngest son.
*The Aerogaters never came to Earth; the Guests arrived first.
*Meteor-3 never crashes to Earth, but is sent by someone, thus effectively bringing the Tronium material to create the SRX.
*Sanger Zonvolt is killed in combat, and Lemon Browning uses his body to create Wodan Ymir, the 15th unit of the W-Numbers.
*The Vanishing Trooper Incident provokes a heavy fear into Earth Federation mech designers by not creating any machine that resembles the Huckebein. In addition, the accident takes the life of the remaining Branstein member, who survived the Elpis Incident.
*The number of mecha is far larger and more diverse in the Shadow-Mirror dimension. Over 2000 Gespensts are created; additionally, the Ashsaber and Valkyrie series are also produced there, while in the Original Generation universe, the companies which creates them, "Fremont Industries" and "Z&R Industries" respectively, are unheard of.

References