Raven (Zoids)

Raven is a character from the anime series and , based on TOMY's Zoids model franchise. Voiced by Robert Scott Henrickson in the English dub, he is Van Flyheight's rival. Though his real name is never revealed in the anime, the Zoids: Chaotic Century Manga reveals it to be Joyce Chen.

Personality

Raven is generally portrayed as being cold towards other people, aloof, and anti-social. Cocky, arrogant, and snide, he often taunts his opponents during battle, deriding their ability to pilot. Raven hates Zoids and wishes to destroy them all (though by the end of the series he shows that he can't live without his Organoid, Shadow). He has no respect for authority, obeying only Prozen. An elite assassin trained by Prozen himself, he is depicted as a very challenging opponent, and consistently poses a huge threat to Van and his friends throughout the series.

However, he is also quick to anger, and when the odds are not in his favor, Raven drops his arrogant facade and is portrayed as being reckless, making mistakes in his desperation that could endanger himself and his Zoid. This is especially evident when he attempts to rip through Van's E-shield, destroying his Zaber Fang in the process, and again when he tries to fire his Geno Saurer's charged particle cannon at point blank range.

Battle Statistics

Chaotic Century

*Close Combat: 70
*Ranged Combat: 50
*Maneuvering: 95

Guardian Force

*Close Combat: 110
*Ranged Combat: 90
*Maneuvering: 100

Zoids

Zaber Fang

Raven's first Zoid was the red Zaber Fang (Saber Tiger in the original Japanese) given to him by Prozen. He would use this Zoid with a high degree of effectiveness, defeating opponent after opponent and allowing the Imperial Army to advance through Republican territory unhindered. Van would face Raven and the Zaber Fang, who would cause Van's first crushing defeat. The Zaber Fang would be destroyed in a battle with Van's Shield Liger at the top of Mount Osa in episode 18, "The Defense of the City", granting Van his first decisive victory over Raven.

Geno Saurer

Raven's second Zoid would be a Geno Saurer, also given to him by Prozen. Created as a side effect of reviving the Death Saurer, the Geno Saurer is more-or-less a faster, miniaturized derivative of the legendary Zoid. Raven would use this Zoid to carry out Prozen's scheme to kidnap the crown prince Rudolph, and would also destroy Van's Shield Liger. The Geno Saurer would eventually be defeated by Van's new Blade Liger.

During Guardian Force, Raven acquired a new Geno Saurer, this one with red underpanelling instead of purple. It would cause significant damage to the Dibison, Command Wolf and Blade Liger before retreating and transforming into a new Zoid.

Geno Breaker

Raven's third and final Zoid was the Geno Breaker, an upgraded version of the Geno Saurer. The Geno Breaker would prove a formidable opponent to the Guardian Force until it was nearly destroyed by the Death Stinger.

The Geno Breaker would appear in the final battle against the Ultimate Death Saurer, where it used its Charged Particle Cannon to pierce its energy shield.

More detailed information on the Geno Breaker can be read in the full article.

Shadow

Though not technically a Zoid Raven has piloted, Shadow, Raven's Organoid, accompanies him in battle and has numerous special abilities that prove to be very useful. More detailed information can be read in the Organoid article.

Other Zoids

*Berserk Fury Shadow Edge (Manga only)
*Godos
*Dark Horn

Chaotic Century

Raven first appeared in episode 12 of Chaotic Century, "The Black Organoid". In the episode, an Organoid and a kid have been reported destroying a whole platoon of sleeper Guysaks. Van Flyheight and his Organoid Zeke are initially mistaken for the culprits, and are pursued by the Republican Army. Raven, however, rescues them. Van and Fiona follow Raven to a plateau, pressing him for information, which he refuses to divulge. Irvine shows up, and warns Van that Raven is the one who's been killing Zoids. Raven announces that he despises Zoids, and his Organoid, Shadow, as well as his Zoid, the Zaber Fang, step out from behind the plateau. Van watches on in horror as Raven destroys an entire fleet of Godos which were sent after him. Enraged, Van challenges Raven with his Shield Liger, but loses quickly and easily to Raven.

Van and Raven would continue to have skirmishes in following episodes. The next battle left Zeke in a harmed state. While Van has trying to help Zeke recover, Irvine challenged Raven to a battle with a new weapon but Raven, along Shadow, defeated him with ease also. He then views Major Schubaltz's battle against Capt Herman's Gojulas. Seeing Schubaltz wisely retreating and Herman collapsing the Gojulas, Raven denounces Herman's abilities and comments that if he were pioleting the Gojulas, no one would have escaped.

During Prozen's invasion, Raven and Van battled again; this time Van finally managed to draw with Raven until Van had to leave due to Prozen's invasion. Raven, angry with Van "running away", tracks down Fionia and Moonbay atop Mt Osa and he battled Van once again; this time Van won. Raven's loss came about as a result of his Zaber Fang melting as he tried to force it through Van's shield, which he almost succeed in doing. After this defeat, Raven deducts that he needs a more powerful zoid.

Raven would reappear later with his new powerful Zoid: the Geno Saurer, (initially mistaken by the characters as a Death Saurer.) Involved in a conspiracy by Prozen to abduct the crown Prince Rudolph, Raven found that Rudolf was with Van and the two had a rematch with resulted in the destruction of Van's Shield Liger and Zeke's near death experience. Raven would continue to use his Geno Saurer in following episodes to carry out Prozen's bidding: killing mass amounts of Zoids and taking their Zoid Cores for use in the Death Saurer revival project.

Raven's final appearance in Chaotic Century is where he fought Van's new Blade Liger. He two battled friecely which ended when Van shoved one of the Blade Liger's blades into his Geno Saurer's mouth destroying it. Raven survives a fiery death thanks to the last minute action of his Organoid, Shadow.

Guardian Force

After the destruction of the Geno Saurer, Raven vanished for several years before reappearing in episode 42, "Raven". In the episode, Raven appears mentally unhinged (possibly caused by his loss to Van). Appearing to have entered what seems to be a near-catatonic state, Raven is sullen and unresponsive, wandering about aimlessly, destroying military bases with the help of his Organoid. After breaking into a base and attacking it with a Dark Horn, Raven fights Van and Thomas, snapping him back to his normal state (apparently triggered by seeing Van).

After that, Raven would appear at the end of episode 43, "The Emperor's Holiday", in a new Geno Saurer (this one with red underpaneling instead of purple), and destroy Thomas' Dibison. He would then attack the Guardian Force with his Geno Saurer in the following episode, "Assault of the Mega Monster", where he would defeat Van, Irvine and Moonbay despite a plan to increase the power of the Blade Liger's shield.

Raven's Geno Saurer would evolve into the more powerful Geno Breaker in episode 47, "A Monster Awakens". The Geno Breaker would kill Irvine's Command Wolf and destroy a platoon of Zaber Fangs before retreating. Raven and the Geno Breaker would remain a formidable opponent for the Guardian Force afterward until Shadow's death at the hands of the Death Stinger in episode 47, "The Nightmare". The death of Shadow caused Raven to change, finally realizing how important Zoids were to people and himself. This creates Raven's first emotional outburst in the series showing how close he allowed Shadow to come.

GF episode 49, "The Distant Stars", would shed light on Raven's backstory. His parents, who were scientists, were studying an Organoid (Ambient), which hatched and killed them. Raven would be taken in by Dan Flyheight (Van's father) and would've been Van's brother (ironic due to their sibling like rivalry). When Prozen's forces attack Van's home village, Raven watches Dan Flyheight die at the hands of Prozen, who adopts Raven after the battle. Prozen raised Raven with strict training and care, transforming him into an elite assassin.

Raven's final appearance would be during the final four episodes, where he assisted Van Flyheight in defeating the Death Saurer. He and the newly revived Shadow destroy the Deathsaurer's shield so that Van could destroy its core.

In the end, he leaves with Reese, Shadow, and Specula. Apparently, he and Van buried the hatchet that day.

Throughout the series Raven is seen with Reese, a female Ancient Zoidian like Fiona. He, at first, can't stand her and hates her until later in the series where she helps him come to terms with his past and the death of Shadow. Apparently they grow feelings for each other towards the end and leave with each other at the series' end.

Manga

While Raven's general character and appearance are quite similar in the manga, both his backstory and eventual fate differ progressively from the anime as the series enfolds. Note that the US translation of the manga features "flipped" art so as to be read from left to right - Raven's face markings thus appear to have swapped sides, but as originally drawn match the anime.

In his initial appearance, Raven is cocky and brash much like his anime counterpart, fusing Shadow with his Zaber Fang to fight Van fully knowing it will kill the Zoid afterward. After Van and Zeke defeat him using their Command Wolf's suicide attack, he retreats to reappear in the Geno Saurer arc. In seeking to take away the city's protective generator Zoid, Raven reveals some of his reasoning behind hating Zoids: he sees humankind as far to dependent on them, though refuses to expand on why even as Van defeats him with a newly evolved Blade Liger and the help of the city Zoid. Seeing how important it was to the residents, Raven leaves with a simple promise. There will be no more needless destruction of Zoids from then on, as he's only out to kill Van.

Raven's final showing is at the end of the story. Newly equipped with the Berserk Fury Shadow Edge (a black-colored variation with a number of angled blade wings in place of the Buster Claws), he seeks to make good on his vow to fight Van again. Van, meanwhile, has acquired a Liger Zero, and with the help of Raven's estranged brother, Donnie Chen, equipped it with a manga-unique (and also flight-capable) CAS known as "Liger Zero Caesar the King".

He and Van clash, and the battle seems a violent standstill until Fiona intervenes, letting Van and Zeke see into Raven's mind, where we finally learn the true source of his hatred. Back when he was young, he and his family kept a small Zoid named Noah (which appears to have been a Godos). Eager to follow them and help out with their work, he transferred navigation data over to the Zoid. Something went wrong, got corrupted - and young Raven was forced to watch, helpless in front of the controls as the berserk Zoid killed his entire family. His secrets revealed and anger with Van spent after a bit of dreamworld fisticuffs, the Shadow Edge shuts down.

The story finishes rather abruptly with the two rivals having made peace - what becomes of them afterward is unknown, though there is some expansion in the (Japanese-only) [http://homepage3.nifty.com/ueyamam/manga.html unofficial comics] on creator Michiro Ueyama's site.

Trivia

* Raven bears a resemblance to Vega Obscura, a character in . Some fans believe that Raven is Vega's ancestor, and that the Berserk Fury is the evolved form of Raven's Geno Breaker, its Organoid System being Shadow. Known as the "Descendant Theory", it is often used in fan fiction to tie the two series together. However, the descendant theory is fanon and has no tangible canonical evidence to support it.
* Raven is arguably one of the more popular characters in the Western Zoids fandom, and is the subject of a lot of fan fiction and fan art. This is generally attributed to Raven's powerful Zoids, piloting ability and the popularity of the anti-hero archetype. Detractors of Chaotic Century and Guardian Force, however, often cite Raven's seeming invincibility as one of the show's primary flaws.