Sym-Bionic Titan

Sym-Bionic Titan
File:SBTlogo.png
Genre	Action Science fiction
Created by	Genndy Tartakovsky Paul Rudish Bryan Andrews
Creative director	Genndy Tartakovsky
Voices of	Kevin Thoms Brian Posehn Tara Strong Don Leslie John DiMaggio Tim Russ
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 minutes approx.
Production companies	Orphanage Animation Studios Cartoon Network Studios
Original release
Network	Cartoon Network
Release	September 17, 2010 – April 9, 2011

Sym-Bionic Titan is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network. The series focuses on a trio made up of an alien princess, a rebellious soldier, and a robot; these three characters are able to combine to create the titular Sym-Bionic Titan. A preview of the series was first shown at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, and further details were revealed at Cartoon Network's 2010 Upfront. The series premiered on September 17, 2010.

Cartoon Network initially ordered 20 episodes; Tartakovksy had hoped to expand on that, but the series was not renewed for another season. Tartakovksy is now reported to have moved on to Sony Pictures Animation. There's currently a fan movement to help bring the show back for another season.

Summary

Billed as "an exciting hybrid of high school drama and giant robot battles", Sym-Bionic Titan features "the adventures of three beings from the planet Galaluna who crash-land on Earth while attempting to escape their war-torn world." The series follows the lives of Ilana, Lance, and Octus, two alien teens and a robot in the form of humanoids who arrive on Earth, an "identical" planet to Galaluna, while fleeing an evil general who has taken over their home planet with the help of monstrous creatures called Mutraddi.

The three main characters include Ilana, princess of the royal family; Lance, a rebellious but capable soldier; and Octus, a bio-cybernetic robot, all of whom must now blend into everyday life in Sherman, Illinois. Posing as high school students, Lance and Octus work to conceal Princess Ilana from General Modula and his hideous space mutants sent to kill the sole heir of Galaluna. When called into battle, the Galalunans are outfitted with individual armor that provides more than ample protection. It is when the gravest of danger appears that Octus activates the sym-bionic defense program and he, Ilana, and Lance unite "Heart, Body and Mind" and come together to form the spectacular cyber-giant Sym-Bionic Titan.

Characters

Heroes

• Princess Ilana (voiced by Tara Strong) - Ilana is the only heir to the throne on the wartorn Galaluna. She struggles to fit in on Earth as a normal teenager. She is described as smart, compassionate, and outgoing. Her go-getter attitude may clash with other teens, but Ilana is quite the force to be reckoned with, since she sticks with her opinions and choices whether in battle or everyday life. When in danger, she activates the Corus armor system; a lightweight, fast, and heavily armored robot with laser-like weapons such as repulsors, force fields, and other more energy based attacks. Ilana and Corus represent the "heart" of the Sym-Bionic Titan, and comprise defensive attributes like abilities to form a force field around the robot's perimeter and to activate a knight-like shield.

• Corporal Lance (voiced by Kevin Thoms) - Lance is a member of the Royal Elite Guard from Galaluna that was sent to Earth with Octus and Ilana to protect the latter. His slacker attitude, laid back feel, bad boy look, and a demonstration of martial arts skills has instantly earned him the admiration of every girl in the school, short of Ilana. His unfamiliarity with Earth customs and social norms, combined with a life in the Galaluna military, has made him extremely overprotective over Ilana. Leading him to mistakenly see almost everything as a threat; from children crying in the street to barking dogs. He is one of the most capable Galalunian soldiers, but is not promoted beyond Corporal due to his rash battlefield decisions, and the fact that he has trouble working with others. (Due to the real fact that Lance tried to make friends, but everyone keeps abandoning him) His Manus armor is a heavy duty giant (though still dwarfed by the Titan), able to materialize short range weapons, and use machine guns and long range explosive missiles. Lance and Manus represent the "body" of the Sym-Bionic Titan, and comprise the offensive aspects of the giant robot. Such as commands that cause the robot to materialize various types of melee and missile weapons as the combat situation dictates. In previous episodes it is shown Lance had a troubled childhood, mostly starting from the time his father Edward died in an attempt to test the Rift Gate technology, and then continuing on to his time in the Academy. Also, he knows how to play the guitar.

• Octus (voiced by Brian Posehn) - Octus is a bio-cybernetic robot with a synthetic see-through body who was sent to Earth with Lance and Ilana to protect the latter. When he goes to Sherman High School, he coats his body with a hologram known as "Newton" (named after Sir Isaac Newton), a blocky shaped humanoid that takes on the physical appearance of a nerdy teen. When they are to have company over at the "Lunis" Home, he uses another hologram to disguise himself as Lance and Ilana's father with the "Dad" Hologram. He is quiet and incredibly smart, demonstrated when he answered a complex math question on the board with a single glance in under a second. Physically, his robot body is possessed of tremendous strength and durability, and can run and fly at incredible speeds. He can change shape and shoot energy bolts from his hands. He is also capable of generating holograms to hide his identity. He represents the "Mind" of the Sym-Bionic Titan, and possesses the sym-bionic defense program that can unite himself, Lance, and Ilana into the Titan. In the episode "Escape from Galaluna", it is revealed that Octus was made by Ilana's father, the king. Kimmy broke up with Octus in "Under Three Moons" when he failed to show up at the homecoming dance. In the episode "Family Crisis", Octus sacrificed himself to save Lance from an electrical monster, which is unknown to be a Mudtraddi beast or not, but he was bought back in the last episode by an unknown individual of G3 (presumably Lance's father).

Sym-Bionic Titan

The Sym-Bionic Titan (referred to as just "Titan" by humans) is the combined form of Lance's Manus armor, Ilana's Corus armor, and Octus's robotic body, the result of the Sym-Bionic defense program that Octus possesses. Its interior structure is the combined Manus and Corus armors and its transparent exterior armor is Octus's outer shell. It is capable of flight and can create various weapons, tools and defenses in exact response to the pilots' mere thoughts. In "A New Beginning", Sym-Bionic Titan was made even stronger and more powerful when Octus was brought back to life, with many more abilities and powers (which are much, much stronger and much more powerful) than it had before, like projecting incredibly strong and powerful huge energy beams from its hands and feet.

Villains

• General Modula (voiced by Don Leslie) - The primary antagonist of the series, Modula was once a decorated Galalunian war hero and the General of Galaluna's army. However, after a mission with Ilana's father, the King, he was apparently killed. Not only did he survive his supposed death, but because he was "left behind" by the king, he not only had to tame the Mutraddi beasts which lived there, his harbored grudge against Ilana's father boiled over. In an act of revenge, he later used the Mutraddi creatures to conquer Galaluna and began sending them to Earth to kill Princess Ilana and eliminate any threat of "rebellion" against him. Even without his beasts he is an extremely strong warrior, able to defeat a squad of armed soldiers or shut off two Manus armors with nothing but his bare hands, as well as agility and/or unnatural speed. He is shown to be sadistic, notably when he crushed a rebel's neck slowly, and when he vaporized one of his own henchmen as seen in "Tashy 497". He is connected to Lance's past as well as he oversaw the academy that Lance went to. He's also connected with Ilana's past. Before his betrayal, he was best friends with Lance and Ilana's fathers.

Mutraddi/Mutraddi Mega-Beasts

The Mutraddi/Mutraddi Mega-Beasts are alien monsters used by General Modula in his plot to conquer Galaluna and kill the princess. Their homeworld is a damaged planet called Mutradd. So far, only a few Mutraddis are known to be able to speak. Among the featured Mutraddis are:

• Fire Monster - The Fire Monster is the first Mutraddi that General Modula sent to Earth to destroy the princess. It is really a rock monster, but is capable of using fire as a weapon and flying. When it came to Earth, it landed outside the city of Sherman, and the military was unable to stop it as it entered downtown. It was then attacked by Ilana, Lance and Octus, and for the first time, the three formed the Sym-Bionic Titan. During the battle, the monster devastated a large section of the city with its fiery power, but eventually the Titan pushed it into a nearby lake, dousing its flames, but it then burst out of the lake in its rock form and tried to crush the Titan. At this point, Solomon and G3 had arrived on the scene and paralyzed the monster with a motion wave cannon, allowing the Titan to cut the monster into pieces.

• Robot Hydra - The Robot Hydra is the second Mutraddi that General Modula sent to Earth to destroy the princess. It is a robotic five-headed dragon that can fly, shoot laser beams, and can track signals of Galalunan armor systems. When it came to Earth, it landed in Egypt, but it caught a signal of Lance's armor and followed it to Sherman. After facing Ilana and Lance downtown, they formed Sym-Bionic Titan with Octus. The monster almost defeated the Titan, but Lance had it revert back to Ilana, Octus and himself and let the beast swallow him so he could destroy its power core.

• Storm Creature - A fragment of the Fire Monster that was recovered by General Julius Steel. But when he tried to cut it open, it turned into a cloud of massive electrical power, but the Titan stopped it by flying into it and redirecting the Creature's own power back into it.

• Xeexi (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) - Xeexi is an intelligent squid/cockroach-like Mutraddi creature, the third Mutraddi that General Modula sent to Earth to destroy the princess and one of Modula's high-ranked troopers. He can enter humanoid bodies (and possibly more) to cause massive stress, pain, and is even able to make said humanoid spill information. His only appearance (so far) was in "Phantom Ninja", where he gained information from the King that Ilana was "not alone," and then invaded Earth for Modula's bidding to find out why the monsters Modula was sending to earth were failing to destroy Ilana. He attempted to track Ilana, caught a signal of Lance's armor and successfully captured him and forced him to reveal Ilana's location, which also succeeded. Lance, however, eventually escaped and regrouped with Ilana and Octus to form Sym-Bionic Titan. When the Titan was formed, Xeexi was surprised to see the Galalunan secret weapon. As Xeexi was retreating (as his mechanical vehicle was a small bug compared to the Titan), he initially recorded the Titan and successfully sent a probe back to Galaluna, only for his vehicle to be crushed by the Titan. Despite his possible death, he succeeded in his mission. It is unknown whether Xeexi died or not. Being an invertebrate, he could have survived being smashed by the Titan. For a spilt-second he can be seen inside his vehicle when the Titan smashed it.

• Long Limb Monster - The Long Limb Monster is the fourth Mutraddi that General Modula sent to Earth to destroy the princess. It is a monster with long arms and legs. When it came to Earth, it landed in the lake near Sherman and interrupted Lance's driving test. After Lance joined up with Ilana and Octus, they formed Sym-Bionic Titan and fought the monster before injuring it severely and throwing it back into the lake to drown.

• Dark Shaman (voiced by Tony Todd) - The Dark Shaman is the fifth Mutraddi that General Modula sent to Earth to destroy the princess. He carries a staff and has powerful magic over fear and can make his victims experience what they fear most. He came to Earth in a mysterious tower. When Lance, Ilana and Octus formed Sym-bionic Titan to investigate, they were zapped with energy upon contact with the tower. From then on, the Dark Shaman had complete control over Lance and Ilana (except for Octus who isn't organic) and made them experience their worst fears, but thanks to Octus, they found out and re-formed Titan to escape, but the Shaman returned to his tower (which turned into a giant six-armed stone tiki robot) and attacked Titan. They fought in an industrial complex, but again, the Shaman made Ilana and Lance experience their greatest fears, but this time, Lance overcame his fear and helped Ilana overcome hers. After that, the Shaman's power had no effect on Ilana or Lance and they defeated him by throwing a spear through the stone robot, destroying both it and the Shaman.

• Blob Monster - The Blob Monster is the sixth Mutraddi that General Modula sent to Earth to destroy the princess. It is capable of shape shifting, regeneration and multiplication. After it is defeated by Sym-Bionic Titan downtown, it invades Sherman High, trapping Lance, Ilana, Octus, and the students and staff inside, but Octus found out that the only thing that could destroy the creature was a certain frequency from all of the students' cell phones, and once Ilana told everyone this over the school P.A. system, the students were able to use the frequency on their cell phones to kill the monster.

• Duraak (voiced by John DiMaggio) - A Mutraddi scientist. Modula came to the Mutraddi homeworld in hopes to find a "special" creature since the ones given to him were failures. Duraak presented a giant creature who had scales withstanding unmeasurable force and had poisonous spikes that shot out like missiles, but did not catch Modula's interest. He then presented a giant frog-like creature that could emit lightning and fire, but he told Modula it was not the most special. Finally, he presented Tashy 497, who could perform an explosion powerful enough to destroy an entire planet. However, when Tashy 497's vital signs boosted but it did not explode, Durrak was killed by General Modula due to his failure.

• Tashy 497/Mushy/Tarax/497 - The seventh Mutraddi sent to Earth. It has the physical appearance of a cute, harmless alien, but in fact, has unstable power from within. If it dies, it creates a massive explosion that is powerful enough to destroy an entire planet. Modula had interest of this creature and had dispatched it to Earth in a large rocket so it can explode when it crash-landed, but Sym-Bionic Titan managed to stop the rocket. Lance, Octus and Ilana then found Tashy inside the rocket's "warhead". Ilana adored the creature and took it with her since Octus stated they could not leave any alien life form for the army to discover. Ilana named it Mushy, Lance named it Tarax, and Octus called it 497. When Octus analyzed a piece of its skin, he discovered the creature's intent and the atmosphere of Earth caused it to deteriorate. It was then agreed that they would send it out to space so it would explode harmlessly. It was later discovered that the creature had created a cosmic formation, and was named Tashy 497. It was the only Mutraddi monster that didn't intentionally want to destroy the trio.

• Electric Monster - The Electric Monster is the eighth Mutraddi sent to Earth. It is a creature whose upper body is shaped like a manta ray and has electrical and electromagnetic powers. When it came to Earth, it landed in an area in downtown Sherman, causing a power outage in the area. It then made its way to where Ilana and Lance were having a night on the town. Because the monster's powers also affected their armors, they couldn't activate them and fight the monster, but Octus solved the problem by adjusting their armors' frequency to match his own internal frequency, which the monster's powers had no effect on. They then formed Sym-Bionic Titan and fought the monster evenly before blowing it up.

• Phantom Chameleon Monster - The Phantom Chameleon Monster is the ninth Mutraddi sent to Earth. It is a blue-grayish monster with four red eyes that is capable of shape-shifting into any humanoid form. It can even levitate, expand in size, and is hard to destroy. This Mutraddi is spectral in nature, arriving to earth as a corpse, later emerging as a phantasm. It came to Earth a few hundred feet away from a "Scary Mary" party that Lance, Octus and Ilana were at. They came to investigate, but upon finding the monster's body, they dismissed it of being a threat, but the monster, now a phantasm, followed Lance, Octus, and Ilana back to the party, disguised itself as Ilana's new friend Jason and attempted to kill Ilana, but Lance stopped it, forcing it to hide in the crowd in other human forms. It then took the place of the volunteer of the party's main event, revealing itself to the crowd and scaring all but Octus, Ilana and Lance away. They fought the monster, even through it withstood many blows. When the monster expanded its size, Lance, Ilana and Octus formed Sym-Bionic Titan and continued to fight it. The monster took on many human forms as a giant, including Kimmy, Ilana, Lance, Octus, and other teenagers from school. But after a long fight, they destroyed the monster with a hard blow to the head.

• Muculox (voiced by John DiMaggio) - Muculox is the tenth Mutraddi sent to earth. He is slightly larger than a human, and the only Mutraddi beast not to engage Titan in combat. He is light green, with four eyes located along his bottom jaw, and has six limbs; two smaller upper arms, two larger lower arms connected by light webbing and two legs and has transparent skin on his chest and head. He is also capable of reviving after being defeated and he can even speak. Proportionally, he is very strong, capable of kicking the Manus armor a significant distance. When he came to Earth, his ship landed in a swamp, and he engaged Lance, Ilana and Octus when they came to investigate. After being electrocuted by Octus under water he is apparently killed and thrown on shore. While discussing what to do with the beast, Muculox revives and wraps his projectile tongue, around Ilana's ankle, giving her a topical venom burn before fleeing into the swamp. This venom burn slowly infects her and begins to replace her DNA with that of Muculox's, making her stronger and more nimble, as well as altering her appearance. Midway through her transformation, Ilana encounters a dead alligator that shows some of the same transformation signs as she has: webbed hands, and light greenish skin, and two eyes on its bottom jaw in addition to its own eyes (clearly another victim of Muculox). The mutant alligator also revives from its deceased state and attacks Ilana. She manages to survive being bitten by the giant creature with little to no injury, and the beast is killed when Ilana snaps the mutant gator's jaw. By this point, Ilana is fully transformed and Muculox approaches her and emits a call from his vocal sac, gaining control over her mind. This call was also used to summon his ship from where it rested at the bottom of the swamp, so he could take Ilana back to Mutradd and gain an even greater reward for bringing her in alive, but before they could leave, Lance kills Muculox by using the Manus armor to leap up to the escaping ship and stab a trident through Muculox's chest, piercing its heart. When Muculox dies, the ship crashes and the psychic link between Ilana and Muculox is severed, Ilana goes into cardiac arrest for a period of time, but then her mutated heart restarts, and since the link is severed, she reverts back to her humanoid form.

• Bat Monster - The eleventh Mutraddi sent to earth. It is a giant bat-like creature that can emit a sonic wave through its neck that can cause all living things to freeze in motion. When it came to Earth, it froze every living thing with its sonic wave, but after Octus managed to attack it at close range, all living things began to move again. When Lance and Ilana started moving again, they formed Sym-Bionic Titan with Octus and fought the Bat Monster in the sky, destroying it with the Sym-Bionic Titan's bow and arrow attack.

• Dragon Creature - Appeared in episode "Disenfranchised", the twelfth Mutraddi Mega Beast to come to earth. It has a long body, is capable of fight and can shoot a laser out it's tongue that is much like an actual Dragon's fire breath. Shortly after it landed, it was engaged by Titan, but since it couldn't cut the beast with the sword due to the creature's agility, Lance manifested a weapon in the form of a Kusarigama called a "Cronus Chain" and easily took the creature down. During a concert of the band Disenfranchised at the park later, the head of the dragon creature revived and tried to attack the concert, but it was intercepted by Ilana and Octus. Since Lance couldn't join them because they had to break General Steel's theory that the trio are connected to Titan, Octus used a Manus hologram in Lance's place. Eventually, Ilana and Octus finished off the creature for good by firing at its tongue before it could get another shot out, causing the trapped energy to overload and destroy the Creature.

• Alien Beast - The thirteenth monster sent to Earth to destroy the princess. It is not an actual Mutraddi, but it is amazingly fast and looks somewhat like a dog. It was owned by an alien who swore to Modula that it would kill the princess. After catching Modula's interest by defeating a Mutraddi, it was sent through the Rift Gate to Earth. When it engaged Titan on a wind farm, it nearly beat Titan because of Ilana and Octus having guilt about abandoning their friends and the homecoming dance. Their guilt made Titan concentrate to fight the monster less easy, causing Titan to not perform very well, but Lance had no concern for either of their personal feelings, which frustrated them both so much, it had the side effect of enabling Titan to beat the monster to a pulp.

• Electric Entity - This "monster" appeared in the episode "Family Crisis", and it is unknown if it is a Mutraddi or not. It basically is a white cloud, surrounded by blue lightning which in turn, is surrounded by a blue, sparky aura. It was first found by the Galactic Guardian Group (G3) at a space station (presumably belonging to G3) near Saturn and were attacked by it, including Solomon, the leader of G3. This forced him to call Ilana, Lance and Octus for help. The creature can drain any form of energy from anything, so it was a huge threat. The creature is destroyed when Lance blew up the space station with the creature in it, but not before Octus was killed by the creature. Also, the creature is able to shriek in an indescribable way.

• Horned Monster - The fourteenth Mutraddi sent to Earth. It was capable of shooting a laser from two massive horns on its head. When it came to Earth, it was engaged by Lance and Ilana downtown, but since they were unable to form Titan, the monster beat them and forced them to retreat. Later, it was engaged by the H.M.E.R., which soundly defeated the beast.

• Mutraddi Trio - A trio of Mutraddi that were sent to Earth together. They are big, can shoot lasers from their mouths, and are extremely strong. When they came to Earth, one of them landed in the city of Sherman, another landed in San Fransisco, and the third landed in Paris, France. This forced Ilana, Lance, Solomon and even General Steel to work together to defeat them. Solomon and G3 engaged the one in Paris, Steel engaged the one in San Fransisco, and Ilana and Lance fought the one in Sherman. Unfortunately, none of them were able to fare well against the monsters. Even the H.M.E.R. was unable to defeat the one in San Fransisco and was torn to pieces. Fortunately, Octus was revived and formed an even more powerful Sym-Bionic Titan with Ilana and Lance and began to fight the creature in Sherman. Despite its strength, the creature was no match for the upgraded Titan, having its leg torn off and was killed when a spear was driven down its throat. The one fighting G3 in Paris was then confronted and killed, having its arm sliced off before being cut in half. Finally, the one in San Fransisco was sliced in half from behind by the Titan while it was distracted by General Steel.

Other strange Mutraddi exist including the standard Mutraddi which are grey, stupid, and strong. Modula has these in Hordes. Another is a strange drill creature that is impervious to most attacks. Also, there are other intelligent Mutraddi besides Xeexi, such as a humanoid frog that seems to serve as a courier for Modula.

Main Earthlings

• Solomon (voiced by Tim Russ) - Solomon is the leader of the Galactic Guardian Group (more commonly known as G3), an independent group dedicated to handling alien threats, which he initially sees in both Titan and the monsters it fights. He knows the identities of Ilana, Lance, and Octus since he saw surveillance videos of Lance wielding his Manus armor and had them confiscated. He appears to have an understanding of "Titan's" good intentions as shown when he allowed Titan to flee when it defeated the fire monster and smiling when Octus played the friendship song. Solomon stated that he is tracking General Steel's actions and warns him not to mess with foreign species, which Steel ignores. However, his true motives are currently unknown. In "The Fortress of Deception", he captures Lance and Ilana and outruns Octus. He later assumes a false identity "Kane" (a reference to pulp witch-hunter Solomon Kane), who is a prisoner and ex-member of G3. Kane later guides the group to their armor, and later, Octus comes and they form Titan. Solomon secures Titan, reveals his identity, and demands answers, but Titan manages to escape. He also has a fighting style similar to Lance's, but even though G3 uses Galalunian-like technology, he still appears to have no knowledge of the Galalunians and their purpose. He also secretly works for a currently unknown individual with a metal hand (which looks exactly like a Manus armor hand implying this man may somehow be Lance's father who had gone through the rift gate many years earlier) who might be the true leader of G3. G3 also cleans up the remains of the giant Mutraddi monsters that Titan has already destroyed. After being rescued from the Electric Entity by the group, he offers to help them. They eventually agreed and stayed with G3 while they tried to restore Octus.

• General Julius Steel (voiced by John DiMaggio) - General Julius Steel is in charge of many of the armed forces, and is portrayed as the stereotypical "shoot first, ask questions later" soldier. He too sees Titan and the monsters it fights as a threat, but he also hates Solomon due to their competition of dealing with alien threats. He stated in an interview that Titan was the one who brought the monsters to Earth, and intends to destroy it so that more monsters would not appear (which is true in some way, given the fact that Modula is sending them to Earth to destroy the princess). His desire to destroy Titan may be an obsession, demonstrated when he completely ignored safety protocols to cut open a mysterious rock, which resulted in a cloud of destructive power. Even after Titan stopped it, Steel still seems to be obsessive over the destruction of Titan.
  • H.M.E.R. (a.k.a. "The Hammer") - The H.M.E.R. (Homeland Mobile Emergency Robot) is a giant robot that General Steel built from the remains of the massive rocket that brought Tashy 497 to Earth. It has powerful military weapons, a giant laser gun, thick armor, is capable of flight, and is manned by a crew of hundreds of soldiers. It was revealed to the public when it engaged the horned monster in downtown Sherman and defeated it. Later, it fought Ilana and Lance when they broke into Steel's military base to repower Octus by using H.M.E.R.'s power source. It almost killed them, but they were saved at the last minute by Solomon and G3, prompting Steel to mark G3 as traitors. Steel takes great pride in this machine, shown as he patted its surface after it fought Lance and Ilana. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in the last episode by a Mutraddi monster in San Fransisco.
    The nickname of the robot is obviously a pun on the 90's rapper M.C. Hammer. This is made clear through General Steel's constant catchprases that were also used by MC Hammer himself. For example, "It's Hammer time" has been used several times since the robots introduction. And in the last episode when the robot fought the Mutraddi in San Fransisco, he said "Can't touch this", which is from MC Hammer's arguably most noticeable song Can't Touch This.

• Kimmy Meisner (voiced by Cassie Scerbo in the first appearance, Kari Wahlgren in the second appearance) - Kimmy (short for "Kimberly") is a student at Sherman High and the Cheerleading Squad's Captain. She first appeared in "Showdown at Sherman High", where Ilana tried out for cheerleading but had sabotaged her, causing her to fail her attempt at doing "the Pyramid". Throughout the episode, Kimmy insults and mocks Ilana regardless of her trying to assist them and lead them to safety. Not wanting to tolerate anymore of her insults, Ilana said that Kimmy was a horrible person, and that she feels sorry for her. Kimmy realizes her actions and agrees to help Ilana through the remainder of the episode. In the episode "Lessons of Love", Kimmy went to the Lunis' house to study under Newton's aid, as she had received an F on a math test but was given a chance to make up her grade, otherwise she would be kicked off the cheerleading squad. Throughout the episode, Kimmy finds studying under Newton difficult and tries to simply have him do her test for her, which Newton ultimately denied even after her provocative dance routine. Saying that everyone has a role to play in the social life, Kimmy tried to convince herself and Newton that she was the stupid type, but Newton explained that all she had to do was dedicate herself to her work like she does with cheerleading, and it would all become clear. Eventually Kimmy began to develop strong feelings for Newton, and ended up sharing a kiss with him. At the end of the episode, Kimmy receives an A, and thanks Newton for his help, claiming that she couldn't have done it without him. Kimmy kindly greeted the confused Lance and Ilana, and asked Newton to walk her to class. In "The Ballad of Scary Mary" Kimmy invites Newton, Lance and Ilana to the annual "Scary Mary" party. While there, she convinces two of her cheerleader friends to support her relationship with Newton and confronts her ex-boyfriend Brandon over it. When a Mutraddi creature attacks at the party, Newton upsets Kimmy by making her escape with Brandon. She gives him the silent treatment for it at school, but then gives him the chance to explain himself. In "Lessons in Love" she is shown to be a very good dancer. In "Under the Three Moons" she became upset when Newton left her during the homecoming dance and she broke up with him. She also appeared in "The Steel Foe," in which she noted the absence of the "Lunis" family from school. In "A New Beginning," Kimmy and her friends went to check the "Lunis" house, worried about them. In the end of the episode, when she receives a text from Newton saying he will be back soon, tears come from her eyes and she smiles, showing that she still has feelings for Newton.

• Edwin Kapinski (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke) - Edwin is often called Meat. His real name was revealed in "The Steel Foe." He is a lovable yet dimwitted jock.

• Barb (voiced by Audrey Wasilewski) - Barb (short for "Barbara") is the neighbor of the "Lunis" family. She has a crush on Octus's "dad" program and her actions are considered strange to the team. The suggestive humor associated with this character contributed to the TV-PG rating of the program. She also has a pet Rottweiler named Hercules.

Other Earthlings

• Mike Chan (voiced by Brian Tee) - Mike Chan is a jerkish Asian American teenage troublemaker known as "The White Dragon." He owns a pink car with a white dragon painted on the sides. He is the leader of a gang and the police were trying to arrest him many times to no avail. While Lance, Ilana, and "Dad" were driving to school one day, Mike zoomed by with the police and Detective Blutosky on his heels. As an escape, Mike rammed someone's car off the road, causing the detective and the cops to swerve and crash. At school, Mike pulls into the parking lot and Lance and Newton are impressed by his car, but Mike threatens Lance when he tries to touch it. Newton (now dubbed "Soccer Mom" by Mike), observes that Mike has extremely high testosterone levels. When Lance takes his own car for a test drive, Mike challenges him to a street race, where he wins by cheating. When Lance is taking his driving test to earn his license, Mike and his gang try to taunt him into a race. Then, during a Mutraddi monster's rampage, Mike's gang escapes but he stays to drives into a deep hole. When he climbs out, Detective Blutosky arrests him. Mike swears revenge on Lance, but Detective Blutosky tells him he won't get that chance for at least five to ten years.

• Detective Blutosky (voiced by John DiMaggio) - The detective that has been after Mike Chan for a long time. He is even willing to ignore some of the rules to find him, as he is caught by Ilana keeping Lance in custody for over two hours. He eventually succeeds in catching Mike Chan. Detective Blutosky later appears investigating a car crash following Octus' pursuance of the Galactic Guardian Group when they captured Lance and Ilana.

• Jason (voiced by Will Friedle) - Jason is a sweet yet geeky and clumsy boy who Ilana meets at the "Scary Mary" party. He later goes to the homecoming dance with Ilana, who had a large hand in organizing the event. When Ilana, Lance, and Octus depart to fight a Mutraddi, Jason decides to dance with Mirabel, a girl on the homecoming committee.

• Kristin (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) - Kristin is a Goth girl who Lance meets at the "Scary Mary" party. Her conversation with him reveals that they have similar personalities, even jokingly suggesting they are "soul mates". Lance might be attracted to her, as she is the only other girl at school besides Ilana or Kimmy that he's paid any attention to so far. Her name is not stated in the episode but is revealed in the credits. In "Under the Three Moons" it also shows that she does karate.

• Brandon Chase (voiced by James Arnold Taylor) - Kimmy's ex-boyfriend, he appeared in Ballad of Scary Mary. He is also seen in "Under The Three Moons" throwing snow balls at "Newton" and Kimmy.

• Steve Stevens (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke) - Steve Stevens (although the episode states his friends call him "baby face") was an undercover spy sent by General Steel to Sherman High School to find out the identity of Titan. He was only seen in the episode "Disenfranchised".

• Tiffany (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) - Tiffany is one of Kimmy's friends she hugged at the "Scary Mary" party.

• Monica (voiced by Kari Wahlgren) - Monica is another of Kimmy's friends, and she is also a cheerleader. She is African American and wears large red hoop earrings. She has been in a total of 2 episodes "Disenfranchised" and "Showdown at Sherman High". In both episodes she has show interest in Lance for example in "Disenfranchised" after over hearing Ilana and Lance talking about the upcoming concert she asked Ilana if it was true immediately after Lance left the table.

• Amber (voiced by Kari Wahlgren) - Amber is one of Kimmy's cheerleader friends. She is blonde and has her hair in pig tails. She is the cheerleader who helped Kimmy sabotage Ilana causing her to fail at doing "the Pyramid" in the episode "Showdown at Sherman High". She might also be in the episode "Ballad of Scary Mary" as the other girl hugging Kimmy and who says "Tiffany are we about to get our nerd on?" But this has not been confirmed. So far she's been portrayed as a dumb blonde.

• Bryan (voiced by Will Friedle) - He is the school mascot. When Lance was fighting the blob monsters in the episode "Showdown at Sherman High" the other students thought it was Bryan since Lance was wearing the Mascot outfit which he wore so the monsters wouldn't recognize him. He was also in the episode "Disenfranchised".

Other Galalunians

• The King (voiced by John DiMaggio) - The unnamed King of Galaluna is Ilana's father, and the thought of his death utterly terrifies Ilana as exploited by the Dark Shaman. He sent Ilana, Lance and Octus to Earth using a type of hyperspace called a Rift Gate. When Lance's father was presumed deceased upon testing the prototype Rift Gate as seen in a flashback episode, the King had agreed to watch over Lance as if he was his own. He is currently kept in custody by Modula, who keeps torturing him for information about Titan, Ilana, and the "two others" who are with her. Meanwhile, his soldiers plot rebellions only to be utterly destroyed by the Mutraddi and/or by Modula.

• Edward (voiced by Richard McGonagle) - Edward was Lance's father, Galaluna's best scientist and was good friends with the King and Modula. He disappeared through the prototype rift gate to an unknown location when Lance was just a boy. Lance fears this moment most, a fact which was exploited by the Dark Shaman. Lance loved his father very much, and keeps a broken picture of him by his bed on Earth. His father's last words to Lance were that everything would be all right. He may be the leader of G3. He may also be the one who revived Octus in the last episode.

• Baron - Baron was Lance's arch-enemy when he was in military academy. He bullied Lance and his roommate Arthur, where Lance would often get in fights with Baron. He first met Lance when he came to the school and said his father was crazy, which angered Lance as he really loved his father. He then got him in trouble by placing him in his nightwear in the middle of the school and made Arthur leave Lance as he tried to stand up to him. In the War Games, Baron and his cronies try to defeat Lance, but Lance defeated them and won the Games, earning him the medal of excellence. Eventually, Baron swore revenge against Lance and tried to kill him. Lance got in a Manus armor (which would be his armor in the future) and Baron got in another armor, and they both fought, destroying most of the school and almost hurting innocent people. Eventually, General Modula shuts down their armors and both Lance and Baron were sent to juvenile hall. Baron was last seen being bailed out by his father while Lance was visited by the King. It is unknown if he and Lance are still enemies or if Baron is still around.

• Arthur - Arthur was Lance's roommate at military academy. He is obese, but knew quite a lot about the academy. He was also bullied by Baron when he was new at the school. He befriended Lance, but later turned him down after Baron and his cronies trashed Arthur and Lance's room when Lance stood up to Baron. He bears somewhat a resemblance to Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory.

• Hobbs (voiced by James Horan) - Ilana's bodyguard when Galaluna was invaded who bears a resemblance to Race Bannon from the Jonny Quest series. He was with her during the opening of a school in the tribal area of a region of Galaluna. He wasn't worried when Ilana went after a cat-like pet in a well. He is a very skilled officer even without his armor, deactivated by a signal by the invaders. When he was shot by an energy blast, Ilana patched him up and the two made their way to the palace where he received medical attention.

Episodes

Main article: List of Sym-Bionic Titan episodes

Production

Tartakovksy drew inspiration from many sources. He grew up with mecha anime series from the 1970s and 1980s like Speed Racer, Robotech and Voltron and states: "For whatever reason, I have always loved the idea of kids driving giant robots." His biggest influence were John Hughes movies like Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, but the relationship between the two teenage leads was also inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky.

He came up with Octus and the high-school setting first and then later together with co-creators Paul Rudish and Bryan Andrews added Ilana and Lance as protagonists. The creators of the show took a long time to develop the female lead, Princess Ilana. "A positive strong female character is something I've always wanted to create", Tartakovsky said.

Tartakovsky calls Sym-Bionic Titan "the most challenging project I have ever done."

External links

• Sym-Bionic Titan at Cartoon Encyclopedia
• Sym-Bionic Titan at IMDb
• Sym-Bionic Wiki