Cho Robot Sentai Autoranger
(Redirected from Autoranger)

Cho Robot Sentai Autoranger (Chō Roboto Sentai Autorenjā), translated into Standard as Super Robot Squadron Autoranger, was a Cybertronian television program produced in the style of, and as an homage to, the Toei Company's long-running Super Sentai series. It aired on Teletran Online, Avalon 17, BaconMedia Television Tomodachi, and several other independent networks from April 2405 to April 2406, running for a total of 40 episodes.

Plot

On the machine planet Sabretron, a society of sapient robots lives in peace and harmony under the watchful eye of the great and benevolent computer Vector Sigma. When Sabretron comes under attack by the brutal and covetous Zegrons, Vector Sigma chooses five ordinary Sabretronians and forges them into the ultimate battle team. Equipped with powerful weapons, incredible fighting skills, and the amazing ability to reconfigure their bodies into high-speed assault vehicles, the Autorangers fight to keep Sabretron free!

Characters

The Autorangers

"We'll never rest until Sabretron is free! Autorangers, transform and roll out!"

- Speedgunner / Autoranger Red: The Autorangers' leader. Formerly a champion race driver. His bright red exotic racer mode is the fastest vehicle form in the team. Hotheaded and impulsive in the early part of the series, he often charges into battle without properly organizing his teammates and bites off more than he can chew. Eventually he learns the value of leadership and becomes a true leader to the team. Utterly fearless and good-humored, he takes his frequent injuries in stride.

Motto: "Speed limits are for suckers!"

- Auto-Weapon: Exhaust Cannon
- Special Attack: Piledriver Fists (rapid-fire punch barrage)

- Ironfist / Autoranger Blue: The oldest of the Autorangers, Ironfist is the only member with anything like military experience, having been a police officer. Often at odds with Speedgunner about the latter's impulsiveness and tendency to leave the team in his dust. Level-headed and reliable, but lacks the inspired lunacy that makes the younger Autoranger such an effective leader in battle once he learns to use his entire team as a weapon. Ironfist prefers close combat to blasters and is fond of using his urban assault vehicle mode to ram opponents, crushing them with his heavy armor plate.

Motto: "Taste the bumper of justice!"

- Auto-Weapon: Blast Knuckles
- Special Attack: Blast Bumper Crash

- Launchcode / Autoranger Green: The Autorangers' heavy firepower specialist, Launchcode likes missiles. He likes missiles a whole lot. His vehicle mode is a heavy missile carrier capable of raining guided rockets down on an enemy from miles away - or hurling them in great direct-fire swarms at close range. He's also the slowest of the Autorangers, though his armor is heavy enough to compensate. His reliance on explosives makes him vulnerable to collateral damage from his own weapons, but laid-back Launchcode accepts that as part of the cost of doing business.

Motto: "Built for damage!"

- Auto-Weapon: Rotary Rocket Rifle
- Special Attack: Super Missile Crush

- Lasershot / Autoranger Yellow: The team sniper, Lasershot possesses the patience, endurance, and precision to make nearly impossible shots. Quiet and a bit of a loner, she prefers to work as an advance scout whenever possible, and her all-terrain vehicle mode is well-suited to the task. She can go almost anywhere on Sabretron, then wait, silent and deadly, for the rest of the team to catch up. Her preference for solo scouting and sniper duty doesn't mean she's not ready, willing, and able to participate in the all-hands free-for-alls that are such a part of Autoranger life, however.

Motto: "Justice comes at the speed of light."

- Auto-Weapon: Spiral Blaze Rifle
- Special Attack: Spiral Blaze Kick

- Drifta / Autoranger Pink: The most agile of the Autorangers, as both a robot and a super-sleek race car, Drifta excels in high-G maneuvers that would send any other Autoranger, even Speedgunner, spinning out of control. She relishes outmaneuvering her foes and luring them into places where her abilities will give her a decisive edge. Poorly armored and not very strong, she has little chance of victory in a toe-to-toe fight with even an ordinary Zegron Wheel Soldier, but her agility and skill make it unlikely that she'll ever have to get into one.

Motto: "You can't crush what you can't catch!"

- Auto-Weapon: Shock Crossbow
- Special Attack: J-Turn Jump

Allies

- Autoranger Shadow: A mysterious black robot who has powers, and a vehicle form, similar to the Autorangers'. His true identity is unknown, but Vector Sigma instructs the Autorangers to treat him as one of their own when their paths cross. Autoranger Shadow often appears at critical moments bearing a new weapon or critical hint that enables the others to win the day.

- Jenny Tseng: A teenage human girl the Autorangers meet and befriend on a visit to Earth (in episode 15, "The Beautiful Blue Planet! Do the Zegrons Lurk There?"). She travels back to Sabretron with them at the end of the episode and remains with them as a kind of mascot/mechanic, holding down the fort at Autoranger Control while they're on missions. A skilled mechanic, she can repair almost anything.

- Vector Sigma: The sentient supercomputer at the core of Sabretron. Vector Sigma's power is almost unlimited, and it is this power that fuels the Autoranger's special abilities. Benevolent and wise, Vector Sigma created a team of warriors only reluctantly, when it became clear that Sabretron would be destroyed without someone to fight back against the Zegron invaders.

Arsenal

- Ranger Changer: A small device possessed by each Autoranger. By pressing the button on the device and saying, "Autoranger, GO!", a member may initiate the change from an ordinary Seibertronian to the transformable Autoranger form. As team leader, Speedgunner possesses the ability to trigger all the Autorangers' Ranger Changers at once. Team members are alerted of the impending change and may either accept it immediately or defer it for up to 30 seconds, giving them time to get out of sight of onlookers.

- RangerLink: The standard secure voice/video communication device issued to all Autorangers. Present in both normal and Autoranger forms.

- Ranger Matrix: This device, granted to Speedgunner by Vector Sigma, is the primary energy source for the Autorangers. It is normally kept at Autoranger Control, but can be removed from its vault and carried in a special compartment in Speedgunner's chest. By grasping the handles on either side of the housing and delivering his signature line, "Autorangers, SUPER MODE!", Speedgunner unleashes the energies of the Matrix to change himself and his teammates into even more powerful versions of their Autoranger forms, but the change only lasts for 90 seconds. The Ranger Matrix has other uses which are not explored until late in the series.

- AutoArk: An interstellar spaceship possessed, but rarely used, by the Autorangers.

Villains

Zegron Empire

- Dread Emperor Zegron Delta: Leader of the cruel Zegron invaders, the Dread Emperor appears in every episode, but the Autorangers themselves do not meet him face to face until close to the end of the series. He commands the terrible battle mechanoid Grindkaiser.

- Zegron Special Combat Group Zegitar: The main antagonists of the series, five Zegron commandos equipped with specialized war machines. They reappear again and again, constantly upgrading their equipment, tactics, and approaches in a never-ending effort to defeat the Autorangers. The individual members of Combat Group Zegitar, like all Zegrons, have no names of their own; they are referred to only by their numbers, Zegitar One through Zegitar Five. Zegitar Three develops a crush on Autoranger Pink and considers defecting.

- Zegron Army of Conquest No. 398: The cannon fodder. Their Wheel Soldier mecha can terrorize ordinary Sabretronians but are no match for any Autoranger. Somewhat cowardly, especially in later episodes when they are fully aware that they can't defeat the Autorangers, even with massed wave attacks.

- Super Wheel Soldier Force Darkranger: Five Wheel Soldiers transformed by Dread Emperor Delta into twisted copies of the Autorangers. They appear near the end of the series, after Special Combat Group Zegitar's final defeat, but are foreshadowed far earlier in the series, when Dread Emperor Delta is seen assembling parts of Darkranger Red (in shadow).

Cast

- Victor Caroli: Narrator
- Sideswipe: Speedgunner/Darkranger Red
- Nightstick: Ironfist/Darkranger Blue
- Bombard: Launchcode/Darkranger Green
- Rockrunner: Lasershot/Darkranger Yellow
- Arcee: Drifta/Darkranger Pink
- Wheeljack: Autoranger Shadow
- Victoria Chu: Jenny Tseng
- Takeshi Kaga: Dread Emperor Zegron Delta
- Reg Varendi: Zegitar One
- Esther Timm: Zegitar Two
- Grosvenor Tate: Zegitar Three
- Varrin Satori: Zegitar Four
- Sunda Tavar: Zegitar Five
- Vector Sigma: Voice of Vector Sigma

Trivia

- Produced by the Autobots Wheeljack and Ratchet, who became huge fans of Toei's Super Sentai shows after an all-nighter watching Kagaku Sentai Dynaman on Teletran 1's worldwide video feed shortly after the Autobots' revival on Earth in 1894. (Original research?)

- Online rumors circulated that Toei staff were angry at the use of so many distinctive Super Sentai signature elements. The company put those rumors to rest by teaming up with Wheelrat Productions to produce the 2408 theatrical film Cho Robot Sentai Autoranger vs. Super Sentai and its 2409 sequel, Autoranger & Jetman: Battle for Dimension X.

- A third Autoranger movie, tentatively titled Autoranger Victory, is in production now. (Citation needed)

- The five actors who play the Autorangers are all active-duty Autobots. They sometimes use the catchphrases and moves from the television show in actual battle. (Citation needed)

External links

- Wheelrat Productions official site
- Autoranger, GO!: An Autoranger Fan Site