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This is a list of fictional characters from the TV series VR Troopers .
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This is a list of fictional characters from the TV series VR Troopers .
Ryan Steele / VR Ryan (portrayed by Brad Hawkins) is the son of Tyler Steele and leader of the VR Troopers . Ryan learns the nature of his father's mysterious disappearance when he, Kaitlin Star and J.B. Reese are all recruited by Professor Hart to become V.R. Troopers. Ryan's responsibilities sometimes take a backseat to an obsession with finding his father. Ryan is the principal character of the series, directly linked through blood to the unfolding agenda of Grimlord...who uses Tyler in areas to increase his evil hold on virtual reality, and to continue his war against the Troopers to conquer their (read: our) universe. Every episode begins and ends with Ryan reflecting on his father's teachings at a Buddhist Temple where Tyler trained young Ryan in martial arts and in other lessons in life. Ryan's obsessive quest to locate his dad is mellowed by a desire not to see his friends, or their world, suffer. Ryan remains hopeful of ultimately reuniting with Tyler.
Such indeed occurred in the series' first season, but only briefly. Ryan discovered that Dark Heart, one of Grimlord's deadliest cyborg-warriors, was actually Tyler, whose mind had been wiped. Ryan freed his father (who became human again), but Tyler was recaptured by Grimlord.
Ryan's virtual reality Lightning Hand Command (his patented finisher), and Internal Gyro Command. His VR vehicles-arsenal includes a "Turbo Cycle". Whenever a "Battle Grid" emergency arises, Ryan and his fellow Troopers employ alternate costumes to fight invading Skugs. His signature color is blue.
Despite being a team player, Ryan typically fights his VR battles alone; due to the differing Japanese series used to create V.R. Troopers, Ryan's Japanese counterpart was only one warrior against a mutant army. In the "linking" U.S. footage, Ryan's joint battles (alongside his fellow Troopers) are limited to the Battle Grid and the Skybase cockpit. As footage of one loner Metal Hero series, Choujinki Metalder ran out, Saban replaced it with another: Uchuu Keiji Shaider .
In the five-part story "Quest For Power", Ryan's powers are depleted after rescuing his father and the other two Troopers from Grimlord's cavernous dungeon in reality. Ryan is then given new armor, powers, vehicles (including the Drill Tank, Blue Hawk, and Nitro Cycle) and weapons (including a laser pistol and his new finisher, the Laser Saber; which, like J.B's Laser Lance, only functioned as a regular sword in combat). He would also use a Shoulder Cannon similar to J.B's Technobazooka (always used on Grimlord's air forces, never on any monsters). After Ryan’s father rebuilt the V.R. Skybase (it had been destroyed by Grimlords new fighter in, “Quest for Power: part 4), he gave Ryan a command phrase that could make the Skybase transform into the V.R. Troopertron. His reunion with Tyler would be brief, as Tyler branched out globally to find a way of destroying Grimlord. Ryan was charged with "holding the fort" until his father returned, which happened in the Christmas episode "Santa's Secret Trooper".
As the leader of the VR Troopers, Ryan was the only character to have two different uniforms since there was not enough stock footage of his Red/Blue uniform for the second season.
Ryan's mother was never seen throughout the series' run; since neither Ryan nor his father even mentioned her, it can be presumed that either Ryan's mother and Tyler are either not married, divorced, or she died sometime during his early childhood.
J.B. Reese / VR J.B. (portrayed by Michael Calvin Hollander credited as Michael Bacon) is a computer genius and a martial arts-black belt. J.B. is obsessed with technology and constantly relies on it for solutions. But his ongoing experience as a VR Trooper has taught him to appreciate life outside such conveniences. J.B. is quite capable of holding his own in battle, armed with a laser gun and a Laser Lance; he often uses the latter as a finishing maneuver against Grimlord's monsters and robots, but only uses it as a regular sword in combat known as the Super Saber. Once he forms the Laser Lance by extending a second blade on his Super Saber, he usually impales a mutant, who then (A) surrenders; (B) has "heartburn"; or (C) is unaffected (only Mechanoid, Photobot, Fanbot, and Electrobot are immune to the Laser Lance impalement and only Fanbot was immune to it altogether), typically the mutant surrenders.
If the mutant does surrender, J.B. destroys it anyway via rapid and repeated slashes; the mutant overheats, falls over and explodes. Also in J.B's arsenal is the VR Techno-Bazooka (basically a double-barrel cannon); J.B. projects a giant virtual image of himself to pull the trigger. The VR Techno-Bazooka is always used on Grimlord's air forces, never on any monsters. When the battle grows too dangerous for reality, J.B. activates a Vortex Command (via a button on his waist) to transport himself and the enemy into virtual reality. He also uses the VR Skybase (which can transform into Troopertron, a giant robot, despite the fact that the Metal Hero footage for J.B. had his counterpart giving the command, it was given to Ryan), and battle cruiser, when needed; his vehicles-arsenal also includes a VR Fighter bike (also known as the Sky cycle). His signature color is black.
Throughout the series' run, it was never explained what J.B's initials stood for. Also, while his father was seen in a few episodes, J.B's mother was never seen or mentioned at all.
Kaitlin Star / VR Kaitlin (portrayed by Sarah Brown) is a reporter and photographer for a newspaper called Underground Voice Daily. When she wasn't saving the world as a heroine, she was saving it through her journalism and photography. As a Trooper, Kaitlin didn't have as many personal weapons and attacks. She carried around a hand pistol, occasionally a hatchet weapon, and later gained the ability to split into two dubbed "VR Kaitlin Double Team". She mainly fought alongside J.B. and often served as backup for both male troopers via the VR Skybase and the VR Battle Cruiser. Kaitlin, on two events, demonstrated the ability to heal a fellow trooper by transferring some of her power to re-energize the other Trooper. Although Kaitlin never finished off a mutant herself, she and J.B. would often combine their laser pistol blasts in a "VR Double Team", usually stunning and weakening a mutant, with a few exceptions. This is not to be confused with the "VR Kaitlin Double Team", where she summons an exact duplicate of herself to assist her in battle (the reason for this is because her counterparts are actually two people from Spielban). She drives a Mazda Familia Hatchback, which was modified by Prof. Hart to fly and thus making travel and rescue operations faster. Also to note unlike Ryan and J.B., Kaitlin's parents were never mentioned or seen in the series. Her signature color is red. In the VR Troopers pilot, instead of Star, Kaitlin's last name was Hall.
Jeb (portrayed by Zeb, voiced by Kerrigan Mahan impersonating Jack Nicholson) is Ryan's pet Redbone Coonhound, whom he had since he was young. Jeb was accidentally subjected to a power surge in part two of "The Battle Begins" that gave him the ability to speak. Ryan had him promise that he would never speak when around other people, so Jeb is usually silent except while in the lab or when making a snide comment to Percy (who usually thinks it's Ryan who said it). Jeb is known for both his mischievous personality and his humorous demeanor. Often, Jeb serves as comic relief, and both Percy and Mrs. Rooney are frequent victims to his antics. Jeb was based on Metalder's talking cyborg Doberman, Springer. Jeb had to fight as a Trooper once when he and Ryan accidentally switched bodies. He also has a voracious appetite eating any food lying around, including food from Ryan and the other Troopers. However, Jeb does serve as a valuable assistant to the Troopers, even demonstrating some technological abilities and problem-solving skills, filling the role for the Troopers that Alpha 5 (and later 6) did for the Power Rangers.
Professor Horatio Hart (portrayed by Julian Combs) is the mentor and serves a Zordon-like role. He was a computerized being who would provide and construct the necessary arsenal and equipment that the Troopers would use throughout the series. Hart was once a flesh and blood human who worked with Tyler Steele on the VR Trooper project. But one day, he was mortally injured by Grimlord; to keep Hart alive, Tyler virtualized his brain. In his most notable role in the episode "Good Trooper, Bad Trooper", he gave Ryan his own Virtualizer to allow Ryan to battle his evil clone after the clone stole the real Ryan's Virtualizer and took control of the Skybase. In early pilot footage for the show (as seen in a VR Troopers promo featured on the Power Rangers Official Fan Club video), Hart was originally portrayed by a Caucasian male slightly resembling Albert Einstein.
The VR Troopers fight the forces of Grimlord and his minions to keep their armies from invading the Earth reality:
Grimlord (portrayed by Gardner Baldwin) was the true alien alter ego form of billionaire Karl Ziktor, the owner of Ziktor Industries and the primary enemy of the VR Troopers television series. Many years ago, Grimlord 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's and Hart's experiments 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 and cyborgs as authority figures themselves including General Ivar and Colonel Icebot. In perhaps the greatest irony, Grimlord transformed Tyler into Dark Heart, yet Dark Heart turned traitor after Ryan freed him from execution. When Ryan and Dark Heart confronted Grimlord, he ended up escaping after setting the Virtual Dungeon to self-destruct. When Dark Heart regressed back to Tyler Steele, Grimlord abducted Tyler with his magic as he still needed Tyler for his next plot.
Grimlord, like the Troopers, had 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!" As the blinds behind him close (showing the Cross World City skyline, which was really a mural of such), the orb sends a current of energy into his body changing his physical appearance. Upon transformation, he is taken to the throne room of his command center.
Like most heartless supervillains, Grimlord cared very little for his army and henchmen. Grimlord would generally lose his patience with them quite easily when they report a complication or failure. His constant defeats by the Troopers causes a frequent irradiation in enraged eyes and 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 former's final destruction). In the second season, Grimlord attempted to trap Ryan in another dimension just to prevent the Troopers from learning his name in reality. In fact, no one, not even the Troopers or Professor Hart, knew that Grimlord and Karl Ziktor were one and the same.
In the second season, Grimlord underwent a drastic change in appearance and format after self-destructing the Virtual Dungeon for a second time. 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 (which was destroyed by his women) 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 had an appearance that slightly resembled his old appearance with a cape and this form also included having a long tail. He was no longer confined to sitting on a throne and also had the ability to teleport to different places at will.
General Ivar (voiced by Mike Reynolds) is not only a robot that can transform into a rocket, but also a military strategist and chief commander of much of Grimlord's outer aerial and ground forces. Ivar occasionally battles the Troopers in various vehicles, but seldom fights one on one. In one episode, Ivar had plotted mutiny with the aid of a stolen military brain. His mutiny resulted in what appeared to be his ultimate destruction at the hands of JB. However, Grimlord still thought that Ivar was valuable, so Grimlord's forces retrieved Ivar's remains and rebuilt him. General Ivar (along with Colonel Icebot, Fighterbot, and Air Stryker) is one of the few survivors of the Virtual Dungeon's destruction and remains with Grimlord after he upgrades to the Virtual Dark Fortress.
Colonel Icebot (voiced by Richard Epcar) is much more reserved than Ivar. He rarely fights at all, and serves as Grimlord's chief science officer as well as commander and developer of many aerial assault vehicles and inventions. In his only battle, Colonel Icebot gained the ability to change into a monster to battle JB and Kaitlin. Following the Virtual Dungeon's destruction, Colonel Icebot serves Grimlord in Season Two in the same capacity as before. Colonel Icebot has no ice attacks or abilities.
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