Great Mazinger (TV Mecha)

Great Mazinger (グレートマジンガー Gurēto Majingā) is the successor to Mazinger Z and titular robot of the Great Mazinger anime and manga. He was created by the thought to be deceased Dr. Kenzo Kabuto alongside Venus A. Tetsuya Tsurugi is Great's main pilot, but both Kenzo and Koji Kabuto have piloted him once each.

Appearance
Great Mazinger largely resembles his predecessor, but has a few minor differences besides larger height and weight. Compared to Mazinger Z, Great has a higher crown, horns pointed upwards, a V-shaped heat sink and has pointed fins on his appendages. He features a built-in retractable red Scrander called the Scramble Dash on his back.

History
Being aware of the looming threat presented by the Mycenae Empire, Dr. Kenzo Kabuto improved upon his father's design to build robot capable of protecting humanity from the Warrior Beasts. Great Mazinger was built using a stronger version of Super Alloy Z dubbed Super Alloy New Z. To pilot his creation and its partner, Kenzo took in two orphans - Tetsuya Tsurugi and Jun Hono - and proceeded to train them to use his robots to their utmost potential.

Mazinger Z
Years later, when the Mycenae Empire finally attacked, Tetsuya sortied in Great Mazinger for the first time in order to save the Photon Power Laboratory from the Warrior Beasts that had already defeated Mazinger Z and Diana A. After making short work of Pilanias and Gratonios, Tetsuya took Koji to the Science Fortress Laboratory for treatment. With their robots badly damage, Koji and Sayaka were sent to America to further their studies leaving Japan's safety in Tetsuya and Jun's hands.

Great Mazinger
Alongside Jun, Boss and their respective robots, Tetsuya used Great's power to defeat several of the Myceanae Empire's Warrior Beasts. Eventually, this led to a final confrontation against the Great General of Darkness himself. Great Mazinger emerged victorious, but the war was far from over.

The Great General of Darkness was succeded by a revived Dr. Hell now known as The Great Marshall of Hell. By attacking two cities at times in order to lure the Great and Venus far away from each other, Hell attacked and decimated the now unguarded Science Fortress Laboratory and nearly destroyed it. Just in time, a repaired and upgraded Mazinger Z arrived piloted by a returned Koji Kabuto, who is able to protect the Science Fortress long enough for the Great to come back.

The Great Marshall attacked again on two fronts, this time also targeting the Photon Power Laboratory. During the battle, Great Mazinger suffered serious damage and Tetsuya was injured. Kenzo ended up having to sacrifice himself to cripple the enemy flying fortress, Demonika. After Great Mazinger, Venus A, Mazinger Z and Diana A join forces, they launch a final assault against the Mycenaens finishing off Demonika, Hell and the Mycenaen officers.

Mazinger Z: Infinity
Ten years later, Great Mazinger is still active fighting as an asset for the military. As such, they are sent to stop Baron Ashura when he attacks a power plant in Texas with an army of Mechanical Beasts. Great Mazinger and Tetsuya are captured after being denied acess to the Great Booster by their superiors. Great Mazinger is taken to Infinity and is made to function as the control mechanism for it until being rescued by Shiro Kabuto in his Ichinana. After briefly joining Koji Kabuto and Mazinger Z in their fight against The Great Marshall of Hell, Great joins the rest of the world in giving away his Photonic Energy to empower Mazinger Z helping him defeat Infinity.

OVAs
Great Mazinger appears in Mazinger Z vs Great General of Darkness, Great Mazinger vs. Getter Robo, Great Mazinger vs. Getter Robo G: Kuchu Daigekitotsu, UFO Robot Grendizer vs. Great Mazinger and Grendizer, Getter Robo G, Great Mazinger: Kessen! Daikaiju usually serving as Tetsuya's machine.

UFO Robot Grendizer vs. Great Mazinger is the major exception. In the OVA's continuity, Great Mazinger was stored alongside Mazinger Z in the robot history museum after the battle against the Mycenae Empire. Great gets stolen by Barendos who uses him to fight against Grendizer. Duke Fleed manages to temporarily disable the robot giving Koji the opportunity to board Great. The two of them then proceed to defeat Barendos together.

Brain Condor
5 meters (16 feet) Mach 1 (1200 km/h or 750 mph) 8 kilometers (4.9 miles) Photonic Energy Super Alloy New Z. Lasers, Missiles An aircraft that functions as the control center for the Great Mazinger. It emerges from an underwater launch bay and connects to the head of the Great Mazinger.
 * Length
 * Maximum Speed
 * Maximum Dive Depth
 * Power Source 
 * Armor Materials
 * Weapons

Great Booster
28 meters (91 feet) 1.8 tons Mach 4 (4939 km/h or 3044 mph) 50 kilometers Lasers, Bladed Wings An airplane-like scrander that functions like the Mazinger Z's Jet Scrander and launched from the Science Fortress Laboratory. When combined with the Great Mazinger, the Great Booster greatly improves the robot flight capabilities (even though the Great could already fly through its built-in Scrander) and can be shot at the enemies with powerful force, usually destroying them at impact.
 * Wingspan
 * Weight
 * Maximum Speed
 * Ceiling
 * Weapons

Missiles
Like the Mazinger Z, the Great held a great assortment of Missiles most of them located in the naval area.

Weapons and Attacks
Great Mazinger also possesses a Rocket Punch-like attack, though its fists spin while in flight, giving them extra force. Just like Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger mounts a missile launcher in its stomach. It is like the Atomic Punch, except that the forearms sprout drill-like blades that add to the damage as well as the speed of rotation. Great Mazinger can take the heat sink fin off of its chest and throw it as a giant boomerang. Just like Mazinger Z's Scrander Cutter, Great Mazinger slashes the enemy with the Scrander's wings while flying at high speeds. Just like Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger uses turbines to generate powerful wind attacks. However, Great Mazinger's attack is simply a wind-based attack, lacking the corrosive properties of Mazinger's attack. Great Mazinger can sprout a spike from its knee, making its kick attacks more lethal. Great Mazinger can also sprout a curved blade on the front of its leg for stronger kicks. The flanged compartments on Great Mazinger's legs hold a pair of swords. Tetsuya typically uses the Blades for melee combat, but on several occasions he threw them at the enemy. Like Mazinger Z, the fin on Great Mazinger's chest doubles as a heat sink and a weapon, unleashing incredible thermal energy. Great Mazinger can release energy into the atmosphere, stimulating the process that creates natural lightning. Great Mazinger then calls the lightning down onto the antennae on its head and redirects the energy towards an enemy. A one-time attack where Tetsuya channeled the lightning from the Thunder Break through one of his Mazinger Blades. Similar to Thunder Break but Great Mazinger uses both hands to redirect the lightning. Basically a powered-up Breast Burn, almost akin to the Kaiser Nova of Mazinkaiser but with detrimental effects to Great Mazinger. Used in the manga to destroy Gilgilgan from within. A function utilized to power up Great. Tetsuya uses it to increase Mazinger's physical strength and break free from restraints.
 * Atomic Punch
 * Navel Missile
 * Drill Pressure Punch
 * Great Boomerang
 * Scramble Cutter
 * Great Typhoon
 * Knee Impulse Kick
 * Backspin Kick
 * Mazinger Blade
 * Photon Beam (Devilman vs Hades Only)
 * Breast Burn
 * Thunder Break
 * Thunder Blade
 * Double Thunder Break
 * Breast Burn Special
 * Mazin Power

Foreign names

 * American: Great Mazinga/Mazinga, (Shogun Warriors merchandise and toys); Tranzor Z (Tranzor Z adaptation) Mazinga-Z '' (European Shogun Warriors release)
 * Chinese: Great Demon God King Kong (金剛大魔神, Taiwan TV Broadcast), Ironclad Magnum 2 (鐵甲萬能俠2號, Hong Kong TV Broadcast)
 * French: Mazinger (Grendizer compilation movie dub)
 * Spanish: Gran Mazinger (TV series, broadcast), Mazinger Z (Latin Spanish dubs of Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo and Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo G), Super Mazinger Z (1979 Spanish Compilation film).
 * Italian: Il Grande Mazinger (TV series, broadcast, DVD release) Il Grande Mazinga (Gosaku Ota manga, 1979 version) Gran Mazinga (Emilian-Romagnolo version, TV Broadcast)

Trivia

 * An early concept version of Great Mazinger was also called God Mazinger, and featured a drastically different color scheme.


 * In several different dubs of the show and its Crossover movie's and some early international merchandise, Great Mazinger and Mazinger Z are treated as one and the same mecha in spite of their different appearances.
 * In UFO Robot Grendizer vs. Great Mazinger, Great Mazinger is shown to have a weak spot. He temporarily shuts down whenever stuck in the center of the Scramble Dash. After being told about this by Koji, Duke explores this weakness to defeat Barendos who was controlling the robot at the time. As the movie isn't canon, it is unlikely that the TV version shares the same vulnerability.