Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann/Characters/Mecha

This page is devoted to the various Mecha in Gurren Lagann

For the Main characters, go to the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann page. For the antagonists, go to the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann page.

Lagann

 * Combining Mecha: With anything.
 * Empathic Weapon: Reacts to Spiral Power, and particularly Simon's spiral power.
 * Fastball Special: Lagann has been both the ball and the pitcher.
 * Gundamjack: Lagann's primary purpose.
 * Mini Mecha: Its tiny compared to others.
 * No Conservation of Energy: Grows as many drills as Simon needs, out of nowhere.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill
 * This Is a Drill
 * You Will Be Assimilated: A rare heroic example; it grabs enemy mecha and absorbs every part of them into itself.

Gurren

 * Ace Custom: Subverted; it's essentially just a cool-looking mecha without Lagann.
 * Badass Normal: Still powerful without special features.
 * BFS: Originally wielded a pair of these, but after Kamina captured it, he had them melted down into its signature Cool Shades.
 * Combining Mecha: With Lagann.
 * Cool Shades: Modeled after Kamina's own.
 * Gundamjack: While the majority of the hero-controlled gunmen in the show are implied to have been aquired in the same fashion, this one stands out on the grounds that this was the one that inspired the rest.
 * Fastball Special
 * Humongous Mecha
 * It survived the ordeal well enough to still be usable afterwards.
 * Improbable Weapon User: Uses its Cool Shades either as a sword or a boomerang.
 * Out of Focus: After, the Gurren doesn't get any more solo action scenes, serving as little more than an extension for Lagann. The only time it actually moved without Lagann was . It has the saddest justification:
 * Out of Focus: After, the Gurren doesn't get any more solo action scenes, serving as little more than an extension for Lagann. The only time it actually moved without Lagann was . It has the saddest justification:

Gurren-Lagann
The protagonist's main mecha, and the titular mecha in the dub. Formed from Gurren and Lagann, hence the name.
 * Combining Mecha: With Arc-Gurren. Then with Cathedral Terra. Then with
 * Cool Shades
 * Fastball Special: Involves Gurren's pilot ripping the mecha's head off.
 * Fangs Are Evil: On Gurren: Averted.
 * Finishing Move! GIGA! DRILL! BREAK!
 * Humongous Mecha: You standard issue version.
 * Incendiary Exponent: In Episode 7, the Man On Fire Blazing Chariot Kick.
 * Made of Iron: In episode 7, when the much larger Dai-Gunzan attempts to rip apart the Gurren Lagann, the Gurren Lagann's joints manage to hold off for more than 20 seconds before being saved by Dayakka's cannon.
 * Mid-Season Upgrade:
 * No Conservation of Energy: Drills out of every orifice.
 * Precision Guided Boomerang: The Cool Shades can be used as one.
 * This Is a Drill: You couldn't get any more literal: it's a walking drill warrior!
 * Title Drop: English dub only. The name isn't used in the Japanese dub.

Arc Gurren-Lagann
A combination between Gurren-Lagann and the Arc Lordgenome left for humanity to enter space with. Of the Gurren-Lagann forms, this one shows up the least, but it is notable for winning one of the first unambiguous victories against the Anti-Spirals.
 * Combining Mecha: Gurren-Lagann and a Cool Starship...and they're not done yet.
 * Cool Shades: Subverted; this is the only form that does not have any cool shades.
 * Finishing Move: "Burst...SPINNING...PUNCH!"
 * Humongous Mecha: Comparatively tiny compared to some of the future mechs, but towers over other "Space Gunmen." And houses a colony fit for hundreds of thousands of people!
 * Megaton Punch: Rather than pulling off a Giga Drill Breaker in its initial battle, it finishes off an Anti-Spiral battleship by punching it so hard it breaks out of space-time before it explodes.
 * Serial Escalation: A bigger version of Gurren-Lagann.

Super Galaxy Gurren-Lagann
"Our friends' hopes and dreams are etched into its body, transforming the infinite darkness into light! Unmatched in Heaven, and Earth; one machine, equal to the gods! Super Galaxy GURREN LAGANN! ... We're gonna show you the power... of the human race."

The combination of Arc Gurren-Lagann with the Cathedral Terra/Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren.
 * Combining Mecha: Well, duh!
 * Cool Shades: Two massive pairs of star-shaped shades. Generated after Cathedral Gurren-Lagann is upgraded into Super Galaxy Gurren Lagann.
 * Humongous Mecha: Practically the size of the moon, and can handle the impact of planets.
 * More Dakka: Its Maelstrom Cannon could best be classified as an anti-universe gun, able to hit targets that were hiding in space-time itself. It's as close as anyone's likely to get to "enough dakka."
 * Serial Escalation: A much, much bigger version of Arc Gurren.
 * Shout Out: The way it's introduced is practically identical to how the Gun Buster was first launched: slowly rising up in the Gainax Pose. There are many similarities in their overall shape as well.
 * Showy Invincible Hero: Counts as this in its own right, since its entire introduction is a massive Curb Stomp Battle against the previously devastating Anti-Spiral defense force. Even RealityWarpers couldn't stand up to its power.
 * That's No Moon: The Cathedral Terra was disguised as the Earth's moon.
 * This Is a Drill: Combines the two enormous drills on its shoulders for an epic Giga Drill Breaker, but also can turn its fingers into drills.
 * Even its drills had drills!
 * The Worf Effect:

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
"Don't underestimate us. We don't care about time, or space or... multi-dimensional whatevers! We don't give a damn about that. Force your way down a path YOU choose to take, and do it all yourself! That's the way Team Dai-Gurren rolls! Even when trapped by karma's cycle, the dreams we left behind will open the door! Even if the universe stands in our way, our seething blood will determine what will be! We'll break through time and space and defy all who would stop us to grab hold of our path! TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?"

The titular mecha, formed for the final battle and piloted by the entirety of Team Dai-Gurren. Galaxies whimper before it in terms of comparative size.
 * All Your Powers Combined: In addition to being piloted by everyone left standing, it can manifest weapons like Viral's swords and Yoko's rifle to attack with.
 * Combining Mecha: Averted. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann breaks the pattern of mecha-piloting-mecha-piloting mecha; instead, it's a manifestation of everyone's Heroic Willpower in the Super-Spiral universe. (It does contain the other Gurren Laganns, but they aren't combined with anything but more power.)
 * Cool Shades: This time, they aren't used as weapons, though.
 * Dual-Wielding: You know what's better than a Giga Drill Breaker? Two of them.
 * Humongous Mecha: Ten million light years in height.
 * Hyperspace Arsenal: Literally able to manifest anything its pilots need it to.
 * Incendiary Exponent: Wreathed in green flames of pure Spiral power. It's practically the Dai-Gurren insignia come to life!
 * Mirror Match: To avoid such an obscenely powerful mecha completely destroying any drama when it appeared, it was matched against an equally powerful Evil Knockoff for its first and only fight.
 * Reality Warper: At this point, the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann can do basically anything as long as its pilots feed it willpower.
 * Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Nobody even bothers trying to make sense of how the human sized protagonists are doing battle with a robot a hundred times the size of the Milky Way. Physics, fortunately, packed its bags and left long ago.
 * Justified, however, since it's happening in a pocket universe where thought is given form. Not to mention Spiral Power breaks the laws of physics anyway.
 * Serial Escalation: Still bigger, and this is where it gets ridiculous.
 * The Worf Effect:
 * This Is a Drill: Quite a few of them. All of them bigger than the average galaxy.
 * Title Drop
 * Title Drop

Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
The strongest final form of Gurren-Lagann, appearing only in The Movie.
 * A God Am I: Not so much a giant robot as it is a god being piloted by one in turn piloted one called equal to the god!
 * Not to mention it was created by a Big Bang.
 * Apocalypse How: Class X-4- just clashing drills with its Evil Knockoff destroyed the universe they were fighting in.
 * Badass Cape: Tossed aside as it uses its Giga Drill Breaker... if you can pull off a cape made of pure cosmic energy.
 * Caped Mecha: One wonders how many galaxies you could fit inside that gargantuan thing!
 * Combining Mecha
 * Cool Shades: Has a pair THE SIZE OF A BILLION NEBULAS.
 * Energy Being
 * Expy: Of Kamina.
 * Humongous Mecha: Exaggerated. It is 1.8% the size of the observable universe, or to put this in simpler terms: really, really, really, really flipping big.
 * Most of it's head is ten million light years in length.
 * Meta Mecha: A robot the size of a universe piloted by one the size of a galaxy piloted by one the size of the moon piloted by one the size of a small country piloted by one the size of a battleship piloted by one the size of a building piloted by one the size of a VW Bug!
 * Reincarnation: Of.
 * Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Again, the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann formed the head. And not even all of its head.
 * Serial Escalation: The obscenely big and powerful Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann above? That forms this one's face.
 * The Worf Effect:
 * This troper believes it was more along the lines of
 * Actually, this seem to represent that size does not matter... It is the will to keep going forward, mile by mile, meter by meter, inch by inch, the determination... something that the Anti-Spiral King cannot understand and caused him to fail.
 * This Is a Drill: A drill large enough that a pocket universe can't withstand its power.
 * Up to Eleven: NO! Up to a GOOGOLPLEX!!!!

King Kittan
Kittan's personal Gunmen, acting as field deputy and squad commander for Team Dai-Gurren. As shown in Kittan Zero, it's revealed that he gained it from a victorious battle against the Beastmen. King Kittan is a star-shaped mecha with thin, pointed limbs that transform into lances, triangular horns doubling as pincers, two large eyes with red pupils, and a very jagged, toothy mouth affixed into a Joker-esque sneer. It used to be a red-colored, custom-model Gunmen piloted by a pig Beastman, but Kittan got the wild idea to hijack it with his bare hands, beating the pilot senseless and fighting a lion Beastman for control over the mecha- and won. The moment he leapt in the cockpit, his immense fighting spirit generated enough Spiral Power to alter the Gunmen into the form seen in the series. Much like Lagann and Gurren, King Kittan has its own combining ability, King Kittan Deluxe, though more of an equipping variety: it can pair up with the Kiyalunga, Kiyal's Gunmen, and use it as a lance and smiley-faced shield.
 * Ace Custom: One-of-a-kind Gunmen designed specifically for full-range combat.
 * Attack Pattern Alpha: Forms King Kittan Deluxe with Kiyalunga and rides the Dayyakaiser into battle.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower
 * Combining Mecha: With Kiyal's Kiyalunga to form King Kittan Deluxe. Only shown once due to Kiyal's aversion toward battle, but
 * Double Weapon: Uses a two-sided lance in tandem with a shield when Kiyalunga forms its battle gear.
 * Dual-Wielding: King Kittan's arms can be turned into twin battle lances.
 * Large Ham: Effectively a megaphone for Kittan's boisterous attitude.
 * Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Kiyalunga becomes a bulletproof shield for King Kittan: with a smiley face, no less!
 * Heel Face Turn: Technically switched sides when Kittan took control over it, complete with metamorphosis from "bad guy mech" into "good guy mech."
 * Made of Iron: Withstood
 * Hyperspace Arsenal: Apparently totes several unseen gun turrets on its body, shown in sphere form in Kittan Zero.
 * Mid-Season Upgrade:
 * More Dakka: Used an arsenal of guns in Kittan Zero.
 * More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: Actually, it's a tooth-shaped hatch, but it has the shape of a cocky sneer, well-fitting to Kittan's personality.
 * The Power of the Sun:
 * Slice and Dice Swordsmanship
 * Super Strength: Ferociously powerful, and somehow managed to
 * Transforming Mecha: Demonstrated the ability to transform from a rocket-propelled sphere into Gunmen form in Kittan Zero. This is never demonstrated again after Kittan takes control of it.
 * Weapon of Choice:
 * Jousting Lance: Uses a short, double-edge lance as King Kittan Deluxe and later,
 * Wrecked Weapon: Inverted:
 * Transforming Mecha: Demonstrated the ability to transform from a rocket-propelled sphere into Gunmen form in Kittan Zero. This is never demonstrated again after Kittan takes control of it.
 * Weapon of Choice:
 * Jousting Lance: Uses a short, double-edge lance as King Kittan Deluxe and later,
 * Wrecked Weapon: Inverted:

Enki
Viral's Gunmen throughout the first arc. It has three forms, each with a unique feature that the others lack. It sports a variety of weapons such as missles, gunmen-scaled swords, barriers, axes, and particle beams, and is also skilled at hand-to-hand combat.
 * BFG: Enki's particle beam.
 * BFS: Enki's swords,, and
 * Can't Catch Up: A formidable enemy when its introduced but becomes less so as the episodes pass.
 * Cool Helmet:
 * Dual-Wielding: Swords.
 * Humongous Mecha
 * Hyperspace Arsenal:
 * Meaningful Name: Each time Viral gets a new mech (They are all just slightly stronger versions of the original), another du is added at the end.
 * Enkidu was a 1/3 man, 2/3 beast from The Epic of Gilgamesh, who was created by the god Enki to defeat Gilgamesh but ending up becoming his best friend and fighting alongside him.
 * Meteor Move:
 * Multi-Armed and Dangerous:
 * Nice Hat: Enki's head-like helmet, which doubles as a BFG.
 * Throwing Your Axe Always Works: Subverted. It doesn't work at all.
 * The Worf Effect: After Simon snaps out of his Heroic Blue Screen of Death,
 * The Worf Effect: After Simon snaps out of his Heroic Blue Screen of Death,

Dai-Gunzan/
Thymilph's gigantic flagship. Essentialy a massive Gunmen with a battleship for a lower torso, loaded with extreme degress of firepower, immensly strong arms that can peel apart victimized Gunmen- or chuck them miles away, and a detchable knife anchor prow. However... some people might think the ship's torso has a more phallic meaning. Kamina was so stunned at Dai-Gunzan's might he decided


 * Ace Custom: A glorified version of a mass-produced warship in the Beastman army, as evidence by Parallel Works 8 and.
 * BFS: The knife anchor prow- effectively a mountain-sized battering ram. Even more devastating when.
 * BFG: Loaded with loads of cannons!!
 * Combining Mecha: Implied to do so with the other generals' ships.
 * Conspicuous CG: At least one brief instance pops up in Episode 8 when its arms are slyly replaced with 3D models.
 * Emerging From the Shadows: In Episode 7, as daylight begins to put it into full view.
 * Fastball Special: You know Gurren's varation of it with Lagann? This one is takenUpToEleven- it flings  and other mecha far away into the skyline to fight enemies.
 * Gag Penis: The battleship body just had to be where its crotch is. Leeron even seems turned on by it.
 * Made even worse by the fact that when it, there's a big, naked pelvis where they used to be. So in a sense... it's been emasculated!
 * Groin Attack: Episode 12 has a scene where a hole punctures the underbelly of the ship right where the you-know-whats would be and creates an increase in pressure. Every male member of the crew aside from Leeron grabs their groin in agony. Sight gag, indeed.
 * Humongous Mecha: Daunting in size compared to all other previous Gunmen seen up until its debut. And then we get to see it's not the biggest dog in the pound...
 * Incendiary Exponent: Firey cannons of death all around!
 * Informed Ability:
 * Mid-Season Upgrade: First
 * More Dakka: Overflowing with artillery cannons and loads of other weaponry all over.
 * Super Toughness A frontrunner of it, but arguably, its Crowning Moment of Awesome is
 * This Is a Drill: [SubvertedTrope: Subverted]: It's one of the few especially strong Gunmen that doesn't use a drill. However, it's mass-produced counterparts are equipped with drills in Parallel Works 8.
 * This Is a Drill: [SubvertedTrope: Subverted]: It's one of the few especially strong Gunmen that doesn't use a drill. However, it's mass-produced counterparts are equipped with drills in Parallel Works 8.

Dekabutsu

 * Evil Tower of Ominousness: Serves as one up until.
 * Humongous Mecha:

Lazengann
Lordgenome's personal mecha, Lazengann is the equivalent of Gurren Lagann- a small Gunmen united with a larger body, similar drill-based powers, and equally destructive. It was able to overpower Gurren Lagann with only a shredded hand to show for it. It fights using hand to hand combat, as well as an truckload of drill tendrils from dozens of ports that cover its body, and is capable of flight with no added jetpack.


 * An Arm and A Leg: Loses both of its arms in episode 15. The forearm of one is destroyed by a surprise drill attack by Gurren Lagann after it gets up with Heroic Resolve.
 * Badass Arm Fold: Lordgenome is fond of this pose, so he has Lazengann do it whenever it's not fighting.
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Despite being, it is of a much simpler design. It mainly uses its obscene strength and speed to fight, with its Combat Tentacles used as long range weapon, or to shred opponents with a surprise attack.
 * Combat Tentacles: More like Combat Drill Tendrils, but they still count.
 * Combining Mecha: It is a Gurren Lagann type, meaning it was formed from the same kind of combination that created Gurren Lagann.
 * Evil Counterpart: To Gurren Lagann.
 * Expressive Mask: Probably the only Gunman to avert this.
 * Expy: Of Unit 01.
 * Humongous Mecha
 * Limit Break: Two.
 * Prehensile Tail
 * Punny Name: Lazengann means "spiral face" (an intentional parallel to Gurren Lagann, whose name means "crimson face"). However, it sounds near-identical to rasengan (yeah, that one), the word for "whirlwind" or "swirl".
 * This Is a Drill: The only example in the show - and probably the only example in anime - to use the "realistic drill bit" kind.
 * Except for
 * Except for

Granzeboma
The Anti-Spiral's Evil Knockoff of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, this is the final and most powerful weapon Team Dai-Gurren faces. It resembles a ghastly cosmic grim reaper. Granzeboma utilizes galaxies as casual weaponry, and even triggers a big bang as its finishing attack.


 * Apocalypse How: EVERY ATTACK IT CAN MUSTER. It hijacks the galaxies themselves as weapons and can even mash them together to make a new universe with a big bang.
 * Combat Tentacles: Double as swords. Uses several to pin down every single Gurren Lagann mech after Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann dissipates, but fails to stop Lagann itself.
 * Dem Bones: A hulking demonic skeletal form.
 * Evil Counterpart: Anti-Spiral's polar opposite to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
 * Evil Knockoff: Also designed to mock said mecha in terms of might and sheer disgust toward the humans piloting it.
 * Eyes of Gold / Prophet Eyes: Waivers between the two, until...
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom Glowing Red Eyes of Doom: Granzemboa's eyes turn a hellish red as it launches its final offensive against Team Dai-Gurren. In Lagann-Hen, its eyes are white- unless the same footage was reused and doctored to make it appear to be the Super Granzeboma.
 * Finishing Move: "INFINITY... BIG BANG... STOOORRM!!!"
 * Grim Reaper: Natural, given that the Anti-Spiral are harbringers of death and despair.
 * Impossibly Cool Weapon: GALAXIES. Yes, you read right.
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: Flings two galaxies as impossibly large shuriken- effortlessly!
 * Incendiary Exponent: Wreathed in ghostly purple flames as opposed to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's green.
 * Mirror Match: Created specifically to counter the power of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
 * More Dakka: Armed with dozens of stellar-powered, probability-altering energy blasts.
 * Multi-Armed and Dangerous
 * Reality Warper: Alters the laws of reality to fight!
 * Red Eyes Take Warning: Granzemboa's eyes turn a searing blood red as all the Gurren Lagann mecha rush toward it in a final charge.
 * Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Equally as big as Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
 * Slap-On-The-Wrist Nuke: Make that tactical BIG BANG.
 * That's No Moon: Disturbingly Inverted: Yoko discovers the Anti-Spiral have placed their homeworld on top of Granzemboa's head like a crown- after clipping half the armor around it with a intergalactic-sized version of her rifle.
 * This Is a Drill: Uses rounded, spinning lances that have a more reverse and more sinister spiral shape than Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's drills. Appropriate, given the Anti-Spiral loathe anything pertaining to Spiral Power.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Specifically designed to outclass Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. When that doesn't work, it resorts to using power that forges universes.
 * Wave Motion Gun: It wads up two galaxies to trigger a massive big bang that spits out a new universe on impact!
 * Wave Motion Gun: It wads up two galaxies to trigger a massive big bang that spits out a new universe on impact!

Do-Ten-Kai-Zan
The combined form of the Beastmen general flagships.


 * Anticlimax Boss:.
 * Combining Mecha: A combination of Dai-Gundo, Dai-Gunten, Dai-Gunkai, and Dai-Gunzan.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: Its only shown attack.

Tengen Toppa Solvernia

 * This Is a Drill: Well, naturally. This one's mounted on the end of a lance, though.
 * Waif Fu: It's quite small for a Tengen Toppa, and spends most of its time acrobatically jumping around.

Tengen Toppa Enkidulga
Viral's personal mecha in the fight against


 * Multi-Armed and Dangerous: sixteen arms, all with katanas... and one with a club for no apparent reason.

Tengen Toppa Yoko W Tank
Yoko's personal mecha in the fight against


 * More Dakka: Think Yoko was scary with one rifle? How about with six of them?
 * Torpedo Tits

Tengen Toppa Dai-Gurren
A galaxy-sixed version of Dai-Gurren summoned for the fight against.


 * Humongous Mecha: Utterly dwarfs the Granzeboma, yet is still only the third-largest mech in the movie.
 * More Dakka: Well, it does have Attenborough as its gunner...