Elzam V. Branstein

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Elzam under his Rätsel guise as seen in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3
Elzam under his Rätsel guise as seen in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3

Elzam V. Branstein (エルザム・Ｖ・ブランシュタイン) is a fictional character in the Super Robot Wars series. He has appeared as a playable character in the Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation series and Super Robot Wars Alpha series. In canon, he pilots the Aussenseiter.

Contents

[edit] Personal Data

[edit] Personality And Traits

Elzam von Branstein is a calm, collected individual, much like his brother, whose even temper makes his skill as a pilot even more readily apparent. Despite this stoicism, he is a gentle person, and treats his subordinates with utmost respect when not on the battlefield. Much like Sanger, his honorable personality conflicts with that of some of the less scrupulous members of the Divine Crusaders, who view his upholding of honor to be a weakness.

His prowess in battle is matched only by his prowess in the kitchen -- Elzam is a master chef. When he was a Divine Crusaders commander, he would cook feasts for his men, creating gourmet dishes with whatever ingredients are on-hand. The fact that Elzam is such a gourmet is the basis for his rather thinly-veiled disguise, Rätsel Feinschmecker, which means "The Mysterious Gourmet" in German. His taste in food also creates a perplexing situation in the game series, as Elzam is one of the few people to have one of Kusuha Mizuha's health drinks -- which, while beneficial, are by all accounts in-game foul-tasting to the point where the drinker loses consciousness -- and actually enjoy it.

Another trait of Elzam's in-battle is his distinctive custom color scheme for his mecha and his flagship, the Kurogane: they are all primarily black with red accenting, and a splash of gold; and, save for the Kurogane, all are referred to as Trombe, the name of his pet horse. The figurative steed, in the case of Dygenguard's companion machine, the Aussenseiter, becomes a very literal one -- Elzam's machine becomes a horse, acting as the Dygenguard's mount.

[edit] History

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Elzam von Branstein is a member of the Branstein family, a clan of influential aristocrats aboard the Space Colonies orbiting Earth. His pedigree from birth was not just a life of relative comfort on the home-front, but an expectation to be an excellent soldier -- the Bransteins, along with their cousin branch, the Garsteins, were the clan charged with protecting the colonies from attacks and maintaining their peaceful alliance with the Earth.

As such, Elzam was a high-ranking member of the United Colony Corps' military, once he became a young adult. This ranking put him in an unfortunate situation during one particular incident, when his home colony, Elpis, and its citizens became hostages in an attempted terrorist attack on the colonies, led by the deranged Archibald Grims. Archibald gave him an ultimatum on a very personal level -- he had two choices: the first was to be able to stay united with his wife, Cattleya, a woman from Earth who had moved to the colonies, at the cost of the citizens of the Elpis colony and his own family members; the second was to sacrifice that which he loved for the lives of his family and the colony. Forced into a corner, Elzam had to let his own wife die for the safety of the rest of the colonists. She assured him not to feel remorseful about his decision in her last moments, but it was hardly a consolation. This incident was what led to the rift between Elzam and his younger brother, Raidiese, who had all but abandoned his connection to the Branstein family as a result.

Elzam remained in space, where he was one of the first to encounter the Aerogaters invading Earth. He battled with the Aerogaters' Megillot probes, destroying four and disabling a fifth to show to the founder of the EOTI Institute, Bian Zoldark. The ruined Megillot served as validation of Bian's fears: an alien army would threaten Earth very soon, and someone would need to act as the last defensive line to stop the alien threat. For this reason, Bian and his followers broke away from the Earth Federation Army and formed the Divine Crusaders. Elzam was one of the highest ranking members, and using his connections, convinced his old friend, Sanger Zonvolt, to join him.

Elzam crossed paths with the SRX Team aboard the Hagane several times, launching in both his customized mecha and his personal flagship, the Kurogane, before going into relative obscurity for a short time after Bian's death. He appeared once more in Antarctica, where Elzam held off the forces of the Aerogaters in a successful bid to stop the Federation government from surrendering to the alien forces. Though fighting for the same cause as the Federation's Hagane and Hiryu Custom ships, he and Sanger chose not to join their forces until the final operation, Operation SRW, the final assault on the Aerogaters' White Star base.

Following the end of Operation SRW, both Elzam and Sanger disappeared. In reality, they were living on the countryside, preferring not to make an appearance until the next alien threat appeared. It was the threat of the Inspectors, a special unit of an alien race devoted to investigating, subjugating, and exterminating potential threats to their military might, that brought Elzam out of hiding, under the disguise of Rätsel Feinschmecker. The appearance of the Shadow-Mirror and the dangerous situation they put his old Aggressors teammate, Gilliam Yeager, in driving him out of hiding entirely, and together with Sanger, they rejoined the Federation Army in order to battle both the Shadow-Mirror and the various alien threats facing Earth.

After the defeat of the Inspectors, Shadow-Mirror, and Einst, Elzam went back into hiding aboard the Kurogane. Yuuki Jegnan and Ricarla Borgnine, both former Neo Divine Crusaders soldiers themselves, join Elzam and Sanger, hiding from the watchful eye of the new Earth Federation government and waiting for the next time the Kurogane's services are needed as a secret ally of the Federation Army.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

Elzam bears heavy similarity to Char Aznable of Mobile Suit Gundam fame, most notably, his penchant for customizing his machines with the same colour scheme, as well as his attempts to disguise himself as "Ratsel" by wearing only a pair of dark sunglasses, although this fails to fool anyone.

Elzam's theme song, Trombe!, usually has a higher priority over every other music in the Super Robot War games, even over those of bosses - it will even override Keisar Ephes. This was originally due to a bug, but has been deliberately kept in subsequent games as a running gag.

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