STAR ARMY

Sci-fi roleplaying and worldbuilding community

User Tools

Site Tools


media:heartbreakers_inc

Heartbreakers, Inc.

(Note: All information is taken from the later Nepleslian dub.)

This animated series chronicles the legendary exploits of the mercenary group Heartbreakers, Inc. as they travel the universe, vanquishing evil and protecting the powerless. They'll do any job…for a price! Or so they claim. Even though they advertise themselves as soldiers of fortune, the Heartbreakers often accept things like 'friendship' as payment, following a vaguely defined code of honor. Their defense of the defenseless frequently pits them against their archenemies, the Killer Squid Society, KiSS.

Characters

  • Queen's Heart: The crew's ship, which has a powerful 'Heartbreaker' super mode.
  • Val & Suki: Otherwise known as the “Lovely Pair”, the co-captains of the crew. Val is the noble, serious straight-laced woman with a sword, and Suki is the wild, fun-loving gun girl.
  • Lex & Jace: Twins that pilot the transforming space fighters Alicorn and Bicorn which combine into the super robot Tricorn.
  • Saka-Saka: Anthropomorphic catgirl 'wrench wench'.
  • S.A.B.R.E.: A quadrupedal 'big cat' mecha created by Saka-Saka. Very serious and protective.
  • Lover/Rover: An elfin seducer who seems to frequently change gender.
  • Rok & Rol: Big, tough, macho cyborg soldiers.
  • Saras Haran: Bounty hunter with fancy armor and big lasers.
  • 80-S: A fast-talking, brightly dressed robotic trader that frequently gets the crew wrapped up in his schemes.
  • Ot'ot: The alien pet that's always bumbling into trouble, often used as comic relief. Was adopted by the crew, who later rescue a large number of the species in a 'Trouble with Tribbles' style episode.
  • The Galactic Princess: Beautiful insectoid ruler whose psychic pleas for help are heard across the galaxy by the crew, driving them towards their final goal to rescue her home planet in the multi-part series finale.

Notable Episodes

  • Episode 1: Okay, Adventure START! A New Beginning For Lovely Hearts!!
    • The motley crew gathers to fight SPACE ZOMBIES created by KiSS.
  • Episode 3: A Deep Space Cry For Help: Please, Save Our Princess!!!“
    • Responding to a routine distress call, the crew rescues two odd insectoid aliens and their strange pet, Ot'ot. The creature stows away on board the Queen's Heart, and the captains begin receiving odd psychic visions.
  • Episode 8: The Station Situation!! Ot'ot Times One Million!?!?!”
    • After several misadventures, the crew finally decides to take Ot'ot home, only to discover the space station under attack by KiSS! The Queen's Heart is filled to the brim with uncomfortably friendly refugees.
  • Episode 11: Dazzling, Sparkling, Shining!! It's Squeaky Clean Fun In The Sun!!!!“
    • This is somehow a beach episode. No explanation is given.
  • Episode 15: The Unbelievable Conclusion!!! Goodbye, Heartbreakers!!!! Will You Remember Love?!?”
    • The Galactic Princess is finally saved, and the Mega-KiSS-Demon defeated. Everyone parties on the aliens' home planet, and the screen fades to black on Val and Suki finally holding hands.

Production Information

After the defense of the I'ee home planet Ee'ee by the combined forces of the YSS Heartbreaker and Independent, the I'ee became rather enamored with their rescuers. Tales began to spread of the two crews' heroic actions, second-hand information gathered from Ee'ith Ambassadors like Sammy Ee'ith, Sally Ee'ith and Yui Ee'ith. As the stories traveled, they grew and shifted, mutating into something almost unrecognizable. One day, a group of I'ee fans formed the Gendai Yamatai Bunka Kenkyukai ('Society for the Study of Modern Yamatai Visual Culture') or Genyaken. They wanted to show their appreciation for these heroic efforts through the traditional Yamataian medium of animation.

With no first-hand knowledge of, or experience with, Yamatai Star Empire, USO, their technology, culture or even humanoid appearance in general, things did not exactly go well. The Genyaken members assumed everyone involved were friends and comrades, for one, mashing both crews together onto one starship. That somehow contains several other craft just as large as itself. The designs of the crew members and their equipment changes multiple times per episode. Limbs often bend and twist in impossible ways, when the animation isn't limited to still frames sliding across the screen. Apparently the limbs of the I'ee were not exactly designed for art or animation. Notably, The Galactic Princess and her subjects are drawn and animated very well in comparison. Every character was voiced by a female I'ee, in 'authentic' Yamataigo, using their speech synthesizers. The results were…unique.

However, due to this being one of the first examples of I'ee media created after exposure to other cultures, it was wildly successful. Copies were spread across the planet, onto I'ee spacecraft, and eventually made their way to Independent. Where the series was discovered by one Koga Akemi. Who couldn't have been happier. Redubbing the entire thing in Trade with intentionally goofy dialogue (instead of unintentionally goofy, although the original Yamataian version is also included, with subtitles), Akemi even voiced the character of Lover/Rover himself/herself. A theme song was even added: “My Heart, Your Breaks!” by KOgama.

Copies of this new dub began circulating on Akemi's Stations in early YE 40, appearing at Akemi's everywhere soon after. Within four months it was a common sight on Planet Nepleslia, and even Yamatai (Planet) was unfortunately aware of its existence.

OOC Notes

Reynolds created this article on 2018/04/01 17:22.


Quality:
media/heartbreakers_inc.txt · Last modified: 2023/12/20 18:20 by 127.0.0.1