Alan Gabriel's "crew?" His importance?

Alan Gabriel...do we really know he's dead and done with? Saw him get strangled sorta...but he does have that knife/grappling cable hand...

(While an interesting character and great addition) I didn't think he held an important, or more precisely, reoccuring role for Paradigm City's resets, and I still don't.

However, after looking at the following images, I see he's been in the design sheets and artists' minds for a while...PERHAPS SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING? And the Manga seems to embellish him with a whole crew and ...another Megadeus? (what is that megadeus in the back with the skull face?) The manga image facinates me and makes Alan's "crew" look pretty credible as BIG-O characters, though I originally didn't think so by just looking at the design sheet.





Any help on interpretation/info of/on the these curious images or thoughts in general on the matter would be appreciated.

I doubt this can be considered help, but I can offer commentary!

Angel = Fujiko

Shwartzwald looks a whole lot like Two Face in those pictures...

Dastun looks really cool... and yet incredibly stupid at the same time...


As for the bottom picture, I've determined that A.) Roger has a buzzcut, B.) He is being chased by Nazi Clowns and Ebinezer Scrooge, and C.) That shadowy megadeus has a Reich Eagle on its head.

Peh, the manga is so different from the Anime, that they could end up having Alan actually not suck. Who knows.

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Originally posted by Paradigm Dog However, after looking at the following images, I see he's been in the design sheets and artists' minds for a while...PERHAPS SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING? And the Manga seems to embellish him with a whole crew and ...another Megadeus? (what is that megadeus in the back with the skull face?) The manga image facinates me and makes Alan's "crew" look pretty credible as BIG-O characters, though I originally didn't think so by just looking at the design sheet.

All of the people on that page of the art book are ones who don't show up in every episode, but recur frequently enough to need a consistant look. Since Alan showed up in every season 2 episode except "Roger the Wanderer," "The Greatest Villian," "Eyewitness," and "The Show Must Go On," he certainly falls into that category. I have always suspected, given the variation in style for each character, that these are early sketches of several possible looks for the character. Therefore, I suspect these were three or four possible Alans.

I'm not sure whether the manga influenced the development of the second-season anime. Certainly Mr. Ariga's story came out first, but the characters he'd developed in the first four books were so unlike the ones in the anime that it would be hard to envision the anime-Roger acting as the manga-Roger does.

Pygmalion

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Originally posted by Pygmalion I'm not sure whether the manga influenced the development of the second-season anime. Certainly Mr. Ariga's story came out first, but the characters he'd developed in the first four books were so unlike the ones in the anime that it would be hard to envision the anime-Roger acting as the manga-Roger does. Pygmalion

That brings up another interesting point between the anime and manga. Sometimes, people forget that the manga was started early on, only upon some of the earliest developed concepts of the anime. The two mediums are tangents of each other. There's no other way to explain it since they both are so remarkedly different.

However, it seems to me that the manga tailed behind the anime at various times. That may explain the ending of the manga. It amalgamates some of the aspects of the anime's second season (Big Fau, Angel with some sort of important role, Dorothy's memory being stolen), so much so to prove that there already ideas further beyond the "first season" that early on in development.

So that's why I consider that the anime and manga sprouted from one, basic idea of what the entire story of Paradgim City had to be. Neither, in the end, really influenced each other.

Karen, Alan did show up in Roger the Wanderer. In the last minute or so, Alex throws a tomato at him and tells him to have the Military Police retrieve their "gifts". It was our favorite psychopath cyborg's first appearence, though we don't learn his name until the next episode.

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Originally posted by BigPrime Karen, Alan did show up in Roger the Wanderer. In the last minute or so, Alex throws a tomato at him and tells him to have the Military Police retrieve their "gifts". It was our favorite psychopath cyborg's first appearence, though we don't learn his name until the next episode.

That's right, I'd overlooked that cameo. He was in ten episodes, then.

Pygmalion

Those are simply multiple designs for the same character.
Note that in teh second pic you posted that Roger has the dome-shaped, slicked back look. These are obvously early concepts for the characters that were changed before the final design went to the animators. Although it is possible that the character of Alan was invisioned from the start, but wasn't used until season 2 was approved.

The schwarzwald with a cross, hat, and sunglasses is so badass it isn't funny.

I just always wanted to know what that said under the pictures in the art book. That may help in decyphering who the other people...um things...are with alan.....

Also I always thought that the black clown chick was an early Vera....they have the same hair.....even though the other's is green.....eather that or alan was really suposed to be an Alana ! But I don't think so.....Since he's in the picture with her.

Hmm. My guess is that the four designs in the "Alan Gabriel" box were four designs for Alan's character, not for a crew.

We do know that the planning for all 26 did occur more or less earlier rather than later. It sounded at least from what Sunrise was saying was that they did plan for a 26 episode series , assuming that they could make it past the 13 mark.

The appearance of one of the "Alan" type characters in the manga illustration seems to affirm that they had taken the idea put forth by the designer to use the manga. Obviously, the anime ended up using the version we saw.

BTW - the weird thing about the Angel and Dorothy sketches is that there is a great deal of similarity between some of the versions. This suggests to me that they may have split off Angel and Dorothy into two distinct characters early on in the series. (I still think these two have a link that is not explained in the series --> Angel holding Dorothy model. hmmm.)

Unrelated: That darker haired angel in the black dress is hot!

He'll be back. Maybe...

spoiler (highlight to read):

Maybe his cyborg body possesed Big-Duo right before Duo was destroyed, then *IF* Big-Duo was restored in the reset, his spirit will be back with it

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Originally posted by Hobodoken Peh, the manga is so different from the Anime, that they could end up having Alan actually not suck.

BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

quote:

Originally posted by Jonny Axehandle He'll be back. Maybe... spoiler (highlight to read): Maybe his cyborg body possesed Big-Duo right before Duo was destroyed, then *IF* Big-Duo was restored in the reset, his spirit will be back with it quote: Originally posted by Hobodoken Peh, the manga is so different from the Anime, that they could end up having Alan actually not suck. BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

...
Duo is SCHWARZWALD'S! NO ONE ELSE GETS TO USE HIM WITHOUT THE PUNISHMENT OF A TENTACLE DEATH!

*Ahem*

What exactly was so funny? Do you think that it is impossible for him to not suck, or did you not think he sucked in the anime?

The people pictured with Alan Gabriel in the manga, are actually early versions of him. They are not part of a group. They are all the same person. This information comes strait from the interview with hitoshi ariga and the other creators of the big o manga.

As for the megadeus, I don't know what that is. Perhaps its and early design for the big duo inferno.

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Originally posted by Jonny Axehandle He'll be back. Maybe... Maybe his cyborg body possesed Big-Duo right before Duo was destroyed, then *IF* Big-Duo was restored in the reset, his spirit will be back with it.

If anyone was doing any possessing, it was Big Duo destroying Alan Gabriel's personality and replacing it with Schwarzwald's*. In The Big Fight, Alan Gabriel got PWN3D by Duo, not the other way around.



*Note, I don't actually think that happened, but hey, anything's possible.

The Alan Gabriel in the pic Roger Running reminds me of Super Nazi from Hellboy. I forget his name, he wears a black gasmask, and has two switchblade things on his arms.
Anyway, I don't think Alan G. is coming back. True, he was strangled by Inferno...and then he was dropped like a million miles to the ground before the megadeus collided into the super dome. I don't think his body would survive the impact.

If Alex Rosewater has a god complex as many have suggested, and Paradigm Corporation is both god and state in the series, then the significance of Alan Gabriel can be found in his name. The archangel Gabriel was considered an messenger emissary of God. Thus, Alan "Gabriel" is the messenger emissary of Alex Rosewater. This explains Alan's role in the series.

As far as him coming back or not coming back for a third season, who's to say that him "surviving" or not is an obstacle to being in a third season? After the surprising ending to the series, no one save for the creators and writers can be sure what the rules are after the reset. Plus, Alan is a cyborg after all. How exactly does a cyborg "die"? I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to have Gabriel in a third season.

quote:

Originally posted by Hobodoken Peh, the manga is so different from the Anime, that they could end up having Alan actually not suck. Who knows.

Manga is always way way diffrent then the anime. Personaly I think the anime is better though.