Naoto Tsukioka

"There is a future for mankind, a future with the Meganites!"

Naoto Tsukioka, eldest of three siblings, inherited the bankrupt Tsukioka Industries at the age of thirteen, and the mech known as Vavel along with it. Unlike most other mechs, Vavel is controlled from outside of the robot's body, via remote control. This allows Naoto to defend the Earth from invaders without actually putting himself at any serious risk. He is the chairman of a once major corporation, after all. He has become quite adept at controlling Vavel, likely due to the fact that the controller he uses somewhat resembles that of a video game system. The lack of any parental figures throughout his teenage years, coupled with the stress of running a near-bankrupt company, did not have a good effect on Naoto. By the age of nineteen, he was what many would consider to be a callous asshole, despite whatever good intentions he may have had. However, with the recent guidance of Tsukioka Industries' head scientist, Herman Wiltz, Naoto has started down the path to becoming a much more mature adult.

Background Information
Naoto Tsukioka lived a comfortable life for most of his childhood, being the son of the head of one of the world's leading weapons manufacturers, Tsukioka Industries. He got along well with his younger siblings, Ryo and Yui, and he even befriended the daughters of the owners of Tsukioka Industries' professional rivals, Bulnose and Misaki Heavy Industries. At some point in his childhood, his parents began a project that they claimed would help humanity survive to the year 3000, an odd choice since the old date system had long since been discarded in favor of the Universal Century. Dubbing themselves and the team they had assembled for the project the "Trilennium Committee", they started the Civilization Preservation Foundation and spent the next few years using almost all of Tsukioka Industries' finances to construct three titanic robots that could be used to explore hostile regions of space.

However, things did not turn out well for the Tsukioka family, and Naoto in particular. With the constant threats plaguing Earth, the robots, called Meganites, were fitted for battle in order to defend their home planet. Not long after, Ellen Bulnose, who had been arranged to marry Naoto in the hopes of uniting the two companies, was stricken with guilt over her family's business and ran away to parts unknown. To make matters worse, Naoto's father died soon after that, and his mother followed him when she couldn't cope with her grief. As the eldest child, this left Naoto in the position of chairman of Tsukioka Industries and the Trilennium Committee at the tender age of thirteen, with the company being almost bankrupt to boot. For the most part, he let his head scientist and right hand man, Dr. Herman Wiltz, handle the company while at the same time learning how to run it himself. At the age of fifteen, he decided that he wanted to take a more active role in the company, and took over the duties he had originally given to Dr. Wiltz.

Barely a year later, Naoto asked to learn how to pilot the Meganites, and with considerable persuasion managed to get the rest of the Committee to agree to it. Thus began his training, and that of his siblings, in the operation of remote controlled mecha. They all caught on quickly, and by the time he had turned seventeen, Naoto was able to control the Meganite Vavel like it was an extension of his own body. This, of course, was just in time for his first real battle. A giant, unidentified machine suspected to be of extraterrestrial origin appeared in Senjo and immediately started rampaging, causing billions of yen in property damage and killing Nanao Misaki's grandmother.

On his way to the launch platform, Naoto was stopped by Dr. Hourai, one of the members of the Trilennium Committee. Dr. Hourai told the young chairman that he had predicted the arrival of the Volgara, alien machines intent on destroying humankind, and that fighting them was the reason he had helped build the Meganites. Handing a controller to Naoto, he sent the teen off to meet up with Vavel, right before being caught in an explosion from the Volgara's laser weapon. Naoto performed admirably in his first sortie, easily (and literally) crushing the enemy with Vavel's bare hands, but when he talked to Nanao afterward it turned out that she was so shaken up by the battle that she decided that all giant robots and their pilots, no matter who they fight for, are inherently evil. So, having lost his parents, his fiance, and his best friend, Naoto joined the EFA with Tsukioka Industries and used mecha piloting as an outlet for his emotions. Though the Volgara never showed up again between then and now, Naoto kept himself busy by fighting against other threats to Earth, such as the DC and the occasional alien invasion.

Personality Traits
Naoto is a man who may not be entirely in touch with reality. He is prone to wild fantasies about being a hero of Earth and having many abilities that he does not actually possess, among other things. Most things that he says should not be taken seriously unless there is evidence evidence to back them up. He is also somewhat of a jerk in person, often blurting out things that might offend the people he is talking to, and he tries to cover it up when he realizes he has made a mistake to avoid direct confrontation. However, he does have good intentions, and genuinely wants to save the world and the people living in it. He just has difficulty seeing what an asshole he's being about it. Thankfully, this isn't as pronounced as it once was, as Dr. Wiltz has unofficially adopted him and is trying, with some success, to help Naoto become a better person.

Of course, Naoto is also the energetic sort, always eager to get out and do things. Despite being very athletic and getting several requests from multiple sports teams around Senjo, Naoto has always turned them down out of a desire to be free from association with any one group. He usually acts cheerful, even in battle, but signs suggest that he is actually using this attitude to hide his near-hatred toward the Foundation and the Meganites. Though he doesn't like either of them, he realizes that he doesn't have much choice but to pick up the pieces of his parents' barely functioning company and try to put them back together, which in turn means he has to keep their project alive. It's his responsibility to defend Tsukioka Industries, whether he likes it or not, and he just has to grin and bear it.

Talents & Abilities
Naoto, as mentioned above, is athletically gifted. Combined with his personal shield and anti-gravity shoes, this makes climbing onto Vavel's shoulder a simple process.

Despite how crazy most of his ideas are, some of them actually see the light of day. For instance, he has created a cannon that uses RB-79 Balls as ammunition, rocket fists that he can control mid-flight with a special function in his controller, and a "beam fist" that is currently in the testing phase. Though the first is rarely used thanks to its horrid impracticality (the cost of ammunition, the fact that the cannon can only hold one "round" at a time, etc.), the "bit fists" have been deemed a success even by Dr. Wiltz, and the beam fist shows some possibility of being useful as an emergency backup weapon for mecha lacking more traditional melee weaponry.

Naoto once had hand grenades created for fighting mecha on foot, but as he is likely to never actually fight any mecha without Vavel, they have since been stored in the Foundation's private warehouse for safekeeping. They could come in handy some day, but until that day comes, they're just going to sit there and gather dust.

Logs
None yet.