#ondai

[naschii]

[unclejellyfish]

I almost wish Oban Star Racers had come out around today because then we might see more fan content for these Chads: 

[interstellar-elf]

I know I should just be grateful for the Oban fandom at all but I still wish the other alien characters got half as much attention as Aikka. Like Para-Dice, Rush, Ondai, Ning, Skun, Ceres, Muir, Spirit, even Canaletto and Lord Furter are all fun and interesting characters, but you rarely if ever see fanart for them. And this isn't hating on Aikka, he's cool but I can't help but feel it's partially because he's a love interest.

No, I agree! A lot of the alien characters are super interesting, as I really like the designs of Spirit, Rush, Ondai, and Para-Dice, and I wish they got more fanart, though if you look you'll find a good deal of Spirit and Para-Dice fanart here and there (I knew someone who does Spirit fanart sometimes on Twitter, Lamni). I remember at one time I was one of the only people out there doing Byrusian OC art (I need to do it again).

Now that you've mentioned it, there really should be more fanart for the other alien characters, I mean, they deserve it. And given that Rush and Spirit appear to have some relevancy in the sequel series, I'm hoping they will get some love from the fandom at large.

[ruffrowdyboiz]

What is the secret to becoming as cute as you

copious amounts of yaoi etc

[waezi2]

Top 5 “Oban Star Racers” characters.

Number 5: Rick Thunderbolt.

Even though we only see him race twice, we get that Rick is a great pilot if for no other reason because of the raw self-confidence he radiates. And I don’t mean in a douchy way, but in a knowing-you-are-great-because-you-ARE-great way without being arrogant. This makes it that much more tragic when his nerves becomes so damaged that he can’t race anymore after someone sabotaged his ship. But instead of having himself a little pity party, Rick decided to find out who sabotaged his ship, both so he could get some sort of closure but also to make sure no one would do the same to his replacement.

Unlike most of the characters during the beginning of the show, Rick didn’t see Molly as an annoyance or liability. He recognized right away that Molly had talent and made her feel appreciated and seen.

Rick was quite possible the most important character in season 1 after he became Molly’s coach and essentially the backbone of the Earth team. His experience with racing made him the perfect coach for Molly, making her go from being a good pilot to an EXCELLENT pilot. And most importantly, he actually believed in her, he didn't treat Molly like a poor replacement, but as the pilot who could win the race for Earth.

But he also reminded Don that his short temper was what resulting in Don firing Rick despite him being his champion racer and that Molly needed him to trust her instead of criticizing her all the time. Because of Rick, the Earth team became a strong unit instead of a bunch of people who were either yelling at each other or worrying who to listen to. The open communication made the Earth team successful.

Number 4: Spirit.

Shapeshifters are a dime a dozen in the sci-fi genre, but Spirit is still something special. Instead of just having a fluid body, he has one that is made to fold out like an accordion and then expand. There is something ominous about him without it being hammered in, giving him the subtle appearance of a villain until we realize that he is misunderstood. Also, the fact that he is his own ship in the Great Race of Oban is just fricking cool.

Number 3: Maya Wei.

We have come a long way with the portraile of women in TV, but it still feels like motherhood is too often a defining strength.

But in Oban Star Racers, Maya Wei is a badass who just so happen to be a mother as well. 

Maya was a champion racer who had an aura of confidence and courage and her husband and manager Don didn’t feel emasculated by her risk-taking living and celebrity status while he happily managing behind the scenes. He worried himself sick when she made stunts or participated in intense races, but he never made it her problem or told her to be a “better parent”. He was just so damn proud of his badass wife and championship racer queen.

When she died, NO ONE thought it was her fault. She wasn’t a bad mother because she was a race pilot, it was just dang tragic what happened to her.

Maya’s character design is a good mix, making her look like a badass but also as a loving character. It is not always easy to make someone radiate kindness and strength at the same time.

Number 2: Don Wei.

Don was one of the characters I grew to like more as I grew older.

He is a jerk, but then again... he kinda have to be one. As a race-manager, it is not his job to be liked, he just have to lead and make the show go on as best as possible. Especially in a contest like the Great Race of Oban where he serves his birth planet. And even though he is strict when it comes to Molly, it is essentially because he takes his responsibility seriously. He is an adult and Molly’s boss, her safety is his concern. And he is right: In any other scenarios, Molly SHOULDN’T be the one who raced for Earth in the Great Race of Oban, she is practically a child.

What is most interesting about him is how he tackles PTSD... poorly.

Don lost his wife when she died in a car crash during a race and he NEVER thought it was her fault, not even a little. He only blamed himself since he was her manager, meaning he was to blame for her being in that race to begin with. He was so devastated that he became self-destructive. And even though we can all agree that ditching your little daughter in a boarding school was just plain wrong, we can at least understand that he thought he did the right thing(he didn’t) as he worried that he could somehow harm her. It took him five years of wandered around aimlessly like a homeless man before he rebuild himself as a race manager. But even though he rise from the ashes and became successful again, he was still crippled as a human being as he STILL didn't face his daughter since he believed he killed her mother and was not worthy of seeing her again. But he decided to forget his family and “move on”, which only resulted in him being a dick to his new champion racer, straining his relationship to him and then eventually fired him. Don carried a little wooden box throughout the series that has a lock on it. Inside the box is the only picture he owns of himself and his family. He carried the box because the picture was important to him, yet he refused to open the box, since that would mean that he had to face his past. Don is probably one of the best written traumatized characters in animation.

Number 1: Ondai.

We have seen several robot characters in the sci-fi genre. Most of them are cold and calculative, usually very stiff and not very human-like.

Ondai is a fresh breath of air to the genre.

Ondai believes himself to be above organic lifeforms, but he is not evil. He is just smug as hell:) He brags and is sarcastic, but he is not the typical kill-all-humans machines. He is also very passionate, especially when it comes to mathematical calculations of probabilities and he can sometimes be in so much awe of possibilities and statistics that he forgets everything around him.

Despite thinking that he is above the organic lifeforms, he actually envy them their ability to feel. Ondai may be an advance robot with emotions, but he cannot feel the sensations of touch or warmth. This is why he entered the Great Race of Oban: so he could win the “Ultimate Prize” and use his one wish from the all-powerful Avatar to make him flesh and blood, or at least let him feel, even for a short while.

[comicsin5panels]

“Oban Star Racers” retrospective month(and a half) PART 7.

So, there is one of the contestants in the race called Sul.

To call Sul a magician is like calling Louis Armstrong a guy who owned a trumpet. Sul is so powerful that he has become a master of space, time, and even the course of destiny. Because he is in the race and has won first place in all the races except for one, he has no many points that it is barely a contest.

This is why Prince Aikka(under orders from Kross) forms a secret alliance with Ondai, Ning and Skun. They are rivals and all want the Ultimate Price for themselves, but Sul is there common enemy. As long as he is in the race, they have no chance of winning. So the four of them agrees to hurt Sul so badly during the next race that he won’t be able to finish the competition.

Our hero Molly learns about this conspiracy, and decides to warn Sul. But it is not exactly gratitude she is met with. Sul is just kinda annoyed, telling Molly that she is wasting his time and it doesn’t matter. He would in fact welcome a “surprise attack” since the race is getting dull for the magician. He even belittles Molly for warning him since it makes no sense as SHE as well has everything to gain if Aikka and his temporarily allies takes Sul out of the race. Out of curiosity, Molly asks Sul why he want to win the Ultimate Prize.

Sul’s answer is... that he doesn’t. He has no interest in being granted a wish by the all-powerful Avatar. Sul is so powerful that there is nothing left for him to wish for, he is simply in the race because winning the Great Race of Oban is something he has not done yet.

And this pisses off Molly beyond believe. And with good reason.

Every single racer who competes in the Great Race of Oban has each their reason to compete, each their reason to want a wish from the god-like Avatar. In theory, it doesn’t matter what they wish for or if it is something good or bad, what matters is the willpower that drives them to get what they want. They are all giving it their all to win the race. EXCEPT for Sul.

Sul is a being so powerful that he doesn’t HAVE to make an effort to win the race. And he doesn’t even want to win the Ultimate Prize, he just competes because he thought; “Eh, why not? It’s something to do.” He is robbing the others of the prize of a lifetime for no good reason.

This makes him, if you ask me, the most unlikable turd in all of animation.

Molly has a goal and reason to race: To ask the Avatar to bring her dead mother Maya back. So knowing that Sul is the god-like dick he is, she decides that it is not her problem once she notices the other racers going the wrong way during the next race, probably to assault Sul. A smart move, since she for once has a chance to get some more points and get a fighting chance of winning the damn race.

But the thing about Molly is that she is essentially a good person. She is not a saint, but she has a sense of honor and she won’t win at any cost, such as ignoring others playing dirty. So she ends up turning her ship around to stop Aikka and his accomplices in hurting Sul.

But Sul is a alien Doctor Manhattan, so he is fine. Aikka and the other racers who attacked him got the stuffing kicked out of them and Sul doesn’t even have a scratch. Unfazed, he flies with ridiculously high speed, catches up and leads the race.

And then he disappears.

Yeah... anticlimactic.

 The reason to why he disappears?

Canaletto.

Who is Canaletto?

Well, he is someone powerful enough to own the powerful Sul. And someone who has a great interest in the Great Race of Oban, and Sul being in the race is apparently a problem for Canaletto since Sul’s magic is powerful enough to alter destiny, something that interferes with Canaletto’s plans for the race.

So he makes Sul disappear.

The other pilots doesn’t know what happened to Sul besides that he is gone. But they are sure of two things:

Good news is that now that Sul is... gone, to put it mildly, everyone who anticipate in the race has a chance of winning the competition.

Bad news is that there is something on Oban powerful enough to make a demigod like Sul go away.

That’s all for now. I’m Waezi2, and thanks for wasting time with me.

[scientistzeroconfidence]

Wanted to do a bit of fan art As we can see here, I sculpted a new sculpture. This time of a character from one of my favorite shows I watched, Oban Star Racers. The character is Ondai. I really enjoyed this character cause he was a robot that believed Robots are the pinnacle of evolution and superior to organics in every way. But deep down, he wishes to be able to feel things, and if he had won the supposed "Oban wish", he would've wished to become flesh and blood, or some way so that he could be able to feel things like all his test subjects/specimens he keeps in his lab/gallery on his ship. Ondai belongs to: Savin Yeatman-Eiffel of Sav! The World Productions, and various programs that featured Oban at the time. Sculpture sculpted and painted by me

[bakuraryxu]

ondai replied to your post “*washes my pussy* this is for you doffy”

I read it as dobby first

oh no