Count Egobossler is one of the main antagonists of Gatchaman Fighter.
He is a cruel and ruthless dictator who rules over an unnamed part of Europe and is the last Galactor sub-leader from the original Gatchaman franchise. Different from his predecessors, he willingly joined Galactor and accepted to use Leader Z's mecha and knowledge for his own plans of conquering and domination of Earth.
Background[]
"Burning with ambition to conquer the Earth, he created an organization called the Egobossler Family and serves as its leader. Unlike Gel Sadra and Berg Katse, he is purely male. He calls himself a Count, but his true identity is unknown. His instinct and desire for power are inherited from his blood ancestors, and he is a very strong-willed and manly man."[1]
In his past, he was known as Erun, the secret son of a housekeeper named Margot and a man known as the Great Count Egobossler, ruler of a European country named Satanhofen. Erun and his mother despised the Great Count, Erun not yet knowing the cruel man was his father.
Erun worked as a soldier alongside the Great Count's son Kassel, but one day Kassel was hurt and his father whipped Erun as punishment. However, Margot protected her son and received the attacks in his place. With her last breath, she would manage to tell the truth to Erun about his father, before dying from her wounds.
Erun would be exiled from Satanhofen but would return to assassinate the Great Count, and imprison Kassel in revenge. Erun had received plastic surgery to resemble his half-brother and somehow attained blue skin, but would also gain a scar on his face when Kassel slashed him with a sword.
Using Kassel's identity, riches, and popularity, Erun would become the new dictator of Satanhofen, referring to himself as "The Devil's Child". He and Leader Z would then join forces to reform Galactor, with Egobossler admiring his predecessors (Berg Katse and Gel Sadra) as his idols

Count Egobossler (unmasked)
Appearance[]
In his past, Erun was an average-looking young man with light brown hair and eyes. After he reinvented himself with plastic surgery, he deliberately gave himself Kassel's face but somehow now not only had the blue skin, but his hair had become white.
He is a tall man, wearing a long black overcoat with a red and gold-trimmed collar. Beneath such a coat, he can be seen to wear a purple and orange belted tunic, purple gloves, white leggings, and purple boots. This continues the general theme color associated with his predecessors, while giving him his own unique fashion sense.
Egobossler can also be seen to wear a white mask with green eye lenses and its mouth set in a grin, continuing the masked theme of Galactor's sub-leaders.
Personality[]
Egobossler is a brutal yet chivalrous sub-leader. In reality, he is a timid man deep down, but he wants to show his dignity in any way, and is the type of person who can only feel confident with the help of the power of a mecha. He always seems to be in control of his mecha, but in fact he's controlled by Z too even if he may not want to believe or admit it.
With his dark and cruel past, we can see that Erun opted to take over his family to become such a cold-hearted, monstrous dictator and sought nothing but power. He will kill his own subordinates who dare stand in his way and may try to overthrow him, though his commanding presence also earns him a lot of respect and fear from others in the organization. Even if he may be tricked, he will find some way to get revenge.
Perhaps because he calls himself a "Count", he is very different from previous Galactor leaders, preferring what he considers a proud and fair fighting style over scheming. He also shows strong physicality and swordsmanship, and has faced off against Gatchaman with his own sword.
Relationships[]
Duke Oncain[]
An old friend of Egobossler, who happens to have known his secrets. This is pivotal when the Science Ninja Team find out he knows such a thing, but Egobossler makes sure it won't be revealed by shooting Oncain to death and destroying his mansion so no evidence would be left behind. He had also killed Oncain's wife, leaving their two children behind as orphans.
Margot[]
Erun and his mother lived as servants under the Great Count, and her death affected him greatly along with the revelations about the Great Count being his own father. While he promised his mother that he would be a reasonable man and she urged him to not hate his father, Erun took his revenge by killing the Great Count and started his mission to conquer the world.
Kassel[]
Egobossler has kept his half-brother imprisoned since the time he killed and overthrew their father, though this young man is later freed by Kempeler in his attempt to overthrow the Egobossler Family. This failed, and Kassel would soon die.
Kempeler[]
Egobossler's Intelligence Officer. After his own attempts to assassinate Nambu failed and he lost favor with his boss, an angered Kempeler decided to seize power of the Egobossler Family. This only worked for a short time, until Egobossler was able to get the upper hand and had Kempeler executed by firing squad.
Mechandol[]
Egobossler's Armored Division Commander. Although he later learns that Leader Z is the true boss of Galactor, his loyalty to Egobossler is unwavering (having already refused to overthrow him with Kempeler). He helps Egobossler in his attempt to fight Z, sacrificing himself to protect his leader and winding up disintegrated in the process.
Marstora[]
Egobossler and Marstora do not get along, both being strong personalities that vie for the favor of Z. Egobossler is arrogant and disrespectful towards Marstora, and Marstora in turn wants to prove himself better. This culminates in Egobossler setting up Marstora to be shot down and die from the Ninja Team, after he ignores Marstora's call for reinforcements.
Appearances in Other Media[]
Egobossler appeared in a cameo in the final episode of Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R, along with the green troopers of Galactor.
Alterations in International Adaptations[]
USA[]
Count Egobossler was renamed Happy Boy in Saban's Eagle Riders, and is stated to be the villain Mallanox (Gel Sadra) having been transformed and upgraded into a new form. He is given his name as a form of mockery, as he liked to laugh too much, and he thinks of himself as a separate individual who will triumph where Mallanox failed.
An ensuing conversation between Egobossler and Z was altered to have Happy Boy briefly remember his former identity as Mallanox, and apologizing to Cybercon for even thinking of betraying him.
Due to the severe editing and removal of his backstory and many episodes of Fighter relating to it, there is no presence of the original Count Egobossler or other family members (and the episode involving Duke Oncain was heavily rewritten). The Eagle Riders series would also utilize episode 15 of Fighter as its final episode, in which Happy Boy and the Vorak seem to be getting ahead of the heroes and declare that it's time for them to take over the world. While this may have been to avoid translating and having to heavily edit and patch together the final episodes of Fighter for a sanitized outcome, this ending in itself offers no closure and could be said to be a type of "open end" that leaves a rather negative taste.
Voice Actors[]
Count Egobossler was voiced by Koji Nakata, while the younger pre-Egobossler Erun was voiced by Hideyuki Tanaka in the flashback sequences in episode 27.
Gallery[]
Concept Art[]
Trivia[]
- Earlier English translations would render his name as Helm, although the romaji reads Erun. Some translations will render it literally, although the intention may have been to represent the German name Ern (a diminutive of names like Ernest). An erroneous name seen in Gatchaman Fighter DVD liner notes, which may have been from earlier planning, is shown to be Ergo.
- While he is the illegitimate son of the Great Count, his birth surname would not be Egobossler due to the secretive circumstances of his birth.
- While no explanation was given in-series for why Erun's skin turned blue after plastic surgery (nor for his white hair) before taking on the title of Egobossler, the out-of-universe intent in his character design was to convey a ruthless and "cold" image to emphasize the brutality of him being a dictator, so a light blue tone was used. This factor, along with his very personality and design, can get him thought of as inspired by Fuhrer Dessler from Space Battleship Yamato.
- The very name of "Egobossler" came about due to the planning staff wanting a name that ended similar to that of Hitler, combining the -ler part with "Ego" and "Boss" to showcase what a cruel and powerful villain he would be. The more human design (aside from the blue skin) was to also provide a contrast to more fantastical villains like Katse and Sadra that predated him, with Egobossler being more like an average if powerful man compared to those who were mutated by X.
References[]
- ↑ Monthly Out (December 1979)