Dolphin

The Dolphin is a submersible aircraft used by the 00 cyborgs. In the manga it was designed and developed by both 001 and Dr. Gilmore while in at least one of the anime versions it was created by Black Ghost and was hijacked by the cyborgs.

History[]

Manga[]

In the manga after the cyborgs were separated and had briefly returned to average lives, Dr. Gilmore and 001 had created the Dolphin for the coming battle against Black Ghost. It was used to transport the team to various areas including the Yomi Kingdom, where it was destroyed when it plummeted into lava.

1960s[]

Cyborg 009 (Movie)[]

The Dolphin's earliest appearance in animation was in the 1966 anime film. This version was the creation of Dr. Gilmore as a present to 009 to help in his final battle against Black Ghost. It is more simple and boat-like than its future versions with a gray, white and blue hull. It had very basic capabilities of being a multi-purpose vehicle with twin rocket exhausts at the stern and transformable wings for flight. Despite being the Dolphin's earliest anime incarnation, the ship's name is not mentioned in the movie.

Cyborg 009: Monster Wars/1968 series[]

In the sequel movie, The Dolphin underwent a refit and redesign, more closely resembling the version from the original manga. It now had its trademark red and white color scheme that would be present in most of its next incarnations.

In the 1968 series, the animators reused the same model from the second film for the black and white TV Show. Due possibly to the limitations of animation at the time, the Dolphin was not featured too prominently and was used simply to transport the 00 Cyborgs across the oceans or under the sea.

Features[]

The ship was equipped with an "anti-ultrasonic deflector", a weapon that could absorb ultrasonic waves and send them back at the target to tear it apart. The ship now had its wings fold down when not in use to act as water skis, which could be folded down even further and used the propulsion in the wings to skim across the water faster. This second ski mode could be enhanced even further by activating the Super Drive, which would engage the Dolphin's rocket boosters for super high speed water travel. The only drawback to the Super Drive is that the ship moves so fast it sends anyone inside who isn't seated or holding onto something hurtling backwards into a wall or console panel upon the lurch of the engines firing up and propelling forward.

It was also equipped with twin missile launchers on the tip of each wing and a full stock of torpedoes. The Dolphin also had the bridge able to separate into a sub pod, which could jettison from the main ship. This feature was used for the 00 Cyborgs to escape as the ship was being destroyed by a powerful ultrasound wave by a kaiju due to sabotage of the deflector by Cyborg 0010. The pod also was equipped with a drill and caterpillar treads for land and subterranean exploration.

Light Novel: SF Roman[]

The equivalent to the Dolphin in this work is instead named The Poseidon, but its appearance otherwise resembles the original that appeared in the Yomi arc and Monster Wars.

1979 series[]

In the 1979 anime series, the ship was replaced by its successor, The Dolphin II.

Cyborg Soldier Pitch Reel[]

In the 2000 concept pitch reel for The Cyborg Soldier, The Dolphin is briefly shown. This iteration resembles a sleeker version of the Dolphin II from the 1979 series, but animated entirely in CGI.

The Cyborg Soldier[]

In the 2001 anime adaptation's incarnation of the Dolphin, the ship was originally a prototype developed by Black Ghost called The Black Phantom whose design was intended to be mass-produced for buyers to have combat superiority on land, sea and air. The ship was built in a dockyard under Island X, an R&D military installation. Once hijacked by the 00 Cyborgs after their escape from the island, the team rechristened it as The Dolphin (a name chosen by 003) and the ship was repainted red and white.

During the Underground Empire of Yomi arc, the ship was damaged by Black Ghost dolphin robots and Cyborgmen used the hull breach to plant a bomb in the Reactor Room. The explosion caused the coolant system to fail and the ship's engines to explode, sinking it to the bottom of an ocean trench.

Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman[]

The 2015 incarnation of the Dolphin — The 2015 incarnation of the *Dolphin*

The incarnation of the Dolphin seen in the OVA is a solid steel gray ship more massive in proportion compared to previous designs. It is armed with large heat ray turrets for defense and has a state of the art computer system that can project a holographic data display.

According to the prequel light novel, this version of the Dolphin was remodeled from the Submarine 101 that the team had previously used as transportation. The architect responsible for bringing it together was a certain Matsugoro Tomonji, hired by Dr. Kozumi.

Because the OVA episodes end before Yomi but Kawagoe considers Yomi to be the true ending of 009, it may be possible that this Dolphin would wind up destroyed as it had in both the manga and Cyborg Soldier anime.

Call of Justice: The Dolphin III[]

The Dolphin III is the 2016 successor to the previous Dolphin ships from the manga. The ship has a highly advanced VTOL propulsion system that allows it to effortlessly take off and land. It also has a "stealth mode", which engages a cloaking device.

Cyborg 009 BGOOParts Delete: The Super Dolphin[]

In this spinoff manga, a far-future iteration of a Dolphin winds up introduced in the 7th chapter and becomes significant to the rest of the story. This "Super Dolphin" incarnation is much sleeker than any of its predecessors, with a curved torpedo-like shape and variable sweep wing/rudders for flight or steering under the sea.

The ship is equipped with control modules for each 00 Cyborg, with Ivan getting a special module to use with his psychic powers. The ship is operated by computers with hologram interfaces and has a state of the art sickbay.

The Dr. Gilmore of this future parallel world had built the Super Dolphin at some point, designing it to bring together all his cyborgs' abilities and reflect them, down to it having an acceleration mode like Joe (though the usage of this can cause "Acceleration sickness" in the occupants). This parallel version of Gilmore has since died of old age, but his spirit communicates with Ivan through the Super Dolphin, letting him know it's for their use, and hoping they may have need to come back to this world to use it once again during their awaited "final battle".

The 00 Cyborgs wind up feeling regretful they must leave behind the Super Dolphin in that world, once their mission is over, but remember that they can't bring anything back to their native Earth from other parallel ones without causing paradoxes.

Abilities[]

The Dolphin's features include jet propulsion for super sonic air travel, missile launchers, guns, torpedo bays, a hangar for aircraft and a drill tank, a galley and living quarters for the cyborgs and nuclear powered reactor for electricity and ship functions. According to 008 for the 2001 version, it is designed to be equipped for stealth from ordinary radar, presumably by using advanced radiation-absorbent material on its hull like on stealth bombers.

The Dolphin also has a laboratory and sickbay. It is often frequented by the 00 Cyborgs, who often go there to be repaired by Dr. Gilmore after sustaining injuries during a difficult battle. On a few occasions, they would also go to the sickbay due to being poisoned, incapacitated by EMP magnetic waves, and so on.

Specs (2001 version)[]

Length: 98 meters
Width: 33 meters in Sub Mode and 57 meters in Jet Mode
Top Speed: Mach 2.8 in Jet Mode, Speed in Sub Mode: Unknown

Gallery[]

Main article: Dolphin/Gallery