Nyoka Kabuto (formerly Niki) is a character from Astro Boy (1980) and is a major character in The Knights of the Multiverse. She's a Droid originally created by Dr. Rindolph but was taken in by Koji Kabuto and Sayaka Yumi and raised as their "adoptive" daughter, instilling in her a love for all living things and desire to use her weapons to protect others. She, alongside her younger sister Mohm & cousin Emily Tsurugi-Hono, and the occasional help of her older half-sister Lilulu, would go on to help their new friends in their future ventures of stopping criminals/villains and exploring the Multiverse.
Personality[]
Nyoka is a very sweet, kind and well-spoken young Droid that always tries to act courteous and polite towards others. She's also very humble, as while her parents are globally-famous heroes and their work has been world-changing in the New P/S Labs, she's been raised to never let that cloud her better judgement or think that their family's status makes them better than anyone else (helped that her father never really seemed to care about the "fame and fortune" part of the job anyway); although she will sometimes put her position to use if it will help the team, like extreme repairs or certain "favors". However, her upbringing has also made her quite shy at times due in part to the only other place she knew beforehand outside of her home was the lab, and as such has trouble opening herself up to others, even sometimes choosing not to raise her voice in fear of saying anything that might upset them when she first joined the team. But, this attitude does also make her very open to befriending others, and she becomes much more sociable as she continues to stand alongside her new team and the people that join it, quickly forming friendships with almost everyone that joins them and even sometimes throws a quip every now and again; although she's always enjoyed joking around and "goofing off" with others.
Inspired by her adoptive parents' courage and desires to help people, her main goal in joining the Knights was to try & become as strong and brave as they are. However, unlike her parents - or, really her father - she is very much against violence, at least for no reason, and only does so if necessary. But she still has a very virtuous spirit to her, as she will never stand idly by if innocent lives are at risk and will stand to the challenge should it approach her and her friends. And while she still doesn't actively seek it like some of her teammates do, she's just as capable and tough as they are, and will always stand by their sides when needed; and like Usagi, she's shown to be very "unforgiving" towards enemies that have proven themselves to be truly heartless. She's especially protective when it comes to her family and friends, often risk her life to protect them from any harm; although she can be a little too protective at times, especially when it concerns Mohm. She also more than makes up for it with how much/how far she'll go for her friends, often going to any length possible to make others happy, even if it means sacrificing her own happiness or health in the process. As the series goes on though, she does thankfully become more confident in herself and a lot less hesitant to jump into a fight with everyone else.
However, Nyoka doesn't rely on her weapons alone. She's quite the clever little cookie, utilizing her advanced scanning and hearing equipment to analyze and advise on complex combat situations almost instantaneously and perform tasks like hacking into enemy mainframes to download as much information as needed or defuse explosive-types as small as tripwires to as large as nuclear missiles. This often has her act as the strategist for Usagi's group, coming up with very creative (though sometimes strange) ways to infiltrate bases and take down bad guys and to help dictate coordinates for her teammates to strike enemies. She's also one to study all the options a situation provides before jumping into it so the team never goes in half-cocked. Her use of both her enhanced auditory & optical sensors in conjunction also makes her a great navigator and reconnaissance specialist for the team. She's even been able to use her smarts to outwit/outsmart enemies on multiple occasions.
History[]
Pre-Series[]
Just a little over two years ago, Nyoka, or "Niki" as she was originally supposed to be called, was created by one Dr. Rindolph after copying the blueprints of another Droid made by the New Photon Labs, Lilulu, in a twisted idea to have Kabuto & Yumi's most precious creation be turned against. However, he also modified the design to incorporate various other functions and weapons so he could use it as a weapon to destroy the fools that mocked his genius & anyone else that got in his way; however, he also kept the design aspect of it looking like a female child - albeit changed to resemble a nine-year-old rather than a teenager, as he had longed to have a child of his own (though whether or not he deserved to have a child was an entirely other matter). However, Rindolph's plans were discovered and was arrested by the EDC before he could activate her. She would only remain sealed away in his personal lab until she was discovered by Koji Kabuto and Sayaka Yumi as they were investigating their former employee's projects. The two soon activated the little Droid and raised her as their adoptive daughter while also trying to help her control her powers. At first, Koji was the only one that took a more parental-type role towards her with Sayaka being a lot more skeptical because of how much power she had. But she soon warmed up to her after Nyoka saved during a Super Robot attack and she saw how well she handled herself, and how much the Droid cared for her.
As time passed, it became clear that Nyoka was becoming very lonely being left at home while they were at work. So, they decided to literally make her a companion by creating a new Droid based off of her blueprints. They named her Mohm, and Nyoka immediately welcomed her with open arms. Seemingly as soon as their optic sensors met, the two knew there was a beautiful bond between them and they've been close ever since, spending as much time playing with each other as they did be homeschooled. She did prove to be a bit of a handful at times, but she thankfully grew out of this phase thanks to her sister's tutelage.
Mini-Series[]
Nyoka made her first appearance in when the Knights arrived on Earth Prime.
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
Season 3[]
Equipment & Weapons Systems[]
- Optic Scanners
Nyoka's optics come with telescopic and X-ray vision, allowing her to things at a range of 50km and through walls and buildings, or even through environmental structures. She's even able to use it to scan wires to explosive devices and weaponry to see which components she needs to cut to disable them.
- Hyper-Sensitive Hearing
Nyoka's auditory sensors allow her to hear sounds very far away or even sounds close by that the others might not be able to hear. This also extends to being able to pick up any type of electronic noises, allowing her to detect hidden machinery and robots, and even if a person is a Droid or not. She can also amplify it by 1000 times to get a more definite reading on any strange noises she hears. She can also use this in conjunction with her scanners built to pinpoint an opponent's weak points.
- Head Crest Gem
The gem-like button on Nyoka's head crest (which is what connects her hairpiece to her head) is actually a luminous barometer device connected directly to her Photon Core. It's mainly used to measure her remaining power, as it will flash a bright red whenever she's running low on energy and subsequently flash a bright blue when she's fully recharged. It can also act as a powerful search light, able to emit a beam of light that can reach out to about 5 feet in front of her.
- Photon Flash
- Nyoka projects a bright light from her gem, which covers a wide area that will paralyzes anyone in its path & blind them for a brief moment. For robot enemies especially, the light can sometimes be so bright that it runs the risk of burning out their electronic brains.
- Electronic Ports
Nyoka has four ports lined on each side of her head crest, which she can use to link into any electronic device that allow her to download information from it, from blueprints on Droids & Super Robots to transactions between computer terminals.
- Rapid Data Retention
Nyoka is able to read hundreds of pages of information - either digital or physical - a minute and absorb the text within. She can also wirelessly absorb computer files, such as audio files and documents, when she connects to a device via a port cable plugged into one of her head crest's ports.
- "Sister Radar"
Thanks to their shared internal mechanisms, when she was first activated, Nyoka's electronic brain matched frequencies with Lilulu's. Since then, they've established a special frequency that allows them to communicate with each other in a psychic-like link over great distances, as well as sense wherever the other is & home in on their location. It's even strong enough to break either of the two out of remote-control waves. Her friends jokingly refer to it as their "sister radar"
- Leg Boosters
Nyoka can retract her feet into her legs to activate a set of rocket thrusters, which allow her to fly at high speeds and across great distances. She also has an extra pair built into her arms to give her an extra boost in speed or to stabilize herself while in flight.
- Super Strength
Nyoka is incredibly strong, even by Droid standards. She was designed with a 1,000,000-horsepower engine, which allows her to showcase incredible feats like tunnel through solid rock with ease, lift Mecha nearly ten times her size into the air and sometimes even punch a hole right through enemy robots.
- Photon Beam Fingers
The tips of Nyoka's pointer fingers open to allow her to fire Photon beams. She typically uses these to either cut items by emitting it at a low output or as a normal laser beam that can either blast right through enemy Droids or sometimes slice them in half. She can also hold the beam for a short amount of time to deal even more damage or make a more precise cut.
- Photon Cannons
Nyoka is able to transform her forearms into Photon Cannons that fire incredibly powerful Photon Beams, though she usually saves these for larger and more dangerous opponents/situations, preferring to stick mostly with her Finger Beams. When she does use them though, they fire an enormous, powerful beam of Photon Energy that can take out small groups of enemies and is almost guaranteed to do serious damage to Droid and Mecha foes alike; though she is also able to fire shorter, generally weaker blasts from them to target only specific points. If she spins around while firing with an arm cannon, she can create a shield that can protect her and those around her from practically all enemy attacks. However, she can't fire it so many times as repeated blasts will drain a lot of her power.
- Laser Arm
Inspired by Agnes's Fire Chop, Nyoka charges her Photon Energy into one of her arms; but rather than converting her hand into a Photon Cannon, she channels the energy into the arm itself, covering her entire forearm in a bright blue light. She then performs a supercharged hand chop maneuver that's strong enough to cut through 10cm-thick steel.
Combo Attacks[]
- Double Photon Buster
Combo attack w/ Mohm: The Kabuto sisters fire a combined blast of the older sister's Photon Cannon and the younger's Photon Charge Shot.
- Spiral Photon Knuckle
Combo attack w/ Emily: Emily launches her Spiral Knuckle and Nyoka boosts it with a blast from one of her Photon Cannons, with the fists spiraling like a drill as they accelerate forward.
- Triple Cutter Strike
Combo attack w/ Usagi & Emily: Usagi and Emily stab their target from the front and back, then raise them into the air. Then, Nyoka drops from the sky and cuts through the enemy with her Laser Arm for the Killshot.
- Triple Photon Attack
Combo attack w/ Lilulu & Orguss: All three Kabuto sisters fire a volley of Photon Beam blasts at an enemy, ending the attack with a final full-powered blast from the trio.
- Cosmic Moon Crash
Group combination attack: When facing an enemy that's too strong, Nyoka and her friends will combine their powers into a ball of pure, combined energy, with Nyoka supplying a blast of from one of her Photon Cannons. It can be formed with only four others, but for the truly powerful foes, all of them will partake in creating the ball, making it even bigger than it usually is.
Relationships[]
Dr. Rindolph[]
Though she does accept that he is her creator, Nyoka has never thought of Rindolph as her father. Apart from her not being present during her activation, she disassociated with him quite quickly after Koji told her all of the questionable activity he did prior to her creation.
Koji Kabuto & Sayaka Yumi[]
Koji and Sayaka are the most important people in Nyoka's life, viewing the two as her mother and father. They were the ones that instilled in her the ideals of using her powers to protect those that can't defend themselves, as well as how that there will always be evil people that want to hurt others for their own selfish desires, and they will need to be put down. She's always willing to help them in their projects, and is quick to protect them, even at the cost of her own life. She used to cling pretty tight to the two of them before the events of the series, but as she started spending more time with Usagi and the rest of her new friends, she started spending less and less time with them, though she still helps them out whenever she can. Of course, she does get annoyed by all of their bickering from time to time, especially when it revolves around trying to gain her affection, and she'll be quick to call them out on their antics.
Mohm[]
Nyoka loves Mohm dearly, and is very attached to her. She's always looked out for her little sister's safety due to her not built to fight like she was. Actually, it was because of this that she often scolded her early on whenever she would try to do something to dangerous, especially when she "stole" Orguss the first time she took the experimental Mech out, thinking that she was at a much higher risk of being destroyed. But when she learned about how insecure and sad this attitude made her little sister, she became very remorseful and started to lighten up, trying to become supportive of her efforts to get stronger (to a certain extent, of course) and use her skills to help out the team. As the two continue to grow through their battles against the forces of evil, Nyoka still looks out for her, but Mohm has started to return the favor and has saved her several times (to the best of her ability, at least). As they kept fighting the good fight, though she still tries to look out for her little sister as much as she can, such as when she started piloting Orguss and Nyoka tried to teach her how to use her newfound power the same way their parents taught her, Mohm has been able to encourage and inspire her in turn, recognizing her for her courage and steadfastness in the face of even the most hopeless crisis.
Lilulu[]
Nyoka loves her big sister very much, and is always happy to see her, whether it be to aid her in a fight or just to catch up after a long time and talk. She's also very quick to defend her against the other Knights when they question her motives. However, she's also very adamant about her amending her tethered bond with their "parents".
Emily[]
Nyoka and Emily have been close for much of their lives, knowing each other since Nyoka was only about a week after she came online. Despite being created by different parts of the New P/S Labs, they genuinely see each other as cousins, with Nyoka being more the meek and soft-spoken of the duo. Heck, they've even bonded over being the adoptive members of their families. As such, she loves her older "relative" very much, with her being the only person Nyoka could turn to when she needed talk about anything she couldn't talk about with even her parents for a long time.
Tetsuya Tsurugi & Jun Tsurugi-Hono[]
As he is Koji's adoptive brother, Nyoka thinks of Tetsuya as her uncle, and his wife Jun as her aunt. Even if she doesn't see them very often, she still cares about them very much and is always happy whenever they decide to visit.
Usagi Tsukino[]
Usagi is Nyoka's best and closest friend. She was the first person (aside from Emily) that Nyoka felt she could be open about her feelings, and the two depend on each other to get through a great deal of things, with Usagi encouraging her as she helps keep the young Droid from getting too down on herself, while Nyoka helps the future Moon Princess keep on her toes and gives the occasional insight, especially on how to be a better big sister for Roscarl. She also believes very much in her powers, confident that she will soon master all of them and they'll always help save the day and is usually the first person to help protect her if she gets in too much trouble. They both also bonded over their shared love for their parents & the great work they've done in the past but also fear that they might let them down. She was also the most vocal in helping Usagi get Atros to see the light.
Meryl[]
Meryl was one of Nyoka's closest friends during her brief time at the Labs. When she ran away, she was very heartbroken to hear it (especially after her mother explained the probable cause for her to flee), but she always held out hope that she'd find her again. She even kept her dress with the rest of her clothes just in case, even bringing with them when she moved into the Glomar.
When the team found her and brought her onboard, the two Droids rekindled their old friendship, with Nyoka often being the one that often comes to her side whenever she has one of her panic attacks.
Roscarl[]
Roscarl is a very good friend of Nyoka's. And while Usagi is obviously a little more hands-on with trying to help train/care for the little Droid since she's her "big sister", Nyoka tries to help her whenever she can.
Ayako[]
Agnes[]
Nyoka gets along very well with Agnes, with the two bonding over being made by mad men and moving away from their terrible circumstances. Of course, Nyoka offered a lot of sympathy towards Agnes for knowing who her creators were, only to have them treat her as poorly as they did while she wasn't even activated for the "real reason" she was born.
Lorelai[]
Nyoka was one of the many people in the Knights that offered Lorelai words of comfort after she lost her father. She also offered her some advice about her position of being made to fight, counseling her over how she could still live a peaceful life, but it was just as important to use the powers she's been created with to help people. Since then, the two have been good friends.
Atros[]
LIke the rest of the team, Nyoka saw Atros as a very dangerous foe when she first arrived on the scene. Even when Usagi started to try and convince her that there was more to life than fighting, Nyoka was a little hesitant to show her any leniency given how hostile she was towards them.
Magneto[]
Honey Kisaragi[]
As one of Koji's longtime friends, and another android, Nyoka views Honey as an aunt of sorts, even to the point of acknowledging her as "Aunt Honey".
Honey Jr.[]
Like the rest of the team, Nyoka took sympathy on Honey Jr. when she learned of her defect, maybe slightly more than the others due to her being her "cousin".
Drum[]
Like the rest of the group, Nyoka took a liking to Drum very quickly, both for her good-hearted nature and her clear sense of right and wrong that many other Renegade Droids clearly lacked.
Tobikage[]
Chaotique[]
Lime[]
Ruri Saotome[]
Getter Team[]
Despite the friendship between her father and the Getter Team, Nyoka often feels rather indimiated by her "uncles'" behaviors; her "uncle" Ryoma especially. Though she does still recognize them as heroes that have saved the world numerous times.
L.O.S.R.[]
Axis Zeon[]
Guild of the Multiverse[]
Gallery[]
Notes[]
In her original depiction, Nyoka was created using stolen blueprints to a prototype of Astro himself that included a neutron bomb, which made up a lot of her internal components. At the end of the episode, the bomb inside her is activated by Dr. Rindolph and to prevent it from exploding, she is completely dismantled; but due Rindolph of the episode destroying the blueprints earlier, she was unable to be rebuilt. This version of Nyoka, obviously, doesn't follow her original storyline. In fact, her backstory is based heavily off of Astro's to parallel her original counterpart's connection to him, such as her having his weapons systems point-for-point (minus a couple weapons like his "butt machine guns" 'cause that would have just be... awkward) and being adopted by the head - or in this case, heads - of a scientific facility & being inspired by their example(s) to protect the world, though does have to deal with their original creator popping up every now and again to interfere. It also tries to expand on some aspects of her personality slightly hinted at in her original appearance, like a couple times she showed a bit of creative/clever side to help Astro sneak into the fortress she "lived in" a couple of times to sort of make her effectively the planner of Usagi's core group of friends that analyzes situations and come up with smart/creative solutions but compounded by having issues with social interaction, along the lines of characters like Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury, Hazuki Fujiwara from Ojamajo Doremi, or Cyborg 003 - who also acts as an influence on how she utilizes the scanner equipment she's "inherited" from Astro (heck, they both even have blonde-ish hair and red headbands).
- Nyoka's jewel-like sensor was originally simply the indicator that her bomb had been activated, with it sliding into her head and flashing/glowing. Here, it's been repurposed into acting like an Ultraman's Color Timers, where its used to indicate that she's low on power (helped that coincidentally Nyoka's button flashed red like the Timers when low); although obviously unlike the Ultras and their timers, Nyoka doesn't have a time limit for when it flashes. It also acts as a replacement for Astro's searchlight eyes, being able to project light from it as well.
- Her limbs have the visible doll-like segments/joints Astro had in the 1980 series, mostly to give her design an extra little "flare".
- Similarly to her jewel, the white buttons along the sides of Nyoka's crest have been made into R2-D2-like ports for electronic cables were given as a way to give them a purpose, much like many other Droid characters that take simple accessories on their persons & make them actual features.
- Nyoka's name being "Niki" before Koji and Sayaka adopted her is actually the name she went by in the English Dub of the 80's series. She actually has three differently translated names, as she was called "Nuka" in the game Astro Boy: Omega Factor. However, this series retains the name that her original kanji (ニョーカ) translates out to, mostly since every other Anime character maintains their original names Japanese names (plus, Koji and Sayaka's families are Japanese in origin).
Just as Ruri takes inspiration from Go of Getter Robo Armageddon, Nyoka takes inspiration from LiSA from Mazinger Z Infinity, serving as an information storage unit - which also acts as a way to incorporate the digits in her headband in some way - and being (one of) Koji and Sayaka's (adoptive) daughter.
As another parallel to her original partner, Nyoka's family in this series is all based off of both Astro and Mega Man's families: Lilulu is her Atlas/Proto Man, Emily is her Cobalt (as in she's the more light-hearted older "sibling" that helps take care of her), Mohm is her Uran/Roll - which also acts as a nod to them both being designed by Haruhiko Mikimoto, as well as their similar hair styles and similar color palettes for their clothing, and Lime is her Chiitan, as both are rather childish robots (mentally, at least) that the older robot has to keep out of trouble.
- The Kabuto sisters' dynamic can also be seen as somewhat of a meta-reference to the original three Mazinger anime - Z, Great and Grendizer. Mohm & Nyoka are similar to Z & Great as their designs are based off of one-another (both in-universe and in real life) & they're almost always together, while Lilulu only has a few similarities to the two design/power-wise. One could even include Emily in this as a parallel to Getter Robo as both are robots that aren't really superficially connected but are still treated as part of the "family".
- As another nod to her and Mohm both being designed by Mikimoto, Nyoka's design (mainly her eyes & facial expressions) is meant to more closely resemble Mikimoto's character designs.
The way Nyoka uses her newly-acquired Arm Cannons is heavily based off of the Wing Zero's Twin Buster Rifle, with her often activating both of them & facing them forward or downward to blast her target, and sometimes even firing them at full blast while spinning in a Pirouette-like twirl like the Wing Zero would to eliminate a large group of enemies. Her gem crest will also glow red whenever she activates her cannons too, in a manner similar to how the crest of Wing Zero's chest would glow whenever it activated the ZERO System.
Astro's arm glowing after using his Arm Cannon for the first time in the 2003 AB series.
Nyoka's Laser Arm is based directly off of Metalder's attack of the same name, given to her mainly she has a more powerful physical attack. It's also loosely inspired by how sometimes when Astro's arm would change back to normal in the 2003 series, it would glow a bright blue before fading back to normal.
Nyoka's outfit has been changed from a long-sleeved dress with an apron to a simple short-sleeved dress with a white collar & dark red band around her waist, which is mainly based off of Uran's design from the 80's series and the character Makiko Shikishima from Shin Tetsujin 28 thanks to their similar color palettes. This is mainly to make her look a little more like a normal girl and (on a more practical note) make it less of a hazard for her to tear through her sleeves every time she activates her Cannons. That said though, she will sometimes don her apron from her original design whenever she cooks or helps with chores and whatnot.
Nyoka is the only cast member of the first season (in Usagi's group, that is) that does not have her own dedicated "rival"-type character in the same way as Usagi & Atros or Agnes/Lorelai & Drum. Instead, this role is fulfilled by Lilulu and her & the cast's evolving dynamics until she joins the Knights by the end of the season.