Cybertron

This article is about a series draft in VR Troopers.

Cybertron Logo

The show was originally called Psycon and Cybertron in pre-production, but was later changed to VR Troopers.

The Cybertron pilot starred Jason David Frank as Adam Steele and drew its source footage from Metalder. Frank's character was depicted as a solo hero going up against an army of sentient robots known as War Drones who were led by the evil Grimlord. Grimlord's alternate identity in the pilot was known as Cyrus Riktor (Gardner Baldwin) who also had a son named Percy Riktor, Adam's martial arts rival. Tao Chong (Richard Rabago) was also present and served as Adam's caretaker and sensei and Cybertron's mentor. Tao also had a daughter named Mia, and Doug Sloan played the part of Tyler Steele. A pair of bumbling news reporters named Elmo (played by Jamie Kennedy) and Scuzzy, who would've served as the series' comic relief, were also featured. These two characters and Percy Riktor were merged into Percival Rooney III. 

The Psycon premise was similar to the Cybertron pilot, with the robot army known as Cyberdrones, the inclusion of Mouse MacKenzie as a supporting character, and Mia being Tao's granddaughter.

Characters

Cybertron

Adam Steele

Allies

• Tyler Steele
• Tao Chong
• Mia Chong
• Mouse MacKenzie
• Elmo and Scuzzy
• Percy Riktor

Villains

• Cyrus Riktor/Grimlord (later changed to Karl Ziktor/Grimlord) 

Trivia

• Cybertron is, coincidentally, the name of the Transformers' home planet. The producers most likely realized this before having to change the name to VR Troopers.
• VR Troopers toys were produced by Kenner (original toy brand for Star Wars) rather than Bandai, which would explain the namesake itself. Hasbro owned Kenner at the time & also the owners of the Transformers would later end up buying Power Rangers & all of Saban's ips from Saban Brands.
• The theme song for this pilot was later rewritten for "Go Green Ranger Go" in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers first 2 seasons.
• In the first rough cut of the show's development, Seiji Yokoyama's score ("The Breath" in Choujinki Metalder OST) from Metalder was heard during the preview of Grimlord's voice over.
• The show went through two different name changes, Psycon and Cybertron. In the Psycon pilot script, the main character was Adam Steele, who merged with the cyborg Psycon instead of transforming into it. The enemy was Grimlord, whose alter ego was Cyrus Ritker, who led a robot army known as Cyberdrones. Cyrus had a son called Percy who was Adam's martial arts rival. Adam's mentor and caretaker was a martial arts sensei called Tao. Adam was friends with Tao's daughter Mia and a young kid called Mouse MacKenzie. The Cybertron pilot starred Jason David Frank as Adam and drew its source footage from Super Machine Metalder. Adam was depicted as a solo hero going up against an army of robots known as Wardrones, led by Grimlord/Cyrus Rikter. Percy, Tao Chong, and Mia were also included. Doug Sloan played Tyler Steele in flashbacks. A pair of bumbling news reporters named Elmo, played by Jamie Kennedy, and Scuzzy, would've provided comic relief. Its theme song was based on Ron Wasserman's "Go Green/White Ranger Go" song in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993).

See also

• Choujinki Metalder
• Day of the Dumpster (pilot), the pilot of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
• Kamen Rider Dragon Knight pilot