- This is the Article Based on the Character, Balzak Globotron. for the pcg with the same name, see Balzak Globotron (Game)
Balzak Globotron is a Sphere Child, searching for his origins and to find out about his nature. He's a crewmember aboard the legendary starship Taburnackle, and the crew informally accepts him as the ship's captain. He also has his own personal shuttlecraft, which he stole from an alien race who had kidnapped him.
History[]
Childhood[]
Balzak was created on Szan'Xi by Ginkus, working with the scientists of Future Lab. He was among the first to be created along with his brother Yappalit. The three of them were initially close.
However, after the Future Lab staff betrayed Ginkus, all 200 of his brothers -- the Sphere Children -- escaped in canisters and ended up in different locations throughout space. Balzak lost his memory for unknown reasons. (“Balzak Globotron”)
Balzak Globotron and Yppit were both contained in a cell, Yppit was drawing a picture of Ginkus, himself, and Balzak, they felt betrayed, but little did they know, that Ginkus didn't cause this, the Crodin were responsible for the force of cruel tests on these Sphere Children. Yppit and Balzak used the opportunity of a guard walking by to strangle him and steal his key. They freed all the Sphere Children on their block, but the guards were right on their heels, in a daring act of bravery, Yppit faced the guards to let the others make a successful escape off world.
Yppit was captured and remained in the facility for many years. Future Lab, not satisfied to just kill him, continuously tortured Yppit till he was nothing more than a broken-down cripple. Yppit, years later, left to suffer on the streets, stumbled upon an article that showed a hopeful sight to Yppit, it was an article that theorized about finding The Heart Of The Universe which would give Yppit unlimited joy to his tortured soul.
Yppit never found his Heart Of The Universe (Into the Heart of the World ), and instead only found more anger and dissapointment, he then tried another planet (Molemen on Gondo!), but again, it only yielded more anger and killings. So as we can see, not all heroes stay heroes forever, some sadly take a darker path when facing the harshness of society. (A Forgotten Friendship In A Forgotten Time)
Reawakening & Amnesia[]
A man named Alton found a strange canister in space and brought it aboard his space-station. Inside it was a collection of metallic spheres. After removing the spheres from the canister, Alton discovered that they were all connected to each other through electromagnetism, and the connection was growing stronger. Soon, they were causing each other to float in the air. After a few days, the spheres had formed into a man. Alton named the strange creature Balzak Globotron.
Balzak had no memories of his true nature and embarked on a quest to find out what he was. This quest started when he was forcibly taken from the station by invading aliens. He escaped from them, stealing a shuttle which soon became his personal ship. He soon encountered the starship Taburnackle, which was run by a loose crew made up of various aliens. They learned to trust him, and named him captain after a time. (“Balzak Globotron”)
Aboard the Taburnackle[]
With the resources of the Taburnackle, Balzak was able to begin searching the entire Mez'Dora Corridor of space for answers. Among the first planets they visited was Shairek, which was Matak Rho' Shivej's homeworld. There, Balzak met Matak's people, the Tryptozians, including Matak's murderous cousin who was convincing the Tryptozian people to join The Alliance. The Tryptozians briefly captured Balzak and Matak, but the two were able to escape.
Another planet they visited was Mortalis, a planet almost entirely constructed of bone. There, they encountered the Silver Scorpion, which they brought back to the ship. Part of the Scorpion's material was converted to fuel for the Taburnackle, weakening the vehicle considerably.
On a clue, Balzak took the ship to Getzor, where they sought out the old man Humphrey, who supposedly had clues to Balzak's origin. After overcoming some trials, they made it to Humphrey's castle, and Humphrey himself pointed them in the direction of Shri. (“Balzak Globotron”)
Shri and beyond[]
However, Shri was protected by a fleet of 25 ships, and they could not approach. Balzak began to work on building a fleet.
Eventually he returned with a fleet and overpowered the Crodin fleet, landing on the planet in his personal craft at night.
Exploring the planet, they found that Ginkus' ancient tower was sealed off by a force field and they could not enter. Entering the nearby lab they saw a mechanical Clown on a Stick torturing innocent Zorelta people. This was Zoovac, who had been sent back in time where he had been captured and reprogrammed by the evil Crodin. Now he was a torturer for them.
Balzak arrives at the top of the tower, finding Ginkus still there after 1000 years.
They incapacitated Zoovac, but right before he lost consciousness, his good nature reclaimed him and he told Balzak how to get through the force field on Ginkus' building.
As it turned out, the force field was made of the very same energy as Balzak, and with the clue from Zoovac, all he had to do was attune himself to the field's frequency and he could pass right through.
Entering the building, he found a struggle frozen in time. Crodin still fighting Zorelta, unmoving after 1000 years due to the force field. Making his way to the top of the eerily quiet building, Balzak climbed to the top of the tower -- where he found Ginkus, the last King of the Zorelta, frozen, the force field surrounding the building emanating from his staff.
Balzak awakened Ginkus, the force field immediately retreating. Ginkus was happy to be reunited with Balzak, but wouldn't say how he knew him. Though he did mysteriously refer to him as "son". He promised to explain more fully once he had secured his tower from the Crodin all around. (“Balzak Globotron”)
Answers on Szan'Xi[]
Balzak Globotron, looking more three-dimensional than usual.
By the end of his adventure, Balzak Globotron found out much of his origin. He was one of roughly 200 'Sphere Children' created by Ginkus and a group of scientists who were working for The Alliance. The scientists eventually betrayed Ginkus by arming his political opponents with weapons based on the technologies which now make up Balzak.
Soon after the betrayal, the Sphere Children learned what had happened and violently escaped the lab where they'd been created out of loyalty to their 'father'. Balzak remained for the longest amount of time, since he was the youngest of the Sphere Children and the most innocent. He had less of an idea what was going on. The scientists coveted him, since they couldn't create any more Sphere Children or related life forms made from the metallic spheres without Ginkus' help. Balzak did eventually escape, however. (“Balzak Globotron”)
Early Versions[]
Unnamed Captain[]
The very first drawing of the Balzak Globotron bridge, and in fact, the first screen ever drawn for Balzak Globotron. To the left is Chanai and Matak Rho'Shivej, both very similar to their ultimate depictions. To the right is a chair, intended to be a Captain's chair, where the main character is intended to sit; The man himself is absent. Ironically, the chair itself didn't make it into the game. Above and to the right is an early form of Bob.
When the game 'Balzak Globotron' was still in its early stages, it didn't have a protagonist. It centered around the crew of the starship, all of whom were mostly fully realized. The original idea had an unnamed captain of the ship as the protagonist; nothing was known about him at this point, though the creator was trying to come up with an unconventional character (Probably some sort of alien or robot).
'Jim'[]
The drawing of the Taburnackle crew included in the letter. From left to right: Bob, Johnson, Bob (different form), Unknown (Character so far not included in final game), Jim (later Balzak), a Tin Woman (not in final game), sitting on Matak.
An early, incomplete drawing of 'Jim', who would later be known as Balzak Globotron.
In a letter the creator wrote to his friend, he included a drawing of all the crewmembers thus far of the ship as well as some original characters. Among the original characters was a tin woman, and, thinking that she needed some sort of a boyfriend, the creator thought of and drew a little man made of the metallic spheres connected by electromagnetism that so frequently appeared in the creator's works at the time. He labelled the character, 'Jim'.
It wasn't till later on that Jim filled the role of the captain of the starship. At the time of the drawing, Jim was intended just to be an extra character to fill out the drawing, not necessarily a part of the crew. However, he fit in so well with the rest of the crew that the idea of him as the unnamed captain from the earlier drawing of the bridge percolated in the creator's mind and stuck. However, the name 'Jim' wasn't entirely satisfying, partially because it was blatantly the name of the captain from Star Trek and also it was too ordinary for the character.
Jerry[]
Another name thrown around in the game's development was Jerry. Jerry featured in early versions of the game's script. During this time, the creator worked to figure out how to draw him correctly. The earliest drawings of him made from two main spheres, the torso and head, with the rest of his spheres small and uniform. But the creator wanted a more detailed, dynamic image of him, and finally came up with the version seen in the final game.
Globozak Baltron[]
The creator decided he needed to come up with a final name, unsatisfied with either Jim or Jerry. He asked others for advice, and received two main suggestions: "Globozak" and "Baltron". Mulling over these names, he decided, "why not use both?" And Globozak Baltron was born.
However, this name still didn't sit quite right. For one thing, the name sounded too close to Gaius Baltar, a character from Battlestar Galactica. It was only when he mashed up the names - creating Balzak Globotron - that everything made sense.
Appearances[]
See Also[]
Balzak's crew V • E
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