‘Pacific Rim Uprising’ Director Reveals Secrets of the New Jaegers

Chris Tilly
Movies
Movies

For Pacific Rim sequel Pacific Rim Uprising, Guillermo Del Toro has handed over the writing and directing reins to Steven DeKnight, the man behind TV’s Spartacus and Daredevil. DeKnight arrived with fresh ideas for new Jaegers to do battle with the invading hordes of Kaiju, so we asked him to give us the lowdown on each of the new battle-bots. So BEWARE OF JAEGER SPOILERS below…

Gipsy Avenger

Gipsy Avenger blueprint.

Steven DeKnight: “We, of course, have the flagship — the Starship Enterprise of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps — which is Gipsy Avenger. The successor to Gipsy Danger, which was destroyed at the end of the last movie. We went round and round about the name, and for a while, it was called Gipsy Danger 2.0, but that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, so we came up with the name Gipsy Avenger as it’s going to actually avenge its own death from the first movie.

“Of course, he has the chainsaw and the Plasma Cannon from the first movie. We created this really cool new weapon called the Gravity Sling, which basically can fire a gravity beam, scoop up cars and even buildings, and throw them at whatever it is fighting. Which to the little kid in me was awesome.”

Bracer Phoenix

Bracer Phoenix blueprint.

DeKnight: “Bracer Phoenix is the brute force Jaeger. That one has a three-man rig. The special ability there is one of the pilots can drop into the mid-section and operate a gun; these massive Vortex Cannons.”

Guardian Bravo

Guardian Bravo blueprint.

DeKnight: “Guardian Bravo‘s special weapon is the Arc Whip. Just like it sounds it’s an energy whip that it uses for close-quarters combat.”

Saber Athena

Saber Athena blueprint.

DeKnight: “Saber Athena, one of my favourite Jaegers, has twin Plasma Swords that can combine into one big Broad Sword.”

Titan Redeemer

Titan Redeemer blueprint.

DeKnight: “Titan Redeemer is a very tough, heavily armoured Jaeger. It has a Morning Star instead of a hand on its left. And we always called that the ‘Ball of Doom.’ It can smash the Kaiju with it. It can also throw it on a huge chain.”

Obsidian Fury

Obsidian Fury blueprint.

DeKnight: “Obsidian Fury is the mysterious Jaeger where no one knows who the pilots are. This is a rogue Jaeger. In the story of Pacific Rim Uprising, 10 years later, other people outside the PPDC have been slapping together their own rogue Jaegers, and Obsidian Fury is the most advanced. The special weapons Obsidian Fury has are twin Plasma Chainsaws and a Plasma Chest Cannon.”

Scrapper

DeKnight: “Scrapper is a mini-Jaeger. I say mini — it’s actually four stories tall. But mini compared to the other Jaegers. Scrapper was, as the name implies, built from scrap by Amara Nimani, a young girl living on her own. She’s built Scrapper to be able to run with one pilot. Which is possible due to Scrapper’s size.”

Pacific Rim Uprising hits screens this Friday (March 23).

Chris Tilly
Freelance writer. At this point my life is a combination of 1980s horror movies, Crystal Palace football matches, and episodes of I'm Alan Partridge. The first series. When he was in the travel tavern. Not the one after.