We’re thrilled to bring you the exclusive reveal of the first trailer for gen:LOCK! This trailer was first introduced at the tail-end of the recent Volume 5 finale of RWBY for FIRST members, but we now have it available for everyone to see. The brand-new, original mecha series is the next big animated adventure for Rooster Teeth, the super-successful studio behind the landmark Red vs. Blue series and the smash hit RWBY. Those shows will enjoy their 16th season and 6th volume, respectively, this year, but all eyes will be on the debut of gen:LOCK, the studio’s biggest production since RWBY hit the airwaves.

Confession: I’m a bit mecha-obsessed. I was that kid who went all-in on a friend’s pen-and-paper/website Gundam RPG back in the day. I doodled mecha in my notebook margins and even occupied myself building mecha models during an extended hospital stay. I love this stuff. gen:LOCK looks to be an interesting addition to the sub-genre and if Rooster Teeth’s existing animated series are any indication, it should be one that’s worthy of such obsession.

Check out the first trailer for gen:LOCK below:

On the losing side of a global war, Earth’s last free society recruits a diverse team of young pilots to control the next-generation of mecha—giant, weaponized robot bodies. These daring recruits will find, however, that their newfound abilities come at no small cost.

We previously reported on gen:LOCK after attending Rooster Teeth’s RTX 2017 convention where Gray G. Haddock, who heads up the company’s animation wing, teased the series. He said that gen:LOCK is intended to be “slightly more mature in [its] storytelling and could appeal to the RWBY fans as they continue to grow up.” They’re also aiming to satisfy fans of big sci-fi ideas and their flagship show, Red vs. Blue, with Haddock citing titles like Ghost in the Shell, Gundam, Aldnoah Zero, Gargantua, and the writing of Gen Urobuchi, and Kiznaiver as sources of inspiration.

As far as the animation style, fans can expect a bit more detailed character and mech designs to go along with the slightly more mature storytelling. In a very cool move, Rooster Teeth reached out to RWBY fan and super-talented artist Bach Do (a.k.a. dishwasher1910); the art student not only had his concept artwork used to announce the new series, he also became an official remote contract employee of Rooster Teeth just for this show!

More details emerged along with the first teaser for the new series. The story of gen:LOCK starts at the beginning of a new global culture war:

People with one set of views are done being patient with people with other views, and there’s a particular portion of the global culture that has recognized that even though they’re spread out among former nation-states, they have certain things in common, and organize to do a territory grab, so they can form new areas around the world that are very much a mono-culture representing just their views. Then you have everyone else who doesn’t agree with that perspective.

gen:LOCK also focuses on issues of identity [and] whether it’s possible to defend yourself against a threat while maintaining your ideals:

gen:LOCK is “a technological breakthrough on the side of the war that we’re following that is very new and raw,” and that “it has to be pressed into service very early, compared to what you’d want to do with this technology, because if they don’t put it into service soon, then it’s not going to matter,” and that’s presumably tied into the “mech” armor that the characters will wear.

The protagonist is a young, male American from Brooklyn named Julian Chase, a former military pilot who serves as the audience’s entry point:

“He can apply his former combat experience and signature fighting style in unique ways to what it’s like to drive a mech. He’s gone through some tragedy we’ll talk about the first episode of the show, and he’s having to adjust to life after that. He’s charming, funny, and the first guy to break the ice and make sure people around him are doing okay. But over the course of the first year, we’ll learn exactly what he went through that he’s struggling against.”

Other team members include people from Japan, the U.K., the Ukrainian/Russian area, and the Middle East, which you’ll note in the silhouettes shown in both the images and the first trailer:

“We’ve got a half-dozen people that will form our first gen:LOCK team, and Chase is one of the primaries that we’re going to be following most closely over the course of the first year.”

Are you excited to check out gen:LOCK? Be sure to let us know in the comments!