Some may wonder why Grendizer seemed defeated in a few of his battles.  It is very interesting to note that the bond between robot and pilot is very strong.  Anything Grendizer feels, Duke Freed will feel.  A major part of the performance of Grendizer depends on Duke Freed.  With that in mind, let's look closely at Grendizer's more dangerous battles and enemies.

Episode #2: Duke Freed vs. "Gamé Gamé"

In this episode, the Vegan saucer beast stuck to Grendizer and was dragging him towards the Earth in an attempt to crash with and destroy Grendizer.  Duke Freed could not launch the "Grendizer Go" because the Vegan saucer beast had him in a locked maneuver.

First of all, Grendizer would not have been destroyed if it crashed-landed with "Gamé Gamé".  It would have been damaged and Duke Freed would have been seriously hurt, but Grendizer wouldn't have been destroyed.  We know from episode #64 how Grendizer survived a bomb that would've blown up Tokyo, and then crashed from outer space right on the Earth and did not blow up.  That's mighty.

Secondly, Duke Freed was only piloting Grendizer for the second time.  Duke Freed as we mentioned is not a warrior, he was only piloting Grendizer for the second time on Earth.  Before that, he only used it once to escape from planet Freed.

So the issue here is inexperience in piloting Grendizer.  Duke Freed was not trained to pilot Grendizer, he learned it as he went.

Episode #7: Duke Freed vs. Captain Gorman

Duke Freed relived the horror of planet Freed in this episode.  Captain Gorman is a Vegan bodyguard and these bodyguards are trained and ruthless.

Because Duke Freed is still inexperienced in piloting Grendizer, he was not able to withstand this enemy.  The Vegan bodyguards pilot mecha robots that have invincible shields, but very weak bodies.

So here it is the human aspect in one area.  Duke Freed remembers the horrors of these bodyguards who were the heads of the army that destroyed his planet.

Duke Freed had the courage to go and fight Captain Gorman even though he knew full-well the might of these Vegan bodyguards.

It was treason that saved Duke Freed when Commander Blacki betrayed Captain Gorman who threatened Blacki's rank as commander.

The other area is inexperience again.  If Duke Freed used Grendizer to its maximum he could've launched his Spazer saucer from behind Captain Gorman and shot his robot "Gin Gin".  The Minifo easily took down Captain Gorman's mecha, so Spazer would have probably destroyed "Gin Gin" with the Melt Shower and/or Spin Saucer.

Episode #34: Duke Freed vs. Commander Goss

Duke Freed will face another strange and ruthless enemy here and Duke will win at the end because Commander Goss was not trying to fight him.  Commander Goss is from the Wolf planet and he becomes as strong as a wolf when the full moon appears.

Commander Goss threw off Duke Freed's concentration by first telling him about how he will defeat Duke to liberate the Wolf planet from Vega.  After the first battle with Duke Freed, Commander Goss lets him go after nearly winning.

Soon Commander Goss will come disguised as a human to Shirakaba farm and try to fight Duke Freed one-on-one a number of times.  The final time Goss will fall in the water and nearly drown, only to find an honorable Duke Freed to come and save him.

In the battle under the full moon Duke Freed managed to defeat Commander Goss and found his weakness because Commander Goss was not trying any offensive moves.  Commander Goss realized that he was wrong after Duke Freed saved him from drowning.

Duke's struggle came from his intimidation of this ruthless and cold fighter.  It seems like Commander Goss's story about having to win for his Wolf planet made Duke Freed very nervous from the very beginning.

Episode #36: Duke Freed vs. Commander Zegra

The Vegan bodyguard returns again and this time Commander Zegra's plan is to use Grendizer's weakness to his advantage.  The time that it takes Duke Freed to switch seats between Spazer and Grendizer is a very dangerous time.

In the same episode we see Koji in his new ship the Double Spazer which was developed to have Grendizer avoid having to lock in and out of Grendizer; thereby eliminating the seconds of death.

Duke Freed and Koji Kabuto will practice the Grendizer/Double Spazer docking for five hours before the next Vegan attack.

Duke Freed, like the last time with Captain Gorman, sensed the Vegan bodyguard's presence again.  Only to find that his senses had come true, Duke Freed will once again go and fight without hesitation.

This time, it is interesting to see that Duke has come a long way since the last time he fought a Vegan bodyguard.  His aiming and fire were much more accurate, but the shields of this mecha are as strong as that last one with Captain Gorman.

Dr. Umon's fears came true when Commander Zegra waits until Duke Freed tries to switch the cockpit module from Spazer to Grendizer, and then fires his beam as this is happening.

Duke Freed will suffer great injury here and Spazer will be slightly damaged.  Keep in mind that Duke Freed came out of an intense five hour training and just got hit with Grendizer's weakness, yet what do we see?

Duke Freed endures a great fight and actually damages the mecha of Commander Zegra before falling down again.  This is truly outstanding and a great show of power.

Koji Kabuto will then come and help Duke Freed by succeeding on his first try on the real Grendizer/Double Spazer docking to defeat the Vegan bodyguard.

Episodes #52 & #53: Duke Freed vs. General Dantos

Episode #52 was probably the most surprising and shocking episode for the Grendizer fans.  Grendizer actually gets his left arm ripped off by a mighty "King Gori".

"King Gori" captures Hikaru and Duke Freed out of fear for her launches Grendizer without thinking and charges at the enemy.  Grendizer misses and falls on his front and "King Gori" will grab his arm and pull it off.

This Vegan beast is controlled by General Dantos who is a close advisor to King Vega.  General Dantos directs the giant Gorilla and this is what makes it so strong.

In episode #53 Grendizer returns for a rematch after the repairs and the fight just goes on and on.  It is interesting to note that "King Gori" wasn't able to scratch Grendizer the second time.

The first time it was able to pull off Grendizer's arm was because Grendizer fell in a compromising position.  So instead of "King Gori" lifting up Grendizer for example, he pulled off his arm because Grendizer was too heavy to just lift up.

The question remains, what would have happened if Generals Gandal and Zuril did not commit treason and kill General Dantos ?  Would General Dantos have been able to defeat Grendizer ?  Didn't look like it to me.  It seemed like the fight was pretty even, and it was a matter of who would give up first.

One must not forget that Hikaru and Maria were in a different area and their help would have been an added bonus to Duke Freed and Koji Kabuto.

In the end though, that giant gorilla was on its own and Grendizer had absolutely no trouble in finishing it off.

One of Grendizer's weaknesses is that its weapon systems are extremely delicate and will short circuit a few times in the series.  In episode #11 the solar eclipse caused some malfunctions in the internal systems of Grendizer.  This happened again in episode #13 when Grendizer received a solar powered beam from the enemy and the weapons were not working.  In episode #27 Grendizer's weapons did not work after receiving a strong fire beam from saucer beast "Hado Hado" while tied up by another Vegan beast.  This happens again briefly in episode #47 when Grendizer was getting stomped by the enemy.

Overall, Grendizer is a very capable super robot.  Duke Freed was able to finish off many enemies in a matter of minutes.  The obstacle that sometimes came in Duke Freed's way was his radiation wound on his right arm from the attack on planet Freed.

Grendizer was able to take a lot of punishment and still remained in one piece.  Many of the enemy mechas came with spinning blades, missiles, and a variety of weapons.  We saw Grendizer get hit with many of these weapons and was able to withstand them.

Duke Freed will feel the pain with Grendizer.  An example of that is in episode #17 when "Giba Giba" threw its harpoon on Grendizer's right arm, we saw Grendizer holding its right arm as it was getting up.  Duke Freed felt that pain.  Another example is in episode #69 when Zuril Jr. made his mecha beast self-destruct on one of Grendizer's legs.  Duke Freed told Koji that his foot hurts.

The advantage to having such a strong bond between super robot and pilot is the accuracy and ability of the super robot to perform.  But again, the disadvantage is the pain that the pilot feels.  In the case of Duke Freed, his wound really gave him a hard time in some battles when the Vegans used Vegatron rays.