Weisz Steiner

Weisz Steiner (ワイズ・シュタイナー, Waizu Shutainā, also spelled "Wise")[vol. 9][ch. 99] is a man who practices the Ether Gear "Machina Maker" (マキナ・メイカー, Makina Meikā), allowing him to freely modify machines to different effects such as improving their performance, repairing and deconstructing them, or remodeling them into weapons.[ch. 11, 27] Shortly before the events of the series, he flees from the Chronophage (時食み, Tokihami), a space monster that consumes fifty years of time from Weisz's home planet, Norma (ノーマ, Nōma).[ch. 11] This results in two alternate versions of him that are able to co-exist as separate people: his adolescent self, an amoral but good-natured criminal who joins the Edens Zero crew; and his elderly, present-day self, who has since matured into an esteemed robotics professor.[ch. 6, 11] The younger Weisz first encounters Shiki's group after betraying his friend and partner, Sibir, due to a misunderstanding over a stolen pendant that belonged to Weisz's deceased mother,[ch. 6, 96] an event that led to the elder Weisz getting his arm amputated by Drakken Joe in Norma's original history.[ch. 91] After joining Shiki's group to evade Norma's police,[ch. 10] Weisz briefly embarks on his own to indulge in the present era,[ch. 16] but later grows accustomed to the Edens Zero crew and remains with them,[ch. 28] intending to wish for wealth and beautiful women from Mother.[ch. 48, 100] During the crew's travels, Weisz assumes a superhero identity named Arsenal (アーセナル, Āsenaru) with a powered exoskeleton that he customizes with his Ether Gear.[ch. 61, 62] Mashima described the character as "one of the good guys, but still a scumbag", which he noted he does not write often for the characters of his works. He also said that Weisz's role in the story was "pretty clearly laid out", which made it "fairly easy to get [him] to do what I want".[vol. 2]