I'm curious as to which Shinki have flight capability with their stock equipment and which do not. The Busou Shinki Roleplay Wiki is incomplete, and apparently you can't just go by which Shinki have wings and which don't, since Valona allegedly cannot fly while the wingless Strarf series can.

Based on the anime and what other info I've been able to find (and failing all else, logic), these are the Shinki I understand to be flight capable:

Arnval - all models
Strarf - all models
Tsugaru - all models
Eukrante - all models
Asuka - all models
Lancamento
Espadia
Vespelio
Altlene - all models
Altines - all models
Raptias - all models
Vervietta
Lirbiete
Mizuki - all models(?)
Werkstra - all models
Valona - all models(?)
Nagi (based on having Valona's busou)

Can anyone confirm/deny/add?

Erm, I do believe that in the Busou Shinki TV series, Valona was seen flying with Hina/Strarf when she took the latter to her master's mansion. So she does have some flight capability.

I'm not 100% sure that the Beetle Girls -- Espadia and Lancamento -- are capable of flight, though.

Likewise, I haven't seen Mizuki being able to fly despite the fact she does come with wings -- as does Fubuki, whom she's a repaint of.

Otherwise, you're pretty spot on as to which Shinki has flight capability.

EDIT: Oh yes, don't forget that Asuka, Eukrante, Raptias, Altlene (Altrene), and Altines all have exclusive repaints, so their repaints also have flight capability.

If you want to take Battle Rondo as word of god, all shinki can fly. But that's silly.

Given the small size of Shinki and the square-cube law, it's not out of the question for most Shinki to be flight-capable. I'm also not sure there's an actual canonical answer as to which Shinki can fly stock; it's my understanding that in Battle Masters, all Shinki have some form of jump/hover capabilities, and, well, as Xehn mentioned, in Battle Rondo, lazy programming and animating means all Shinki fly. I would personally say that, at that scale, any Shinki with thrusters (read: most all of them) can "fly," and most Shinki with wings are capable of aerodynamic flight; Shinki with both thrusters and wings likely qualify for super-maneuverability. That said, not all Shinki flight is equal, and I feel that many Shinki "fly" by jumping upwards really far with a thruster boost and then using thrusters to hover and move horizontally.

Might I ask what you need the information for? If you're looking for the information to use for a roleplay or something, I'd recommend making it a spectrum instead of a binary; instead of flight/no flight, some Shinki can fly better than others, while some "fly" through brute thrust. Even within stock armor sets, different configurations might allow for different types of flight (example: the Valkyries).

Battle Rondo implies all Shinki can fly to some degree.
But some obviously do it better then others.

Werkstra probably has some extent of flight capability as well, since she has a jetpack, which also has some small wings/fins, though the "wings" small size (and IIRC vertical position) probably means they only serve as flight control surfaces.

Erm, I do believe that in the Busou Shinki TV series, Valona was seen flying with Hina/Strarf when she took the latter to her master's mansion. So she does have some flight capability.

Tsk. and that conflicts with this, which is the info I had been going off of.

I'm not 100% sure that the Beetle Girls -- Espadia and Lancamento -- are capable of flight, though.

That's where my "logic" clause came in. Since stag beetles and rhinoceros beetles can fly (and from what I can tell their busou in beetle forms are meant to), I figured they should be able to fly as well.

Likewise, I haven't seen Mizuki being able to fly despite the fact she does come with wings -- as does Fubuki, whom she's a repaint of.

Don't the ninjas' bios specify that Fubuki is ground-based and Mizuki is air-based? That's what I was going off of. Otherwise I would have added Fubuki as well, since I believe she can at least glide in the anime.

Werkstra probably has some extent of flight capability as well, since she has a jetpack, which also has some small wings/fins, though the "wings" small size (and IIRC vertical position) probably means they only serve as flight control surfaces.

Thanks; I wasn't sure if Werkstra could properly fly or just had jump jets.

Might I ask what you need the information for? If you're looking for the information to use for a roleplay or something, I'd recommend making it a spectrum instead of a binary; instead of flight/no flight, some Shinki can fly better than others, while some "fly" through brute thrust. Even within stock armor sets, different configurations might allow for different types of flight (example: the Valkyries).

At the risk of sounding like a crazy person, I've been trying to decide on my next Shinki by assessing tactical needs of the squad I currently have. As it stands, my Zelnogrard needs cover support because she isn't mobile, and I figure a flyer or agile jumper would be the best complement to her. And my air support as it stands is limited to Tsugaru, Eukrante, and Lirbiete, who have to cover four other non-flying Shinki in addition to being aerial defense. So as much as possible, I do need to choose from a list of flyers. Please don't judge me, this is how my mind works.

Ron8675309 wrote:Tsk. and that conflicts with this, which is the info I had been going off of.

To put it bluntly, I'd treat that website with a huge grain of salt when it comes to fluff text.

If that's the case, is there a site (other than here) where the Shinki bio/stat/backstory/evaluation of capabilities info is more reliable? Or is it like Klinkin said, and there is no real canon for Busou Shinki in this respect?

Unfortunately, there aren't very many websites dedicated to Busou Shinki. I think this site is the only one that is fairly reliable. Likewise, there really isn't much official canon for Shinki either.

And I honestly wouldn't trust that Busou Shinki Roleplay Wiki page at all. Seriously, Wiki pages are completely unreliable.