GaoRanger
Gao–!
Over 1000 years ago, the demonic Orgu- soulless creatures created from the despair and hatred of humanity- fought a terrible war against humans. Side-by-side with the mighty Power Animals, the ancient Gao warriors were just able to defeat the Orgu generals, and drive them back into the deepest places on Earth. By 2001, the Orgu had slowly gathered their strength once more, thanks to humanity’s mistreatment of the world. One by one, an Orgu left their domain known as the Matrix, and ascended to the surface to conquer and destroy, gaining power all the more in the name of their grand stone-encased Orgu Master. They usually took on the form of inanimate, non-living objects, such as streetlights, magnets, barbed wire, etc, and were recognizable by the long horn on their heads. On the mystical, turtle-shaped Sky-Island Animalium- the “highest paradise for animals”- the virginal Gao shrine priestess Tetomu and the surviving Power Animals have been searching for new modern warriors to counter the Orgu threat. Over the course of one year, five special people were plucked from their daily lives and chosen to secretly defend humanity from the darkness of its own heart. With the return of one of the original Gao warriors, Shirogane, and his own three Power Animals, together the six heroes fight against the new threat of the Orgu… as the Hundred-Beast Taskforce GaoRanger!
“Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger” celebrated the 25th-series Anniversary of Super Sentai in 2001!
Power Animals are no different from those found in the wild today. They have only lived far longer, and can regenerate themselves much faster thanks to the power of the Earth which has been absorbed into them over the centuries. This has increased their defense, intelligence, and size as well. They are also capable of merging their bodies together to form incredible humanoid-shaped warriors which stand several stories tall, and have weapons & special powers granted to each.
Sets from the [standard] Power Animals line required for these combinations:
DX Majuu Gattai Gao Hunter Evil –and/or– DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao Hunter Justice
PA-5 Gao Rhino and Gao Armadillo
These special alternative sets will fill the same requirements:
DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao Muscle (provides PA-3, PA-4, Gao Eagle and Gao Bison)
DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao Icarus (provides PA-2, PA-5, PA-6, and PA-7)
Since I don’t plan on getting PA-9 DX Gao Lion, I will not be covering Gao Kentaurous in this review. Also, the Hyakujuu Gattai Gao Knight combination is covered in my review of the PA-SP Gao Kong set.
[I should note that even though I show only one or the other below, the two versions of DX Gao Hunter listed are exactly the same; only the appearance of the head/allegiance changes the name.]
Gao Hunter Spear
Sets required for this combination:
After already stealing Gao Elephant’s Gao Jewel from Gao White earlier, and then revealing that he had three Majuu of his own, Duke Orgu Loki has proven that he is capable of corrupting Power Animals to his will to serve him. In Quest 17, after rapidly knocking Gao King Spear out of the fight with Gao Hunter’s powerful Beast Hurricane, Duke Orgu Loki jumps out of his mecha and confronts the five disabled GaoRanger lying unprotected on the ground. He walks up to Gao Blue at takes Gao Giraffe’s Gao Jewel out of his limp hand. When Gao Blue tries to pursue him, he’s knocked out of the way, and Loki disappears. Then in Quest 18, after using the corrupted Gao Elephant to trip up Gao King, Loki commands Gao Giraffe to combine with his Majuu gattai to create Gao Hunter Spear. With it, he can also perform the Neck Thrust finisher.
Gao Hunter Spear is only one of two combinations used by Duke Orgu Loki during his [short] quest for revenge against the GaoRanger for imprisoning him 1000 years earlier. Unlike Gao King which has a wider variety of life to it in its color scheme, Gao Giraffe provides a change to Gao Hunter Evil’s somewhat moody green, dark blue, black, silver, and gold.
Gao Hunter Spear only appeared that one time, in Quest 18.
Gao Hunter Double Knuckle
Sets required for this combination:
Loki returns in Quest 20 with Bike Orgu- whom Gao Yellow fought when he was just chosen as a GaoRanger nearly a year earlier. Using the element of surprise, Loki kidnaps priestess Tetomu when he notices something vaguely familiar about her necklace, and leaves the enhanced Bike Orgu to deal with Gao Yellow. After a withdrawal, the five GaoRanger discover where Tetomu, Loki, and Bike Orgu are and then engage them. The battle eventually scales-up, and it becomes Gao Muscle VS. Gao Hunter Evil & Bike Orgu. Quickly defeating the Orgu minion, the GaoRanger turn their attention to Loki. Gao Muscle fires its Bear Strike at the same instant that Gao Hunter fires its Beast Hurricane. The collision of energy knocks apart both combinations and throws their respective pilots to the ground. After a short duel against Loki, Gao Yellow comes up short and loses the Gao Jewels to the two bear PAs. Then, in Quest 21, after quickly defeating Human Body Specimen Orgu, they must face Gao Hunter Evil again. But this time, instead of calling on Gao Giraffe and Gao Elephant, Loki summons the two brother bears- Gao Polar and Gao Bear- to form Gao Hunter Double Knuckle. After using the Bear Strike attack on Gao King, Loki’s mecha closes for the kill, but then is repulsed by the appearance of a giant, glamorous, god-like figure…
Gao Hunter Double Knuckle fits in a little better with the color scheme for Gao Hunter, but requires that both Gao Hammerhead and Gao Wolf be removed to accomplish it. As with Gao King Double Knuckle, the bears provide Gao Hunter with both a more muscled appearance and access to the spring-loaded missile launchers in their mouths which represent their combined Bear Strike finisher.
Gao Hunter Double Knuckle only appeared that one time, in Quest 21. After Loki is returned to his original human form, Shirogane (Gao Silver), it is too late to prevent Highness Duke Orgu Ura from fusing the powers of Gao Elephant, Gao Giraffe, Gao Polar, & Gao Bear to make the Chimera Orgu. Only a combined effort from the renamed Gao Hunter Justice and the recently-formed Gao King Striker destroy the odd-yet-powerful Orgu creation. After that, a deeply-ashamed Gao Silver returns the stolen Gao Jewels to the GaoRanger, and promises his loyalty to their cause. Gao Hunter Justice never combines with any of the other PAs; and because it only had joints for limb-swapping in its shoulders, it couldn’t utilize either Gao Bison or the Gao Rhino/Gao Armadillo team. (Officially-released production drawings indicate that a lack of lower-body swapping was not too uncommon with other PA combinations not seen in the show even though only Gao Hunter was built/seen.)
(For the Gao Muscle Striker combination first seen in Quest 27, please see the review for PA-5 Gao Rhino and Gao Armadillo.)
Gao King Another Arm
Sets required for this combination:
- DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao King
- DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao Hunter Justice
When Bowling Orgu disables the GaoRanger, Gao Blue remembers a bowling master who could perform a special technique called the Tornado Spin. He goes to the master, and after some desperate begging, he learns the technique. Then he is able to duel against Bowling Orgu and best him at his own game. When the Orgu grows, his bowling ball attacks disable Gao Alligator, Gao Tiger, and Gao Shark. So, the six GaoRanger make an exchange and create Gao King Another Arm. Using Gao Armadillo as an improvised bowling ball, Gao Blue initiates the Tornado GaoMajiro Spin attack, and the puck-like PA shatters Bowling Orgu’s ball and the Orgu himself.
Gao King Another Arm) is a straight-forward arm-swap between Gao King and Gao Hunter: Gao Hammerhead replaces Gao Shark, and Gao Wolf replaces Gao Tiger. So, due to their near-identical designs, Gao King Another Arm is simply a variation of its regular form. (The toy cannot create a Sword and Shield variation since Gao Elephant is only compatible with Gao Shark and Gao Tiger. And I have not hear of an official version of this either.) The addition of Gao Armadillo [“GaoMajiro” is how his name is pronounced in Japanese] is a one-time thing, but the toy can’t really handle [figuratively and literally] the purple Power Animal.
Gao King Another Arm immediately appears again in the next episode since Gao Tiger, Gao Shark, and Gao Alligator were still injured then.
Gao King Spear Another Arm
Sets required for this combination:
- DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao King
- PA-2 Gao Giraffe
- DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao Hunter Justice
Using the stored energy from the earlier attempted resurrection of Duke Orgu Loki’s soul, Highness Duke Orgu Ura (also himself resurrected and powered-up) creates the very powerful Tombstone Orgu, which is resistant to all of the GaoRanger’ attacks. Even when grown to giant size, he is trouble. With Gao Alligator, Gao Tiger, and Gao Wolf still weakened from their previous battle with Bowling Orgu, both Gao Hunter and Gao King cannot be properly formed. So, Gao King Another Arm is reformed. But when that doesn’t work, Gao Giraffe is summoned and takes the place of an injured Gao Hammerhead to form Gao King Spear Another Arm. But even that is not enough…
>Gao King Spear Another Arm is a combination wildly-coupled together in the heat of battle, merely to keep Gao King functioning. Yet for all the effort, this Tombstone Orgu seems to have an unstoppable-thing going on with him that only the newly-arrived Gao Dias can compete against. So far as I can tell, no special attack- like the Neck Thrust- was used in this form. Like Gao King Another Arm immediately before it, Gao King Spear Another Arm is merely another variant on a previously-used form- Gao King Spear- where Gao Tiger was in her proper place as the left arm.
I believe that this is the only time that Gao King Spear Another Arm is seen.
Gao King Spear and Shield
Sets required for this combination:
(I have been unable to find any useful information regarding this combination seen in Quest 38, so I must leave this blank for now.)
Gao King Spear and Shield is one of the combinations used in this episode, and [looks to be] randomly put together in order to keep Gao King functioning, similar to Gao King Spear Another Arm from earlier. I [suppose] that Gao King Spear and Shield allows it to use a defense against the same attack it too would employ (Neck Thrust). This is also one of the rare six-component combinations-
- Gao Lion
- Gao Eagle
- Gao Tiger
- Gao Bison
- Gao Elephant
- Gao Giraffe
-since Gao Elephant adds beyond what the shoulder and waist joints can use.
Gao King Spear and Knuckle
Sets required for this combination:
(I have been unable to find any useful information regarding this combination seen in Quest 38, so I must leave this blank for now.)
Gao King Spear and Knuckle is one of the combinations used in this episode, and [looks to be] randomly put together in order to keep Gao King functioning, similar to Gao King Spear Another Arm from earlier. The one half of the Double Knuckle combination allows Gao King to push back or toss Orgu away so that the GaoRanger can then use the longer-ranged Neck Thrust attack.
Gao Muscle Striker Cross Horn
Sets required for this combination:
(I have been unable to find any useful information regarding this combination seen in Quest 38, so I must leave this blank for now.)
Gao Muscle Striker Cross Horn is one of the combinations used in this episode, and [looks to be] randomly put together in order to keep Gao Muscle functioning, similar to Gao King Spear Another Arm from earlier. It combines the kicking/running power from Gao Rhino/Gao Armadillo with the strong healing & grabbing capabilities of Gao Dias, but since this all involves Gao Muscle, the formation has added strength which none of the others could probably muster too. It is also interesting to note that this is one of the few times where both Gao Muscle and Gao King appear at the same time because they normally share both Gao Eagle and Gao Bison. (So far as I can tell, this does happen when they are taken over by Animal Tamer Orgu, and thus forced to fight against Gao Hunter.) The specific PAs used here provide Gao Muscle Striker Cross Horn with a blending color pallet- light green, green, light blue, and white.
Gao Muscle Striker Spear
Sets required for this combination:
Steam Engine Orgu- the last of the regular Orgu- proves to be one of the most difficult to defeat. It quickly disables Gao Lion while Gao King is formed, and is able to resist Gao Hunter Justice’s attack too. While it is distracted, the GaoRanger form Gao Muscle Striker Spear. But it too, cannot beat Steam Engine Orgu armor and power…
Gao Muscle Striker Spear is a polar opposite for Gao Muscle’s arms compared to Gao Muscle Striker Cross Horn previously. Rather than using Gao Dias on the left arm, Gao Giraffe attaches to the right arm, yet one of the two bear PAs remains in use.
[I should point out that ever since Gao Rhino & Gao Armadillo joined the team help to defeat Gao Hunter Evil and Duke Orgu Loki, we actually saw Gao Muscle more frequently in Striker formation than we did the regular version of lower torso/legs with Gao Bison and Gao Eagle! (What’s up with that!?)]
Gao Icarus Another Arm and Foot
Sets required for this combination:
- DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao King
- DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao Hunter Justice
- PA-7 Gao Falcon
The unbelievable Steam Engine Orgu has knocked just about every single Power Animal out! Gao Icarus can’t be formed because Gao Giraffe, Gao Rhino, Gao Armadillo, & Gao Dias have already been damaged in some way. Both Gao King (knocked-out earlier) and Gao Muscle are out of it too. Then, Gao Bison makes a suggestion to Gao Black to link up the four remaining Power Animals left- himself, Gao Hammerhead, Gao Wolf, and Gao Falcon. With no remaining PAs to make up Gao Hunter, Gao Alligator contributes his tail so that Gao Icarus Another Arm and Foot can make use of the Ligator Blade. To dramatic effect, this combination is fast enough, and powerful enough, to finally break Steam Engine Orgu with the Icarus Breaker- freezing the Orgu with a strong Icarus Bind, and then throwing the Crescent Boomerang out and using it as an energized spear head with the Ligator Blade to blow away the monster.
Gao Icarus Another Arm and Foot has a slightly-less-theatrical appearance than the normal Gao Icarus usually does. As opposed to the bright, almost-neon blue/orange/green of the regular version, the color scheme is muted with significantly more black, silver, and Gao Hammerhead’s purple. And because of the range of damage to the entire PA arsenal by Steam Engine Orgu, there were no more limbs to swap for Gao Hunter, so even though Gao Alligator is not used in this combo his tail (along with Gao Hammerhead’s) is used to make the Ligator Blade< again. As sometimes was the case with Gao Hunter, Gao Wolf (as an arm component) could grip the Crescent Boomerang in its mouth when in this combo (though it didn’t occur to me to photograph it that way) and is seen that way in the series. It should also be noted that neither Gao King, Gao Hunter, nor Gao Muscle can be properly formed when Gao Icarus Another Arm and Foot since it uses components from all of those [and Gao King/Gao Muscle share Gao Bison & Gao Eagle].
Gao Icarus Another Arm and Foot is the last new variation used in “Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger“, and is the only official variation of Gao Icarus seen on-screen. There was an appearance of a variation called Gao Icarus Cracker Another Foot- which swapped his regular arms and legs for Gao Shark, Gao Tiger & Gao Bison- but that was only seen in a production art book released early in 2002 after “GaoRanger” had already ended to make way for “Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger“.
In that same book…
Gao Cracker
Sets required for this combination:
…is one of the “lost” combinations from “GaoRanger”. Gao Cracker – also sometimes reffered to as ‘Gao Muscle Cracker’ or ‘Gao Muscle Shark and Tiger’- appeared in this book, and was presumably going to appear in the series at a time where Gao King could not be formed without Gao Lion at its center. Thus, Gao Gorilla would have taken his place at the center. (While this scenario did happen in the series shortly after Gao Gorilla first appeared, the GaoRanger opted to form Gao Muscle instead with Gao Polar & Gao Bear as the standard arms and excluding Gao Tiger & Gao Shark.)
Gao Cracker is basically a variation of the standard Gao Muscle configuration (Gao Gorilla, Gao Eagle, Gao Bison, Gao Polar, and Gao Bear), but with Gao Shark and Gao Tiger as stand-ins for the two bear PAs. The only two official photographs of Gao Cracker have him holding the Fin Blade short sword from Gao Shark [the same as Gao King would have ordinarily done]. For as physically strong as Gao Muscle appeared, Gao Cracker seemed a bit less impressive since Gao Tiger and Gao Shark were the basic, [semi-]under-powered arms of the lead Gao King and were significantly less impressive in this form. However, it was a way to toss-up Gao King a bit by using Gao Gorilla instead of Gao Lion all the time.
“Well, tell me [EVA], if they call it ‘Hyakujuu Sentai’, doesn’t that mean ‘Hundred-beast Taskforce’? We only saw 25 Power Animals. What does that mean?”
I don’t claim to know the entire story behind this as it’s more of a production issue rather than an on-camera/continuity issue. This is what I know:
There truly are one hundred Power Animals. They were there when the human/Orgu conflict began over 1000 years earlier and are assumed to have been used then as well. They have been with the GaoRanger ever since the series began- we just never ‘saw’ them all until the end…
They are seen- if not clearly- in the series finale when the greatest Orgu General, Senki was incapable of being destroyed while his mutant Orgu heart lived; no matter how many times he was ‘destroyed’, if the Orgu heart survived, he could rebuild himself. After ‘killing’ all of the Power Animals seen up to that point, the spirits of all one hundred Power Animals each appeared in a glowing orb of light. With the six GaoRanger below them helping, they all created the ultimate Hundred-Beast Animal Heart blast which stripped away Senki’s giant body and exposed his heart. Then, the Hyakujuuken was used to slice it in half- destroying the last remnants of the Orgu once and for all. (Yay!)
Quite a few versions of the mecha we have come to know from “GaoRanger” went through many variations. The six totem PAs (Gao Lion, Gao Eagle, Gao Shark, Gao Bison, Gao Tiger, & Gao Wolf) most-likely were not the first choices for the Rangers’ animal themes during pre-production. Many other Power Animals were considered first to be made into DX toys before the current set were decided on. A handful of the ones that were not made into toys were even highlighted for a second-or-two in the series finale- Gao Mouse, Gao Horse, Gao Peacock, and Gao Stingray! (I know that serious consideration was given to those later two to make them into DX toys, but prototypes were never built.) Gao Kong was seen exclusively in “Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger The Movie: Fire Mountain Howls”, and Gao Panda was mentioned briefly in an audio drama CD. There was also a super-rare, limited-production Gao Ape that was released, but I do not know under what circumstances.
These generously-large and -detailed scans (taken from a Thai-speaking tokusatsu discussion board, Thai-Toku.com) come from that official Super Sentai production art book I mentioned. While I’ve only uploaded the cover of the book and the relevant Power Animals concept images, they give a glimps behind-the-scenes of “GaoRanger” and the creative process Bandai and PLEX go through each year.
It should be noted that Power Animals 34-38 are a nod to the five primary bird mecha (not including Jet Garuda) from “Choujin Sentai Jetman” (1991), and 54-58 are a nod to the five primary animals (not including Tsubasamaru) from “Ninja Sentai KakuRanger” (1994).
(Question: if there is a Gao Horse, why did they need to use an enlarged Gao Lion to form Gao Kentaurous? It’s just a centaur with wings… right?)
Also found elsewhere on GrnRngr.com is a small list of all the official basic mecha combinations beyond the four seen in the series- which use PAs not seen or built:
- Gao King…………..(Gao Lion, Gao Eagle, Gao Shark, Gao Tiger, Gao Bison)
- Gao Muscle……….(Gao Gorilla, Gao Polar, Gao Bear, Gao Eagle, Gao Bison)
- Gao Hunter………..(Gao Alligator, Gao Hammerhead, Gao Wolf)
- Gao Icarus…………(Gao Falcon, Gao Dias, Gao Giraffe, Gao Rhino, Gao Armadillo)
- Gao Knight………..(Gao Kong, Gao Shark, Gao Tiger, Gao Eagle, Gao Bison, Gao Elephant)
- Gao Kentaurous…(Gao Falcon, Gao Lion (in giant form), Gao Tiger, Gao Shark, Gao Elephant)
- Gao Guardian…….(Gao Walrus, Gao Peacock, Gao Tortoise, Gao Wallaby)
- Gao Triple…………(Gao Manta, Gao Boar, Gao Bat)
- Gao Devil………….(Gao Bat, Gao Crocodile, Gao Hammerhead, Gao Jaws)
- Gao Marquis………(Gao Swallow, Gao Penguin, Gao Mole)
- Gao God……………(Gao Leon, Gao Condor, Gao Leopard, Gao Saw Shark, Gao Buffalo)
Highlighted PAs are required for the combination to exist. So, for example, Gao King could not function without Gao Lion and Gao Eagle. For the most part, these basic PA mecha are named according to which PA is in the middle of the gattai with the head and upper torso. In two cases, Gao Marquis and Gao God cannot swap at all. The reason for Gao God is that it is the original basic mecha that the ancient Gao warriors used before Gao King came to be. It was also [supposedly] destroyed at the end of the first war. And Gao Marquis would not have been able to swap with any of the others at all since the three PAs that composed it were already so small that the combined mecha only stood to the waist of all the others!
Gao Devil would have been another basic PA mecha being used for evil, just like Gao Hunter was. Gao Bat would have been the deciding factor in this case as there is both a Good and Evil version [which mirrors Gao Alligator’s change]. (It also mirrors Gao Eagle’s versatility in performing a different function in two different combos: head/chest for Gao Devil, and a right arm & winged backpack for both Gao Triple and Gao Hunter!) Originally called Gao Hunter in pre-production, it was one of the early considerations for the evil 6th ranger’s basic combo mecha before the current design was finally chosen. As such, because it was never seen in the series, Gao Devil’s evil purposes remain unexplained and open-ended.
While all of the concept images for Gao King and the other basic combos are shown in the first four scanned pages above, the last two below with the official PA list show other unseen combos like:
On the first page (left-to-right, top-to-bottom):
- Gao Muscle Magnum (w/ Gao Wallaby)
- Gao King Swordsmaster (w/ Gao Peacock)
- Gao King Varlituder (w/ Gao Polar, Gao Bear, Gao Peacock, Gao Rhino & Gao Cobra [but not Gao Armadillo!])
- Gao Guardian (not well-defined, in lower right corner below Gao Muscle Magnum)
On the second page (left-to-right, top-to-bottom):
-
<liGao King Aquadiver (w/ Gao Manta & MiniManta)
<liGao Muscle Striker Longhorn (w/ Gao Boar, Gao Rhino, and Gao Armadillo)
- Gao Hunter Phantom (w/ Gao Bat [Good ver.])
- Gao Triple (big shoulder cannons, wings, blocky legs)
- Gao Devil (looks like Gao Hunter w/ shoulder armor, but uses Gao Bat [Evil ver.] and Gao Crocodile)
- Gao Marquis (not well-defined, in lower right corner next to Gao Mammoth)
…
Now, all of this shows how much potential this series could have had if we had been given the complete Power Animals line in DX form. As it was, a lot of people were disappointed that there were so many options available, and this proved to be something of a disadvantage to “GaoRanger” in general despite the excellent work put into designing the Power Animals. With sooooooo many hundreds of possible combinations with just these 25 released (not even counting repaints), it is near overwhelming to grasp what it would have taken for Bandai and PLEX to do all of this in just one year. Ultimately, it would have proven highly impractical. If “GaoRanger” had gone beyond the standard one-year term, then most likely we would have seen more of them.
And that is one of the reasons I wrote this- while you could randomly throw together any combination you like, I wanted to show only the official ones in case you were curious. Personally, I hope that they keep this list of the Hundred Power Animals, and make a new sequel series in the future so that we can get some more of these Power Animals. They would certainly have plenty of creatures to draw from! And a sequel is not entirely unheard of in Super Sentai either.
It almost makes you wonder if there were more than six GaoRanger to control all of those Power Animals over one thousand years ago…
[If I can get reliable translations from anyone who reads this on any of these scanned pages (particularly, the earlier pre-production stuff), you too will get a very generous thank you and shout-out in this review! Curse my lack of understanding written & spoken Japanese!!! It is one of my greatest torments in life…!]