DaiTenkuu and Tenkuu Shinken-Oh

In Act 10: “DaiTenkuu Gattai”, the four vassal Shinkenger learn that the Kabuto, Kajiki, and Tora Origami can combine together into a legendary animal called DaiTenkuu (“Great-Sky”). Takeru selects himself to command the Tora Origami, and Ryuunosuke continues with the Kajiki Origami since he originally captured it. However, Chiaki (Shinken Green) is quietly frustrated when he is passed over for the Kabuto Origami in favor of Mako (Shinken Pink). During a battle with an umbrella-shaped Gedoushuu Ayakashi monster, Shinken Pink loses the Kabuto Disc, and Shinken Green recovers it. Rather than return it when ordered to, however, he selfishly tries to harness it, but still does not have strong enough mojikara to use it properly, and the Ayakashi retreats into the air. Despite secretly training on his own, it takes a private meeting with the Shinkenger’s mentor and manager of the Shiba household, Hikoma Kusakabe, to make Chiaki realize that mojikara goes beyond simply writing characters in the air. As Shinkenger of the forest, he must find his own way of making mojikara work, and then he will be able to expand his horizons at last. It finally clicks for Chiaki, and he finds encouragement as a Shinkenger, taking on the airborne Ayakashi solo until it is destroyed. As the battle scales up, the Ayakashi again takes to the skies to avoid damage, and Shinken Pink gives the Kabuto Disc to Shinken Green, telling him that he would be a better pilot for it. With the pilots finally selected, the three Origami are summoned, and the Samurai Gattai DaiTenkuu is assembled. The DaiTenkuu is agile in the air through the use of barrel rolls and back-flips, and has both razor-sharp feathers on the end of each wing, an energy beam from its crown, and the stun-and-rush DaiTenkuu Daigekitotsu finisher.

Sets required for this combination:

• Samurai Gattai Series 01 – Kabuto Origami
• Samurai Gattai Series 02 – Kajiki Origami
• Samurai Gattai Series 03 – Tora Origami

Samurai Gattai

kanji: unite (合)

“DaiTenkuu! United under Providence!”

The DaiTenkuu can roll freely on nine wheels, but there is no poseable mouth as seen in the series. Aside from combining with the three accessory Origami, the DaiTenkuu utilizes the multiple connection joints on the Tora Origami not only to spin its four legs, but to turn all of the Secret Discs and head/nose on the other two Origami at the same time! (Make sure that the catch levers on the two outer Origami are released, or else gears will grind!)

In Act 12: “First in History: Chou Samurai Gattai”, after much soul searching for most of the episode, Takeru is reminded why he is head of the Shiba Clan and why he cannot exclude his vassal samurai anymore; to be mutually supportive of each other despite personal burdens. As the team grows closer in order to defeat the Gedoushuu, Ryuunosuke makes the realization that depending on past tactics may not work anymore despite their effectiveness. As an Ayakashi summons flying Onarashii Renjuu grunts for the first time, Shinken Blue makes his proposal to the others: combine the DaiTenkuu with the Shinken-Oh into ‘Ryuunosuke’s Super Samurai Gattai’. With the flight capabilities of the DaiTenkuu, the Tenkuu Shinken-Oh is easily able to defeat the Onarashii Renjuu with just the DaiShinken, and then finish off the Ayakashi monster with the aerial Tenkuu Karadake Waki (“Heavenly Bamboo Splitting”). Sets required for this combination:

• DX Samurai Gattai Shinken-Oh
• Samurai Gattai Series 01 – Kabuto Origami
• Samurai Gattai Series 02 – Kajiki Origami
• Samurai Gattai Series 03 – Tora Origami

Chou Samurai Gattai

kanji: super (超)

“Tenkuu Shinken-Oh! United under providence!”

The Tenkuu Shinken-Oh has no special feature unto itself. The Tenkuu Karadake Waki is just a variation of the DaiTenkuu Daigekitotsu, so appropriately the three Secret Discs, Kabuto head, Kajiki nose, and two of the Tora’s legs still spin when the lever on the back is turned. (The two legs attached to the chest are not connected to the geared gimmick, but can still spin independently.)

So, the parts-former gestalt reveals itself early in the series as a second samurai gattai… and it’s a fat bird with two heads on its wings. Using only accessory mecha for a combo has been seen just one other time before, with the Gougou Gattai DaiTanken from “Gougou Sentai Boukenger” (2006), but that was a five-part combo that formed another humanoid robo, and was served to us as a movie-exclusive combo. That distinction aside, I’m not really feeling a bird here, but rather a wide tank with a tail. Though a lot was sacrificed to the individual accessory Origami and their separate combos with Shinken-Oh, I must give props to PLEX for somehow pulling a three-way gear gimmick out of their hat, which has never been done before with a non-final combo. Not only do all three Secret Discs spin, but the Tora’s legs, Kabuto’s head, and Kajiki’s nose all move with them. Unfortunately, because the movement on the Kajiki is so minor, it makes the movement overall very lopsided. Again, it’s not truly origami (“folding paper”) or Origami (“folding-god”) because the entire design is dependent on swapping parts. I kind of like how they tried to transform the head, but I don’t think it was executed very smoothly since it’s so disproportionate to everything else; a very tiny head and neck for this bird. And, like, what is up with the Tora’s head just getting plunked down under the tail so awkwardly? Why not integrate it into the neck somehow? I already have ranted on three previous reviews about the individual Origami, and the DaiTenkuu takes all those problems and meshes them together to try and give us an excuse for their existence. Combos are supposed to be cool, and this one is not. A minor step is taken from “ugly bird” to “ugly bird-as-a-backpack”. Have we reached the Cluster-f*ck Megazord stage not three months into “Samurai Sentai Shinkenger”? Ehh… I’m inclined to hold on that label for a little more and say no. In my opinion, the Bakuryuu Chou Gattai MaxRyuuOh from “Bakuryuu Sentai AbaRanger” (2003) is of a similar vein and was the first of the limb-swap era to do so, but was only composed of five mecha (well, eight if you want to get technical). The key factor in my saying it’s not is that it just hangs off the back- there’s no real transition other than simply slapping a previous combo onto the back of the Shinken-Oh, minor parts-forming notwithstanding. On the other hand, any form of stylized ancient Japanese warrior-esque design (which any combo with the Shinken-Oh and one accessory mecha somehow managed to maintain) gets thrown out the window here despite the gold ringed crown splitting apart to resemble a horned helmet (FAIL, because it’s too similar to the Tora Shinken-Oh’s to be ignored as such). One big issue really drags the combo down, and I’m not certain if it’s a common issue, or a unique problem that slipped past Q.A.- the three connection points between the Tora and Shinken-Oh are not that great, and the heavy backpack almost-regularly falls off when picked up by the front-half, so I end up holding the whole thing with both hands rather than flying it around with just one hand. I’m willing to forgive that it could be unique to mine, but if it’s common… then how in the hell did that slip past the designers before production even started!? Considering the ¥6930 ($79.06 approx.) plus shipping-&-handling I had to spend to get these two combos made, I don’t think I got my money’s worth. The Kabuto Origami and Kajiki Origami really tie your hands and don’t stand alone well without painfully reminding you they are part of a combo with those giant immovable half-wings, and all three accessory mecha put together is difficult to look at. Perhaps only in shelf presence do the DaiTenkuu and Tenkuu Shinken-Oh have any real power. But I think all the tabs and joints and parts have been used up at last, so I don’t think it will be required of any future combo… although I’ve been known to be wrong before. For the record, I am not a fan of parts-formers and/or block-formers.