Boukenger

The Search Guard Successor museum organization (also known as SGS, or Sargess) has created a secret team to begin tracking down ancient artifacts that have been disappearing. With skills in treasure hunting/recovery, and their adventurous hearts, the Boukenger use their Accellular henshin devices to scan relics (called Precious) to discover their hazard levels and value. However, the many Negative Syndicates- the ancient stone Gordom Civilization, bio-engineered reptilian Jaryuu Clan, covert ninja Dark Shadow, and the converted biotech Questors- are also separately on the lookout for Precious to rule the world… or destroy it. The Precious are many, and they hold unknown power. Who will gain the most from them?

“Launch all Gougou Vehicles!”

Hasshin Shift On:
Dump, Formula, Gyro, Dozer, Marine, Drill, Shovel, Mixer, Crane, Jet, Fire, Aider, Police
Go! Go!

Hasshin Shift On:
Voyager- Unlock!
Go! Go!

Sets from the [standard] Gougou Vehicles line required for these combinations:

DX Gougou Gattai DaiBouken

Gougou Gattai Vehicle #1- Gougou Drill

Gougou Gattai Vehicle #2- Gougou Shovel

Gougou Gattai Vehicle #3- Gougou Mixer

Gougou Gattai Vehicle #4- Gougou Crane

Gougou Gattai Vehicle #5- Gougou Jet

DX Kinkyuu Gougou Gattai Siren Builder

DX Chouzetsu Gougou Gattai DaiVoyager

These special alternative sets will fill some of the same requirements:

DX Chou Gougou Gattai Super DaiBouken (provides DX DaiBouken, Gougou Gattai Vehicle #1, …#2, …#3, and …#4)

Gougou Gattai Vehicle #6- Gougou Fire

Gougou Gattai Vehicle #7- Gougou Aider and Gougou Police

…

[DX Daikenjin Zubaan is not a part of the Gougou Vehicle line despite the “DX” labeling of the toy. He is a +100,000year-old Precious from the long-lost Lemurian Civilization that was collected in Task 29 by the Boukenger. Therefor, he is not a part of any of these combinations.

–“Bon…”–

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah… whatever.]

DaiBouken Drill and Shovel

Sets required for this combination:

• DX Gougou Gattai DaiBouken
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #1- Gougou Drill
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #2- Gougou Shovel

Gattai Shift On:
Drill, Shovel
Drill, Shovel– Power On!

In Task 6- “The Cursed Fog”, High Priest Gajah of the Gordom Civilization released a samurai-like Precious stone monster on the Boukenger. Its armor was very resistant to all but the strongest attacks. Through a small chip in his shoulder armor, they were able to defeat it once. However, Gajah revived the Precious as a giant. In this scaled up form, DaiBouken’s Gougou Sword could create little damage. Taking a chance with a possible power overload, Gougou Drill and Gougou Shovel were summoned to help. Taking the monster unexpectedly, the Boukenger quickly combined their seven Gougou Vehicles into DaiBouken Drill and Shovel. With the Shovel arm able to resist the monster’s sword, and the Drill arm able to penetrate its armor, they were able to successfully perform the combined Rising Penetration finisher- tossing the monster high into the air with the left arm, and then shattering it with the right.

DaiBouken Drill and Shovel sounds a little strange, and it makes for an even stranger combo. The right arm features Gougou Drill as a big spear-like arm. On the other hand (or arm) is Gougou Shovel, which has that thin, skeleton-like appearance. Gougou Dozer and Gougou Marine Diver are repositioned behind the legs of DaiBouken Drill and Shovel to add balance and stability since two of the claws from Gougou Dump’s utility arms need to extend to make room for them. But since it’s a little more top heavy, this helps for the new variety of poses that the combo can make, and eliminates extra pieces from lying around all over the place.

DaiBouken Drill and Mixer

Sets required for this combination:

• DX Gougou Gattai DaiBouken
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #1- Gougou Drill
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #3- Gougou Mixer

Gattai Shift On:
Drill, Mixer
Drill, Mixer– Power On!

In Task 8- “The Treasure of Atlantis”, the multiple copies of Bouken Blue made by the shape-shifting Atlantean Precious have been disabled by Gougou Mixer’s Hyper Concrete. But the Precious quickly recovered, and rebuilt itself as an imperfect & pixel-like copy of the DaiBouken itself! Even though the real DaiBouken was formed, the Precious robot could take itself apart into tiny pieces and recombine at will to avoid damage. The Boukenger then formed DaiBouken Drill and Mixer to first immobilize it with the Wall Shoot attack, and then shatter it with the Final Break attack.

DaiBouken Drill and Mixer is not all that bad except for that contorted left arm. Except this time, both arms have a spinning function. Gougou Mixer’s spinning petals can also be activated here just as it could be with the earlier DaiBouken Mixer. Gougou Dozer and Gougou Marine Diver are again repositioned behind the legs of DaiBouken Drill and Mixer to add balance and stability.

It should be noted that DaiBouken Drill and Mixer is a match to the handheld Bouken Weapon Dual Crusher cannon, of which the green Mixer Head and orange Drill Head match Gougou Drill and Gougou Mixer in appearance and function. (Not too surprisingly- but disappointing nonetheless- Gougou Shovel and Gougou Crane were not similarly represented in a scaled-down weapon; most likely because of their similar functions at grabbing/lifting things.)

DaiBouken Drill and Crane

Sets required for this combination:

• DX Gougou Gattai DaiBouken
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #1- Gougou Drill
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #4- Gougou Crane

Gattai Shift On:
Drill, Crane
Drill, Crane– Power On!

In Task 9- “The Paper Crane Ninja”, after the Dark Shadow monster had released the house (and the old woman within), it was time to finish him off. Quickly forming DaiBouken Drill and Crane, they fired the Wire Hook Punch at the monster, which circled around him on rockets and grabbed him from behind. Then, lifting him into the air, the right arm drill shattered him, completing the Lift-Up Strike finisher.

DaiBouken Drill and Crane seems a little redundant compared to DaiBouken Drill and Shovel. As mentioned above, the hook-like arm can be extended and lowered like it does in the show [though not quite as long as it does in the show]. Also, like DaiBouken Drill and Mixer, the left arm seems incomplete or distorted, and the crane boom doesn’t look like an arm, but rather a mounted grappling hook. Gougou Dozer and Gougou Marine Diver are once more placed inside the legs of DaiBouken Drill and Crane to add balance and stability.

[This wired rocket/fist weapon is similar to those found on countless mecha from the various Gundam anime movies & series- such as the giant green AMX-002 Neue Ziel mobile armor from the OVA “Mobile Suit Gundam: 0083- Stardust Memory”]

DaiBouken Drill and Shovel, DaiBouken Drill and Mixer, and DaiBouken Drill and Crane are the only times where Gougou Dozer and Gougou Marine Diver are placed inside the legs when they swap arms. For other times and other combinations seen later, they seem to be absent; there is certainly no mention of them in the instructions after this. (Carefully watching footage from the show, the stunt suit used for DaiBouken in these instances seems to confirm that the two smaller Gougou Vehicles don’t appear in the legs.)

Siren Builder Drill and Shovel

Sets required for this combination:

• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #1- Gougou Drill
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #2- Gougou Shovel
• DX Kinkyuu Gougou Gattai Siren Builder

Gattai Shift On:
Drill, Shovel
Drill, Shovel– Power On!

In Task 22- “The Ring of Solomon”, after three of the Boukenger had been changed into animals by a Dark Shadow monster’s magic, they scale up the fight, and both Ultimate DaiBouken and Siren Builder are activated. When Ultimate DaiBouken tries to attack from the air, the monster creates a giant snake to drag it back down; which then turns into chains to hold it fast! He even deflects Siren Builder’s Triple Liquid Bomber with a simple paper umbrella! With a moment of clarity, Bouken Pink instructs Bouken Silver to take control of Ultimate DaiBouken’s arms in order to form Siren Builder Drill and Shovel. With the arms changed, Bouken Silver finishes the monster off with the Double Arms Liquid Bomber- an energized swipe from the Shovel arm, an energized crash from the Drill arm, and then blowing him away with the heavy water cannon bullets.

Siren Builder Drill and Shovel, unlike DaiBouken Drill and Shovel, seems a little more in proportion with Gougou Drill and Gougou Shovel in place of the dainty Gougou Aider and Gougou Police. It also adds a bit to the rescue theme of Siren Builder- being able to drill and dig towards something. (This combo’d be great for creating a big swimming pool or a small lake, folks.) But because Siren Builder is more limited in the articulation department than DaiBouken, posing it is restricted to just the shoulder joints, and Gougou Shovel’s extra vehicle mode joints.

So, what happens to Gougou Aider and Gougou Police when Siren Builder isn’t using them…?

Ultimate DaiBouken Aider and Police

Sets required for this combination:

• DX Gougou Gattai DaiBouken
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #3- Gougou Mixer
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #4- Gougou Crane
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #5- Gougou Jet
• DX Kinkyuu Gougou Gattai Siren Builder

Gattai Shift On:
Dump, Formula, Gyro, Dozer, Marine, Drill, Shovel, Mixer, Crane Jet
Ultimate Formation!
Aider, Police– Power On!

When Siren Builder Drill and Shovel was created to deal with the Dark Shadow monster in Task 22, Ultimate DaiBouken was still chained in place. So, not wanting to be left armless, Gougou Aider and Gougou Police were attached to it to form Ultimate DaiBouken Aider and Police. Alas, this combo saw no action with the monster…

Ultimate DaiBouken Aider and Police does not look good in this DX format. (Ya just have to guess that someone complained about this when it was brought up in pre-production stages, but were ignored…) If Gougou Aider and Gougou Police normally look weak on the DX Siren Builder, this is worse. It looks much better on-screen; I’ll just leave it at that…

Siren Builder Drill and Mixer

Sets required for this combination:

• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #1- Gougou Drill
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #3- Gougou Mixer
• DX Kinkyuu Gougou Gattai Siren Builder

Gattai Shift On:
Drill, Mixer
Drill, Mixer– Power On!

In Task 28- ”The Legendary Armor”, the Questors test-run their new Questor Robo Elite on the Gougou Vehicles. Though it receives only minor damage and then retreat, it proves successful offensively against the Boukenger mecha. Discovering that the Questors plan to steal the Legendary Armor- a suit of samurai armor that is supposedly indestructible- Bouken Black goes out alone (and without his malfunctioning Accellular) and steals a map from them to find the armor. Unfortunately, the Questors have made repairs to the Questor Robo Elite, and they take the Legendary Armor and transfer it to their mecha to make it unstoppable. With Bouken Black’s Accellular now repaired, all of the Gougou Vehicles are launched (except for Gougou Jet, which was damaged earlier). From the start, Super DaiBouken and Siren Builder have no effect on the Questor Robo Elite’s invincible armor. Figuring out earlier that the Questor mecha had not been damaged, but rather had overheated, Bouken Black proposes a battle of attrition to wear the mecha down. Breaking down into DaiBouken and the individual Gougou Gattai Vehicles, the Boukenger swarm and attack en mass. A flurry of combinations are used throughout this battle. When DaiBouken Shovel is knocked back, Siren Builder Drill and Mixer- the first new combo seen here- attacks from behind.

Siren Builder Drill and Mixer, in this episode, gets plenty of action, but it is reduced to more-or-less clubbing and punching attacks, so no special attack is seen. Nothing special here; just swapping the Shovel arm for the Mixer arm. Posing is, again, limited, but the Mixer arm’s [‘flower-power’] Wall Shoot feature is still accessible.

[It should be noted that DaiBouken Crane actually makes its first appearance here in Task 28 rather than before DaiBouken Drill and Crane earlier on like the others did! For more information on this, please see the review of Gougou Gattai Vehicle #4- Gougou Crane.]

Siren Builder Dozer and Marine

Sets required for this combination:

• DX Gougou Gattai DaiBouken
• DX Kinkyuu Gougou Gattai Siren Builder

Gattai Shift On:
Dozer, Marine
Dozer, Marine– Power On!

Towards the end of the battle in Task 28, after DaiBouken has removed the Legendary Armor from the Questor Robo Elite and put it into storage, Bouken Silver rearms Siren Builder (literally!) with the unused Gougou Dozer and Gougou Marine Diver to form Siren Builder Dozer and Marine. This gives it access to the Gougou Sword and its associated Adventure Drive finisher, which it uses on the motionless, overheated, and under-armored Questor Robo Elite.

>Siren Builder Dozer and Marine, is, again, a very poor and weak combination for the DX toy version of the SGS Rescue mecha. The only advantage here is that Siren Builder now has access to the only hands in the Gougou Vehicle line that can actually grip anything- specifically the Gougou Sword, or the separated Gou Picker and Gou Scooper accessories.

DaiBouken Aider and Police

Sets required for this combination:

• DX Gougou Gattai DaiBouken
• DX Kinkyuu Gougou Gattai Siren Builder

Gattai Shift On:
Aider, Police
Aider, Police– Power On!

Finally in Task 28, DaiBouken Crane is changed into DaiBouken Aider and Police to give it an offensive punch to finish off the severely-weakened Questor Robo Elite with its inherited Knuckle Vulcans attack.

DaiBouken Aider and Police, unlike previous double-arm swapping, does not carry Gougou Dozer and Gougou Marine Diver in the legs. Since this is the last new DaiBouken-oriented combo seen in the series, they aren’t really needed for balance like they were previously with the Gougou Gattai Vehicles. But it’s easy to understand this- Gougou Aider and Gougou Police are only slightly larger than DaiBouken’s regular arms! While they only slightly bulk up DaiBouken’s arms, the lack of function in both Gougou Aider and Gougou Police makes for a simplified appearance, even more-so when using the Knuckle Vulcans attack! The wide spacing of DaiBouken’s upper torso, also plays a factor here, making the shoulder joints appear really thin and weak.

Voyager DaiBouken

Sets required for this combination:

• DX Gougou Gattai DaiBouken
• DX Chouzetsu Gougou Gattai DaiVoyager

“Riding Formation”

“Boarding Complete!“

In Task 37- “The Highly-Sought Entertainment World”, the Boukenger track an ancient Indian Precious called the Stone of Prosperity to a famous Japanese actor who ignorantly-but-proudly wears it on a giant ring. The problem is, every one hundred years, the Stone reacts to the air around it, and violently explodes- taking out everything within kilometers of the blast! Bouken Pink (former JSDF special-forces officer Sakura Nishihori) poses as the actor’s manager in order to get close enough to it to swap it for a fake ring and then neutralize the explosion of the real one. After three days of near-unbearable stress in the baffling and confusing, yet-highly-sought entertainment world, Sakura (now posing as the young “idol” host of a talk show) manages to get the ring- only to find that it, too, is a fake! The real ring is kept in a safe for only special occasions! Meanwhile, the other Boukenger discover than a Jaryuu disguised as the film company’s adorable pink dinosaur-like mascot Denbe-kun (remind you of any silly purple & green dinosaurs ‘round here, kids?), is nearby, also looking for the Stone. Sakura finds the real ring in the hands of the fake Denbe, swaps it for the fake, and neutralizes the Stone… with only one second to spare! After the six assembled Boukenger drive back Denbe (and Bouken Pink single-handedly destroys him with the Dual Crusher!), King Ryuuon arrives to make him a giant. Even with his cute fuzzy scimitar, Denbe is quickly disarmed by DaiBouken. Preparing the Adventure Drive finisher, Ryuuon unexpectedly grows dozens of regular Jaryuu grunts to giant size to punish the Boukenger for stopping him from obtaining the Stone. Surrounded and outnumbered, Gougou Voyager (piloted by Bouken Silver alone) appears and destroys many of the Jaryuu grunts. Then, DaiBouken jumps onto it to create Voyager DaiBouken! The multiple cannons of Gougou Voyager destroy the Jaryuu, while DaiBouken performs the Riding Adventure Drive on the deceptively-cute Denbe.

Voyager DaiBouken explains a bit- why the DX Chouzetsu Gougou Gattai DaiVoyager is so big! It’s big so that DaiBouken can stand on it! The feet of DaiBouken snap into the latches located on Gougou Voyager’s amidships section (aka DaiVoyager’s upper legs). So now, DaiVoyager enters into the category of carrier mecha for the “Boukenger” series. Though this adds a level of interactiveness to the otherwise boring-yet-expensive DX DaiVoyager, it still seems a bit disappointing. While the standard posing is possible, I played around a bit and found a way to make DaiBouken a little more flexible in this form. Why couldn’t some of the other Gougou Vehicles and mecha (like Siren Builder) combine with it? Oh, and don’t turn Voyager DaiBouken upside down- the latches don’t hold that well…

I should mention that Zubaan was later utilized with Voyager DaiBouken in the series to perform the Super Riding Adventure Drive finisher… though the DX toys cannot possibly do this! (Would’ve been nice if Bandai had made a to-scale, non-transforming version of Zubaan’s Golden Sword mode for DX DaiBouken to hang on to…)

If you wanna get really cute about it, you could say that Voyager DaiBouken is the second ten-part combination ever seen in Super Sentai history, behind the true record-breaking Kyuukyoku Gougou Gattai Ultimate DaiBouken ultra-combo… (If you’re wondering why I’m skeptical about that, just read further down towards the end of my review for the DX DaiVoyager.)

[I was hesitant to mention the second Bouken Formation seen in both Task 40 and 42 here because it is a primary mecha even though it is only seen twice. (Well, three times if you count its first “official” appearance in “Gougou Sentai Boukenger: The Movie- Saikyo no Precious”…) So, for more information on this, please see the review of the Boukenger combination- Gougou Gattai DaiTanken!]

DaiVoyager Drill and Shovel

Sets required for this combination:

• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #1- Gougou Drill
• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #2- Gougou Shovel
• DX Chouzetsu Gougou Gattai DaiVoyager

Gattai Shift On:
Drill, Shovel
Drill, Shovel– Power On!

In Task 43- “The Dangerous Christmas Present”, Santa-chan. accidentally gifts a chubby stone figure to a boy on Christmas Eve as she is going about her annual duty. (Yes- Santa Claus is a young woman with a red miniskirt!) When High Priest Gaja learns about this, he manages to steal a special emblem from the sensitive, absent-minded and forgetful Santa and Satorin (Santa-chan’s pet name for Satoru/Bouken Red as he helps to find the Precious) and release the power of the stone Golem. Legend has it that Santa Claus (the same one as miniskirt Santa?) gave the Golem to the people of Bohemia in the 16th Century as a guardian, but then it went out of control and destroyed the country! After the Golem is awakened, it proves how strong it is, even against the Dual Crusher, and grows to giant size and begins demolishing the city around it! While Siren Builder distracts and restrains the Golem, the Boukenger need to etch away a written character on the head of it in order to make it dormant again. However, DaiVoyager’s big fists aren’t designed for such accurate hits. And so the excavating abilities of Gougou Drill and Gougou Shovel are harnessed to form DaiVoyager Drill and Shovel. It uses its Drill Attack to first disable the Golem and then scrape away the symbol on its head, which destroys the Precious at sunset.

DaiVoyager Drill and Shovel, was, like, a really bad idea for the toy to recreate. Looks good on-screen, not on-tabletop. With DaiVoyager so big compared to all the others DX mecha, it’s just impossible to accept these [relatively] tiny arms on such a monstrous mecha! I’m glad they only did it once on the show, but DaiVoyager was enough of a mess to not need this! DaiVoyager Drill and Shovel also loses the spinning Adventure Double Screw feature that Gougou Fighter and Gougou Roader gave it. This is the only official limb-swapping combination involving DaiVoyager.

(Honestly, I thought Gougou Crane would have worked better on the toy with Gougou Drill. But that’s just me…) Well, at least the Boukenger got a snow-filled Christmas for their efforts… And Satorin- uh, I mean Satoru– got a date with the miniskirt Santa for next year!

[Trivia point: Santa-chan/Eve was played by Rina Akiyama, who would go on in 2007 to play the waitress/custodian Naomi aboard the time-traveling high-speed train DenLiner in “Kamen Rider Den-O”! And she also previously appeared in “Kamen Rider AGITO” (2001) as Mana Kazaya. (The Kamen Rider™ franchise, like the Super Sentai saga, is also made/produced by the three-company cooperative of Toei Co. Ltd., Bandai, & PLEX.) Throughout “Boukenger”, there were many such cameos, including many Super Sentai alumni!]

Siren Builder Crane

Sets required for this combination:

• Gougou Gattai Vehicle #4- Gougou Crane
• DX Kinkyuu Gougou Gattai Siren Builder

Gattai Shift On:
Crane
Crane– Power On!

In Task 45- “The Most Evil Jaakuryuu”, Zubaan and Siren Builder take on a dangerous, arrogant, powered-up Jaryuu Clan Jaakuryuu Dagaogin while the five Boukenger engage King Ryuuon to prevent him from stealing a powerful dark Precious. When Zubaan falls back initially, Siren Builder blocks him from taking more damage from Dagaogin. A few minutes later, we see Siren Builder with Gougou Crane already attached as its left arm, which forms Siren Builder Crane. In this form, not only does Bouken Silver have access to the Wire Hook Punch attack from the Crane arm, but he also used the Knuckle Vulcan in the Police arm’s fist to punch & blast Dagaogin at point-blank range. Zubaan then finished off the Jaryuu Clan monster with a series of fast, energized kicks.

Siren Builder Crane was used to surprisingly-good effect in the episode even if it only appeared for a minute. The Wire Hook Punch flew out, wrapped around Dagaogin, and then drew him in closer to Siren Builder Crane so that it could shoot him with the Knuckle Vulcan. Creepy…

It should be noted that this is the only limb-swap to have a single arm changed-out while involving a mecha other than DaiBouken. It is also the only time that Siren Builder Crane is seen.

…

This marks the end of the official combos seen in “Gougou Sentai Boukenger”. But there are a few others that need to be mentioned….

During the run of “Boukenger”, Bandai listed several combos on their website that did not appear in the show:

• DaiBouken Shovel and Crane– If you haven’t noticed by now, whenever DaiBouken and Siren Builder have two arms swapped involving just the Gougou Gattai Vehicles, Gougou Drill is always involved, and always acts as the right arm of the combo. (Why? I don’t know. There are a lot of things I’d like to ask the designers of the Gougou Vehicle line…) Now, obviously, the DX toys can be rearranged however you like. DaiBouken Shovel and Crane is one of these double-arm combos not involving Gougou Drill. (Some wondered why we didn’t see a ———— Mixer and Crane swap to counter the “———- Drill and Shovel” combos seen so many times on the show, but it never happened for whatever odd reason.) In this case, Gougou Shovel finally serves as a right arm component opposite Gougou Crane in place of its pointed orange competitor…
• Ultimate DaiBouken Fighter and Roader– Basically, the arms of DaiVoyager swapped with Ultimate DaiBouken’s. The motorized function of the Adventure Double Screw wouldn’t have been available, but Ultimate DaiBouken would have gotten a huge pair of arms in return with a pair of Voyager Cannon turrets to boot! (This I would like to have seen on-screen! I would certainly have liked it more that the stubby-armed Ultimate DaiBouken Aider and Police!)
• Siren Builder Roader– This would have been different because it would have only involved two Gougou Vehicles in the combination- Gougou Fire and Gougou Roader. Still, the rescue motif would have been kinda torn apart by this look. Kinda looked like a weird gorilla or somethin’… (Not so sure I would have liked this one.)

These next two show yet more cracks in the designs of the Gougou Vehicle line. They are official combinations since they are specifically mentioned in the instructions of the associated toys, but they were just never seen on-screen.

• DaiBouken Buster Mode– Notice that all of the Gougou Gattai Vehicles except for Gougou Jet are featured singly with DaiBouken (and Siren Builder, when counting its “…Crane” formation), so you get DaiBouken Drill, DaiBouken Shovel, DaiBouken Mixer, and DaiBouken Crane, right? So, what happened to Gougou Jet’s single combo? You couldn’t have a flying combo because Gougou Jet’s attachment points are on DaiBouken’s chest. DaiBouken Buster Mode is the answer. Gougou Jet forms a pair of large cannons attached to the chest of DaiBouken! However, Ultimate DaiBouken’s head/Gougou Jet’s nose section is used because Gougou Gyro is needed again to keep the two plastic straps around DaiBouken’s waist secured in back. (Same thing is done for Ultimate DaiBouken.) The chest of Ultimate DaiBouken then mounts onto the back of the upper torso. This is also the only occasion where DaiBouken’s legs are required to be adjusted to compensate for the forward shift in weight. The arms could still swing around, but twisting them forwards gives it the appearance of holding on to the barrels of the Buster Mode when firing. (‘Cheating’ with the elbows by bending them inwards helps a bit, too.) That would have been a heck of a finisher to see!
• Siren Builder Jet– This was actually one of my complaints in my DX Siren Builder review. The small platform on the back of Siren Builder (some jokingly referred to in online fan communities as its “butt guard”) folds upwards, and then Gougou Jet attaches just like it does on DaiBouken Buster Mode/Ultimate DaiBouken. The paired straps wrap around Siren Builder’s waist, and then a light gray panel under the chest flips down and locks over the belt buckle area in the same way that Gougou Gyro would. Now the problem with Siren Builder Jet is that the wings hang so low on it! Though it is certainly understandable that it’s done in this way in order for that chest panel to be useful. The ‘butt guard’ could also have been about ¼” shorter to bring the wings closer to the body and not leave such a gap there. Or, perhaps Gougou Jet could have attached directly to the battery compartment on Siren Builder’s upper torso with a little redesigning. (This combo would certainly have shortened Siren Builder Jet’s response time in an emergency!)

This last one is debated as to whether-or-not it fits the canon of the series. Throughout the run of “Gougou Sentai Boukenger”, the principle cast would point out highlights in Super Sentai history at the end of each episode – at first providing abbreviated summaries of each series starting with “GoRanger” in 1975 and then ending with themselves thirty episodes later. (They also did a brief intro for the upcoming series, “Juuken Sentai GekiRanger”, in the series finale!) After this line of series’ summaries, they went on to point-out highlights such as anti-/evil Sentai forces, first combining mecha, weapons, and others.

Well, at the end of Task 37, the topic is the Seven Piece Gattai- mentioning only the Kyuukyoku Daizyujin from “ZyuRanger” (the first Ultrazord, “MMPR”-1) and Juukou Kiden from “DaiRanger” (Thunder Ultrazord, “MMPR”-2) as the largest combinations in Super Sentai history. When the gathered Boukenger notice that Ultimate DaiBouken has ten components, Akashi (Bouken Red) immediately comes over the comm and proudly says he’s found a twelve-part combination! While it isn’t named in the short segment, the combination is Ultimate DaiBouken with Gougou Aider and Gougou Police attached to Gougou Jet’s shoulder joints. Now, you couldn’t call this Ultimate DaiBouken Aider and Police because, well… that name’s already been taken! And according to the system of names given, I can’t find an alternative name for it that would fit! But, you can do it with the DX version! (I will say that those two Gougou Vehicles look very sturdy on that Ultimate DaiBouken stunt-suit; makes me wonder if this wasn’t another lost potential combo that just wasn’t used…)

Finally, in addition to the dozens of possible arm-swapping combinations, there is still untapped potential that was never used. But this left many people scratching their heads when the series ended in early 2007. Questions that were never answered:

• What function did the holes on the heels of DaiTanken (located under Gougou Mixer and Gougou Crane’s cockpits) serve? They were of similar size to the ones on the bottom of Patrol Gyro and Patrol Trailer from the DX Tokusou Gattai DekaRanger Robo from “DekaRanger” (Deluxe Delta Squad Megazord from “PR S.P.D.”, 2005), but in that case they served as mounting points for the hands of the Super DekaRanger Robo (Delta-Max Megazord) combo.
• What function did this little pitching light on Gougou Shovel serve? There is nothing extraneous on these toys, yet it exists as a moving part. Why? There are two larger light fixtures on either side of the arm, but they don’t move.
• As with the pitching light on Gougou Shovel, Gougou Drill’s back tractor assemblies can snap-rotate around 180°, but in the show, they are only seen turning downwards 90° so that Gougou Drill can begin, well- drilling into the ground. Were they supposed to move out of the way for something else to lock onto it? And if they were there only to turn the drill bit downwards, why then can they rotate all the way back?
• Molded onto the outside of DaiBouken’s lower legs, just below the knee joints, are a pair of red tabs which remain unused throughout the entire series. There is nothing in the Gougou Vehicle line which is designed to snap in that fashion, and the Gou Picker and Gou Scooper don’t use them when it’s in Gougou Trailer mode.
• Oh, yeah- that reminds me: we only saw DaiBouken’s third mode- Gougou Trailer- once: in the very beginning of the series, just before the opening credits ran! Only other time it’s seen is in the opening credits, and that’s just the same footage from the series debut! Why even bother to bring it up or show it if it’s not going to be used in the series!? The same thing happened to the third mode of the DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao King from “GaoRanger” (Deluxe Wild Force Megazord from “PR Wild Force”), but in that case, they didn’t show it at all!
• Perhaps the biggest mystery was all the extra joints of those black ABS plastic straps on Gougou Jet. While they only accommodate either DaiBouken’s waist in the series (and Siren Builder’s, as mentioned above), the DX version can twist and even bend in ways that cannot be explained. Even when accommodating the accessory platform for the Gougou Vehicles included in Gougou Jet’s box, they are even simpler to operate then than they have explanations for! Unless [like the limb-swapping concept originated with the Power Animals line in 2001] PLEX was planning way in advance for the future and wanted the Gougou Vehicle line to be compatible with other non-Super Sentai toys, I can’t see why they did it.

[Special thanks to my little Mini-con repaint friend here- “Transformers: Cybertron™” Autobot Tankor– for helping me point the small things out… ^_^ ]

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the Gougou Vehicle line from the 2006 series “Gougou Sentai Boukenger” was fun, but not the greatest. Certainly, I do not believe it was worthy of being the representative line for the 30th-Anniversary Super Sentai series. There was more confusion about it than necessarily retro/old-school Super Sentai about it as it was intended to be. They also broke the adventure/treasure hunting theme of the series when they gave us the bulky DX DaiVoyager. The line was too gimmicky for its own good- much as how people felt about the Power Animals line in “GaoRanger” for the 25th-Anniversary series in 2001. It started out okay, but never recovered or excelled in any way that hadn’t been done already in some way or other. The show itself was good- it’s just that the mecha designs is where it falters the most.

I’ll hang on to what I have, but I’m not entirely confident that I got back what I paid for.

…

Heh– in a way, DX Zubaan was, in my opinion, probably the best of them all… and he wasn’t even a Gougou Vehicle!

–“Zun-zun! Zubaan!”–