Ginou

Ginou is an Autobot Trainbot from the Generation 1 continuity family.

"But I've always said "guh-noo"."
"You've always been wrong."

Ginou (ギンオウ Gin'ō), development code Silver (シルバー Shirubā), is a prototype Trainbot, able to form G Liner with his set of teammates or replace Shouki as the upper torso of Raiden.

Fiction

Train Wars

Silver was one of the prototype Trainbots created by Doctor Fujiyama before he would go on to create the finalized six. After three of the finalized Trainbots were activated, Nightbird managed to break out (thanks to the rogue AI, Shadow) and upgrade herself with the technology at Fujiyama's facility. Called into action, the active Trainbots met with Nightbird before she could run away with the three remaining unactivated Trainbots. The prototypes combined to form G Liner, but the combiner was taken over by Shadow's cerebro-shell program. The three remaining Trainbots did a last-ditch effort to literally crash into the combiner, breaking him free of the brainwashing. The Train Wars: The Origin

Toys

MPG

• Trainbot Ginou (2024)

• ID number: MPG-07
• Release date: 2024 September 28
• Accessories: Weapon, shield, maintenance box, seat x 2, joint part, rail A, rail B, sticker sheet
• Known designers: Kōjin Ōno (TakaraTomy), Dai Ono (Tomytec), Yuki Ohshima (concept artist)

Ginou is the seventh release in the MPG. Produced in collaboration with TOMIX, the train department of TakaraTomy's scale model oriented subsidiary Tomytec, the figure converts into a fully HO scale compatible leading car of the 0 Series type "Doctor Yellow" diagnostic train 922-10. Ginou is a redeco and retool of MPG Trainbot Shouki, featuring a newly sculpted, Diaclone-toy inspired head. Ginou can also transform into a third mode that can replace Shouki as the torso of Raiden. In conjunction with Yamabuki replacing Yukikaze, Ginou can form "Raiden Special Formation Shiden" (ライデン特別編成シデン) with the remaining Trainbots.

Like Shouki, Ginou includes seat parts scaled to fit two figures in the front cabin, both Masterpiece human figures or pilots from the 2016 Diaclone toyline via a pair of flip-down "booster seats". The figure includes a newly sculpted shield/chest plate based on early catalog artwork for the Diaclone version of Raiden, as well as a new "maintenance box" which can transform into an abdomen filler for Raiden, be held by Ginou in robot mode, or stored on the side of their train mode. Ginou includes the same handheld rifle as Shouki which can still be stored on the train mode's undercarriage.

The figure includes two modular railway sections which can combine with segments included with the other Trainbots à la the team's original Diaclone plastic tracks. This track can be converted into a base for a stand armature (sold separately), and an adapter is included for display as either a "flying train" or a floating Raiden torso for when Shouki is hogging combiner duties.

One word of warning is necessary for the aspirant MPG Trainbot diorama builder: the set's adherence to vehicle mode accuracy proves something of a double-edged sword. While the MPG Trainbots adhere to a unified 1:87-ish HO scale, they do not adhere to a unified track width. In accordance with their real-life inspirations, Shouki, Yukikaze, Ginou and Yamabuki utilize standard gauge (true HO) tracks while Getsuei, Suiken, Seizan and Kaen utilize metre gauge (HOm) tracks. It is thus necessary to split the team up accordingly if one is to actually roll the danged things.

Notes

 

• The etymology of Ginou's name isn't fully clear, but it may mean "silver king" (銀王) or "silver yellow" (銀黄).
• Ginou is based on the "No. 7 Tōkaidō Shinkansen, Metallic Type" (No.7 東海道新幹線, メッキタイプ) deco of the Diaclone mold whose original coloration would later become Shouki. His prototype name comes from the "Silverliner" (シルバーライナー) designation of the Diaclone Train Robo.
• The colors of Ginou's toy in MPG owe their origins to the MPG Trainbots adhering as closely to real-world trains as possible. As the "Doctor Yellow" deco for "Yellowliner" does not exist on the model of train used for her original moldmate Yukikaze (Doctor Yellow trains of the 200 series, like Yukikaze, use a green stripe), nor does a metallic-plated version of the 0 series exist (the color scheme of Shouki's Diaclone variant, Silverliner, as well as Ginou's in-fiction colors), it was decided to redeco Shouki in Yellowliner's colors instead, making the toy accurate to an actual, existing train. (A fortunate coincidence is that the metallic parts of the original Silverliner toy are molded in yellow and then painted silver.)