Goryu (G1)
| This article is about the evil Decepticon. For the heroic Decepticon Dinocon, see Goryu (SG). |
- Goryu is a Decepticon from the Victory portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
The leader of the Dinoforce, Goryu (ゴウリュウ Gōryū) is a mighty proud little bot. Sure, the rest of the team are varying degrees of idiot. Sure, they have an abysmal success rate. Sure, they constantly get on his nerves, bungle plans, and generally make life miserable for him. But they're his team. He's leading a whole team, under the command of Deathsaurus, one of the greatest Decepticon Emperors ever! That's amazing! He dreams of the Dinoforce being instrumental to ultimate Decepticon victory. And for all the berating and beating of his subordinates, he genuinely cares about them and wants them to be the best dang warriors they can be, all in the name of Emperor Deathsaurus.
On the battlefield, Goryu can be quite the terror, riding to battle on the back of his semi-autonomous Tyrannosaurus shell rather than inside it as his subordinates do. That's because actually merging with his shell can result in a massive discharge of electrical energy that can leave both enemy and ally alike a smoking, burned-out husk, an attack he's dubbed the "Go-Tyranno Sparky". Even without the shell, he can hold his own with the best, firing heat rays from his claws and manipulating gravity to incapacitate and crush opponents, typically by creating trapping rings of energy that he hurls from his club.
Sadly, his gung-ho attitude, penchant for not listening to his subordinates' warnings, and desire to impress Deathsaurus often means that all that power ends up wasted on ill-thought-out actions.
Someday though, he'll show them all how great he and his team are. Especially that jerk Leozack. He'll show 'em.
Fiction
Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Victory cartoon
- Voice actor: Daisuke Gōri (Japanese)
Years ago, Goryu led the Dinoforce in a raid on a Mars research ship, robbing it of as much energon as they could carry. The sheer amount of destruction they inflicted on the ship caused it to explode, resulting in the deaths of nearly all on board, including Jan's parents. The Dinoforce made their escape before Star Saber arrived, too late to save anyone but the infant Jan, who had been put into an escape pod. Attack! Leozack
When Deathsaurus revived the Decepticon campaign to take Earth, he unleashed the Dinoforce to steal energon from the humans' lunar operations. After tearing through a floating space station under construction, they descended on the Moon and attacked the lunar base, running rampant until the Brainmasters arrived. Goryu led the charge against the Autobots, though he had to step aside a moment to berate Kakuryu for his sorry choice of weapon in the fight. When Braver made a break to help evacuate the humans from the devastated base, Goryu hit him with a binding energy ring from his club, then hit him with the club proper, sending the Brainmaster tumbling into a crevasse. The remaining two Autobots soon found themselves on the ropes until Star Saber arrived, who sent them to help evacuate the base while he took care of Dinoforce. Goryu tried to rally his troops into attacking the Autobot leader, and they almost did, but chickened out at the last moment before Star Saber flattened them anyway. Goryu had a go at it himself, but a sustained energy beam from Saber's sword sent him falling into a crevasse. Goryu pulled himself out just as Deathsaurus arrived, bearing witness to the Decepticon leader's defeat, and fled at speed as Deathsaurus retreated on the Thunder Arrow. The Brave Hero of the Universe - Star Saber
Goryu was immediately summoned to Deathsaurus's throne room afterward, where Leozack gave the order for Dinoforce to destroy the Autobot Galaxy Base, where the lunar base refugees were waiting for transport back to Earth. Goryu questioned the logic of worrying about that, thinking it was more important to deal with "that Star Saber guy". Leozack was none too pleased with the backtalk, and a pointed question from Deathsaurus sent Goryu quickly scampering to go take out the Galaxy Base, loudly and violently waking the Dinoforce from their post-battle nap. They stopped at some floating wreckage, spotting the lone Autobot Wingwaver on his way from Planet V to the Galaxy Base, and Goryu decided that ambushing and killing the Autobot would be a good warmup. Wingwaver put up a good fight (and Kakuryu kept bungling), but the sheer numbers were against him, and soon he found himself struggling to fend off a furious serious of club strikes from Goryu. The Brainmasters intervened once again, giving Wingwaver the chance to escape. As the rest of the Dinoforce exited their shells to take on the Autobots, Goryu enacted a fairly savvy (for him) plan, sending the dino shells ahead to destroy the Galaxy Base while the Decepticons finished the fight with the Brainmasters. Unable to take the trio out even with superior numbers, Goryu called for combination, and to the Brainmasters' shock, the team merged into the gigantic Dinoking, who proved more than a match for the Autobots. Star Saber left the Galaxy Base to tackle Dinoking and send the Brainmasters back to defend the Galaxy Base. After taking several shots from Saber's "V-Star" weapon, Dinoking engaged the Autobot Supreme Commander in melee combat, but ended up getting absolutely trounced, and the team de-combined and fled for their lives.
Meanwhile, the dino shells used the absence of Star Saber to close the gap and begin wrecking the Galaxy Base. Goryu's T.rex attempted to take out Holi and Jan when they fled their wrecked battle station, but Dashtacker blinded it with an intense light-burst from the Flasher, giving Wingwaver and Machtackle an opening to deliver a double flying kick. To make things worse, the shuttle at the top of Galaxy Base revealed itself to be the giant Autobot Galaxy Shuttle, who used the rocket thrusters in his feet to send the shells flying uncontrollably into the void of space. Sneak Attack! Dinoking
The Dinoforce accompanied Leozack (on Deathsaurus's orders) on a mission to kill Star Saber as the Autobot commander visited the Schwimmbad School in the Alps to drop off his adopted son Jan. After some mindless destruction of the school grounds, the Dinoforce joined into Dinoking once again at the arrival of the Brainmaster trio. But this time the Autobots combined as well, forming Road Caesar and besting the brute, while the Dinoforce's shells were driven off by Jan piloting the V-Star. And with Leozack gravely wounded, the Decepticons beat a hasty retreat, the rest of Dinoforce clinging desperately to Yokuryu as they made an aerial escape.
The Decepticons assembled in Deathsaurus's throne room to discuss a new plan, not to merely steal energy, but to steal an entire floating energy plant, allowing them to continuously power their war effort. Leozack, joined by fellow Breastforce soldiers Killbison, Jallguar and Drillhorn, made no effort to disguise their contempt for the Dinoforce, and Goryu's protestations earned him a rebuke from Deathsaurus and a threat of pummeling from Killbison. As the Dinoforce began their attack, Goryu, still nursing a grudge from his earlier humiliation, decided that the "take the whole plant" objective was a stupid plan for nerds, and ordered the team to go with their usual plan, "steal as much energy as you can carry and destroy everything else"... and had Yokuryu lightly toasted when the flier pointed out the original plan. Goryu's fun was soon interrupted by Dashtacker and Machtackle, and with the arrival of Wingwaver (and a just-shot-down Yokuryu), Goryu made the call to combine. Dinoking kept the Multiforce on the ropes, until he was distracted by Leozack and Drillhorn, who had arrived to yell at the Dinoforce for causing too much destruction. Their argument gave Multiforce the break they needed to combine into Landcross, and while he put up a good fight against Dinoking, interference from the Breastforce nearly got the Autobot combiner killed. But the timely arrival of Star Saber (sensing a pattern yet?) turned the tide, and the dino-combiner was once again beaten into his component robots. Goryu made the call to flee, leaving Leozack and Drillhorn to deal with two very large Autobots. Unite!! Multiforce
The Dinoforce took up training on a tropical island, with Goryu pushing his troops to work harder and harder. Their training was interrupted by Leozack, who ordered them to join him in his newest scheme: taking over the Ocean Exhibition amusement park! Goryu was immediately skeptical of the whole thing, and the arrogant Leozak declared that the oceanic structure was to become his new base, from which he would soon rule the Decepticons after deposing Deathsaurus! Goryu remained completely unconvinced that this was anything approaching a good idea, but went along with the plan anyway. Dinoforce went with the standard "smash everything" tactic, Goryu muttering to himself the whole time as Leozack made haughty declarations to the fleeing humans, and trying to keep Kakuryu on-task. The Autobots arrived, but the Decepticons retreated to a building full of trapped humans, preventing the Autobots from attacking them. Leozack ordered the Dinoforce to destroy the Brainmasters, and they moved forward... and the Brainmasters ran away, the Dinoforce in hot pursuit, luring them away from the hostages and right into a royal pummeling. The two teams combined into their respective super robots, but the fight was short-lived as Dinoking caught sight of Leozack fleeing the battle, and dove into the water to follow suit. Back at the Thunder Arrow, the Dinoforce had a nice schadenfreude-fueled chuckle as they watched Leozack grovel and lie about the failed plan to Deathsaurus, who simply walked away without a word. Move Out! Rescue Team
The Dinoforce and Breastforce were sent to the Neo Uranium Mine in Africa to pillage the "beta uranium" excavated there. After taking the plant, Dinoforce was ordered to haul out the uranium while the Breastforce guarded a large number of human hostages they had taken to ensure the Autobots couldn't stop them. Suffering through Kakuryu's multiple bumbles, Goryu had the team pull tons of unrefined ore cases out of the storehouse into the open for pickup. Leozack returned to the surface to check up on them and order them around some more, and an irked Goryu led the charge to attack the oncoming Autobots... only to discover his troops weren't following for some reason. But the battle was soon joined, and Goryu took multiple heavy blows from Blacker and Star Saber, and Kakuryu, of course. Sick of getting pummeled, Goryu commanded the Dinoforce to combine and take on Star Saber. This time, Dinoking revealed a new trick, generating a "Dino Power" energy tornado that held Star Saber in place until the Autobot cut his way out of it. Before Dinoking could attack again, Star Saber unleased his "Blade of Wrath" attack, sending spears of light energy from the heavens that pierced through the combiner, forcing him to disassemble and return to the Thunder Arrow empty-handed. Infiltration... The Uranium Mine
Despite their prior failures, the Decepticons had still managed to stockpile a considerable amount of energy resources, which they kept in a base hidden deep in the Amazon jungle. Naturally, the Dinoforce was tasked with grunt work, manually unloading the newly acquired energy caches from the Thunder Arrow. When Yokuryu returned from patrol to report a massive flock of birds suddenly flying away, Goryu took him and Rairyu to investigate in case the disturbance was Autobot-caused... which it was. They discovered the Multiforce and Blacker in a river and moved in to attack. Blacker took off as a distraction, and the Dinoforcers single-mindedly gave chase, letting the Multiforce slip away and try and get out of the Decepticons' jamming field to call back to base. After quite a long chase, Blacker took a moment to rest, but Goryu had managed to keep on him and got in a number of good hits with his club before Rairyu arrived to gang up on him and beat the Autobot down. But Wingwaver had doubled back and knocked the two Decepticons for a loop, giving him the chance to grab his injured commander and escape into the jungle. Explosion!! The Energy Base
Dinoforce was sent to accompany the Breastforce —now with Hellbat added to their ranks— to Marine City as backup for Drillhorn's plan to steal a massive fuel tanker, the Big Baron. Dinoforce were sent to plant a neutron bomb at a hidden location in the city... which Kakuryu nearly divulged to Blacker under threat, but Goryu stepped in to free his sniveling subordinate. The Dinoforce retreated to the bomb's hiding place, Marine Tower, and lay in wait for the Autobots. The six joined into Dinoking again to take out Saber, Laster and Blacker, the latter two using high-speed driving and combat maneuvers to actually topple the giant on their own while Saber took care of the Decepticons who were hijacking the fuel tanker. Tanker Hijack Operation
Having kidnapped Jan and Holi, Hellbat summoned the Dinoforce to his secret cave base with plans to use the hostages so he and the Dinoforce (well, mostly him) could unseat Leozack as Deathsaurus's right hand. While Hellbat played up the obsequiousness to butter up Goryu, he also muttered insults under his breath a little too loudly and took to ordering Kakuryu around, both of which cheesed off the Dinoforce commander. They watched as Hellbat threatened Jan with a knife, then suffered alongside Jan as the Breastforcer used high sonic frequencies to torture the boy, trying to extract information about Star Saber's weaknesses. When that didn't work, Goryu went with a more old-fashioned form of threat, spinning the studs on his club on retractable cables and promising to bash them silly if they didn't talk. Kakuryu asked if the boss was going a bit too far, a question that distracted Goryu and made him accidentally bind himself up in his own cables. The hostages were thrown in a cell while Hellbat and Goryu bickered more about the plan, only for Jan and Holi to quickly escape. The two attempted to steal Jan's communicator from the main base, but were spotted by Hellbat, and Goryu used his club's energy rings to attack, not really caring about their value as hostages. The attacks instead sent a massive support beam crashing down on top of Goryu, giving the Autobots a chance to escape and contact Star Saber. Goryu chased the pair through a water sluice and accidentally carved a way out for them with his energy rings, sending them splashing through the air in a large canyon. But Star Saber and Galaxy Shuttle had arrived and safely caught them, leading the Dinoforce to merge into Dinoking and take on the commander. Star Saber brought down an entire cliff face on the brute, and as he picked himself from the rubble, he saw the mammoth Galaxy Shuttle standing over him as well. The Dinoforce split up again and dove for a nearby lake to run away. Back at the Thunder Arrow, Goryu bristled as Hellbat threw both Leozack and Dinoforce under the bus, but at the very least, Hellbat then promptly embarrassed himself, as the top secret information disk he'd stolen from Jan turned out to just be the boy's math homework and some electronic doodles and games. Rescue Jan!!
When the Decepticons set up a trap in the asteroid belt to capture passing human spaceships, the Dinoforce were tasked with draining all the energy from each captured ship before they were broken down for parts. Of course, a mishap from Kakuryu resulted in Goryu taking an unintended whallop, which then led to an intended whallop on Kakuryu's skull. Goryu stepped in to examine a newly captured ship, noting its lack of crew and higher-quality materials than normal, traits that made Leozack suspicious. But Drillhorn's arrival with the first samples of "energy alloy" made from the ships quickly distracted the Breastforce commander. As Leozack left to show the sample to Deathsaurus, Drillhorn demonstrated the alloy's explosive power for Goryu, unknowingly providing the perfect distraction for Saber to disengage from the decoy ship and investigate the asteroid base. As the Dinoforce moved in to dismantle the decoy, Saber returned from his investigation, and with the need for subterfuge gone, pulled the V-Star from the decoy, which sent a massive chunk of ship flying of and squishing Goryu underneath. Star Saber took on the entire contingent of Decepticons by himself, the separate Saber and V-Star bodies wreaking havoc and destroying the Decepticons' ship-capture devices. Dinoforce was ordered to defend the Thunder Arrow from the V-Star's attacks, which meant they were able to quickly run away to shelter inside it when the rest of the Autobot forces arrived. Goryu warned Deathsaurus that they were all at risk of destruction, and the Emperor had the Thunder Arrow pull away to preserve the spoils they'd acquired so far, leaving Breastforce to fend for themselves (though that fight didn't last long once Saber joined with the V-Star). A Fierce Battle!! The Asteroid
Dinoforce joined Deathsaurus on a journey to the Dark Nebula, where they used their complete energy stockpile to power up the gargantuan Planet-Destroying Fortress trapped within it. They celebrated as the fortress lit up... and gawped as it quickly powered down again. Goryu lamented that they didn't bring enough energy, but Deathsaurus explained he was well aware of that and just wanted to see if the death machine was still functional in the first place. After hearing the story of how the fortress came to be sealed away by Star Saber years ago, the Dinoforce were brought to tears. They were then sent to their battle stations when Yokuryu reported a brief glimpse of Star Saber and an Autobot spaceship on the long-range scanners, as Deathsaurus was absolutely livid after recalling his great loss and eager to take revenge on Star Saber right then and there. As Deathsaurus directly engaged his mortal enemy, Dinoforce piloted the Thunder Arrow in pursuit of the Autobot shuttle. The larger ship caught up with them and attached an energy tube to it, which not only drained the ship's power cells, but cut a hole in its side so the Dinoforce could board it. Their furious charge was briefly stopped by a hail of junk and debris from the Autobot Rescue Patrol Team, but they managed to overpower the Micromasters... for a moment, before a torrent of high-pressure water from Fire's water cannons sent them watersliding all the way back to the Thunder Arrow. Now really honked off, Goryu sent a massive bomb through the tube, but Jan managed to stop it by using manipulator arms to wind a steel cable around the tube and draw it tight, squeezing the tube and preventing the bomb from passing through. Bouncing off the obstruction, the bomb slid back at high speed, smashing through the Arrow's now-closed bay doors, ricocheting around the bomb bay, and eventually smashing its way out the other side of the ship, leaving the Dinoforce in a battered and scattered pile. A dazed Goryu wondered why they hadn't all been atomized in an explosion, only for Kakuryu to realize he'd not installed the bomb's ignition plug. With the Arrow damaged, the energy tube dissipated, and the ship was set adrift, both Dinoforce and Deathsaurus retreating to restore themselves and fight another day. Resurrection!? The Decepticon Fortress
With their energy reserves now depleted, the Breastforce and Dinoforce were dispatched to raid the massive Schaeffer Energy plant in America; the unique, incredibly powerful energy source would be a massive boon to the Decepticon war effort. While Breastforce guarded the (curiously unguarded) plant against Autobot aid, Dinoforce loaded up a transport with an entire warehouse's stock of Schaeffer Energy ore. For once, they were able to get away with it, as the Brainmasters, who had infiltrated the base to protect the ore, pulled away from the chase to protect both Star Saber and countless humans from the Decepticons' newest threat, the Breastforce combiner Liokaiser. Battle Up of Wrath!! Continuing their plundering, the Dinoforce attacked a desert oil field. Deciding that he didn't want Kakuryu messing up their spoils, he ordered the dipstick dino to simply round up and guard the plant workers. Goryu spotted the incoming Galaxy Shuttle, but told his troops to ignore them and stick to draining the plant's energy. This display of seeming carelessness led the overconfident Autobots directly into a trap, as Drillhorn and Killbision popped out of the sand to shoot the shuttle down. The energy-stealing continued to go well with the lack of Autobot interference, even if Goryu had to later deal with a foam-covered Kakuryu, who had been bested by the tiny Autobot Fire. Sadly, this was not to last, as the Breastforce and Thunder Arrow were forced to retreat without them following a thrashing from Star Saber and Greatshot, and an assault from Braver and Laster, who had escaped the trap, detonated the energon cube stacks, sending Dinoforce running into the desert. Crisis! Ambush in the Desert
With the Autobots' strongest fighters seriously injured, the Decepticons ramped up their fuel raids, eager to take advantage of the Autobots' weakness. The Dinoforce attacked the New Cheyenne Airport's fuel depot, with only the seriously outgunned Dashtacker and Machtackle there to try and stop them. Wingwaver, Holi, Fire, Pīpō, and a still-injured Blacker arrived on Galaxy Shuttle as backup, and wild fire from Kakuryu nearly resulted in Goryu being crushed under a falling radar tower. But with Blacker's injury keeping him out of the fight, the Dinoforce were able to overwhelm the Autobots and run off with a ton of pilfered energon. Ginrai Dies!! Next they attacked the Energy Road in America, a cross-country highway used by a massive tractor-trailer that hauled energy supplies from the west coast to the east. As they lay in wait for the transport, Goryu was eager to smash the incoming Multiforce, but Leozack reminded him that their job was to take the tanker's energy stocks. As Leozack and Hellbat left to take on the flying Multiforcers, Goryu got his wish for battle as the ground-based bots ran to the tanker's rescue as the Dinoforce closed in. Drastically outnumbered, Multiforce combined into Landcross, and while he initially got the upper hand on the Decepticons, Dinoforce merged into Dinoking to take him on, even throwing one of the gigantic energy containers directly in front of Landcross and detonating it with a blast from his axe. Swatting away the new arrivals Laster and Braver, Dinoking moved to torture Landcross a bit, toying with the Autobot and beating him down repeatedly. Landcross was saved by the arrival of Victory Leo, the reborn form of the Autobot Commander God Ginrai, who absolutely trounced all of the Decepticons. Dinoking tried the "throw a volatile energy tank" move again, but Victory Leo shot it before he could get to the "throw" part, and the resulting explosion blasted Dinoking into his component robots, who quickly ran for the hills. Fight!! Victory Leo
Throughout Deathsaurus' campaign against Earth for energy, Goryu was a loyal grunt. Often he and his Dinoforce were the first in the fight and the last to retreat. However, he was betrayed when Deathsaurus finally acquired enough energy to free his space fortress—the Decepticon commander abandoning Dinoforce, and leaving them to die. As retaliation, Goryu went to the Autobots, and told them the secret weakness in Deathsaurus's space fortress.
After the destruction of the space fortress, Goryu and his Dinoforce lived peacefully on Earth alongside the humans. Showdown! The Fortress vs the Victory Unification
Legends comic
Goryu was present at the unveiling of the Cybertron Alliance with his former teammate. Epiloge
Victory comic
Goryu and his Dinoforce rode their shells into battle, ransacking the planet Earth. They attempted to escalate the devastation by forming Dinoking, but were stopped cold by the power of Landcross. So Cool! Our Ally, Star Saber!
Goryu stood watch as Kakuryu went through his daily fitness routine. Star Saber, Warrior of Love!
On Guard, Goryu oversaw the Decepticons' slave labor as they constructed the mighty King Solon armor for Deathsaurus's protege. Victory Saber Is Strong!
As the Autobots infiltrated the Decepticon Space Stronghold, their sudden appearance scattered Goryu and the Dinoforce. The fighting soon ceased as the Decepticons revealed they only sought energy for their families, including the adorable Dinobabies. He has a son. Seriously. The Grand Victory War
2005 IDW continuity
Goryu was part of Deathsaurus's contingent of Decepticons stationed in their Warworld. In agreement with Tarn, Deathsaurus and his forces joined with the Decepticon Justice Division to continue the Decepticon dream and eliminate Megatron. The Permanent Revolution
Toys
Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers
- Goryu (Dinoforce, 1989)
- ID number: D-322
- Accessories: Tyrannosaurus rex shell, shell back, "Tyranno Gun", Dinoking foot-plate
- A redeco of the Hasbro Pretender Monster Icepick, Goryu transforms into a bipedal, clawed monster-thing. He can also transform into either leg to Dinoforce's combined Dinoking mode, but his nominal placement is as the giant's left leg.
- He comes with a rubbery, cyborg Tyrannosaurus rex shell he hides inside; sadly, there is no way to securely perch him on the beast's back as he does in the anime. The back of the shell can also store his rifle and the Dinoking footplate. This shell, like all the Dinoforce shells, has a pair of QC flaws that appear nearly universal: the shell has a nasty tendency to "sweat" an oily residue, plus the metallic paints age poorly, with the gold famously developing a green patina, while the silver just gets uneven and grody-looking. While some water and a little bit of hand-soap should take care of the slime, there's not much to be done about the green discoloration.
- Dinoking (Dinoforce gift set, 1989)
- ID number: D-328
- Accessories: Tyrannosaurus rex shell, shell back, "Tyranno Gun", Dinoking foot-plate
- All six members of Dinoforce were available both in individual boxes, and in a complete six-piece gift set. While there are no differences in the toys themselves, the gift set lacks any bio or Tech Spec cards for the individual components, only having cards for the combined mode.
Notes
- Gōryū corresponds with 強竜, meaning "Strong Dinosaur".
- The Victory anime depicted the Dinoforce members as carrying melee weapons, rather than the blasters the toys actually came with; Goryu packs a large club which he mainly uses to brain his subordinates, but it can also create rings of energy that can ensnare targets. And while they are sometimes depicted as riding their shells (Goryu more often than the others), obviously the toys proper cannot do this. Plus, their mechanical beast modes are never shown, making them kind of the mirror of the Super-God Masterforce Seacons.
Foreign names
- English: Icepick (Omni Productions dub)
- Mandarin: Pick (Taiwan, 皮哥 Píkē), Ace (Taiwan Omni Productions dub, 艾斯 Àisī), Gāojiǎoguài (China, 高脚怪, "Long-legged Monster")
- Russian: Zadavala (Задавала, "Arrogant")
- Spanish: Ice (America)
