Brave (franchise)
| This article is about the franchise that uses designs from Transformers. For the Car Robots character, see Emissary. |
Yūsha (勇者, also known as the Brave) is a (non-Transformers) franchise that Takara and Sunrise created after the Generation 1 anime ran its course in Japan. The Brave Series consists of eight individual series that were released one after the other from 1990 to 1998 with corresponding TV shows in Japan. The last show in the series received a follow-up OVA beginning in 2000. Although none of the series storylines are connected to one another[1] the basic format of each series is similar. Usually a kid befriends/creates/becomes a sentient robot, and together they fight a great evil threatening the Earth. The main robots combine with other vehicles and robots to become larger robots, and additional teams of sentient robots combine amongst themselves to form larger robots as well. (This structure is the same as the one used by the Autobots from Transformers: Victory.) The Brave Series has been described as a cross between Transformers and the Super Robot genre of the late '70s and early '80s.
The Brave series consisted of:
- 1990: Brave Exkaiser
- 1991: Brave Fighter of the Sun: Fighbird
- 1992: Brave Fighter of Legend: Da-Garn
- 1993: The Brave Express: Might Gaine
- 1994: Brave Police: J-Decker
- 1995: Brave of Gold: Goldran
- 1996: Brave Command: Dagwon
- 1997: The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar
Toys for these robots were created in two sizes: DX ("deluxe") versions that contained more gimmicks and more complicated transformations, and STD ("standard") versions that contained fewer gimmicks and more limited transformations (often resorting to partsforming), but often also higher accuracy in reproducing the look of the robot from the anime series. Generally, the transformation of the robots was created by Takara, while the look of the robots was created by Kunio Okawara, a legendary Sunrise mecha designer.
Relationship to Transformers
The initial concept designs for Brave Exkaiser, the first Brave Series, were intended to be Transformers designs. While the Brave robot Ultra Raker was very far along at this stage, the Max team and King Exkaiser bore little resemblance to their final designs.
The Brave toys also have design elements similar to Generation 2 and Beast Wars Transformers, which were released around the same time as the Brave toys. For example, many of the Brave of Legend toys have light-piped eyes thanks to transparent pieces of plastic in their heads, a design element which many Generation 2 Transformers share. The Goldran DX toyline contains many projectile launchers, something Generation 2 shared as well. In particular, the Goldran toy "Advenger" contains a rotor-launching gimmick identical to that of Rotor Force from Generation 2, and the "Captain Shark" figure has a Gatling-gun style launcher, the same as Generation 2 Dreadwing. Lastly, the elbows of Leon from DX Leonkyzer contain ball joints, a design element that gained much broader use during Generation 2 and even more so during the Beast Wars toyline.
The Brave Series also reused character designs and toys from previous Transformers series. It was not uncommon for the recycled designs to appear in a Brave TV show, but not in toy form. These designs were often significantly augmented to distinguish them from their Transformer counterparts. For example, the four Geister henchmen in Exkaiser have all-new faces, body detail, and color schemes. Of the designs that did appear in toy form, some of them were remolded to reflect these changes, whereas others were simple recolors. (A complete listing of the reuses follows in the section below).
Similarly, subsequent Transformers lines have also been influenced by the Brave Series. The Japanese Mini-Con Kingbolt's coloration and characterization are homages to the Brave series Exkaiser. Also, the Cybertron cartoon featured many homages to the Brave series King Of Braves GaoGaiGar, most notably the way Optimus Prime combines with Leobreaker and Wing Saber, which is similar to the way GaoGaiGar combines with Goldymarg and Stealth Gao respectively. This similarity is also evident in Hot Shot's transformation sequence being almost identical to Volfogg's. The cinematography for Energon Optimus Prime's stock-footage combination sequence with his Prime Force limbs is also very reminiscent of Brave series stock footage. The Transformers Animated characters Jetfire and Jetstorm are similar to Enryū and Hyōryū from GaoGaiGar, both with respect to their elemental motifs and method of combination. Animated also has a brief cameo appearance by Dagwon's Dag Base. Shattered Glass Esmeral's color scheme is based on Red Geist, a redeco of her Victory counterpart's husband.
Despite the Brave Series' reuse of many Transformers molds and character designs, Brave toys have never been reused in a Transformers toy line. This is likely because the characters that the toys represent are owned by Sunrise. That said, a Brave mold was finally reused in 2008, when Might Kaiser's trailer was modified and included in Takaratomy's Tomica Hero: Rescue Force as part of the toy Zero Fire.
One striking difference between the Brave Series and Transformers toy lines is that very few villain robots were released in the Brave Series. This is in sharp contrast to most of the Transformers series, in which heroes and villains are released in relatively equal numbers (with the exception of Zone and Return of Convoy). Generally speaking, the lack of villain toys is more the norm for such toylines in Japan, with the various Transformers lines (save for aforementioned two) being the exception.
Toys and character designs recycled from Transformers
Note: Italicized names are non-toy characters.
Exkaiser
- Green & Blue Raker — Originally designed with Transformers in mind but released under the Brave banner as Transformers had been phased out at the time.
- Armor Geist — Snarl
- Horn Geist — Slag
- Ptera Geist — Swoop
- Thunder Geist — Sludge
Da Garn
- Red Geist with Red Breaster — Deathsaurus and Tigerbreast (no Eaglebreast)
Might Gaine
- Atlas Epsilon — Dai Atlas
- Atlas Mk.II — Dai Atlas
- Gōryū with Oowashi — Dai Atlas and Speeder
- Hiryū with Hayabusa — Sonic Bomber and Sonic
- Mega Sonic 8823 — Sonic Bomber
J-Decker
- Duke Fire — Transformation very likely based upon New Rodimus.
- Kagerō (literally Mirage) — Sixshot
- Shadowmaru — Sixshot (featured a new head, chest, chest fins, beast head, and entirely new set of weaponry to incorporate a ninja motif; also has slightly more articulation since the bar connecting the lower legs to each other was removed)
- The Micromaster Stations 1234 (sans Micromasters and including non-transformable Brave Police figures; never appeared in the show)
Goldran
- Death Garry Gun with Missile Gear — Sky Garry and Shotbomber (cannibalized trailer launchers)
- Revibaron — Sonic Bomber with parts from Deathsaurus and Dai Atlas
- Zazorigun — Scorponok
Dagwon
- Dag Base — Grandus (significant remolding, cannot combine with Star Convoy)
- Thunder Dagwon — Galaxy Shuttle (significant remolding, including an additional motorcycle/robot that combines for the shuttle's robot mode)
Note
- ↑ Although the storylines are not interconnected, there are some small connections between the series. For example, the reason Fighbird joined the Space Guards is that he admires Exkaiser. (This connection is stated in the Encyclopedia of Fighbird, published by Keibunsha.) Also, there are some small cameos of human characters between shows, and some Character models, such as Draias and Guard Diver, are reused in subsequent series. Lastly, the Brave Saga video games retcon the storylines of the shows so that they link up.
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