In the late '70s/early '80s, kids in the New England area were introduced to Gaiking. Gaiking aired on Tuesdays as part of "Force Five". Force Five consisted of five Japanese animated shows (mostly giant robot shows) and each show was aired on a specific day of the week. Dangard Ace aired on Mondays, Starvengers aired on Tuesdays, Spaceketeers aired on Wednesdays, Grandizer aired on Thursdays and Gaiking aired on Fridays. Gaiking was notable for being the first Super Robot series to have a mobile carrier for the robots. This mobile carrier was the Great Space Dragon aka. Kargosaur. This is my Great Space Dragon Kargosaur. Kargosaur is made using Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters Ripclaw. Things I liked about the Ripclaw mold that made me imagine him as Kargosaur were his dragon head, full torso, folding back legs and the long flexible tail. Most mods were cutting to allow the tail to sit lower in dragon mode, the dragon neck to not be giant shoulder pads and others to assist with alterations I made in the transformation. Also the wings were removed. I won't bore you with every detail. The dragon head is the original one from the Ripclaw mold with the webbed ears removed and horns attached. The horns on the dragon head were molded from Transformers Cybertron deluxe Unicron using epoxy putty. As an homage to the TV series, I used the end of the dragon's tail to form the head for the robot. The cockpit on his tail is molded using the head from Hunt for the Decepticons Sunspot. His weapon is from Prime: Beast Hunters Windrazor. It attaches to his torso in dragon mode as an homage to the axe blade that was on the dragon's body during the TV series. Paints used were Testors enamels. Colors used were flat black, dark blue, silver, gold, dark red and a custom blend for the darkest blue and the light metallic blue. I used Krylon Matte Finish Gloss to protect the paint and flatten the colors. I've also got to thank Stormvapor for reminding me that Super Robos need immediate love, reinvigorating my passion for these WIPs and forcing me to put other bashes on hold to get back on track with these. More Gaiking bashes will follow soon (I hope).
Thanks, I am actually a little surprised how well it turned out. I only wish that the mold had been a Mega or Voyager instead of a Deluxe. That would have made him scale better with the rest of the Gaiking team. Gaiking is going to be a Voyager and the rest are going to be Basics. Other completed Super Robo bashes: Starvengers/Getter Robo G: Star Dragon, Star Arrow and Star Dragon Star Dragon Star Arrow Star Poseidon Lady Commander Team Star Fire Sword: Star Draco, Star Archer and Star Neptune Tranzor Z/Mazinger Z: Tranzor Z, Aphrodite A, Boss Borot and Minerva X Tranzor Z/Mazinger Z Aphrodite A Boss Borot Minerva X
I think the Gaiking bash you will really want to see as Paddles is my WIP on Dynatar aka Nesser. But I do see how this mold's neck and tail give him a Paddles feel. Not sure how the arms and legs would work being bashed into flippers. The back legs might be workable into flippers, but the front would need at least an additional hinge to allow the forearm to fold parallel with the upper arm.
That tail being used for the head/tucked away so it's not visible from the front in robot mode looks so much nicer than the original toy. Good job!
The end of the tail becoming the robot head was what really made this bash come together for me. As anyone who watched the show would remember, when the dragon's head would launch to form the chest for Gaiking the dragon's tail would curl under the dragon and connect with the neck for defense. I was so happy that this mold worked to be able to pay homage to that feature from the show. That being said... The tail connecting as the robot head worked so much better before I started messing with the dragon's neck in order to get rid of those awful shoulder pads. Had I known it would be such a pain and get so complicated, I would have done some things differently.
OK, so 2 1/2 years may not be considered "soon". Gonna bump this custom. Why? Because I have finally finished all of the bashes for my Gaiking group and will be posting the rest soon. So stay tuned for Gaiking and the dinos.
