May 5, 2001 CURRENT RUMBLE Daikumaryu Daddy Matt Alt 5.5.01 Without further ado, the words of Daiku designer Dan Kobayashi: My chance to participate in "Gaiking" came thanks to illustration work I'd been doing for Terebi Magazine. The basic concept behind the production was being handled by Fuji Television, Toei Douga, and Mad House. But the actual design work came to me from Popy (now Bandai) via Kodansha. The overall framework, the dinosaur-shaped mothership and the transformation gimmick for the robot, had already been decided by that point. But because this was a time when Mazinger Z and Raideen had already made their appearances, I was really worried about making the designs look totally different from anything that had come before. For about a month, I wasn't able to get anything together that looked good, but then at four A.M. on the day of the deadline, I finally figured it out. As for the actual work, I designed Gaiking first, and then I reverse-engineered the Daikumaryu from there. The Daikumaryu has a dinosaur motif, so I made a distinction between the two by not having Gaiking show any sort of animalistic elements like a tail. Over-emphasizing the dinosaur-like features would compromise the "reality" of the Daikumaryu, so I highlighted the mechanical aspect of the design instead. I decided to give it only two legs because the balance of the design would be thrown off by attaching a pair of arms. And with regards to the coloration, I kept the idea of it flying through space in my mind and came up with a natural feel. I settled on an overall subdued color scheme, with red for emphasis here and there. The various power-up parts that appeared later grew out of conversations I had with Mr. Ogawa from Kodansha. That being said, however, the idea of bulking up Gaiking's arms and legs came from a drawing I did that I thought looked cool. (Laughs) The toy sold very well, so there was talk of a sequel, and I'm sorry that it never actually happened. I liked the proportions of the original toys, but the spikes and things had to be rounded off because of safety regulations, and that regrettably softened the overall impact. But I think it's great that the dorsal fins and the like on this Soul of Chogokin have been reproduced in all their sharpness. Many have said that the concept of a dragon's face becoming a robot still seems fresh even today; perhaps it's even something that modern children would find appealing.  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE