July 18, 2001 CURRENT RUMBLE All Hail the King of Gundams Yappy (special thanks to Ken Abbe and Rich Clark for keeping the dream alive) 7.18.01 In the beginning Clover created the Gundam Super Combination DX. And Clover said, Let there be Gattai: and there was Gattai. And Clover added spring-loaded firing gimmicks: and Clover saw it was good. And the consumers were pleased, the men and their wives, and were not ashamed. Now Bandai was more subtil than any company of the field. And it said unto the consumer, Yea, hath Clover said, Ye shall not want design accuracy? And when the consumer saw that that model kits were good for design accuracy, and that they were pleasant to the eyes, they took of the Gun-Pla. And Clover said unto the consumer, What is this that thou hast done? And the consumer said, Bandai beguiled me, and I did build. It's a well-known tale-- the the demise of Clover and Bandai's dominance of the Gundam merchandise market through their model kits (if all this is new to you, read the Clover Datafile post-haste). But what about the latter's toys? Sure, Bandai has produced some quality Gundam playthings during the past two decades-- from the DXs and HCMs of the eighties to the Kadou Senshis and MSiAs of today. But Bandai's offerings have never quite captured the charm of Clover's primitive Gundam gokins. There's a certain highbrow-ness inherent in the mega-corporation's toys-- a glum gravity born from the obsessive need to maintain scale and realism for the appeasement of the modern Gundam fan. Bandai has overlooked that all-important, nebulous quality: fun... or so it seems. We turn the page back to the Dark Ages of Gangu, more commonly known as the early 90's. The year 1993 to be exact, when Bandai releases the most beatific, the most toyetic, the most mind-altering Gundam artifact ever. It is the acme of the Genesis Saga line, a subset of the Ganso Super Deformed Gundam World series. Super Deformed?! You scoff. Understandably. You shout, "Blasphemer! SDs are cheap-ass kits and have no place in the TBDX annals!" Patience, friends. I beg for tolerance and little bit of your time... g a n s o l o g y   1 0 1 Today, the general public knows of SD Gundam through the innumerable prize toys and BB Senshi model kits that fill the shelves and/or the catalogs of nearly every importer. But from 1989 to 1995, Bandai unleashed a horde (over 250 at last count...) of hybrid toy-kits under the Ganso SD World banner. Of course, the Gansos required assembly, but unlike their smaller, more fragile BB Senshi brethren, the Gansos were molded in waxy, super-resistant ABS plastic. Which meant they could be manhandled by their target pre-teen audience. And since no standard hobby paint can adhere well to ABS, the Gansos could not even be touched up. Since they were already molded in full, proper colors, there was no need for a modeler's embellishments. The Gansos were meant to be toys, pure and simple. And the designs-- absolute brillant lunacy! Imagine this scenario: an enclave of Bandai Gun-Pla designers huddled together at the end of a long day work. They've had to endure long hours of endless revisions to make the a kit adhere to the strict guidelines of Ohkawara/ Katoki/ Akitaka. Their eyes bleary from hours of staring at red, blue, and white, they begin to kick back with a few rounds of sake and possibly some methamphetemines. Sure, these tired designers still have to think up "straight" SD versions of the usual Gundam du jour; but they'll also unleash their repressed ids on their own original Ganso designs. Lion Gundams, Red Beret Gundams, Punk and Heavy Metal Gundams-- each design more extravant and gimmick-laden than the last. Each design guaranteed to make Tomino curl up into a whimpering, fetal ball. Oh yes, gimmicks. The Gansos started out with simple gear driven "beam saber slashing" arms, but the toys quickly grew in complexity and size. Soon Gansos could henkei; Smaller ones could transform into fantasical vehicles, while larger ones like the impressive Fortress Emperor could separate into multiple ships. Nevertheless, there existed a certain logic inherent to the transformations; it made a certain amount of sense that an SD Gundam would turn into an SD vehicle or two. After all, mobile armor transformations were just as common in the "Real Type" Gundam shows. It would not be until the arrival of Genesis Saga that all rationality would be turned upside down, crushed, folded, and spindled, spat on, and defenestred. r o l l   c a l l By '93, the Ganso line featured three distinct themes: Musha (samurai), Knight, and G-Arms (hardcore military meets mescaline). All three featured mutations of pre-existing "Real Type" Gundams (e.g. Knight Gundam F91, GunPanzer ZZ, etc.). Breaking that tradition, Genesis Saga would introduce wholly original future-steampunk Gundam designs. So, without further delay, I humbly submit the six most important toys in that revolutionary line-up: Kikoushin El Gaia - The main "protagonist" of Genesis Saga. El Gaia features gear-driven chest doors that open to reveal a wee Mystery Knight Neo Gundam. Gundam within a Gundam... trust me, it'll be important later... Kikoushin Gigantis - A hulking monstrosity that's as far from the usual Gundam aesthetic as Doraemon. Its chest opens to reveal a spring-loaded firing mace. Retro eye-gouging fun here... Kikoushin Mercurius and Kikoushin Aquarius - That's the true, original Mercurius, not that abomination piloted by that hot-pants wearing escapee from a boy band. These strangely similar robots share the same gimmick: flip up chest guns... that don't really do anything. Though that didn't stop the Bandai copy editors from officially naming those weapons: Magma Ignition for Mercurius and Stream Vapor for Aquarius. Kikoushin Jupiterius and Kikoushin Orpheris - Another oddly similar pair. No gimmicks on these two, other than overcompensatingly large swords. And the transparency of Orpheris. Yay... Unimpressed? Bored? Kicking yourself for reading this far? Stop. Think for a second. Six robots in a rainbow of colors. Pseudo-astrological names. A central robot named Gaia that holds a tiny "pilot." Sound familiar? o h m i g o d m a r z ! Take six odd looking Gundams... Disassemble them into their key components... Gather their weapons together... Slide Gaia into Gigantis's chest cavity... G A T T A I ! Behold Choukikoushin Gungenesis and tremble. It is the reincartion of Popy stalwart God Marz. It is Gundam fully embracing the Hero Robot aesthetic for the first time since the primordial Clover era (this is pre-G Gundam, mind you). It is a long-needed slap to the face of the hardcore Gundam zealot. It is postmodernism realized. It is the spiritual resurrection of old-school gangu design- the purest objectification of the Japanese desire for empowerment through the suppression of individuality. Screw over-generalized cultural theory. Just behold. Behold the behemoth that stands 10" tall and wide. Behold the wonder of individually poseable fingers. Admittedly, the disassembly and the resulting pile of left-over parts puts Gungenesis's transformation design a notch below that of a DX chogokin or sentai toy. But to give it some credit, Gigantis's head and inner torso component are supposed to form the fearsome "Gigatank." Really. Minor quibble aside, Gungenesis's combined mass of ABS plastic does give it a surprisingly and satisfyingly solid feel-- moreso than say your average 90's Takara Brave combiner. And may I reiterate: it's a combining Gundam. A COMBINING GUNDAM! Unique. Brillant. Loco. Genius. Frightening. Awe-inspiring. The stuff of dreams. The stuff of nightmares. y o u   b i g   t e a s e At this point you're: Writing hatemail to TBDX because you wasted time on something even less worthwhile than Digimon. Intrigued, but wondering why I wrote about a toy so obscure that there's little chance in anyone else obtaining it. Writing hatemail to TBDX because I wrote about a toy so obscure that there's little chance in anyone else obtaining it... because you really, really want one. You psycho. Well, if you fall into the latter camps, you're in luck. While it's true that Bandai Japan stopped producing the Genesis Saga back in 1994, Bandai HK began releasing Hong Kong-only versions in 1997. And because of some odd comsic alignment, as of last year, those HK Gansos started appearing in the oddest of places in the good ol' US of A: Meijer's department stores, Suncoast Videos, random comic stores. If you're willing to do the legwork, you might be able to complete Gungenesis as well. Look for the following numbered boxes: 0008 (El Gaia), 0020 (Mercurius & Jupiterius), 0021 (Aquarius & Orpheris), 0022 (Gigantis). And remember that Gansos come in wrap-around toy boxes, not standard model boxes. They'll cost between $7 and $18 apiece depending from where you find them. Toy crack, my friends. If, god forbid, you want even more of Gungenesis, Bandai currently has a ¥1000 BB Senshi model kit still in production. But in no way does it compare to the deluxe Ganso version. Puny Gun-Pla! Bah! We now return you to your regular scheduled discussions of Minovsky particle physics and magnetically jointed leg actuator thermodynamics.  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE