Gridman / Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad - Character Conversion - Heroes & Villains

Henshin Grid -- The Blog

Denkou Choujin Gridman aired in Japan from 1993 to 1994. Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad ran from 1994 to 1996. Both shows had a similar plot, except in SSSS, there were four good kids, while in Gridman there were 3. The hero's friends piloted the other mecha in SSSS but the friends in Gridman didn't pilot anything. I will not be doing Ryuki/Dragon Knight until the series is finished.

Sam Collins / Naoto Sho
Naoto and Sam were both the lead characters of their respective shows. Only difference was that Gridman was a separate identity from Naoto, Naoto simply merged with Gridman when he used his Henshin device, which Sam used as well. Sam became Servo, one and only. Sam was your normal teenager, a good kid and had a crush on a pretty girl. Sam had a rock band and accessed the computer with his guitar. Naoto had no rock band but a computer club of sorts with his two friends. Gridman was a police officer of the Hyper World. Of course, we all know Sam was played by Matthew Lawrence.

Tanker / Ippei Baba
Ippei is a cheerful and talented artist. When their super computer Junk was first brought online, he used the painting program to design a superhero that would eventually become Gridman's body. He later used his skills to create the Barrier Shield. Tanker was a jock who is also the band's drummer. He wasn't a dumb jock, but he wasn't artistically creative like Ippei. He piloted a mecha and once became Servo when Sam couldn't. The actor Kevin Castro appeared in DiC's other live-action series Teenage Tattoo Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills as Orion.

Sydney Forrester / Yuka Inoue
Syndey was the girl of the group and helped maintain the Junk computer she and the gang made together. Yuka provides the team spirit and constantly encourages her friends to do their best. Sydney encouraged her team as well, she pilot one of the mecha and was part of the team. She was able to unlock various helper programs to help Sam and was very smart. The actress who played Sydney went on to be in "Saved By the Bell: The New Class."

Amp and Lucky
Amp was the goofy 'Screech' or 'Kramer' of the team, he had no counterpart in Gridman, as the friends didn't pilot the helper programs. Amp did. He mysteriously disappeared mid-way through the series and in one episode, the gang got a letter that he was an Alien and went back to his home planet. He got a replacement soon named a Lucky, a surfer dude. I could not find a picture of Lucky.

Liz Collins / Daichi Sho
Liz was Sam's unseen little sister whose voice was provided by Kath Soucie. Naoto had a younger brother named Daichi.

Malcolm Fink / Takeshi Todo
Malcolm and Takeshi were both creative loners and computer hackers that got put under Kilokahn/Kahn Digifer's control to make monsters. Takeshi was also rich, he also developed an unhealthy crush on Yuka, having some of his creations targeted her specifically. While Malcolm had a crush on Sam's girl Jennifer. Takeshi was eventually freed from his control and helped Naoto and his friends find a way to defeat Kahn Digifer. He was to become Gridman Sigma in the sequel. As for Malcolm, Kilokhan turned on him when he became more powerful, Malcom befriended Sam and helped him defeat the evil program as well. Unfortunately for Malcolm, his memories were soon erased when he restored his computer, which restored Kilokhan.

Kilokahn / Dark Lord Kahn Digifer
Digifer was a legendary 'Devil' of the Computer World that wished to wreak havoc on the Human World. Kilokahm was a military artificial intelligence program called the Kilometric Knowledge-base Animate Human Nullity, whom unleashed computer viruses to attack major computer systems. Both put loner boys under their control to create monsters. Digifer later upgraded himself into Gigantic Kahn Digifer for his final battle with Gridman, destroying Gridman's Helper Vehicles and overwhelming him. Kahn Digifer was ultimately destroyed. Malcom ended up helping Sam to defeat Kilokhan, but both lose their memories of the battle. Kilokhan is restored when Malcolm loads his computer back up files.

~Lavender Ranger
[Sidenote: The reason I have been labeling my latest posts as saying 'I wrote this for Henshin Grid' and '~Lavender Ranger' is because I noticed another blog (Power Ranger Pics) copying my posts and not giving me credit. All I ask for is credit or to link to me.]

UPDATED MAY 8, 2009 11:30AM EST