Sunday, November 28, 2010

100 Gaoranger Power Animals (Concept Designs)

Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger (2001) take became Wild Force, Hyakujuu means a hundred beasts, and in the final episode, there is actually 100 animals. Here is the official list from Toei, the Sentai robot design concept book showed early sketches and designs. The order they are in is not the order they appeared on the show.
  1. GaoLion
  2. GaoEagle
  3. GaoShark
  4. GaoBison
  5. GaoTiger
  6. GaoElephant
  7. GaoGorilla
  8. GaoBear
  9. GaoPolar
  10. GaoWolf
  11. GaoHammerhead
  12. GaoLigator (Aligator)
  13. GaoFalcon
  14. GaoGiraffe
  15. GaoDeer
  16. GaoRhino
  17. GaoMadillo (Armadillo)
  18. GaoKong
    Didn't appear in Wild Force, appeared in Gaoranger movie.
  19. GaoPanda
    As I have mentioned before, Panda was an exclusive with a CD and toy, didn't appear in show.
  20. GaoPeacock
    Peacock appeared in the last episode, I love these designs. According to CollectionDX, it was to be called Gao King Swordsmaster (left). Gao King Varlituder (w/ Gao Polar, Gao Bear, Gao Peacock, Gao Rhino & Gao Cobra) in center. Gao Guardian in lower right corner.
  21. GaoCrow -- color my own invention
  22. GaoStingray
    Manta Ray appeared in the last episode but not like this. I like this design.
    Gao King Aquadiver (w/ Gao Manta & MiniManta)
  23. GaoHorse
    Horse appeared in the last episode. A horse would not be tired again until Magiranger/Mystic Force.
  24. GaoCamel-- color my own invention
  25. GaoMouse
    It was called Rat Zord for some reason in Wild Force.
  26. GaoWallaby -- all following colors are my own invention.
  27. GaoTortoise
  28. GaoToppy (Walrus)
  29. GaoManta
  30. GaoBoar
    Gao Muscle Striker Longhorn
  31. (w/ Gao Boar, Gao Rhino, and Gao Armadillo)
    Boar seemed to carry a vehicle with two cannons that would go in back of the robo.
  32. GaoBat
    (More below) There was like 3 Bat designs, including one to go with Gao Hunter. A Bat would not be tried again until Gekiranger/Jungle Fury. Above is Gao Devil (Gao Bat, Gao Crocodile, Gao Hammerhead, Gao Jaws), that was going to be evil.
  33. GaoCobra
    Gao King Varlituder (w/ Gao Polar, Gao Bear, Gao Peacock, Gao Rhino & Gao Cobra)
  34. GaoMammoth
    GaoMammoth (early sketch)
    Another design for Mammoth, looked a bit like Torozord.
  35. GaoHawk -- reference to Jetman
  36. GaoVulture
  37. GaoOwl -- reference to Jetman
  38. GaoSwallow -- reference to Jetman

    Here is a robo combo (Gao Marquis) of a dolphin, mole and Swallow.
  39. GaoSwan -- reference to Jetman
  40. GaoTurtle -- later done in Shinkenger
  41. GaoKoala
  42. GaoFox
  43. GaoHedgehog
  44. GaoMingo (flamingo)
  45. GaoCougar
  46. GaoMole
    Here is a robo combo (Gao Marquis) of a dolphin, mole and Swallow.
  47. GaoWombat
  48. GaoGlider (sugar glider)
  49. GaoKangaroo
  50. GaoPangolin
  51. GaoSloth
  52. GaoRabbit
  53. GaoUtan (orangutan)
  54. GaoPrairie (prairie dog)
  55. GaoApe
  56. GaoHowl (Japanese wolf)
  57. GaoCrescent (Asiatic black bear)
  58. GaoToad
  59. GaoKark (crane)
  60. GaoBeaver
  61. GaoHamster
  62. GaoLynx
  63. GaoWhale
  64. GaoDolphin
    Combo of a dolphin, mole and swallow.
  65. GaoGrampus (orca)
  66. GaoPelican
  67. GaoLesser (red panda)
  68. GaoRaccoon
  69. GaoMink
  70. GaoSkunk
  71. GaoMongoose
  72. GaoPanther
  73. GaoCheetah -- later done in Gekiranger
  74. GaoPenguin -- later done in Gekiranger
  75. GaoDugong
  76. GaoGoat
  77. GaoSheep
  78. GaoSeal
  79. GaoDonkey
  80. GaoHound
  81. GaoPotamus (hippopotamus)
  82. GaoRednose (reindeer)
  83. GaoDile (crocodile) -- later done in Goseiger
  84. GaoLizard
  85. GaoChameleon -- later done in Gekiranger
  86. GaoCoyote
  87. GaoZebra
  88. GaoJaws (great white shark)
    Seems Gao Jaws was going to be a repaint of Gao Shark.
  89. GaoGaur (Bovine)
  90. GaoEel
  91. GaoSerpent
  92. GaoJackal
  93. GaoRyx (oryx--an antelope)
  94. GaoCarp
  95. GaoSalamander
  96. GaoSnake -- later done in Goseiger
  97. GaoLeon (black lion)

  98. GaoCondor
  99. GaoSawshark

  100. GaoBuffalo
  101. GaoJaguar

An early design for Gao Hunter (Predazord) had an Aligator, Scorpion and a Bat.

Gao Hunter Phantom (Top Right)
Bat, Wolf and Alligator.

Gao Triple (Bottom)
In this sketch, the Boar is the left arm and the cannons and the Stingray is the legs and the Bat is the right arm.

These scrapped designs show 13 other Power Animals, we had 25 in the series, we would have near 40 of them. It would had made sense to make a sequel series to Gaoranger to place all these Power Animals, but Gaoranger wasn't that great of a series nor as popular, so it is understandable it had no spin-off. The designs look awesome though.

Super Sentai Mecha Concept Art Book Scans
CollectionDX

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

GaoVulture is still a reference to Jetman, since the condor was already picked for GaoGod, so they went with the closest thing.

Anonymous said...

are their pics for all of them

David said...

Apparently GaoApe was released as a repainted GaoKong in grey/black.

There's also supposed to be a release of most/all in black, a white gaolion and a chrome silver series, but it's difficult to find a full list of options.

Conversion of a pair of Bear mechs to GaoPanda is fairly easy with blades to scratch off the paint on the ears and front white feet (difficult to paint over, and the front feet are rivetted in).

The Lions (both red and black) are apparently designed to split, but the function has been disabled in the molding process and a lot of units were glued shut, but it is possible to disassemble and re-add the splitting function. Doing so allows the lion to open to about 70 degrees, and/or it seems likely that a clip could be used to attach the Peacock or Manta over the thinnest part of the lion's torso.

I'd also guess that GaoMammoth turned out to be too expensive to manufacture, so the Large Gaolion was hastily written-in as an alternative.

Chaos MAX1268 said...

Gao Ape, Gao Howl, Gao Crescent, Gao Toad and Gao Kark are a reference to Kakuranger. It seems that Kong and Ape's names and placement were switched since Kong was meant to be a reference to King Kong and Gao Ape is gray while Gao Ape is a reference to Kaku Red's mechas and Gao Kong is the red one.