THE Combined Might Gain] This is the definitive version! Yuuki Tai & Hiro Tanaka (Good Smile Company) examine the ultimate combined toy from Mechasmama!

Good Smile Company's hobby brand "Mecha Smile" has been sculpting robots, mecha, and heroes that have transcended the ages and excited our hearts. Reservations have begun for "THE GODSUMA MIGHT GAIN," the latest in the "THE GODSUMA YUSHA Series" from MECA-SUMA.

Might Guyne is the main character in the 1993 TV anime "The Brave Express: Might Guyne," in which two types of bullet trains and a large locomotive combine to form a robot that is full of railroad elements and is still very popular today.

In recent years, the robot's appearance in the "Super Robot Taisen" video game series and other events have brought about a reevaluation of the character.

The product, which realizes all the elements of combined transformation, proportions, and mobility at a high level, was thoroughly examined by Yuuki Tai, a voice actor who loves robots, and Hiro Tanaka of Good Smile Company, the company that developed the product! They thoroughly discussed the appeal of the product.

The "THE GOSEI MIGHT GAIN" used in this article is a prototype, unpainted model. Please note that there may be differences from the actual product.

*The image is a CG of a painted image. It is different from the actual product.

Might Ga-in challenged with an eye to the future series of heroes

───Please tell us how "THE Combined MIGHT GAIN" was developed. Since the previous product was "Da Gan, the Legendary Hero," it seems like a natural progression for users.

Tanaka: It seems to be in order, considering the order in which the works were aired. However, it is not so much that we did it in chronological order, but rather that we asked GOD BRAVE STUDIO, who originally designed the project, "Is there anything you would like to create? I asked him if there was anything he wanted to make, and he said, "I want to make Da Gahn X! and that's how the "THE combined hero series" project started (laughs).

(Laughs.) So, you had the desire of the two of you first.

Tanaka And then we said, "Next, let's hear what we want," and that led to the "Might Ga-in" project. GOD BRAVE STUDIO had no reason to refuse, since they are both popular works of heroic characters, but it was a very difficult subject, so naturally we were prepared to take on a task that would require a lot of determination. The goal of "Great Da Gahn GX" was rather easy to see, but I wondered how "Great Might Gain" would be put together. ......

Hiro Tanaka

─ What was the deciding factor in starting the project?

Tanaka: "Mightgine the Brave Express" is one of the most popular of the "Brave Series," and at the same time, when looking ahead to "Great Mightgine" and "Great Mightgine Perfect Mode," we thought that if we could conquer this robot, which is one of the most difficult in the series, we would be able to see the bravest of the brave ahead of us, so we decided to climb the tallest mountain first. I think we are trying to climb the highest mountain first.

Tai: Each of the MIGHT GAIN robots can stand on its own even when disassembled, and in the anime, they are combined with little change in form. The toys of the time reproduced this as well, so the volume was amazing.

Tanaka That's right. It was a top-heavy robot.

Tai: Including that, we were trying to sublimate it this time for the first time in more than 20 years.

Tanaka Yes. We decided to challenge ourselves a bit and boldly brought "Might Gine" to the second installment of the "Yusha Series. In fact, the design process was a series of challenges, and we went through countless retakes. In fact, the design process was a series of challenges, and we had to go through countless retakes, even to the point of completely redesigning the structure.

Mr. Taiyuki

Even the animation was reproduced as a gimmick.

The image is a CG of a painted image. It is different from the actual product.

──Let's take a quick look at "THE Combined Might Guyne," which boasts such a high level of difficulty!

Tanaka I mentioned earlier that the Great Might GAIN was difficult, but that doesn't mean that Might GAIN was easy.

Yasushi: In such a small size, it transforms into a bullet train, a robot, and an arm in three stages, right?

Tanaka The previous Da-Ga-in was also quite small, and it was quite difficult to make both the automobile and core forms work together, but this time the difficulty level was even greater than that. Not only is it small, but it is also an arm of Might Guine and has a built-in fist. And when you add in the movable elbows and shoulders, it's quite a challenge to make it all work together.

The movable part at the base of Might Guine's shoulder and the position of Guine's waist are slightly different in the animation. I imagined that it might be easier if they were in the same position.

Tanaka One point I would like to draw your attention to is the red line on the wrist, which is also a mysterious part. In the anime, we had to play a trick on what to do with this part, which had somehow turned red. We folded the plate-like parts to show the red color.

Tai: You have come up with a knee-slapping answer. Besides that, I am glad to see that the bullet train shape is still in place and the windows are still there.

Tanaka We are trying to increase the amount of information while also retaining the lines of the animation. In addition to the red belt, we also had to find a way to hide the wheels that were exposed on the front of the arms in the old toy, and at the same time, how to handle the fact that the blue color on Guyne's knees turns white when he combines with the new toy.

This is the knee part in question. In Gein's robot form, they look like this: ......

When the robot is combined with Might Gein, the knees are folded in the opposite direction, so that the white side becomes visible and the wheels are hidden!

Tai This is an idea that kills two birds with one stone. If you fold the knee parts, the back side will be white and the wheels will be hidden.

Tanaka: This part worked out well. In the initial design stage, the wheels were exposed, so I was quite worried about what to do with them.

Tai: The panel parts also rotate without wobbling. And the transforming fist has movable fingers, too.

Tanaka It is no exaggeration to say that the fingers of the transformable fist are movable for storage. It's like the fist is folded and stored.

(Tai Yuuki, actually transforming it)

Wow, cool! I have never seen such a well-styled Guyne. I think some people might want one just for this.

─ I thought it was amazing that Ga-in stands in the shape of a "C" but has two straight arms when they combine.

Tanaka I can't say it myself, but I think it's amazing (laughs). (laughs). I feel like I managed to finish the job. The difficulty is similar to that of "Uranus" and "Titan" in "God Mars," but this time the arms, robot, and bullet train are used, whereas those transformed only the arms and robot, so the difficulty is a bit higher. Also, because of the Shinkansen motif, we are bound not to destroy the form. The Shinkansen form has the restriction that it must have a Shinkansen-like silhouette, and the fact that it can become an arm and a robot makes it more difficult.

Tai: I think there was a way to rearrange the design, but I am glad to see that the Shinkansen has been incorporated as it is this time.

Might Wing, which was a struggle to secure space

The image is a CG of a painted image. It is different from the actual product.

Tai Next, let's take a look at the Might Wing. Compared to GAIN, I think this one was still less difficult.

Tanaka Yes, it was. I thought of ...... in terms of less deformation in one step, but it was not like that. The design was very tight because the main wings had to be folded twice to fit in the space where the wrists were originally supposed to fit. We had to give it a certain degree of strength, but we also had to make the wings thin to fit the wrists, so this was also a very close call. I really thought, "Don't put the wings where my fists would fit! I thought, "Don't put the wings where the fist fits," but that's the way it's designed, so I had no choice.

The rear part of the Might Wing, where all the hard work of designing was concentrated. Fine movable parts are concentrated.

*The vertical tail fin in the image is attached with shape-oriented parts.

The visual of the Yamagata Shinkansen flying in the sky had quite an impact. I see that the vertical tail fin can be replaced with shape-oriented parts. After hearing what you just said, I could forgive the replacement parts without forcibly transforming it (laugh).

Tanaka: No, we were very particular about this, as we were aiming for complete deformation. We sought what we could do with the dimensions we had at the very limit, and that is how we came up with Might Wing.

Tai: I see that the fixed stand comes as an option. I am glad to see this too.

Transforming and combining from "Locomorizer" to "Might Guyne"!

Tai Now, let's take a look at the "Locomolizer" as well. The size is close to that of toys of the time.

Tanaka That's right. However, this time, there is no gimmick to store "Might Wing" and "Gain" in the LocoMo Riser. The reason for this is that both GAIN and Mightwing are a little bit larger than the original. By making the Locomorizer compact and the Mightwing and Guine larger, we were able to achieve a balance that is closer to the image of the anime when they combine.

Tai: And it can roll along. Is it like being able to combine them while singing the song in the movie?

Tanaka: Yes, you can (laughs). (laughs) What I would like to mention this time is the gimmick to hide the wheels when the figure is in Might Gine. If we had made the figure as is, the wheels would be on the back, but this time we went to the trouble of creating a gimmick to hide the wheels.

A part of the body of the vehicle goes around the back to hide the wheels. The color of the part turned upside down is also different!

Tanaka This is also a point of attention.

This cylindrical part is ......

It can be flipped around and becomes the part that hides the wheel!

─ ─ It is nice to see the bold rotation of the upper body.

Tai: Even in the anime, the final "bakon" is impressive! is very impressive in the anime.

Tanaka I think that the interesting thing about the heroic robots is that there is a balance between the precise deformation like GAIN and the bold deformation like LOCOMO RIZER, or rather, a slow and steady transition.

Tai This nuance is an element that has been carried over to the later "Jedeker" and "Goldoran" as well.

Tanaka That's right.

Yasushi Oh~! Might Gain from the anime is standing. The details that I had complemented in my brain when I had the toy at the time are neatly sculpted. I like Might Guine's, this anchor shoulder.

Tanaka The V-shaped line of this shoulder is the charm of Might Guine, isn't it?

Yasushi The dropped edges of the thighs and the stooped but not monotonous lines from the knees down are very much like those of a heroic robot.

Tanaka That is the sex appeal of the hero robot. It has a power that doesn't let you say it's a box robot. On the other hand, it is more difficult to make a transformable robot. One of the factors that made it more difficult this time was the fact that we had to transform and combine the robot while maintaining its form.

─ ─ Screws and other metal parts are placed in places where they cannot be seen, aren't they?

Tanaka: We had the artists pay a lot of attention to that part.

Tai Considering that the front and side skirts move so much, I can't wait to see how wide a range of poses can be achieved with the production version. I can't wait to play with it!　I see that there are two types of kinetic swords, one for normal use and the other for special moves.

Tanaka: Yes. I'm not sure if the length of the sword has actually changed, but the anime image gives the impression of increased volume, so the blade of the sword during the special move is larger.

Yasushi: Wow! Even this pose!

Tanaka I don't think there are many transformable toys that can be posed like this.

The image is a CG of a painted image. It is different from the actual product.

A gimmick that was completed with determination.

Tai: As I mentioned earlier, the fingers of the fists can move.

Tanaka That's right. I enjoy the feeling of them coming out from inside. What is interesting is that the hand needs to be flattened for storage, and the fingers are movable for that purpose. However, since index finger pointing is important for Might Guyne, only this part is independently movable. This is GOD BRAVE STUDIO's special attention to detail. I thought, "Why go that far?" But I understand the feeling, so I left it as it is. The fist with thick fingers is also included, and I feel that the fact that it can be transformed into a fist is also an important point.

Tai: There are some people who really want to have a fully transformable figure without replacing parts.

Tanaka For those people, this time, we are trying to be stubborn. We wanted to make it fully transformable. GOD BRAVE STUDIO responded to the unreasonable demands of the people who love MIGHT GAIN, so we decided to go as far as we could as a mass-produced product. If you think about it in a smart way, including the "Great" and "Perfect" models, I think it is not wrong to replace the "Great" and "Perfect" models, including the ease of playing with them. However, this time, it seemed as if we were given the task of "complete transformations and complete combinations," so we were determined to finish the job.

Tai: I think we are trying to give the best answer we can in 2023. There is no need to release Ver. 2 anymore.

Tanaka I don't want to think about that (laughs). (laughs) I mean, by the time we got to this point, we had already made it up to about Ver. 4. For example, even if you look at Might Ga-in alone, at first the wheels were bare when Ga-in became an arm, and there was a time when we had not decided what to do with the red part. Furthermore, you know, it has nothing to do with the product itself this time. ......

Tai My legs got thicker!

Tanaka: There is also some gimmick that has nothing to do with this combined product, for something that will later be wanted to be thicker. Also, the flanks can be widened to the sides.

Tai I see. When it becomes Great, the shoulders will widen, so .......

Tanaka: Such detailed gimmicks were incorporated in each try.

The photo shows the "Great Might Gain Perfect Mode" unveiled at the "Wonder Festival 2023 Winter" held on February 12. Note the build-up of the abdomen and legs!

Tai: If they went this far at the beginning, we have no choice but to stay with them until the end. When I hear about the people who have made this product and think about the fact that there are people who have made it across borders (GOD BRAVE STUDIO is a Korean production studio), I want people to get it first, and then play with it. We have to respond to the answers that the creators have given us. We want people to play with it, not display it! Also, when you hold it in your hand, it fits in just the right way. For me, "THE Combined Might Gain" has a super comfortable finish, and I'm looking forward to its release!

Click here to pre-order at the GOODSMILE ONLINE SHOP!

Product Information

THE GODSUMI MIGHT GAIN

Series name: Yusha Tokkyu Might Gain

Release date: September 2023 (scheduled)

Price: 27,900 yen (tax included)

Specifications: Painted plastic non-scale articulated figure

Height: approx. 260mm

Sculptor: Mr. Tada (GOD BRAVE STUDIO)

Released by: Good Smile Company

Distributed by: Good Smile Company

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