Brave (franchise)

This article is about the franchise that uses designs from Transformers. For the Car Robots character, see Emissary (RID).

Brave (勇者 Yūsha) is a non-Transformers franchise that Takara and Sunrise created after the Generation 1 cartoon ran its course in Japan. The Brave Series consists of eight individual series that were released one after the other from 1990 to 1998 with corresponding TV shows in Japan. The last show in the series received a follow-up OVA beginning in 2000. Although none of the series storylines are connected to one another,^[1] the basic format of each series is similar. Usually a kid befriends/creates/becomes a sentient robot, and together they fight a great evil threatening the Earth. The main robots combine with other vehicles and robots to become larger robots, and additional teams of sentient robots combine amongst themselves to form larger robots as well. This structure had been established in Victory and would be reproduced almost beat-for-beat in every Brave series. The Brave franchise has been described as a cross between Transformers and the Super Robot genre of the late '70s and early '80s.

The Brave series consisted of:

• 1990: The Brave Fighter Exkiser
• 1991: The Brave of the Sun Fighbird
• 1992: The Brave of the Legend Da-Garn
• 1993: The Brave Express Might Gaine
• 1994: The Brave Police J-Decker
• 1995: The Brave of Gold Goldran
• 1996: The Brave Command Dagwon
  • 1997: The Brave Command Dagwon - Boy with Crystal Eyes
• 1997: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar
  • 1999: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar FINAL
  • 2016: The Conqueror-Emperor: GaoGaiGar VS Betterman (a crossover between GaoGaiGar and Betterman)
• 1998: Saint of Braves Baan Gaan (video game original)
• 2023: Brave Universe Sworgrader
• Photogrizer (cancelled, later appeared in Brave Universe Sworgrader)

Toys for these robots were created in two sizes: DX ("deluxe") versions that contained more gimmicks and more complicated transformations, and STD ("standard") versions that contained fewer gimmicks and more limited transformations (often resorting to partsforming), but often also higher accuracy in reproducing the look of the robot from the anime series. Generally, the toys were created by Takara's Takashi Kunihiro and Sunrise's Kunio Okawara, doing engineering and design work respectively. The duo had already collaborated in the creation of Star Saber from the aforementioned Transformers: Victory. The toys not engineered by Kunihiro are believed to be engineered by Hisashi Yuki.

Contents 1 Relationship to Transformers 2 Influence on Transformers 3 Toys and character designs recycled from Transformers 3.1 1990 - Exkaiser 3.2 1992 - Da Garn 3.3 1993 - Might Gaine 3.4 1994 - J-Decker 3.5 1995 - Goldran 3.6 1996 - Dagwon 4 Fiction 4.1 Ask Vector Prime 5 Notes 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

Relationship to Transformers

The initial concept designs for The Brave Exkaiser, the first Brave series, were intended to be Transformers designs. While the Brave robot Ultra Raker was very far along at this stage, the Max team and King Exkaiser bore little resemblance to their final designs.

The Brave toys also have design elements similar to Generation 2 and Beast Wars Transformers, which were released around the same time as the Brave toys. For example, many of the Brave of Legend toys have light-piped eyes thanks to transparent pieces of plastic in their heads, a design element which many Generation 2 Transformers share. The Goldran DX toyline contains many projectile launchers, something Generation 2 shared as well. In particular, the Goldran toy "Advenger" contains a rotor-launching gimmick identical to that of the Rotor Force from Generation 2, and the "Captain Shark" figure has a Gatling-gun style launcher, the same as Generation 2 Dreadwing. The elbows of Leon from DX Leonkyzer contain ball joints, a design element that gained much broader use during Generation 2 and even more so during the Beast Wars toyline. In addition, Might Gunner's shoulders have twin barreled cannons on them, in the same manner that Scorponok does, due to Kunio Okawara co-designing both characters.

The Brave Series also reused character designs and toys from previous Transformers series. It was not uncommon for the recycled designs to appear in a Brave TV show, but not in toy form. These designs were often significantly augmented to distinguish them from their Transformers counterparts. For example, the four Geister henchmen in Exkaiser use character models of four of the five Dinobots (minus Grimlock), but with all-new faces, body detail and color schemes. Of the designs that did appear in toy form, some of them were retooled to reflect these changes, whereas others were simple recolors. (A complete listing of the reuses follows in the section below.)

One striking difference between the Brave and Transformers toy lines is that very few villain robots were released in the Brave series. This is in sharp contrast to most of the Transformers series, in which heroes and villains are released in relatively equal numbers (with the exception of Zone and Return of Convoy). Generally speaking, the lack of villain toys is more the norm for such toylines in Japan, with the various Transformers lines (save for the aforementioned two) being the exception.

Despite the Brave series's reuse of many Transformers molds and character designs, Brave toys have never been reused in a Transformers toyline. This is likely because the characters that the toys represent are owned by Sunrise, which itself is owned by Takara's rival toy company Bandai. That said, a Brave mold was finally reused in 2008, when Might Kaiser's trailer was modified and included in TakaraTomy's Tomica Hero: Rescue Force as part of the toy Zero Fire. Although Hasbro never released Brave toys in the West, they apparently did receive samples from Takara on at least one occasion. Similarly, in the 1990s, Hasbro UK were sent samples by Takara from their non-Transformers toylines including product literature featuring figures from Exkaiser and Fighbird that were considered a possible fit into the European Transformers line, although none of Takara's suggestions were ultimately taken up.^[2]

In addition, the anime would also utilize some of the animation staff who worked on the franchise prior to this, including animators Nobuyoshi Sasakado, Hidetoshi Ōmori and Masami Ōbari, and animation studio Nakamura Production. Munetaka Abe, Masahiro Yamane and Toru Yoshida, staples of the Brave anime, would eventually leak into the Transformers franchise itself in future instalments.

Influence on Transformers

Similar to Brave being influenced by Transformers, subsequent Transformers lines have also been influenced by the Brave series. The Japanese Mini-Con Kingbolt's coloration and characterization are homages to the Brave series Exkaiser. The Cybertron cartoon featured many homages to the Brave series, most notably the way Optimus Prime combines with Leobreaker and Wing Saber, which is similar to the way GaoGaiGar combines with Goldymarg and Stealth Gao respectively. As well, Hot Shot's transformation scheme is almost identical to various car robots from the Brave series, those being Dran, Dag Fire, and Volfogg. The battle between Optimus Prime and Galvatron contains several visual references to the showdown between Great Exkaiser and Dinogeist from the anime series The Brave Exkaiser. The Animated characters Jetfire and Jetstorm are similar to Enryū and Hyōryū from GaoGaiGar, both with respect to their elemental motifs and method of combination. Animated also has a brief cameo appearance by Dagwon's Dag Base. Shattered Glass Esmeral's color scheme is based on Red Geist, a redeco of her Victory counterpart's husband. The Brave Police J-Decker mecha Duke Fire and Shadowmaru inspired the Autobot drone Duke Fire and Decepticon Greatsix. Meanwhile, the human police superintendent Juzo Saejima inspired the Generation 1 human Saejima.

Toys and character designs recycled from Transformers

(Italicized names are non-toy characters.)

1990 - Exkaiser

• Green Raker and Blue Raker — Originally designed with Transformers in mind^[3] but released under the Brave banner.
• Armor Geist — Snarl
• Horn Geist — Slag
• Ptera Geist — Swoop
• Thunder Geist — Sludge

1992 - Da Garn

• Red Geist with Red Breaster — Deathsaurus and Tigerbreast (no Eaglebreast)

1993 - Might Gaine

• Atlas Epsilon — Dai Atlas
• Atlas Mk.II — Dai Atlas
• Gōryū with Ōwashi — Dai Atlas and Speeder
• Hiryū with Hayabusa — Sonic Bomber and Sonic
• Mega Sonic 8823 — Sonic Bomber

1994 - J-Decker

• Kagerō — Sixshot
• Shadowmaru — Sixshot (featured a new head, chest, chest fins, beast head, and entirely new set of weaponry to incorporate a ninja motif; also has slightly more articulation since the bar connecting the lower legs to each other was removed)
• MiniCole Secret Transforming Bases — The Micromaster Stations (sans Micromasters and including non-transformable Brave Police figures; never appeared in the show)^[4]
  • Police Station — Gasoline Base
  • Construction Site — Build Base
  • Airfield — Airport Base
  • Fire Station — Hot House

1995 - Goldran

• Death Garry Gun with Missile Gear — Sky Garry and Shotbomber (lacking trailer launchers)
• Revibaron — Sonic Bomber with parts from Deathsaurus and Dai Atlas
• Zazorigun — Scorponok with new head design

1996 - Dagwon

• Dagbase — Grandus (significant retooling, cannot combine with Star Convoy)
• Thunder Dagwon — Galaxy Shuttle (significant retooling, including an additional motorcycle/robot that combines for the shuttle's robot mode)

Fiction

Ask Vector Prime

Vector Prime was asked whether or not Brave was a part of the Transformers multiverse. Unfortunately, the Prime seemed to have misinterpreted the question. He did, however, express a fondness for the adventures of Princess Merida and Queen Elinor.

The events of the Brave anime were later established to take place in the Cymond Cluster, which bordered the Megaverse and only possessed a tangential connection to the goings-on elsewhere in the Transformers multiverse. Ask Vector Prime

Notes

• It was originally assumed that Duke Fire from The Brave Police J-Decker was an homage to New Rodimus. However, following a discussion with Duke Fire's designer, this proved to be a coincidence.^[5]
• Transformers: Bravemasters was an unrealized proposal by Hayato Sakamoto. Art of it shown at BotCon 2015 revealed that it would have utilized several offscreen toys from the Movie-related toyline (such as Breacher, whose toy would have been used for the main character) and would have been strongly influenced by the Brave franchise.^[6]
• Concept art exists of a soccer-themed retool of Star Saber, presumably meant to be a character in The Brave Police J-Decker. This concept may have evolved into the soccer-themed character Drill Boy in that series.^[7]
• Bandai acquired Sunrise in 1993, but seemingly didn't hold the rights to produce figures for the franchise until roughly the 2010s. As such, all Brave figures and model kits are mainly produced by Bandai and their licensees, TakaraTomy seemingly did not holds any rights to the franchise until 2024, when King Exkaiser and Genesic GaoGaiGar were announced for TakaraTomy's T-SPARK project.^[8]

See also

• Transforming Bullet Train Robot Shinkalion
• Tomica Bond Combination Earth Granner

References

External links

• Brave series at Wikipedia
• Official Sunrise Brave Series website
• The GaoGaiGar-Betterman Wiki.
• MAOMAO2's Room (Japanese)
• The TFW2005 forum Brave thread