Hyakujuu Gattai!
On occasion TokuNation has the opportunity to share galleries of rare items that aren’t often seen in the toku collecting communities of the world, and today is no different. For your viewing pleasure we’ve assembled a gallery of a rarity from Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger, the gorgeous DX Silver Chrome Gao Gorilla!
Silver Gao Gorilla was a promotional release from 2003, 2 years after Gaoranger ran in Japan, & distributed exclusively by Bandai Asia/Hong Kong. It wasn’t an item regularly available for retail sale. Numerous sentai release in varying chrome colors have made their way to market in this nature over the last 2 decades. This rare piece pops up for sale on occasion but is still notoriously hard to find. The 4th of 5 versions of the Gao Gorilla Power Animal mold, Silver Gao Gorilla will add some serious bling to your collection, and especially to your Gao Muscle or Gao Knight display!
We’ve attached a selection of images to this post but you can check out over 30 which await you in the full gallery/review thread. Just click “Discuss on the TokuNation forums” at the bottom of this post to see them all.
Summon, spirit of the Earth!
We're digging deep, very very deep for this one. You may recall a couple of years ago that we at TokuNation hosted a massive gallery tribute to all things Hyakuju Sentai Gaoranger. One of my personal all time favorite sentai, with my actual favorite sentai toyline ever. We did a series of 16 galleries themed around it that I cleverly (not really) called "Gaolleries". Well I've been slowly piecing together some of the more rare pieces that exist from this line to objectively complete my Gaoranger collection. The efforts of which finally allow me to bring you today's special gallery, DX Silver Chrome Gao Gorilla!
Packaging
The packaging for this bad boy is identical, mostly, to the original PA-10 DX Gao Gorilla. Albeit with some minor differences. This piece was a promotional item available only outside Japan and distributed as a prize by Bandai Asia/Bandai Hong Kong. As such some logos, phrases and other package call outs have been changed. You'll also notice that the copyright date on this box is for 2003, when the original was released in 2001. Otherwise the general layout and design are identical to the original release. The palstic tray is slightly altered as the chrome Gaoranger releases didn't come with the power Animal mini figures, so that part has been removed.
Main Figure
This is pretty straightforward. Silver Gao Gorilla is, as the name implies, a straight repaint of Gao Gorilla. Just done entirely in metallic chrome silver with a couple of unpainted die-cast parts as well. Every visible surface is silver. This is also the 4th of 5 release of the Gao Gorilla mold:
- Gao Gorilla (sold individually or as part of the Gao Muscle box set)
- Gao Kong (red repaint from Gaoranger The Movie Fire Mountain Roars)
- Gao Ape (black repaint mail in tied to the Super Sentai Mecha Visual 1975-2002 Book)
- Silver Gao Gorilla (Bandai Asia/Hong Kong promotion)
- Gold Gao gorilla (Lucky Draw)
Gao Kong featured new head molding for the combined mode. This was to match up with the films exclusive combination, Gao Knight. Gao Ape is a black repaint of that release specifically so it also featured the "knight" head. Silver Gao Gorilla is a repaint of the original version of the Gorilla mold. Complete with the standard Gao Muscle head.
Silver Gao Gorilla of course is cross compatible with the same power animals as the other releases of the mold. Whether that be in the default Gao Muscle combination with Gao Bison, Eagle, Bear, & Polar. Or in a Gao Muscle Striker style combination using Gao Rhinos & Gaomadillo for legs. I've included images of what Gao Muscle looks like with this silver torso, but I've also pieced together the only solid silver set I can complete right now. Using Silver Gao Rhinos & Gaomadillo, and Gao Hammerhead & Wolf from the Silver Gao Hunter set. In the shows naming scheme this form would most probably be called Gao Muscle Striker Another Arm.
Accessories
As mentioned above, this release of the mold doesn't include the Power Animal mini-figure for use with the role play toys. It only comes with a new version of the Muscle Anchor. For this release the metal chain is now silver and the anchor itself is painted silver. The original release had a gold/bronze chain and gold painted anchor, the Gao Kong release of the anchor was molded in gold.
Final Thoughts
This is a piece that's clearly not manufactured with the general collector in mind. As a rare promotional giveaway item, few even own it. It's for the most die hard of Gaoranger collectors, such as myself. But the DX Silver Gao Gorilla is yet another wonderful addition to my collection. I'm always happy to add more Power Animals to the zoo!
Pretty!!!
This is another beautiful Gao-llery! I always love seeing more Gao.
Gao anything is great.
is the BoJ Bison the only one to come with diecast for the zord legs?
The first photo of the four gorillas is now how I want to display my ones... All I have to do is get Gao ape, Go King and the normal Gao Gorilla...
That silver Gao Gorilla looks so pretty, but it's gotta be a dust and fingerprint magnet, plus the chrome looks like it's damaged easily if you're not absoluly careful with it.
Definitely a collector's item for certain.
Full Thread: Gaoranger DX Silver Chrome Gao Gorilla Gallery
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