Toybox REVIEW: Shokugan Modeling Project GaoLion & GaoElephant

Release Date: July 2022

RRP: 6364 yen

If the Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger range is anything to go by, when Bandai properly hit the 2000s era of Super Sentai in the Shokugan Modeling Project they really will cover all the bases when it comes to core and auxiliary mecha. 2022 proved to be another glorious year for the 25th Sentai team with a number of retail and Premium Bandai exclusive releases from the series, including the Shokugan Modeling Project GaoLion & GaoElephant set. This Premium Bandai set contains no ordinary GaoLion however, but rather the enlarged version that can combine with GaoElephant, GaoShark, GaoTiger and GaoFalcon to form the mighty GaoKentaurus.

As has been well established with the SMP line the packaging is directly based off of that of the original DX Gaoranger toys, however in this case it is a hybrid of both the enlarged GaoLion and GaoElephant boxes. The front side presented in landscape is that of GaoLion, whilst the side in portrait on the other is that of GaoElephant. Similarly the various other sides of the box have been done in a way that mirrors those classic boxes, showing off the features of both Power Animals as well as their ability to combine with others to form GaoKentaurus. Given the size of the GaoLion included in this set, needless to say the box is quite thick as well. Inside you'll find all the parts needed for both Power Animals spread across a variety of coloured plastic runners, along with some pre-painted parts, sticker sheets, instruction leaflets and of course a piece of Bandai soda flavoured candy.

Though surely it goes without saying, the most significant thing to say about this version of GaoLion is that it's big - dwarfing nearly all of the other Power Animals are most along the lines of the (significantly more expensive, but admittedly more detailed/complex) carrier mecha the SMP line has put out. It's just as well the name of the line changed from "Super Mini-Pla" to "Shokugan Modeling Project" because there really is nothing mini about this - even the building process feels much more akin to a larger scale model given the increase in the size of the parts. That isn't to say this GaoLion is any more complicated than the other Power Animals - in fact in some ways it's actually more straightforward as the lack of small parts makes for a much less fiddly process. Not only is it a great looking model that works just as well on its own as it does with the other Gaoranger releases, but more significantly it lacks any stickers whatsoever - quite the rarity for the line. The minimal amount of detailing is sufficiently covered by pre-painted parts, and then of course there's also the option to paint the silver and gold parts if the flat plastic colours aren't doing much for you (which is again much easier to do with the larger pieces).

Though there are naturally similarities to the smaller version, the larger scale on this GaoLion means a noticeable improvement in articulation. For starters in addition to the standard hinged jaw the head section is able to extend outwards, not only giving it enough clearance to rotate and move upwards/downwards but also rotate from side to side. The legs are similar attached to extending joints that allow them to pull out from the body and then sit rest in more animal-like poses. Both sets of knees are hinged, although the front knees have a far more significant bend. Then to top it all off there are also swivel hinge feet, an extendable swivel hinge torso in the middle and a tail that can raise and lower. The booster-like pieces on GaoLion's back can also swivel from side to side, and the wing-like pieces on the feet are hinged. The end result is a very surprisingly expression lion mecha, with the swivel hinge sections in the neck and torso giving it the kind of sideways movement the DX toy can only dream of. It's the kind of model kit that the more you play about with it, the more you discover it's capable of.

A display stand has also been included in the set to pose GaoLion (or the combined GaoKentaurus) in pouncing/flight poses. Said stand is a bit simpler than the one previously included with GaoFalcon/GaoIcarus, consisting of a rectangular black display base with the Gaoranger logo printed on it. This attaches to a small display arm with an articulated top piece, which then plugs into GaoLion via two plugs. The stand can be attached to GaoLion's underside in two different places, making balancing the relatively heavy model on the small stand a lot easier. It might not look like much, but it certainly helps make posing GaoLion that little bit more dynamic even with all the added articulation it has compared to the regular-sized version.

Shrinking back down to regular sized Power Animals we also have GaoElephant in this set, who joined the fight against the Orgs after being awoken from his resting place within Gazou Mountain. While from the outset GaoElephant might seem quite similar to all the other auxiliary Power Animals in the Gaoranger range the differences in his transformation make for a slightly different building process, involving thicker parts and somewhat chunkier look. As with the others, not only does it feature silver parts that would look much better with paint, but also etched detailing on the body which can be filled either with gold paint or the stickers provided. When it comes to poseability GaoElephant features a multi-segmented trunk that can both move side to side and rotate, rotating ears/tusks and ball jointed legs (though said ball joints are sunk quite far into the thick legs so they don't have a lot of outward movement). Compared to some of the other Power Animals GaoElephant isn't all the poseable, but the movement in the trunk is plenty enough to give it some personality.

GaoElephant is somewhat unique among the Power Animals in that rather than transforming into a new limb to be used in mecha combinations, it simply transforms into weapons. By splitting GaoElephant in half it becomes both a large sword and shield that can plug directly onto GaoShark and GaoTiger respectively, primarily used for both the GaoKing Sword and Shield and GaoKnight combinations but also GaoKing Spear and Shield. SMP GaoKnight is a particularly interesting example as the model itself came with a black repaint of GaoElephant (much like the Toys R Us exclusive version of the DX toy back in 2001), so to have the screen-accurate version you would need to buy this set along with GaoKnight. The method of plugging the weapons onto the arms works really well, with the sword plugging directly into the side of GaoShark and the shield fitting directly over GaoTiger's head. Not only does it keep them nice and secure, but the weight distribution is good enough that the kits are still able to pose well whilst holding them. Though the standard GaoElephant trunk can be used as the sword part Bandai have also included two swappable pieces in addition to that - a thin static blade as well as a long articulated blade whip piece to represent the "Powerful Bisection: Evil Crusher" and "All Things in Nature: Big Burn Final" attacks.

In order to create the GaoKentaurus formation GaoLion needs very little transforming - in fact all that needs to be done is to slide away a panel on his back in order to push up the torso plug port using a panel on the underside of the lion. From there it's just a simple case of plugging in GaoFalcon (who should already be transformed into the same torso formation it is with GaoIcarus, only with the wing panels slid up), attaching GaoShark and GaoTiger and then finally those GaoElephant weapon parts. And with that you have GaoKentaurus - easily one of the most unique looking mecha combinations Super Sentai has ever done. The idea to swap out legs for a whole four-legged animal ala a Centaur is such a simple one, but works so well. And between the size of GaoLion and the ridiculous wingspan on GaoFalcon, GaoKentaurus is one really impressive looking model kit.

The articulation for this combination is fairly self-explanatory in that you have all of that previously mentioned poseability in GaoLion, combined with the top half of GaoIcarus. This includes a ball-jointed head, single hinge neck, swivel hinge torso and shoulders as well as waist, bicep and forearm swivels and finally of course those quintuple-jointed wings (hinged in four places and then able to raise/lower). Note that as GaoShark and GaoTiger are used in the combo rather than GaoDeers and GaoGiraffe the arms aren't able to raise outwards quite as well, as they do not have additional hinge joints built into the arms in the same way. It's a very uniquely designed combination in that you almost never have to worry about balance with GaoLion being on all fours. That said it does topple quite easily when attached to the small display stand, but you can get around that by just bending the wings in a way that it evens the weight distribution out. While perhaps not quite as expressive as a standard mecha formation, the little bits of hidden articulation in GaoLion ensure that both halves of it have their own unique elements that work just as well together as they do separately. Not to mention the sheer size of it being enough to give it plenty of display presence.

In some ways Shokugan Modeling Project GaoLion & GaoElephant might seem like the most skippable of the Gaoranger mecha. After all, one half is just an oversized version of another animal in the set and the other half is available in a different colour (albeit not the "proper" one) in a different set. The combination also requires pulling different components from different sets too, leaving you with spare parts and alternate combinations on display if you choose to display this one. However it's one of those sets that the more you play about with, the more you grow to love. GaoElephant less so (it's good but overall a fairly standard Power Animal), but the big GaoLion is just so much unlike anything else SMP has done in its Super Sentai range. The larger scale makes for a slightly different building experience, and then all the clever additions Bandai have made in the articulation make for an extremely fun toy. GaoKentaurus is cool, but GaoLion itself really is the winner here.