MechaStellar Roster Update – May 2023 – The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar (Yuusha)

For this month’s roster update we have the Braves series, also known as the Yuusha series.  The Braves or Yuusha series was a long running Super Robot series from the 90s produced by the animation studio Sunrise (most well known for Gundam and countless other Mecha series) and sponsored by Takara. The Braves series produced 8 shows over the decade, each show is independent of each other but have recurring themes and designs. 

For this month we are releasing units from the first show, The Brave Fighter Exkizer, as well as the final and most well known show The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar. You can find the profiles here. If you are new to the Braves / Yuusha series then read this.

Exkizer is an episodic show aimed at a younger audience, featuring the eponymous Exkizer who takes over the sportscar of the protagonist father in order to chase down and stop the space pirate Geisters who have taken over the bodies of giant robot dinosaurs.  The arch rival of the show Dinogeist is also featured as a playable unit.

GaoGaiGar is the final show in the Braves series with very impressive production values for a 1997 TV show.  It star’s a Mamoru Amami, an alien child who arrives on earth in the mouth of a giant robot lion and is adopted by a local earth family, as well as Guy Shishioh, a cyborg and former astronaut who pilots the mighty robot GaoGaiGar to defeat the mechanized beings that threaten Earth and previously destroyed Mamoru’s home planet.

In addition to some fantastic combination and approval sequences with the support staff GaoGaiGar is also one of the more over the top shows in the Braves series.  GaoGaiGar is powered by raw courage and spirit, we see it rip the core out of enemy machines and use a gravity hammer to obliterate massive machines and even the moons of Jupiter.  As such we wanted to represent such a powerful weapon well on the tabletop.  Currently the Goldion Hammer is the strongest melee weapon in MechaStellar and your opponent’s will certainly regret facing it.  It’s tempered by Momentum costs, as well as a Safety release protocol straight from the show which limits when you can use it.

Next month we’ll have additional units from GaoGaiGar including King J-Der, Gekiryujin, Mic Saunders and Star GaoGaiGar.

Within the next 7 days we’ll have the core rules update all wrapped up for MechaStellar VER9 as well as unit profiles for other shows updated to the new layout.