Ginrai


 * ''Ginrai is a human and Autobot Godmaster from the Super-God Masterforce portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

''

Born in Nagano, Japan, Ginrai (ジンライ Jinrai) found the country's atmosphere stifling for most of his early life, and left for the United States at age seventeen to find himself. He took a job as a long-haul truck driver for Union Transportation, which offered him the freedom and solitude of the open road. His easy-going personality earned him many friends amongst his "brothers" in the trucker fraternity.


 * RTM dub name: Optimus Prime

Super-God Masterforce cartoon

 * Voice actor: Hiroshi Takemura (Japanese)

The story that would bring Ginrai into contact with the Transformers began an indeterminate number of years ago, when the super-energy alien being and self-styled "Decepticon god" Devil Z stole several Transtectors - including one intended to be used by the legendary Autobot leader Optimus Prime - from an area of space known as the G Nebula. Already filled with the Tenchokon of the nebula, the Transtectors were then scattered across the Earth by Devil Z, that they might absorb the planet's Chichokon. Devil Z planned to have human beings bond to the Transtectors, adding their inherent Jinchokon to the equation, thereby creating a new super-robotic lifeform - Godmasters.

Through un-divulged circumstances, the Transtector intended for Prime assumed the form of a red tractor trailer cab, and came to rest in a small garage in California. The unwitting garage owner rented the cab to several truckers, but always found it returned early, with complaints of unusual, even supernatural, incidents.



Two years after coming to America, Ginrai happened to be transporting an ill dolphin from Baney Aquarium to the Ocean Research Institute of California, run - unbeknownst to him - by the Autobot Pretender Diver. Destiny stepped in when Ginrai's truck broke down on the way, and he pulled in at this very garage, where the owner rented him the Transtector to complete his delivery. In the glove box of the cab, he discovered a pair of Master-Braces and slipped them on his wrists, only to discover that he was unable to remove them. When Diver laid eyes upon the bracelets, he recognized the basic design of them, and insisted that Ginrai take him back to the garage where he had found the truck. On the way, however, they were attacked by the Decepticon Godmaster brothers Hydra and Buster, who forced the truck off a cliff. Accidentally touching the bracelets as he attempted to escape the crushed cab, Ginrai was infused with the Masterforce and a suit of armor materialized around him, healing both himself and the Transtector, as they combined and transformed. Now a Godmaster himself, Ginrai saw the shocked Decepticon off.

Ginrai was at first unsure of what to make of his new powers, and was not entirely keen on joining the Autobots, as the notion of operating as part of a command structure, and being tied down to a specific place ran directly counter to his desire for freedom in his life. Although he promised to aid them when necessary "for the sake of the world" - a mantra that he admitted he had a weakness for - he soon bore witness to the true evil of the Decepticons when Hydra and Buster killed several of his fellow truckers while searching for him. Ginrai was still, however, not entirely willing to join the Autobots, but fate kept on pushing him to do so - he soon suffered a prophetic dream, after which he discovered three more pairs of Master-Braces in his Transtector, indicating the presence of more Godmasters on Earth.

When Ginrai brought the bracelets to Japan for study at the Autobot base, events began to escalate as Transtector activated on its own, transporting Ginrai to his birthplace of Nagano, or more specifically, a construction site at the base of Mount Yatsugatake there. Blasting for a tunnel through the mountain had been blocked by a mysterious object, which proved to be a trailer for Ginrai's truck, which burst from the tunnel during another battle with Buster and Hydra. Later still, the two brothers lured Ginrai into a public battle that they might blame the conflict on him, and turn public opinion against the Autobots; the plan failed, but a friend of Ginrai's offered the suggestion that his becoming a Godmaster was the will of God himself.



Not long thereafter, in a battle with King Poseidon, Ginrai discovered that his cab and trailer were capable of performing a "Double On," merging together to create the super-robot, "Super Ginrai." Additionally, after appearing on TV in hopes of locating the remaining three Godmasters, to whom he would give the Master-Braces, Ginrai successfully located Lightfoot, Ranger and Road King, and recruited them to the Autobot side. With this success, the Autobot leader Metalhawk stepped down as commander and requested that Ginrai take his place. After some deliberation, and much hassling from the other Autobot Pretenders, who wouldn't let him say no, Ginrai accepted.



When Grand Maximus arrived on Earth to inform Ginrai's Autobots of the impending arrival of the Decepticon super-weapon, Black Zarak, he provided them with the schematics necessary to create the drone, Godbomber. Metalhawk and the Pretenders raced to finish the construction of Godbomber, but as the so-called "Bomber Project" neared completion, Ginrai was lured into the desert by a disguised Buster and Hydra (under the auspices of performing some stunt driving for a movie), and was attacked and resoundingly defeated by the Decepticon Ambassador of Destruction, Overlord. Following a failed attack on the Bomber Project facility, the barely-healed Ginrai insisted upon taking the fight to the Decepticons, combining with the completed Godbomber to form "God Ginrai." In his new form, Ginrai confronted Overlord and Black Zarak on the moon, where he fully embraced his role as protector of Earth, and defeated the Decepticons with the aid of Grand Maximus.

Some time later, Black Zarak was able to return to Earth and merge with Devil Z, forcing the Autobots into a series of battle to protect countries all around the Earth. Tracking the villains to the Matterhorn, God Ginrai was forced into a final battle with the hybrid entity atop the mountain and succeeded in decapitating the villain, but Black Zarak then assumed a new hydra alternate mode, which God Ginrai destroyed with his God Fire Guts attack. His powers boosted by the Headmaster Juniors, God Ginrai then executed the almighty Final Fire Guts attack, destroying Devil Z.

With Devil Z's death, the bonding between Transtector and human that he had engineered ceased to exist, and Ginrai and the other humans were separated from their Transtectors. The Transtectors, however, had been evolved through their partnership with the humans, and continued to exist as true super-robot life forms. Having imprinted his human partner's personality, Ginrai's Transtector departed for space to pursue the surviving Decepticons and rejoin the greater war.

Victory cartoon
The Ginrai Transtector—now having taken its human partner's name as its own, becoming known as Ginrai itself—joined with the Autobot forces in space, where he became good friends with Star Saber and his adopted human son, Jean. Before long, Star Saber was appointed Supreme Commander of the Autobots, while Ginrai became commander of the Defense Force for Space Sector Two. Operating out of a base in the G Nebula, Ginrai's time was occupied battling the Decepticon forces under Overlord's control, so much so that Star Saber occasionally had to respond to emergencies in Sector Two, such as a Breastforce attack on planet Micro.

Feeling guilty over taking up Star Saber's time in such a manner, Ginrai was quick to come to his aid when he was lured into a trap on Earth by Decepticon Emperor of Destruction Deathsaurus. Confronting Deathsaurus in battle, Ginrai was struck by a blast from the villain's Living-Metal-Destroying Cannon and badly damaged. Despite the best medical efforts of Perceptor, Wheeljack, and Minerva Ginrai's body was left useless and immobile. Due to a slip by Perceptor, however, he learned of the existence of a reconstruction process conceived by Star Saber that would allow him to become a power-up for the Autobot leader. Star Saber refused to allow him to submit to the process, revolted at the notion of using his close friend's body in such a way, but Ginrai insisted. Perceptor and Wheeljack brought his life functions to an end, and then restored him to Star Saber's specifications as Victory Leo.

Super-God Masterforce manga continuity
The Masterforce manga forgoes re-telling Ginrai's origins, simply indicating that he exists, then introducing him in the midst of a battle with Buster and Hydra. Similarly, the other Autobot Godmasters are introduced in such a manner, although here, their creation comes before Ginrai's acquisition of his trailer, and they present it to him at an opportune moment. The most notable moment for Ginrai in the manga comes when he and the Autobots are taken to the planet Athenia by the Trainbots, and Ginrai succeeds Fortress as Supreme Commander of the Autobots, a rank there is no indication he attains in the anime.

Binaltech (unused)
With the heart of a human and the soul of a robot, Ginrai survived numerous deaths and rebirths to eventually become a member of a multiverse-spanning future civilization. Travelling back through time, he appeared in the early 21st century during the events of Operation: Distant Thunder, taking over a Binaltech body that had been intended for Roller, one of Optimus Prime's components. Now in the form of a Dodge Ram SRT-10 pickup truck, Ginrai gained a shockwave-firing concussion blaster and powerful leg-jets, while retaining his martial arts skills and teleportation and space-time manipulation abilities.

Ginrai used his powers to seal the numerous timewarp rifts that had appeared all over Earth and confirmed to the Autobot scientist Skids that Distant Thunder had been a success. Although the present timeline should have been erased by its effects, it was destined to create a great multiversal force in the future, and had therefore been preserved with a time-space bypass.

This never happened.

Super-God Masterforce

 * Super Ginrai (1988)
 * Japanese ID number: C-307
 * Accessories: Godmaster transtector, superconductor rifle, particle beam cannon (a.k.a. cannon craft)
 * A remoulded version of the American Powermaster Optimus Prime figure, Ginrai is a red, blue and grey tractor trailer, only able to transform into robot mode when the small Ginrai human figure is put into engine mode and snapped into place in the truck's grill, unlocking the clasp that holds the legs in place. When the cab is in robot mode, the trailer can become a battle station; either robot or station can be armed with any of the toy's weapons, including two black guns and two grey double-barrelled "cannon craft," which can be piloted by the small Godmaster figures. The two components can be merged into "Super Ginrai", whose head is a separate piece, and could go on to combine with the separately-sold Godbomber to become God Ginrai.


 * Differences between Powermaster Optimus Prime and Ginrai include a die-cast metal cab with translucent blue plastic windows, shortened smokestacks, a more metallic grey plastic, chrome on the Godmaster Ginrai engine, and silver paint rather than stickers for the small robot's upper legs. Only in the reissue are there blue eyes for the small Ginrai robot.


 * God Ginrai (1988)
 * Japanese ID number: C-310
 * Accessories: Godmaster transtector, superconductor rifle, particle beam cannon (a.k.a. cannon craft), God Cannon with tachyon missile
 * Super Ginrai was also sold in a gift set with Godbomber, who could disassemble his parts and combine with Super Ginrai to form God Ginrai. Godbomber's legs became boots, to which the Ginrai's grey cannons attached, his chest and wings formed a backpack, while his arms clipped over the top of Ginrai's own, and his back became a chromed chestplate, into the top of which the his spring-loaded "God Cannon" plugged.


 * God Ginrai (2002)


 * The God Ginrai giftset was reissued in Japan in 2002 with blue eyes for the small Ginrai robot and a slighty different shade of red paint on the cab. It was, however, notoriously over-produced, and retailers were still selling it some time later at greatly reduced prices.


 * Powermaster Optimus Prime w/ Apex Armor (2002)


 * The American release the God Ginrai reissue, albeit with remolded missiles, used the Ginrai name for the powermaster/godmaster/Nebulan figure instead of Hi-Q. This marks the first time the Ginrai character had been sold as a Hasbro release, even if the larger figures represented the Optimus Prime character and the new Apex Bomber character instead of the lifeless transtector and drone.


 * Fire Guts God Ginrai (e-Hobby exclusive, 2002)


 * Released to coincide with the 2002 reissue, this redeco of the God Ginrai gifset cast the Autobot leader in reds and oranges, representing Ginrai using his "God Fire Guts" attack from the animated series. It was limited to 1600 pieces.

Trivia

 * The human Ginrai's appearance is designed after screen actor Yūjirō Ishihara.


 * According to the color pages from Comic Bom-Bom, Ginrai owns the Ultra Matrix, which contains far more energy than the Sun.


 * According to the episode "The Earth Family of Good and Evil", Ginrai is good at surfing and skateboarding.


 * The relationship between Ginrai and Optimus Prime is a bit... sketchy, to say the least. Precisely why Ginrai's Transtector looks so much like Optimus Prime is not detailed in the series itself, with the explanation only being delivered in the featurette added to the video release of "You Too Use the Masterforce to Transform". Here, it is stated that the Transtector was created for Optimus Prime, but stolen by Devil Z... only for this to be contradicted seconds later, when it is then said that the Transtector was to be used by a hero from Planet Master. The Kiss Players radio drama backed up the first account, noting specifically that the Transtector was created as part of a plan to resurrect Prime after his most recent death.


 * When Hasbro wanted to create an Alternators Dodge Ram toy, Takara reportedly demanded that it be made into Optimus Prime out of fear that the toy (whose vehicle mode is scarce in Japan as a real vehicle) wouldn't sell as well in their market if it wasn't a popular and easily recognized figure; as the figure reportedly cost twice as much to build as the others, Hasbro had to agree in order for Takara to continue fronting part of the production cost. In an ironic turn of events, the Dodge Ram was prematurely solicited by Takara not as "Convoy" (Optimus Prime), but as his Masterforce look-alike Ginrai. As a matter of fact, the head sculpt for the Alternators Optimus Prime toy is based on the Super Ginrai (Powermaster Optimus Prime's "super mode") toy's head sculpt. Ultimately, however, Binaltech Ginrai was cancelled, with only Hasbro releasing Optimus Prime as originally planned. Eventually, Takara released the Dodge Ram as as part of the new Kiss Players line, now named "Convoy" (Optimus Prime).


 * Character and fiction information for the unreleased Binaltech Ginrai toy was finally provided in late 2007 with the release of The Transformers Binaltech Stories: Profiles and Technical Specifications, an unofficial publication by Binaltech story writer Hirofumi Ichikawa that compiled all then-current Binaltech information as well as that of the cancelled releases of "Blackwidow" (Blackarachnia) and Ginrai. Unlike Blackarachnia's story, which can be fit into the published Binaltech continuity, Ginrai's intended story was modified into Black Convoy's fiction and therefore is not compatible with the official Binaltech continuity...although it does provide a possible identity for the spark sent by the mysterious "Protector" which fulfills the same role in Black Convoy's story.