20 Years Later, Transformers Fans Get New First Look at a Forgotten Classic

Transformers is Takara’s premiere franchise about shape-shifting robots, but it’s far from the only one. Now, a new figure is being made for another similar brand, though it still has some ties to the robots in disguise.

Good Smile Company has revealed the upcoming figure, The Gattai Collection – Brave Series Red Geist, which is derived from a series that temporarily replaced Transformers. The character in question is Red Geist, who bears a more than subtle resemblance to a forgotten Decepticon from an anime. Now, the upcoming toy is the character’s first figure in decades, recalling a time when Japan wasn’t using Transformers at all.

Red Geist Lives Again In Newest Brave Series Mecha Collectible

Part of Good Smile Company’s “The Gattai” Collection, the new toy for Red Geist represents the villain of the same name from the 1992 anime The Brave Fighter of Legend Da Garn. The robot wields a powerful shield, a blaster, a sword (Red Geist Shield, Red Geist Rifle and Red Geist Sword) and a transforming breastplate.

As in the anime, he transforms into a massive robotic dragon, with his robot-mode chestplate becoming a small aircraft (the Red Geist Jet). Retro in the best way, the prototype is essentially a cel from the anime brought to life.

Overall, his design is incredibly accurate to the original animation model, far more so than his 1992 toy. Of course, hardcore mecha anime fans will know that this 1990s debut wasn’t the true first appearance of that Takara toy. Red Geist’s toy was merely a redeco and retool of the toy for Deszaras/Deathsaurus from the 1989 anime Transformers: Victory,the final full anime in the Generation 1 continuity.

This was slightly less apparent in the anime, where Red Geist’s design was further altered to make him more distinctive. Much as Deathsaurus was the Decepticon Emperor of Destruction, Red Geist was one of the ultimate enemies in Da Garn.

The Brave franchise was a way for Takara to revisit elements of the Transformers brand while the property was on hiatus in Japan during the first part of the 1990s. By the time the Brave series’ heyday drew to a close, the true robots in disguise were back with two Japanese-exclusive Beast Wars anime.

There were also other examples of Brave reusing Transformers in various ways, with the Dinobots’ designs appearing as completely new characters at one point. This is the first new toy for Red Geist since 1992, and it continues the Gattai Collection’s Brave focus. The newly-revealed toy is just a prototype, however, and there’s no concrete news yet on when the figure will be released and available to order.