Before Gurren Lagann was even an idea, there was Brave. 20 years ago today a little show called Yuusha Exkaiser hit Japanese airwaves, thus setting off the Brave saga. In the early 90s, Takara, the owners of the Transformers brand, felt that Transformers' profitability had run out. They began exploring the potential for new, original toy lines. Born from this was Brave, which brought about some of the coolest shape-shifting toys of the time, along with some of the best toy-related TV shows.

The series introduced eight Heroes of Bravery: Exkaiser, Fighbird, Da Garn, J-Decker, Mightgaine, Goldran, the Dagwon team, and the king of them all, GaoGaiGar. Join me after the jump as I give my own tribute to these heroes of bravery.

The First Hero of Bravery, Brave Exkaiser

The Toys:

Exkaiser was the original hero of bravery, as well as the only one to receive a toy in the Masterpiece Brave line. It is also the most expensive toy I own (review coming in the weeks ahead). He was the only toy at the time to not just consist of a giant robot, but a giant robot that Moves about in a much more impressive Mech. Impressive, even if his first toy-form was little more than a plastic brick. It's a concept still central to the Transformers of today. 

The Show:

Yuusha Exkaiser was Brave's first venture into the animation world. For basically being a 20-minute toy commerical, it did a good job of still being interesting and innovative. It involved a boy named Kohta fighting the monster of the week with his "robot friend" Exkaiser. Exkaiser's was able to use his traveling ship, the King Loader, to become King Exkaiser. Of course it was fairly generic but the fights were exciting enough that no one could mind. Exkaiser was only the beginning. A testing of waters for what was yet to come. The first Brave, he would pave the way for the KING OF BRAVES!

GaoGaiGar

The Toys:  

GaoGaiGar toys were much like modern Transformer designs. Multiple figures could combine with each other, they carried enormous weapons, and they would transform into nearly anything. Spaceships, firetrucks, you name it. The King Of Braves himself was the pinnacle of toy technology of the time. GaoGaiGar wasn't content to simply borrow Exkaiser's giant robot within a more giant robot idea. It merged it with the concept of combining multiple figures and add-ons. GaoGaiGar was and still is a pinnacle of modern toy design. You owe it to yourself to own one.

The Show:

Before there was the Gurren Lagann's Spiral Power and Giga Drill Breaker, there was the Power of Courage and Hikare ni Nare from GaoGaiGar. This show is one of the best hot blooded anime shows, up there with G Gundam and Gurren Lagann-type awesome, and for good reason. All the characters had depth to them, especially the main character of Guy, the pinnacle of manliness. It evolved into a complex, overarching plot line, and a very good one at that. In 2000 it culminated into the last event of the Brave Universe: GaoGaiGar FINAL, a 7 part OVA series that was made to close off the Brave Saga forever. Sadly, this meant that the toys would all but dry up as well.

On this, the 20th Annivesary of the birth of the Brave saga, I hope this brief introduction to the toys from this incredible series has sparked some interest in a series which has fallen by the wayside. These are incredible toys from an incredible franchise. I can't encourage you enough to check it out! Goodbye for now and remember: Victory goes to those WITH COURAGE!