Gridman

Gridman (グリッドマン) is a Hyper Agent from the Hyper World, a parallel world to the "Computer World", a world within all computers. He was originally a bodiless life form that chased Khan Digifier to the Computer World.


 * Subtitle: Lightning Superman (電光超人)
 * Thunder Subtitle: Combined Super God (合体超神)
 * King Subtitle: Combined Dragon Emperor (合体竜帝)

Conception
According to Kazumitsu Akamatsu, Gridman's designer, he was employed by Takara to come up with a design for a Kyodai Hero called Cyberman, which was much like Toho Company's Dennou Keisatsu Cybercop. The hero was apparently human-sized and would be able to combine with support mechas to achieve a total height of 4m. After some internal review, the project was scrapped and he was moved to the production team of another Tsuburaya Hero, Bigman, because of his knowledge in Tokusatsu, and to be a liaison between Tsuburaya and Takara. He accepted the role, knowing that Tsuburaya were experts in the Kyodai Hero genre. This conceptual hero would eventually be reworked into Gridman. After that, he also worked on the designs of the monsters with the help of former Takara employee Osamu Yamaguchi. After designing Chidogerah, he stopped designing monsters and focus more on the background scenes. He also came up with the names of the Assist Weapons and the names of the characters, and thinks of the work as if it were his own child.



Denkou Choujin Gridman
While tracking down Khan Digifier he encountered Naoto and, seeing that Naoto had a good heart, chose him to merge with whenever battle must be done within the Computer world. To fight the larger and more powerful monsters, Gridman receives the upgrade program P-L6806OX to grow gigantic and battle against his foes. However, this massive power-up last only for a few minutes as it could overload Junk's system. When the power up begins to fade, a blue light on Gridman's head begins to blink as a warning. Naoto, Yuuka, and Ippei chat with Gridman over their computer by typing messages to him.

Denkou Choujin Gridman: The Demon King's Counterattack
Gridman returns in this novel series and bonds again with Naoto to fight against Neo Khan Digifer, the younger brother of Khan Digifer. He was on the losing end until his own brother, Gridman Sigma joined the battle. The two Hyper Agents eventually manage to defeat the Demon King after battling all his minions. Their final challenge was Geist Digifer, Neo Khan Digifer's final form, gained by fusing with the souls of the fallen kaiju.

Stats

 * Height: Micro ~ 70 m
 * Thunder: 88 m
 * King: 93 m
 * Weight: 0 ~ 60,000 t
 * Thunder: 160,000 t
 * King: 200,400 t
 * Home World: Hyper World
 * Time Limit: 10 minutes
 * Flight: Gridman's top flight speed in the Computer World is faster than the Speed of Light.

Body Features

 * Energy Lamp (エネルギーランプ): The light on Gridman's forehead, when his giant size begins to put too much strain on Junk (the PC that powers his giant form) it begins to flash. It is similar to a Beam Lamp.
 * Radar Ear (レーダーイヤー): Gridman's ears.
 * Tri-Juster (トライジャスター): The three blue parts on Gridman's chest. They are the organ that emits the Fixer Beam.
 * Techtarion Armor (Tekutarion Āmā): The armor that Gridman wears.
 * Crystal Converter (クリスタルコンバーター): The yellow light on Gridman's chest, this is where his energy is stored.
 * Gravity Metal (グラビティメタル): Gridman is able to fly because his feet control gravity for him.

Assist Weapons
Assist Weapons (アシストウェポン) are created and devised by Ippei to assist Gridman in battle. When in the Computer World, Gridman uses the Materialization Beam to complete the process of bringing them into battle.

Initially, Yuka was responsible for handling the programs until Ippei created the Assist Weapon Selecter (アシストウェポンセレクター) to contain and deploy them easily. With the exception of Gridman Sword, later Assist Weapons (being mechas themselves) are remotely controlled by both Ippei and Yuka through game controllers. They are also modified to become powered suits for Gridman, thus raising his ability perimeters. In the final episode, Khan Digifier invaded Junk's server and destroy all the Assist Weapons in their data forms, leaving Gridman almost defeated before Takeshi created the Grid Hyper Beam program.


 * Lightning Blitz Blade Gridman Sword (電光雷撃剣グリッドマンソード): A combination of the Barrier Shield and Plasma Blade, created by Compoid and Anosillus as gratitude for saving the latter. Its alternate configuration is Thunder Axe (サンダーアックス).
 * Barrier Shield (バリアーシールド): A shield made to repel any monster with an ultrahigh electromagnet. Created by Ippei with the inspiration from Special Dog (a type of hot dog).
 * Plasma Blade (プラズマブレード): A sword pulled out of the side of the Barrier Shield.
 * Combined Electric God God Zenon (合体電神ゴッドゼノン): A giant robot that combined form the three military vehicle-based Assist Weapons. Designed based on a robot toy.
 * Thunder Jet (サンダージェット): A fighter jet inspired from real-life military fighter jet.
 * Twin Driller (ツインドリラー): A driller tank with a pair of drills, designed after military tanks.
 * God Tank (ゴッドタンク): A caterpillar track-based armored tank that is based on military tanks, especially a missile vehicle.
 * Dragon Fortress (ドラゴンフォートレス): A coalesced aircraft, formed by Dyna Fighter and King Jet. Transforms into Combined Super Dragon Dyna Dragon (合体超竜ダイナドラゴン), a tyrannosaurus mecha based on the fossil of a tyrannosaurus.
 * Dyna Fighter (ダイナファイター): An aircraft that is initially Dragonic Cannon (ドラゴニックキャノン). Designed based on a dragon-themed artifact that was buried with a Chinese mummy.
 * King Jet (キングジェット): A large aircraft made to be Dyna Fighter's support.

Trivia

 * The way in which Gridman's enemies are destroyed by his finishers may have inspired the effects of Ultraman the Next/Ultraman Nexus's finishers on his enemies.
 * Gridman's facial appearance might have inspired the faces of Jean-Bot and Jean-Nine.
 * Gridman's last suit appearance between his original series and his cameo in a DVD extra was in the 1995 Tsuburaya commercial where he joined the Ultramen and many monsters and aliens during a fireworks show, seen dancing near Pigmon.

Also see

 * Servo

Gridman