The Daiku Maryu (in Watercolor)

It dawned on me I never posted this effort and entry into The Sci-Fi Fanatic painting series.

I posted the one I did recently of The Phoenix from Battle Of The Planets, but omitted posting about this one completed before it.

This is the Daiku Maryu from Gaiking.

I'm a big fan of mech and spaceships and this one is like a hybrid of the two. Anyone who knows the series Gaiking knows that Gaiking is assembled from the head of the great ship called the Daiku Maryu.

The watercolors really popped on this one and I was generally thrilled with the overall final product.

I'm always finding flaws and things that I would like to have improved upon, but nothing is perfect.

In fact, the back drop was a complete disaster, but the end result was much better than it appeared it was going to be. I really need to nail those backdrops first and have a better plan on these things. I'm always so fixated on the ships or mech and tend to overlook the need for a strong background.

Anyway, this is the end result for Gaiking's Daiku Maryu, the great space dragon.

The Daiku Maryu

The Daiku Maryu.

 

The behemoth that is the Daiku Maryu is seemingly part robot and part spaceship. Technically it's a robot with all of the components necessary to create famous robot Gaiking in the TV series Gaiking (1976-1977) by Toei Animation. (Don't fret we'll cover a real spaceship soon). It also houses three different space vehicles (Nesser, Skylar, Bazolar) similar in fashion to the vehicles housed in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman's The Phoenix (1972-1974).

 

Nevertheless, the dragon-shaped Daiku Maryu does its fair share of flying much like a spaceship. Like the aforementioned Phoenix, Daikyu Maryu can enter space or go underwater. It's an extremely versatile piece of machinery.

 

This is the first spaceship/robot covered here that I can officially say I own. The die cast metal version of the ship is a glorious little thing to behold. Yes it's positively a beast!