[image description: a gallery of concept art and screencaps of characters from the anime series SSSS.GRIDMAN]

The anime SSSS.GRIDMAN, a reimagining of the early 90s tokusatsu series Denkou Choujin Gridman—brought to the US in the form of “Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad”, referenced in the title of this new show—has some unexpected additional references, in the form of character and prop design. But it’s not to any incarnation of the Gridman character, nor to other Tsuburaya Productions franchises like the long-running Ultra(man) series.

No, it’s to Transformers toys, including some comparatively obscure items like the fanclub-exclusive Shattered Glass mirror universe. As Twitter users (including yours truly) have noted:

Protagonist Yuta Hibiki is made up of references to the Classics Cliffjumper figure, including wearing shoes that homage his car mode, and a backpack that looks like the “Wave Crusher” accessory when worn in robot mode.



(image source)

But there’s more! I thought it was just a coincidence until i saw people talking about Sho, and Yuta’s shoes, but there’s a scene later in the episode where Sho is using a pair of binoculars that are an exacting imitation of the alternate mode of “Real Gear Robot” Longview, as seen in this image put together by twitter user ussa1226:





Will the second episode feature more homages? How did this sneak in, and why, when Transformers is a wholly unrelated property owned by competitors? And does it symbolize something more about Yuta’s mysterious memory loss and the “mission” Gridman speaks of, that he’s the sole non-SG kid… especially when the Classics-verse Cliffjumper’s role in Shattered Glass was as an interdimensional traveler?