Go Go Tomago

Origin

Raised on the streets of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, young street urchin Leiko Tanaka fell in with the Shikei-otaku, one of the many youth-based motorcycle gangs b ?s ?zoku involved in Yakuza activities. At age 18, she was arrested during a botched robbery of the Kiyohara Industrial Complex and sentenced to a term of five years in Tochigi Prison. However, before serving her full sentence, engineers from Japan’s Ministry of Defense came to her with a deal: secure an early release from prison in exchange for test piloting an experimental exosuit. Tanaka, who was chosen as a test subject based on her good behavior in prison and her high-speed motorcycling skills, accepted the government’s terms and soon found herself in the “Go-Go Tomago” exosuit, named for the sphere-like shape the armor takes when propelling through the air at high velocities (“tomago” being the Japanese word for “egg”).

Creation

Go Go Tomago was created by Scott Lobdell and Gus Vazquez in 1998 and first appeared in Sunfire & Big Hero 6 # 1.

Major Story Arcs

Big Hero 6

When the top-secret consortium of Japanese politicians and business entities known as the Giri was formed to recruit and train potential superhuman operatives for Big Hero 6, Go-Go Tomago was chosen to be a founding member of the team due to her proficiency with the exosuit and the belief that her fear of being sent back to prison would make it easy for the Giri to control her. Impulsive and hotheaded, Go-Go initially clashed with virtually every member of her new team. She refused to take orders from the team’s initial field leader, Silver Samurai (Kenuichio Harada), and was insanely jealous of teammate Honey Lemon (Aiko Miyazaki). However, once becoming acclimated to the team, her grudging respect for her teammates evolved into true kinship.

Powers and Abilities

The Go-Go Tomago battle suit is a voice-activated device that absorbs and amplifies kinetic energy, enabling it’s wearer to temporarily transubstantiate his or her body mass into thermochemical energy simply by uttering the trigger words “Go-Go Tomago”. This transformation can be either partial or total. During a partial transformation, the wearer’s body is surrounded by a half-inch thick thermochemical aura that grants the wearer limited invulnerability, flight and energy projection capabilities. During a total transformation, the wearer’s entire body transubstantiates into a high-speed, high-impact spherical “powerball”, which builds up greater speed and force with every additional ricochet impact while in motion. After a series of sufficiently numerous and forceful ricochets to build up power, the wearer can hurl his or herself into a given target with tremendous explosive impact. Go-Go Tomago is apparently unlimited by the amount of time that she can remain in the thermochemical powerball form, although her body becomes fatigued after extended periods of ricocheting at high speeds. She has been timed at speeds of up to 185 miles per hour. The Go-Go Tomago helmet is made entirely from carbon fiber and is extremely durable and lightweight.

Go-Go Tomago is also a skilled motorcyclist and an accomplished racer and stunt driver. She also has several contacts in Japan‘s criminal underworld, as many of her former b ?s ?zoku associates are unaware that she secretly serves as a member of Japan’s premiere super-hero team.

Characteristics

Height: 5’6”

Weight: 129 lbs.

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Black

In Other Media

Film

Big Hero 6

GoGo Tomago appears as one of the main characters in the Big Hero 6 film, voiced by Jamie Chung. In the movie, her past as a former gangbanger is completely excised from her backstory, and she is instead depicted as an engineering student at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology in America. According to her voice Actor Jaimie Chung, Gogo’s real name is Ethel. An athlete and adrenaline junkie, she designs a pair of electromagnetic bike wheels which are later incorporated into her battle suit.

Television Series

Big Hero 6: The Series
In 2017, Gogo Tomago began to appear as one of the main characters in Big Hero 6 animated series, voiced by Jamie Chung.