History Main / LeaderFormsTheHead

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' goes all over the place with this trope in its {{Fusion Dance}}s - [[Anime/DigimonAdventure Omegamon]], the first identifiable example, has a unique head unrelated to its components, as does [[Anime/DigimonFrontier Susanoomon]]. On the opposite end of the spectrum, [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 Imperialdramon]]'s head is pretty distinctly based on that of V-mon, the BondCreature of TheHero; its contemporaries Silphymon and Shakkoumon are both of the unique head variety. The big CombiningMecha example, ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'', is also all over the place - on most of Shoutmon's CombiningMecha forms, the head is a unique one which sometimes comes from Shoutmon but is not obviously connected to him design-wise;[[note]][=X3=]'s head resembles no one but Omegamon who is already dead, while [=X5=]'s head can be seen as part of Sparrowmon when separate.[[/note]] on others, like Shoutmon DX, he is distinctly the head.

** Sixth Ranger/Rival Abarekiller/White Dino Thunder Ranger in Abaranger/Dino Thunder is an interesting case where he personal Dinosaur-mech only formed the limbs and weapon of KillerOh/Dino Stegazord. The body and head on the other hand are formed by Stegoslidon/Stegozord which is an auxilary unit for the Rangers that doesn't even belong to him at first and he had to steal from them. In Abaranger this is justified by the fact that his personal Dinosaur TopGaler can create a battle formation with any potential other Dinosaur so he could have nabbed any of them, Stego just happened to be the one that he ran into first. In Dino Thunder it was seemingly just dumb luck.

* Averted in ''Series/KikaiSentaiZenkaiger''. The team leader (a White Ranger in this case) doesn't have a Zord of his own at the beginning and instead pilots the combinations formed by the other Rangers. These combinations are split exactly down the middle and no Ranger is featured more than another.

* And outright subverted with a couple of secondary Zords, where one Zord makes the bulk of the robot but the Red Ranger (or nearest equivalent) does ''not'' take a position of prominence:

All over the place in ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', where [[RedIsHeroic the Red Ranger]] is usually the one to get the head- or torso-forming privileges - and even when the head is formed by someone else, it's often colored red anyway. Since it happens so often, we'll only include aversions, exaggerations, and cases that are more unique than simply making the head or torso (and mind you it's ''still'' a long list):
* In extreme situations, the red mech makes up almost the entire mecha by itself, making the others seem purely cosmetic. This happens in:
** ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger''/''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'': [=GaoKentaurus=]/the Pegasus Megazord is a one-time combination where Red's Falcon mecha is used as the head and torso and his Lion is the legs. Other Rangers supplied only the arms.
** ''Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger''/''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'': Red's Tyrannosaurus mecha makes up most of Abarenoh/the Thundersaurus Megazord, with Blue providing an arm, and Yellow giving the chestplate and helmet. It was even shown once that Red and Blue could combine ''without'' Yellow, though the result wouldn't be as strong.

** ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger''/''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury'': Red makes a whole robot all by himself; and most combinations are just "Red with some extra bits of armor". Only the late-series super combinations start to pull away from this, as they split Red's mecha equally with a second and sometimes third mecha.

* Zigzagged in other series, where another team member's mecha makes the bulk of the robot (as much as the previous examples), but the Red Ranger still steals head privileges by having their mecha on the top of the formation:

** The two teams of ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVsKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'' both use a neutral mecha called the Good Striker to form the majority of their robot (Lupin Kaiser and Pat Kaiser, respectively). In both combinations, it's the Red mecha that forms the head and chestplate while the other two form the arms. The arrangement is similar when both teams come together to form Good Cool Kaiser VSX; the main robot is made of both Good Striker and the mecha of the SixthRanger (who is a member of both teams), while the Reds ''share'' the "head" role by one making the helmet and the other the chestplate (meanwhile, the other Rangers attach themselves to the arms and feet).
* And outright subverted with a couple of secondary mecha, where one mecha makes the bulk of the robot but the Red Ranger (or nearest equivalent) does ''not'' take a position of prominence:
** In ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger''/''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'', the SixthRanger's theme animal was the wolf, but Gao Hunter/the Predazord was formed mostly from an alligator mecha and the wolf mecha was only an arm.
** ''Magiranger''/''Mystic Force'' had [=MagiLegend=]/the Manticore Megazord, where the main component was made from a mecha that jointly belonged to the other four Rangers, and the Red Ranger's mecha only formed a set of wings.
** ''Gekiranger''[='s GekiViolet=]/''Jungle Fury''[='s=] Wolf Ranger only had a leg mech. The closest he got to his own mecha was by attaching his piece to the main team's Gekitohja/Jungle Pride Megazord and piloting it solo.
** ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger''/''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' had two robots where Rangers' mecha only made the arms, with the rest of each robot being an ''unpiloted'' mecha that didn't belong to any specific Ranger.
* ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'', ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'', and ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters''/the first two seasons of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' and ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'' all had combinations that completely excluded the Red mecha from the formation and had the rest of the team combine with a separate head/torso component. The first two (Goryujin/Dragonzord Battle Mode and Kiba Dai-Oh/Mega Tigerzord) were still straight examples, since the new piece belonged to the SixthRanger and gave them prominence; but Go-Buster [=LiOh=] and Go-Buster King/Beast-X King Megazord and Ultrazord from the latter are subversions since Red's replacement wasn't designated to any specific team member and ''nobody'' got the rights to "form the head".
* ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger''/''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Season 2 plays the usual formation a little differently; rather than forming the torso and head of Dairen-oh/the Thunder Megazord, the Red Ranger gets his own transforming dragon/humanoid robot and the other Rangers' mecha just form armor elements for it (though the completeness of the armor makes it still look like a true team formation, rather than "Red with enhancements").
* Averted in the third season of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', when the Red Ranger formed ''neither'' the head or torso of the Ninja Megazord. Instead, the Pink Ranger was the head and the Yellow Ranger was the torso. (This was a straight example with its counterpart Kakure Daishogun ''Series/NinjaSentaiKakuranger'', where the Pink Ranger's counterpart ''was'' the official leader.) Played straight in both ''Power Rangers'' and ''Kakuranger'' by the Shogun Megazord/Muteki Shogun, the team's ''other'' robot, where the Red mecha ''did'' form the head and torso (as even when he's not the leader, Red's still TheHero).
* Played with in ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger''/''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', as Ohranger Robo/the Zeo Megazord had interchangeable helmets (although the helmets were worn by the head which was formed by the red ranger’s mecha): the Red Phoenix helmet would usually be on top, but when another team member had a feature episode, ''they'd'' take the lead and equip the robot with the helmet from their own mecha to finish off the enemy. ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger''/''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury'' has something similar, where [=KishiRyuuOh=] Three Knights/the Dino Fury Megazord has alternate forms for each of the five Rangers where they form the head and chestplate. *Averted* though in Ohranger/Zeo again with Choju Gattai OhBlocker/Super Zeo Megazord having OhYellow’s/Zeo Ranger II’s Yellow Blocker/Super Zeo Zord II’s forming the head, shoulders and arms but with Red Blocker/Super Zeo Zord V being much of the torso below that. However, neither version of that yellow ranger held any lasting leadership role in their respective series.
* Averted with the Mega Voyager from ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', where Red formed the lower abdomen; the head came from the Black vehicle and the torso was a combination of Blue and Yellow. Played straighter in ''Series/DenjiSentaiMegaranger'', as Black was TheLeader, even if the show [[SupportingLeader didn't make it obvious]].
* Averted in ''Series/RescueSentaiGoGoFive''/''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'' with the second 5-piece combination Grand Liner/Supertrain Megazord, with the Green Ranger forming the head and torso, though this was due to it being the middle car, which allowed for an easier transition when the cars split up to combine. %%Please don't list Victory Robo/the Lightspeed Megazord, as Red forms its torso and it's therefore considered a straight example where we're only listing ones where the trope is played with.
* In ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger''/''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'', ''Series/DoubutsuSentaiZyuohger'', and ''Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger'' mecha have a standardized combination scheme where each mecha transforms into a specific body part (divided torso/arms/legs in ''Gaoranger''/''Wild Force'', torso/midsection/feet in ''Zyuohger'', and torso/limbs in ''Kyuranger'') and can be freely exchanged with other mecha of the same part. Aside from the mecha of the {{Sixth Ranger}}s, all the "torso" pieces belong to the Red Rangers, while the other Rangers hold other parts.
* A few series have a different version of the trope; where the Rangers draw power from a series of collectible {{Transformation Trinket}}s and those trinkets are highlighted by having them grow in size and form the heads of the robots. Series featuring this include ''Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger''/''Series/PowerRangersMegaforce'', ''Series/ShurikenSentaiNinninger''/''Series/PowerRangersNinjaSteel'', and ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger''/''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury''. ''Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger'' also has its own trinkets embedded in the robot chestplates.
* Building on the previous example of using the trinkets as the heads, ''Goseiger''/''Megaforce'' takes things to a logical conclusion with the robotic Gosei Knight/Robo Knight ''himself'' transforming into a giant head and mounting himself on the body of his mecha. The Silver Ranger of ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' similarly becomes his own mecha's headpiece via magical means.
* ''Series/ShurikenSentaiNinninger''/''Series/PowerRangersNinjaSteel'' has a unique variation, as Shurikenjin/the Ninja Steel Megazord is a MetaMecha with a cockpit "throne" set in the chest that the Red mecha sits in. However, other mecha can sit in the throne instead in other combinations, in which case the Red mecha becomes an arm; one of these alternate formations features the ''Blue'' mecha front-and-center and the others are {{Mecha Expansion Pack}}s.
* Averted in ''Series/KikaiSentaiZenkaiger''. The team leader (a White Ranger in this case) doesn't have a mecha of his own and instead pilots the combinations formed by the other Rangers. These combinations are split exactly down the middle and no Ranger is featured more than another.
* PlayedForLaughs when some ''Sentai'' characters guest star in ''[[Film/HeiseiRiderVsShowaRiderKamenRiderWarsFeaturingSuperSentai Kamen Rider Taisen]]''. The Series/ResshaSentaiToQger team shows up and forms [=ToQ-Oh=] to aid the Kamen Riders, and Series/KamenRiderDenO moves to combine his CoolTrain with it. He docks it in the "head" position where the Red Ranger's mecha usually is, only for [[Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger Kyoryu Red]] to show up as well, declare "No, that's wrong!", and literally ''ram'' Den-O out and take his spot; forcing Den-O to form the feet instead. Den-O spends the entire time complaining about why he has to be the feet.

* Played with in ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger''/''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', as Ohranger Robo/the Zeo Megazord had interchangeable helmets (although the helmets were worn by the head which was formed by the red ranger’s mecha): the Red Phoenix helmet would usually be on top, but when another team member had a feature episode, ''they'd'' take the lead and equip the robot with the helmet from their own mecha to finish off the enemy. ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger''/''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury'' has something similar, where [=KishiRyuuOh=] Three Knights/the Dino Fury Megazord has alternate forms for each of the five Rangers where they form the head and chestplate.

* ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'', ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'', and ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters''/the first two seasons of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' and ''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers'' all had combinations that completely excluded the Red mecha from the formation and had the rest of the team combine with a separate head/torso component. The first two (Goryuzin/Dragonzord Battle Mode and Kiba Dai-Oh/Mega Tigerzord) were still straight examples, since the new piece belonged to the SixthRanger and gave them prominence; but Go-Buster [=LiOh=] and Go-Buster King/Beast-X King Megazord and Ultrazord from the latter are subversions since Red's replacement wasn't designated to any specific team member and ''nobody'' got the rights to "form the head".

* Taken to a logical conclusion with the robotic Gosei Knight/Robo Knight in ''Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger''/''Series/PowerRangersMegaforce'', who ''himself'' transforms into a giant head and mounts himself on the body of his mecha. The Silver Ranger of ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'' similarly becomes his own mecha's headpiece via magical means.

** ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger'': Red makes a whole robot all by himself; and most combinations are just "Red with some extra bits of armor". Only the late-series super combinations start to pull away from this, as they split Red's mecha equally with a second and sometimes third mecha.

* Played with in ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger''/''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', as Ohranger Robo/the Zeo Megazord had interchangeable helmets (although the helmets were worn by the head which was formed by the red ranger’s mecha): the Red Phoenix helmet would usually be on top, but when another team member had a feature episode, ''they'd'' take the lead and equip the robot with the helmet from their own mecha to finish off the enemy. ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger'' has something similar, where [=KishiRyuuOh=] Three Knights/the Dino Fury Megazord has alternate forms for each of the five Rangers where they form the head and chestplate.

* Played with in ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger''/''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', as Ohranger Robo/the Zeo Megazord had interchangeable helmets (although the helmets were worn by the head which was formed by the red ranger’s mecha): the Red Phoenix helmet would usually be on top, but when another team member had a feature episode, ''they'd'' take the lead and equip the robot with the helmet from their own mecha to finish off the enemy. ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger''/''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury'' has something similar, where [=KishiRyuuOh=] Three Knights/the Dino Fury Megazord has alternate forms for each of the five Rangers where they form the head and chestplate.

** ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger''/''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury'': Red makes a whole robot all by himself; and most combinations are just "Red with some extra bits of armor". Only the late-series super combinations start to pull away from this, as they split Red's mecha equally with a second and sometimes third mecha.

** ''Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger''/''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'': Red's Tyrannosaurus mecha makes up most of Abarenoh/the Thundersaurus Megazord, with Blue providing an arm, and Yellow giving the chestplate and helmet - and in an emergency, Yellow's mecha can be skipped (although this was only shown once and the resulting zord was clearly having trouble before Yellow returned and the zord was back to full power)!

** ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger'': Red makes a whole mecha, [=KishiRyuuOh=], all by himself; and most combinations are just "Red with some extra bits of armor". Only the late-series super combinations start to pull away from this, as they split [=KishiRyuuOh=] equally with a second and sometimes third mecha.

* ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger''/''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Season 1 has the green ranger’s (first regular sixth ranger in Sentai) Dragon Caesar/Dragonzord replace the red ranger’s Tyrannosaurus’s usual place of head, torso, and thighs in mecha combinations for the Goryujin/Dragonzord Battle Mode formation. However, neither series shows green ever setting foot in that combination’s joint cockpit.
* ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger''/''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Season 2 plays the usual formation a little differently; rather than forming the torso and head of Dairen-oh/the Thunder Megazord, the Red Ranger gets his own transforming dragon/humanoid robot and the other Rangers' mecha just form armor elements for it. (In this case, Shishi Ranger’s/Black Ranger’s lion mecha was the helmet over Red’s mecha’s head.)
** The sixth ranger of this series, white, has a transforming tiger/humanoid robot which combines with the four mecha that form Darien-oh, into Kiba Dai-oh/Mega Tigerzord; which is essentially white’s mecha’s humanoid form with some *accessories*. Unlike with Zyuranger’s similar combination Goryujin, the white ranger is shown piloting Kiba Dai-oh with the other rangers involved assisting him in a shared cockpit.

* Played with in ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger''/''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', as Ohranger Robo/the Zeo Megazord had interchangeable helmets (although the helmets were worn by the head which was formed by the red ranger’s mecha): the Red Phoenix helmet would usually be on top, but when another team member had a feature episode, ''they'd'' take the lead and equip the robot with the helmet from their own mecha to finish off the enemy. ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger'' has something similar, where [=KishiRyuuOh=] Three Knights has alternate forms for each of the five Ryusoulgers where they form the head and chestplate.

* Subverted in the latter half of ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters''/''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers''. They introduce a blue-and-gold mecha that doesn't belong to any specific Ranger and outright ''replaces'' Red. The strongest combinations involve the Rangers attaching their mecha to this other core and leaving the Red mecha out entirely.

* Played with in ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger''/''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', as Ohranger Robo/the Zeo Megazord had interchangeable helmets (although the helmets were worn by the head which was formed by the red ranger’s mecha: the Red Phoenix helmet would usually be on top, but when another team member had a feature episode, ''they'd'' take the lead and equip the robot with the helmet from their own mecha to finish off the enemy. ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger'' has something similar, where [=KishiRyuuOh=] Three Knights has alternate forms for each of the five Ryusoulgers where they form the head and chestplate.

** The sixth ranger of this series, white, has a transforming tiger/humanoid robot which combines with the four mecha that form Darien-oh/T. Megazord, into Kiba Dai-oh/Mega Tigerzord; which is essentially white’s mecha’s humanoid form with some *accessories*. Unlike with Zyuranger’s similar combination Goryujin, the white ranger is shown piloting Kiba Dai-oh with the other rangers involved assisting him in a shared cockpit.

* Played with in ''Series/ChourikiSentaiOhranger''/''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', as Ohranger Robo/the Zeo Megazord had interchangeable helmets: the Red Phoenix helmet would usually be on top, but when another team member had a feature episode, ''they'd'' take the lead and equip the robot with the helmet from their own mecha to finish off the enemy. ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger'' has something similar, where [=KishiRyuuOh=] Three Knights has alternate forms for each of the five Ryusoulgers where they form the head and chestplate.

** The sixth ranger of this series, white, has a transforming tiger/humanoid robot which combines with the four mecha that form Darien-oh, into Kiba Dai-oh, which is essentially white’s mecha’s humanoid form with some *accessories*. Unlike with Zyuranger’s similar combination Goryujin, the white ranger is shown piloting Kiba Dai-oh with the other rangers involved assisting him in a shared cockpit.

* ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger''/''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Season 2 plays the usual formation a little differently; rather than forming the torso and head of Dairen-oh/the Thunder Megazord, the Red Ranger gets his own transforming dragon/humanoid robot and the other Rangers' mecha just form armor elements for it. (In this case, Shishi Ranger’s/Black Ranger’s Lion mecha was the helmet over Red’s mecha’s head.) The sixth ranger of this series, white, has a transforming tiger/humanoid robot which combines with the four mecha that form Darien-oh, into Kiba Dai-oh, which is essentially white’s mecha’s humanoid form with some *accessories*. Unlike with Zyuranger’s similar combination Goryujin, the white ranger is shown piloting Kiba Dai-oh with the other rangers involved assisting him in a shared cockpit.

* ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger''/''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Season 2 plays the usual formation a little differently; rather than forming the torso and head of Dairen-oh/the Thunder Megazord, the Red Ranger gets his own transforming dragon/humanoid robot and the other Rangers' mecha just form armor elements for it. (In this case, Shishi Ranger’s/Black Ranger’s Lion mecha was the helmet over Red’s mecha’s head.)

* ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger''/''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Season 2 plays the usual formation a little differently; rather than forming the torso and head of Dairen-oh/the Thunder Megazord, the Red Ranger gets his own humanoid robot and the other Rangers' mecha just form armor elements for it.

** ''Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger''/''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'': Red's Tyrannosaurus mecha makes up most of Abarenoh/the Thundersaurus Megazord, with Blue providing an arm, and Yellow giving the chestplate and helmet - and in an emergency, Yellow's mecha can be skipped!

** In one comic, G1's Dinobots force a combiner out of themselves, [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Beast_%28G1%29 Beast]], which is intentionally poorly designed, with everyone else just grafted on to Grimlock's beast mode form. This, however, only exists in a one-off microcontinuity that [[FanonDiscontinuity most fans prefer to ignore]]. Thankfully for them, the ''Power of the Primes'' line has provided an alternative with [[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Volcanicus Volcanicus]], which forms like a more traditional combiner, and is not a [[AxCrazy completely insane]] [[KillEmAll murder machine]] like the Beast.

* ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger''/''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Season 2 plays the usual formation a little differently; rather than forming the torso and head of Dairen-oh/the Thunder Megazord,the Red Ranger gets his own humanoid robot and the other Rangers' mecha just form armor elements for it.

* Taken to a logical conclusion with the robotic Gosei Knight/Robo Knight in ''Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger''/''Series/PowerRangersMegaforce'', who ''himself'' transforms into a giant head and mounts himself on the body of his mecha.
* Subverted in the latter half of ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters''/''Series/PowerRangersBeastMorphers''. They introduce a blue-and-gold mecha that doesn't belong to any specific Ranger and outright ''replaces'' Red. The strongest combinations involve the Rangers attaching their mecha to this other core and leaving Red out entirely.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', when JJ Venture's team spoofed ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'' with the "Ventronic." Complete with the "I form the " exclamations. The combined form had ''two'' heads, the one formed from JJ's robot, and the "left arm" clown head, shaped in a way to be recognizable and comfortable to Sally Impossible's mentally handicapped cousin Ned. Instead of just putting the clown head on top, they wound up with a stubby, useless arm, not too dissimilar to JJ himself.

* Averted in ''Anime/{{Gravion}}'', where our protagonist actually fills the role of TheLancer for the team and thus his vessel forms one of the titular mecha's legs.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'' arcade game, General Mikiel forms the head of the mechanical centipede Ouroboros, with the other members of the Kazakh governing council as its body.

** The two teams of ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVsKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'' both use a neutral mecha called the Good Striker to form the majority of their mecha. In both combinations, it's the Red mecha that forms the head and chestplate while the other two form the arms.

* As mentioned above, ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVsKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'' features two separate teams. When they work together and combine all their mecha into Good Cool Kaiser VSX, ''both'' teams' Red Rangers get equal prominence, with one forming the robot's chestplate and the other its helmet, while the SixthRanger and de facto leader for the combined team (due to being a DoubleAgent for both teams) has his gold mecha form the head.