wait, kongazord used the exact same tooled eagle for its zord?

As far as I know, yes, since the Gorilla and bears were available seperately in Japan.

The same tooling was used for Gao Eagle and WF Eagle universally. To combine it for Gao Muscle/WF Congazord you just insert it under the diecast arms under the gorilla and lock it into place. Though I can't recall if the US one featured diecast. You just rotate some parts a couple different ways and boom, all done. The bison was retooled in the US into the motorized piece but the others were left alone for that set.

I just discovered the Ultimus Megazord thanks to you, and I'm both impressed and disappointed. I'm impressed by the fact that there's a US release of GaoKong, and disappointed that GaoKong (who wasn't even in the show) got released in the US, but GaoElephant didn't.

Ultimus would've been the perfect place to release the Elephant zord, too.

Ultimus is just some ridiculous made up combo anyway. Soul Bird can attach to Gao King and the WF Megazord or any other compatible connector. But that combination was never shown in any media/merchandise other than the toys. So releases 1/2 of Gao Knight plus purple bison legs and Soul Bird makes no sense.

That I know of, the US versions were spot on with the diecast parts. Though the only one I have to confirm this is the Predazord/GaoHunter. All my other Gaoranger animals are the BoJ releases.