Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water....Dun, Dun....Dun, Dun....Dun, Dun......

From Wikipedia

The Brave of Gold Goldran is a Japanese anime television series series begun in 1995, created by Sunrise under the direction of Shinji Takamatsu, and was the sixth in the Yuusha meta-series funded by Takara and produced by Sunrise. Goldran follows the adventures of three young boys who are tasked with finding alien robot fighters, or Braves, that are sleeping in the form of crystals. Their major antagonist is the flamboyant and thoroughly incompetent Walter, and the villains that follow him are often similarly humorous. The entire show is extremely focused on comedy and silliness almost to the exclusion of much in the way of storytelling, although the series does develop some running plot lines towards its end. In terms of television ratings, Goldran was the peak of the Brave series' popularity.

Today I will be reviewing the Captain Shark DX re-issue, made by Sonokong/Takara. The sample for review can be purchased rather cheaply from our friends over at Big Bad Toy Store, Please check them out or just click on the Ebay links at the bottom of the page for links to help find any live auctions for the item reviewed today.

Captain Shark is hails from the anime The Brave of Gold Goldran. Captain Shark is basically a space pirate/battleship in the familiar shape of a shark, hence the name. He has an excitable demeanor with a keen mind and will often play the straight man. His right eye is hidden under an eye-patch until it is used as a targeting scope for the HYPER GALACTIC BURST MODE ATTACK.

Captain Shark is a very formidable adversary, his weapons include:

Shoulder Cannon
Captain Sword
Spiral Launcher
Spring Shot
Shark Cannon
Hook
Harpoon

To start off with, Captain Shark comes to you in the now familiar, beautifully illustrated, heavy corrugated cardboard box shown below.

I wanted to show you a close up of Captain Shark's head. Notice the pirate hat and eye-patch. Its an unusual design to say the least. Even though it is unique, who doesn't like pirates and giant robots? They go together like chocolate and peanut butter!

Captain Shark stands approximately 11.5 inches tall in robot mode and made of quality heavy plastic. He weighs in at a stout 1 1/4 lbs. Articulation is limited to the elbows and upper shoulders.

Heck, who needs articulation when you have some much firepower? This guy is heavily armed! His giant shoulder mounted cannon can fire 16 of the 48 included red missiles by a simple twist of the back of the cannon. But wait, the eye poking goodness doesn't end there! He is also equipped with a wrist mounted firing harpoon and hook. Also, lets not forget his 4 rotating cannons mounted on both shoulders and his swashbuckling sword.

Here is a feature that I really like about the Brave toy line so far, Every accessory has a place to hide. The sword attaches to a clip located on the Captains backside, hook, harpoon and extra missiles store in a shoulder compartments, even the cannon mount can be concealed away neatly. The designers really thought of everything.

If you don't wish to store the sword on the back of the figure, you can always put it clenched in the Shark's teeth.

I know this is showing my age, but you older Saturday Night Live fans might get a kick out of my "Land Shark" mode LOL!

OK, enough fooling around and lets get onto the Space Battleship mode of Captain Shark. In this mode he actually has two different configurations, Spaceship and what I would call a Shark Tank.

In Space Battleship mode, Captain Shark kinda reminds me of something you might see in a Captain Harlock anime. It really looks cool from all angles. I especially like all the guns mounted atop its Shark body.

Moving along to the land based, Shark tank mode. You can see that the cannon mounts atop the body and it now has caterpillar treads that fold out from underneath.

Here is a close up of the caterpillar treads, unfortunately they do not move. However, it does have wheels on the bottom. I really wish that they put rolling treads on this toy.

Here is a close up of the bridge area. I think this could have been alot cooler if they included stickers for the windows. I have been seriously considering doing some custom work to add these.

Finally we have the last few pictures. In these pictures you can see that the shoulder cannon can also be mounted underneath the shark body. You would think that the round shape of the cannon would make this very unstable. Surprisingly, it actually turns out to be very stable due to the fins on the sides of the cannon.

In conclusion, I really enjoy this toy for its design and play value. It is very sturdy and displays really well with my other Brave figures. Furthermore, I think the price of $29.99 at Big Bad Toy Store really makes this toy a steal, so pick one up already!

I love this toy and I am proud to have it displayed in my collection. I think the design is really cool and it just looks absolutely stunning on the shelf next to my other Brave Series figures.

From Wikipedia

The Symmetrical-Docked form of HyoRyu and EnRyu, formed when their "SympaRate", a measure of their synchronization and unity of purpose, reaches 100%. ChoRyuJin is a defensive specialist with his Mirror-Coating Chestplate (which he uses at the risk of his life) and ability to use the Eraser Head tool. He also possesses HyoRyu and EnRyu's Gun, Rifle, and Tonfa attacks, usually used in "Double" form firing from both sides at once. He can also fire both guns and both rifles at once for a full-burst-style attack. After the initial Primeval attack, ChoRyuJin is retrofitted with the ability to fire Ul-Tech beams in place of heat or cold, which appear similar to most beam weapons in anime.

In technical specifications (and finally shown in FINAL), he also has the desperate final attack "Super Nova" - in which HyoRyu and EnRyu turn their respective dials to "Infinite" and simultaneously blast the enemy with their Chest attacks. Due to the placement of the chest plates on ChoRyuJin, he could not in fact use this attack while Symmetrical-Docked.

I didn't write the above paragraphs, so please no hate comments..LOL

Today I will be reviewing Sonokong's re-issue of GekiRyuJin giftset. The set includes both symmetrical docking robots, RaiRyu & FuuRyu that make up the larger GekiRyuJin. RaiRyu and FuuRyu are one of two sets of symmetrical docking robots that appear in the anime The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, the other set being EnRyu and HyoRyu that make the larger robot ChoRyuJin. I will cover ChoRyuJin in a future review.

Since you can purchase the set combined or individually, I have included photo of all below. The packaging on the combined giftset version is the nicely illustrated heavy corrugated cardboard box with the plastic tray insert that in the norm for Sonokong Brave Series re-issue. As for the individual pieced boxes, well...they are nicely illustrated but the box is very light cardboard that I suspect will not hold up to years in storage of moving.

Lets start off the review with the vehicle modes of the two separate robots. In the first photo below you have both the green cement truck (FuuRyu) and yellow dumptruck (RaiRyu). As you can clearly see, they share a very futuristic look, which is appropriate for the anime they come from. Each truck is just under 10" long in this mode and is comprised of quality feeling heavy plastic.

The only feature or "gimmick" that RaiRyu has in dump-truck mode is the fact the dump body actually can tilt back to dump. Nothing really impresses me with his vehicle mode.

Onto FuuRyu, again, like RaiRyu above, FuuRyu's vehicle mode also doesn't really do it for me and is lackluster at best. The cement chute can be raised or lowered and the cement drum can turn, woo hoo....

Now we are getting down to the good stuff! RaiRyu's and FuuRyu's separate robot modes are arguably the best mode of these figures, due to their almost unheard of articulation for an early nineties transforming robot figure. Each figure stand approximately 8" tall, and like I state above, both have some really good articulation. The joints are nice and tight with that "click" that all mecha collectors love.

Transformation to robot mode is a snap, and as you can see below, for the most part they look great, if you overlook the kibble on their backsides.

Just like in the anime, you can turn the dials on both RaiRyu's and FuuRyu's chest to "Infinite" and simultaneously blast an enemy with their Chest attacks. You can see below that the chest changes from white to yellow or vice verse to achieve the above mentioned effect.

Now lets take a look at FuuRyu alone. In the first pic you can see the nicely detailed face and chest that really contribute to this figures cool factor.

Here is a quick shot of the articulation that I had mentioned earlier in the review. You gotta admit that it is pretty awesome for a Brave Series figure.

Well, check this out! What I originally thought to be useless kibble shown in the backside shot up above, becomes a nifty shoulder mounted cannon with targeting system. The cannon actually can fire 4 of the 16 supplied red projectiles by simply rotating it. Don't you just love toys with firing gimmicks?

RaiRyu shares the same chiseled good looks as FuuRyu above as well as the pretty cool articulation. Only this time, the play gimmick is different.

RaiRyu can actually use his dump body as a skateboard! Hang 10 dude! or whatever the skating lingo is...LOL.

The next photo illustrates how the storage of the extra ammo and the arm for GekiRyuJin are stored in the lower legs of RaiRyu and FuuRyu. I think that this is pretty cool and I love toys where everything has a place. Also, you can check out the video further below and you will see that the left arm of GekiRyuJin actually stores in the exact place as the toy! Pretty trick huh?

As you can see below, RaiRyu and FuuRyu are starting to get impatient and would like me to hurry up to the part where they can do their ultimate symmetrical docking form, GekiRyuJin!

OK boys, lets go, SYMMETRICAL DOCKING!!

Here he is, GekiRyuJin in all his glory! If you watch the video above, the transformation of the toy to GekiRyuJin is practically exact to the anime.

GekiRyuJin stands a little over 10" and is basically a solid brick. Articulation is limited to the elbows and the head does turn back and fourth slightly between his massive shoulders. Even though the articulation is limited, I still think the figure is beautiful and well proportioned. I like the way the cement drum becomes his gun and the dump body is his shield.

Maybe its just me but I think GekiRyuJin and Optimus Prime have a striking resemblance.

All said and done, I love this toy and I am proud to have it displayed in my collection. I think the design is really cool and it just looks absolutely stunning on the shelf next to my other Brave Series figures. If you don't have it, track it down. It is worth hunting around for.

In my continuing effort to bring the readers of CollectionDX some interesting Brave toys, I bring you this gem....

I've been covering Brave toys on and off for about the past 2 months or so and no other toy so far has surprised me in a good way like Sonokong's DX Goldymarg re-issue.

Goldymarg is a secondary character in the anime "The King of Braves GaoGaiGar". Goldymarg is basically the means of which GaoGaiGar can wield the "Goldion Hammer". The Goldion Hammer is an awesome weapon, but without Goldymarg ability to transform into "Marg Hand" GaoGaiGar would not be able use Goldion Hammer properly and without incurring damage. So you see the relationship between GaoGaiGar and Goldmarg is sort of symbiotic.

Goldymarg also has the ability to transform into the GoldyTank, which has a powerful Fusion Beam Cannon called Marg Cannon made up of what becomes Goldion's Hammer handle.

Well now that you get the idea of what role Goldymarg plays in the anime GaoGaiGar, on to the review of the toy.

Goldymarg comes to you in a beautifully illustrated, heavy corrugated cardboard box shown below. On the boxes inside Sonokong uses the flimsy plastic tray instead of quality Styrofoam that us toy collectors would really prefer...sigh. Oh well, stleast the box is nice.

After taking Goldymarg out of his cardboard tomb is when the real magic begins. He is an impressive figure, standing about 9.5" tall from top of hammer to toe. Goldymarg is made from quality feeling plastic with nice, solid clicky joints. As you can see below, Goldmarg may be a brick but he does actually has some decent articulation in the legs.

Just like in the video above, when Goldymarg transforms the top of his helmet closes over his eyes. I kinda dig the way it does this so I had to snap a pic of before and after. Actually Goldymarg's whole transformation in this toy incarnation is pretty much dead on to the anime.

Moving along to Goldymarg in GoldyTank mode. In this mode you can use the 3 foam projectiles included with the figure. You do this by simply placing the projectile on the end of the pivoting fusion beam cannon and squeezing the flexible bellows of the Goldion Hammer. I prefer spring loaded, take out your eye weaponry on my toys, again, sigh. Is it just me or does this mode look alot like the Transformers G1 Roller? Anyway, very solid in this mode and rolls great, very rugged.

Before I get to Goldymarg's final mode, I figured I would include a token picture of Goldy in robot mode with the big guy, GaoGaiGar!

Onto Goldymarg's final mode, Marg Hand and Goldion Hammer. Like I said earlier in the review, the transformation is exactly like the anime, so just enjoy the pics of GoaGaiGar wielding what is his best weapon.

Oh, almost forgot, one last feature is what is called "Hammer Heaven" which is the two pry bar like devices shown below. You can see them in use in the video at the top of the review.

All said and done, I like this toy alot. It is solid as a brick and will surely last through years of rough play. Fortunately, mine will never see such play. I would suggest if you have Sonkong's re-issue or Takars's original DX GaoGaiGar and do not have Goldymarg to go with it, you should really track one down. You can use the Ebay links provided below to help you on you quest to find Goldymarg.

Rounding out our coverage of yokai toys, we actually have a standard-sized villain from Spook Warfare: Daimon.

Daimon rocks. He's the main villain from my favorite yokai movie, Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare, a movie featuring lots of cool, creative yokai interaction and, of course...warfare! Daimon is a sort of ancient Babylonian vampire-wizard-guy who is able to assume different forms with the power of his magical wand. Besides the wand, he packs a groovy belt and a bad attitude!

In the movie, Daimon takes on our pal Abura Sumashi and the rest of the gang...including his nemesis, Kappa.

Now, what's interesting about this figure is that it's standard-sized and that it's from M1go. First of all, ST vinyls are the norm for M1, but yokai? M1go is primarily a kaiju toy manufacturer, and while the "Yokai Monster" movies are certainly tokusatsu, they're not really your traditional daikaiju eiga (movies involving giant monsters stomping cities flat).

Yokai flicks are creepier...kinda tokusatsu meets supernatural horror (but still suitable for younger folks). Anyway, M1go has made no vinyl yokai other than Daimon, so the character choice here is pretty interesting.

Furthermore, M1 made the figure standard-sized, while all the existing vintage yokai vinyls from Nitto are mid-sized (~6 inches). Oh well...I'm not complaining--I love the character and I love this figure.

This Daimon toy is pretty underrated, in my opinion, and I think that's mostly due to it being a fairly easy-to-find vinyl. Regardless of whether you're looking for this glow-in-the-dark colorway or any of the others, those well-versed in searching on Yahoo!Japan should be able to find readily enough. If you're not a Y!J user, but are patient, they pop up on eBay or Skullbrain's For Sale board from time to time.

I can't help but think that if it were much more rare, it would be more talked about and sought-after.

Anyway, my photography unfortunately doesn't quite do the sculpt justice because of the low contrast in the images: glowies' paint jobs are often pretty light and can look washed-out against a white background. Take my word for it, though--once you have one in-hand and notice all the great detail in the sculpt, you'll see why this toy kills.

He's articulated at the neck, waist, and shoulders--like that matters for a vinyl!--and the paintjob consists of metallic blue*, yellow, and gold spray, with red, black, silver, and gold hand-painted detail. As always, you can expect a fantastic paintjob from M1.

[* Metallic blue is generally an overused color for glowies--in my opinion--but, hey, it's very striking and as you can see, it's translucent enough to allow a lot of glow light through.]

I definitely recommend this figure, especially if you're a fan of the movie...and if you haven't seen Spook Warfare, you need to!

And if you are interested in learning more about traditional Yokai monsters, be sure to check out the book, Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide. It's available in Japan, the US, and the UK. The book is written by good friends, Matt Alt (of ToyboxDX fame) and his wife, Hiroko Yoda, both stars of 2005's Great Yokai War.

Robo Racer is what a Transformer would look like if they’d cross over with Power Rangers

Coming from space, the Blue Centurion arrived on earth with a message about an alliance of all evil in the universe. However, before he could give this message to the rangers, he was caught by the bad guys and the message was erased. But the Blue Centurion didn’t come to Earth alone… He brought his mighty zord, Robo Racer with him! For more information about Power Rangers: Turbo, click here.

Robo Racer is what a Transformer would look like if they’d cross over with Power Rangers. In vehicle mode, the patrol car just looks like one, with no trace of the robot inside. It’s actually a pretty nice car and rather show accurate. The light and sounds are activated by pressing the Centurion’s symbol on the roof.

Once transformed, Robo Racer is a nice little bot, standing approximately 8 inches tall. The lights and sounds are still there, activated by pressing the same button. He features the usual points of articulation for a DX power ranger Toy (the arms move up and down), waist joint and also has “elbows” joints, so to speak. Also, the helmet can be put back to show the eyes. The arsenal coming with that little guy is pretty impressive: a gun, two blades, a shield and handcuffs!

If you’re wondering the differences between the Robo Racer and his original Japanese counterpart Sirender, prepare for a pretty shocking one: all the die cast parts were replace by dull grey plastic parts! Also, Sirender came with Signalman (Blue Centurion’s counterpart) Signal Whistle. The good news is that every sticker has been kept.

Honestly, I think that this little guy deserves more attention than he got. I mean, many people will go crazy over a Turbo or Rescue Megazord, but won’t even give him a look. Sad mistake, cause this is one pretty good toy!

The official whipping boy of Jumbo Machinder collectors, this toy is probably better than you've heard. Video inside!

Although there were previous Jumbos that were from Sentai shows, the Jumbo Astro Megazord is the first one to be released in the United States and bear the name of the Power Rangers. It was released in 1998 in support of the "Power Rangers In Space" series. It's an interesting piece because unlike the subsequent Jumbos released in the US, this toy actually has a transformation gimmick like the DX version. The method is different here though and requires a small amount of parts swapping, but the end result actually looks pretty cool. It's certainly better than many of the vintage "transforming" Jumbos, which often just lay down to transform. My only real gripe with the vehicle mode is that the feet don't connect in anyway. As a result, the nose of the ship doesn't line up quite right.

This toy was not very popular among Jumbo collectors. There are probably a few reasons for that. First, it isn't a full sized Jumbo. It measures only 18" tall. Secondly, many people didn't like the design of the robot itself, particularly in comparison to the old school super robot aesthetic that most Jumbo collectors know and love, although I think they'd prefer this to the later designs with all the animal parts.

Another problem with this toy is the feet. To allow for the transformation to vehicle mode, the feet need to rotate down. Where the toy fails is that there is nothing really holding the feet on the toy. They just slide sideways onto a peg, and more often than not, slide right back off again. This also causes the toy to lean just a tiny bit forward, too. Lastly, I can't help but think there is just a little bit of Power Ranger hating going on, too. As popular as the show was with kids when this came out, I seem to remember just as much hate for it from adults. I know I couldn't even stand to hear the name back then. I just can't help but think that if toys like this were on the shelves at about $20 a pop now, they would get more respect than this did at the time of it's release. Many collectors disrespect it by spelling "Astro" with an extra "s" and I think they are giving it a bum rap.

In addition to transforming, the Jumbo Astro Megazord comes with a sword and shield that can be placed in the hands. The head turns and the arms move up and down. Simple like all Jumbos.

Although this toy was released initially in the United States, the overstock was later shipped back to Japan and sold there. Everything was exactly the same, except that the box had a gold foil sticker slapped onto the lower right corner with Japanese writing on it.

US box

Japanese box

Additionally, it seems that this toy was released in Korea, too. I've only seen the box for that release, but judging by that, it looks like the exact same toy. However this time a whole new box design was created and the show was called "Mega Rangers".

While I can't say I love this toy, I do think it's better than it's generally given credit for. And it really makes me wish that Bandai had gone ahead and followed through on their plans to release a second toy in the line. The Jumbo Mega Voyager sadly never made it past the prototype stage. It's a shame too since it looks like it might have been an even better toy.

Although the transformation is simple, I've recently been given a video camera so I figured I'd join the fray and do a quick video to show you how it's done. In the process, I actually managed to break the knob on one of the arms. And here I was thinking that polyethylene was practically indestructible.

Interesting character and kit design, but not a great toy.

I'm not a particularly skilled model builder nor even a huge fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion, but I picked up this kit a few months back in a lot of toys that I bought from a friend. It's an interesting piece both in terms of the character itself and the method of construction of the kit. Unlike your typical model kits, this one has a regular skeleton, but a rubber outer covering over it. Then additional peices are added to the outside for more detail.

When I got the kit, the skeleton had already been assembled (my friend started the project, but never finished). But it appeared to be fairly simple to put together. Then you connect the face, ribcage and the core (the red piece in the stomach). This is done by pushing some tabs through the front of the suit and then attaching them to another piece on the interior. The problems begin with actually getting the skeleton inside the suit. Have you ever seen one of those cartoons (like Itchy and Scratchy) where one character reaches down anothers throat and pulls out his skeleton? Well, imagine then trying to put the skeleton back in the same fashion. Not an easy task. The opening in the suit is rather small. Once constructed, it is obscured by a 1" x 1.5" covering.

Once you've gotten the skeleton in, you push the arms and legs to the outer openings and then attach the claws and feet. But be careful, the feet are thin and the connector on the left leg of mine broke and broke easily. I've never been so shocked to have a toy break on me. I wasn't applying hardly any pressure at all.

The shoulder parts connect pretty easily onto a ball joint protruding from the skeleton and allow for a small degree of movement, but they also pop off very easily. The other boney pieces on the front just pop into the suit but the pieces on the legs need to be glued to a base on the outside of the legs. Finally, a plate goes inside the back covering and the final outside piece connected to that.

Normally, I wouldn't bother painting any of my kits, but since this one has simple one-piece parts that don't require much talent to paint, and since I had a tube of white glow in the dark paint lying around unused, I figured it would look cool if I slapped it all on this thing. Though the claws are supposed to be black in the anime, I thought it would look better if they also glowed.

In addition to looking cool glowing, the glow paint also gives the parts you paint a very bony, organic look. It wouldn't look good in the light on a more typical robot kit, but on this one, I really like it.

Sachiel also comes with little unpainted figures of Hikari Horaki and Kensuke Aida. I'll not be painting those, for lack of the ability to do so. The kit is interesting, but it's design (big body and small thin legs) makes it very top heavy and prone to falling over. Furthermore, while movement is possible, maintaining a pose really isn't. The rubber suit will always pull at the limbs and force them back to their original position. It likes to bend forward at the waist. And honestly, it's not as fun to put this together as a Gundam kit. So unless you are just a huge Evangelion fan, you can probably do without this one.

Not totally sure why I bought this one...

M1 versus Marmit.

These two companies seemed to get compared to one another quite often for some reason. Strange that these two should be singled out, since there is about a million companies producing Japanese kaiju these days. And Marmit almost always ends up on the short end of the debate. While Marmit has made a great many excellent contributions to the kaiju scene (I've already made clear my love of their Gallery Rodan Parababy), they just can't hang with M1 for pure CONSISTENCY of excellence.

Enter the Vinyl Paradise Sanda (サンダ). This might be the worst, ugliest toy in my entire collection. (And if you've been reading all my reviews, you know just what that means!) I've never seen a toy that looks more like it was defecated into existence than this sorry specimen. I feel certain that M1 would never allow such a thing to bear their name.

Molded in hideous brown vinyl with sloppy gold spray, Sanda also has one of the worst sculpts I've seen. The arms are actually longer than the legs and the torso is overly huge. He looks like he's wearing enormous shoulder pads. The right arm juts out at a 90 degree angle and then up as if he were throwing a spear. But he isn't and this throws off the symmetry of the toy. The overall effect is strikingly ugly.

He stands just shy of 9" tall and is articulated at the shoulders, hips and waist. He was sold in a bag with a very plain looking header card. This is truly an example of the worst that Marmit had to offer. Fortunately, this was an earlier release and many of their later efforts were MUCH improved. I suspect that if that were not the case, they wouldn't still be around today.

Sanda comes from the 1966 Toho film "Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda versus Gaira" (aka "War of the Gargantuas"), which was a sequel to the previous years "Frankenstein versus Baragon". I don't currently own a Gaira vinyl, but when I get one, I suspect I'll also get another, better Sanda to go with it.

"War of the Gargantuas" trivia time! My parents were watching a double-bill of this and Rodan at the drive-in when my mother went into labor with my oldest brother. Strangely, he did not grow up to love Japanese kaiju. I know, it would have been a better story if it was me!

Ishirô Honda's "Matango" is one of the most popular Toho monster movies and this M1 vinyl is a great tribute to it.

Matango (マタンゴ) is from the Ishirô Honda-directed Toho film of the same name ("Attack of the Mushroom People" in the US) and is one of my favorite vinyls. I first saw it on eBay at a very fair price and thought it was ok, but not worth my money. But as is often that case, I found myself being drawn to it more and more as the weeks went on, until finally another appeared and I decided I had to have it. Naturally, I ended up paying about twice what the previous auction ended at. Sigh...

Still, no complaints from me. The sculpt of this toy, while not accurate to the movie(there were no visible eyes in the movie), is very appealing and the shiny, metallic blue paint really stands out. A solid yellow spray covers the shoulders and upper torso, with red eyes and black pupils rounding out the color scheme. Naturally, like all vinyls these days, Matango was released in a varitey of different colors. Though I shamefully admit to not yet having seen the movie, I've been informed that there were in fact lots of different "mushroom people" in the movie, like a horde of zombies, so these variations actually make some sense this time. This is also the reason I didn't mind picking up a couple extras when I had the opportunity to at the December, 2006 World Character Convention.

Matango is 8" tall with five points of articulation (hips, shoulders and neck). The regular version reviewed here comes with an M1 tag on an elastic around the neck, as well as a a piece of paper with a drawing included in the bag. It looks like this was meant to be colored in. Neither of the other two I bought have either of these features.

I want to briefly make note of one version of Matango that I found particularly striking. It appeared on Yahoo!Japan auctions last summer and I think it was a sample given to one of the famous Mandarake stores in Japan. I tried hard to get it, but came in second in the bidding. I'm pretty sure it's a one of a kind paint scheme so I doubt I'll ever get the chance again.

The first of a new line of Chogokin had been released, and it was in America, right under our noses. Who knew?

In 1996, Bandai Japan released a toy called the Kabuterios Chogokin DX (超合金ＤＸ 大甲神カブテリオス), from the series B-Fighter Kabuto. This was the first toy released in the new Chogokin line, and it was dubbed GD-01.

B-Fighter Kabuto was brought to the USA as Beetleborgs Metallix. Bandai America imported the Kabuterios Chogokin DX and renamed it the Deluxe Transforming Roboborg.

This toy is pure gokin. It's heavy as hell, weighing in at 1lb, 4oz, and it's 9" tall. The shoulders and lower body are solid diecast. It even comes in a styrofoam tray!

Roboborg transforms from beetle to robot. In beetle form, it features moving claws, and barely articulated legs. The legs are prone to falling off. Also, due to the weight of the toy, the legs don't actually support it. Roboborg looks like a squashed bug with its legs spread out.

In robot mode, Roboborg features a giant sword that unfortunately droops due to the soft plastic used. Articulation is great in the arms, but non-existant in the legs. The head does not move.

Although Roboborg looks cool, he has some serious quality control issues with the paint. Mine has paint bubbles anywhere paint is applied over metal. Big, 1cm bubbles. Attaching the stickers helps, but some cannot be covered. Combined with the floppy sword and weak legs, Roboborg just has too many flaws.

Roboborg could have been a great toy. The design is beautiful, but the paint issue really kills it for me. Maybe there are some that have not bubbled. These things are inexpensive for being DX chogokin. It's worth gambling on one; maybe you'll luck out and get one with good paint.

Bandai America took this mold and bade another toy called Boron. This toy was not released in Japan.
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