This design is why we are here today. Why my childhood was what it was. Why this website exists. This is Ground Zero, or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

Before you get all excited, this is just a reproduction of the original GA-01 that was offered as a prize item from Banpresto. While it is not the original item, it is a great opportunity to talk about some of the history behind this legendary gokin, the one that started it all.

Back in 1972, Japanese toy maker Popy was having a bit of success with merchandise from its live action shows like Kamen Rider when it decided to first use Zinc Alloy (aka Diecast) in making small vehicles seen in the shows. The resulting toy line was known as Popynica (a combination of Popy and Mini-Car) and was the first Popy product to use the now legendary numbering system. It was during this time that Popy got the license to manufacture merchandise from a new cartoon called Mazinger Z. Developed from a manga, Mazinger Z had been capturing the minds of children everywhere. In order to replicate the feeling of the giant robot, Popy created the Jumbo Machinder line of 24" polyethylene robots.

The Jumbo was a huge success, and Popy was about to hit on another. Lead designer Katsuhisa Murakami was brought in to create another toy concept. If the Jumbo represented size, what would represent weight?

In the anime, Mazinger Z is made out of a fictitious metal called Cho-gokin (literally, "Super Alloy"). Murakami decided that creating these new toys out of the diecast used in Popynica toys and branding them "Chogokin" would be a hit with kids, thinking their toys were made out of the same metal as Mazinger Z.

Murakami was right, and the rest is history. The Chogokin Mazinger Z was dubbed GA-01, and sold like crazy. So much so that they continued to refine and execute the design, resulting in four original versions of the GA-01 and countless repaints and reissues.

This design is why we are here today. Why my childhood was what it was. Why this website exists.

Of course, being the first Chogokin, finding a mint condition example can be a rare and costly affair, costing thousands of dollars.

In 1999, Banpresto decided to reissue the GA-01 and offer it as a prize item to be given away when customers sent in coupons from a select Super Robot Wars video game (Super Robot Wars F Final). Banpresto needed a GA-01 to reproduce, and since the molds had long since deteriorated, looked to collectors to find a mint specimen. They eventually got one from Koji Igarashi, author of Green Arrow Graffiti, and another from Kazunori Saito, legendary collector and publisher of several guide books. It is from these collectors that Banpresto got their template for their version of the GA-01.

According to this article on Toybox DX, the Banpresto version is pretty close to the original, aside from the markings on the feet and the firing mechanism on the back. A comparison of the original versus the reissue can be found here.

Like the original, this version features folding down chest plates with launching missiles.

Included are regular fists and iron cutter fists, both launch with the press of a button on the shoulders.

The toy comes in a reproduction box, complete with paperwork, foam padding, missiles, and two kinds of fists. The reproduction box came shipped in an outer Banpresto box. A black version was also offered, and is harder to find than this one.

This reproduction can be easily found for under $100 on various sites, and is a great stand in for the real thing.

As a bonus, here's a montage of vintage Popy commercials, starting out with Mazinger Z

In 2009 Bandai announced the GX-45 Mazinga Z, a complete retooling of the first Soul of Chogokin, and in the commercial it relates a modern day salaryman's yearning for his classic GA-01

The Fewture Getter Series has been the most exciting modernization of the classics I have ever seen. They inspired me to change my collection, increase my price range of purchases, basically now I go for quality not quantity...imagine my dismay of this tale of worry, woe, and weirdness involving the company that led the revolution.

The Fewture Getter Series has been the most exciting modernization of the classics I have ever seen. They inspired me to change my collection, increase my price range of purchases, basically now I go for quality not quantity...imagine my dismay of this tale of worry, woe, and weirdness involving the company that led the revolution.

I bought a silver version of Boss Borot awhile ago, very little die cast, kind of ugly, so I sold it, with the intent to never see again until...one day on eBay I saw the color version for half price so I bought to "round" out my collection. It was shipped fast and I took the sealed Fewture shipping box and put it away. Come almost a half of year later I opened to do this review and display. I cut the tape, undid the bag on the Fewture box, and opened for the first time. Here is where it gets weird, wild, and worrisome. When I looked at the robot in the tray, nothing, I repeat, nothing was damaged about the packing materials...HOWEVER...every piece of chromed or silver metal was oxidized... otherwise known as rust!

Think of this review as a warning, OPEN your robot boxes even if they are factory sealed...not the trays per-se, but at least look at it. Of course I got paranoid, crazy, Freaked Out!!!...and checked the rest of my untouched collection ( I have some displayed some stored because of space)...sigh...thank God they were perfect and I made sure I when I repackaged them, that any plastic bags have some movement/space and no "new" major temperature change in their future....only thing I could think of that caused the mace, the chest, the pins in the claws, and the silver screws to be rusty was sealed bags with extreme temperature change. Also, for the x-file that is this robot a leg nut was missing...yes in a factory sealed box...maybe it was repackaged...that is just too paranoid:(

Well, after sadly accepting the chogokin was now worthless and honesty I am sooo anal about my collection, it was now on my "hate list", I set around to taking apart, sanding clean the rust, painting all waist posts, and wd-40ing any rusty screws.

It came out pretty good and silver poles instead of chrome matches the plastic silver parts...so now that drama is over I can get to the review....

I can see why this robot has been collecting dust on sellers shelves and even now Angloz.com has Boss Borot for 50% off what was originally asked. I did have the Doublas (all plastic...yes it is long gone) and the same "quality" as with Boss Borot...allot of plastic, very little die cast and poor construction. The pink head had to be adjusted to fit (and still falls off with a minor breadth) and one arm was frozen/glued at two joints...so I had to take apart unfreeze and then reassemble. Yes, I had to do a heck allot of fixing for a brand new chogokin.

Boss Borot comes with the normal stand (does seem thinner/cheaper that the other Fewture stands I have...) two plastic claws, plastic hammer, and metal like mace (coolest part)

Overall the joints are stiff, Borot does not move at waist and arms legs really move more like a person drowning in the ocean than a dynamic chogokin. I admit it does looks cool, but the normal Fewture type poses are impossible. Also the stand while screwing into the back lacks the tension and strength to hold him well. My other Fewture robots you can have them kick or fly with the stand holding them...with Boss's he just slowly flops back to a standing position (no matter how you tighten the screws this still happens)

Fewture is company that while overpriced, makes figures I truly enjoy...the size, the die cast, the poseabilty...all lead me to hope and pray that Boss Borot and Doublas are the exception to the rule. Even on clearance...really really think about buying, they look cool but just seem cheap. I do have to say, there is the strong possibility I am just bitter.

Finally, if you learn anything from this review...is even if it sacrifices some resale value...look at all figures the same day you receive, store in cool dry place, and make sure the robot is not in a sealed plastic environment in which moisture might get trapped ( I use to wrap the stored boxes in shipping plastic to protect product boxes, now I use tissue paper to keep off the dust.)

Take care, and I hope you never get a brand new, sealed robot that you have to nick name rusty???

And Yes, I will buy Fewture in the future...lets hope Gatchaman (G-Force) is not like Boss Borot!

The sensuality of Go Nagai’s character design have never been understated in his projects over the years, from Cutey Honey to Devilman Lady if there is going to be a female character you know she will have at least an underlining but more often an obvious sensuality about her. Minerva X from Mazinger Z is such an example.

(If you have read my CollectionDX reviews you will see that most of my review subjects are from toys or models that I have bought back when I was a kid in the 1980’s. Having been a collector back in the 1980’s, I had a lot of great items that many people had forgotten about and that were worth taking the time out to review. I still have a lot of vintage items to review, GI Joe alone could take another decade to review all the pieces I posses but I knew sooner or later I was going actually take the plunge and seriously collect Japanese toys again.

As a kid I just bought any toy that was Japanese but as I got older my tastes begun to get refined and I settled on a few lines that have most influenced me over the years: Spiral Zone, GI Joe, Mazinger, Gatchaman, Macross, Godaikin, Studio Ghibli, MS Gundam & Zeta Gundam and early Super Sentai. Sometime around 2001 I sold off about half of my Japanese and American toy collection on Ebay and begun to focus on my taste on a few lines that I really cannot live without.

I am still a big model kit buyer and builder but when it came to Japanese toys proper I have very much held off as long as I could, but with so many great toys being released and being reviewed here on CollectionDX I know that I was going to have to make a choice if I like it or not.

Last week, after a long careful debate I finally settled on collecting Bandai’s Soul Of Chogokin line of releases. SOC seems to scratch that itch that I have for Japanese robots. When I think of Japanese robots I think of die-cast metal content, rocket fists, shooting missiles, foam trays, colorful boxes, exclusive releases and a hi-brow attitude. Also most of SOC releases cover my favorite era, the 1970’s and 1980’s. SOC meets those expectations and more. No toy line is perfect and I know SOC has its dog releases but generally speaking from what I have read this seems to be what I was looking for.

Even when I found out about SOC back in the 90’s I knew we were going to have destiny together but it was just a matter of time and when. So here it is friends, my first Soul Of Chogokin review.)

Minerva Soul Of Chogokin

You have got to love Go Nagai’s character and art design. With a few strokes of his paint brush and ink pen he’s created a world that personifies what I love about Japanese art design. Go Nagai has always been cutting edge and controversial and most of his fans are always waiting for what his next project will bring. In the USA most kids watch Tranzor Z on TV but what blew me away was when he made a special one-off Mazinger Graphic Novel for the US market called Mazinger published by First Publishing in 1988. Who knows if it was a big seller but this was the first time I saw Go Nagai unleashed that only Transzor Z hinted at. Somehow I knew there was something more to Go Nagai than Tranzor Z and this was it.

The story features a Mazinger Pilot, Major Kabuto who gets transported to another dimension when a bomb explodes during a battle. Kabuto gets transported to another dimension where a princess is waging a war against Lizards men called ‘Zards that are trying to kill off the last of the humans. Mazinger joins the battle with the princess and afterwards offers herself to marry him. There is just one problem, the Mazinger is the size of the humans in this dimension, making the Mazinger pilot fit in palm of her hand. Not only was the art beautiful (it was in color) and featured the typical Nagai violence, cruelty and fantastic Mazinger designs but the princess was bare-chested during the entire comic!

The sensuality of Go Nagai’s character design have never been understated in his projects over the years, from Cutey Honey to Lady Devilman if there is going to be a female character you know she will have at least an underlining but more often an obvious sensuality about her. Minerva X from Mazinger Z is such an example.

In Mazinger Z, Minerva X was not like the other lead “Lady Robots”. While the other three robots, Venus A, Aphrodite and Diane A are all piloted Chogokins; Minerva X is actually a combination of remote control operated and an advanced AI computer control. Minerva X has made an impression with Go Nagai fans as she was only seen in one episode. Redeveloped by Dr Hell to destroy Mazinger Z, Minerva X soon develops a “thing” for Mazinger Z and begins to protect Mazinger Z in battle, which sadly leads to Minerva’s eventual destruction. In a sense Minerva is the edgy misguided bad girl with the heart of gold and that’s what I like about her. Heck, she even cries!

Now that's Melodrama at it's finest!!!

Minerva X Soul Of Chogokin includes: 1x Minerva X, 1X Stand, 1x stand stickers, 2x stand parts, 2x fists, 2x open hands, 1x instruction sheet.

When I received my package from Japan I was not let down. First off I was surprised how tall the Minerva figure was. Do not think for one minute that the small packaging features a small figure, Minerva fits snug in the box with no area wasted and the figure is a good size when pulled out of the package. The second thing I noticed was how heavy the figure is, besides the forearm, hands, red chest flashes and head, this figure is pure die-cast medal and boy does it feel good! That’s how a Japanese toy is supposed to feel like! Popy Lives!

The sculpt is amazing, capturing the ethereal beauty and soft sensuality of Go Nagai’s design perfect. The poseability is great with chromed metal joints throughout the figure. My only problem is that the head cannot be posed to look up, but as is, it is just fine.

The paint is beautiful, especially the metal flaked silver/blue paint on the leg, body and arm area and the gloss black used throughout. This is a first rate toy as the craftsmanship is perfect. I also admire the head sculpt of Minerva, with its black eyeliner, red devil face and the absolutely beautiful silver blue paint that is used for the top of the head. The clear blue gem on the stomach is a nice touch and adds a nice visual to the figure.

One complaint that I have heard from collectors is the lack of accessories that Minerva comes with. This figure only comes with two sets of hands: a set of fists and a set of open hands. I like the open hands as each finger is molded apart and silver is painted in the finger joint. Perhaps it could have included a weapon or accessory for another Mazinger SOC release but as is I am neither here or their about extra accessories although including the bouquet of flowers that Mazinger Z gives her would have been cute.

My only real complaint is how the hands are attached to the figure. The hand is manufactured out of rubber and the ball on the end of the hand is pushed into the wrist. Simply stated, in so many years of pulling the hands in and out that the ball is going to snap where the ball meets the hand. The figure should have a rubber ball in the forearm and the hand should have a prong that fits into the hole in the ball. That is how most all the Gundam model kits are made and they should have brought that system over to this figure.

I have never been a huge fan of SOC stands, as I believe each figure should have its own uniquely sculpted stand. Minerva includes a generic stand and a sticker sheet is included to be applied to the stand to denote that it belongs to Minerva. But the stand does what its designed to do and holds the figure firmly.

This is a fantastic figure and a must own if you are a huge Mazinger or vintage Popy fan like myself and it easily stands out in the display case among your other Mazinger’s. Minerva X makes a great SOC entry level purchase as it was only $55.00 with shipping from Japan from the dealer I bought it from on Ebay and is worth every dollar I spent on it. I am looking forward to purchasing many more Mazinger related items in the SOC line.

©2009 Article and pictures by Leonardo Flores and Collection DX.

This toy should only be looked at using special protective goggles... from a distance...with your eyes closed...

I almost get bored of saying "this is one of the worst Mazinger Z toys out there" because the supply of horrendous renditions of this beloved character never seems to run dry. I tell ya, if I were a super robot, I'd try to keep a low profile because it seems like the more popular you are, the greater the chance that your image will be repeatedly mutilated and used to make some of the worst products on the planet.

This particular Mazinger Z comes from Mexico and I sort of consider it a companion piece to the super rare, horribly ugly jumbo that they made down there. The face is very similar and they share the same bat wings. A third toy exists that I think is bigger than this, but not quite jumbo sized that would complete this unholy trilogy. Don't even get me started on all the little "Star Wars" style action figures down there, one of which is included in the picture below.

But this toy is probably the most common of the bunch. I've seen it on Ebay plenty of times but could never quite bring myself to buy it until recently. It's 12" tall and articulated at the hips, shoulders and neck. Made of polyethylene with painted details, the paint is always chipping off and looks terrible.

Oh.. did I mention the bat wings? It seems like this can't be pointed out enough. The funny thing is that eventually Japanese designers would start to add bat wings to some of their robots. Hey Japan, get your own ideas!

Another thing about this one is the way the chest piece is all one piece and sags down into the belly of the bot. It makes it look like an old man version of Mazinger Z to me.

This toy is terrible.

Just really, really terrible....

God, I love it.

I never knew how much I wanted a Boss Borot mini machinder until I found out one existed.

When I was a kid growing up watching Traanzzzooooooor Zeeeee, I always hated that stupid little bungling robot sidekick "Bobobot". He practically ruined the entire show for me. Later, after I'd been involved in this hobby for a bit, learned a bit about the original Mazinger Z show and Bandai released their excellent Soul Of Chogokin Boss Borot, I finally started to come around and see the appeal of this goofy little guy. And when a friend of mine told me he'd discovered a Boss Borot Junior Machinder, I pleaded with him several times to send me a picture of it. Since my friend lives in Italy, I just assumed what he meant was something along the lines of other known Italian Junior Machinders. I imagined something similar to the Pegas Junior Machinder. When he finally sent me the picture, my first thought was that it was a toy from the Phillipines, since it was a similar style to others I have from there. It turns out, though, that the toy was in fact from Mexico.

This Boss Borot bootleg stands about 10" tall and is articulated at the hips, shoulders and neck. Made from cheap blow molded polyethylene, the toy manages to capture the silly appeal of the character quite well, in my opinion.

Much of that is the result of a good job being done on the face, where nearly all of this character's personality comes from.

You can see in the picture above that the paint is a little bit sloppy on the chest and there is even an unsightly gap between the leg and the hip. The colors are all wrong and the plastic low quality. But I don't care. I love this thing.

So, as you can see, I've managed to get one for myself. But the one my friend has is a different color, closer to anime accurate than mine. So now I need to get that one (not too mention that little Aphrodai A!!)

I've been wanting to review this one for a long time and after years of searching for an upgrade, I finally get to share it with you all.

The world of bootleg Jumbos is one of my favorite things to delve into. I've always taken great pleasure in finding, and hopefully even acquiring, some of the strange toys that few others would be interested in, those toys that would offend the sensibilities of the collecting purist. This Mexican offering might be one of the strangest out there, perhaps rivaled only by the Mazinger Z: Paladin de la Justicia and the Ring Toss Mazinga for just plain blow your mind craziness. Or perhaps ugliness, depending on your point of view.

I've known about this toy for a long time, nearly as long as I've been collecting in fact. It was featured in an article on the old Cool Japanese Toys website. Unfortunately, the toy is extremely rare and it's been a real challenge to get my hands on one. I did manage it several years back, but the specimen I got was nowhere near complete and I chose not to review it for that reason. But I've recently been able to upgrade so I'm glad to finally be able to do it now.

This version of Mazinger stands 21" tall and actually uses a modified version of the body from the Reideen Jumbo Machinder. Some of the changes made include using a mirror image of the right hand for the left, both fists minus the shield. Also, the missile launching mechanism in the stomach has been removed and simply filled in, although you can still see the outline of it. And of course, a new sculpt of the head of Mazinger now rests on it's shoulders. And it's a, shall we say, "interesting" take on the subject.

As you can see, the colors of the face are painted right on to the polyethylene. Since paint doesn't stick to polyethylene as well as to something like vinyl, it's not uncommon to see it in poor condition. The paint of my last specimen was no where near as nice as this one. It should also be noted that the white of the stomach is painted right on.

Now, the best part of the head is the cockpit. It's very crudely made and all the more charming for that. The red upper part is shaped much like the bottom of a cup, with a clear dome in the center. What appears to be an action figure that has been cut in half is screwed into the bottom.

Mazinger's chest plate is a simple flat piece of plastic that has been screwed directly into the chest, despite the fact that there are two small holes in the chest that appear to be there to allow two pegs to connect. This is the way the wings on the back connect. And, oh man, those wings! BAT WINGS!!!

The thing I love about those bat wings is how small they are in relation to the rest of the toy. You would think that by choosing bat wings you would want it to have a sinister appearance, but by being so small, it ends up being somewhat cute, like a fairy.

Even though this toy is very rare (I only know of 4 as of this writing), not all are the same. Some have white hands, while some have black. And even amongst the limbs that should be all the same color, there seems to come in varying shades. Some pitch black, some dark grey, etc.. At least one that I've seen has the head piece cast in white.

A comparison of both specimens I've owned. Note the white fist and lighter colored legs on the left.

This toy is probably the rarest known Jumbo to originate in Mexico. It's very, very difficult to find, but due to it's crude sculpt and inaccurate portrayal of such a popular collector, it's not one that I think too many people desperately want. Like many of these bootleg toys, it's a curiosity and desirable more as a historical artifact than as a toy. I believe this toy is rumored to have been sold in a bag with a header card. If there are indeed two others in the series as the old CJT article suggests, they have yet to surface. But if and when they do, you know I gotta get'em!

At least it has legs.

Although ugly in it's own right, this representation of Mazinger Z may actually look nicer than the previously discovered toy from Argentina, the Paladin de la Justicia. At least it has legs. And I have pictures to prove it.

The toy is about 15" tall, though maybe just a bit more if you measure all the way to the tip of the horn on the head. That horn is interesting, too. I wonder why it was added?

The body of the toy was cast in blue polyethylene with painted red and silver highlights, but the fists and head were cast in silver, with just the eyes painted red. There is limited articulation as usual. You can rotate the head, arms, fists and I think even the legs. I'm not digging this guy out again to check. No one cares anyway. ;)

I've also seen this toy with a yellow head with black highlights.

Not long ago, I commented that I'll occasionally publish a review for no other reason than to show the world "this exists". This has been one of those times.

Though usually not considered a true Machinder, this Jumbo Aphrodai A toy makes a nice companion piece to your Mazinger Z jumbo.

So, now we enter into that strange and confusing world of the "not quite a Jumbo Machinder". The term Jumbo Machinder is often thrown around when describing any large sized robot toy but it's not always accurate. Being a Jumbo Machinder means more than just being large. The size is important, but so is the material used and perhaps most importantly the visual aesthetic. It's hard to explain but you just know a Jumbo when you see it. But even among hardcore collectors there can be some disagreement about what toys should and should not fall into this category. Especially since many toys that might not be considered Jumbos are often collected mostly by Jumbo collectors! One such toy is this vinyl bootleg of Aphrodai A, the famous feminine robot from the Mazinger Z show.

I think in general, most collectors do not consider jumbo-sized vinyls to be true Machinders, even though the villains were made out of vinyl. Stuff like this, the High Dream Grendizer, FLOSRs and jumbo sized kaiju are not included. Sometimes even toys that advertise themselves as Jumbo Machinders, such as these bootleg robots, are not real Machinders. But even though I don't think of this as a true Machinder, it's still a nice compliment to a JM collection.

There are 14 points of articulation on this one. The ankles, knees, wrists, elbows, waist and neck all turn, while the shoulders have two joints each. The paint is really nice on the head, but a little crude elsewhere.

With no marks anywhere on the toy and no packaging, it's pretty obvious that this toy is a bootleg. The initial thinking was that the toy originated in Hong Kong, but since that time a second version of the toy has been seen. This new one is much smaller (about 8.5" tall), comes in a box and is sold in Spain. I've never purchased that one so I have no idea if it says where it was made or by whom.

Lastly, you shouldn't confuse this toy with the Aphrodai A toy that was released by Emanium Enterprises right around the same time.

This take on the classic Go Nagai design is all about power and aggression. From the skull-like faceplate to the giant knuckled fists, this robot will chew up and spit out all the other toys in your collection.

This is a toy that I was lukewarm about at first, but has really grown on me.

Jump to video

The Fewture EX Gokin Mazinger-Z 1969 (EX合金マジンガー1969) was designed by the late Taku "Professor Robo" Sato. His designs were a modern take on classic robot designs. I don’t understand why this toy gets the 1969 label, because there is nothing about this design reminiscent of the first Moon Landing, Richard Nixon, The Beatles or Monty Python.

This take on the classic Go Nagai design is all about power and aggression. From the skull-like faceplate to the giant knuckled fists, this robot will chew up and spit out all the other toys in your collection. This is a serious piece of Heavy Metal. In fact, if this toy was a Heavy Metal band, it would be Pantera. (R.I.P. Dimebag)

It is also worth noting that his was my first purchase from Angolz.com. The toy arrived from Hong Kong in a record breaking THREE DAYS.

At about 9.5 inches tall, the EX Gokin Mazinger-Z 1969 packs a serious punch. The toy is about 70% diecast, and is pretty heavy. The construction is solid and the figure manages to be reasonably articulated. All the joints are satisfyingly clicky, even in places where you don’t expect it, like in the toes.

Starting from the top, the head is made of ABS and PVC, with your choice of removable Pilders. You get both a Jet Pilder and Hover Pilder, both made out of soft vinyl. The wings on each are removable, but the tooling on the wings is a bit off. I had to trim a bit of vinyl off the side of one of my Jet Pilder’s wings to make it go up so that it can fit on the head.

The jaw features two soft moveable sections that open to reveal a mouth weapon. A word of warning to you – DO NOT try to pull open the jaws by pulling the top one upwards. Sanjeev accidentally broke the top of the head off by trying this. Its easily fixable with superglue, but still, don’t do it. Instead, push the head forward and then pull down on the front jaw.

The neck is articulated in two places and attaches to the body via a ball joint. The chest is solid metal, with removable chest plates. Mazinger-Z 1969 comes with two sets of chest plates. The solid red chest plates are painted metal, and the translucent plates are plastic. Both are fixed to the chest by a hexagonal peg that fits securely. The torso is jointed with a detented joint and there is also a waist joint.

The arms are also attached to the body by hexagonal pegs which are removable. The shoulder pads are metal and the shoulder actually has motion in the chest with a fantastic piston mechanism that allows you to bring the shoulders forward for more aggressive poses. Each arm features a strong magnetic connection joint midway through the forearm that allows you to swap out regular arms for rocket punch arms. These sections are diecast as well. There seems to be a common QC issue with the right arm – the magnet becomes unglued from the upper arm and gets stuck to the lower part. Just remove the magnet and add a dab of superglue and stick it back it – it’s fine. Included with the toy are a variety of fists that can easily plug into the forearms. You can attach the included spiked knuckles in various configurations on certain hands, depending on just how menacing you want the figure to be. You get spiked knuckles that go forward (like wolverine from the X-Men), spiked knuckles that go out, and nubby spiked knuckles.

The legs are also all metal, and can be put in almost any position. The hips can go forward and back, side to side, all with clicking action. The knees are double jointed and here is another small QC area – the blue paint on the leg tends to rub against the silver paint of the upper leg. To avoid this, try to bend the knee at the top part of the double joint. It’s a tougher joint, but worth it to avoid the scraping. The legs terminate at the end with large heavy feet. The feet can be posed in any fashion at the ankle, but they go further by adding a toe joint.

Mazinger’s classic Jet Scrander is also represented here in updated form. The scrander is all plastic and features a beautiful paintjob. The scrander attaches to the back by attaching a tab to a tab on the back of the figure. If you pull down and get a click you know you have made a secure connection. The wings can be positioned in either up or down mode, and the clicks the wing parts make when they move borders on orgasmic. Seriously.

Finally, Mazinger comes with a big sword. You would think that with the amount of metal used in this figure that the sword would be metal, but no, it is plastic. It has an articulated handle, and can combine with the sword of the upcoming EX-Gokin Great Mazinger 1969 to form a super sword.

A stand is included, but it is pretty useless. Its basically a large round disc with a metal pole sticking up through it. The stand has a metal knob that looks like a medical instrument with a clip at the end that attaches to the crotch of the figure. The figure stands fine on its own without the stand, and the stand has no places to store the other accessories. I put mine back in the box.

To say that I am impressed with this figure is an understatement. I was a little dismayed at the quality control of this figure when I first took it out of the package, especially with its $250 price tag. However, once the few nagging issues were taken care of, the figure is BEAUTIFUL. It really is a well done toy. It makes me wish I didn’t skip out on the other EX gokin offerings, and now I have the misfortune of having to pay secondary market prices for them.

You can get your own slice of heavy metal heaven at Angolz.com.

Video:

This might well be my least favorite toy rendition of this character that was produced by a major Japanese toy company.

Make no mistake, from a worldwide standpoint there are some pretty unbelievably horrendous portrayals of Mazinger Z. But within Japan, even the cartoonish looking toys have a charm to them that makes them appeal to the eye. But when I look at this one, I almost feel like someone was making fun of Mazinger Z.

The over-sized cavity in the head looks just too far out of proportion to my tastes, almost like in inverted dunce-cap. And the legs are too skinny where they connect to the pelvis. It looks like he's got a diaper on. Also, the depiction of Koji Kabuto in the cockpit of the Hover Pilder is done by way of a silly looking sticker. The only other toys that I know of that do that are the bootleg Jumbos from Italy and Argentina. Now I admit, I do love those toys for what they are, but it just seems like bad company for a major Japanese toy maker to keep.

With that said, like most toys it looks ok when you add it to a lineup of others from it's series. And I got a good deal on it, so I can't complain too much.

The toy stands about 14.5 inches tall with 5 points of articulation (neck, shoulders, and hips). You pull a string to make it talk, but I have no idea what it says.