One of the standout toys from Bandai's Gashapon Chogokin line. Little itty-bitty PVC Poynika toys everywhere!

Taken from Wikipedia: “Chodenji Machine Voltes V, lit. "Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes Five" is a Japanese anime television series that was first aired on TV Asahi starting April 13, 1977. It was created by Saburo Yatsude (a pseudonym referring to a committee within Toei) and directed by Tadao Nagahama. Voltes V is the second part of the Robot Romance Trilogy of the Super Robot genre which includes Combattler V and Daimos.”

Voltes V has always intrigued me as the pinnacle of early Gettai-style robot design. Combattler V got more attention and was brought to the US under the Shogun Warriors line and used in the Shogun Warriors comic, but I’ve always thought Voltes V had better proportions and weapons. Unfortunately the vintage Chogokin toys of Voltes (DX and ST) are both fairly difficult to find in nice condition and quite expensive. A few years back, Bandai produced sets of Gashapon trading figures of miniaturized PVC reproductions of many of the most popular early Chogokin designs. The series included staples like Reideen and the Getter Robo trio, but Bandai also made the excellent move to include reproductions of the Popynika-release versions of the machines that make up both Voltes and Combattler

Voltes V is made almost entirely of PVC like the rest of his Gashapon Chogokin brethren. I believe the sword may be made of ABS plastic, as are likely the clear plastic bits and some of the Voltes Cruiser. Each of the Capsule Gashapon boxes are no more than 2 inches in any dimension and the toys inside are small. Each toy comes in a box modeled after the Popynika releases, and is in pieces inside a plastic baggie. The biggest flaw of the set is that there are no directions for a Voltes newbie. The toys are mostly molded in white PVC and feature almost complete paint jobs. We’ll go through each vehicle and then onto the combined mode.

The Voltes Cruiser, Voltes Machine 1, forms the head of Voltes V. The Cruiser is molded mostly in ABS plastic so the hinge mechanism will work. I am not sure if the red is the molder color or not, as it looks really good and not translucent like red molded plastic often does. The clear plastic cockpit opens and the seat is painted, adding a nice detailed touch to this little fighter. The paint apps look OK, but under close scrutiny (and a big Macro camera lens) look a bit sloppy. The detail on the top of the fighter behind the cockpit is very crisp, and appears to be printed on (likely Tampo printing). The biggest flaw on the Cruiser is the rear landing gear. These are made from separate pieces of PVC painted silver, and are incredibly small. There is no hinge mechanism, so to deploy the rear landing gear, the pieces have to be removed, and then re-pegged into some really small holes. I cannot see any other way to have the gear function at this size, but the problem is that the gear struts are incredibly thin PVC and bend a lot while you are mounting them and feel really fragile. Still, the Cruiser looks good sitting on its gear, so I am glad they included the feature, and the gear do secure in nicely, so they should not fall out and get lost. To transform to combination mode, the entire jet folds in the middle on a two-layer hinge, revealing the face of Voltes V.

Next we have the Voltes Bomber, Voltes Machine 2, which forms the arms. The shoulder bars feel like ABS plastic, and the rest is PVC. The moldings are generally crisp, and feature good detail, but the fit of parts around the elbow joints is a little off. The tail fin assembly is one piece of ABS that slips over what becomes the neck of Voltes, and is warped because of the thin PVC material. The fists are separate, allowing the Bomber to look mostly like its larger counterpart. The Bomber is completely painted, including the great metallic blue used on the body bits of Voltes. The 2 on the top of the Bomber appears printed. What is interesting is that all of the landing gear is molded, but not functional due to the size. Transformation to combination mode involves removing the tail piece, adding the fists, which are nice and snug, and spreading out the shoulders. The fit of the parts is generally good here, although the hinge pieces for the shoulder bar can become detached, but they fit right back in place.

The Voltes Panzer, Voltes Machine 3, is the bulkiest piece of PVC and forms the torso of Voltes V. The Panzer features tank treads mounted to a large bar on top of the chassis, with a large gun mounted on the bar, and all of these pieces are separate to allow parts to move or be removed for transformation. The parts fit well together, although there is a little play mounting the tread bar to the body and the cannon to the tread bar, as both share the same peg slit. The distinctive digger claws on the Panzer are separate swappable ‘stowed’ or ‘deployed’ pieces. The stowed pieces fit nice and snugly, but the fit on the deployed claws is a bit flimsier, with a lack of a good slot to really peg the arms into. Despite being made up of many parts, the Panzer fits together well and looks good. The Panzer also features the Voltes V logo printed on the belly of Voltes V like the DX figure. To transform to combination mode, the tank tread arms are swung around behind the body, the claws are stowed, and the hardest part to do is to ‘open’ the red cockpit piece, which requires some fingernails or a knife to pry open the first time.

The Voltes Frigate, Voltes Machine 4, is next, and features the most separate parts. The Frigate has separate swappable coning towers (deployed and depressed), and the wings feature pegs for their deployed or folded back positions. The Frigate is solid, and does not really do much of anything. The wings have nice printed detail visible in Voltes V mode. Transformation to combination mode involves placing the wings in their folded back position, and the depressed conning towers installed, with the silver antenna replaced on the towers.

The last machine is the Voltes Lander, Machine 5, which forms the feet. The Lander is a fun little vehicle, with printed details that look good and great molded detail. Something I discovered while taking the pictures for this review is that the front panels actually open up to reveal the hidden front cannons! No drills, sadly, but the detail is great inside the cannons. This is why something this complex really needs directions Bandai! The only problem with the Lander is that the two halves do not lock together tightly. To transform to combination mode, the top parts of each module is removed, and replaced with the folded down ‘tops’, and the little bitty silver antenna replaced to the ‘tops’.

Now that we’ve gone through each vehicle separately, we can discuss the main attraction (for most!), Voltes V. Combination is easy; starting at the feet, the big square pegs from the ‘ankles’ of the Frigate mount on the grooves on top of the Lander feet, the Frigate cockpit area then slides into the bottom of the Panzer firmly (assuming you figured out that you have to fold up the Panzer cockpit!), the Bomber slides into the groove at the top of the Panzer, and finally the Cruiser mounts on the neck slot of the Bomber. The fit is generally good, but the Cruiser to Bomber ‘neck’ attachment point is loose, and the head will come off if you try to pick up the toy by it. All combined, Voltes V is solid and well proportioned, just like the big DX Chogokin toy it emulates. Articulation is at the shoulders, double jointed elbows, and wrists. The balance of Voltes is generally good, but with the tank treads left on, Voltes can tip backwards.

Voltes V’s only weapon (on this toy!) is his sword. Four of the Voltes Machines (I am not sure which) come with a sword segment, which slot together tightly. The hilt is the M-shaped emblem on the chest, which secures tightly to the chest, but comes off without too much fuss. The handle of the blade slots into the hilt, and now Voltes is ready for battle! Thanks to the hinge mechanism of the Bomber, the shoulders have a little lateral motion, allowing Voltes V to look surprisingly dynamic with his sword.

Voltes V also features a full-robot transformation, to Voltank Mode, which is basically Voltes lying down. This figure can almost transform to Voltank Mode, thanks to the double jointed elbows, but lacks the ankle joints or pegs to really do it. By un-pegging the feet from the ankles and resting the legs on top of the feet, it looks like you have achieved Voltank Mode, but the feet cannot be attached in the proper position.

Considering the amount of little fidgety parts and PVC material, this toy could easily have been a mess that did not stay together at all. Bandai did a great job engineering this set to work really well, and it shows. The toy is solid, with almost no floppy bits, and gorgeous thanks to it being almost fully painted. The toy looks very faithful to the DX Chogokin toy, and looks great with its Gashapon Chogokin brethren.

The funk of old-school design with the sharpness of modern engineering - its the best of both worlds.

Review with HD video

The Voltes V Respect for Volt in Box is a repaint of the 2006 GX-31 Soul of Chogokin Voltes V. The paint scheme is a tribute to the classic DX chogokin Volt-in-box set, which was released in the US as the Godaikin Voltes V.

This toy though, is far from being a regular repaint. Bandai actually corrected a few flaws and added in a few new features for this release. In my opinion, if you only get one SOC Voltes, get this one.

The SOC Voltes V Respect for Volt in Box comes courtesy of Anime-Export.com

The tribute begins with the box. From the outside, the box has an old school feel, with the box being eerily reminiscent of the Godakin version. Why would Bandai design box for a Japanese-release toy that is reminiscent of the US release version? Boggles the mind....

The box is made of a thicker cardboard than your usual SOC release, with an old-school handle on the top to carry it around.

Inside the box you get a Styrofoam tray, with a Styrofoam lid. When removed, you get an insert that is die-cut around the parts of Voltes in the Package. This insert is a clear homage to the Volt-in-Box set.

The Volt Machines

The five Volt machines combine and form the mighty Voltes V. Each machine is made of diecast metal and various plastics. The paint decoration on each is directly inspired by the color scheme of the classic chogokin, but it is not an exact duplication.

Volt Cruiser

The Volt Cruiser is the smallest Volt machine, and aside from paint differences, is the same as the regular SOC. It features slide out missiles on the sides of the cockpit, and folding landing gear.

GX-31V	GX-31

Volt Bomber

The Volt Bomber is a flying craft that becomes the arms of the combined Voltes V. In vehicle mode, it's still not so precise a form, but it serves its purpose. My original complaint still holds with this vehicle, that you have to plug in four sets of wheels beneath the ship. Bandai should have found a way to make this gear stow away in the vehicle. There is a mold change in the lower arms, but I'll address that in Robot mode.

GX-31V	GX-31

Volt Panzer

This vehicle is the mandatory tank-tread vehicle that is found in many robot anime of the day. It forms the torso of Voltes, and the body is largely diecast. The only change to this vehicle aside from the paint is in the struts that attach to the tank treads.

GX-31V	GX-31

Volt Frigate

The volt Frigate looks like some sort of aquatic vehicle and it forms the legs of Voltes V. One noticeable change is to the antennae on the towers on the rear of the vehicle. On the original version they were topped with flexible grey radar dishes. On this version they get replaced with removable chrome sensor arrays, much like the original.

GX-31V	GX-31

Volt Lander

My favorite of all the Volt vehicles, the Volt Lander, become the feet of Voltes. Like the original, the doors on the front open to reveal drills. Still, they don't shoot. The antenna on the side have been replaced with chrome "claws" that connect to larger sensor arrays.

GX-31V	GX-31

Voltes V

The combined Voltes V is a marked improvement over the first SOC. First of all, it's much more stable than the original. The hips are much tighter and the ankles hold much better than before.

All of the prior version's weapons and accessories are present.

The collapsing sword still fits in the chest.

Gatling Missiles

The Chain Knuckle is the same chain weapon from the first release, but this time they have added in a new feature. This time you can swap the connector out with a missile launcher. The end of the Chain knuckle combines with a second tip to become a projectile that fires out of the cannon. That's right, real, spring loaded firing action.

In the first version SOC, the Voltes Bazooka was a cannon that was stored inside the arm. It could be pulled out and the hand would tilt down. Now it has been replaced with a large missile-firing bazooka. The missiles look just like old-school Popy missiles (there are three included) and they fire a good distance. Unbelievably Awesome.

Tenkuu Ken

The Taka Mecha is the large bird shaped ship that can dock on the back of Voltes, and was never included with the original DX set. Funny, I never realized how much the Taka Mecha looks like the Raideen God Bird mode. Here it's labeled "Imperial Family Aircraft"

The Choudenji Strings and Choudenji Goma are still included.

Voltank Mode

Here's where the Respect For Volt-In-Box really shines. One glaring omission from the original SOC was its inability to form the Voltank mode. While Voltes V never transformed into this mode in the show, it was a feature of the classic DX chogokin and Godaikin. The few small engineering changes Bandai made are all the difference.

Two modifications were necessary to allow this transformation. First, the arms are now double jointed so that they can fold up to the shoulders. The entire lower arm has been re-engineered to do this. There are no longer smaller fists in the arms that slide out and there are not yellow covers at the ends.

Secondly, the connecting arms to the tank treads are now longer and can be extended to make up the difference in height.

Beautiful, Glorious Voltank mode.

The GX-31V Voltes V Respect for Volt is an awesome gokin, and the better of the two releases. That's not to say that the original sucks or anything, it is just that this one is so much better.

You can get your Respect for Volt in Box at Anime-Export.com

Voltes V (Pronounced Voltes FIVE) was the second part of Tadao Magahama’s Romance Trilogy.

I had gone back and forth on whether or not to pick this toy up. I had all of the other Shogun Warrior ST figures, so I thought I should eventually get it, but I was in no rush. To me Voltes was never as cool as Combattler. However a deal came about with a partial trade and I figured I would go for it. It wasn’t a Shogun Warrior box, and it wasn’t in the best of condition, but the price was right. (Thanks Sanjeev).

Voltes V (Pronounced Voltes FIVE)  was the second part of Tadao Magahama’s Romance Trilogy. See our other Voltes V Reviews for more background info on the show.

The Chogokin GA-80 Voltes V ST (超合金 ボルテスＶ) is a really nice toy. It features firing fists, Firing head, and a removable chest part that becomes the hilt for the sword.

Included accessories:

• Manual
• Rocket Punch (4)
• Swords (2)

The swords can be held in either hand and use the red chest section as the hilt. The Swords have a tendency to tarnish really easily.

Voltes V can also transform into Battlewagon mode in the same fashion as Combattler V. With Voltes, you have to pull the rear wheel assemblies out to the sides, rotate them down, and then push them in. The plastic here tends to get worn and loose so be careful.

Packaging

The packaging features a painting of Voltes V instead of a photo of the toy. Towards the end of the GA series, Popy had moved away from photos of Jumbo Machines and Prototypes and began using character artwork on the boxes.

Another thing you might notice is the smiling mug of a jolly Japanese fellow on the box. That’s Susumu Abe (阿部進), a famous Japanese educational commentator. Born in 1930 (and still alive) Susumu Abe had a weekly serialized column in Shonen Jump Magazine in the 70s. From there he took his advice for children and by agreement with Popy (a heavy sponsor of Shonen Jump) and placed small nuggets of wisdom on the back of  Chogokin Boxes.

We review the best Soul of Chogokin combiner yet - Choudenji Machine Voltes V! 5 Volt machines combine to form a mighty warrior!

Choudenji Machine Voltes V (超電磁マシーン ボルテスＶ)

Just delivered to my doorstep by Betatoys, the long awaited GX-31 Soul of Chogokin Voltes V.

The box is your standard SOC box (9” x 4” x 14”). It’s a bit bigger than the Combattler V box, but not as big as the Dancouga box. Inside are two trays. The Styrofoam tray holds the volt machines in place, and has a cool cover with retro box art. The second tray is clear plastic for all the accessories. Also included is a beautiful color manual, with transformation instructions.

Voltes V consists of 5 Volt machines that combine to form the mighty Voltes V.

	Volt Crewzer Volt Crewzer is the smallest Volt Machine, and forms the head of Voltes V. It’s all plastic, and features moveable landing gear, opening cockpit, removable wing blades, and small missiles that show if you tilt the cockpit forward.
	Volt Bomber Volt Bomber forms the arms of Voltes V. The upper arms are metal, but that’s about it. The landing gear is removable and rests on the stand when not in use. The front landing gear retracts into the body.
	Volt Panzer Volt Panzer forms the chest of Voltes V. It features real rubber tank treads, articulated claws, and a small door that opens below the cockpit. The entire body of this vehicle is metal.
	Volt Frigate Volt Frigate forms the legs of Voltes V. The lower legs and part of the waist is metal. The Volt Frigate features landing gear and spring loaded turrets.
	Volt Lander Volt Lander forms the feet of Voltes V. Each vehicle features spring loaded wheels, chrome drills, and moveable antennae.

Assembling Voltes is almost self-explanatory. The lander separates and clicks into the bottom of the frigate. Fold the tank treads around the back of the Panzer and attach to the top of the frigate. Unfold the Bomber and insert into the top of the panzer. Slide the sleeves down and pull out the fists. Unfold the Crewzer and attach to the Bomber via a magnetic joint.

The combined voltes is sturdy and quite articulate. There is a suprising range of motion in the legs and arms. Unfortunately, there is very little movement in the head, and no articulation in the waist. The toy holds pretty much any pose; nothing seems loose or flimsy.

Voltes comes with a ton of accessories:

• Gatling Missiles – These missiles clip into the hollow arm of Voltes V. Be careful, as those missiles do come off. You don’t want to lose one.
• Chain Knuckles – This is a chain assembly that clips into the hollow arm of Voltes V. It has a long metal chain that is attached to a mace-like weapon at the end. In the show this is supposed to shoot, but here it does not.
• Voltes Bazooka - Voltes’ right arm can be bent to reveal a cannon. The cannon slides out, but be careful not to pop the hand off in the process.
• Choudenji Strings – These yellow strips are actually supposed to come from Voltes’ belt. To replicate this effect, the yellow belt piece is actually removable and the yellow tab fits into the waist.
• Choudenji Goma – These spinning tops can connect to the end of the Choudenji Strings to lash out at enemies. You have to actually take the top apart to attach it to the strings. (I wasn’t aware of this when I did the video review!)
• Tenkuu Ken - Also known as “Lightning Sword” or “Laser Sword”, This is Voltes’ most prominent weapon. In the show, the Tenkuu ken would appear from the chest of Voltes V, with the red emblem becoming the hilt. To replicate this, Bandai created a folding Tenkuu ken, that can unfold and become the full-sized sword. Unfortnately this sword is flimsy, so Bandai has also provided us with a full sized solid chrome Tenkuu ken. There is also a replacement chest part to insert into the cavity left by the sword.
• Taka Mecha – Otherwise known as “Mechanical Eagle”, this red bird-like mecha can attach to voltes’s back. An assembly attaches to the bottom that also has a space for the small energy controlling device. In the show, the Taka Mecha delivered the energy controlling device to Voltes V so it could fire the Choudenji Ball weapon. This whole assembly fits into the back of Voltes by opening a small door and moving the tank treads to the side.

Other accessories

• Variant hands – The hands that come attached to voltes arms are nicely articulated, but look too small in robot mode. By adding caps to the arms, you can attach any one of 3 different fists to each arm. Voltes V comes with sets of open hands, closed hands, and sword holding hands. Unfortunately, the sword is too heavy for the wrist connection and tends to droop a little.
• Stand – The stand is nothing special – there is a place for each accessory on it, but no nameplate. Some of the accessories, like the Choudenji Strings, the small chrome landing gear, and the blades for the Crewzer, will fall off instantly if you bump it just a little.

I think this is the best SOC combiner yet. There are a few things that Bandai could have done better, but they are really small things. I would have liked to have seen more articulation in the head and waist, I would have liked Bandai to do something about the pegs left on the waist, and I wish they were consistant with their use of nameplates on the stands. I am not as surprised about the lack of firing gimmicks.

This toy is really solid and suprisingly heavy. It is a really satisfying experience. You can get your Voltes V Soul of Chogokin at Betatoys.com

The Soul of Chogokin Voltes V was released May 20, 2006, with a retail price of 16,590 Yen.

Video Review

In other parts of the world, Voltes reigned supreme...

I think your love for Voltes V (ボルテスＶ)depends on where you grew up. In the USA, Voltez V was farily unknown, aside from a few toys in the Shogun Warriors and Godaikin line. As a kid, I always thought he was some kind of Combattler-V copycat. I grew up with Combattler-V as part of the Shogun Warriors comic series and toy line, and I didn’t know much about Voltes at all.

In other parts of the world, Voltes reigned supreme. In the Phillipines, Voltes is synonomous with Super Robots. The show was banned in the ‘70s by Ferdinand Marcos, Dictator of the Phillipines, due to its rebellious overtones. The cancellation of the show only fueled the nation’s passion for this Super Robot.

One toy, many versions

In 1977, Popy began releasing toys of Voltes V, including the drool-worthy Volt in Box and the separately packaged Popynica vehicles. A basic rundown of the releases is:

• Volt in Box version 1 1977 (this version has yellow arm joints)
• Individually boxed Popynica vehicles 1977 (Same toy as version 2, But Volt Panzer included a segmented sword, as opposed to the full sword found in the box set.)
  
• Volt in Box version 2 1982 (Red arm joints)
  
• Godaikin version 1983 (Same toy as version 2, minus some extra accessories, including a pen and book).

With the Popy releases, there were minor packaging changes throughout the run. Some second version Volt in Box has black trays instead of blue and different locations for the pen and book. Also, the individually boxed vehicles had several different packaging variations, including slightly different box art. The Volt Crewzer has been seen in a bagged format as well.

Bandai America brought Voltes V to the USA in the early 1980s. It’s essentially the same toy as the version 2, but does not include the pen or the book.

Let’s Volt In!

There are 5 vehicles that make up Voltes V.

PB-04 Volt Crewzer
Volt Crewzer is a red ship that makes up the head of Voltes V. It features small missile launchers under the tips of each wing and wheels to roll around on. Included are 6 yellow missiles, instructions, booklet and a catalog. It is the only Voltes vehicle to feature a visible pilot. Be careful of the joint that connects the front and rear of the Crewzer – it is fragile and is prone to breaking.

PB-05 Volt Bomber
Volt Bomber forms the arms of Voltes V. The toy comes with one set of fists that fire from the forearms, a spinning top weapon, string for the top, chrome weapon, tail section, catalog, booklet and instructions. The landing gear is metal and folds down.

PB-06 Volt Panzer
Volt Panzer is a tank-like vehicle that forms the torso of Voltes V. It features articulated claws, working rubber treads, sword hilt and firing missiles. This vehicle is almost all metal. Included in the set are 6 missiles, sword segments, booklet, instructions and catalog. The rubber treads tend to deteriorate over time as the rubber dries out and begins to crumble. Fortunately there are sellers who sell replacement treads.

PB-07 Volt Frigate
Volt Frigate forms the legs of Voltes V. It features 2 sets of missile launchers as well as fold-out wings and landing gear. The toy includes 2 chrome antennae, 6 blue missiles, 6 red missiles, catalog, booklet and instructions.

PB-08 Volt Lander
Volt Lander forms the feet of Voltes V. This toy has rolling rubber tires, retractable magnets and opening doors with firing drill missiles. Included in the box are 2 chrome antennae, 6 drill missiles, 2 rubber hoses, 2 white connector pieces, booklet, instructions and catalog.

Combining the giant

Start with the Volt Panzer. Pull the tank legs aside from the back and rotate backwards. Insert the Volt Bomber in the top, then fold the Volt Crewzer so the head is exposed and attach at top.

Insert the cockpit of the Volt Frigate into the base of the Panzer. Separate the two halves of the Lander and fold the white towers down. Attach to the bottom of the Volt Frigate. Attach the hands and you are done! When combined, Voltes is solid and stable. He is probably the heaviest of the classic chogokins; a giant block of die-cast terror.

In robot mode, Voltez has a lot of accessories at his disposal.

The sword is formed by removing the red hilt from the chest of Voltes. Insert the sword into the hilt and it slides into place. Other weapons can snap into the forearms in place of the fists. One weapon looks like a giant spinning top. Pull the string and the top launches. I believe this is supposed to replicate Voltes’ Choudenji Goma attack. There is also a chrome weapon that looks kind of like a blender tip – this is supposed to be the Chain Knuckle attack.

Voltes V also has a tank mode called "Voltank Mode". The treads swing around, the feet bend and Voltes can roll around like a giant tank. Not a remarkable transformation, but still fun nonetheless.

Fanboy swooning

I really really like this toy. It’s one of my favorite gokins. Unfortunately, acquiring a vintage Voltes V can get very expensive. Your best bet is to hunt down a Godaikin version as those can be found in the $600 - $900 range. If you want to try to track down a Japanese Volt in Box version, prepare to spend thousands of dollars.

Bandai is releasing a new version of Voltes V – the Soul of Chogokin GX-31 in May of 2006. It probably won’t affect the price of a vintage Voltes, but it might be a more affordable way to get a die cast, transforming version in your collection.

Special thanks to Kim Castro and vivi1561 for the box images

*The toy shown in this review is the one that came packaged indvidually in popynica boxes. The toy is identical to the Godaikin and second version popy.