It doesn’t raise the bar as far as DX toys go, but it doesn’t drop that 32-year-old ball either.

Includes Video review!

This toy appears courtesy from HobbyLink Japan.

Three 1.5 volt (LR44) batteries are required to operate electronic light-&-sound feature within the Engine Soul, and should be replaced by a responsible adult.

Adequate batteries have already been installed in the Engine Soul by the manufacturer and do not need to be immediately replaced. However, to activate the feature, you must first manually remove the small white tag from the back of the cartridge before it can work; this is a one-time issue. Nothing other than the Engine Soul on this toy requires batteries.

In one of the eleven dimensions, Machine World is a planet populated by Engines- giant sentient living machines with individual personalities and capabilities. They succeed in driving the destructive Ban KiZoku Gaiarc clan off their world during one of their largest planet-wide races. Unfortunately, the Gaiarc decide to move on into the dimension where Earth is since it seems to be an easier target for them to conquer in order to turn it into the ideal world of unchecked pollution and waste which they favor. Three Engines cross the dimensional barrier to pursue them, but they will begin to suffer fatal rusting if they exist in the atmosphere of the Human World for more than ten minutes at a time! To protect against this, they separate themselves into two halves- inanimate Engine Casts which are smaller versions of their physical bodies, and Engine Souls which contain their life energy and personality. Therefore, they and their smaller rust-resistant assistant Bomper chose three young humans to fight the Gaiarc in their place, and restore them to their larger forms whenever they are needed. Together they form the Flame-god Taskforce Go-On Rangers!

. . .

Speedor, Buson, and Bear RV were the last Engines to pursue the three fleeing Gaiarc Pollution Ministers off of Machine World. The three Engines then crossed the dimensional barrier into the Human World to finish what they started. Quickly realizing that they could no longer maintain their true giant size on our planet, the three Engines separated themselves into Engine Souls and Engine Casts to prevent from rusting to death. With the help of their smaller companion Bomper, they found three humans at a race track that were trying to protect the spectators from Gaiarc’s Ugatz foot soldiers. Speedor, Buson, and Bear RV bestowed their Engine Souls to the three humans so that they could be used for their weapons and powers as the Go-Onger. Through their GoPhone henshin devices, the Engines can communicate with the Go-Onger with kawai holographic version of themselves. And when the Gaiarc present city-wide threats, Bomper back in the Ginjiro recreational vehicle/mobile HQ can launch the Engine Attaché Case which contains the scaled-down Engine Casts to the Go-Onger. And when the Engine Souls are placed back within the Casts, the Engines are restored to their original giant forms!

Engine Number 1 - Speedor (back) His partner is former stock car-racer Sousuke Esumi (Go-On Red). He is represented as a combination of both a red hot rod and a condor. In fact, he can deploy wings and thick bird legs for flight when battling Gaiarc giants, though he tends to remain on the ground with his fellow Engines; using his flaming exhaust to burn enemies to a crisp. As a life form from Machine World, he ends most of his sentences with the last syllable of his name, “Dooru, dooru, dooru!” Speedor forms the head, arms, and upper torso of the Engine-Oh.

Engine Number 2 - Buson (back) His partner is former bus driver Ren Kousaka (Go-On Blue). He is represented as a combination of both a passenger bus and a lion. Through the sign on the top of his head, he can display words of encouragement or strategy to the Go-Onger, but if words aren’t enough, his strength and pop-up Buson Missile racks on his back will do the trick. As a life form from Machine World, he ends most of his sentences with the last syllable of his name, “Onn, onn, onn!” Buson forms the lower torso, legs and Go-On Sword of the Engine-Oh.

Engine Number 3 - Bear RV (back) Her partner is former race track concessions vendor Saki Rouyama (Go-On Yellow). She is an all-terrain Engine, hence her squat chassis but large suspension system & tires; all of which can be used to make her jump high and bite into Gaiarc’s transforming Bandouma fighters. As a life form from Machine World, she ends most of her sentences with the last syllable of her name, “Vee, vee, vee!” (However, her seiyu voice actress, Miki Inoue, sounds more like she’s saying “Bee, bee, bee!”.) Bear RV forms the center torso and V Shield of the Engine-Oh.

Animals imitating vehicles? Umm... isn’t it usually the other way around? We’ve seen plenty of machines that looked like animals, well, since “Choujuu Sentai Liveman” (1988); then the 25th anniversary series “Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger” (2001) made them actual animals that were always mecha, which just took the concept to a whole new level. But we’ve never seen vehicle mecha that are alive, have animal features, and are sentient on top of that. It’s actually rather confusing- a real chicken-or-the-egg-type paradox. But let’s be honest here- the Engines’ design style is a direct shot aimed at appealing to young kids. It’s a very lighthearted series thus far. They’re meant to look kawai [“cute”, “adorable”], potentially appealing to young girls as well, which Super Sentai usually doesn’t target. And nothing says “Take that [car manufacturer]- you uncaring, greedy, polluting so-and-so!” like cars and buses with animal features. Just look at the big emotional eyes on combat mecha if you don’t believe me on that. But I digress...

Speedor is a big ol’ red muscle car, with a huge-ass engine block sitting right in front of the green-painted windshield, a set of four exhaust pipes in back, a streamlined spoiler curving up from in front of the back wheels, and stylized silver hubcaps. And he has a bird’s head on the nose of the vehicle. Speedor has a special feature in vehicle mode, and that is the ability to flip down wings for flight and thick bird legs from below. I suppose it needed to act like a bird in some fashion. (BTW, since the elbows only lock in one position, it cannot hold itself up. So don’t have a heart attack over it like I almost did. You can’t imagine how frustrating it was to spend 5 minutes getting it into this pose... only to have it promptly tip over just after I pressed the button on the camera.) Buson looks like a bus, yes? Big blocky blue thing with a band of painted-in black windows, six wheels, and a display sign decal above the windshield. But does he look like a lion? Meh... The subtle hints to this are the puffy cheeks with very tiny molded whiskers, painted-on gold mane, and small square silver-painted teeth beneath the cheeks/front bumper. (For a good while there before “Go-Onger” came out, rumors swirled around that Buson was actually a bison... which would have made much more sense to me than a friggin’ lion. If I have to look that hard to recognize a lion’s head on the front of a bus, then somethin’ isn’t right...) Buson carries the ranged weapons of the three in the series. The Buson Missile are fired from pop-up launchers which are located on top of him. Now, the only reason the launchers appear is because the doors are needed for something else. But in acknowledgment, the front edge of each door feature three molded missile cones apiece; the doors will not partially open, so you have to wedge them open (as I have done here) or hold them open yourself. Bear RV is about as special feature-less as Buson is. As with all of the Engines (including others not released yet), they can move some parts of their chassis at will, such as Buson’s face, or Speedor’s beak, when they talk. With Bear RV, however, she does not have a mouth per se. So- in true Terrance and Phillip or Pac-Man fashion- her entire yellow half hinges upwards away from the black lower half. It will snap upwards at 45°. One way you can make it open only slightly and hold there is to lift up the V Shield’s handle inside there and then Bear RV’s head can rest on it.

In addition to the numbering system, if you look closely the hubcaps from each Engine is represented on either side of their respective Go-Onger partner’s helmet.

After beating dozens of nimble Bandou Moth fighters, the Engines and their Go-Onger partners find that this has just been a ruse to draw their attention away from the real threat- the air-polluting monster Shoukyaku Banki, giving him time to restore himself. Using a new technology given to him by the three Pollution Ministers, Shoukyaku suddenly grows to gigantic proportions! But, the human heart has provided a new power to the Engines that they did not have before...

Engine Gattai!

In this new form which the Gaiarc have never encountered before on Machine World, Engine-Oh can now take on fully-grown monsters. The V Shield is stored on its back, which can deflect many objects thrown at it, and it can also deploy the Go-On Sword from the left leg’s storage compartment. And when it dashes forward with the sword, it can perform the powered-up Engine-Oh Go-On Grand Prix slashing finisher.

"Engine-Oh: Tune up!"

Engine Gattai Engine-Oh (back) has some interesting proportions to it. Looking at it from a side view, its head and arms are placed rather far back, giving it something of a thick, almost-borderline beer belly. The faces of all thee Engines remain intact along the front of Engine-Oh’s body, stacked on top of each other like some strange Native American totem pole. (Trust me- I live in the Pacific Northwest, and these things are littered all over the place, if you know where to look for them... like gift shops and tourist traps.) The head has what look like metallic blue sunshades with yellow eyes, a simple silver Go-Onger logo printed on the forehead, and three gold plated exhaust pipes on either side. The arms are very simple, with large horizontal shoulders, and smaller lower arms which are actually hollow because of how it transforms. The four light gray fingers are molded in one piece and can open & close quite well. Now, this may be me being paranoid, but the rectangular bars that the shoulders are attached to seem to stick out a tad more than seems necessary; certainly they’re more accommodating than need-be for transforming it. It feels like something might go between them like shoulder straps in a later accessory upgrade. Bear RV is sandwiched in between the other two Engines as the waist section, and serves no greater purpose than that, but the V Shield is angled up behind it against Speedor. However, you cannot put just Speedor and Buson together because they won’t fit against each other at all, and need Bear RV in there. Unlike the other two, Buson perhaps go through the least noticeable changes, the biggest mentions being the extension of the feet, and how the face flips down. The legs snap into position slightly diagonal from each other, but cool part is that the footprints have been intentionally sloped to accommodate this so that they’re always even and flat against the ground! (The legs cannot extend any farther to the sides than this, contrary to what I thought before I got this set.) So instead of one big brick, it splits into two equally-sized but inarticulate bricks.

So, like most Super Sentai mecha toys, the DX Engine-Oh suffers from ‘two-seventy syndrome’- it only looks good when viewed from the front.

. . .

For weapons, Engine-Oh has two. The first is the V Shield which is stored on its back. A small “L”-shaped tab flips out from the back, which then slips over the top of the grouped fingers. Now, the thing is, the instructions and all promotional materials show the V Shield pointing forward on the left arm, which requires the left lower arm to be bent inwards 90°. However, because the elbow only snaps into two positions- and 90° isn’t one of them- you can still use it with the arm fully extended. But regardless of how the V Shield is held, it’s still a pain to fit on that hand. It actually pinches the finger(s) so tightly that it tends to squeeze itself off! So, short of holding the V Shield up vertically, it’ll fall off just about every chance it gets due to gravity. The other weapon is theGo-On Sword, which is stored in a collapsed form inside the back of the left leg. The Go-On Sword, when folded up, is shaped just like an Engine Soul. (Since the collapsed Go-On Sword can fit into any Engine Soul compartment, it is always stored in the left leg since Buson’s Engine Soul only works properly in the right leg.) As with the V Shield, the Go-On Sword doesn’t fit very well in the hand(s) because the friction of the finger joints isn’t that strong; so it tends to droop as soon as you let go of it. (I’m guessing that, over time, if Engine-Oh holds both weapons, it won’t be able to hold them anymore because it’ll wear out both finger joints...)

In addition to future accessory DX Engine sets (which you know are coming), the common ‘collecting’ gimmick is the battery-powered Engine Soul cartridge. These serve as a replacement in all of the toys for a dedicated light-and-sound effect. Each Engine Soul shares an identical shape (2½” x 1¾” x 9/16”, or 2.57cm x 4.5cm x 1.5cm), has a single bright red LED light, a large decal which identifies it, and they all have some generic sounds. Because of this, any Engine Soul (or Change Soul, which I won’t get into here) can be fitted into any properly-fitted toy that can accept one. But, the gimmick is that each Engine Soul has a unique set of sound effects...

. . .

The DX Engine-Oh comes with Speedor’s Engine Soul. It is uniquely identified by its red ABS casing, the stylized “1”, and the phrases “ES” & “01” on the front decal. While each of the Engines in this set can accept an Engine Soul, only Speedor’s is provided; however, it will work equally in all of them since, again, all Engine Soul cartridges are the same size. The storage compartment for each Engine has a small door that must be unlatched in order to place the Engine Soul inside; Buson’s is the compartment opposite the Go-On Sword’s. When inside of them, the Engine Souls in Speedor and Bear RV can be activated by pressing in on their noses, while you have to press up on Buson’s back wheels (which explains their mysteriously spring-like suspension).

Speedor’s Engine Soul has four unique effects- all performed by the same seiyu from the series, Daisuke Namikawa (who has also performed for two other recent Super Sentai series, but is better known for more-numerous anime and OVA performances). He says, in Japanese:

• Spe-e-e-e-dor!
• Door doorae! (see above)
• Let’s go, partner!
• I won by a wide margin!

The phrases will always play in that order, each preceded by the same sound of a car racing by. Now, if you place Speedor’s Engine Soul in either Buson or Bear RV (or any other DX Engine set), it’ll say the same things, but it’ll obviously be inaccurate since that’s not the right Engine for it to go with. (Since, as of this review, I have no other “Go-Onger” toys, I can only assume that it’ll say those same phrases regardless of where it’s placed.) Also, because that LED light is so intense, when it shines through that hole in the top of Speedor’s hood/head, the light (which alone can project over 6ft / 2m in a dark room!) actually reflects off of the engine block, and then you can see the light from the front even though it’s pointed upwards! (Intentional or not, that’s a cool idea!) However, because that part of the engine block flips over to make Engine-Oh’s head, the light can’t be reflected anymore.

Now, here’s something interesting... When Speedor has his Engine Soul inside, and he is a part of Engine-Oh, a new set of sounds can be heard! Well, just two:

• Go-o-o-o-o On!
• Door doorae!

This time, however, instead of a car whooshing by, you hear metal clashing first. But it is still Speedor speaking. (These two sounds, I’m assuming, are the generic one-size-fits-all effects that would be heard if you put this Engine Soul in something other than a DX-sized Engine toy. I’m also assuming that all other Engine Souls cartridges act like this as well, as I explained above.)

The Power Rangers’ version of the Engine-Oh has not appeared yet (hell- the show only started in February), so comparisons are impossible. If I were to take a shot in the dark, I’d say the chrome and gold parts are replaced with painted equivalents. I’d also venture that all Engine Soul cartridges (whatever those will be called) will be either modified to have fewer-or-no electronics, or completely eliminated from the line. There’s no PVC or die-cast metal, so that’s not a problem. (No metal in a car-shaped vehicle... who’d‘ve thunk it?) I doubt any plastic coloring will be changed, but there may be very minor paint changes.

. . .

I’ll tell you right now: when I saw this set, I was much more enthusiastic about it than I was of the previous year’s DX Jyuken Gattai GekiTouja. Of course, I said the same thing about the DX Gougou Gattai DaiBouken, and we all know how that turned out in the end... So, I’m being cautiously optimistic about this line. I can already tell that it won’t be just straight limb swapping either. (Attachment joints for lower arm accessories are located on top of Engine-Oh’s shoulder armor, which guarantee swapping at least there.) But there are several unused attachment holes all across the torso & lower legs, so we may be looking at different components swapping out, particularly with how the three Engines slide into each other. Oh, yeah- the attachment between the Engines is great; you never have to worry about these things randomly separating unless you pull the separation triggers on the side and back of the torso. Great! As I said earlier, this thing is designed to shoot for that younger audience. I’ve heard several theories on this online, most having to do with competition from other franchises and toy manufacturers. Hey, this may even be a step towards creating a Super Sentai series that has monsters that come out of playing cards, except we have the collectable Engine Souls instead. (Great- that means that I’ll have to go out and get other sets that I don’t want in order to complete sets that I do want! Not good...) Otherwise, I think this is a cool idea- using just a few unique Engine Souls to activate electronic F/X inside of a whole range of toys. Now, what could they have changed?

• Better grip design for both the Go-On Sword and V Shield, for starters; the Shinobi Machine sets from “Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger” (2002) had poseable hands, and they could comfortably grip the dozen-plus weapons that that line had.
• That’s a sword??? Umm... no. It looks like some kind of weird nightstick or staff crossed with a spear. Try again, please! At least the holes in the V Shield aren’t too large or in really bad places. Some shields in the past, man... (*cough*TimeRobo Alpha*cough*)
• I can see why incorporating poseable legs would have been both difficult and expensive for the consumer. But couldn’t they have at least left an indent or a line or something to indicate that there is supposed to be this fictitious knee joint there!?
• Head swiveling. Why didn’t it have this???
• We finally got legitimate elbow joints in, like four years. The problem lies in the fact that you can’t do anything with them!

Even though I kinda scratched my head over the picking of vehicle-shaped animals (if that makes any sense), they did it with moderate success here. Buson, though... here we have yet another Super Sentai lion after getting one last year and then two years before that. Besides- does that really look like a lion? I don’t think so. Probably no better than Speedor looking like an official condor... But, overall, I’m quite satisfied. It’s simple, but not dumbed down. Detailed, but not overly so that it clutters up the plain shapes of the vehicles. Coloring and paint apps are also up to standard, with a nice return of decals in subtle ways even though they are pre-applied (which, nowadays, I have no problem with). It doesn’t raise the bar as far as DX toys go, but it doesn’t drop that 32-year-old ball either. Recommendation: go get the DX Engine Gattai Engine-Oh.

Buson’s Engine Soul can be purchased along with the Self Henkeijuu MantanGun set, available from HobbyLink Japan.

Bear RV’s Engine Soul can be purchased along with the DX Highway Buster set, available from HobbyLink Japan.

Another Telco Halloween decoration, the Wolf Man is the closest thing in my collection to a Muppet!

Even though it's a far cry from looking anything like he does in the movie, I really like the look of this figure. Although the sculpt of the face is somewhat simple, it does have an elegance and personality to it that is appealing to me. I love that they added so much hair to this thing. It's got a really wild look on the one hand, but it also sort of reminds me of a Muppet, too!

Although some might consider it excessive, the hair protruding from his sleeves and pant legs is another nice touch. But honestly, it sort of makes me wish I had a nice, creepy looking scarecrow one. Telco did release a scarecrow in one of their earlier batches of Motionettes, but it's more cute looking than scary.

This Wolf Man figure has much more poseability in the arms than the Creature did. You can actually bend the arms to whatever pose you want basically, as beyond the vinyl hands the arms are just a flexible wire armature.

You know what else is great about this one? That bright yellow shirt! It's a welcome change in a genre dominated by gloomy blacks and greys. It's the closest thing to sunshine that the Wolf Man will ever get anyway...

You get the same features here as on the other Motionettes...light up eyes, moving arms/head and sound effects. The sound is much more appropriate to the character this time around, too. 17" tall to the top of the head, it actually looks more like 18" with all that hair standing up. The Wolf Man was included in both series' of 17" licensed Universal Monster Motionettes, but I don't think there's any significant difference between the two. My favorite part of this thing? I got it for a measly $5 on Ebay! When the last time you bought a Japanese robot for $5?* ;)

There’s a notion of unpredictability, but the eyes give it all away. The eyes are filled with rage…or craziness…or some kind of crazy-rage!

Seeing as how this is my first review, I’ll share a relevant story with everyone to help give some insight into my biases and collecting personality.

Before finding this site, I hardly knew what chogokin meant. I had seen SOC’s before in comic shops but never knew what it signified, nor the fervent fan base behind it. After reading so many reviews of awesome die-cast toys here, I was sold. I wanted to experience this unknown sense of toy collecting joy.

So I came across an Aoshima chogokin Getter 1, the weathered variant, for cheaper than retail. I really love that design of Getter 1 and I was eager to have some die cast, so I ordered it. When it arrived I was ecstatic. I slowly removed the Styrofoam tray, held the Getter in my hands, felt the cold weight of die cast weigh into my palms, heard the ‘click’ of detented joints --- and immediately repackaged it and flipped it on eBay for a small profit.

Haha…ha…aaah.

Point being: I’m not meant for chogokins. I didn’t grow up in the 70’s, so the nostalgia’s not there, and the figure felt fragile and foreign in my hands. It was at this moment that I realized how much I really loved vinyl. The texture, the smell (Yes, the smell); that's what brings about a feeling of toy satisfaction from me.

So after selling it off to someone who can truly appreciate it, I used the money towards something I’d been eyeing for a while, but could never grow comfortable with price-wise: The CCP Burning Godzilla! Only $120! (Brain explodes)

This is honestly the single most expensive toy I’ve ever purchased.

Burning Godzilla is featured in the 1995 feature film, and last of the Heisei series, ‘Godzilla Vs. Destroyah’. The figure emulates Godzilla in his final moments, when his nuclear heart is on the verge of meltdown. He never actually appears bright red in the film, this depiction is a Godzilla toy meme started by Bandai’s first theater exclusive figure, released in conjunction with the movie, the 8 inch Burning Godzilla. Nevertheless, this figure is a part of the ‘Artistic Monsters Collection’ by CCP, an amalgam of kaiju toy simplicity with designer vinyl aesthetics. This particular figure is actually a collaboration with the design house PLEX, making it technically PLEX x CCP. The figure comes bagged with a header card featuring wonderful engrish:

“Do you remember these Monsters? They were so cool & everybody loved there. You must miss them after they disappeared, but don’t worry, they are back now and they are never leave you.”

Damn right.

Burning Godzilla’s cast in translucent yellow vinyl and painted with translucent red. The only color variation is the teeth, which are bright silver. On the bottom of the right foot there are sculpted copyrights and on the bottom of the left foot “CCP” is printed in white letters. It’s 9.5 inches tall, 6 inches wide, 8 inches long and articulated at the legs only. The toy also features a gimmick shared by some other CCP kaiju: Give it a good whack or shake and a series of white LEDs in the legs, abdomen and chest flicker brightly. They can actually be set off separately if you hit it correctly. The colors transition very well and have a subtle glowing appearance in normal light, but when lit up the changes between yellow and red are striking. There’s another version of this sculpt that’s cheaper, doesn’t light up and is cast in dark gray vinyl as ‘normal’ Godzilla 94’ but I would immediately recommend the burning version over it; The presence of this figure is fantastic.

In terms of sculpting, the detail of the scales is great but not necessarily better than most Godzillas. What immediately stands out is the posture. The tail looks to be in mid-swing, returning to Godzillas back, and the spines look to be shifting, carrying a sense of movement, as if they’re actual extensions of bone set in flesh (Or hard-rubber set in latex; whatever you fancy.) The figure simply roars with energy and motion, breaking away from the far more common stillness of Bandai Godzilla symmetrical spines and straight tail. But as good as those aspects are, the face may be its greatest sculpting effort.

The expression is so intense. It makes it look as if Godzilla’s poised to strike (Or more appropriately explode.) The closed mouth, another Godzilla sculpting rarity, sits somewhere between smiling and snarling, bearing bright metallic teeth. There’s a notion of unpredictability, but the eyes give it all away. The eyes are filled with rage…or craziness…or some kind of crazy-rage! They’re detailed simply with red pupils and red outlined irises (similar to Black Getter Robo) but they’re very effective.

Also, I’m a huge fan of any toy that encourages you to smack it; it’s so inviting and rewarding. You hit the toy and it lights up. Not only that, it can take the punishment with interest. Nothing to shed toy-collecting pretense like a good Italian-cop-movie slap to a $100+ figure. Maybe it’s because of a deeper pragmatic sense in me, but when I shell out money for a toy, I don’t want to have to tiptoe around it. I think it’s a great feature and helps to extinguish my qualms with the price. Even if I do end up feeling buyer’s remorse, I can yell out, “Stupid toy!” drop kick Godzilla in the face and watch him spastically flash in response.

I do have a few gripes though. First off, the teeth on the lower jaw on the right side of the mouth aren’t painted. I don’t know if this is a common mistake, and judging from the quality of the figure I can’t imagine it to be, but it takes away from the power behind the expression that can easily be seen from the front and left sides. The articulation is standard kaiju fare and isn’t debilitating, but one particular thing is that there’s a visible seam in the neck. I normally wouldn’t be bothered by it, except that it’s not articulated. As there are no LEDs stored in the head, I think it would’ve been easy to articulate it and harmoniously flow the use of the separate pieces into the design. Finally, there’s the price.

The figure originally retailed for about $85 and it can typically be had these days for about $120, which is what I ended up paying for it after shipping. The price point certainly has to do with it being of a limited production run and it being sold as designer vinyl, but even with the light-up feature it could’ve been more forgiving considering the materials used. That being said, I don’t regret the purchase at all. This has immediately become one of my favorite toys I own. It’s incredibly vibrant and animated in both color and sculpt, especially with the addition of the LEDs. The quality of construction and the use of vinyl ensures durability as well. While expenditures of such a dramatic nature are very rare for me, it’s a startlingly beautiful figure to be looked at, held, and given a good wallop.

They appear on eBay every now and then and will sometimes show up on Kaiju-Taro.com. If you have the money, or if you sell some lesser-loved toys to afford it (always recommended), get it. Like the CCP Burning Godzilla, you’ll explode with happiness!

The Konami Great Impact Model Gurren Lagann is Konami’s first (that I know of) foray into the world of high-end diecast toys. It was only a matter of time really, seeing the success of similar lines by Bandai, Takara, Yamato and CM’s. I’m happy to report that this thing is awesome.

The Konami Great Impact Model Gurren Lagann is Konami’s first (that I know of) foray into the world of high-end diecast toys. It was only a matter of time really, seeing the success of similar lines by Bandai, Takara, Yamato and CM’s. I’m happy to report that this thing is awesome. Gurren Lagann WAS available from HobbyLink Japan, but as of writing this article, is sold out.

Gurren Lagann comes from the anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (天元突破グレンラガン,). The series was created by legendary animation studio GAINAX (aka the people behind Evangelion) and ran on TV Tokyo for 27 episodes in 2007.

The series is very good, and I suggest you check it out. Wikipedia gives a good description of the series, but what I will tell you is this – Gurren Lagann is actually two separate robots that combine into one.

Lagann is a small Gunman (robot) that becomes the head of Gurren Lagann. He is found buried deep in the earth by Simon, a digger from Giha Village. Gurren is a Gunman that was originally owned by the enemy Beastmen. Simon’s “Brother” Kamina steals the Gunman and takes it for his own. The two combine in battle in order to overcome the enemy Gunmen, and make the combined form, Gurren Lagann, their own.

I know what you are thinking here, but no, Gurren Lagann does not transform.

Skip to the video review

Gurren Lagann comes packaged in a huge heavy-duty cardboard box with a flip-up lid. Inside the lid is a nice Styrofoam tray with each part neatly displayed. Gurren Lagann comes ready to go right out of the box.

The toy is heavy, and features lots of metal parts. Articulation on this thing is insane, with double-jointed elbows and knees, and possibly the most poseable feet ever. Check out the video to see what we are talking about, but its really great. The legs use a neat system of collapsible panels on the backs of the knees to allow for greater movement, and the elbows feature a neat pull out joint system.

At the hips there are 4 pieces of moveable skirt armor – the front and pack pivot out, while the sides move in all directions. These skirt parts are probably the only poor thing about this toy. Extreme poses can cause the skirts to pop out, but the good news is that they pop back in. Still, a stronger connection would have made this unnecessary.

Gurren Lagann’s torso has a huge range of motion. There is of course a waist joint, but in addition there is a joint in the upper chest that can move any which way. The chest is a giant face, and the joint takes advantage of the jaw placement. The jaw too is moveable. This whole chest unit is metal. It’s breathtaking. Gurren Lagann’s sunglasses can clip on to the chest and are made out of translucent plastic.

Gurren Lagann uses the sunglasses as a weapon, so Konami included not one but two additional sets to be used as weapons. These cannot be attached to the chest, and are a little bigger.

The head has a few ball joints that allow it to shift forward and back as well as the usual range of motion.

Another place where this toy really excels is the arms. The whole shoulder assembly is diecast with a section that moves forward and backward near the chest. Then there is the diecast ball joint at the shoulder and the previously mentioned elbows. Several sets of hands are included and they are easily swapped.

Included with the figure is a large Gurren Wing that can be attached to the back of the figure. This gives an impressive wingspan to an already impressive figure. The wings are all plastic and are actually collapsible. To attach the wings, you simply remove a metal panel on the back of the figure and connect the wings.

If you have watched the show, you will notice that drills play a prominent role in the series, in both the literal and metaphoric sense. I’m not sure what role these accessories play in the show, but included are what seems like dozens of small plastic drill bits that attach all over the figure. There are four different size bits, and each has a specific place, so make sure you read the manual for placement. These things are SHARP, and are made out of hard plastic. Most drill bits just plug in, but there are a few exceptions. The long drills on the arms require an additional cover piece that goes over the holes in the arms, and the drill that goes into the forehead requires some “modification” (at least on mine it did). It looks like paint filled the hole on mine, so I just had to clear it out with a thumbtack. The great thing is, that even with all the drill bits attached, Gurren Lagann is still fully poseable.

Another place where the drill metaphor comes into place is in an included accessory. A 1:1 scale key to operate Gurren is included, and is in the shape of a translucent gold drill. The handle to this key is solid metal, and it includes a holder.

An accessory called the Gurren House is included that is used to hold all the small drill bits when not in use. It has a removable cover, and requires a small amount of assembly.

Finally, included is a stand. This stand comes with two different display arms – one for standing and one for flying. The stand attaches to a hole in the rear of the figure, under the armor. It’s a solid, tight fit. There is also a small part that can clip onto either stand that can hold the wings. The back of the stand has a compartment that can hold the remainder of the accessories.

I really really love this toy. The build quality, engineering, and accessories are top notch. So where did Konami get this ability to produce high-end gokin? My theory is that they didn’t.  I think Konami subcontracted this toy out to Max Factory. Everything about this reminds me of their Max Gokin Godannar toy. The build, the finish, the stand, hell even the packaging is identical! The two just seem too similar to not be related somehow. Not that that’s bad though, it is a quality piece, regardless of who made it.

 As you can probably tell, I can’t recommend this toy enough. It is just so cool on so many levels, and is one of the rare toys that I think is worth the high price tag. Unfortunately, these things are selling like crazy and are already sold out at places like HobbyLink Japan (where I got mine). Be diligent in your search, and hopefully you will find one.

Video Review (now in HD!)

Gurren Lagann OP

Today’s I am reviewing Dragon Shiryu from the Saint Cloth Myth line. Saint Cloth Myth is Bandai’s premium line of collectible figures based on the Manga and animated series called Saint Seiya.

This figure came courtesy from Angolz.com who have been nice enough to provide us with all of our Saint Cloth Myth figures for review.

If you are just joining us and want to know all about what is going on with Saint Seiya I suggest heading over to wikipedia and checking things out.

Now on to the actual toy - Bandai has consistently banged out some quality collectibles with the Saint Cloth Myth line the figures are always well produced and loaded with ton’s of accessories. Figures are made of plastic, stand about 6 inches tall and feature lot’s of poseability. The armor the figures wear are always made of a high amount of die-cast metal and honestly I am running out of nice things to say about this line.

This time around I am reviewing Dragon Shiryu, one of our main heroes and a Silver Saint of Athena. Shiryu is the oldest and wisest of our band of heroes. Shiryu wears the Dragon Cloth (armor for those not in the know.)

From Wikipedia:
“The Dragon Cloth represents the constellation Draco, which is associated to Ladon, the hundred eyed dragon who guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides, in Greek mythology.”

“The Bronze Cloth of Dragon is legendary for its large shield on the left arm guard. Its reputation is unmatched by any other cloth among Athena's saints, and only very few have ever shattered it. The Dragon Cloth itself is noted for its ultimate durability, as it had spent the last 200 years bathed under the mineral-rich waterfall of the Rozan mountains, which made it harder than diamonds.”

This is Dragon Shiryu as his Cloth appears later in the series and Hades OVA’s. The armor is almost all die-cast metal with only the waist skirt and head piece being made of plastic. Paint detail is nice with no chipping or flaking.

The figure itself is made of plastic with over 40 points of articulation with the feet being made of die-cast metal. Included in the package is an alternate head which sports Shiryu with his eyes closed (Shiryu goes blind in the later part of the series and tends to have his eyes closed.)

Lastly the armor pieces do assemble into a statue when our heroes aren’t wearing them. In the series the armor shrinks a bit to make the statues small, because these are made from the armor the figure wears the statue stand about as tall as the figure.

As you can see from the pictures, Dragon Shiryu looks good and as always Bandai has made a fantastic collectible. Fans of the series should run, not walk to add Shiryu to their collection and if you don’t watch or read the series it may still be a sharp enough design to pick up. The Saint Cloth Myth line always delivers a quality product and it is well worth finding a design you like and giving one a try.

I have included a video review below and as always you can get your Saint Cloth Myth figures at Angolz.com.

Heck if I know what "GN-U" stands for, but let me tell ya, as someone who's not particularly fond of modern gokin "collectibles" of classic Japanese super robots, Yamato's "The 'GN-U' Hagane" Groizer-X is a pleasant surprise.

Groizer X is a super robot cartoon that aired in Japan before I was born. It featured your classic 70's alien invasion story involving a kidnapped scientist forced to build them the ultimate super weapon. His daughter manages to steal this "weapon" and escape with it to Japan, where she and her hero pal battle the monster of the week for the next 36 episodes.

The show was never brought to the States, yet from the first time I laid eyes on the Nakajima diecast toys of the robot, I was in love with Groizer. The design is part of robot maestro, Nagai Go's official pantheon. Much like Nagai's Getter robots, Groizer features an "impossible" transformation involving a gigantic bomber aircraft with a robot head metamorphing into a robot. What's impossible about it, of course, is that it's nothing like your typical modern Transformer. Transformers features moving parts that retain their dimensions and just rearrange themselves realistically to make a different overall shape. Nope. Groizer's bomber wings "morph" into the robot's arms, while the aft fuselage splits into the legs. Yeah. Well, if you're a fan of any of these shows, you're no stranger to suspension of disbelief; I haven't seen whole episodes of the cartoon, but I'm guessing that the transformation's one of the easiest parts of the show to swallow!

So why am I in love with this robot? Well, he's blue, he's weird-looking, and he's got a pretty groovy head with antennae. Yep, that's pretty much all I need!

Sure, the transformation is...different...but I can dig it. Besides, unlike actual Transformers, Groizer's transformation isn't really a major concern in any of the previous toys (except for Nakajima's elusive magnetic Groizer, which, as it turns out, is quite similar in spirit to the toy we're reviewing today!). The other popular Nakajima diecasts simply come static in either mode: Groizer X, the bomber, and Groizer Robo, the robot. And they're gorgeous. Their proportions are chunky, their colors are striking. Shooty missiles and fists. The toys are rugged and simple. Everything you love about old-school diecast, they have.

Now, along comes Yamato with their new GN-U line. Like I said, I have no idea what GN-U stands for, but making sense of all their offerings is stroke-inducing. Okay, so the "GN-U Hagane" line is high-end, semi-parts-swapping super robots, including this Groizer and the upcoming Danguard Ace(!). Now, this line is NOT to be confused with the "GN-U Gou" line, which is all-plastic, high-end, and heavily-parts-swapping...like Braiger. Lastly, there's the "GN-U Dou" line, which is all-PVC, non-transforming action figures, including the upcoming Braiger and Dancougar.

Anyway, those who know me know that I'm not particularly fond of modern gokin. I categorize most modern high-end super robot offerings as "collectibles", rather than as actual toys. They often come with scads of tiny, delicate accessories to recreate any scene from the cartoon, and they usually favor cartoon-accurate looks and super-poseability over imaginative play value. For the most part, they are fragile collectors' items for adults to put on shelves...and certainly not meant for children's sandboxes.

Somehow, by design or dumb luck, Yamato has crossed back over to the fun side of things with their "Groizer-X" (note the hyphen). With this toy, they've managed to create something that's simple, durable, and imaginative...and yet, satisfying to collectors, with anime-accurate sculpting, absurd poseability, and lots of detailed accessories.

But let's start from the top: the packaging:

The box is big. Probably quite a bit bigger than it really needs to be...but there's a reason for it that we'll get to later. As you can see above, the front flap of the box lifts up to reveal a window showing Groizer-X (bomber mode). When you pull everything out of the box, you get two flimsy, clear plastic trays containing the surprisingly simple toy, the instruction booklet, and full-color papercraft materials(!).

The first tray includes the main wings for Groizer's bomber mode, the aft fuselage (that you need to plug the stabilizers into), and the accessories baggies (containing, among other things, the G-Jet, G-Shark, and G-Tank). The second tray has parts for robot mode--arms, abdomen/legs, extra hands, and the stand and landing gear for bomber mode.

There's actually not a whole lot to say about the toy, itself...and I consider that a good thing. On one hand, I don't have as much time to spend playing with toys these days, but on the other, I just simply appreciate a toy that doesn't require a lot of book-keeping and busy-work to entertain me. With this toy, I can just let my imagination go with a genuinely cool, solid toy.

So, let's get started with Groizer-X, the bomber:

First off, it's worth mentioning the stand. It's a very simple affair requiring the arm to be plugged into the base. Near the top of the arm, where it connects to Groizer, there is a pivot joint that allows the bomber to be displayed at different angles. Very basic, but I like it because it's secure, it's stable, and it gets the job done.

Now...the good stuff. As you can see, the bomber looks pretty damn good:

The main wings are each one solid piece of plastic. They're well painted with a nice glossy sheen, but they're pretty light. Add to that the aft fuselage being almost all-plastic, you actually have a very lightweight toy. Initial reports of this toy clocked the diecast at only 30%. Well, that's probably true...for bomber mode. But really--what does this thing do? Is a lot of heft an actual requirement for this mode?

The stand is somewhat light ABS plastic and the pivot joint where it plugs into Groizer-X would really suffer if it were any heavier. Sure, Yamato could beef it up, but I just don't see the need...

The bomber doesn't feature too many gimmicks. One nice touch is removable landing gear. A panel pops out of the chest for the nose gear to fit into. Two panels in the aft section recess to allow the aft gear to plug into. The chassis the wheels are attached to are ball-jointed, which is a nice touch I guess. While the wheels don't actually roll, you can at least display the gear in different positions...plus, they can conform to uneven surfaces. Yeah, not a lot to write home about.

The one feature I kinda dig is the "Flying Torpedo" accessories. Yeah, I know it's been compared to sperm and other funny biological entities I can't really talk about here...but it's pretty cool. Basically, that big door on Groizer's chest opens and has an attachment rail. You get the Torpedo warhead, the whole Flying Torpedo, and an exhaust trail to which the Torpedo can attach. All of these can attach to the rail to simulate different stages of firing:

Okay, yeah, I guess it's a bit of superfluous accessory, like the ones I mentioned that normally annoy me about most modern gokin. Truth is, as fun as it was to photograph, stuff like the landing gear and Flying Torpedo bits are going right back in the box. The bomber and the stand are all I care about.

Before we leave the bomber and move onto the robot, let's just take a comparison of Yamato's Groizer-X bomber and Nakajima's bomber:

Not too shabby, but Yamato's version could definitely have benefitted from missiles or some other kind of spring-loaded shooty gimmick.

Now, on to the robot...

The "transformation" is pretty simple. There's a quick, intuitive rearranging of the chest piece that places the head properly atop the shoulders instead of severely tilted back for bomber mode. Then, you just pull out the wings and the aft fuselage and replace them with the robot arms and legs. Done.

Remember that report of 30% diecast? Forget about it. Besides the chest piece being nearly all diecast, now you have the shoulders and upper arms, and the lower legs and feet...all diecast. This is a substantial toy that really does benefit from the added heft. Unlike the bomber, Groizer Robo is all finger-candy. Sturdy, ridiculously-articulated with strong detents in most of the joints, simple...fun.

Simply gorgeous. It's tall (at just under 8 inches) and has just the right amount of weight and distribution of it. This figure is stable and isn't going to fall off your shelf, let alone disappoint your diecast addiction!

One thing I found really nice is the antennae. They're made of some sort of super-flexible, but super-tough plastic. No matter how you bend them, they're not going to snap off. Great stuff...durability is appreciated.

Gimmicks? What you see is what you get. Accessories? Well...he's got open hands. I love it!

Again, sure, I wouldn't have minded seeing shooting fists or some neat features like that. So how does the Yamato stack up against the Nakajima?

The last major thing about this toy I want to talk about is something I alluded to earlier: the box the toy comes in actually combines with the included papercraft bits to form the landing strip from Groizer's Akane-Jima island base!!

This is cool beyond words...and the irony of it all is that I haven't even assembled it! :P

Honestly, I'm probably not going to get around to it either. This is one of those things where putting together the base is half the fun. Papercraft projects, clearly reminiscent of Japan's tradition of origami, are fun and while not particularly challenging in their modern full-color, pre-printed, perforated form, still take some time to do right.

That's time I don't really have. And more to the point...where am I gonna put this thing!?

This is one huge beast! Now, back when I was a kid, I would have gone ape crap over this thing. Back in those days, I didn't get many toys, so I simply had a lot of time to appreciate the few I had. As such, something like this woulda been perfect. I would have lovingly put together the base and staged all sorts of cool sorties and and invasions!

Then again, when I was a kid, there was pretty much no way in hell my mother would've sprung for a $158 toy!!

Well, such is life. The good news is that our man, Pony has come through with his typical curmudgeon-style review (if you can read it)...complete with gorgeous pics. Please check it out here.

So that pretty much wraps it up. Good, solid toy. Simple and enjoyable. Unfortunately, at a pricetag of over $150 (though you should be able to find them closer to $140 right now in the aftermarket), it'll ultimately come down to folks' love for the character/design as the deciding factor. If it had retailed for around $100, this toy would be an absolute no-brainer.

I'll leave you with my 3-minute teaser review on Youtube:

Thanks for reading! Play hard!

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.