The Daikyojin is a fantastic piece of modern gokin that manages to combine modern engineering with old school aesthetics.

There was once a time when it seemed that UniFive could do no wrong. In the late 90s they came out of nowhere with a series of high quality diecast toys. The licenses were a mix of the obscure and the beloved. Time Bokan, Gatchaman, Mach Go Go Go and even Goranger got the deluxe “Cho Shin Gokin” treatment. About half way through the line’s run they came out with what I think is the crown jewel of the series – Daikyojin.

For those of you not familiar with the character, Daikyojin comes from the TV show Yattodetaman, which was part of the Time Bokan series. Yattodetaman aired from 1981 to 1982 in japan and was also popular in Italy as Calendarman. I’ve never seen the show, or any Time Bokan show for that matter, but from what I gather the show is a mix of giant robots and really silly anime. Robot nerds would probably dig this show due to the mecha designs by Kunio Ohkawara (of Gundam fame).

The Box

The box may be one of the single greatest modern toy boxes ever made. It really is brilliant. First off you have the full color cover box showing the toy in all of its modes. Lifting the sturdy cover reveals a print of a sketch of the Daikyojin signed by Kunio Ohkawara himself.

Beneath that sketch is an amazing retro die-cut tray cover showing all of the glorious parts inside. Underneath that is a clear plastic tray, and then finally, the toy.

Daikyojin

The Daikyojin on its own is a remarkable toy. There is a lot of metal here – the toy is solid. It is big and blocky but still packs in a fair amount of articulation. There are FOUR joints in the shoulder assembly, double jointed elbows, and articulated fingers. Well, to be fair, the hands are broken up into a index finger and then the rest are one unit. The knees click and the lower legs are also heavy metal. In fact, the only glaring omission in terms of articulation is that there is no waist joint!

Daikyojin comes with a full arsenal at his disposal, including a metallic sword, a lance, a bow and arrow, and 2 shields with red metal centers.

The fit and finish on the Daikyojin is just a bit below SOC quality, but better than Aoshima quality. The paint is nice, but the gold plating they used is beginning to wear.

Daitenba

Included with the toy is the robotic horse Daitenba. This giant yellow horse is Daikyojin’s trusty steed. On its own, Daitenba is a fantastic toy, with diecast legs and a sturdy yellow plastic body.

Daikyojin and Daitenba can combine to form a number of different vehicles. First off, Daikyojin can be folded up and inserted into the front of the horse to form a centaur like form called Daibajin.

You can modify this form a bit and transform it into a sort of centaur tank called Daibajin Sensha. This mode requires additional parts such as a missile launcher assembly that actually fires missiles! Amazing!

Once separated the missile launcher assembly can go on the neck of the horse to become a tank mode called Daitenba Sensha.

Finally, the Daikyojin can be transformed into a spaceship with the help of some additional parts such as a control tower and landing gear. This spaceship form is called Kyojin-Go.

As a super bonus, included with the toy is a set of two pins. One a heart shaped lock, the other, a key.

The Daikyojin DX set is a remarkable toy, one that has modern engineering while maintaining the old school styling. I got lucky and got mine at a toy show for cheap back in the day, but I think even at today’s collectors prices this toy is worth it. I would be cautious though and pay attention to the gold plating on any specimen you are considering. This toy is also the perfect combination piece to the Time Bokan Brave Gokin robots that CM’s is putting out.

This toy is important to me because it fulfills a childhood desire. I have ALWAYS wanted a toy of this marvelous ship, but I had to wait until 2001 to get one.

One of my favorite shows as a kid was Battle of the Planets. It was on right after the Banana Splits, and every afternoon I followed the adventures of Mark, Jason, Tiny, Princess and Keyop as they battled Zoltar. As I got older I learned that BotP was an imported version of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, edited and re-dubbed by Sandy Frank Productions.

I always wanted a Phoenix toy – the ship the team flew around in. As was the case with most Japanese imported shows back then, toys of the shows were nowhere to be found, unless you happened to have an import toy store.

This toy is important to me because it fulfills a childhood desire. I have ALWAYS wanted a toy of this marvelous ship, but I had to wait until 2001 to get one.

In 2001, Japanese toy maker Unifive made a Godphoenix toy as part of their Cho Shin Gokin line. Diamond Comics Distributors released the toy in the USA at almost the same time as the Japanese release. While the vinyl firebird was a only released as a limited edition, every first version Godphoenix sold through diamond included the firebird. A second version of the toy was released in 2003 with a lighter paintjob and a bird missile accessory instead of the firebird.

Included with the Cho Shin Gokin Godphoenix (超真合金 ゴッドフェニックス) are:

• Crescent Island Base
• Firery Phoenix ( Kagaku Ninpo Hinotori) shell
• G1-G4 vehicles.

The base is a nice take on the island that housed the Science Ninja Team’s headquarters. It requires assembly out of the package.

The 4 mini vehicles are a nice touch, but poorly done.

The G1 Jet Fighter is the vehicle of Mark / Ken. It’s about 1.5 inches long and all plastic. The wings can open and close and small landing gear can be folded out. The paint is kind of crappy on mine.

The G2 Racecar is the vehicle of Jason / Joe. It is actually pretty nice, with good details and rolling wheels. This vehicle attaches to the nose of the Godphoenix’s 2 spring loaded claw arms.

The G3 motorcycle is driven by Princess / Jun. It’s very small and lives in the left wing of the Godphoenix. As a toy, it’s pretty useless. It’s too small, and one solid piece. It can’t stand up on its own.

The G4 Helico Buggy is driven by Keyop / Jinpei. It’s kind of a cute submarine vehicle that gets stored in the right wing of the Godphoenix. The toy is 2 parts, the body and the missile assembly. It’s very small.

The main attraction here is the G5 – the Godphoenix. Piloted by Tiny / Ryu. The God Phoenix is reasonably large, at about 10 inches long and almost all metal. The toy is absolutely beautiful, and looks just like I imagined it would. However the toy is extremely fragile and suffers from poor quality control.

At the front of the ship is a detachable nosecone. The G2 vehicle is stored inside, held in place by 2 spring loaded pincers. When the G2 vehicle is deployed, the pincers retract and are released by pushing a button on the side. The nosecone will fall off if you even look at it the wrong way.

On the top of the ship is the Bird Missile. Press the silver button and the bird missile will pop up from 2 small doors. Sometimes this mechanism gets caught; sometimes the bird missile will not click in when you press it back down.

Each wing can be locked down into hover position.  At the end of each wing is a missile shaped attachment that houses a small vehicle.

The G3 vehicle is stored in the left wing. A panel drops down and the G3 rests on it. You can snap it shut securely.

The G4 gets stored in the right wing. 2 doors open to release the G4 which dangles from a clip attached to the roof of the compartment. The doors are flimsy, and have almost no hook to keep them closed. The hinges holding the door on are extremely fragile. It was the first thing to break on mine.

At the rear is the compartment for G1 to dock with the Godphoenix. The G1 can fit into a hatch in the back of the Godphoenix, but the hatch is really flimsy and prone to breaking. It is made out of 2 plastic doors that don’t fit well and are secured with thin plastic pegs. They don’t line up right and just look bad.

Underneath the ship you have 3 sets of landing gear, which all work fine. There are also sliding levers that open and close the intake vents on the side of the ship.

The vinyl firebird shell is a really cool idea, but horrible in execution. There is a small vinyl panel on the bottom that you remove to slide the ship into. This hole is so small; you have to be a magician to get your ship in there without the nosecone falling off. It’s a nightmare. If you can get it to work, it looks very cool, but good luck.

I really admire what Unifive was trying to do with this, but the execution is just lacking… I would have rather had a solid ship than all the little fragile gimmicks. It looks cool on display, but if you ever want to play with it, forget about it. The thing is doomed.

Also – if your ship ever falls victim to the hands of a 2 year old, the Godphoenix is doomed. Mine was pulled off of a shelf, broke both wings and one of the red fins on the back. I managed to open up the toy and get the wings to display with rubber bands inside, but it was tricky. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS TOY.

I have heard that the 2003 version is much sturdier, but I haven’t handled one to be sure. It’s colored more like the old Popy Chogokin. If you want show-accurate colors, the first version is the only one you are going to get.

Varidorin comes from the classsic Toei Sentai series "Goranger". It was originally released as a Popy diecast (PA-74), and then later released as a part of the Shogun Action Vehicle line as Verilift.

Unifive has created an all-new version of this classic toy as part of it's Cho Shin Gokin line. The new Varidorin is 12 inches long, and packed full of gimmicks.

It's features include:

• Push a button and the wings extend
• Push another button and the propellers spin (Battery powered)
• Claws launch
• nosecone splits open and ramp extends
• removeable landing gear
• Missile in belly
• Miniature goranger vehicles: Red, Blue and Green Machines, Varikikyun, and Varitank.
• Solid Die-Cast construction
• Amazing paint job.