If I had the choice to get only one Raideen set, I would get the DX set. I just love the classic look of the white limbs, and the God Face Mountain is like getting a whole additional toy.

We’ve already discussed the previous SOC Raideen set in great detail in another review, so here we are just going to discuss the differences between the two sets. The Raideen figure itself is essentially the same as in the other set, with the exception of the arms and legs being white instead of chrome. This is how Raideen appears in the show, and also how the first edition chogokin was decorated.

The box here in this set is a monster, maybe the biggest SOC box to date. Inside is a Styrofoam container for Raideen, multiple plastic trays, and a large box. The included manual has more pages than the standard manual, and features additional concept artwork for Raideen.

All the previous accessories are there, and the DX set includes a bunch of additional accessories from the show.

Gogun Sword looks like a bow but is instead a large, double bladed chrome sword that fits on the left arm

Jet Boomerang is similar to the God Boomerang, but has extra details, and does not close. It too adheres to the right wrist by a magnet.

God Block Big Spin is a big shield that looks like a surfboard. This shield is permanently attached to the wrist ring and can spin 360 degrees. Unlike the other wrist accessories, this one is firmly attached.

Energy Cutter is a beam of energy that comes out of the base of the God Breaker shield.

The God Bird mode of Raideen gets a few extra parts as well

Head Cutter is a solid, non transforming head for the God Bird that has extra detailing in the back – this head is meant to “launch” at an enemy vehicle, although for the toy it just plugs in. It has better proportions (in my opinion) than the original head.

Body Cutter is a large blade that takes the place of the head of the God Bird.

Probably the biggest reason one might get this set is for the included God Face Mountain. This mammoth monument holds a large golden statue of Raideen, which is revealed when you pull out a tab on the base. The head is solid plastic and requires some assembly. The stone statue is about 9 inches tall.

The Gold Raideen statue is a fixed-pose plastic statue. The only movable part is a small door in the waist that opens to accept the Sparker superbike. It is these accessories that allow one to re-enact Akira Hibiki’s “Fade In!” move when he wants to activate Raideen.

The Sparker (or Supercar) is a microscopic vinyl motorcycle that includes an even smaller Akira figure in riding position. This thing could ride an ant, it is so small. The cycle attaches to a black plate that can be stored in either the statue or on the display base.

This leads me to my one gripe about this set – the base. While all the original accessories have a place on the base, the new accessories do not.

If I had the choice to get only one Raideen set, I would get the DX set. I just love the classic look of the white limbs, and the God Face Mountain is like getting a whole additional toy.

You can get your DX Raideen Fade in Set at BetaToys.com

You can get your DX Raideen Fade in Set at BetaToys.com

Raideen is a good toy, but somehow I think I was hoping for something different. I guess that can’t be helped when you wait for something for so long.

If you need an introduction to Raideen, you probably shouldn’t be reading this site. He’s pretty much one of the first transforming robots, and one of the original batch of super robots from the 70s. He’s one of my favorite characters – you could say I have a slight Raideen obsession.

Since the dawn of the Soul of Chogokin line, I have wanted a SOC Raideen. I have always wondered how they would pull it off, and looked for clues in the other super robots released in the line to date.

Well, it is finally here. It’s a good toy, but somehow I think i was hoping for something different. I guess that can’t be helped when you wait for something for so long.

Jump to Video

The GX-41 Soul of Chogokin Raideen the Brave was released in two versions. In this review we are talking about the standard set, but there is also a GX-41S DX Raideen Fade-in Set that I will be reviewing separately. Both sets are available at BetaToys.com.

The packaging was kind of sub-par in my opinion. I don’t much care for the gold-theme packaging, and I was hoping for a return to retro look after the awesome Godmars box. Inside the box you will find the body of Raideen in a Styrofoam tray, while the rest of the accessories are in clear molded plastic trays. Also included is a nice color manual that has some history about the evolution of the character, should you be able to read Japanese.

One good thing is that there isn’t much assembly required to get Raideen ready to play. You just need to attach the head, fists, and what we will call the leg guards. There are two different sets of leg guards to choose from, but we will get into that later.

The Raideen figure itself, sans accessories, is really nice. The head features moveable panels that close in bird mode, as well as moveable yellow horns. The face can be replaced with an angrier face that has a moveable mouth. Getting the faces swapped can be tough if you have fat fingers – just move the side panels out as far as you can to get in there. They go out farther than you think. Head articulation is not great, but that’s more of a limitation of the character than anything. You can pull the neck up a little to get a wider range of motion.

The shoulders are metal, and have nice solid joints. The shoulder pads are plastic and just clip into the shoulders, so they can pop off during transformation. The arms are metal down to the elbow, and then at the end the fists can pop onto a peg at the end. The lower arm can slide up over the elbow for transformation, but can also dislocate and come off if twisted in an odd angle.

Raideen has a waist joint in the middle of the red area of the torso. It’s an interesting joint because you actually have to pull it up before rotating it. You do end up getting a small amount of tilting motion here as well. The top of the torso features a missile firing gimmick at the peak of the red area. Press the panel on the left side of the torso to launch the center portion, and then replace it with a bird missile or other accessory, such as the “God Voice” assembly.

The legs attach at the hips with nice solid chrome joints, and feature a pull down connector to enable transformation into bird mode. The legs have inset red diamonds made out of plastic – not painted. The knees are nice and clicky and the lower legs offer collapsible panels in the back to allow for transformation. The front leg guards can be swapped between solid guards and ones with extendable toe sections.

Finally, the feet jets are diecast metal, and are hinged on a ball joint.

Accessories

Raideen comes with a ton of accessories, some good, some not so good. The main problem areas are any accessory that needs to be attached to the arms.

To swap out an arm accessory, it is necessary to remove the fist, then the red ring around the wrist. Each arm accessory comes with its own ring to secure it to the arm. The thing is, each ring is only held on by a tiny peg (or in one case, a magnet). The things just do not stay on. Medicom made the same mistake years ago on their Miracle Action Figure version. Why aren’t these solid pieces, or more sturdy? This is just plain lazy on Bandai’s part. This really only applies to the shield items – the bow arm attachments for the other arm are much sturdier.

On the right arm, you have your choice of three accessories:

God Block is the round shield, and you can replace the tip with either a long or short spike

God Breaker is the slim red part with the long spike on the end.

God Boomerang is actually attached by a magnet, and is meant to be grabbed by one of the extra hands. The sides of the weapon can be opened to give it a boomerang look.

On the left arm, you have the option of the small closed bow, or the large articulated bow. This bow is hinged at the handle, and the sections can slide forward and backward. Using the variant pointing hands, Raideen can hold the God Gogun arrows as if preparing to fire. There are two different arrows, each with a metal shaft.

Transformation

Transformation from Raideen to God Bird is not perfect, but I don’t think it ever will be. Included with the set is a separate wing assembly that plugs into the figures back once a panel is removed. The wings are folded up in an intricate origami pattern. You can display the figure with wings on, but it looks odd.

To begin the transformation, close the head panels, and push up the lower arms. Bend both legs up so that the bar in the waist comes out, and bend down and collapse the legs.

Fold out the wing assemblies around the arms so that they are covered, and then turn down the shoulder pads. This area can be a bit fidgety, and once you get one section in place it seems another pops off. This action would have benefited from some clips or something, but I fear Bandai is more concerned with accuracy than playability.

On the back of the figure, swing out the beak assembly and place over the tip of the head of the figure, then pull the head out so it fits snugly in the beak. Finally, push the upper horns in, and then unfold the bird claws below the figure.

Bird mode looks great. Once you get it together, it looks pretty solid. It can’t stand on its own in this mode so there is a panel that attaches to the underside that can slide into an extra part of the stand. Be careful though, there is a small blue tab where the front of the panel connects to Raideen – I broke mine off. It doesn’t effect anything, but still…..

The Stand

For such a complex SOC, the base is very simple. The underside of the base has storage for the leg guards that are secured in place by a bracket. The top side has spaces for the 5 arm attachments, 3 extra hands, 2 arrows, missile, extra face, and Brugar (or Blugar, Broogar whatever)

The Brugar is a small plastic ship that has wing sections that tilt down and has a removable spit fighter.

Raideen can stand on the base in robot mode, or in God Bird Mode. There is no place to store the wing assembly on the base so you have to display it on the figure or in the box.

When I first handled Raideen, I will admit that I was a little disappointed. However, The toy has grown on me a lot since then, and I especially love the DX set, which I will review next. Both sets are available at Betatoys.com, so if you like what you see, order one before they are gone.

GX-41 Soul of Chogokin Raideen the Brave at Betatoys.com

Taito brings us some UFO catcher prize toys of Raideen for only 1,500 yen!

Taito brings us some UFO catcher prize toys of Raideen for only 1,500 yen!

Seemingly out of nowhere, Taito blasts on the radar of toy collectors with its Super Mechanics line of ships and Super Robonics line of Robot toys. Crazy.

This Raideen is a prize toy - meaning it isn't sold at retail, you have to win one by plunking down cash until you can grab one in the crane game. However, its not uncommon for these to be offered for sale on-line or in second hand shops all over Tokyo.

Raideen is just under a foot tall - 30cm and is made out of soft vinyl. He has swivel joints at the knees, waist, hands, elbows and shoulders. The shoulder pads also move.

Raideen's face plates are removable and repositionable so you can simulate "God Bird" mode... sort of.

Word has it that a lot of these have QC issues, such as glue drips and fingerprints, but you have to remember that these cost about $15 each which is pretty amazing if you ask me.

Taito also released an all black version of this Raideen.

Yeah, that's right. I said "ULTRAMAN".

Everyone who knows anything about Jumbo Machinders knows that the Raideen Jumbo from Popy was re-released by Mattel as a Shogun Warrior. But did you know that there is also a version released in Mexico? This toy was produced by Jugarama and was released under the name of......Ultraman?!?! Yep, Ultraman. All of the Jumbos produced by Jugarama had different names than their Popy counterparts. Why Raideen was changed to Ultraman, though, I have no idea.

The great thing about the Jugarama Ultraman, as opposed to the Mattel Raydeen, is that they didn't mess with the original design. The toy is exactly like the Popy version, bow-fist and all. The only difference is that it does not have the sticker with "Raideen" written on it and it is slightly scaled down. It's about an inch shorter, maybe even less.

I've never seen the box for this toy, but since all the other Jumbos released by Jugarama have artwork mimicking the Popy boxes, I think it's safe to assume the same would be true here. The only reason I know the name of this toy is because it is shown on the side of the Goro Goro box.

"Ultraman" is a pretty rare toy. I think I've seen about five of them for sale, and they are usually in pretty bad condition. I think mine is the best I've seen and I paid about $150 for it. Others have sold for as little as $50.

Another classic, beloved Shogun Warriors toy. Raydeen evoked fond memories in me when I first saw him again as an adult, but once I discovered the original, it lost it's appeal for me.

Two years after Popy released their Raideen Jumbo Machinder, the toy would be imported into North America and Europe as part of Mattel's Shogun Warriors line-up. Mattel labeled the toy as "Raydeen" on the packaging. Depending on who's doing the writing, you'll see it listed sometimes as "Raideen" or "Reideen". There are three versions of this Mattel release. I won't focus on those differences since that's already been done here. What I will touch on is the difference between the Mattel and Popy versions. The Mattel version I have is version 2.

The first thing that jumps out at you is that the left fist has been changed. Instead of having the original bow-fist, Mattel attached a launching "Iron Cutter" fist that was originally a part of Popy's line of Jumbo accessory fists, designated XX-13. It's nice that they wanted you to have another launching fist, but it really throws off the symmetry of the toy, with one hand now hanging lower than the other.

If you stand the Popy and Mattel versions side by sie, you'd notice that the Mattel one is actually taller. On the 2nd version, this can partly be attributed to the different wheel housing on the feet, but more significant is the fact that the legs have been elongated at the knees. In the picture below, notice that the Mattel version (on the left) has a lot more blue plastic above the screw before you get to the white upper leg. You'll also see that the Popy version comes with stickers on the side of the leg, while the Mattel (2nd version at least) did not.

I have no idea why this extra material was added, but personally, I prefer the stockier look of the original toy better. One thing is sure though, while replacing the Iron Cutter with a bow-fist will make your Shogun Warrior Raydeen look better, it's still noticeably different from the Popy version.

Other than those things, it's basically the same as the Popy toy (with the other differences detailed in the link above notwithstanding.) As with most of the Shogun Warrior Jumbos, it's very, very common on ebay. Boxed examples generally run between $100-200 dollars, on average.

Raideen (also sometimes spelled "Reideen" or "Raydeen") must have been produced in great numbers.

Brave Raideen (勇者ライディーン) aired from April 1975 until March of 1976. The Jumbo Machinder was released in 1975. Other Jumbos released that year were the Getter G team, Getter Dragun, Getter Liger and Getter Poseidon and all three toys were packaged in boxes featuring strikingly similar artwork. Although Raideen has no other connection to those robots, it seems almost like they are a set unto themselves due to this similarity.

Raideen (also sometimes spelled "Reideen" or "Raydeen") must have been produced in great numbers because it remains one of the most easy to find Jumbo Machinders from the whole line, along with the first two releases, Mazinger Z and Kamen Rider V3. There are always loose specimens on Yahoo!Japan auctions and I think practically every shop I went into on my last trip to Tokyo had at least one, many with the boxes. It's been said that this toy even had a limited release in the US, which seems likely since it does show up on ebay from US sellers occasionally.

The original Japanese version of the toy (Raideen was released by two other companies, Mattel in the US and Europe and Jugarama in Mexico) is by far the best one to get. It's proportions are much nicer than any of the subsequent releases and the bow fist is a favorite among fans who grew up with the much less attractive Mattel Shogun Warriors version.

Popy Raideen

Mattel Raydeen

This guy sure seems enthusiastic about the toy!

Reideen comes with wheels on it's feet, removable hands and winged missiles that it shoots from it's stomach. This missile is unique to this Jumbo. This missile is usually yellow, but JoshB (who owns the specimen pictured in this review) has seen at least one missile that was cast in blue.

In the anime, Raideen could transform into a flying "God Bird" mode and you can represent this by turning the robot on it's side. Ok, ok, you gotta use your imagination a bit for that one..

Besides being released by Mattel and Jugarama, this main body sculpt of the Raideen Jumbo Machinder was also used on other toys. The Mazingger Z jumbo from Argentina uses the torso while the Argus toy from Brazil uses both the torso and the head. There is also a very cheaply made Mazinger Z from Mexico that uses the entire body of the Raideen Jumbo but replaces the head with a crudely sculpted Mazinger Z head. Truly, toy makers got their money's worth out of this mold!

As I said before, this is a pretty easy find as far as Popy Jumbo Machinders go. You can probably get a loose one in decent condition for as little as $100 while a deadstock example might be around $400-600.

It was only after I had made my purchase that the realization hit me:

How am I going to get this thing home?

This is another find from the 2006 Tokyo trip with Nekrodave. We were hitting all the stores in Akihabara and one of our last stops was Toys GoldenAge.

It was there that I found this Raideen Kite. With my Raideen obsession in full swing, I couldn’t pass it up. Sure the box was a little beat, but it was only 1,500 yen! It was only after I had made my purchase that the realization hit me:

How am I going to get this thing home?

Turns out I had to hand-carry it onto the airplane and store it in the overhead compartment. Customs even put a sticker on it. It was such a pain to carry around, but now I consider it well worth it.

First off, the box art is simply gorgeous. The pink background with the sunburst just screams 70s. There is a small die-cut window at the top that allows you to see the attached figure.

The kite itself is similar in design to a Tahara fighting kite. The rectangular kite is supported by 2 tubes on the top and bottom and one running down the center. A metal frame is attached to which you hang the small Raideen toy who then acts as if he is “Hang Gliding”.

I could never get my sofubi Raideen to attach to the kite, and just this year I found out why – the toy included with my kite was the wrong one! No wonder it was only $15 bucks. The following images are from a Yahoo Japan auction and show the proper toy.

I’ve never actually flown the kite, but maybe next summer I will…

You are looking at one of my personal holy grails, the GA-09 Black Raideen. As my Raideen collection inches toward completion, the remaining pieces become more elusive and more expensive.

You are looking at one of my personal holy grails, the GA-09 Black Raideen. As my Raideen collection inches toward completion, the remaining pieces become more elusive and more expensive.

The prices have actually made me question whether or not I want to see this obsession through to completion. How can I justify spending thousands of dollars on what will essentially sit on a shelf? At the end of the day, what does it get me?

Fortunately, opportunities have arisen here and there that have allowed me to obtain some pieces that I thought were out of my reach. This toy comes from the collection of Ed Sanford, founder of Robot-Japan. Ed is a great guy and a good friend. We managed to work out a deal that finally landed the Black Raideen in my possession.

Ed had obtained this Raideen from a Japanese seller years ago. The story goes that he was part of a collection of an older man who had passed away. The room with his collection had been sealed for a year before the widow had begun selling his collection. When the figure arrived in America, it still had the dust on it from being locked up, and included a nice note from the widow about the toy.

The Black Raideen was released by Popy three years after the release of the original GA-09. It marked a turning point in the Japanese Toy Industry – It was the first “Black version” toy. I’m not sure why Popy decided to make a black version. Perhaps they were looking for a way to get more revenue out of a mold? Maybe it was an attempt at targeting collectors? Whatever the reason, it started a trend that continues to this day.

The box is identical to the 2nd version Raideen box, aside from a black band printed around the front of the box that says “Deluxe Super Metal Black”. The figure is the same as the original, but all the plastic is cast in black and the metal is painted black. New decals with gold highlights have been added to the toy.

My black Raideen has lived a long life, and all things considering, it is in pretty good shape. I wish the old collector knew that his Black Raideen was in good hands.

There was a reissue of the Black Raideen in 2000, but the molds were poor and it did not have the gold stickers. The box was entirely different as well.

Bandai created a Black Raideen as part of it’s THE Chogokin line. It was originally an exclusive to the Chogokin Expo in 2004, but was later released to mass markets.

The very first DX chogokin - Raideen. This review features the rare first version with white legs.

Portions of this review are taken from my Super7 article about Raideen.

I can trace the obsession back to Christmas of 1978. I had discovered comic books, and my favorite was the Marvel Shogun Warriors comic. I had begged my parents all year long for a Shogun Warriors toy. I didn't care which one; I just had to have one. On Christmas morning my wish was granted. I tore open the wrapping paper to find my very first giant robot: Raideen. It was the Raideen Jumbo Shogun Warrior. It was the third version, but I wouldn't know that until years later. My dad instantly took it out of my hands and cut off the sharp point of the shield with toenail clippers. I was five years old, and the only kid I knew with a Shogun Warrior. I ruled the neighborhood with a shooting fist.

Years went by, and Raideen got burnt, painted, buried and eventually lost. As a teen I ignored my toys and all but forgot about him. After college I began to get into toys again, and once I got online I decided to look for my favorite childhood toy again. I discovered Alen Yen's ToyboxDX, and through them, eBay. It was all downhill from there.

Raideen's original name was Brave Raideen, or Yuusha Raideen. The Japanese TV show aired from April 4, 1975 to March 26, 1976, and ran for 50 episodes. Produced by Sunrise, Brave Raideen told the story of Akira Hibiki, who pilots the giant robot to fight against the Devil Empire. Akira would ride his 'œSupercar' motorcycle off of a cliff and yell 'œfade in!' as he entered the dormant Raideen.

Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, directed the first 26 episodes of the show. He quit and was replaced with Tadao Nagahama, who also directed Combattler V and Voltes V. The mechanical design of Raideen was done by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Suzuki Yoshitake. Originally, Raideen was intended to be green, but Mr. Yasuhiko changed his mind about this. The show was also the first to incorporate mystical or supernatural elements into the super robot genre.

Popy produced the very first Raideen toys. Raideen was the ninth toy in the Popy GA series of die cast robot toys, known as Chogokin. It has a place in history as being the first Popy toy with the DX label, and the GA-09 is commonly regarded as the first transforming die cast robot.

The GA-09 Raideen is a work of art. In robot mode, it features firing fists and weapons that attach to the arms. Transformation to Godbird is simple - close the face plates, fold the wings back over the arms, fold down the shoulder pads, bend the legs at the knees and move up, and finally swing the landing gear out from the back. Simple and beautiful.

The story of the Popy GA-09 is a complicated one. The first version (shown) of the GA-09 came with white legs and later versions would have chrome. The GA-09 was reissued in the 'œEtarnal Heroes' (yes, that's how they spelled it) series, and again in the mid 80s in a blue and white box. Raideen was also released in 1978 as part of the Shogun Warriors 'œ2-in-1' line by Mattel.

Popy also issued an extremely limited black version of the GA-09, officially known as Super Metal Black GA-09, which has become very expensive over the years. It came out three years after the original, and was sold in limited quantities and intended for older fans. It is not know where the idea of the black version came from, as it does not appear anywhere in the show. The Super Metal Black GA-09 was the very first black version toy, starting a trend that continues to this day. In the mid 1990's, there was also a re-release of the Black Raideen, along with a Black ST Combattler and Black ST Godsigma. Unlike the original, this black version has no gold trim. Rumor has it that these were made by the molding company without Bandai's consent. The boxes have no markings, and the toys are less detailed then the originals, due to the degradation of the molds over time.

In 1999, Bandai released the GA-09R, a re-tooling of the original Popy toy. Over an inch taller, the reissue featured an entirely new sculpt and paint job. Some of the notable differences are red wings instead of white, and metallic gold horns instead of yellow. Although it looks similar to the original, it is an entirely different toy. Bandai also created a limited gold version of this toy, available only at the Tokyo Toy Festival in February 2000. Only 1000 were made, and they were completely sold out.

The Raideen shown here is a first version toy, but the box is a second version. I do not know if some first version toys got placed in this second version box, or if this was done by a collector later on.

Banpresto cranked out dozens of cheap toys from their Super Robot Wars video game series. Usually it's some kind of SD character or non-poseable gashapon, but this time they decided to put out a fairly articulated figure.

Raideen comes unassembled and blind boxed. What that means is if you are opening a brand new, sealed box, there is no way of knowing what version you are going to get. To complicate things, there were often several different color versions, in addition to the regular version. I know that for Raideen, there is a white, blue, grey, red and maybe even a black version, in addition to the regular color version. The regular color, the one everyone wants, is the hardest to find.

There seems to also have been a version that came with extra parts to transform into the Godbird. I'm not sure of this, but I get the impression that it was a mail away or something like that.

The toy goes together pretty easily, but pay attention ot the little joint connectors. There are actually 2 different sizes, so make sure you use the right size for the right part. The plastic is soft, and some parts, like the shield blade, are bent from storage.

He's only about 3.5 inches tall, but he is a pretty cool little figure.