Daimos is good. Very good. But it’s going to feel a bit odd to US fans. Video included

Daimos is one of those characters that has been on the fans lists to be made into an SOC for some time now.

It appears Bandai has been listening, because here it is.

Daimos comes from the Japanese anime series Tosho Daimos (闘将ダイモス) or Brave Leader Daimos. Originally airing in 1978, Daimos is part of the Romantic Trilogy which also features Combattler V and Voltes V.

Soul of Chogokin GX-43 Daimos is available from BetaToys.com

Daimos never aired in the US, but toys of Daimos were included in both the Godaikin and Shogun Warriors lines. In the late 90s, a compilation DVD called “Starbirds” appeared on supermarket dollar DVD racks. However, in addition to its native Japan, Daimos was popular in Philippines, Malaysia, Italy and France.

I’ll say it right now. Daimos is good. Very good. But it’s going to feel a bit odd to US fans.

First off – the box is the typical SOC quality. Nice graphics, nice packaging. The toy itself is packed in a Styrofoam tray while the accessories are in the clear plastic trays.

Inside, Daimos is ready to go in robot form.

Daimos, in robot mode, is really fantastic. Articulation is great. The head moves, the arms have a dual joint that allows a wide range of motion, even up over the head. Its very nice. The elbows have a double joint and the wrists turn in two places.

There’s no waist joint, sadly.

At the legs, there are joints at the hips, double joints at the knees, and joints at the ankles.

As for metal content, Daimos is loaded with metal, In fact, he is heavier than the original DX chogokin. Chest, shoulders, legs, connectors… Metal.

In Robot mode, Daimos has the usual ton of accessories.

• Sanryuukon staff

• Snake Lock

• Daimo-Shaft

• Battle Break

• Five Shooter

• Souryuuken blade

• Daimo-Kick

• Daimos Chain Shark

• Freezer Storm

• Double Blizzard

• Fire Blizzard

Transformation from robot mode to vehicle mode (or Tranzer) isn’t really difficult, but there are a few odd areas and a few issues of contention.

For one, Daimos kind of cheats on the transformation. The Tranzer cab actually is stored in the chest and swaps out with the head, instead of just transforming from one to the other.

The arms fold down along the chest and store in near the legs as opposed to the chest.

Also, included are two different sets of back coverings. One set is fully transformable, and the other is an anime-accurate set. You need to have the transformable set on to go into vehicle mode.

Watch the video to see the transformation in action.

In vehicle mode, Daimos is a brick. It’s just a solid inarticulate piece. Unlike the vintage piece, the cab does not move on this version. The tires are a hard rubber, and do turn.

Missiles can be attached to the rear sections of the Tranzer. Also, the rear of the trailer has a door that opens that allows the miniature Tryper 75S to dock inside. Two mini-Tryper are included – one just in car mode, and one with wings open.

An additional larger Tryper is included that features rolling wheels, opening cockpit and opening wing section.

A stand is included that holds all the weapons, but honestly, we didn’t put it together. In fact, it seems that lately we just leave the extra parts and stand in the box, and just display the figure with the accessories we like most. We just don’t have the room anymore.

If you are a fan of the old DX chogokin Daimos, this toy may leave you a little cold. The transformation seems needlessly complex, the colors seem all wrong, and despite having more accessories, the new version doesn’t actually do much. It’s less fun but more anime-accurate.

However, there is hope. With the recent announcement of the “Respect for Volt-In-Box” set, the Soul of Chogokin colored like the old popy DX set, there is the hope that Bandai will continue to re-issue SOC in classic chogokin colors. And to add a bit more evidence to this – the green shin guards on Daimos are only painted green. That’s right; they are actually molded in yellow – the color of the guards on the original DX chogokin.

Soul of Chogokin GX-43 Daimos is available from BetaToys.com

Only quality issues prevent this toy from being better than the Mattel Shogun Warrior that it knocks off.

Sometime in the late 1970s, Spanish toy makers "Nacoral" produced at least four bootleg versions of the Mattel Shogun Warriors Jumbos. Although the original toys were produced by Popy in Japan, it was clearly the US Mattel versions that were being mimmicked. The four toys that were released were Dragun (Robot Lanza Discos), Daimos (Robot lanza cohetes), Great Mazinger (Robot lanzamisiles) and Gaiking (Robot lanza punos).

.

Daimos was probably second on my personal want list in terms of Nacoral Jumbos, right after Dragun. It looks significantly different than the Mattel version, while still maintaining a high visual appeal. In fact, some might suggest that the Nacoral version is even better than the Mattel one. The addition of a second joint on the left arm solves the symmetry problem that the Shogun Warrior possesses. Additionally, now both fists have launching capabilities.

Among the most prominent of the other differences between the two toys is the change in color scheme. The chest and fists have been changed from black to blue, while the red of the arms and legs is a lighter shade. Strangely, some parts of the feet and fists have a sort of blending of colors, as you can see both blue AND black clearly.

A similar thing is true of the missiles that came with this specimen of the toy. It's quite difficult to see in photos, but these missiles have an orange hue to them, even a blending of red and yellow. This is significant to me because many years ago I was involved in a transaction between two friends for a Nacoral Daimos and that toy had red missiles, much like the Popy Daimos. I remember it vividly because it was missing one missile and I gave my friend a red missile that I had from an Italian bootleg "Super Warrior" jumbo. I just assumed that all Nacoral Daimos jumbos came with red missiles and that the specimens that I had seen in pictures with yellow missiles likely were missing theirs and the owners simply substituted yellow Mattel missiles. But recently several people told me that they had bought boxed Nacorals that came with yellow missiles. The sort of hybrid missiles I have here lead me to think we were all correct and that the Nacoral Daimos was released with both red and yellow missiles.

There are still more differences between the Nacoral and Mattel versions of this toy. The back wheels on the feet are different. Where the Mattel toy has one large wheel on the back, the Nacoral has to thin ones. The heads are also quite different as well. While the Mattel is soft vinyl with painted detail, the Nacoral is polyethylene with stickers. The blue and silver stripes as well as the eyes are all stickers. The colors have been changed and furthermore, there is even a slight difference in the mold. If you look from the side, you will notice that Nacoral is missing the four circles just behind the "ear" of the head. And above that, the area that is blue on the Mattel version extends further up than it does on the Nacoral. Here you can see how it slants down toward the back.

One last thing that I just noticed is that the stickers on the legs have been inverted and for some strange reason, it appears that the circles on the right leg of the Nacoral Daimos are off-center. On the front of the lower legs, you'll notice that there is no molded lines around the stickers like the original. You can also see that like most bootlegs, it is slightly shorter..

Just like the other Nacoral jumbos, Daimos actually shows the Shogun Warrior version on the box lid and the box is a much harder, and therefore more durable, cardboard than we are used to seeing on Jumbos. Outside of that though, the toy does suffer some quality issues like many bootleg toys do. The plastic knob of the fists is prone to cracking and the fist tends to shoot off by itself as a result. The mold lines on the legs aren't as clean as they could be and overall it just feels less durable than the official toy.

The Nacoral Daimos is a fine addition to your jumbo or bootleg collection. It doesn't show up too often though. However, when it does, sometimes it seems to show up in bunches. I have no idea why that seems to happen with some toys, but it does. You'll go two years without seeing one, then all of a sudden 3 are available. Go figure. This toy probably costs a bit more than the regular Shogun version. I got mine recently, perfectly labeled on Ebay for about $300. Even as much as $400 may be acceptable, but don't spend any more than that. Searching Ebay in Europe will likely land you a better deal.

This is another example where the original Popy Jumbo Machinder is infinitely better than the Shogun Warriors version, but regardless, I'll always love this Mattel toy.

I don't care what anybody says, I love the Shogun Warrior Daimos. This is THE one for me. The one that brings me back to when I was little. I was just three years old in 1978 when it was released, but I distinctly remember my first exposure to it, hidden away in my parent's closet, waiting for it's Christmas time unveiling. Technically, I think it was a gift for one of my older brothers, who'd led me to that closet in the first place, but we all played with it (as well as the others in the line). There wasn't one in the line that I didn't love back then, but Daimos was my favorite. I loved the red and black color scheme, augmented by those silver and yellow stickers. I loved the slight smirk on his face. Maybe it made him looks closest to human and more easily related to or something. Or maybe it was just the wonder and excitement of looking into that closet and seeing something I wasn't supposed to that I've always connected with this toy. Regardless of why, I'll always love this one.

Of course, it's not the best Jumbo representation of the character. The Popy original is widely considered a masterpiece and most people agree that the Mattel version can't hold a candle to it. Too many changes were made and too many corners cut for this release. Most of the weapons were dumbed down or removed entirely. None of the handheld weapons are included anymore and the parts that formed those weapons originally have been replaced by stickers. The missile launchers on the upper thighs are gone. The ones on the calves are still there, but for some reason the color of those missiles have been changed from red to yellow (4 are included). Instead of both fists shooting, only the right one does.

The stickers on the arms, legs and pelvis of the Popy version have been replaced with a couple original stickers on the front of the legs. Strangely, although there were both English and Japanese language waist stickers on the Popy version, Mattel only used the Japanese language one, an odd choice since this was released in an English speaking country. Of course, this was also released in Europe, but it still seems sort of bizarre to me. Perhaps they wanted some consistency with the other imported jumbos in the line.

Daimos is pretty simple beyond those changes. There is simple articulation at the neck, shoulders and hips, though moving the legs is pointless since you really can't pose it anyway. The right fist is jointed so it can be swiveled, which is cool, but it kind of just makes you sad that the left one isn't the same. Furthermore, the right fist now hangs lower than the left. The missiles launchers on the legs can turn to rest in a dip in the legs. Each foot has one large and one small roller on the bottom.

Ok, so the Popy version is much better. In fact, in looking at Mike's review while writing this one, I like my toy a little less than when I started. But this is still the best Shogun Warrior Jumbos, in my opinion. All of them are asymmetrical in one way or another, but overall, I think this one has the best proportions and color scheme. It's also the hardest to get. Most suggest that is because it was released at the tail end of the line when sales where already sagging, and therefore had a lower production run. It should sell in the $200-300 range on average, but as usual, you will see exceptions to this rule. I myself got mine for about $130 about a year and a half ago while a couple months back one sold for a stupefying $1200!

In addition to Popy and Mattel, two other companies would release jumbos of Daimos. Nacoral (Spain) and Famosa (Venezuela) both released versions more similar to the Shogun Warrior. There is also another Daimos that is similar to the Mattel, "Super Daimos" I believe it was called. It had more missiles but it's uncertain if this was a legitimate release or a faked custom. At least one collector from the Philipines recalls a version there that had a hard plastic head with a light up feature (perhaps not unlike the Takara Giant Gorg toy), but at this time there's not a photograph of such a toy. Lastly, if you have the Mattel Daimos, but wanted to make it look more like the Popy, there have been custom sticker and resin repro parts on the web at various times to help with that. So you may see some interesting "hybrids" out there. The Popy add-on stickers are available at the Machindershop Yahoo! Group.

DAIMOS OPENING by ANIMETAL:

If you want to add this machinder to your collection, I guarantee you won't regret it!

Fighting General Daimos (闘将ダイモス Toushou Daimos) was an anime produced by Nihon Sunrise and it ran from 1st April 1978 to 27th January 1979. It consisted of 44 episodes. It is the third installement of Tadao Nagahama's Romantic Trilogy. Chodenji Robo Combattler V was the first and Chodenji Machine Voltes V the second. Both were also released as Machinders by Popy.

It looks like the name of Daimos comes from Deimos, one of the two moons of Mars.

A lot of people know this character from the Shogun Warrior line, released by Mattel, but the version we know is clearly a downgrade of a perfect toy. The original version is probably one of my favorite Machinder, stuffed with a ton of accessories and great attention to details. He can shoot from all sides and slice you with a huge choice of blades.

Popy's Machinders usually come with no shooting fist or both shootable. In this case you will enjoy the two shooting fists, and the articulation at the elbow. Unlike the Mattel version, both forearms are red and his right hand is designed to be able to grab the handle for the blades. The handle is the yellow part on the chest which is removable. Once removed, you can put two blue blades in it.

It comes with another pair of huge blue blades that can fit in the forearms. At this place you can also put the little yellow blades that are placed on the legs.

When it comes to the missiles, Daimos also features a big launcher for red missiles, those where designed specifically for this machinder. He also have on the side of each upper leg part 4 missiles launcher for regular popy missiles.

He shares almost all the same features as the Godaikin except that he doesn't transform into the tank. Too bad Popy didn't do it as they've done it for both Voltes V and Combattler V. Well you can still pretend it does as there's some shapes molded on the back of the main body part that look like wheels but this doesn't make a real tank mode.

So from all those accessories, Mattel only kept the missile launcher on the lower part of the legs and one shooting fist. Some pieces where replaced by stickers and they didn't even put as many stickers as were on the original.

The Japanese version exists with two different stickers on the belt, one with the Japanese calligraphy and the other one with 'œDAIMOS'? written on it. I think that the second version is rarer but this is just from what I saw during the years.

This Machinder is quite difficult to find complete, but strangely I've see more boxed specimen than loose ones. The one I own has a repro box so maybe this is the reason why I had a good deal on it. Depending of the condition, a loose specimen should sold for around 1000-1500$ while a MIB is more around 2700$. So be prepared if you want to add this machinder to your collection, but I guarantee you won't regret it!

SHOW OPENING: