The latest big Soul of Chogokin has arrived ! Godmars is here, and he is fantastic.

The latest big Soul of Chogokin has arrived ! Godmars is here, and he is fantastic.

The program "Rokushin Gattai God Marz" (aka Six Gods Combination God Mars or 六神合体ゴッドマーズ) debuted on the NTV network on October 2nd, 1981 and ran for 64 episodes until December 24, 1982. The Titular Robot was named Godmars – a giant robot made up of six smaller robots. Other than that, I got ‘nuthin.

Godmars was never broadcast in the west, so American audiences wouldn’t know of this character’s existence if it weren’t for it being part of the Godaikin line of toys in the 80s. Godaikin toys were repackaged Bandai toys that were assembled from a wide variety of sources. The GB-68 Popy DX Chogokin Godmars was sold under the line in mainstream outlets such as Child World and Toys R Us without any frame of reference.

The series wasn’t hugely popular and it is remembered more for the fantastic toys spawned from the show than the actual show itself. As Bandai’s Soul of Chogokin line progresses, it has to dig into the second tier characters. But this allows the designers to do a little more I think, because people are less concerned about the character and the accuracy than they are about if it is a cool, well-engineered toy.

I’m happy to say that Godmars is a great toy on many levels. Where the original Chogokin had a great transformation there was a lot to be said about what happened to the extra bits, or “kibble” that hung off the back. Bandai took this opportunity to right the wrongs made so long ago. This toy is a great homage to the classic Chogokin and is available at BetaToys.com

The box is very different from your average SOC. The big, bold title of the robot is spelled out in giant chrome letters, with all the characters flying in from space. Open the box and you get a styrofoam tray with an old-school insert, identifying each of the robots. Even more, lift off that tray to find that the Styrofoam has been embossed with the name and logo of the toy. That is awesome.

Each part of Godmars comes wrapped in plastic, and each unit is self-contained. No assembly is needed, and Godmars is ready to go right out of the box.

Godmars is made up of six robots.

Gaia is the core of the robot, and it hides inside the chest of Sphinx. It is microman sized, and is fantastically poseable. He comes with no accessories other than a set of variant hands. The lower legs and feet are metal.

Sphinx makes up the torso of Godmars. As a stand-alone robot, he is blocky and inarticulate. The head can turn, the arms have a decent range of motion, and the legs can swivel at the calf. The front and rear panels are metal. Sphinx also has a set of variant hands.

Uranus is the white arm of Godmars. This robot is really nicely done, with good articulation and metal content. Bandai did some great things with this toy in regards to hiding the arms so that it looked smooth from all sides.

Titan is the green arm of Godmars, and although he looks different, he transforms exactly the same as Uranus.

Shin is the black robot and makes up the right foot of Godmars. This is one heavy bot, with feet of solid metal. In robot mode his articulation is limited, but he is light years ahead of what was done with the old Chogokin version.

Ra is the blue robot and becomes the left foot of Godmars. This toy has the same transformation as Shin.

Assembling Godmars is as easy as it gets. Each robot folds up neatly with little fuss and no parts swapping. The arms of the smaller robots are hidden in a mechanism similar to Gold Lightan – each arm is collapsed and folded in to the torso, hidden inside. Once assembled, you’ve got a solid, fun toy that feels like it could have been made in 1982. The only thing that spoils the sense of nostalgia is the lack of firing fists.

Godmars has one weapon – the gigantic “Mars Flash” sword. The sword can be held in the existing articulated hands, or in the variant “sword holding” hand. Also included are two larger closed fists. Honestly, the hands that come stored inside the arms are good enough – the other fists are just clutter to be lost.

But wait, there is more. What SOC toy would be complete without all kinds of other accessories that are easily lost?

First off there are three small jets that can combine into one larger jet.

Cosmo Crusher 1 is a long slim gray jet.

Cosmo Crusher 2 is a stubby jet

Cosmo Crusher 3 is a microscopic ship that hides in the underside of Cosmo Crusher 1.

The two larger ships can combine to form the Cosmo Crusher. The toy is all plastic and has a cool transformation mechanism, but it doesn’t feel like it goes with the toy, and will probably remain in the box.

Godmars also comes with what looks like a large stone sarcophagus. You can place part of the display stand inside to pose the Gaia robot. Each of the Godmars robots rests in a hidden place, such as inside a statue or under the sea. It would have been cool if a container for each robot was provided as was shown at Tamashii Nation.

Lastly, A small stand is included, with pegs on the base for holding the hands. The stand has two parts that can be used for various displays. You can attach both parts to create a cradle for the sword, or you can attach the stand to the back of Gaia to replicate a flying mode.

As far as quality control goes, Godmars is mostly perfect. The door on top of Uranus (the white robot) does not like to stay flush with the body, and there are a few small paint issues in the inside of the arms of Shin (the black robot). Design-wise, the toy is great, although I find the legs a little long.

I would recommend Godmars, and you can get him at Betatoys.com. I think he is worth the money, and I feel that you get what you paid for with this one, bucking the trend with similarly priced “gokin” toys.

So why obsess over clear toys? What makes them interesting?

Japanese toy collecting is a funny hobby. Sometimes it is not enough that people like Japanese toys which are already an obscure subset of the toy colleting. Some people have to break their collections down even further.  To take control of their obsession, people place arbitrary limits on what they collect, such as certain sub lines or categories within the context of Japanese toys. It seems to make logical sense to concentrate on something like Transformers, Gundam, or Kaiju. But some collectors take it one step further; obsessing on not only what character or line the toy comes from, but of what material the toy has made.

Glow
Diecast
Soft Vinyl
Chrome
Clear.

I can think of many collectors who have this affliction. They will collect ANY toy, as long as it meets one arbitrary condition. In this case, CLEAR toys are the fetish of the day.

So why obsess over clear toys? What makes them interesting? Well, for one, they are a fresh take on subjects that may have grown tired. While a normal Gundam toy will make me yawn, show me a clear Gundam and I am all over it.  Secondly, I think that if you have been a vintage toy collector for any amount of time you have been conditioned to like them. The sides of vintage Popy Chogokin boxes sometimes had cutaway drawings that showed the inner mechanisms of the character. Japanese story books and magazines always had nice cutaway diagrams so you can see what made them tick. The drawings made them seem real.

It was only natural that Japanese toy companies like Popy took these illustrations and made them into toy form. They would often use the same molds and just pour a clear plastic into them – maximizing their profit from their investment.

While Popy made many different clear toys, there were only 2 entries (that I know of) in the Mechaclear line: Dairugger and God Marz. These toys both featured clear bodies that were filled with colored metal insides, meant to replicate the inner details of the robot. Each limb was attached to a peg, secured in place by a small rubber lining around the inside of the part.

The molds for the Mechaclear toys were also used to make the Mechagold series toys (also of Dairugger and GodMarz). There are even versions of Mechagold toys that have some Mechaclear parts mixed in with them. Mechagold toys were marketed under the Victora brand, a sub-brand of Popy.

The toys come packed in cheap black plastic trays in boxes with a hole for hanging on pegs, probably outside of train stations and convenience stores.

ENGRISH ALERT: check out the text on the back with the bar code. It reads “COMPUTER BAR CORD SYSTEM”

God Marz can be a nice catch if you want something different in your Jumbo collection without having to mortgage your future to get it.

The program "Rokushin Gattai God Marz" (aka Six Gods Combination God Mars or 六神合体ゴッドマーズ) debuted on the NTV network on October 2nd, 1981 and ran for 64 episodes until December 24, 1982. Not surprisingly, Popy wasted no time in releasing toys to coincide with the show and the Jumbo Machinder hit toy shelves before the close of 1981. Sadly, it would be the last upright Jumbo that Popy would release, as their next and final entry into the line would be the Dol dragon, released the following year.

Initially, I was not a big fan of the God Marz jumbo. I had seen a specimen in person that was missing the fists, the accessories and some stickers. It didn't impress me. But several years later I was able to get one MIB at a good price and started to warm up to it a bit. Not only was I probably a bit tired of seeing the same jumbos both online and in my own personal lineup, but I had also recently seen a few episodes of the show, so I was a little more open to the character. But perhaps more honestly, I'm a big fan of the Popy boxes and I think I was just excited to be able to add another one to my collection after about a two year drought. However, this is another one of Popy's "Super Jumbo Machinders" and this time they decided to compress the term "Jumbo Machinder" together underneath the word "Super", rather than have have it all split up like on the Tetsujin 28 box. I think this makes it look a little bit uglier.

The toy itself stands the traditional 23.5" tall and features a few interesting gimmicks. Both arms are jointed at the elbows and both fists can fire by pressing the button on the arm. One interesting note is that the lower arms of this toy were to be re-used on the Goggle V jumbo, which unfortunately never made it past the prototype stage. In fact, on the Goggle V specimen at the Bandai Museum in Japan (shown below), you can actually see the green from God Marz' left forearm beneath the chipped paint!

Another feature of the toy is that the chest panel can be removed by grabbing an indentation on the bottom. This reveals a sticker featuring "Gaia", the robot that the main character, Marz, on the show usually pilots before docking into the chest of God Marz.

Furthermore, the toy comes with a small rubber figure of Mars himself that can be stored in the chest. Unfortunately, it doesn't like to stay in there without the chest piece on. The hole in the chest is rounded in the back and it doesn't really allow the figure to lean back into it. You can delicately balance it in there, but it would have been nicer if there was some mechanism to actually attach it.

The last piece of weaponry in God Marz' arsenal is a sword which can be placed in the right hand of the toy. It's a nice inclusion and the blade and handle are two separately molded pieces. It is approximately 15" long.

One of the downsides to this jumbo is that there is very little articulation. Besides the elbows and the shoulders, nothing else moves. You can't even turn the head.

Nearly all of the detailing on this toy is from an enclosed sticker sheet. Unfortunately, my specimen came with the stickers already applied so I'm unable to offer a picture of this. An instruction sheet was also included. There is an offer of some kind at the bottom of it, but I'm unable to read the Japanese.

In closing, I'd have to say that I've changed my tune on God Marz. It's a nice toy and makes for a nice splash of variety in any jumbo lineup. Furthermore, it's probably one of the easier to get vintage Popy Jumbos. It may not show up as much as some of the more popular characters that were produced in higher numbers, but it generally doesn't carry that high a price tag either (at least in jumbo terms). I've seen it for as "little" as 70,000 yen at a Mandarake in Japan and didn't pay much more than that for mine on eBay. Seeing as how some of the more obscure Jumbos carry price tags in the thousands, God Mars can be a nice catch if you want something different in your Jumbo collection without having to mortgage your future to get it.

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