GoShogun

Review by JoshB

Lets get right to the point – this toy is AMAZING. It has exceeded my expectations in almost every way imaginable, and sets the new standard for modern gokin.

The CM’s Corporation Brave Gokin GoShogun is the 8th entry into their line of diecast robot toys. These high end toys give Bandai’s Soul of Chogokin line a run for their money.

GoShogun comes from the 1981 Super Robot Anime Sengoku Majin GoShogun (戦国魔神ゴーショーグン). Fans in the US may recognize this robot from a show called Macron-1, an imported mash-up of GoShogun and Srungle.

This toy is so incredible – it is hard for me to know where to even start. When the package arrived via EMS from HobbyLink Japan, I stopped everything and tore it open.

Packaging

GoShogun comes in a suprisingly small and light box. Inside the box you find a styrofoam tomb with a clear plastic tray attached to one side. The tray houses all of the accessories for GoShogun, and the styrofoam GoShogun on one side, and more accessories on the other.

GoShogun

The figure comes assembled and ready to play – there is surprisingly little you have to do with it. Included with the toy are some caps to cover up the screw holes. Make sure you read the instruction manual before you apply these – specific caps go in specific holes. The caps are also notched so they can only go in a certain ways, and they are angled to match the surface of the area. I can’t stress enough how important this is.

One of the most surprising (and wonderful) things about this toy is the sheer amount of metal used in its construction. I’d say the toy is about 80% metal. It is one of the most satisfying toys to hold, and it actually feels like a “new” vintage toy.

Also surprising is the amount of articulation packed into this toy. For example, the shoulders have very deep ratchets that make a satisfying click when moved, but then that whole assembly swings up and out, allowing the arms to be held up over the head. Each shoulder pad is movable, and the rest of the joints are exceptionally tight.

The neck is a ball joint and there is actually a waist joint. The hips move in every way that you would imagine (they are basically just ball joints, but really tight). Probably the most luscious joint in the whole toy is the knee joints. They just swing forward and backward, but they have that metal-on-metal “klank” noise that just makes my heart skip a beat. As people have mentioned, there are no ankle joints, but it really doesn’t matter. I think ankles would get in the way of the aesthetics of this piece.

Not only does GoShogun look and feel great, but it’s actually a fun toy as well. The translucent yellow “Go Flasher” assembly on the back is spring loaded and fires off with the push of a button.

There are three hidden compartments on the toy which house microscopic space ships (King Arrow, Jack Knight, and Queen Rose) that can actually combine into a robot called TriThree.

This robot is smaller than a AA battery and still has articulation!  To top it all off, each of the three ships can be mounted to a display base that looks like the exhaust trails of the jets!

GoShogun comes with a full compliment of weapons, including:

• Short Axe
• Long Axe
• Bazooka
• Sword

Of course the figure comes with a variety of different hands to hold all of the different weapons. There are different hands for holding the sword, axe or bazooka, as well as closed and open hands. My one concern about the hands is that they are made of a really pliable rubber. Think of the consistency of a superball, and you have an idea of what these are made of. I really hope these fists will last the test of time, but I somehow doubt it. It is likely that they will eventually dry out and crumble, but that time is a long way away.

Buy it. Now.

This toy is the best new toy that I have gotten so far this year, and something would have to be pretty amazing to take its place. GoShogun has “Toy of the Year” written all over it.

GoShogun is available at HobbyLink Japan. Get it now.