GX-60 God Sigma
Review by chachipower
Full video review
From Wikipedia:
"The year is 2050 and an energy crisis is Earth's main concern. A brilliant scientist in Trinity City develops the Trinity energy, a new source of energy powerful enough to supply the entire world. The alien empire of the Elda learn of this energy and plot to seize it by force. They attack Earth's space colony on Jupiter's moon of Io and occupy it. Meanwhile, the Trinity energy has been applied to three giant robots that combine to form God Σ, a mighty robot led by its main pilot, martial artist Toushiya Dan. With its mighty sword, it now stands between the peace of Earth and the power of the Elda forces."
New Soul of Chogokin releases seem to catch me off guard. It seems like I'm waiting forever for them and out of nowhere, they show up on my doorstep. Did all those months since the news of this chogokin becoming official pass by already? Apparently, they have because in my possession is the almighty Space Emperor God Sigma!
As is most always the case, Bandai has done a great job in the packaging. The box is huge and the artwork is what we come to expect for pieces in this price range. The beauty of it all is in the inside where the set is laid out in pure windowed robot porn.
After seeing all that beauty, looking at the accessories tray makes you want to go to sleep.
I almost didn't get to photograph the figure in the tray, I was so anxious to just rip him out and combine him. Oh, and combine him I did, but we'll get to that later. Let's take a look at the individual figures first.
Sea Rumble King 海鳴王 Kaimeiō
He forms God Sigma's right leg. You will see me using this one more than the yellow to show off the leg robot features because (A) I like this color and (B) the yellow is basically identical so it's unnecessary to show both in full detail. Diecast is limited to the feet and all high stress joints. Mostly internal. The diecast used on the joints is of the black chrome-looking type. The antennas are PVC. Here he is with the trusty CDX scale tool.
He is armed with two weapons. His gun...
...and this rad chain weapon. Made of real metal chain.
His articulation is a little stiff since his blocky design pretty much kills any chance of crazy articulation. He's got a nice vintage/modern feel, especially the upper half. If his hips and ankles weren't slightly articulated, he MIGHT pass for a vintage figure. Out of the package he sports a pair of vintage Chogokin-style hands of the clamp-type variety.
Land Quake King 陸震王 Rikushinō
He forms God Sigma's left leg. His design is a little less daring than his blue brother but otherwise identical in build and articulation. I've posed him here in a conservative manner.
He is armed with two weapons. His gun...
...and this rad hammer.
For a clearer comparison, here are both leg robots next to the ever-popular GX-01R Mazinger Z. As you can see, they are actually a very nice height.
Sky Thunder King 空雷王 Kūraiō
He is God Sigma's main body. This guy obviously doesn't like to be colorful. He prefers a Black Widow spider color scheme. He has a nice matte paint finish. The build is as excellent as the other two robots. Again, the diecast is limited due to design but understand that the diecast is used very well in high stress joint parts which assure long lasting fun. His diecast is in the knees, thighs and joints. The diecast used is also of the black chrome-look variety.
He is armed with two weapons. His sword...
...and this rad bow and arrow. The cord on the bow is actually a bent metal rod to give it a long lasting tensioned look.
He is just slightly taller than his two brothers. Here is the GX-01R again for comparison.
Big Wing ビッグウイング
He makes up God Sigma's chest and wings. He isn't piloted by anyone and carries God Sigma's weapons. He comes with a nice clear plastic stand.
Weapons stand
For all you stand lovers, this set comes with a stand to keep all your weapons and accessories handy.
GATTAI! (Combine!)
Transformation video (pulled from full video)
Of course the fun doesn't end there. These wild and crazy guys combine to form one giant robot. Awesome. To do this you will need to get each piece ready before they can be combined. The leg robots have a very nice transformation into leg mode. The arms stow away nicely into their sides and the thighs drop into their lower legs. The heads stay where they are.
You will need to open the chest and pull out a connecting tab.
Tabs also need to be swung up from the back.
Thunder King's shoulders need to be popped out. Here you can see one side popped out to compare with the one side that's not. His legs have inner knee pieces that need to be pulled out before you can fold his legs into his sides which makes his waist wider for God Sigma. Next, the forearm pieces which are stored inside his feet must be pulled out and installed over Thunder King's forearms.
Thunder King's feet are totally optional. You can leave them hanging out back, or simply remove them for a cleaner look.
Big wing is rather simple. You unfold a diecast bracket and pull up the wings.
GATTAI!
So here he is all combined and posed very straight like older chogokin.
But what fun is straight posing? Hold your horses! Don't expect crazy posing. This guy is a couple of ratchets away from being a brick. He is about as heavy as a brick and just slightly more poseable. To be fair, the arms are well articulated, but don't expect much of the knees. It's saving grace is the relatively plentiful spreading of it's legs which the ankles are more than happy to pivot for.
Here is as far as you're going to get those knees to bend. Pretty pointless for posing but a welcome feat of engineering.
Up close without all those colors distracting the eye, he is pretty plain looking, but bad-ass at the same time.
If you pull away a bit, all the wonderful colors come back into play and it's then that you realize it's definitely not a plain looking figure.
Whatchoo lookin' at?
Check out this really nice reflective chest piece.
I'm glad they used chrome parts for the legs. It would have really killed the look to used silver pieces.
He's got some weapons too. Well, I assume this is a weapon of some kind. His wings open up to reveal a hidden gimmick.
He also has a big sword and a shield which is actually the mid section of Big Wing.
The sword can be held on his wing by attaching a supplied clip to create some cool sword grabbing poses.
So this is the part where I tell you guys whether this is a worthy purchase or not. I can only speak for myself. It hurts the wallet real good but it all comes down to how this figure makes you feel. I think it was well executed and I'm happy with the final result. Sure the articulation is limited but are you really going to pose him with his legs behind his head? Diecast is also limited but he still ends up being a hefty fellow. Another cool feature? If you squint your eyes real good, he looks like Voltron.
Posted 3 August, 2011 - 22:57 by chachipower |
Comments
16 comments postedGreat job as always, still impressed and clueless how you do the black engulfing darkness while the figure is crisp and clean and easily seen...
As for the chogokin...I am on the fence, have him pre-ordered but keep canceling and redoing...not sure
Thanks, are you going to the summit? Ill be more than happy to give you some pointers.
I will be there, bring your teacher's cap and I will bring my notebook for photo studies...lol
This sets me up nicely for my specimen to come in, a month or so for now!!!
I supposed this would have been a brick, and quite Vintage style as far as SOCs go. Bandai seems to go the easy way, from gx-45 on...
And... Ehm... The comparison Mazinger is Gx-01r, not 45... ;)
Yeah, the 45 has black gloves and boots, and has an extra angle between his ribs.
I feel like I've become a "robot guy," now that I notice such things...
OMG! youre right! I meant to use the GX-45 but grabbed the GX-01R. Will fix straight away.
*edit- hmm my gx-45 is missing from my display case! If it wasn't for that comment I wouldn't have known. The seaarch continues!
Wow! That was a review of the highest quality! Good show! I'm glad Bandai is still doing the SOG line.
I wish I new more about that robot because the engineering and quality of the toy is amazing. Makes me really wish Bandai would do a Mighty Orbots toy but I guess the chances of that really happening are little to none, but I can always have hope :)
Since Sea King and Land King look as excellent as they do, it's almost a shame to them combined.
After giving it some thought, I think I prefer I would prefer each robot on their own rather than the complete God Sigma.
Having said that, God Sigma does look gorgeous. I've had no previous exposure to character, but I don't doubt that long time fans love this.
The opening panels in the wings are there to replicate part of one of God Sigma's finishing moves. The first part is called... "Sigma Breast"... -_-;
The big silver sword God Sigma uses is called the Musou-ken (Peerless Blade) and the big blue shield is the God Shield.
Finally, there is one final move which I am not sure this toy can replicate, and, as far as I know, it was a self-sacrificing move in the anime that was used towards the end. If you search on YouTube for "Super Robot Wars Z" and "God Sigma", you should be able to see what it is I'm talking about.
Great review chachi as usual!
I remember watching God Sigma on Italian TV as a boy and really loved the gattai sequence and the accompanying background music!
What I couldn't understand at the time was whether Commander Terral of the Elda Empire was male or female. This mystery was solved when I watched the anime on DVD recently.
Now for some nitpicking:
1. The 'gun' of Sea Rumble King is actually a harpoon - he is a marine robot, right?!
2. The 'gun' of Land Quake King is actually a drill - he is a land robot, right?!
3. The gimmick when the wings open is in reality a very powerful weapon which shoots a high energy beam, a sort of Trinity energy beam at full power. It has a devastating effect on the enemy robots of the Eldans. It was used later in the show when God Sigma was upgraded because the Eldan enemy robots were becoming too strong for him to handle.
As much as I would like to pick up this guy, I'm not a huge fan of expensive bricks. So a definite pass for me.
@grendizer1975 Thanks for providing that info. I tried to watch an unsubbed episode and failed miserably at understanding anything. I think my achilles heel is that I'm not much of a fan of anime but I'm all over robot toys !
Yeah, most of my knowledge of God Sigma comes from playing Super Robot Wars Z for the PS2 with a story summarization found on GameFAQs. Thankfully, it is enough that I know what I'm talking about.
Did this set also come with a hatchet (the God Tomahawk) and electric-like effect pieces (God Sting)?
Sadly no, I've read some complaints of these being left out. What you see is what you get.
I suggest you read this review as well:
http://www.robot-japan.com/item/gx-60-godsigma-soc-review-by-gold-2.html
Yay! Finally after years of looking for one at a sane price, I have one. (2 years ago I had a choice between God Sigma and God Mars at the same low price. I got Mars. By the next week Sigma vanished from the market overnight and prices shot up well over $300).
Love the figure for all it's chunkiness. I really was not prepared for just how good this thing looks on the shelf. How striking and eye catching. It's almost the perfect distillation of the Giant or Super Robot genre down into this one gloriously gaudy perfect figure. Well done Bandai.
Sadly after finally getting one, I am now hoping for a re-release. I want a second, just so I can keep both the complete robots and the three components on display.