ChoRyuJin
Review by AJProDie-Cast
[ChoRyuJin is] the Symmetrical-Docked form of HyoRyu and EnRyu, formed when their SympaRate, a measure of their synchronization and unity of purpose, reaches 100%. ChoRyuJin is a defensive specialist with his Mirror Coating Chest-plate (which he uses at the risk of his life) and ability to use the Eraser Head tool. He also possesses HyoRyu and EnRyu's Gun, Rifle, and Tonfa attacks, usually used in "Double" form firing from both sides at once. He can also fire both guns and both rifles at once for a full-burst-style attack. After the initial Primeval attack, ChoRyuJin is retrofitted with the ability to fire Ul-Tech beams in place of heat or cold, which appear similar to most beam weapons in anime.
(Wikipedia, 2012).
Super Robot Chogokin ChoRyuJin comes to CDX from Hobby Link Japan.
It comes in the typical packaging of the SRC line.
The major gimmick is the anime-accurate separating halves that form the whole robot. Combine, snap on the head, chest shield which helps hold the halves together, and the hip ladders and you are good to go.
The hips do a ten degree angle both ways, the shoulders tilt up, and the forearms spin 360 degrees. Do note the space between the pelvis area and how awkward the hip plates move.
You can take off the hands (best to pry sideways and keep the square peg in the arm to switch). Handles on the ladders give them a sword or baton look.
The pictures and poses look cool, but it is such a pain. The fists come off way too easily and the ladders are floppy and unwieldy.
The "Eraser Head tool" is aptly named. It is, to quote a friend, "a hot mess!”
ChoRyuJin has a system to help hold the tool at chest level by taking out the peg and adding a hand with a slot, and a white stand to help support it. I tried posing it for ten minutes and something kept popping out or falling down. I tried it sans chest, with the small chest and medium chest... nadda for ease and stability. To top off the poor design is a warped angle when you add the tabbed extension.
The ladders come with extensions and a large shield to put on the end.
The extended shield options seemed to put stress on the waist, causing my pelvis to split and needing to be pushed back together between poses. It also comes with a "stage" top, BUT no base included to use it.
Another stand top that attaches to his back and again requires a separate base. Took a picture next to the Eraser stand to show it would not work (thought maybe that was an option).
It balances OK (on one leg it soon fell), and you can use the ladders to create all kinds of looks, but they look awkward in static poses.
My ChoRyuJin's chest shield(s) would snap in well, but as soon as you started posing the figure, the angle of the truck heads would pry off and/or loosen the shield (note: happened to both, even though I had hoped with the small shield it would not be an issue).
Doing this review was not fun at all. I expect difficult posing and things popping off when I buy SOC items. It is the trade off for the wonderful detailing and accuracy. My other Super Robot Chogokin had insane posabilty, easy to use accessories, and easy to swap fists.
I have done reviews of other toys that were just as touchy, but I expect that and get the payoff in the looks (see Fewture Shin getter). From a Super Robot Chogokin, I expected a fun toy and apologize if I did a vanilla first review because of its tediousness.
If you’re a big fan, grab it. You will see the positives not the negatives. As a member of the Super Robot Chogokin line I say ‘pass’. It goes for around 35 dollars plus shipping and this Super Robot Chogokin ChoRyuJin comes from HLJ.
To err is human and to forgive divine.
List of The King of Braves GaoGaiGar protagonists (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 05, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_King_of_Braves_GaoGaiGar_protagonists
Posted 4 March, 2012 - 19:41 by AJProDie-Cast |
Comments
11 comments postedWhy did they even let you post a second review? You obviously make no attempt to pose your figures as soon as you get a negative vibe from them. I've had NONE of the problems you claim with the same figure and I find it really fun! Here's a vote of "No confidence" to your reviews, maybe someone here still cares about the quality of what gets posted here.
You vote is noted, but the great thing about CDX is Josh wants great reviews and great reviewers, since I need to be removed in your estimation after reading the body of my reviews. I would suggest the next character you purchase, make a review ( if you have some, post the links), show me how it is done and I can learn from your review how to avoid my lack of quality and care. I am not being glib, I will actually would read your review and try to learn from it.
I am always reading all the reviews on this site and try to incorporate some of the great things I see....being a life long learner and not just defending ones point is a good modality to me (the reason this 2nd review happened).
I always like the (paraphrased) quote "It is easy to burn down the city but hard to build one."
I agree. No credibility on your reviews. What a mess..........
I agree with the review, and the "hot mess" statement. Mine came last week, and has many of the issues AJ's has, plus the two halves of mine don't stay together very well and come apart when posed in big leg-sweep style.
I have zero connection to the character, and only got it because it's a SRC. Loved all the other SRCs I've gotten, no issues with any of the previous ones I own.
There's nothing wrong with this review to me. AJ does good work and calls it like it is. Some of the photos are a little blurry, but the text and content is good, objective, and explains why he didn't like it, clearly; he shows all the contents, explains a little history, and he also mentions if you're a superfan of the character, you may not care about the faults.
Thanks for the comment and a related question to all readers, that darn Candy Apple red. It makes the color off in my camera and when you edit the picture looks great but then quality goes down when you downsize to post (other pictures when I downsize I notice no loss of texture). The pictures look good and sharp normal but then at 640 X 480 they get mediocre. I read about changing the picture type but it still did not help...maybe Charles or a reader has better answers.
You could try just taking the pictures at the lower resolution (That's what I do), but I don't see a reason here. I think your pictures look great, and the review is nice too. It has a good balance of explanation, criticism, and optimism. I think that's all anyone can ask for.
Your problem is JPEG compression. JPEG ruins reds, especially at lower resolutions. The compression makes reds very lossy. Instead, I recommend using PNG format as it handles reds much better.
I'll just leave this example of Japanese review example here. Don't mind the text, you may learn things from just the pictures.
EDIT: typos
I would say I like their very defined panel shots that basically zoned in on one aspect of the toy in the extreme. Made a nice montage look. That site also had a clear stand for the bases to work with, nice touch but still annoyed it does not come with it. I have reviewed figures from Bandai and they came with a similar stand. The picture quality looked so crisp and clean I was impressed, reminded me of chachipower reviews (which I work on every review to approach his picture quality). I did balk at some of their poses, it was doing things mine never would do. The extended shield never held up with out the stand. I posed for like 20 minutes and could never get the Eraser head to look that neat and smooth. Reminded me of back in the day the 80's Gi-Joe's vehicles they put on the back cover vs. what we got.
Thanks for the info will work to incorporate some of that in my next review...I like the paneled montage that went in order.
Why are you trying to hold up the extended shield with the hands?
Simple common sense should tell you that won't work...Study the images on the back of the box or even the INSTRUCTIONS for more than two seconds. And the problem will become clear. The ladders are connected to the HIPS! Not held in his hands!
This review was a mess,
I've had none of the problem you've had on my Choryujin. The only issue my Choryujin has had was some paint scraping on the Hyoryu side arms when the rub onto the shoulder, Just to make a quick note when the chest shield is attached to the ladder and crane, the ladder and crane are supposed to remain connected to the hips. the only time the ladder and crane need to be removed is for tonfa mode. It really seems like you didn't take any effort into posing the figure for your pictures, and almost looks like you were trying to make it look as bad as you claim. Also I think the hands being separate from the pegs makes handswapping easier and a bit less of a hassle and if they keep falling off your the SIMPLE solution is to apply some nail/floor polish to the peg to tighten it.