GX-61 Saikyo Robo Daioja
Review by chachipower
Saikyo Robo Daioja is a Sunrise anime released in 1981 as a sort of transitional show that would ease fans into the world of real robots. Daioja himself is a Super Robot while the enemy mecha were more like real robots. He is comprised of three smaller robots that form Daioja when combined.
So fast forward to 2012 when Bandai has decided to release a big Chogokin Daioja. All we had before that were some expensive vintage pieces. Now that I have this new one in hand, I can honestly say I can transform this figure with my eyes closed. It currently holds the record for most transformations in my collection. A few were to complete the transformation video and a few more because it was just so much darn fun. Since we are dealing with 3 robots, there are lots of pictures. I've combined a few to keep the count down, but you can always see the entire shoot in the gallery.
Daioja comes in your standard big Chogokin box. Eye-catching graphics surround the glossy box. Inside, you will find a thick Styrofoam tray mounted on top of a plastic accessory tray.
Here is the crew outside of their Styro safe-haven and out of their plastic baggies. Quite a delightful group don't you think? Very colorful to say the least.
ACE REDDER
Ace Redder is a bright red fellow that makes up the upper body of Daioja. I was a little thrown off by how light he was after being accustomed to handling heavier Chogokin pieces. His diecast lies in the upper body which makes him feel a bit unbalanced. Articulation is generous. Proportions are excellent. He comes with a sword and sheath which attaches to his side.
Ace Redder comes with a more anime accurate chest piece as his standard one is used to achieve perfect transformation at the expense of accuracy.
AOIDER
Aioder provides a bit of contrast to Ace Redder's red. He carries a few blue hues on his body. Again, this is a relatively light Chogokin figure with most of his mass concentrated in the upper body. The proportions again are excellent. He comes with a giant bladed weapon that is beautifully chromed to a high luster.
Aoider also gets to wield a Beam Gun that can also be stored in a holster on his side.
COBALTER
You would almost expect Colbalter to be yellow or black, but like Aoider, he carries a lot of blue. This tends to give Daioja a jean-wearing look that turns off a lot of people. He is the chunky one of the bunch. Unlike the other two, he carries his diecast weight on his legs aside from his chest giving him a very hefty, well-balanced feel. His proportions are also very well done. Cobalter comes with a Hammer Chain which is a weapon with a spiked ball on one end and spikes on the other. Topping everything off is a nicely painted shield.
TRANSFORMATION
Now it's time to have some fun. Before combining, each robot has to transform into it's combine-ready form.
Ace Redder is first. His combination is fairly simple, but very nicely engineered. His feet fold into his lower legs, his legs fold out to the back, his arms fold into his chest, his "ear-muffs" unfold to become shoulder armor and finally a part of his wing set becomes his crest. His wings are set off to the side.
Aoider requires removal of his optional footplates which hide Daioja's fists.
Next, you flip him upside down, pull his legs out and compress them to reveal the fists. Then fold them down to the side to form his arms and torso. His wings are set off to the side.
Cobalter requires removal of his optional footplates. His wings are set off to the side.
The next bit is a bit stressful when you realize you are handling a very expensive piece in your hands and you have to split it in half which is not the easiest thing to do in the first place.
After some hiding of arms, spinning of parts and folding of pieces, you are left with two legs.
The wings of all three come together to form one wingset. Then all you need to do is combine all three!
COMBINATION
Combination requires putting all the three combine-ready bots together. Let's check out the transformation and combination into DAIOJA in this video!
DAIOJA
Once all three robots come together, you are left with this tall bad boy. It's incredible how Bandai managed to pull this off. Not only did they engineer the combination to be mostly show accurate, but it comes together to form a solid robot.
Here you can see how the three wings come together to form one.
Daioja is for the most part "Perfect-Transformation" capable, but it leaves a few tings out of proportion. Bandai includes accurate looking pieces to clean it up a bit. Standard parts are shown on the left while accurate pieces are shown on the right.
If that unsightly backpack bothers you, you can remove it!
This is the end result.
WEAPONS
Daioja's main weapon is the Thunder Sword. It is a gigantic thick piece of beautifully chromed weaponry. Stunning. He also comes with a shield which can also be attached to the side of his forearm.
I love how he can hold his sword with both hands. This is always a cool thing.
His other weapon is a Beam Bow Gun. The actual arrow does not shoot.
He also has a pair of bladed weapons. Again, beautiful chrome.
His weapons combine to form a weapon that I can only assume has the "F-word" in it somewhere.
I love how robots can open their mouths and not say anything. He comes with a mouth that allows you to do just that.
If you want to give yourself a headache or if you are immensely bored, you can always take a stab at attaching all the the accessories to the included base. The base doubles as a backdrop for Daioja and is basically just a huge Daioja logo which I sadly forgot to photograph.
Here are three similar Sunrise robots just chilling and hanging out. Daioja's great proportions almost makes the Daitarn look out of proportion and makes Zambot 3 cry for a remake.
So in closing, I am pretty impressed. What started out as me disliking the unbalanced feel of the figures turned into "Oh, I get it now, it makes sense." The figures had to compromise themselves to provide for a perfectly balanced combined form. The plastics seem a little brittle at first but the fear of breaking is soon gone after repeated handling.
Anything I can complain about is real just nitpicking and throwing salt in Daioja's game. It's expensive and the color combination is questionable for non-fans, but there's no arguing that it is a well executed version of this robot.
Posted 14 June, 2012 - 22:04 by chachipower |
Comments
15 comments postedGreat review, love all the pictures.
I'm not familiar with this character at all, but ever since I saw images of it I was wondering how they combined. The figures on their own seem to hide the fact they combine really well. It appears Bandai did a pretty solid job with the engineering of this piece.
Good review! Ive had mine a few weeks and love it,am also constantly combining and un-combining.
The quality of the transformation is impressive, but this isn't my favorite robot ever. I think the hot on top, cool on bottom color scheme is mostly to blame. Seeing it next to Daitarn and Zambot drives home the importance of color balance.
I have to agree. I wonder what the reasoning was behind that scheme. They could have easily made one of those robots a different color in the initial anime design. Or at least not have two blue robots together in combined mode. That is quite possibly the only thing I dont like about its design
Dude. That combination video may be the greatest thing ever.
Thanks, I put quite a bit of work into it and repeated transformations just to get it right
thrown off by the price compared to the diecast content and im thinking I. will pass on this guy. Anyway have to start saving on the new Mazinger.
If it's the diecast conetent keeping you away you just need to think of the overall combined Daioja which is nicely balanced. The two top robots come together to make a diecast lump in the chest and the leg robot has a good bit of it too. Due to the engineering, it had to be kept out of certain places when separate. If its Mazinger keeping you away, I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND. I don't think I have ever lusted over something so much. When I saw the removable armor and inner workings, I commited myself to buying no matter the cost
Very Cool, I've never heard of this guy before...I love the art design of this robot!
And that combination is very unique!
Awesome review my friend!
Leonardo
Thank you, glad you liked it. It was a little tough getting it out quick what with a kid and all, but its finally finished!
Awesome review/pictures & the explosion at the end of the video cracked me up. I guess my kids are taking out loans for college, because I'm buying this guy.
Hey whatever needs to be done. At least when your kids come over to visit and bring up the loan thing, you can say "but look at this beautiful robot!" They will understand
You did a fine job. Good review.
I understand the color combination is questionable...lol
But yes, I can imagine staffs tried to create something new.
I was wondering, how many people here actually watched the TV series...
"Trider G7" and this "Daioja" were popular in Japan. The two series actually returned kids' feelings...
When Gundam finished in 1980, we most kids thought "Yeah! It's finally finished! That was a torture"
Yes, the first Gundam was a torture for most kids around that time.
(But Gundam boom had already started around summer in 1980)
Daioja was the last super-robot design for Okawara Kunio in the early '80s .
He was out of super-robot design until "Brave Series" started.
(Ah, wait, there was GALATT?)
(one of GALATT mecha)
Aoidar = ao = blue
Cobalter = cobalt blue
Well, we can't figure out those differences...(-_-
Daioja's "jean-wearing look"...whew, you've got the point! Could be a good point....!!!
We could imagine, in the first plot, staffs would have tried to make a gunman-like robot like, in western drama.
It always happen, a plot is dynamically changed....
(Like a Xabungle's example...)
Or, according the actual plot/theme "Mito Koumon", staffs wanted to set up a leader with two attendants.
To give two attendants look similar.
(a scene from "Mito Koumon", a old-fashioned drama)
Regarding Daiojas color scheme and "Jean" wearing look. I hadn't made the connection until I happened to have this review up in one tab and an announcement about HLPro's Astroganger up in another. Daioja's color scheme really isn't that unique. It's an homage back to Astroganger, one of the earliest animated Super Robots. (Am I mistaken in thinking he was the first one to be animated and broadcast in color?). Suddenly the color choices make sense. And they do really stand out on the shelf, without looking gaudy or ugly. Just a little different. Much like how Ideon's sharp Fire Engine Red with White striping works for its own purpose.
http://robotjapan.proboards.com/post/372123/thread