Grendizer Giga

Review by JoshB

Grandizer Giga comes from the 2014 Manga by Go Nagai. It was published through 11 volumes and ended in 2015.

While a re-design for Grendizer was highly anticipated, this one went mostly under the radar, perhaps due to only having a short run manga. It's a classy, refined take on one of the most iconic super robots, and it deserves it's place next to Mazinkaizer and Shin Getter.

As for toys, the first company to step up was Evolution toy, followed by a soft vinyl from Medicom. Bandai so far has ignored the design. And even with Evolution Toy, they decided to do the release as a GK Limited release.

GK stands for Garage Kit. These are usually resin or vinyl kits that the purchaser has to put together. Evolution toy has released several small-run Garage kits at events and festivals, but those are un-painted and un-assembled. The GK Limited line takes that Garage Kit style and paints and assembles them. So the toy is still largely resin, it's a much smaller production run than a regular injection molded release. Just holding the toy you can tell it's different from other Evolution Toy Dynamite Action releases.

The box is a thicker cardboard than the usual release, and the interior styrofoam not as dense or well sculpted. This toy did not have the packaging budget of the regular releases. Inside there are crude pockets made for the parts and figure.

The Grendizer figure itself comes assembled in the package aside from the horns. The fit of the horns is very loose, so be prepared for them to fall out often.

Grendizer looks good. The paint is nice, the sculpt is a bit doughy, and the magnets hold well. The limbs are a bit heavier because they are made out of solid resin instead of hollow injection molded plastic. This definitely seems hand-sculpted rather than something done with computer design.

The articulation is also not as refined as it is with the regular release. Grendizer Giga does not have the detented shoulder joints that the regular Dynamite Action releases do, nor does it have any kind of magnetic abdomen or waist joint.

Here's the parts breakdown of the figure itself.

It's pretty basic. Note the peg that connects the torso to the waist. It's just held in by friction, and here you can see where the paint has rubbed and revealed the resin. It's hidden when assembled.

Grendizer comes with "Screw Crusher Blow" parts to replace the fins on the arms.

Variant hands are included. First, open hands:

Also, weapon holding hands. But what's this? I got two left hands. Sonafabitch.

The Double Harken comes in two parts - you can wield them together or separately.

This version of Grendizer comes with a cape. While promotional shots showed a solid red cape, this cape is more translucent pink with painted highlights. It attaches to the back of the figure when you remove the central back panel.

The last accessory is the variant horns to replicate the God Thunder attack. The split horns just replace the closed horns, but these are even looser. Be careful because they are small and fragile.

Overall, it's not a very good toy. I appreciate the fact that Evolution Toy found a way to produce less in demand characters, but it lacks the refinement of a production piece. It's retail was about $160 USD but now commands about three times that on the secondary market.

Pass on this one, and wait for the inevitable Bandai version.