GX-13 Dancouga

Dancouga is one of the most hotly debated Soul of Chogokin toys released to date. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny his presence on a shelf. His mech-styling makes him stand out from the other SOCs, and with his jet pack attached, he is the tallest SOC at 15 inches.

Dancouga is actually made out of 4 robots. Let’s go through them one by one:

Eagle Fighter

The Eagle Fighter forms the head of the combined Dancouga. At about 2 inches tall, it is one of the most intricate robots I have ever handled. The transformation is reminiscent of origami. Despite its small size, it is fairly articulated, and even includes its own gun. It does however feel extremely fragile. It can transform into 3 modes:

• Aggressive Beast
• Aggressive Humaroid
• Head of Dancouga

Land Liger

Land Liger is the right foot of Dancouga. It’s a fine toy in its own right, with solid transformation, and ample amounts of metal. The articulation is not bad, but it could have been better. The legs would have benefited from a better hip joint to allow more dynamic poses. Land Liger has a cannon on its back, and also comes with a Blaster Gun. It scores points for the little details, like the shoulder mounted cannons, but loses points for simple oversights, like non-working treads. Bandai didn’t even give them wheels to roll around on.

Land Liger has four modes:

• Aggressive Tank
• Aggressive Beast
• Aggressive Humaroid
• Right foot of Dancouga

Land Couger

Land Couger is the companion piece to Land Liger, and are pretty much the same, aside from some cosmetic differences. The gloss black paint really makes this one stand out. Land Couger also has four modes:

• Aggressive Tank
• Aggressive Beast
• Aggressive Humaroid
• Left foot of Dancouga

Big Moth

Big Moth is the main part of Dancouga. He has the most metal, and the most problems. He is actually pretty solid in robot mode, but the tank mode is where it all goes wrong. To transform to tank mode, you have to fold the arms and legs around to meet each other, and you get two flimsy clips to connect them together. It took me forever to get them to connect, and I was in constant fear of breaking it. Also, you have to attach two sets of antennae on the sides of the elephant head, and not only are they a bitch to take in and out, but they get in the way of the transformation. There are some cool things about it though, such as the rubber treads and articulated guns on its back. The four modes of Big Moth are:

• Aggressive Tank
• Aggressive Beast
• Aggressive Humaroid
• Body of Dancouga

Dancouga

The combined mode of Dancouga looks really good. You attach Land Liger and Land Couger to the feet via plugs in Big Moth, and you fold up the Eagle Fighter and attach it to the head. Dancouga has two main weapons: Dankuken (the sword) and Daigan (the combined gun.)

Dankuken is made of 4 pieces and is about 10 inches long. Very cool.

Daigan uses the guns of all 4 robots to combine into a super gun. One cool feature is the ability to slide back the side handles to reveal a loading mechanism for the weapon. Daigan has 2 small pegs on the back of the gun to attach to Dancouga for stability, but it is difficult to get these pegs in, and when you do, they don’t stay in place.

You can attach the Booster unit to Dancouga’s back securely, but doing so makes him top heavy. Loose hip joints make him topple over easily when the unit is attached.

Dancouga has several other major flaws:

• The head will not stay on. The method to secure the eagle fighter to the body is flimsy.
• The hands pop off easily (they pop back on easily as well)
• The sword will begin to tarnish over time.
• Paint on the feet chips easily
• Low metal content (lower legs, feet and shoulders)

Personally, I don’t like the toy. Heck, i’d hardly call it a toy at all, because you can’t really play with it. It took me 2 hours just to transform all the modes and I’m not even sure I did it right. I got so frustrated with it that several times during the transformation i just wanted to throw it on the floor.

Is Dancouga right for you? Well if you are a SOC completist or are in love with the character, I would advise you to approach with caution. Your $200 is better spent someplace else.

In 2004, Bandai released the GX-13R at the Chogokin Expo. Dancouga got a new paint job to mimic the original chogokin toy, but did not improve on any of the above flaws.