SOC Gx-43 Daimos Review

[Gold]

Hi all, here's the much awaited review for the Soul of Chogokin Gx-43 Tosho Daimos. This might take a while to upload.

I was fortunate enough to get one last week while I was in Hong Kong. Greattoys should be getting theirs in stock later this coming week.


Tosho Daimos Opening Credits.

Please click to begin video playback.




Box




Before I continue, I'd like to give credit to Kaiser Anime Sales over at Greenhills Blue Lane (here in Manila) for providing the subtitles for the original Japanese videos. Even though much of the dialogue is just transcribed from the Philippine English dubbed version of the show, they did a great job.

So far only the first 6 episodes have been subbed (hence the lack of the video clips for some of the other weapons). Here's hoping they sub the remaining 38 episodes (the yells in Japanese just sound way better than the Philippine English dubs. )

To be more in sync with the show I'll start instead from the Tranzer and work up to Daimos.

Please click on the smaller pics to view larger images.





Tranzer



Tryper 75-S & Galva FXII.













Professor Shinichiro Izumi reveals the Tranzer. (Yeah I know the explaination of the Daimo-Light energy is bit hokey but what the hey. )

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Tranzer Go!!![/size]



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Just In!!![/size]



Daimos Battle Turn![/size]





DAIMOS!!![/size]


Daimos Transformation in CG (from Super Robot Wars Alpha 2 on the Playstation 2).

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Backpacks





Daimos and Galva FXII




Even though Daimos is packed to the brim with every weapon coming out of almost every conceivable orofice, his primary weapon is still Kazuya's mastery of Karate.

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Blocking



Puching



Daimo Chop![/color]





Gold

[Gold]

Daimos Weapons.[/b][/size]

Five Shooter!


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The Five Shooter can only be held this way on the SOC Daimos.







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Sou-Ryuu-Ken! (Double Dragon Blade!)[/color]





Daimos Kick![/color] (the Foot Cutter blade plugs into the side of the foot)






San-Ryuu-Kon! (Triple Dragon Stick)[/color]




Daimo Missile![/color]



Daimos Guns![/color]



Please click to begin video playback.


Snake Lock!



Cross Boomerang!





Double Blizzard!



Reppu Seikenzuki[/size]














Upgraded Weapons[/size]

After the arrival of the Baam scientist Aizam on Earth halfway through the series, the Baam robots become stronger and get near indestructible armor upgrades. Prompting Daimos to receive upgrades as well to combat the new threat.


Chain Shark!




Battle Break!





Daimo Shaft!










Freezer Storm and Fire Blizzard
To counter the Baam's new improved super elastic armor alloy midway through the series, Daimos is later equipped with a new Freeze beam and improved (Fire) Double Blizzard to effect extreme temperature changes and weaken his opponent's armor.

Double Blizzard (right), Fire Blizzard (left)



Freezer Storm!


Fire Blizzard!



I'm not sure if Daimos ever did a finishing kick move after the Freezer Storm and Fire Blizzard (didn't have time to rewatch the later VCDs) but I threw this in anyway for variety.









Display Stand
I think this is one of the most Weapon crazy display stands I've ever seen for the SOC line.





Gold

[Gold]

Daimos Review part 3

Important things to note:

Remember to extend the foot when you handle Daimos for the first time, to make the Tranzer's tail lights go in. Otherwise the Tranzer tail lights' paint will chip when you're standing Daimos on any surface.



How SOC Daimos' kick works. lift up the joint, then hyper extend the leg.




Gold

[Gold]

Daimos Review Part 4

The Romantic Trilogy





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With other SOCs[/size]


















Kung Fu Robots[/size]



















The Good
-Ready to play right out of the box!! This is a very huge surprise for me. The last time they did this was with Iron Gear and I'm really glad they did it again for Daimos. Just remember to extend out the foot.

-Ratchet jointed double jointed knee. VERY tight ratchet jointed shoulders joints.

-Good tight fist joints for grasping weapons (as opposed to Voltes and Combattler).

-Stands roughly 8 Inches, weighs 650 Grams or so.

-Diecast shoulders, some internal structural pieces, waist and feet (mostly the weight is in the feet).

-Very good proportion in robot mode.

-The Tryper 75-S is actually stored in Daimos' left foot. So it doesn't fall out like it did in the old Popy toy.





The Bad
-The Tryper and Galva aren't diecast. Darn!

-Not Anime accurate transformation (though I don't really mind, but it needed to be said).

-Too bad the Drill Anchor missiles aren't included.

-Plastic Tranzer wheels (again, I don't really mind. I prefer plastic to rubber wheels personally).

-Lack of ratchet joints for the groin area (note that most of my kick photos have Daimos' leg propped against something, otherwise the leg will just drop down with almost no resistance)

-Flipping out the "Double Blizzard" chest plate and back can be a pain sometimes.

-Daimos is smiling? I don't know if it's just me, but there's something off with his lip sculpt. It's like it tappered off with a smile at the end. Unlike Reideen which had a "neutral" lip.

-Possible joint breakage due to repeated fist swapping? I really wished they used diecast on this part.



-(minor quibble) The shoulders. Something's a bit off, they're either too close or too spread out from the torso. I recommend not locking in the internal shoulder peg and adjust the shoulders accordingly to make it align properly.



-Attaching and removing the Tranzer cab will give a loud snap. It gives a chill up my spine whenever I hear it.



-Another spot that seems a bit fragile is this folding piece of cover for the Tranzer.









The Ugly
-SCRATCHES![/i][/size]

Sigh, no matter how careful you are, Daimos will scratch whenever you transform it into Tranzer. Click on the images to view larger pics.

The first scratch came already with the toy.




Other highly possible scratch risk areas!




This edge will cause scrapping on the left shoulder.




-HIGHEST SCRATCH ALERT![/i][/size]
This is by far the biggest trouble spot I see, expect to carve out a good chunk of this spot's paint if you're not careful.



I STRONGLY[/i][/u] recommend using 3M Magic tape to tape down the trouble spots before transforming it into Tranzer to protect the surfaces from scratches! You can also use regular Scotch Tape but it tends to leave sticky residue.



Overall, I really like SOC Daimos, as long as it stays in robot mode. The bulk of the problems stem from tranforming it into Tranzer, for the most part I don't mind the non-Anime accurate transformation that much wth regards to the arms and Tranzer covers. If they did the transformation the exact same way as the Anime then it would be like the old misproportioned Popy toy again and that would be somewhat disappointing.


However, I do wish they did the Tranzer cab similar to the SOC Getters or Reideen where you can just swap the head out for a more proportional head instead of forcing a radically different transformation here.


The scratches are just pure hell. I can't see why they had to squeeze Daimos into such a tiny Tranzer. A little extra space inside the Tranzer would've fixed this huge problem.


In robot mode, it's just very eye-catching on any shelf. The ability to do a kick is a nice bonus, but it could've been better with a few rightly placed ratchet joints. The sheer amount of accessories will make you head spin. I actually prefer this over Voltes since it's more stable and looks leaner and meaner.


So, bottom line, get it for Daimos, not Tranzer. If you do have to transform it, using tape is must, no buts about it.






Tosho Daimos Ending Credits

Please click to begin video playback



Funfact: Daimos is the third in a series called "Romantic Trilogy" following Choudenji Robo Combattler V and Choudenji Robo Voltes V. Though Tadao Nagahama is often credited as the creator of the "Romantic Trilogy", he only directed the three series. He also directed the second half of the Yuusha Reideen series.

"The Romantic Trilogy" was actually created by collective staff of Toei Co. Ltd. (according to Wikipedia).



Funfact 2: Erica was voiced by Miyuki Ueda, the same Seiyu (Japanese voice actor/actress) that played Chizuru Nanbara (Combattler V) and Megumi Oka ("Jaime" in Voltes V). "Romantic Trilogy" indeed.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyuki_Ueda



Funfact 3: Akira Kamiya, the voice of Kazuya, also did a lot of other voices for Super Robot Pilots, such as Yuusha Reideen, Getter Robot, Mecanda Robo, Gaiking, Dangaioh, Roy Focker (Macross), Ryo Saeba (City Hunter), Hokuto No Ken (Fist of the North Star) and often does Dub work for Pierce Brosnan's James Bond character.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kamiya








Whew!


Gold

[Gold]

I almost forgot, here's the Hong Kong item for Daimos, a crystal cube.








With the other crystal cubes.



Upper left going clockwise
-Tetsujin 28
-Black Ox
-Zambot 3
-Gx-41S Reideen
-Gx-41 Reideen (regular)
-Daimos
-Tetsujin 28 metallic



Gold

[Jaybats]

excellent review as always, Gold! great photography, love those poses! thanks!

BTW, is the magic tape thin enough that it won't interfere with the parts' fit in those areas?

[Gevaudan]

"Hanep"! ;D Many thanks for the awesome review and pix of Daimos, Gold!

I've been reading related problems and scratch issues over at other forums but I just had to wait for this much anticipated review first hehe .

Oh man, too many negative issues . Would you advise to wait the first batch out and hope Bandai smartens up and re-release Daimos hopefully addressing the concerns mentioned? -I believe they often do, right?

BTW thanks for the video store tip ;D, I've been looking for one that sells Daimos english-subbed video too. Where exactly again is Kaiser located? Sorry dunno where blue lane is.

Thanks Gold and congratz on your big haul!!! (drool here)

[V2]

thank you for making a grand review, gold! im sure you've had fun with daimos, eh?!

its a nice thing daimos is packaged in robot mode so we'll have less problems with the paintchipping from the start.

[SEELE01]

Thanks for the review Gold, now I know what to look out for to avoid scratches.

[Jaybats]

2nd Question: would it help if one smoothed out the corners of those scratch-causing plastic protrusions using fine-grain sandpaper? or would this only cause locking/fitting problems?

[Gold]

Thanks guys

Oct 5, 2008 3:38:32 GMT 8 Jaybats said:

excellent review as always, Gold! great photography, love those poses! thanks!

BTW, is the magic tape thin enough that it won't interfere with the parts' fit in those areas?

Oct 5, 2008 10:44:01 GMT 8 Jaybats said:

2nd Question: would it help if one smoothed out the corners of those scratch-causing plastic protrusions using fine-grain sandpaper? or would this only cause locking/fitting problems?

Thanks Jaybats, yes Magic tape will fit into those tight spaces


I don't recommend sandpapering the areas, as this would make the plastic surfaces even more thin and too fragile. Using Magic tape should be sufficient.

Oct 5, 2008 6:29:51 GMT 8 Gevaudan said:

"Hanep"! ;D Many thanks for the awesome review and pix of Daimos, Gold!

I've been reading related problems and scratch issues over at other forums but I just had to wait for this much anticipated review first hehe .

Oh man, too many negative issues . Would you advise to wait the first batch out and hope Bandai smartens up and re-release Daimos hopefully addressing the concerns mentioned? -I believe they often do, right?

BTW thanks for the video store tip ;D, I've been looking for one that sells Daimos english-subbed video too. Where exactly again is Kaiser located? Sorry dunno where blue lane is.

Thanks Gold and congratz on your big haul!!! (drool here)

Thanks Firestorm, no, sadly I doubt later batches would fix this problem as it's the tightly fitting design that's the root of the problem. To fix it would require major overhaul on some parts.

I wouldn't hold my breath on a "R" version either, it's been a while since Bandai released an "R"



Blue Lane is the lane where Greattoys GH is located. Kaiser Sales is the Anime shop that's next to Ram's and in front of the original Ptoys store. I really hope they sub the remaining eps of Daimos.




Gold

[Gevaudan]

Oct 5, 2008 11:31:33 GMT 8 Gold said:

Thanks Firestorm, no, sadly I doubt later batches would fix this problem as it's the tightly fitting design that's the root of the problem. To fix it would require major overhaul on some parts.

I wouldn't hold my breath on a "R" version either, it's been a while since Bandai released an "R"

Blue Lane is the lane where Greattoys GH is located. Kaiser Sales is the Anime shop that's next to Ram's and in front of the original Ptoys store. I really hope they sub the remaining eps of Daimos.


Gold

I guess your right, the problem is the design itself--too major to solve asap.

Thanks for the directions!

[Kurimao]

Just In!!! lol this one made laugh. JET IN is much more better imo.

great pic of the kung fu robots i really needed that since i'm also planning to get goddanar, but i was surprised to see that he was more smaller than daimos. is godannar still the most photogenic robot?

[nikko76]

The only solution, and if you have enough cash, get another one, one in transzer. But that is a BIG "IF"

[Gold]

LOL, Jet In indeed makes for a better sound byte.


Here's an additional pic of Daimos in robot mode on the display stand.



The feet hang over the edge. Oh well, it's still stable enough to pose Daimos on though.






Gold