GX-36 Ideon SOC (and review by Gold)

GX-36 Ideon SOC Soul of Chogokin

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE:

The following review was originally prepared by Gold on 5/9/07 on the Robot-Japan Forum:

Hi everyone, Here's a review of the GX36 Ideon.

Some of the images are thumbnails, please click to view larger pics.




Box:

Given the amount of diecast this toy has plus its accessories. It's quite heavy.









Mechas(L-R) C Mecha, A Mecha, B Mecha

Ideo form(jet mode)



Sol form(tank mode)









Sol Amber



Ideo Delta










Sol Vainer



Ideo Nova










Sol Conver



Ideo Buster















Unite and Rise up!












Ideon can sit up straight thanks to a hinge joint underneath the waist.










Even though the visor doesn't light up, the head itself is removable(it's connected by a simple ball joint) and the visor can be lit up from underneath.














Ide Gauge
In the Anime, it was later revealed that the mysterious "Ide" energy was more responsive to children than adults. Even reaching "infinite" power levels.










All Direction(Zen Houi) Missiles
Hoards of missiles fire out from all over Ideon's arms, legs and waist




















The MBH, Mini Black Hole. Supposedly this black hole generating cannon is considered one of Ideon's "weaker" attack moves, compared next to the Ideon Sword and Ideon Gun

(L-R) connection for the Ideon Gun, normal(closed), and MBH














Ideon Sword
The swords start out as balls of energy from Ideon's wrists, they then become beams. Unfortunately the plastic cups that are supposed to be the balls don't fit so good.






















Ideon Gun
Ideon's ultimate weapon.









This little thing took a while for me to get working. There's a small plastic block piece to take out before one can switch on the Ideon Gun. At first I thought the block piece was the switch and that the switch was a piece of the gun's housing.

Switch off




Switch on.











The Ideon Sword accessory can be attached to the end of the Ideon Gun to simulate it firing a massive beam







For those wondering, the "beam" shines about only 2 inches into the sword. Not the entire length of the sword.



The Ideon gun's battery compartment is located underneath the gun's belly. There's a clear plastic washer for the screw at the top of the screw hole, this might get misplaced or lost if you don't pay attention when opening the battery compartment.













Enemies mech units. A nice additional bonus to an already awesome toy.





Just to give an idea of how massive the Ideon is, check out the size of pilots next to the Ideon's head.



Ideon Under siege.












Display stand, it's actually a representation of part of the Solo Ship(Ideon's mothership of sorts), hence the weird mustard color.












Group pic with the Gx01R Mazinger Z and Gx31 Voltes V for scale comparison.


I didn't have the time to open up all the SOC combiners but here's another pic of the SOC combiners sans Ideon.




Ideon is supposed to be 105 Meters tall and Voltes is 57 Meters, while the Gunbuster is supposed to be 200 Meters.. in short, the SOC line definitely doesn't go in scale with one another.








****Very important things to look out for:

1) The lock on the Ideo Delta, this little piece is plastic, and seems to a be a little brittle. One might want to be careful when transforming this section.




2) Lock for C-Mecha. The "wings" have a peg that locks in the toy. Better remember this when disconnecting the toy



3) Another piece for concern is the rotating plastic thigh joint. It takes the brunt of the force when you're shafting out the Ideon's lower legs and the legs are very tight. I recommend holding the lower thigh(below the joint) when shafting out the legs to prevent breakage of the joint.




4) Most importantly, when disconnecting Ideon's A and B Mecha. Push the B-Mecha's c0ckpit out from underneath the torso to eject the A Mecha. It's safer than blindly tugging on the Ideon's arms to yank out the A-Mecha.









BTW a bit of a side note. Admittedly, I mistransformed Ideon a bit, the feet are supposed to look like this, not with the boosters sticking out :




...and the Ideon gun is supposed to have its "legs" shafted in when in use, not sticking out. Hehe I only realized this after shooting everything and I really didn't want to go through another whole round of picture taking












The Good:
-The toy weighs 1.4 Kilos, simply the heaviest non-vintage diecast toy I own so far. The previous title holder was CM's Brave Gokin GGGG which clocks in at 1.3 Kilos

-Diecast parts located mostly in the lower legs, parts of the feet, the bicep section of the arms, parts of the chest and waist, not including the abdomen. The large blades in its feet are plastic.

-Stands at 11 and a quarter Inch tall(12 Inches tall if you count in the height of the shoulder tips)

-It can sit up thanks to a special joint.

-The toy has ratchet joints in its knees and arms and groin, none in the elbows though.

-Huge accessories

-The little enemy mech units are a great plus.

-Each mecha unit transforms into a tank and a jet from. Plus the look of each form from the Anime is very well preserved.

-No major QC paint defects like Voltes(on my unit anyways)

-Great poseablity! Can do almost every pose from the Anime.














The Bad:
-The little cups for Ideon's sword don't fit so well in his hands

-As Nikodiablo already pointed out, some of the pieces are brittle(?) plastic. Particularly the shafting B-Mecha torso "rail". Be careful not to break by pulling too hard

-The thigh joint thing I mentioned

-The display stand, while nice, is kinda nauseating to at. I would've preferred a black stand over a mustard colored-one

-Minor quibble, the C-Mecha is a pain in the neck to return back into the styro tray.

edit: -Missing paint application on the tips of Ideon's shoulders for the All direction missiles(thanks to Nikodiablo for pointing this out )







The Ugly:
-Hmm.. I can't really think of anything that bad about this toy.. the mustard colored stand is the only thing that sticks out in my mind right now...














Overall, I think this is one heck of an SOC. The addition of electronic gimmicks into the line(finally!) and impressive size and heft of the toy makes it truly an amazing SOC to have. I think SOC King Joe's going to have a hard time trying to follow up this release.













BTW There's an insert included with the SOC Ideon. With it you can place an order for a 3000Yen, 160 page compiled book about Ideon. Included inside are interviews with Yoshiyuki Tomino and Mechanical data illustrations.


Apart from that, there's also 2 "presents" by mailing in a correctly answered questionaire about trivia from Ideon.

1) Another book about Ideon(At least I think it's a book? Please correct me if I'm wrong) and will be a lucky draw item. Only 10 people will win. and a..


2) An Yoshiyuki Tomino autographed SOC GX36 Ideon package. Limited to only 2(!!!) winners. Deadline for submission is June 2007






Gold