GX-40 Godmars SOC (and review by Gold)

GX-40 Godmars SOC Soul of Chogokin

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UPDATE:

The following review was originally prepared by Gold on 5/6/08 on the Robot-Japan Forum:

Hi guys, I finally got Godmars. Here's a review. Uhmm.. there are a lot of pics so this might take a while to load up .





Background story
Set in the far flung future of 1999 (the show aired in Japan in 1981) The Emperor of the Planet Gishin, Zule, sees the Earth as a possible threat to his expanding empire and sends his Science Minister's infant son to the planet Earth with Gaia, a robot loaded with a powerful explosive to destroy it when he grows up. The Science Minister betrays Zule and sends five other secretly constructed robots after Gaia to protect his son (he is subsequently executed after launching the Six Gods).


Upon arriving on Earth, the infant is adopted by a loving family and is given the name Takeru Myoujin. He discovers his true lineage seventeen years later. He develops unique ESP powers (he can even shoot strands of his hair out as projectiles LOL) and has since grown to love the Earth and is a valuable member of the Crusher Team. He then vows to protect the Earth from the invading Gishin Empire.


In the Anime, the Six Gods were just drones actually, with no real sentience. They travel at the speed of light to aid Takeru whenever he's in danger.


A main plot device in the series is the connection between Takeru and Gaia. If Takeru's life signs were to flatline, the planet-busting bomb inside Gaia would detonate.


Halfway through the series, Godmars has a showdown with Zule and by some unexplained divine miracle, the bomb is "magically" transplanted into the giant Zule and he blows up in space. Takeru and friends then have some wild adventures with Space Pirates fighting to save a princess for a good twenty episodes or so, before Zule pops up again near the end and again challenges Godmars to another fight.








Box


"Popy-styled" box design and very nice markings on the styrofoam tray as well.






Six Gods. Click for larger pics.

Gaia's statue base.









Gaia









I really love the poseability of this little guy!











With Baikanfu's Rom.












Sphinx





Shin





Ra











Titan





Uranus













Six Gods team





With the Gx-01R Mazinger Z




Six Gods Combine!!
















A cool special feature is the spring loaded belly button.




Closing the chestplate will reveal the Godmars logo.






Another cool feature is the second Gaia head hidden inside Godmars' head, just pull up the forehead fin and the head will pop up.







Godmars!!








Godmars has only four moves in his arsenal.
-God fire - a big "G" shoots out from his belly button, punching a G-shaped hole in his opponent and locking him in stasis.
-Mars Flash- Godmars' sword appears in his right hand.
-Final Godmars- the killing slash, almost immediately follows Mars Flash.
-a fourth and rarely used attack is Godmars firing Uranus a la Rocket Punch.


The funny part is, once Godmars combines, he almost always whips out the sword and ends the fight in one swish. Kinda anti-climactic but it does give one an idea of how fast battles would go if all Super Robot shows went like that.







Mars Flash!







Final Godmars!!!!













Comparisons with other SOCs.

With Irongear and Mazinger


With Baikanfu



With Voltes V













Display stand










Cosmo Crusher. The Crusher team is pretty useless most of the time, I really lost count of how many times they got shot down. Still the splitting jet is cool. Too bad there's no diecast though.



There's an optional attachment for the Cosmo Crusher to fit on the display stand.





Landing skis





Secret compartment for Crusher unit 3.




Crusher units 1-3





Unit 3 With Gaia









The Good
-Heavy!!! The whole toy weighs 1.2 Kilos. It's on par with the Iron Gear as the heaviest SOCs
-Stands roughly 11 Inches tall.
-Lots of diecast spread throughout all the Six Gods, even Gaia.
-Diecast connection ports to Sphinx for Uranus and Titan.
-You can see a small Takeru through Gaia's chest panel.
-Solid toy. No floppy parts in each robot, and Godmars' connections are solid too, unlike say, the Dancougar's head.
-Great design, the grooves in the "sword" fist was a smart idea to help keep the sword in place.
-The Cosmo Crusher ships are a nice bonus.
-Nice work with each robot's individual transformation using Gold Lightan's design.
-Each robot is very poseable.
-Each robot comes out of the box ready to play.
-Nice box and tray designs.
-Big solid feet, helps prevent shelf dives.
-A secondary chest panel opening to reveal Gaia!

-Knees! I know this isn't a real big deal but I remember the old Popy toy not having this so it's a plus for me (even though the articulation really doesn't have a wide range, it's still a heckuva lot better than Zambot)








The Bad
-Slightly misproportioned due to the legs being too long.
-It would've been nice if they released a special set or something for the other statue bases (but I guess it might get too expensive)
-Lack of the ratchet joint in Godmars' ankle, after seeing what they did with Baikanfu, I was hoping for this to be a main stay feature with the SOC line.
-Not really a lot of accessories(only 3 extra hands for Godmars?)
-Small display stand, no nameplate.
-(Minor nitpick) He's s bit out of scale next to other SOCs, Godmars is just supposed to be only 50 Meters, Voltes is 58 Meters, so seeing him bigger than Voltes is a bit off, for me anyways.
-The big visible gap in the chest

-While the pegs for connecting Uranus and Titan are diecast, the hole for them to connect to is plastic. I don't know if this will show play wear later on.










The Ugly
The plastic clip locks for Shin and Ra on Sphinx's end


They are sturdy, but to attach the legs you have to really, really push them all the way in, which makes a very loud clicking sound. Not something I would like to do repeatedly. I really wished they added a spring release or something instead.

Disconnecting requires opening the Shin and Ra chest panels then yanking them off Sphinx, but for some reason, Ra's connection on mine wouldn't come off. I had to resort to disassembling Ra's chest and Sphinx's leg to get it to come off. Anyone else encounter this?



Aside from the outer locks there are inner connectors as well.






Conclusion
Okay, while this SOC is VERY Impressive (heft, height, individual robot detail, shelf presence), I would still hold Gunbuster as my favorite SOC combiner play-wise. More accessories, more show accurate, more poseable, easy to disassemble, more bang for the buck(given Godmars' high price tag). Next in rank would be Ideon, then Voltes, then maybe Godmars.
















Click to begin Video Playback.
Godmars Opening.





Godmars Six Gods Combine (video continues into Final Godmars attack).




Gold