Looks like Baron has finally got a chance to handle the figure himself. Heh. I actually agree with him on many of the points he makes, like the front plastic bit on the Gattaiger not fitting well? Yeah, happens to me as well, but we'll get to that part later.
*cough*
Alright people, sort-of-review of the Metaltech 05 incoming. With many pics too.
first, a pair of box pics, probably one of the most aesthetically beautiful elements of the lot (which sort of speaks for the rest):
Also, do note that I own the Silver Edition of the figure, limited to 100 pieces only and distributed by just one shop. Located in Italy. Yeah, it's kind of unfair for the non-Europeans that want one..
Alright, let's see the inside:
The Spider Spin (hope the name is correct) blade is taped to the bottom of the tray and it kind of pisses me off at times, because it will move around a bit and you'll need to place it again in the right spot or you'll have some trouble re-inserting the tray back into the box. Tsk. Well, I haven't taken it out, since I won't be using it.
And here's Roboizer
front and back:
You may notice from these pics that, as Baron already mentioned, the elbow and knee panels are a different red compared to the rest of the limbs. The texture is different too, arms and legs are glossy red while the panels are a matte-ish opaque finish. Sure, to notice it behind the knees you'd have to turn the figure around, and the ones on the elbows are smaller and less evident, but.. but they're there, can't deny it. Might bug some people out, I can tolerate it.
Closer shot of Roboizer's head and upper chest:
I like the metallic gray, I really do. The finish is almost flawless (there a few minuscule imperfections, but nothing serious). This figure will look great next to the Yamato Groizer (which I don't have yet). The face detail on the other hand? Don't like it that much. See, looks like the paintjob on it is sloppier than on the rest of the figure. Also, look at the neck: there's a vertical line right in the middle, what's that? Looks like a welding line or something. Ugh.
EDIT: that line is present on every copy of the MT05, it's just more visible than usual on mine.
This next pic shows my case of "hand left a mark on the hip" issue:
I circled it for ya because it's not
that noticeable. I think other people might have it worse than me, so I feel relatively lucky. I'll fix it in the future, of course, following the method Baron used. Since we're at it, take your time to admire the interesting "waist gap" between the blue and gray sections of the trunk, hehe. I know why it's there, but still..
Ok, let's talk briefly about the joints in the figure. The head and the feet are on ball joints, as they should be, nothing wrong so far. But some design choices here are.. wrong. Just wrong. The shoulders have soft ratchet joints, smooth for extending the arm out and clicky for rotating it, but the elbows and knees (god those knees) use insanely tight plastic joints. While bending the knee I almost thought I'd break the leg. Arms and legs swivel at the elbows and knees respectively (only forearms and lower legs rotate). The upper leg connection to the body.. pfff. The weirdest choice of all. Soft friction plastic joints. They do their job, since Roboizer is not what I'd call "loaded with metal", but don't play with them too much, or you might end up with a Ro-bow-izer which won't stand straight (sorry for the terrible pun).
Diecast parts include the upper chest, the blue waist area and the lower legs. The rest is plastic. The feet are of a different kind of plastic though, which feels lighter and of lower quality compared to the rest of the figure. Also, it seems to be more easily dentable
Ok, now let's check the spacer:
It is decent. The thing is heavy, love the heft, but the paint apps are just as sloppy as Roboizer's face. Only this time it's on the whole saucer
Look at the following close-up:
Look for instance at the lines between blue and yellow zones. The lines are not clean, there are these wave-like shapes for the whole length of the lines.. did the paint bleed? This happens also on the brown panel areas on the sides, brown and black paints are not applied all that well. The yellow pipes on the back have the same problem. Gattaiger looks very good from far away, but take a peek up close and you'll notice all of these things.
And when I opened the thing I got another surprise (though it will be quite difficult to see in the photograph, my camera didn't pick it up very well):
The upper half of the spacer, on the right in this picture, has its internals completely painted in seaweed green. Brush marks are clearly visible. It's worse than what it looks in the image, believe me. Looks light green/yellow-ish here, while in reality it's just a very distasteful shade of green. Thankfully this is only on the inside of the saucer but.. if Duke Fleed had to pass through all that.. stuff, every time he docked Roboizer in, he wouldn't be able to fight afterwards. He'd just barf. And lose control. And crash. And die.
The two halves click well together, the magnets are strong enough and swapping the plastic parts around to transform the regular spacer into proper Gattaiger is easy and quick. Except for the pointy thing on the front (Roboizer's arms while in combined form). That thing fits in very tightly, and it won't even go all the way in, there will still be a gap between plastic part and lower spacer half, no matter how hard you push it down. Just like the knees, I was worried I'd break the damn thing if I insisted too much on it. The gap is not too wide (only a piece of paper would fit inside it), but I can't help but think "if everything else clicked perfectly in place, why won't this ploncker do the same?"
Almost everything is metal here. The only things plastic are Roboizer's face or top covering panel, Roboizer's arms or front covering panel, the wings on the sides, Roboizer's feet or back covering panel (both are the same piece to be honest) and, finally, the Spider Spin blade or black support ring. The rest is pure gokin
I've also measured heights, lengths and weights of both Roboizer and Gattaiger, just like Gold would do, hehe
Roboizer (height): 16.5 cm, or 6 1/2 inches.
Gattaiger (length): 20~ cm, or 8 inches.
Gattaiger (width) (counts as the spacer's diameter): 13.5 cm, or 5 1/2 inches.
Roboizer (weight): 224 grams.
Gattaiger (weight) (without half roboizer inside): 684 grams.
So while Roboizer might not be an impressive diecast toy, weight-wise, Gattaiger certainly more than makes up for it, with over 3 times the mass. If you put half robot into the spacer (but why would you), it'd weigh even more.
I'd also like to point out something: my box. It came nestled inside another box with newspapers to soften bumps and impacts. Too bad that Gattaiger's box fitted so tightly inside it, that this is what greeted me once I took it out:
Crushed corner. There's another corner which is a bit mashed too, but not as badly as this one. I mean, come on. 170 euros and I can't even get a pristine box? Well.. I don't care much about the box. Still, it pissed me off a bit. 1-2 centimetres of extra space and none of this would've happened.
So, is it worth it? Ehh..
It is a decent figure. Good size for a diecast toy, good enough metal content in the robot and very good in the spacer, but weird articulation joint choices and passable paint apps, passable at best in some areas. Looks good overall and has a nice presence. So it's not a bad figure by any means. But I think the set is a bit too expensive for what I've got. Ask me and I'd say this is worth 100 to 120-125 euros (110 to 130-140 US dollars). Certainly no more than 160-170 $, and that could already be too much. And I paid the equivalent of 190 dollars. Folks here might have spent, or will spend, even more than that, it depends.
People who are ok buying ET products will be alright with this figure, I guess. But if you value your money just as much (or more) than your figures, you may want to stay away from it.
Final opinion:
mixed.