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Post by ataru on May 21, 2005 8:32:02 GMT -5
CHOGOv9, you read Japanese? Those are the same comments I was seeing on Japanese forums- I mentioned them at Toyboxdx but forgot to here. Here's Gaiking getting in touch with his feminine side.
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 21, 2005 8:32:35 GMT -5
Never mind.It's just a keychain.
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 21, 2005 8:34:25 GMT -5
Yeah I can read very little Japanese.Basically the Alphabet and some Kanji,despite being Filipino.Any way did you report some flaws and do you recommend buying GX-27?
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Post by ataru on May 21, 2005 8:47:32 GMT -5
I read Japanese with no difficulty but I live in the US- I was just reporting the issues I've read about. It sounds like the back armor piece for the legs of the upgraded version comes off easily when you're holding onto Gaiking's legs as you try to pose the figure. Then when you try to put the armor back on, that's when the legs contract. When you try to extend the legs, the armor falls off again. Other flaws I'm hearing are that the horns are too small for the separate daikuumaryuu head to look good, and that there's nowhere to store the normal counter cross pieces when you have gaiking in upgraded mode. As far as the horn thing goes, I guess that complaint comes from people wanting to have the parts separated in normal gaiking mode, not upgraded gaiking mode- I think the much larger horns in that mode probably look fine for the daikuumaryuu head. Also, there isn't a hand for the hydroblazer attack for the upgraded gaiking, only for normal.
On the other hand, I'm seeing posts that say the lock in the legs is strong enough that the legs won't just contract if you leave it standing there. I've also seen that apparently the arms have clicks in them for when they're extending outwards, but no clicks for forward and back, which is the opposite of other standard size socs.
It looks to me like the negatives don't outweigh the positives. A good number of the negatives are concerning the powered-up version too, so if you prefer the look of normal Gaiking as much as I do, that's a point to be happy about.
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 21, 2005 9:51:38 GMT -5
And based on the pictures,the powered up version seems to also limit leg articulation.Otherwise in my opinion,the power-up version is just for display while the normal is for play.
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Post by Chen on May 21, 2005 11:32:25 GMT -5
Dude has huge hands! I'm not too worried about the legs and armor since I really don't treat SOC's like normal toys, just as long as it displays fine then I'm O.K!
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 21, 2005 14:40:46 GMT -5
Despite those flaws,I'm still buying this SOC. I'm just going to play with it in normal mode, and maybe convert it to Upgrade mode for a few seconds,play with it again and put it back in the box. Plus it is 50/50 BANDAI may re-release it again fixing those flaws,but they're just minor in my opinion.
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 21, 2005 20:24:37 GMT -5
And anyway nearly all toys(especially gokin toys) have a defect,whether it's minor or major.
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 22, 2005 7:20:43 GMT -5
NEWS:According to forum sources over at Toybox DX,the skull of GX-27 is plastic. I would consider this a sneaky move for BANDAI because if it was made out of metal,the figure would have a hard time standing up(the floppy toy flaw is also found in GX-03 ,GX-05 mini Gaiking, and MP Convoy.)Plus according to prototype pictures,they indicated the skull would be metal. Well, it goes to show you BANDAI can change things during the production of an SOC. Well back to GX-27,it looks perfectly balanced now that the skull is plastic.But don't worry fans, the chest area is still metal.
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 22, 2005 7:23:13 GMT -5
but from the impression of forum news, the Gaiking is a great SOC,but not one of the greatest.Now if only BANDI could provide a seperate set of the upgrade mode instead of re-issuing it.Well the Upgrade mode is just a gimmick and just for display. The real main attraction is Gaiking in its normal mode.
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Post by lawlacan on May 22, 2005 9:34:25 GMT -5
I am not at all concerned with any "flaw/flaws" for Gaiking. The bottom line is-for most people here, we would still buy it because it will look good on our shelf. Yes, probably it is not the greatest SOC ever made, but of course this things are all subjective. I am just thankful that Bandai created this SOC line for us japanese "old" school robots -and not so old school (evangelion) collectors to appreciate.
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 22, 2005 11:56:02 GMT -5
Yeah otherwise if BANDAI didn't create the SOC line, other great gokin lines like the MAXgokin and Shinseiki gokin would cease to exist.AND I WOULDN,T BE COLLECTING THESE TOYS OR BE ON THIS BOARD IN THE FIRST PLACE!
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Post by Chen on May 22, 2005 12:26:18 GMT -5
I'm getting this no matter what, flaws and all. As for the skull being plastic I always had a feeling it would since it would make the figure unbalanced and increase the weight for shipping.
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 22, 2005 13:32:24 GMT -5
Ataru,I read your post over at TOYBOXDX about the die-cast content of GAIKING.Well its seems that in upgrade mode the plastic leg parts cover the metal pieces,making their metal content seem unnoticable. But when you take the armor off,the die-cast is there in the legs. So it seems that GAIKING's die-cast content is high,but it's over-powered by plastic. And Ataru,what do you mean by back armor?It seems that the leg armor is just one piece of plastic with the red crosses attached to it.
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Post by ataru on May 22, 2005 13:59:44 GMT -5
CHOGOv9, from what I was hearing, it seemed like the outer leg armor is made out of 3 pieces- the bulk of the cylinder, the cross, and a piece for the back of the cylinder. In that picture over at toyboxdx, he had circled the chest area behind the skull to signify there being diecast there, but there was no indication of there being any diecast in the lower legs. I certainly hope there is diecast there. Like I was saying before, I'll be displaying mine in normal gaiking mode anyway, and I'd like to get that cold-to-the-touch feel when I touch the lower legs, since I won't want to touch the chrome and the chest will be covered by the skull. And man, that sucks if the shoulder are plastic. So far pretty much every SOC has had diecast shoulders except for the tetsujin 28 and Poseidon, and it's understandable with them because they're some of the heaviest SOCs thanks to the diecast in other areas. This SOC costs twice as much as the Kikaijuu. I wasn't expecting twice the diecast content, but I was hoping it would at least be gx-01r level.
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 22, 2005 17:59:53 GMT -5
And many of you may know this but GX-27 is twice as pricey as Doublas M2 because of the accessories,modes, and gimmicks. Plus I bet one thing that makes it expensive is its GATTAI gimmick,just suspecting about it.
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Post by ataru on May 22, 2005 18:45:11 GMT -5
Gaiking's price seems fine as long as there's decent diecast content. Take that away and it could still be great, like the SOP Yamato, but it becomes a lot harder to love. Man, think about the also much cheaper (originally at least) SOC Poseidon with its massive diecast content. It's chest is so big and heavy that a diecast skull Gaiking probably wouldn't have any worse balance problems than it has. And it has those large diecast tracked legs too, in addition to the normal set.
I bet I'll love Gaiking but now I'm thinking I'll really regret having ordered 2. A large part of the initial attraction to me was the idea of a big diecast skull.
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Post by Chen on May 22, 2005 18:49:29 GMT -5
I think Bandai makes every SOC to a price point. So say they want to make Gaiking at a build cost of $80.00 they balance die cast to accessories ie. 70% die cast to 30% accessories or so forth. So the higher the accessories the lower the die cast content. I'm sure if Gaiking was just a straight forward figure with no separation gimmick it would have had more die cast.
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Post by ataru on May 22, 2005 19:06:08 GMT -5
I guess it could be like that, Chen. I get the feeling that the amount of work involved in the design is a very important aspect too. Looking at the Zanbot for example, I think all of the effort that went into working out the combination and transformation aspects probably was a much greater part of the cost than the diecast content.
With Gaiking, the accessories are quite nice. Then again, part of why I had thought they decided to go with the idea of putting the powered up version armor pieces on top of the old version pieces was that if they did that, they could make the inner legs diecast and make the outer leg pieces plastic, thus still having satisfying diecast in the powered up version without going ahead and supplying 2 sets of diecast legs. I still like that idea and am hoping the inner legs really are diecast after all. The lower part of the leg is diecast on the Grendizer, right? (curious because it too has the contracting/extending leg gimmick)
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Post by Kuro Kishi on May 22, 2005 19:14:53 GMT -5
Well when you guys recieve it,let me know how it is.I'm not getting mine until the next 6 weeks(when I graduate).And its coming to my area in only a few days! .
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