Soul of Chogokin Gx-106 Mechanical Dragon Dol & Giran Disc (Space Sheriff Gavan)
Just in time for Gavan’s and the Space Sheriff’s 40th Anniversary.
Story
Earth is invaded by the forces of the Makuu Empire, led by their leader, Don Horror. Space Sheriff Gavan is sent by the Galactic Union Patrol to stop them. Choosing to conceal his identity by adopting the name Retsu Ichijouji while on Earth, Gavan and his partner, Mimi, work tireless to protect the planet from Don Horror and his minions.
Display bases/ Pedestals – there are three different display bases this time around.
Super Dimensional Highspeed Ship Dolgiran
Space Sheriff Gavan’s main mobile base of operations, the Dolgiran orbits around the Earth when on standby. When called upon, Gavan yells “Jōchaku” (蒸着), signalling the Dolgiran to beam down Granium particles to encase his body with his silver chrome combat suit, allowing Gavan to fight the forces of evil.
Makuu Empire Battle Saucers
The Makuu Empire’s attack crafts. These fighters usually engage the Dolgiran in combat by firing lasers at the giant ship. Usually seen as a squadron composed of three fighters.
With all the heavy firepower aboard the Dolgiran, it usually makes short work of these little pests.
While it’s not very clear where the turrets are on this ship (even in the show), from the battle sequences, there seem to be several high-powered turrets all over the surface of the Giran Disc.
Giran Disc
When Electronic Starbeast Dol disengages from the Giran, the latter can function independently as it resumes its orbit in space. I don’t think the Makuu fighters ever tried attacking the Giran directly while Gavan was busy fighting somewhere? If they did, the Giran would probably be in a lot of trouble, with no one driving it.
The Giran disc actually features electronic sound. Opening up the bottom of the disc and placing 2x AAA batteries will allow you to play the Dolgiran’s theme song “Shining King Dolgiran” insert from the show. Batteries are NOT included.
After turning on the main switch next to the battery compartment, simply push this little button on the starboard side of the Giran to play the theme music. Pushing it again will make it stop. The track plays for roughly 1:41 seconds.
Music demo for the Giran Saucer playing “Shining King Dolgiran”
The sound is piped out through these slits underneath the bow section of the Giran.
Cyberian
Gavan’s personal vehicle, which he uses to enter Makuu Space. In the series, Don Horror uses a device that is able to control the Earth’s Axis, shifting it and creating a sub-space where his monsters become three times stronger. Called “Makuu Space”, its properties are supposedly similar to that of a black hole, making it unable for Gavan to escape until he defeats the monster in the area. Gavan can only safely navigate through this space when using his Cyberian vehicle.
Gavion
Gavan’s battle tank. Like the Cyberian, the Gavan is launched from the Giran Disc. Armed with heavy firepower to easily take out Makuu enemies, the Gavion also houses the Scooper, Gavan’s drilling vehicle used for drilling terrain and rescue operations.
I’m not really sure how well scaled these are, it seems like the Gavion tank should be bigger than this.
Both vehicles can be loaded onto the Giran by lifting up the ship’s superstructure and rotating it along with the canopy out of the way.
Closing up the canopy again makes it hard to spot the two vehicles though.
Lastly, the Giran features a catapult gimmick for launching Gavan’s vehicles. Simply push the catapult back and press on the trigger button next to the launch deck to send the vehicle flying.
Be warned though, the launcher does pack quite a kick, so it will really send the Cyberian or Gavion flying far across the room (or into someone’s eye).
One small issue here, however. There’s really nowhere to properly “dock” the units while they’re on the catapult. They just sort of sit there. Tipping the entire disc sideways will cause the units to dislodge quite easily from the catapult. Be mindful of this.
Electronic Starbeast Dol
The Lower half of the Dolgiran separates to transform into the Electronic Starbeast Dol.
To disengage the halves of the ship, you’ll have to press hard on this release button on the bottom side of the Giran. Also, do take note that the connection to Dol is on Dol’s metal “fin”. I worry that repeated connections might result in paint chips.
Gavan’s most powerful battle machine. Controlled via voice commands given by Gavan, the Electronic Starbeast Dol launches several powerful attacks against Gavan’s “monster of the week” opponents.
In the show, Gavan rides atop of Dol’s head while it fights the giant monster (just to prove how much of a bada$$ he is). To replicate this with the Soul of Chogokin, the set comes with an alternate Dol head piece with Gavan attached up top.
Electronic Starbeast Dol’s attacks
Dol Fire -breathes out fire from its mouth
Dol Laser – laser beams from Dol’s eyes and its claws,
Dol Kick -front feet to clamp down pesky fighters
Screw Attack -whips enemies attacking from behind with Dol’s tail
The Good
The Weigh in:
-Electronic Starbeast Dol spans 10.5 inches and weighs 271 Grams.
-Giran Saucer weighs 210 Grams.
-Diecast parts include:
–Whole main body section of the Electronic Starbeast Dol
–(No diecast parts on the Giran Saucer)
-Bandai is using styrofoam again with their releases! Yay!
-Miniture Cyberian and Gavion are included.
-Openable canopy for storing Cyberian and Gavion on the Giran Disc.
-Firing catapult gimmick on the Giran Disc.
-Electronics for playing the “Shining King Dolgiran” theme included.
-Ratcheted main joints on Dol.
-Very poseable joints on the neck and tail of Dol.
-Optional tiny Gavan included for Dol.
The Bad
-Possible paint chipping from repeated connections between Dol and Giran?
-Catapult for the mini vehicles really sends them flying. Be careful where you aim!
-The mini vehicles tend to fall out easily if the Giran is not properly balanced.
-No way to adjust the display pedestal angle for Dol to make it look more imposing.
-No mini-Gavan included (unlike Gx-97 Daileon that came with a decent Juspion figure)
-No Scooper mini-vehicle.
-No diecast parts on the Giran disc.
-Only one music track for the electronics. Would’ve been nice to have the series’ main opening theme or even some sound effects or voice tracks included.
-Audio for the theme song is also a bit on the weak side.
The Ugly
No QC issues here, thankfully.
Overall, it’s fairly decent. While the toy is a nice nod to the 40th Anniversary of Gavan, there’s nothing really impressive with this release in terms of engineering. It’s a shame, as I would’ve loved to see some LEDs incorporated into the toy since it already incorporated electronics to give it more bang for the buck. The addition of bonus items like a detailed Gavan mini-figure similar to Gx-97’s Juspion would’ve been a welcome plus as well.
As it is, it’s a mediocre release and probably best left to Gavan fans (who probably own the vintage diecast toys anyway) and/ or Soul of Chogokin line completist. Definitely not a “Toy of the Year” material, sad to say.
Gold
