Soul of Chogokin Gx-111 Great Mazinger Kakumei Shinka
STORY
Created in secret by Dr. Kenzo Kabuto (Koji’s presumed dead father) in preparation for the coming Mycenae Empire invasion, Great Mazinger is an upgrade to Mazinger Z in every way imaginable. Equipped with a stronger armor alloy called “Chogokin New Z”, as well as more powerful attacks and weapons, Great Mazinger takes over the fight to protect world peace after Mazinger Z is retired.
Brain Condor – A fast moving jet used by Tetsuya Tsurugi to quickly reach and dock with Great Mazinger. It is Great Mazinger’s counterpart to Mazinger Z’s Hover/ Jet Pileder.
The set comes with two Brain Condors. While both can be equipped on Great Mazinger, I prefer the one with the rotating c0ckpit gimmick.
Mazin Go! Fire On!
Mazinger Z’s successor, Great Mazinger is powered by an upgraded version of Mazinger Z’s Photon Power Engine. Armed with more powerful weapons, it easily surpasses Mazinger Z in all aspects. Piloted by Kenzo Kabuto’s adopted ward, Tetsuya Tsurugi, Great Mazinger continues the fight to protect the world from the threat of the Mycenae Empire.
Thanks to the redesigned joints, you can pull out the ankle and hip joints to give the figure’s joints more clearance to move.
Scramble Dash
Great Mazinger comes with its own built-in Scrander system, called the Scramble Dash. When not in use the Scramble Dash can be retracted into a compact form on Great Mazinger’s back.
The Scramble Dash features a hinge joint at its base, so we can get some additional posing options for Great Mazinger.
The wings can be changed to the alternate “wings pulled back” set, which is how Great Mazinger looks when flying at top speeds (it can reach speeds up to Mach 5).
To “complete the look”, the figure has spring-loaded gimmicks in its legs that pop out the leg dorsal fins. I missed this. Previously with the Gx-71, we had to manually flip these fins out by hand.
Great Mazinger’s Attacks
Atomic Punch! – Great’s improved version of Mazinger Z’s launching forearm attack. Unlike Mazinger Z’s Rocket Punnch, each Atomic Punch can spin at speeds of 2000 RPS, doing massive damage to its target. Each forearm supposedly weighs 5 Tons and flies at speeds of Mach 4 when fired.
The trigger button on the back of the shoulders have been improved. They no longer fire at the lightest touch, unlike how it was with Kakumei Shinka Mazinger Z.
Drill Pressure Punch! – the upgraded version of Great’s Atomic Punch. This time, “Pressure Cutter” blades protrude around the forearm, greatly adding more damage to this already punishing attack. It is said that the Drill Pressure Punch is hundreds of times more powerful than Mazinger Z’s Iron Cutters.
Note that the Drill Pressure Punch parts do NOT feature any elbow joints. But at least they have their own “flame effects” parts to use when locking down into Great Mazinger’s bicep ports.
Great Boomerang! – Great Mazinger uses his chest heat sink as a boomerang. It flies at the speed of Mach 3 when thrown.
For a cleaner look, the set includes an optional proper “flat” chest piece for “boomerang mode.”
Navel Missile! – an improved version of Mazinger Z’s Missile Punch. While the size of the missile is smaller than Mazinger Z’s, it packs more explosive force equivalent to 800 Tons of TNT. When Great Mazinger is fully loaded, it has an ammo count of 84 rockets.
Same as with previous Soul of Chogokin Great Mazingers, parts swapping is required here.
The firing button for the Navel Missile is this little rectangle button on the figure’s back.
Knee Impulse Kick! – Sharp protrusions pop out of Great’s kneecaps.
Again, parts swapping is required to get the spike mounted onto Great, simply remove the default kneecap and place the “Knee Kicker” part in.
Back Spin Kick! – Same as with Knee Impulse Kick, Great Mazinger’s shins produce blades called “Spin Kickers” that are used to do heavy damage when the robot does roundhouse kicks. The blade is capable of slicing through steel 5 meters thick.
I’m really impressed how the figure can hold this pose all by itself. That’s something I didn’t expect. Supposedly, the Knee Impulse and Back Spin Kicks were introduced to capitalize on Bruce Lee’s popularity at the time.
Mazin Blade! – A pair of broadswords ejected from the flanged sections of Great Mazinger’s thighs. Each blade weighs 1.3 Tons and is capable of slicing through 3-meter-thick steel.
Breast Burn! – Great Mazinger’s version of the Breast Fire, its chest heat sinks fire an intense beam of concentrated heat equivalent to 40,000 degrees Celsius. Unlike the Breast Fire, the Breast Burn can be used even underwater. In episode 55, Tetsuya turns on the “Minus Circuit”, which changes the Breast Burn into a freezing beam.
Great Typhoon! – based on Mazinger Z’s Rust Hurricane, the Great Typhoon produces winds equivalent to 150 km/h. While it lacks the corrosive properties of the Rust Hurricane, it is far more powerful in terms of wind speed and can blow almost any opponent far away.
Thunder Break! – Great Mazinger generates an electrical discharge of 3 million volts from its horns to create lightning, before channeling the high-voltage current into its index finger and firing it at its opponent.
Great Booster! – an eternal support unit used to replace the Scramble Dash in case it gets damaged beyond use. Remote-piloted from the Science Fortress Laboratory, the Great Booster can attach itself to Great Mazinger’s back, boosting the machine’s speed from Mach 4 to Mach 5.
Great Booster On!
The Great Booster also functions as Great Mazinger’s most powerful attack; by utilizing its paralyzing lasers located below its wings on its main target, the Great Booster can then deploy its nosecone ramming needle to crash into its opponent. This attack also destroys the Great Booster in the process as well, So Great can’t really spam this “final attack” indefinitely.
With Great Mazinger’s arch-enemy, Gx-110 Ankoku Daishogun.
Pick your ending!
How the big fight went down between Ankoku Daishogun and Great Mazinger in episode 31 of the Great Mazinger TV series, as told through .gif files (I’m too lazy to do video editing, lol).
Part 1
Part 2
The Good
-Great Mazinger stands roughly 7.75 inches tall and weighs 310 Grams (328 Grams with Scrander).
-Diecast parts include:
–Upper torso
–Hips
–Lower legs
–Feet
–Main joints
-Two Brain Condors included!
-I love the rotating c0ckpit gimmick for Great Mazinger! They should’ve done this sooner.
-Mid-torso ab crunch joint gives a lot more options for really cool poses.
-Expanding lower body joints allow for added poseability, too.
-Firing Atomic & Drill Pressure Punches are back! Finally!
-Even better, the punch trigger is designed better than how it was with Mazinger Z, it doesn’t fire at the slightest touch anymore.
-Spring gimmicked lower leg fins!
-Optional Scramble Dash “high speed flight” wing pieces.
-A very well-balance figure! I was really surprised it could pull of the “Back Spin Kick” pose flawlessly without assistance.
-The Great Boomerang chest piece has been redesigned to look better, allowing it to look more natural when attached to Great Mazinger’s chest.
The Bad
-You can hardly make out Tetsuya in the rotating c0ckpit.
-No “Thunder Break” effects parts.
-No Display base (similar to Kakumei Shinka Mazinger Z). So there’s no way to “quakeproof” Great Mazinger.
-No styrofoam trays (sigh…)
The Ugly
No QC issues on my copy, thankfully.
Overall, I am very, very happy with this release! Bandai brought back a lot of great classic design concepts from the earlier Soul of Chogokin Great Mazinger releases here (I’m talking about the spring-loaded gimmicks and joint extenders) . The proportions on Kakumei Shinka Great Mazinger also make it the most cartoon-accurate version of the figure in the Soul of Chogokin toyline yet.
I also love the fact that the designers were able to balance out the weight of the figure in such a way that it can flawlessly do and hold the Back Spin Kick pose! It’s so cool!
Easily the best Great Mazinger in the Soul of Chogokin line by far! I guess the only real downside here is that the older versions are pretty much obsolete now in comparison to this figure.
Funfact: This marks the 7th iteration of Great Mazinger in the Soul of Chogokin line (Gx-02, Gx-02R, Gx-02R TN2016, Gx-02R TN2019, Gx-73 and Gx73SP). A far cry from Mazinger Z’s 28 iterations as of this writing.
Gold
