Soul of Chogokin Gx-27 Gaiking
The display base is packed loosely in a box. It’s not very neatly executed.
Story:
Created in secret by world leaders and Dr. Daimonji to fight the coming alien invasion by the Zelan Dark Horror Army, Daiku Maryu and its primary attack robot, the Gaiking, fight to protect the Earth.
”Gaiking part 1, part 2 go! Part 3 go!”
Gaiking is a powerful super robot piloted by former professional baseball athelete Sanshiro Tsuwabaki. Launched as three separate components from the Daiku Maryu, Gaiking combines and takes on the Dark Horror Army’s mechanical beasts with various powerful weapons at its disposal.
To disengage the Gaiking parts, simply press this button on its back.
My Gaiking has started to show signs of its age. After almost two decades stored in box and away from heat, there’s still some degradation (rough, tiny bubbles showing up on the gold parts) going on with the diecast chest. Sigh… nothing lasts forever.
The “enhanced/ upgraded” Gaiking parts are included in this set!
To remove Gaiking’s feet, just press this button on its heel.
Gaiking with “Enhanced/ Power up” parts – Following the events of episode 22-23, the crew of the Daiku Maryu is lured to the moon and both the Gaiking and the Daiku Maryu sustain heavy damage from an enemy ambush. Gaiking is repaired and upgraded using iron ore mined from the surface of the moon. The team’s chief scientist, Sakon, decides to make some improvements to Gaiking while they were at it, adding the new “Face Open” attack mode for the super robot.
Gaiking’s attacks
Despair Sight! – Eye beams from Gaiking’s eyes.
Counter Punch! – Gaiking’s “Rocket Punch” attack. An alternate forearm with a spring-loaded firing mechanism is included with the set.
The Soul Stage in the photo is not included, I just grabbed this from one of my other figures.
Counter Cross! – Gaiking deploys the melee weapons placed on his shins.
Back Shredder – Gaiking’s backpack has a saw weapon that emerges on its back for when enemies try to attack him from behind. In the toy, a whole saw section in the backpack flips out to recreate this gimmick.
Paralyzer! – Gaiking uses his horns to stab into his opponents and hit them with a huge surge of electricity, overloading their circuits and paralyzing them. The toy’s horns can be lowered to recreate the look.
Killer Bite! – the dragon on Gaiking’s chest isn’t just for show. It can be used to bite into his enemies.
Zaul Geyser! – Gaiking fires a chain of energy beams from his chest (the dragon’s eyes). This is called the “Electron Chain” in the Jim Terry Productions Force Five English dubs. Originally, the streams were colored blue and red, but after Gaiking got “powered up”, the streams changed to red and pink.
Hydro Blazer! – Gaiking’s most powerful move before he gets his “Face Open” upgrades. The Hydro Blazer is a sphere of white-hot energy fired from its mid-section (the dragons’ nose). Sanshiro can actually control the direction of the Hydro Blazer thanks to his ESP, allowing for some tricky tactics to counter enemy attempts to block the Hydro Blazer.
Miracle Drills! – After the team’s resident genius, Sakon, is captured and brainwashed, he betrays the team in episode 13. He eventually regains his senses in the following episode and secretly creates the Miracle Drills using Zelan tech to help the Daiku Maryu team escape their captors.
Usually composed of 3 sections when it’s to be equipped on the Daiku Maryu, only the first 2 components of the Miracle Drill are launched when it’s meant for Gaiking. When equipped on Gaiking, they’re usually used as projectiles launched from its arms, as opposed to being used as melee weapons. The opposite is true for when Daiku Maryu uses its Miracle Drills (Daiku Maryu uses them as melee weapons).
I actually made a mistake in these shots, after it got its enhanced parts, Gaiking never used the Miracle Drills again in the show, just Daiku Maryu. Oops…
As the Miracle Drills appeared in the show before Gaiking got his enhanced parts, optional forearm cuffs are included for “normal” Gaiking to use the Miracle Drills.
Face Open! – After Gaiking gets his upgrades on the moon in episode 23, he also receives a new attack mode called the “Face Open”. This mode opens up Gaiking’s head, revealing new, powerful attacks for Sanshiro to use.
The parts for the “Face Closed” are easily attached (and easily lost, so be careful). It does give Gaiking a “big-headed” look though.
Ermm….. cosplayer mode?
FACE OPEN!
New attacks added to Gaiking’s repertoire:
-Abshock Light – strobe lights from Gaiking’s nose that blind enemies. I’m not sure if they do any actual damage?
-Gaiking Missiles – rapid fire micro missiles (Japanese Wiki calls them mini-nukes??) from below Gaiking’s eyes (the zygomatic arch).
-Death Eye – A powerful laser beam fired from the bottom of Sanshiro’s now fully-exposed c0ckpit.
-Death Fire – flames from Gaiking’s now-open mouth. Its flames are noted to be hotter than the Hydro Blazer. It is considered as Gaiking’s most powerful attack going forward.
Display base
This part is meant to recreate the Daiku Maryu’s neck. Too bad it isn’t painted red.
You can opt to display Gaiking assembled or disassembled. A pretty cool concept.
The Good
-Gaiking stands roughly 8 inches and weighs 345 Grams (432 Grams with the enhanced parts).
-Diecast parts include:
–Entire torso
–Forearms
–Hips
–Upper legs
–Feet
-Firing “Counter Punch”. I really miss this old gimmick, you don’t see it in newer SOCs nowadays.
-Both “normal” and “powered up/ enhanced” versions of Gaiking are included in the package.
-Miracle Drills included!
-“Face Open” gimmick included.
-Wings for the leg parts are included for show accuracy.
-Cool idea to have the display base be capable of displaying Gaiking in both modes.
The Bad
-The display base is simply packed loosely in a box, so expect a lot of rattling around.
-The toy features a retractable shoulder plate to allow for added shoulder articulation, but more often than not, the sleeve tends to get stuck in the shoulders, a decent idea but not really great execution.
-Due to the design of the combination, Gaiking does NOT have a waist joint.
-Really lots of small bits and pieces. Be careful not to lose them.
The Ugly
No real QC issues for me back when I bought this when it first rolled out in 2005(!). But as I mentioned, the torso has started to show signs of aging as the painted diecast is starting to turn rough for some reason. Sigh…
Overall, this thing was impressive then, it’s still impressive now, as I’m writing this is 2022. A lot of the gimmicks were really well executed and the toy feels really solid. I actually regret not getting a second unit back then at SRP in order to display the Gaiking in both modes. Even with the Gx-100 “Gaiking and Daiku Maryu” release, I still consider this one as one of “the greats” in the Soul of Chogokin line. I still recommend picking this up (if you can find a decently priced one) even if you already got the Gx-100.
Parting shot: Be VERY careful not to lose this little red piece. It’s just aribitrarily tossed in the tray, but is actually used to help push the “power up” forearms parts off of the “normal” forearm.
Funfact: Gx-27 will always have a very special place in my heart, as it was the first object I ever managed to pull off a “good” digital photo with, using a 2 Megapixel camera and a few lights. That single decent pic inspired me to do more and it eventually got me to this point of taking lots of great photos of my collection. Gosh.. it’s been an amazing 17 years and big part of it is thanks to Gx-27 being really photogenic.
Gold
