Soul of Chogokin Gx-32 24G Gold Lightan
I still haven’t watched the episodes of this Anime but it seems it was a hit back in its day, especially in Hong Kong as new toys for this series kept popping up every less than a decade or so since its release.
This time, Bandai redecoed the Gx-32 and gave it an upgrade of sorts, from the 18K gold finish, Gold Lightan now sports a 24K gold finish.. uhh.. woot?
The toy still needs to have the “leg fillers” manually placed. No perfect transformations here, kids.
For the unfamiliar, the series revolves around a young boy, Hiro Taikai, who discovers a lighter, who is actually the Giant Gold Warrior Gold Lightan from another dimension, who is out to stop the invading forces of King Ivalda the Great. When not in battle, Gold Lightan just hands out with Hiro in his miniaturized “lighter” form. When trouble appears, he projects an opening into the robot universe and travels through the Rainbow Road and re-emerges back in the world fully transformed and standing 30 Meters in height.
Gold Lightan and his pals generally just fight hand to hand, they don’t have any real special attacks or weapons.
Gold Lightan usually ends the battle with his signature Gold Hand strike.
Even though Gold Lightan and his pals all have lips, they never open their mouths to speak, kind of like how it is with Ultraman.
Gold Lightan comes with enemy “heartbox” energy device (same as the original).
Display base
The base can be opened up to store the spare hands and parts (similar to the original).
Comparison with the original Gx-32.
I like how they redid the tray and put everything in one big red tray, classy.
The manual has been redone, instead of featuring the vintage toys, it now features stills and character models from the Anime instead.
The red mat for the display base is now glued in place, in the original you had to remove a sticker label and apply the mat yourself.
24G version on the left (redder eyes, darker shade of gold)
The Good
-Weighs 215 Grams and stands roughly 5.5 inches tall. The original weighs more by 1 gram?
-Diecast parts include
–Torso
–Legs and feet (?)
-It’s 24 Karat gold plated this time.
-Better colors
-Better accessory tray design
-For all intents and purposes, this figure is essentially 1:1 scale to Gold Lightan in his miniature form when he hangs out with Hiro.
The Bad
-No new accessories
-Straight up redeco, no improvements to the mold
-It’s not a real lighter! (lol. sorry, I just had to say it.)
The UglyNo real qualms with the quality control here. I suppose the only real downside is that this figure costs a lot more than the original release. The original which came out in 2006 (gosh, 12 years ago) only cost 6300 Yen. This guy is 12,000+ Yen.
I don’t know if the 24K gold plating really adds anything of real value to the toy as I’m no expert. But from the outset it looks almost exactly the same with no new features or accessories added. I guess it could’ve been worse and they rolled this guy out as a Tamashii Web Exclusive like the Big O reissue and kicked the price even higher. Bottom line, if you already own the original Gx-32 Gold Lightan and aren’t fully completing the SOC line, then this guy is an easy pass.
Gold
