Soul of Chogokin Gx-40SP God Mars
Like most Soul of Chogokins released since 2025, each release comes in a big outer plastic bag.
The manual is still pretty good, with reused details on the vintage toys and characters from Gx-40R’s manual. I was half-expecting a simple black and white print out for the instructions.
Background story
Set in the far-flung future of 1999 (the show aired in Japan in 1981) The Emperor of the Planet Gishin, Zule, sees the Earth as a possible threat to his expanding empire and sends his Science Minister’s infant son to the planet Earth with Gaia, a robot loaded with a powerful explosive to destroy it when he grows up. The Science Minister betrays Zule and sends five other secretly constructed robots after Gaia to protect his son (he is subsequently executed after launching the Six Gods).
Upon arriving on Earth, the infant is adopted by a loving family and is given the name Takeru Myoujin. He discovers his true lineage seventeen years later. He develops unique ESP powers (he can even shoot strands of his hair out as projectiles … LOL) and has since grown to love the Earth and is a valuable member of the Crusher Team. He then vows to protect the Earth from the invading Gishin Empire.
In the Anime, the Six Gods were just simple drones with no real sentience, programmed to protect their master. They travel at the speed of light to aid Takeru whenever he’s in danger.
A main plot device in the series is the connection between Takeru and Gaia. If Takeru’s life signs were to flatline, the planet-busting bomb inside Gaia would detonate.
Halfway through the series, Godmars has a showdown with Zule and by some unexplained divine miracle, the bomb is “magically” transplanted into the giant Zule and he blows up in space.
The second half of the show becomes smacked with filler episodes and showcases Takeru and friends have some wild adventures with Space Pirates, who are fighting to save a princess. This goes on for a good twenty episodes or so, before Zule pops up again near the end and again challenges Godmars to another fight.
The Cosmo Crusher
The Crusher team’s transport jet. The Crusher team is actually pretty useless most of the time, I really lost count of how many times they got shot down in the Anime.
The underside of the vehicle features deployable landing skis.
Same as before, the jet separates into 3 components; Cosmo Crusher units 1 to 3.
There’s an adapter for the Cosmo Crusher so it can plug into the display base.
Takeru’s plane, Cosmo Crusher unit 3. Cosmo Crusher unit 3 docks into the rear fuselage of the combined plane.
God Gaear (Gaia renamed? Trademark issues perhaps?)
Display base arm can be set up inside the statue.
God Gaear is the smallest of the Six Gods, he is also the only one that is piloted directly by Takeru in battle, while the others function as drones that only assist in combat.
The original poseability of this figure still holds up even after all this time.
Gaear’s weapon is called the Cannon Saber.
Majin Sphinx
This unit forms the main body of Godmars.
The new SP (special painting) design for this release now includes chromed biceps and thighs for all of the Majins.
Sphinx’s weapon is called the Cross Sword.
It attaches via gauntlets adapters.
Majin Uranus
Uranus forms the right arm of Godmars
Uranus’ weapon is called the Round Saber.
Majin Titan
Titan forms the left arm of Godmars
Titan’s weapon is called the Hyper Sword.
Majin Shin
Shin forms the right leg of Godmars
Shin’s weapon is called the Assam Cutter.
Majin Rah
Rah forms the right leg of Godmars
Rah’s weapon is called the Iron Breaker.
Six Gods
Blades out!
Roku shin gattai!
Godmars
Originally Released back in 2008, Soul of Chogokin Godmars is the latest Soul of Chogokin release to get the “SP” (Special Painting) treatment. This set features a throwback to the original 1980s toy with a retro color scheme and chromed parts on top of the accessories that were added in the 2019 “R” version release.
Godmars Attacks
Godmars has only four moves in his arsenal.
-God fire – a big “G” shoots out from his belly logo, punching a G-shaped hole in his opponent and locking him in stasis.
-Mars Flash- Godmars’ sword appears in his right hand.
-Final Godmars- the killing slash, almost immediately follows Mars Flash.
-A fourth and rarely used attack is Godmars firing Uranus a la Rocket Punch.
Rocket Punch! Takeru can launch one of Godmars’ arm sections at his opponent.
God Fire
Mars Flash!
In the Anime, it’s pretty much an automatic win for Godmars once he forms up and it generates its sword.
Final God Mars!
To complete the “retro look” theme of the set, this set also includes the Classic Godmars Mars Flash Sword that we got back in the R release of Soul of Chogokin Godmars.
Godmars can dual wield!
Display base (same as the original Gx-40 and 40R).
Transformation notes
-Articulated hands are the default attachment, but it’s better if you use the optional hands for better proportions.
-To get the “dummy” Gaear head to pop up easier inside Godmars’ face window, just lift the notch on the back, it’s easier than trying to pull the fin up top.
-To make sure Godmars doesn’t have gaps in the torso area, this tab must slot in properly.
-You can cheat the articulation on Godmars’ arms a little by NOT collapsing the legs of Titan and Uranus, this will make two-handed poses like this possible.
-You can open the chest panel and view Gaear in there. Just for fun.
-The manual does not teach how to disengage the legs, but the simplest way I’ve found to do it is to flip out the chest panels on the leg robots first, then push the tabs on the sides to release the legs. However, this will lead to heavy plastic scrapping on the chest panels.
-Alternately, you can forgo the connection locks and just stack the locks outside the legs, without clicking them in. I think this is the safer option but just always remember that the legs are not locked down if you do this whenever you lift the toy up while cleaning the shelf.
-To pull out the arm bots, make sure to hold down this section of the torso, to avoid putting undue stress on the Sphinx shoulder.
The Good
-The weigh in
–God Gaear- 26 Grams
–Majin Sphinx- 366 Grams
–Majin Uranus- 100 Grams
–Majin Titan- 98 Grams
–Majin Shin- 283 Grams
–Majin Rah-290 Grams
–Godmars-1169 Grams
-Height measurements
–God Gaear- 4″
–Majin Sphinx- 6.5″
–Majin Uranus- 4.5″
–Majin Titan- 4.5″
–Majin Shin- 6″
–Majin Rah- 6″
–Godmars- 10.75″
-Diecast Parts include
–God Gaear
—Lower legs
—Feet
-Majin Sphinx
–Sections of the Torso
–Back half of the legs
-Majin Uranus
–Crotch section
–Back of legs and feet
-Majin Titan
–Crotch section
–Back of legs and feet
-Majin Shin
–Back half of torso
–Main Joints
–Legs
–Feet
-Majin Rah
–Back half of torso
–Main Joints
–Legs
–Feet
-Inclusion of the weapons that we got with the Gx-40R release.
-Tighter joints all around.
The Bad
-Still no statues for the other 5 robots (prototypes or customs statues were shown a couple of years back at one of the Bandai Tamashii Nations events)
-The puny display stand is still the same, no way to hold all the new weapons or new Six Gods fists for holding the new weapons.
-Still no nameplate for the display base.
The Ugly
Sadly, my copy does have some QC issues, particularly with the paint apps on Gaier and Rah’s faces. Dang.
I’m also really hoping Bandai addressed the QC issues that plagued the Gx-40R’s Sphinx (main body unit). Where the lower legs tended to come apart due to the spring being too strong. Some copies had busted legs right out of the box back in 2019. Hope that doesn’t happen with this release.
Overall, pretty good. Even though it’s the third time this mold has been redone, it’s still a solid set, even after 11 years (Gx-40 was originally released in 2008, and got a reissue run back in 2014, according to the Bandai website), the transformation and engineering still don’t cease to amaze.
While the new weapons and chromed parts are a nice bonus, I think I will still stick with my original Gx-40 as my default unit since the colors match the Anime much better and I’m more partial to Anime accuracy in terms of looks more than bonus accessories but that’s just me.
I’ll have to add comparison photos of all 3 versions to this review down the road some day.
Gold
