Soul of Chogokin Gx-85 Titanus. Apologies in advance for the thumbnails, but Photobucket is having issues apparently. The links work fine though, so clicking on the non-loading images will still take you to the full-sized image.
Box side
The box is a bit big and somewhat cube-shaped, measuring 11″ x 11″ x 105.”
Titanus / King Brachion (Jūkishin Kingu Burakion) serves as Carrierzord for the Dinozords and is the final component needed to form the Ultrazord.
This toy is actually an upgraded version of the Legacy Titanus, which never got a Japan market release. The toy uses the same molds (you can even swap the heads and cannons in between the versions) but feature brighter white plastic and more diecast parts for added weight, along with shiny gold chrome paint instead of a dull finish. You can’t mix and match the SOC Dragonzord parts (eg. the tail and the chest plate) with the Legacy Titanuses though.
The diecast parts on these are really heavy! Solid chunks of metal, to say the least.
This inner diecast plate is new and not present in the Legacy version.
Zords!
Ultimate Fusion! Kyukyoku Gattai!
Ultrazord (Kyūkyoku Daijūjin)
The Ultimate Daizyuzin’s finishing move is Grand Banisher, which features a massive artillery barrage from the combined form.
Transformation notes
-The chains are looped into the unit through a break here.
-To keep the Mega Dragonzord stable, they included a clip piece which would clip onto the T-Rex’s tail and plug into the back of the hatch.
-Thanks to this being a reuse of the Legacy mold, the space for putting in the Mega Dragonzord is a big tight, chances are you will scrape the Triceratops horn when you put it into the “driver’s seat” cavity. A workaround here is to put in the leg Dinozords first, then put in the Megazord then the Dragonzord last. But removing the whole assembly will again result in scrapping of the feet units unless you’re very, very careful.
-Some units came with an issue that the “feet” of the Titanus move together at the same time when you roll him (should be alternating foot movements), this is easily remedied by holding one of the feet while you roll the unit to cause a delay and fix the pattern.
For those curious, you can put the Dragonzord into the Titanus cavity, you just have to remove the tail first. The tail is in the cavity in the pic but it’s not connected to anything.
Ride it like you stole it!
The Good
-weighs 2133 Grams (!!!) by itself.
-Diecast parts include:
–Front halves of the cannons
–Main center piece of the torso cavity (new addition, not present in the Legacy)
–Gold portions of the claws
–Front chest plate
-Titanus weighs 2133 Grams, while the Mega Dragonzord/ Zyutei Daizyujin (Megazord + Dragonzord) combined weighs 1880 Grams. So this combination would probably put the full set at around 4000+ Grams (my scale couldn’t handle the load so I couldn’t take an accurate reading).
-Titanus is big! Measures 17″ x 9.5″ x 12″ in dimension.
-Fully combined, the Ultrazord stands roughly 14 inches in height.
-Solid rubber rolling tires. Hope these don’t melt or deform but it’s really cool to see them on a SOC. 
-“Moving” foot gimmick when you roll the unit is a nice feature. The gimmick is also on the Legacy Titanus, it’s an homage to the original toy that had motorized components to make it “walk”.
-Multi ball jointed neck
-Great sculpt work and details (hats off to the Legacy Zords team on this though).
-Screw holes that were highly visible on the Legacy Titanus are all covered up here on the SOC version.
The Bad
-Essentially only a slightly improved version of the Legacy Titanus, which Japan never got.
-Thanks to this being a reuse of the Legacy mold, the space for putting in the SOC Mega Dragonzord is somewhat tight, chances are, you will scrape the Triceratops horn when you put it into the “driver’s seat” cavity.
-I’m not too comfortable with the way the tail cannons plug in to this PCM material port. Hopefully the port won’t turn hard over time and lose its elasticity. I wish it was a basic peg and hole connection instead.
-Some units came with an issue that the “feet” of the Titanus move together when you roll him (should be alternating foot movements), this is easily remedied by holding one of the feet while you roll the unit to cause a delay and fix the pattern. I did not encounter this problem on my unit, however.
-Is it just me, or does the Mastodon head really have no where to go when the whole thing is combined? Poor Zack.
The Ugly
The dropping arms on the Ultrazord. The shoulder ratchets on the SOC Megazord just can’t handle the weight of the diecast gauntlets (Titanus’ front claws). This was painful to witness, after plunking in a huge amount of cash to build this set. Plus the gauntlet themselves are a pain to attach because they also use the Legacy mold and don’t hold up so well on the SOC Megazord, resulting in the gauntlets themselves falling off easily. Bandai could’ve at least had a fix for this, like with the small clip for anchoring the Mega Dragonzord, but alas, no. Sigh…
Overall, it’s not bad, but not that great? It heavily relies on the Legacy mold, which really shouldn’t have been the case and it gets worse when you factor in the increased price (does the increased diecast content really affect the price that much?) and the difficulties of getting the Mega Dragonzord in and out of the cavity. It feels like a cheat on a certain level, to me anyways.
That’s not to say this is a bad figure, there’s a lot of real goodness here, but it should’ve been so much more, given this is meant to be a part of Bandai’s “premier” Soul of Chogokin line and not the usual run-of-the-mill Super Sentai toyline. I really hope Bandai won’t do this again down the road if they ever decide to do more Sentai based items in the SOC line. Seems like such a cheap shot.
I guess you should only get this if you plan to complete the SOC Ultrazord (which looks really big and awesome when put all together). Otherwise, getting it for the Titanus alone, just doesn’t feel quite right.
P.S. If you ever do come across a good deal on the Legacy Titanus to “complete the team”, just remember, you can’t mix and match the Legacy Titanus with the SOC Dragonzord parts (tail, front bumper) to form the Ultrazord. The parts just won’t fit.
Gold
