This toy was the fourth entry in CM's Brave Gokin line, and as such, the engineering leaves a little bit to be desired. It's a huge set, and it suffers from being overly ambitious. In short - it's kind of a mess.

God Raijin-Oh (ゴッドライジンオー) comes from the 1991 anime series "Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh" (絶対無敵ライジンオー}. It was the first in the Eldoran series, sort of a Brave series for the younger set.

This toy was the fourth entry in CM's Brave Gokin line, and as such, the engineering leaves a little bit to be desired. It's a huge set, and it suffers from being overly ambitious. In short - it's kind of a mess.

A pretty mess, but a mess nonetheless.

So much of a mess that I didn't do a video review - I figured I would just get too frustrated.

So here it is.

The box is big, making it a bitch to store. Inside is two beautiful old-school styrofoam trays.

The toy consists of two robots - Raijin-Oh and Bakuryu-Oh.

Raijin-Oh

Raijin-Oh is a combining robot, consisting of three smaller robots:

Ken-Oh

Ken-Oh is the humanoid robot, the core of Raijin-Oh and God Raijin-Oh. He's a fantastic figure, almost entirely metal. Articulation is great and the figure has swappable hands. Ken-oh's sword is stored in his back (just the hilt) and the blade can be attached. I had difficulty attaching my blade - there was excess plastic in the hole in the hilt that had to be carved out with a hobby knife. Ken-Oh comes with two head crests - a gold chrome one for display and a flexible yellow one for transformation (shown here).

Hou-Oh

The Eagle is all plastic but has a tremendous wingspan. The quality on this one is so-so, with pieces falling off during handling. The head pops off easily, the tail is just held on by friction, and one of my foot claws won't stay on. On the plus side, the jaw is articulated, the wings are jointed in several places and the legs are articulated.

Juu-Oh

The Lion is the heaviest out of the three, with the entire torso being diecast metal. The feet are articulated, as well as the tail. The jaw moves, but thats about it. In the show, Ken-Oh can ride Juu-Oh, but I have no pictures of that.

Raijin-Oh Gattai!

Raijin-Oh

Combining the three units to form Raijin-Oh is almost identical to the anime. Really, if you want to know how it goes together, just watch the clip above.

Essentially, Ken-Oh folds up and becomes the core - Hou-Oh becomes the head, arms and wings, and Juu-Oh become the legs. The thing is massive, and heavy as hell. It retains a great amount of articulation, pretty much everything Ken-Oh had, just bigger.

Some of the flaws are glaring though. For one, once you add the heavy lower legs of Juu-Oh, the upper legs (which are compacted) will not stay locked into place. Pick the thing up and the legs just come sliding down, the left moreso than the right. It is as if there is no mechanism to click them in place.

There are two sword blades included with the toy. The silver blade is for the tail of Hou-Oh. When used as the sword we switch to the gold blade.

Another fatal flaw is the hands. For one, all the hands have this film on them.. maybe an oxidation of the rubber? But either way, they look bad until you wipe them down. And then they are brittle. 3 years later, and while trying to place the shield (which, incidentally is Juu-Oh's head) into the holding hand, the hand broke in half.

It looks pretty, but don't let it fool you.

The second robot in the set is the Bakuryu-Oh

Bakuryu-Oh

Bakuryu-Oh is a bulkier robot than Raijin-Oh, and is very plain looking (in my opinion) with the only saving grace being the large wings. it's very... white.

The upper body is all plastic, with limited articulation. The head turns, the arms are on ball joints, the upper arms swivel and the elbows bend. It's very plasticky and toy like - fitting of a Brave-type toy. The lower legs are solid metal, but have almost no articulation due to the connection method to the body (pegs). The knees bend, and the feet can move a little.

The hands on Bakuryu-Oh have the same issue with the film on them, and swapping them out sucks. The reason? at the end of each arm there is a peg, and that whole assembly can slide into the arm. To get it out, you push a small peg under the arm. Well, the fit is so tight with the fists that applying force to the wrist peg while holding the small peg underneath results in - you guessed it - peg breakage. I ended up putting a flat-head screwdriver in the space behind the peg to force the wrist peg into the hand.

Bakuryu has a large cannon that can be held in his hand. Unfortunately, it does not shoot anything. It is articulated, but that is for another purpose. Also included is a shield.

Bakuryu-Dragon

Bakuryu-Oh can transform into the Bakuryu-Dragon. It's really just a bunch of parts-swapping. The big gun becomes the tail with articulated segments and the shield unfolds origami-like to form the head. Combined the thing is immense.

Combined, the two form

God Raijin-Oh

This is a messy process.

If you already have Raijin-Oh combined it is not so bad. Bakuryu-Oh dissasembles like a puzzle - there are parts everywhere. Each part needs to be folded and arranged just so to fit on or over Raijin-Oh. Once again, the video is spot-on.

Together, God Raijin-Oh is a heavy fiddly clusterfu*k. You can't touch it without something falling off. It's just too much.

Some of the notable flaws - The head looks too small for the crown that it wears. That crown does not snap on at all, and grazing it will send if off across the room as if it were spring-loaded. The same thing goes for the chest panels, shoulder panels, eagle head etc...

The "shoes" on the feet are the solid metal legs from Bakuryu-Oh and they just klink and klank each time you pick the thing up. The connection method is just two clips for each leg, and you really have to jam them in there.

The large blue wings slip over the red wings, giving the combined figure a wingspan of over a foot. They include small blue wing tips to keep the red and blue wings lined up.

It's big, for sure.

Bakuryu-Oh's shield combines with Raijin-Oh's sword to create a giant arm blade. This requires a special hand that has two posts pre-attached to it that connect with the shield.

God Raijin-Oh can now hold the large cannon with two hands. The hands have angled wrists to accommodate the pose.

So there you have it. It's a great concept, and much more anime-accurate than the old Tomy version, but you really sacrifice durability and play value here. Once you get it in the mode you like - put it on the shelf and leave it alone.

CM's included a ton of screw-hole covers, but honestly, I don't have the time or the motivation to put them on. Also included was a small sticker sheet of clear stickers, die-cut into shape. Nowhere in the instructions are these shown, but my guess is these stickers help protect parts that are prone to chipping.

Not cheap. Not durable. Handsome as all get-out. My advice - display it as the two separate robots - Raijin-Oh and Bakuryu-Oh.

PS - in an odd move - CM's is re-releasing JUST the Raijin-Oh.. I wonder if that is an acknowledgment that the design went too far.

Mecha from Martian Successor Nadesico

I don't know what's up with all the Nadesico love lately, but please, for gods sake, can we get a gokin GEKIGANGER 3?!?!

Anyway, here's the CM's Brave Gokin Aestivalis Ground Type & Aerial Battle Frame. Actually not too expensive at 10,800yen, but then again, its only 12cm tall.

The unknown Eldoran robot...

Tomy's Eldoran series is obscure enough, but what about the last eldoran robot, Daitei-Oh? He was supposed to be the fourth TV series, but instead got only one episode and a Manga. Poor guy. It's a shame, cause it's a cool design.

Coming from CM's in December 2009 it is the Sunrise Mechanical Action Series Daitei-oh from Kanzen Shouri Daiteioh. This 13cm toy will set you back 6,000 yen.

Made of PVC and ABS.

Limited to 300 pcs, this toy has too much metal for its own good.

I was never a fan of Galient, or any of its sequels, but when CM's announces a toy thats 90% gokin, well, I'm gonna check it out.

Tetsukyojin actually comes from a sequel of Galient called "Crest of Iron", which features an alternate take on the classic Galient mecha.

Tetsukyojin appears courtesy of Anime-Export

For the price you pay, the toy is surprisingly small. $180 gets you 6.5 inches of gokin, just slightly taller than your average SOC.

There are hardly any accessories - just some variant hands, a sword and a shield.

Articulation is very good considering its all metal. All of the joints that I can see are plastic with metal support parts.

The head is plastic and rests on a simple ball joint. The fit is tight.

The shoulder pads are solid metal, and conceal a dual ball joint beneath.

The upper arms are metal, and the elbow features a sliding out dual joint similar to the one Aoshima uses. However this joint is not as stiff or precise as that one, and the weight of the forearm makes this joint loose.

The upper chest is all metal while the torso is made out of a few layers of plastic. These parts conceal a dual ball joint that attaches to the waist. There is also a small door on the chest that can open. A cockpit maybe?

The waist section is metal, and there are four poseable metal skirt sections.

The upper legs attach to the hips via ball joints that snap into embedded polycaps. These legs can pop off if you want them to.

The knees are great. They feature several different moving parts that give a decent range of motion.

As for the feet, well, they could be better. They are all metal, first of all. The feet are on ball joints and are actually constructed of four moving parts. However these parts move too easily, so it can be tough to find a pose that is stable. Tetsukyojin likes to fall over if not posed properly. The toy could have use more ankle movement to aleviate that.

The sword is all metal. Unfortunately the sides are flat instead of sharp, so using it as a letter opener is out of the question.

The shield is the only thing without any metal, and with good reason. The weight would cause Tetsukyojin to tumble. Its hard ABS plastic and features a handle to grab on to, and a loop in the back is supposed to hook onto the back of the forearm.

The sword can be placed in the shield when not in use.

The paint is a glossy deep blood red. This color is the anime color and is limited to 300 pcs. The regular version is a metallic red, and if given the choice, I probably would have gone with that one.

In all, it is a neat toy, but not a good value for the money unless you are a diehard Galient fan. It's cool, but not $180 cool. They should have used a little less metal and improved instead on the joint work.

Darkness, what does it mean? Does it mean the true evil or more Legioss toys?

You know me, I like weird variants. They don't get any weirder than the Dark Legioss Pilotless Type. Right now, this is the only toy of this variant. Picture a normal heroic Legioss all bright and shiny. Now picture an evil killbot, all dark with nasty claws. Put them together and you've got the Dark Legioss Pilotless Type. This Legioss is only seen in the last episode Genesis Climber Mospeada and even then it had maybe a minute of screen time. If you've seen my review of the regular Dark Legioss you get the gist of what I like and dislike about CM's Corporation's Legioss toys. I will point out the changes made to the design in this review.

This toy easily converts to Armo-Diver mode.

It is fairly stable in this mode if a little stiff.

Here's a group shot of Armo-Divers.

In Armo-Fighter mode, more changes are apparent. The canopy has been replaced with a solid piece adorned with a simple painted sensor eye. The canopy is removable and there is a normal cockpit underneath (with no pilot of course). The leading edge root extensions (the wing like pieces on the side of the nose section) are now much more angular. The new sternum piece is also too big to allow the Pilotless Type to rest on its nose wheel. As such, this toy does not roll along like the other two.

Up close we can see the basic tampoo printing and optional missile cluster. These are plugged into screw holes underneath the intakes.

The gun can still be plugged in between the shoulders.

One good thing about the new foot pieces is that they are easier to line up in Armo-Fighter mode.

Armo-Fighter group shot.

In the end, CM's Corporation's Legioss toys are durable, fun toys but their premium price turns off the casual buyer. Despite all my reservations about the cost, I think it was worth it just to get a toy of the Pilotless Type and the normal Dark Legioss. They are easily the best of CM's Mospeada toys.

From the '90s Eldoran series "Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger"

From the '90s Eldoran series "Genki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger" comes the titular mech, Gambaruger. Formed by Go Tiger, King Elephant and Mach Eagle. The toy does not transform, but is fully articulated. At 13cm tall, Gambaruger will run you 6,300 yen.

Beautiful Earth, I love your Caliburs.

Tokusou Kihei Dorvack (Special Armored Battalion Dorvack) is one of the many "also ran" shows that followed in the wake Macross. Real robots that transformed were now big, and after Super Dimension Century Orguss Takatoku toys was looking for another hit. At the same time, model kit manufacturer Gunze Sangyo was looking to get in on the Powered Suit craze started by Kow Yokoyama's Maschinen Krieger (SF3D) designs and Nitto's model kits. Both companies would end up as the sponsors for Dorvack. So in one part of Dorvack you have our galliant crew of anime protagonists lead by Masato Mugen who was voiced by none other than Toru "Amuro Ray" Furuya with his awesome Mugen Calibur transforming jeep and in the background were a bunch of hapless soldiers in Powered Suits who just died by the dozens in elaborate (and sometimes hilarious) ways. CM's Corporation, never shying from almost any dead franchise has taken up the mantle of releasing a new Dorvack toys that hope to cover both sides of the mecha. This particular example of the Mugen Calibur was created to resemble boxart from one of the transformable kits. This particular kit was called the Calibur Special. This toy is called the Miyazawa Mokei version and lacks the armor set included in the regular Mugen Calibur release.

The Mugen Calibur can be considered the hero mecha of the show. Masato Mugen himself is your typical anime good guy, quick witted, smarmy, and never without his trademark red goggles. The toy comes with two Masato figures, one for the driver's seat and one standing ever so non-chanlant with his hands in his pockets. The Mugen Calibur stands roughly 7 inches high (about the same size as the old Takatoku toy) and is bristling with weapons and equipment. On its legs it carries a rack of five grenades and its folded up rifle. On its back it has one shoulder mounted cannon, a jump pack, and a vehicle mounted gun. The CM's toy is quite skinny and reflects the animation model more than the original Takatoku toy. It is mostly plastic with the notable diecast parts being its thighs and the front wheel mount.

Up close we can see this version of Mugen Calibur is mostly gray with a few orange highlights. It features minimal tampoo printing, which includes a Dorvack patch on each arms and a "6" on each thigh. The head features limited movement and the visor is painted with sparkling green.

From the rear we can get a better look at the jump pack. In the show there is a special long armed tank robot that attaches the jump pack and wheel covers to the Mugen Calibur. Using the jump pack, the Mugen Calibur could make great leaps in a very Starship Troopers inspired "on the bounce" manner. The jump pack features a small antenna and two control arms. The arms are simply pegged into the pack, however on mine one of the arms was fixed in place and snapped off. This is probably from dried paint gluing it in place. I managed to fix it enough for these photos. Also be wary of the tiny antenna as its not made of flexible plastic.

The vehicle gun and assault rifle share the same gun barrel. Simple unfold the rifle and swap out the barrel to complete it.

One thing you may notice about this review is that the Calibur isn't exactly "dynamic." While the arm joints are quite nice and there is a waist joint the hips are just awful. Given the way the hips are designed there is little clearance to use them and even still they are only made to rotate along one axis. By unlocking the leg from the waist as per the transformation, the Calibur can achieve a more natural stance, but the limited ankle joints and looseness of the hips in this pose don't let you get much more than that. The tiny feet and hefty diecast body also make this guy a bit top heavy.

Each of the grenades from the leg rack are removable and can be inserted into the assault rifle. This is not mentioned in the manual. The rifle itself resembles an AR-15 or similar M-16 variant. The Calibur's articulated fingers grip the gun well enough.

Also included is a large double barrelled cannon. This cannon includes its own fist already grasping the gun so all you have to do is replace the right hand with the cannon. The small fist inside even features full details like fingers but cannot be removed without disassembling the gun.

From this side we can see the gun has some basic detail. The small peg at the bottom is removable and is used for mounting the cannon to the Calibur in jeep mode.

On our way to the transformation, we can see the working cockpit detail. The small Masato is plugged into the seat via a butt peg and goes along for the ride as you rotate the seat forward. There is also a small steering wheel that flips in and out. The toy has very little detail inside. It's all very basic.

Before transforming the toy, all wheel covers and the jump pack must be removed. The toy is actually packaged with these covers already attached. They slide off the wheel wells smoothly to reveal the toy's rubber tires.

The Mugen Calibur makes for one of the blockiest jeeps in all of anime. Given the way its so low to the ground thanks to the arms getting tucked underneath, the Mugen Calibur is also probably one of the worst jeeps in all of anime. No wonder they gave it awesome flight armor during the second half of the show. The detailing in this mode is pretty basic, but functional. I like the molded windshield wipers and winch. I do like how the transformation completely hides the orange bits. That gives it more of an authentic feel.

I guess since the driver's seat is in the middle, this jeep is pretty much street legal anywhere right?

All that's missing is a sweet vanity plate.

Loaded for bear, the Calibur looks a bit more impressive.

You can also bring the jump pack along in jeep mode. It just slots over the vehicle gun.

So to appease the Powered Suit fans, CM's included a Nove and Halk (Hulk?) suit. They have a few accessories of their own which includes a giant camera and optional chef's hat for the Nove. The Halk has a blaster.

The Nove's arms can be replaced with a Mega Man blaster while the Halk picks up a plunger gun.

In the end, CM's Mugen Calibur is an alright toy. It will probably please those who like the design but articulation may turn away the skeptical modern fan. Oh and by the way, did I mention this set costs around $200 MSRP? Don't worry, nobody is buying these so prices are plummetting. It's a shame really. A little more effort and this toy could have been the definitive modern Mugen Calibur toy on par with Bandai's SOC and Soul Spec toys or Yamato's Macross toys. At the very least it would make up for the asking price.

New version of the Linebarrels mecha, this time with an exclusive figure

New version of the Linebarrels mecha, this time with an exclusive figure of Emi.

Due August 2009, 18,690 yen.

CM's Corp has a slew of new robots.

I stumbled across this flickr account showing some upcoming robots toys from CM's Corporation.

Now you can spruce up your Brave Gokin Mospeadas.

An Orguss Orgoid! Trying saying that three times fast.

A complete set of Neo Getter toys? Move over Aoshima.

Fantastic looking mecha from Linebarrels of Iron!

CM's is one of those companies that will get my hard earned dollar each time they put out a gokin. They are, for the most part, fantastic. I'm hoping that Linebarrels will be no exception.

Due out in June, this diecast beast will be 18cm tall, Diecast in the body, shin, thigh and shoulders. Comes with bonus parts and an action base. Yours for only 16,800 yen, due June 2009.