Goshogun

I’m beginning to think that it’s impossible to make a bad Goshogun toy. I’m sure people with much bigger collections than I may beg to differ as my experience with Goshogun toys is limited, but what I have seen so far makes me giggle with joy. As far as recent Gokins go, we only had CM’s Brave Gokin 08 Goshogun. Well Artstorm has added another cool Gokin to the world of Goshogun. This time in SD- “Super Deformed” or as Artstorm refers to it, ES or “Excellent Short”. In other words, a shrunken cute version much to collectors’ delight, or dismay, depending on their preferences. I originally cared not for the cute versions of robots until I saw how well executed they were in Gokin form. Let’s take a look.

PACKAGING

Artstorm really made an effort to give these little guys a very high end feel. The box is rigid thick cardboard with spectacular graphics and photography finished off with a high gloss coat.

Inside, you’ll find a plastic 3 level tray. The third level houses his adjustable stand, the second level houses his fancy chromed weapons and the first level houses Goshogun, the little ships and alternate hands. As you can see, I didn’t have the patience to snap the photo while he was still in the tray, I pulled him out instantly.

FIGURE

This is the first in the line of ES Gokin and what a way to kick off a new line of figures. Goshogun still looks like he can kick butt, even in baby cutesy form. The detail is great. It’s like placing a CM’s Brave Gokin in front of a Fun House mirror except it looks really good. “Proportions” are just right. He stands approx. 185mm (7.2″) in height, which makes him the biggest in the ES Gokin line so far. Diecast resides where it counts most- in the chest and the lower legs.

The back also retains all proper detailing.

I love his face design, it’s one of my favorite and very well executed in SD form without looking “over-SDed”

You will probably never be looking at the bottom of his feet, but they are detailed, so have a look-see.

Goshogun comes with some alternate hands. You have the mandatory fists that come already installed plus you have the gun-holding hands and open hands. Use them as you wish.

He also comes with three little ships (Jack Knight, King Arrow and Queen Rose).

Each ship has it’s own little hiding spot inside of Goshogun. What’s good about this version is that each spot has a special matched mounting point for each little ship. Therefore, they won’e be bouncing around inside. They are accessed by hinged panels. One resides in his left leg.

One resides in his right leg.

The last one resides comfortably in his chest.

Is the idea of stowing small ships inside of a robot not a cool enough gimmick for you? Well how about being able to combine all three ships to form a really cute and really tiny robot? Believe it or not, he’s actually nicely articulated with micro ball-joints. Please welcome TriThree.

Here he is with Goshogun so you can get a sense of how small TriThree is.

ARTICULATION

Normally exaggerated proportions make for a very limited articulation, but you’ll be relieved to know that little Goshogun retains a lot of the articulation you will find on bigger Gokin. His arms are fully articulated and even feature an extendable shoulder.

The hips are articulated and the thighs swivel. The knees have great range for a figure of these proportions.

The head is on a standard ball joint and while somewhat limited at certain angles, it is pretty generous for the head design.

My favorite is the waist joint. It is ratcheted and allows great range of movement for some great posing.

WEAPONS

He comes with a nicely chromed trident tipped sword. The handle comes off allowing easier insertion into his hand, but I am unable to fit the handle regardless. All I was able to do was scrape a lot of paint in the process. The hands are made of a soft vinyl but the room I am shooting these photos in is about 45 degrees so it has made the soft vinyl very hard. I had to fake the holding of the sword to take this picture, hence the awkward pose.

He also come with a short-handle chrome axe with an optional extended handle (not shown). The extended handle is basically the same, just longer. Here, I’ve made full use of his waist joint during posing.

He’s also got his huge blaster for long range combat. Notice here that he is holding the tip of the handle. Again, some trouble using the hands possibly due to the cold room temperature hardening the PVC.

I would hate to be on this end of the gun.

Let’s not forget the Go Flasher feature! To use this, you simple pull back on the backpack and then insert the flasher assembly into it.

Overall it’s a well executed SD style figure. Artstorm really put love into the design and engineering ending up with a great figure. The paint applications are very good. The paint has a very nice polish to the diecast parts. I found two little spots on the hip panel that looked like a very small part of a thumb touched the paint while drying but overall very nicely finished the way any high end figure should be. Original price is equivalent to about $100USD but you can find these for less if you look around. Even if you don’t like SD style figures, check one out if you have the chance. You may end up wanting one.