Chogokin Hello Kitty

In honor of both the 40th anniversary of Chogokin AND Hello Kitty, Bandai has released a best of both worlds release, the Chogokin Hello Kitty. I originally scoffed at the idea but quickly warmed up to this cute little chunk of metal. How different is this from the “cute” chogokin releases by Popy back in the day?

Chogokin Hello Kitty arrives courtesy of Bluefin Distribution and Bandai Tamashii Nations.

The box feels solid. You can tell when you pick it up that it is a brick of metal. It has a satisfying weight and the graphics are nice and not too cute.

Is looking at the back of the box something akin to reading a spoiler for a movie?

Inside you find the best thing ever, the only proper packing material for a gokin – STYROFOAM!

Hello Kitty is actually a giant robot that the REAL Hello Kity drives, similar to Koji Kabuto piloting Mazinger Z. The toy is almost all metal except for the arms, bow, and cockpit parts. This thing is a beast. A true gokin.

To open the cockpit, flick the small switch at the back of the head and the bow springs out and the window pops open.

Inside the cockpit you see what we will call the Kitty Change button. More on that soon.

The small plastic Hello Kitty plugs into the head of the robot Hello Kitty. It’s like a very cute Being John Malkovitch.

Kitty looks amazing.

The head turns on a solid clicky joint.

The cute little fists launch with a meek little “ponk” sound. The springs aren’t that strong, and the firing mechanism has a hair-trigger.

The Kitty Change button changes the eyes between three different expressions:

Underwater (or night) eyes:

Angry eyes:

Thousand Yard Stare:

The robot has a rather unusual means of locomotion. It sort of sits down and scoots along the ground sideways. To achieve this, simply bend the legs, flip out the tail, and turn the head. It’s a 1-2-3 combo of amazingly satisfying joints. Just click them a few times and you’ll be in love.

The next mode is the dive mode, in which Hello Kitty goes on underwater adventures in her giant robot.

This is easy enough to achieve with the addition of red flippers that get added to the feet. The stand has special adapters to display the robot in this mode.

There’s also a flight mode, where the flippers become a bow-shaped scrander jetpack. You have to cheat a little by adding a spacer on the back to connect the wings to.

The stand uses the same adapters as the sub mode to display flight mode. I love the little jet boosters on the bottom of the feet.

The stand also has pegs for when you want to display the robot standing up, or when you want to display it sitting sideways. There’s a spot for Hello Kitty to plug in as well, in the exact same position that the robot is sitting in.

The stand also can store all of the unused accessories underneath.

I passed on many of the other novelty gokin that Bandai has released recently (King Mickey Robo for example) but I think that Hello Kitty really nails the vintage spirit on the head, and would have felt right at home alongside the classic Popy Chogokin in the 70s. At about $45.00 USD it’s a great value and a lot of fun.

Also, it’s a good gateway chogokin if you are struggling to get your significant other to understand why you collect these toys. If she likes cute things, she will dig this and maybe see a bit of why you are so obsessed with these metal robots in the first place.

Chogokin Hello Kitty arrives courtesy of Bluefin Distribution and Bandai Tamashii Nations.