Yes!!

 

Damn, that's like what I paid for my used copy from eBay a few months ago. Live and learn I guess....

 

Cyber Monday deal, $290 for GX-88 Dairugger (Vehicle Voltron)
Bandai Soul of Chogokin GX-88 Armored Fleet Dairugger XV (Vehicle Voltron) Action Figure

 

Okay so I received my SOC Dancouga and I thought it was great but ultimately fails in waist down articulation, which is a common problem I have with SOC figures.



Anyway ...I thought I would try my own modification. Felt a bit crazy doing this on a $250 toy but articulation is a big deal to me so I went ahead with it. I haven't really done this sort of thing before ever.



I cut a small portion out of the hip skirt. It was tricky but feels like smooth cut as it goes along seem lines. And allows a huge amount more outward leg range at the hips which was very limiting before.







Below is a kind of before/after on right leg/left leg. You can see that I've worked on the left leg hipskirt and not the right leg. Made a big difference.







With this wider spread in the legs (it already has decent forward leg articulation so no need for mods there) I felt it needed more ankle tilt. There are two ports to attach the foot to the leg, but actually one on its own supports really well, so I cut a small section of the ankle rocker on the inside of the leg. This allows way more articulation.











With this mod Dancouga still holds really well and has made it much more enjoyable to play around with.







Worth the risk in the end ...although not sure I would do this with most figures unless it seemed easy enough to do.

 

That's some nice improvements to the articulation. For an older release, it's still imposing and the out of the box articulation is not bad. Luckily, my OG version hasn't yellowed on the gray parts. I have the R version as well but it's still MISB. From what I've seen they haven't made any improvements except adding the ports in the back/side missile box to receive Black Wing (GX-94). I still hate the pvc cannons/guns and the R version should have come up with a better solution for the head attachment for perfect combining.

Interesting that the R version have the Mammoth feet silver bits(forearm for Dancouga) showing. The OG version has it black.

 

I still don't particularly love the SoC Dancouga, it looks dated but not in the fun way like some of the old SoCs. I also think that, even with updated paint, he'll end up looking like a bit of a turd next to Blackwing, who looks genuinely great.

 

Yeah there don't seem to be that many improvements in the R version to be honest, was kind of hoping it would have slightly better articulation. They included a spare (non-transforming) head with a connector piece that sort of works with the transformable head too but is still super loose. The original way of connecting the head to Dancouga body is pretty unforgivable, it's just resting there without any real clipping in. Please let me know if I've missed something though.

I think the arm articulation of Dancouga is really good but I still feel a bit cheated that they couldn't have done my modification to give it more outward leg articulation or more ankle tilt or even allowed more things like: deeper knee bend or waist swivel as these are incredibly easy to spot changes that could have been made to the design and wouldn't have been difficult to engineer. Do SOC purposely not want to give figures articulation? I know they're heavy diecast combiners mostly, but I have ones like Voltron and Dairugger that hold up just fine in deep poses. Love their figures, but its always a gamble.

 

I think as long as they’re fully articulated(without always being super articulated), Bandai is satisfied. I think their initial goal was making new figures based on the old Popy and Godaikin figures but with full articulation(limited as it may be, for example like on God Mars and even recently with Gordian). I think the intent is to carry over the old gokin/Godaikin feel(as in solidity/sturdiness) without compromising it by adding more articulation(just adding enough to make the toys fully articulated).

I think eventually Bandai will figure out a way to make solid, fully articulated SOC’s that can transform/combine and pose as good as the SOC FA figures. The prices are already going up so that advancement on their end and the expectation on our end I feel is justified down the line.

I think the articulation is being experimented with and the designers are aware. The same guy that designed SOC Golion designed the Superminipla Golion which has better articulation. Hoping we get a V2 SOC Golion with the better articulation that the Superminipla has.

 

I'm a little concerned by how much the prices on these will go up if they try to advance articulation as much as say what POSE + has been doing with their higher- end gokin line. Bandai has been hovering around the $300 range for larger combiners recently, but have been bumped a bit with Gordion ($330 - $370). POSE + went from the $300 range to an astounding $530 for Baikanfu.  

 

I too would love more articulations for SOC but I guess Bandai gives priority to the sculpt and in keeping the engineering simpler. Most SOC collectors I know usually care more about sculpt and diecast than posability so while this us of course anecdotal experience it might be that Bandai determined that their target market is primarily interested in those things. Shin's considerations are also probably true.
In the end, I guess for now we have to settle with the non transforming FA figures if we want great articulations.

 

I could probably do with SOC Bismarck and Bio Robo if fully articulated but not super articulated given their designs(and the limitation of the actor’s movement in the Bio Robo suit from the Bioman show). I think I’d be satisfied if they’re more articulated/poseable than SOC Gordian.

 

The King of Braves GaoGaiGar Soul of Chogokin GX-69R GoldyMarg (Ultimate King of Braves Ver.)
Tamashii Webshop Exclusive
Price: 19,800 JPY (Taxes Included)
Release Date: Jun 2021
Reservations Start: Dec 3, 2020 16:00 JST

 

Ok. Just how many electronics does this have and batteries needed? For me, it's coming to a point where I'm worried of the possible failing electronics as well as kind of getting turned off with a bunch of it on the actual toy.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=861980787908910

 

Jesus that is an enormous box! I wonder where I'm going to keep that???

I preordered it but can't say I'm super excited about it for some reason. Probably because I've never found the Voltes V combination sequence to be that interesting (I have the SOC and Action Toys versions). I do love how Voltes V look so that's why I ended up preordering it. At least it looks like the joints will be nice and sturdy, unlike the SOC, which now feels like handling spaghetti when I try to pose it. Hopefully it will be exciting once in hand.

 

Anybody have experience with the SoC or Pose+ Gold Lightans? For some reason I find myself lusting after one... I think they look about the same but I'm wondering if the Pose+ is worth the extra hundred bucks on the aftermarket or not.

 

Goldymarg is up on BBTS

The King of Braves GaoGaiGar Soul Of Chogokin GX-69R Goldymarg (The Ultimate King of Braves Ver.)

 

I have the Pose+ and I like it mostly because I can actually pose it and I liked the proportions more on the Pose+. I'm not sure what the aftermarket is but I wouldnt pay that much more for it over retail, it's good but not THAT good.

 

I've always brushed off Gold Lightan because I can't take it seriously when I see it. So I decided to do a quick read on this character and damn, it really is a robot lighter. Lol! I want to see a team consisting of him, Marlboro man, and Joe Camel.

 

I think they even predated the Micro Change toys (though as a kid I only had Lightan, and he was like super expensive but also super heavy).

 

What'd you pay for it? Looks like going price now is about ~$230 or so, which I don't feel is too bad, but do you think it'd be worth it to scope out auctions to see if I can find it for like 50 bucks lower?