Soul of Chogokin - GX-24 Tetsujin 28

Series	Soul of Chogokin
Title	GX-24 Tetsujin 28
Release Date	September 2004
Manufacturer	Bandai
Suggested Price (JPY)	6,500
Scale	Non-Scale
Height (cm)	16.0 cm (approx)
No.  of Parts	1 die cast figure + 12 additional parts + 1 color instruction manual
My Rating	Very Good

Related Items:

          

---

Story
Dr.Haneda was developing experimental giant robot warriors to fight the allies during the Second World War, but before his creations could see action, Allied bombs destroyed the facility and killed him. A decade later criminals discovered two of the surviving prototypes, #26 and 27 in the series, and used the remote controlled robots to commit a number of crimes. Young Shotaro Haneda, the twelve year old son of Dr.Haneda, did some investigating and discovered that the mob were hunting for the twenty-eighth robot in the series, rumored to be the most powerful of them all. Racing the villains, Shotaro discovers the robot first, along with Dr.Shikashima, a colleague of his father's whom also believed killed by the Allied bombing. Together the two prevent Tetusjin-28 (the robot's official designation) from falling into the hands of the bad guys, and decide to dedicate him to peace rather than war.

Shotaro fought crime for a long time, supported by Dr.Shikashima, who would repair Tetsujin-28 when damaged, and by police officer Otsuka. Shotaro even battled the alien Magmans, invaders from the planet Magma, who came to Earth late in his career, bringing their own giant robots, Magma X and Gold Wolf, with them.

Packaging
The figure is nicely package in a standard SOC colored box, similar to Evangelion figures, tucked nicely in the left side of its Styrofoam box and on the right side holds its accessories. The following are the complete list of items in the package.

• 1 die-cast Tetsujin-28 figure
• 1 small Kaneda Shoutarou PVC figure
• 6 spare hands (2 palm, 2 tight grasp and 2 loose grasp in PVC)
• 1 damage “torn” arm
• 1 large controller (w/ embedded magnet to trigger Tetsujin’s eyes LED color)
• 1 jet pack w/ thrusters (can be open to reveal the rocket engine)
• 1 color instruction manual
• 1 plastic base w/ stand for placing Tetsujin’s jet pack
• 1 runner w/ 8 studs (for hiding the screws)

Box Rear Cover Art	Package content

Figure
Tetsujin has been said to be the first of the Japanese giant robots and Bandai is releasing this classical giant robot on it ‘Soul of Chogokin’ (SOC) series. Design of the toy is taken from the 1960s version of Tetsujin 28-go (fat oval tin barrel), instead of the 1980s version (a slightly slimmer Trojan).

The first impression I got from this figure is that this is one hefty fellow, where it’s mass contributed by approximately 80 – 90% of its die-cast composition. Its hands, fists, red waist belt, green belt, hip, backpack, nose and both black shoulder cuffs are the only parts on the figure identified to be of plastic.

The paint job is the second point to highlight on this figure. The dark blue has a good metallic finish with a two-toned paint resulting with a darker shade at the edges. This is the first SOC that I have seen painted this way, where it is similar to the pre-shading technique commonly seen in Gundam modeling.

Head comes with an in-built LED that lit up the eyes in yellow. The switch is located behind hidden by its backpack, which required removal for access. When you place the communicator unit to the chest of Tetsujin, the LED turns from yellow to red. This is as seen in the anime where Tetsujin has yellow eyes when under Shotaro's control, and his eyes turn red when Tetsujin goes berserk.

The LED is powered by 3 LR44 (included, wristwatch type) batteries, located inside Tetsujin upper torso. The removal of the batteries is not so straightforward. First, you have to turn the torso and separate the torso from the hip. Secondly, you are required to unscrew one screw from underneath the belt to detach the belt segment. This will reveal the battery unit, which house the mentioned batteries.

A nice touch by Bandai is to include a ‘torn arm’ unit that can attached to the elbow in place of the lower arm to simulate a dislodged lower arm. This ‘torn arm’ is well sculpted showing some mechanical bits and wires. Jet pack thruster can be open to reveal the rocket engine. The jet pack attached to the back of Tetsujin via a magnet mechanism. The toy also comes with a tree runner of 9 plastic studs, where it is use to fit into holes behind the figure where the screws are exposed. This is a welcome move by Bandai as it makes a difference. The back of the toy looks much better as you cannot see the screws.

Articulation
Tetsujin head is not moveable by design. Its elbows, shoulders and knees are moveable at 90 degree. Lower arm jointed to the elbow by magnet and detachable to replace with extra damaged ‘torn arm’. Feet are moveable at about 30 to 45 degree. Waist turns sideway but moving too much will detach the lower torso. Note that hips can lengthen by lowering the crotch and an extension is found on the connection from the pelvic to the thigh in a ‘Z’ shape. This mechanism allows Tetsujin’s to crouch.

Base
As with the other SOC series, Tetsujin comes with a plastic display base, with a nameplate located in front with “Tetsujin 28” Japanese wording emboss on it. The surface contains 6 pins for plugging-in the extra hands. Next to the pin comes with a socket to place the ‘torn arm’ into it. A stand provided to attach at the rear of the base for supporting the heavy Tetsujin by connecting to the jetpack. There are two placeholders placing of both feet and the large communicator.

Conclusion
In overall, Tetsujin 28 is a simple design, looks like a fat tin barrel and has nothing much to be in awe of. However, GX-24 release has a charm of being nostalgic for an old fellow like me. Tetsujin 28 is the second robot anime that I am exposed to (second to Gundam). This figure was purchased during my trip to Hong Kong from a shop located in Mongkok.

---

---

Document Date : 2004-10-14 Last Modified : 2008-04-12

---

Responses to this page:

1. No comment found on this page.

Leave a Reply

Name:	* Required
Email:	* Will not be published
Homepage:
Comment: