Apologies for some of the blurry pics, lack of natural light is a pain sometimes. Anyways, tonight Getter Newtype is showing off the Shin Getter 1 by Aoshima. This is one of the more expensive toys I've ever bought and it honestly is a bit of a mixed bag. Read on and I'll explain after the jump!
Overview
The Shin Getter 1 comes from the Change!! Getter Robo: The Last Day of the World OVA series. Here in the states it was known as Getter Robo Armageddon. The series is a divisive entry amongst Getter fans. It plays out as a sequel to a storyline that was never animated, but it could also be taken as a sequel of sorts to Getter Robo G. A lot of things happened in the OVAs. Hero Ryoma Nagare was imprisoned for the murder of Professor Saotome, creator of the Getter Robos. The Professor himself was somehow resurrected and became a villian. His daughter, Michiru was long dead, seemingly murdered by Ryoma and the other Getter pilot, Hayato Jin. A new generation of pilots are entrusted with the now dark legacy of the Getters and old heroes return for redemption or revenge. Tying it all together is the mystery of the Shin Dragon, which could be humanity's last hope, or the last nail in it's coffin.
Confused? Don't worry, a lot of people were. I personally like the series, there's lots of shouting, cool things happening, robots with gravity defying scarfs and capes and finally gross nasty enemies getting WORKED by the last and greatest Getter Robo ever built by Professor Saotome, the Shin Getter 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9b06JueIwo OVA Opening 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETWK6M6AgQo&translated=1 OVA Opening 2
The box is nice, cardboard with nice styrofoam packaging inside to keep the Shin Getter safe. This particular toy is made by Aoshima, and was part of a special version made for Anime Export. The paint apps have a weathered look to them as well as an additional set of wings for the Shin Getter. This was the first non-Bandai, non-Soul of Chogokin diecast robot I've ever bought but it fits in nicely with toys from the SoC line.
The sculpt is striking, and the Shin Getter 1 has a powerful presence (aka badassery).
The Shin Getter 1's colors really are great. He has a matte finish and a nice color scheme. The dark, maroon of his shoulders contrasts with the bright red of his torso. Clear panels show sculpted mechanical details inside and the green colors that highlight his face and body.
The Shin Getter 1 comes with two sets of wings, the usual assortment of different posed hands, and two fantastic weapons. The axe (or Getter tomahawk) and scythe are huge with metal handles that give them good weight.
The various hands, including the oddball "shake" hand. I've seen this a few times with Japanese toys where different figures include these so they can shake hands. Is it fun? Only time will tell.
As for the rest of the hands, the weapon holding ones gave me a bit of trouble. As I was positioning the scythe, the right hand separated at the knuckle. A dab of glue fixed the problem, but I was kind of surprised that they would mold the hands out of two parts.
The wings slide into slots on the back. I had to remove the wing bump and use my Dremel tool to file down some metal flak that was pushing the wing slots out of place. This is something I've found with my Aoshima toys. They are certainly high quality, but sometimes there are little annoyances like that. It helps to have a DIY fix-it attitude as a toy collector!
The Shin Getter 1 looks nice, and can get into some decent poses, but nothing overly dynamic. A stand would be nice to get some aerial looking shots, but you'd have to find an aftermarket option to do that.
Using the variant hands, the Shin Getter 1 pulls off his awesomely named Stoner Sunshine maneuver. Note that since there isn't an accessory to mimic the Stoner Sunshine, I resorted to a wadded up kleenex (clean!) to show it in a lazy kind of way. It's better to just watch the clip.
I will say that Getter Robo Armageddon is one show that is equally as good in Japanese or English, the voice actors really go nuts, especially the guys voicing Ryoma (the guy screaming Stoner Sunshine). Also, dig that music! Strong, with a real cool retro vibe and a lot of kick-ass attitude.
The Getter Wing, kind of in action. The big wings right here are the single source of my greatest frustration with this toy. As I said before, the wings are held in with friction pegs that slid into slots on the back. The connection is smooth plastic on plastic, and I really feel that perhaps a notch or a textured peg would have dramatically improved the wings.
The wings are wholly made of plastic and their mold looks nice. Still, even being plastic, that's a lot of weight to ask a 1-centimeter peg to hold up. As you can see in the pictures, the wing on the left side of the pic has a definite droop. As a collector, it's things like this that drive me nuts. Some days I can get it on there just right and it looks great, but other days as soon as I push the wing in, it immediately starts sliding out and down.
The bottom of the feet with some manufacturer stuff. Could help but think they could have put some detail on the soles of the feet, but maybe I'm too spoiled by Soul of Chogokin.
The clear plastic bits are really cool and the details inside are neat. The chest of the Shin Getter 1 has the same clear plastic panels as the legs and bring welcome detail to the toy.
The sculpting of the head is fantastic, and pretty much screen accurate. I've always liked that the Shin Getter 1 and the Black Getter have pupils. It's something I haven't seen in super robots before and really adds to the character's face.
One thing about this figure that Aoshima did a great job on was the arms. They are fantastic. While the legs might be a bit limited to the poses of "stand straight" or "crazy wide legs", the arms are highly poseable with solid clicky joints that stay put.
PROS
The Shin Getter 1, especially the weathered version, has a great paint job and its matte finish gives it a dark presence when surrounded by shiny and flashy figures. It looks damn good and is really an eye-catcher on the shelf. It has decent size, about 18 cm, or 7.25 inches and other than the arm blades, head, wings, and hands is solid diecast. The big wings also measure over 1 foot across, making an impressive figure even more imposing. The two weapons it comes with look amazing, especially the scythe when posed right. It also has highly poseable arms, which makes up for the figure's limited movement in the lower body.
CONS
That nice pretty paint is scratchmarks waiting to happen unless you are careful. For someone with curious kids, that could be a problem, unless they're rich and have some toy vault. Because this was a limited run by Aoshima, there were several flaws that required some fixes on my part. Given the price this figure generally fetches, those flaws shouldn't be there. While the joints are strong all around, the hips do have a little floppiness in them, which is kind of expected because the toy is very top heavy. Because of the hip joints, generally poses will be leaning forward, shoulders back, and totally crotch thrusting.
VERDICT
The price of this figure is generally over $100 dollars U.S. At this point, it's really only for collectors and not the casual fan. The show it came from, which I personally enjoyed, is not very well regarded by a lot of Getter Robo fans, so they can probably skip it as well. Still, the Shin Getter 1 looks so good, that I could recommend it to anyone who just enjoys unique mecha design. Plus, when you get it together with the toys of the Getter 1 and Getter Dragon, it's a blast to see the evolution of Getter Robo. If you are looking for a toy, this guy is a little too statue-like for that, plus the pointy bits WILL draw blood if you aren't careful. In the end though, I'd recommend this figure to Getter fans based on its remarkable presence.
Hey, so that's what the hand-shaking hand is for. What do you know, that is kinda fun! Look, Shin Getter 1 and New Getter 1 are friends.
-J!
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