Bandai Chogokin Lines SDCC 2010
 

*look at the space shuttle*

Now, that's one IS chogokin.

The shuttle was awesome.

I was really hoping that they would have the Spaceship Yamato on display, but they didn't. :(

When I read HLJ's description of the shuttle on their preorder page a few weeks back I was ASTONISHED by how much work was put into it. It comes with a TON of stuff. It is also more than $400.

Space shuttle toys were always cool to me during childhood. This seems to be the best one ever made so far! The display stands look like plaques, and I think if you preorder early you can get a display of the van that takes the astronauts to the shuttle, and minifigures of the astronauts too.

God I love toys made for collectors!

As for Yamato I have heard great things about it, even the predecessor from a couple of years back. Just the thought of owning a diecast battleship with opening bays and stuff....EXCELLENT!

I'm brand new to Chogokin. I'm brand new to any Japanese robot type stuff that isn't Transformers. All I know is that the Yamato looks awesome, the Saturn 5 and Space Shuttle were badass too. There were a couple of little robots in the "history of Chogokin" display that I thought were cool too.

So they just do random robots and machines? Is that what this line is about?

It's mainly a line of modern toys based on vintage designs, with some new ones added in. For example, back in the day, Popy and Bandai made several super robots and other anime toys with diecast metal, and some were labeled Chogokin, which denoted diecast content.

Chogokin is a fictitious metal material from a super robot anime IIRC, maybe Mazinger. Back in the day, Bandai ran with that, and laleled their diecast toys with the "Chogokin" label.

Sometimes it can be misleading though, because while it denotes diecast metal content, some of the releases don't have that much metal. For example, Xabungle is one from the Soul Of Chogokin line that I think didn't have as much diecast and IIRC the initial Daikyumaryu Gaiking.

The Soul Of Chogokin line basically pays homage to Bandai's old DX Chogokin releases from the 80's. They are basically modern toys with full articulation and diecast metal content. Basically like Takara's Transformers Masterpiece line, only cheaper and more widespread/spanning. It's Bandai's premiere line.

Some modern anime are incorporated, like Macross and Evangelion. There are multiple lines, like Soul Of Chogokin(SOC), Soul Of Popynica(SOP), forgot what SIC meant..Super Robot Chogokin(newest one), and more. The Macross Frontier DX line is labeled Chogokin by Bandai but not as a SOC or SIC line.

So basically we can boil it down to modernized toys for adults(with diecast metal content) utilizing a mix of classic and modern mecha, vehicles, and characters. For example, Spike Spiegel's Swordfish II jet is a Chogokin release but I forgot under which line.

Thanks Shin!

Nice run down there, still a bit confusing but the Bandai display definitely got me interested. I would like that Space Battleship Yamato one even though I know nothing about it.

The Swordfish on the otherhand I do know! In fact that makes me want to bust out my Bebop set and start watching right now.

To be honest, all I know about SB Yamato is that it's a very popular old school anime with character designs by Leiji Matsumoto..there is a Daft Punk video which uses designs like that too. There is an upcoming movie too, not sure if it's anime or live action.

In any case, anything by Bandai with diecast metal usually sports a Chogokin label of some sort. There are some exceptions, like Gundam FIX Figuration Metal Composite, Metal Composite Ver Ka, Gundam FIX Figuration Next Generation(GFFN), SDX, SDX Infinity, et al.