Gold Lightan Super Heavy Gokin

Whenever a minor company comes out with their first high-end, semi-complex toy, we await the inevitable moans and cries from the fans who had their stratospheric expectations ruined by a toy that was bound to be less than stellar. Indeed, when Hung Hing Toys dropped their surprise Gold Lightan bomb on us, I put my expectations safely in the gutter where they normally belong.

Surprise! Hung Hing's Gold Lightan is a good toy. To be clear, I have no complaints at all.

Limited to 3,500 pieces (reviewed is 767), Cho-Juu-Gokin Gold Lightan is 100% gold plated diecast metal. It is heavy without a doubt. In lightan form, you get a new appreciation for the word "brick". The finish is bright, flawless, professional, and remarkably golden.

The box is simple, but the art is attractive and modern, and exactly the sort of thing you'd expect for a collectible sold by a mainstream toy maker. There's a styrofoam tray, and Gold Lightan is shipped in lightan mode, wrapped first in a layer of paper, then in plastic.

The only accessories are two karate chop hands to replace the two standard fists. The karate chop hands' four fingers are fused, but articulated together at the last knuckle. The instruction sheet takes an extra step beyond the minimum by offering background on Gold Lightan's story and animation production, and explains using a graphic that a typical person is equal in height to four of the pyramid structures on the robot's surface.

The six inch tall robot's joints are tight, solid, and secure. There is no reason to fear something will break or fail to hold its position. In some cases, there are detents. The limbs and other positionable parts are mounted to an internal black plastic mounting structure. While the toy is fairly bricky, offering slightly better than DX level poseability, the head turns, which I believe is an improvement over the original product.

The feet are stamped with the marks of Hung Hing, Tatsunoko, Animation International, and your product's serial number.

Cho Juu Gokin Gold Lightan is an excellent item. It's well engineered, well executed, and captures the soul of the original toy and character in spades. The "clacky" and mechanical experience of folding the legs back into lightan mode is about as old school an experience as one can imagine. If there were a Bandai logo on the box, you'd be none the wiser.