Alen Yen's ToyboxDX

	May 5, 2002


CURRENT RUMBLE

I check the USPS web site to find out if my EMS package is here from Rainbow Ten. DAMN! They attempted to deliver it, but the wife was out (how dare she?). No problem…I can wait one more day.

I’m up and dutifully working on stuff for ToyboxDX. Really this is just an idle ploy...taking my mind off the inevitable delivery that no doubt happen at the most inopportune time. Despite my efforts to work and enjoy my life, I end up pacing back and forth by the front door, waiting for any sign of the USPS ‘Special Delivery Unit’. The wife is getting antsy, we have some business to attend to out in the world. I leave ‘the note’.

After a long day I get home and its here. I can’t for the life of me figure out why I am so excited by this Zeta Chogokin, I don’t even like the Zeta design. I am not usually this fired up about a toy unless it’s the conclusion to a long, drawn out persuit for a vintage piece I have been lusting for. This is just GUNDAM for crying out loud.

I open it, containing my excitement so as not to destroy the packaging in the process. Immediately I am greeted by a plastic tray…I would have cursed aloud and adamantly had I not been warned about this cost cutting measure. Needless to say, the packaging is crap, but the toy…oooh the toy, is sublime.

I have never owned the HCM Zeta, but the GD-44 appears to be the ‘Soul of’ counterpart to it. Slick lines, intense detail and insane engineering all comes together to form a really beautiful piece. The articulation is amazing considering it has to facilitate that lame transformation where Zeta-boy sports some funky-ass yoga move, throws his legs over his shoulders a becomes a flying machine. Wave-rider is my least favorite thing about the whole Zeta design, I just never could get into transforming Mobile Suits. Not to mention that the physical transformation is actually more painful than the damn Yamato Valk. There are lots of tight little moves to be made with small pieces in a tight little space. Not insurmountable, but definitely not something you would sit around in front of the idiot box and perform for some twisted notion of play value.

The accessories rock, everything is expertly crafted from rugged ABS. The hands, and antennae are made from PVC. In the die-cast department there is little to shop for. The only metal in this so called chogokin is the upper arms and the thighs. He poses well, balances well (except when you set him up with the Hyper Mega launcher) and all in all is a nice compliment to the existing Kado-Senshi line. He is however, a different breed all together. If you like the child bearin’ hips and funky line art styling of the other KS Mobile suits you will disappointed with the apparent lack of soul in this piece. If however you’re a real mech gearhead and love all things Gundam, don’t skip it.

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